Thank you gifts for CMs

[Honu]

I read on these boards a few times that no home-baked/cooked (non store packaged) goods were allowed to be brought onboard....don't know if it is true or not, but I remember reading it.

MJ

That is true. No homemade food is allow onboard, it has to be in unopened factory sealed packages.

 

[TADsMommy]

For our last cruise we gave a bottle of champagne to our server and a (large minute quantity) phone card to our assistant server and room hostess, in addition to generous gratuities. We brought a dozen (lesser minute quantity) phone cards and 3 dozen zippy bags filled with individual chocolates wrapped with labels personalized to our voyage (in this case the 14day repo) as our thank yous to all the "sometimes forgotten folks" onboard. My children loved presenting them to their special friends, including:

.. the young man in Scoops who always layered the butterscotch perfectly then added extra cherries on top

.. the lifeguard-like young lady who always had a smile and remembered them by first name.

... the photographers who never took a bad picture.

Then we went around as a family and passed them out to cruise staff, kids club staff and the band members.

It was a great way to end the trip for us and the gifts were REALLY appreciated. Many CMs were really caught off guard with these small gifts of appreciation and you could tell it really meant alot to these very hard working CMs.

Karen

 

[GritsGirl]

On our April cruise, we purchased candy for our room steward and our two table servers when we were off the ship one day.............you would have thought that we had given them gold bricks (fyi: our room steward didn't care about chocolate because he said he has plenty of the little squares so we got him starburst and mike & ikes etc. And the next morning something funny happened.....my husband and I stopped at the buffet for breakfast and this server who I had NO MEMORY of ever laying eyes on says, "Paula (our asst server) is not here this morning, but I am here and I have had my chocolate, what can I do for you?" We just laughed and laughed because they all seemed to know about the sacred chocolate and oreos. I think my girlfriend paid for all the candy, but I think she would agree that it was money well spent.

 

[4fosterkids]

For our last cruise we gave a bottle of champagne to our server and a (large minute quantity) phone card to our assistant server and room hostess, in addition to generous gratuities. We brought a dozen (lesser minute quantity) phone cards and 3 dozen zippy bags filled with individual chocolates wrapped with labels personalized to our voyage (in this case the 14day repo) as our thank yous to all the "sometimes forgotten folks" onboard. My children loved presenting them to their special friends, including:

.. the young man in Scoops who always layered the butterscotch perfectly then added extra cherries on top

.. the lifeguard-like young lady who always had a smile and remembered them by first name.

... the photographers who never took a bad picture.

Then we went around as a family and passed them out to cruise staff, kids club staff and the band members.

It was a great way to end the trip for us and the gifts were REALLY appreciated. Many CMs were really caught off guard with these small gifts of appreciation and you could tell it really meant alot to these very hard working CMs.

Karen

I have never bought phone cards before. How much do they run, how many minutes are good and do they expire? Where do you buy them?

 

[TADsMommy]

We purchased 60minute cards at WalMart for $3.30 each and 650minute (just for the servers and room hostess) at Costco for $16.50. These both had generous international rate adjustments.

Karen

 

[Tigrrtum]

Now ya tell us!! All the crew we ran into did such an excellent job (especially our server and assistant server) I would have loved to given them some phone cards or candy!

 

[CACruisin']

These are great ideas

Thanks CM_Mom for posting the link for the CM Thank you's. One of the many things on my "To do" list was to find that link!! You saved me the effort - Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 

[CM_Mom]

Thanks to all of you who are showing you appreciate the the work the CMs do. I know DD loves her job as I think most of them do. They really appreciate the "gifts", whatever they are, because it's a tangible demonstration that people recognize the hard work they do and shows that they're NOT being taken for granted.

 

[2ndstar to the right]

Does anyone know if it is possible to send the crew members a small gift by mail or ups?
Thanks!!

 

[txaggie94gigem]

i had not thought about bring oreo cookies onboard...i am not the type to buy phone cards...i am a sweets girl...so i will be looking hard to find some special gifts for all the nice people this year....my hubby doesn't understand about the tipping and why the cost is just not included...he just doesn't get it! But since I do, none of the CMs have to worry

 

[LiserAnn]

my hubby doesn't understand about the tipping and why the cost is just not included...he just doesn't get it! But since I do, none of the CMs have to worry

Your DH must know my DH!!! But I too get it, so our CMs will be happy!

 

[figment52]

For those going on West Coast Cruises, I'd recommend getting Target gift cards rather than Wal-Mart gift cards. There's a Target 5-10 minutes away from the pier but the closest Wal-Mart is over 1/2 an hour away.

Actually at one of the Mexican ports (PV i think) the WalMart is right across the street from the pier.

I took a big bag of Jelly Bellys (like 3 or 4 lbs from Sam's Club) and gave it to one of the entertainment/port excursion staff on Friday and she went nuts. You'ld think it was Christmas or something. SHe was very excited and kept hugging me everytime she saw me after that and if any of the other staff were around she made sure they knew I gave them the jelly beans.

 

[needalatte]

Txaggie, Liser Ann, my DH is the same way. Tipping should be included. That's what "all inclusive" means, isn't it? (His words) And he certainly doesn't understand about tipping extra for extra good service. Oh well, I'm taking a lot of the good advice on this thread and I'm expecting to be giving out lots of "thank yous" to the CMs.

 

[LiserAnn]

And he certainly doesn't understand about tipping
extra for extra good service.

That's my DH in a nutshell. In fact, I'm not even bothering to tell him about the extra's "we're" going to do (tipping, goodies, etc.). He'll notice the results though...and then I'll explain it!

 

[needalatte]

Liser--Do you give goodies all throughout the cruise or save them up until the end?

 

[txaggie94gigem]

i passed out gifts at the end of the cruise but after reading these boards i think i will pass them out about midway or early on.....

 

[LiserAnn]

Well, this will be my first DCL cruise but my plan is to give the candy bags, etc out near the beginning. The monetary ones will wait for the end, as well as the phone cards and the target cards.

Lisa

 

[Q's My Princess]

On our cruise last month, we had some fabulous service! Before we left we made the personalized thank you cards that CM_Mom mentioned and also brought chocolates, candy, phone cards, and repostioning pins with us.

For our stateroom attendent, Glenlyss, we would leave a thank you note before dinner every third day with either a bag of chocolate or some other treat on one of DD's stuffed animals or a balloon. She loved it and we continued to receive outstanding service.

During the middle of the cruise we gave our head server, server and asst. server a thank you card with a phone card and a pin that our Disboard group had made.

For DD's counselors in the Club I brought a bunch of bags of candy into the club around day 7 of our cruise, then on the last night I had DD pick her five favorite counselors and gave them thank you cards that DD signed, a pin and a phone card. We also gave more candy to the whole club staff.