Tipping for Cabana Host on Castaway Cay?

[cruisehopeful]

Do people tip the Cabana host and if so, how much? For how many people? I'd appreciate it if people could post honestly without concern of others attacking them and their tipping/no tipping style. I know that is asking a lot, but I want genuine answers.

 

[princessmommyx3]

When we get a cabana we are sailing concierge and since the cabana hosts are the concierge hosts, we just tip them once at the end of the cruise. If we weren't sailing concierge & had a cabana, I would tip them at the end of the day, the amount depending on how much they did for us. There are 5 of us, and I my tip would probably range from $20 (regularly checking in on us but no extra requests) to $50 (if they did a lot, like replenish towels, bring extra sand toys or sunscreen, bring drinks, take away lunch dishes, etc). That may not seem like enough for some people but that is what I would be comfortable with. Hope this helps.

 

[DCLDVC1]

Do people tip the Cabana host and if so, how much? For how many people? I'd appreciate it if people could post honestly without concern of others attacking them and their tipping/no tipping style. I know that is asking a lot, but I want genuine answers.

We tip $10/person in our party.

 

[bumbershoot]

Genuine answers are going to show, once enough people have responded, that there is a wide variety of answers. Some people want a lot and get a lot. Some people tip just on the existence of the hosts. Some people are also staying concierge and the host tip is mixed in with that. Some people (us) saw the host maybe once, and the host was ineffective in solving a problem (the safe was broken, maintenance said they'd fixed it but they hadn't), and things get odd because of that. Made more confusing b/c we were staying concierge, too. (in case it's not obvious, the hosts for cabanas are the concierge CMs)

Ultimately it's up to you. They give us no guidelines, so there are no guidelines. Follow your heart, your philosophy, your kindness, your needs/wants, and your experience on the island to guide you.

 

[MotherKnowsBest]

We have been fortunate to have a cabana twice while sailing non-concierge. We tipped each host $20 both times. HTH

 

[TestingH2O]

Our concierge tip is about $10/person/day. If we had a cabana while not staying concierge, I assume we'd just do that.

 

[alexandlillie]

We were very lucky to get a family Cabana off the shipboard waiting list last week. We only saw our cabana host once - when we checked in - and never checked on us, even after pushing the button. He has said he would run us to cookies in the golf cart (due to rain) but we never saw him.

I tipped the waiter who brought us drinks generously but didn't even think about tipping the host. Figured the 600 we paid for the day was enough. If we'd seen him more, I probably would've.

 

[Bree]

We were very lucky to get a family Cabana off the shipboard waiting list last week. We only saw our cabana host once - when we checked in - and never checked on us, even after pushing the button. He has said he would run us to cookies in the golf cart (due to rain) but we never saw him.

I tipped the waiter who brought us drinks generously but didn't even think about tipping the host. Figured the 600 we paid for the day was enough. If we'd seen him more, I probably would've.

We must have had the same host. We had a very bad Cabana experience

Obviously I didn't tip anything.

 

[lillygator]

Wow surprised to read about bad experiences, especially after paying so much

 

[Jennifer777]

We tipped generously for drinks, which was the only time we saw our host. I didn't even know we had a host/hostess until after the cruise. The cabana was empty when we got there. We got our own food and cleaned up our own trays. We weren't sailing concierge so I'm not sure if that's part of the reason we didn't see them much?

If we had a host/hostess who checked in on us, answered the button when we pushed it, brought us stuff and cleaned up after us I would have left something. How much would depend on how much they had to do. We're big tippers too, rarely leave less than 20%, even with bad service. In this case though, aside from delivering drinks once, there was no service to tip.

 

[lillygator]

Whether or not you are concierge should have no bearing.

Everyone is paying the same amount

 

[SnowWhite2]

We were very lucky to get a family Cabana off the shipboard waiting list last week. We only saw our cabana host once - when we checked in - and never checked on us, even after pushing the button. He has said he would run us to cookies in the golf cart (due to rain) but we never saw him.

I tipped the waiter who brought us drinks generously but didn't even think about tipping the host. Figured the 600 we paid for the day was enough. If we'd seen him more, I probably would've.

We had the same experience. I didn't tip the cabana host because they never showed their face after the first few minutes of showing us around the cabana. Pushed the "andy" button and he never came. Flagged down bar server for our drinks and tipped him. It's hard to tip someone when they are a no-show. Happened both times when we were concierge and when we were not.

 

[Jennifer777]

Whether or not you are concierge should have no bearing.

Everyone is paying the same amount

Agreed, and it may not have played a part in the lack of service we received. I can see how concierge hosts would feel more pressure to tend to concierge guests when their stateroom tips for the week could be impacted by lack of service on CC though. Again, it may not be a factor, just saying I can see how it could be.

 

[NCConch]

We just had cabana 24. We did not sail concierge. We rec'd the maps and instructions in our cabin the day before and I am pretty sure I read that I was to stop at the first Cabana booth (Pelican Point?) but that person said just go to the SB booth. When I got there the people in the booth were massage people and pointed you a young man in a golf cart. I told him my name and he looked me up and took me to the cabana. He showed me around and let me be. He never came around other than to deliver my daughter and then my wife. He did walk by the front of the cabana towards the end of the day - I suppose to see if I was still there. I got the message and gathered my things. He showed up in his cart and took me to the middle tram stop. I was expecting more service. When my daughter and I were coming back from lunch he did drive up and ask if we wanted a ride but we declined. I expected a longer walk. We left him $10.

 

[Andasibe]

We have had a cabana at Serenity our last two cruises. Both times service has lacked.

The first time we had to go back to the family beach to get snorkel vests and there was no offer from the attendant to do this for us or have them sent up (we bring our own snorkel gear and they would not allow us to use without the vest, which I understand but thought that they would be available to us at Serenity), no offer of golf cart usage at any point and no other services offered (we walked to the bar for our own drinks). There were three of us, I tipped nothing. Second time I went in with very low expectations, thankfully, as I saw our attendant when we arrived and as we were leaving on the last tram. We had pressed the call button twice throughout the day and the response to those came at 4 o'clock... Felt like he was following up for his tip we we again left nothing.

Please do not get me wrong, we would have tipped generously had there been any service, but when I pay $428 for the use of services I expect some type of service. I was fully prepared each time to tip $50-$75 had there been even mediocre service.

 

[phinz]

I've tipped $20 every time, primarily because our cabana hosts have been useless at SB.

 

[diznymom]

Thanks for the replies. We will be (maybe) getting a Cabana for the first time for our next cruise next December. I won't be getting my expectations up for the service. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised that disappointed. There will be 2 of us in SB.

 

[wilma-bride]

Reading this, I am concerned at the number of people who seem to have had poor service at the cabanas. For me, one of the selling points was that you have a host/hostess in case you need anything. Now I have no idea what we might need that we wouldn't be able to get for ourselves but it is worrying that these people don't seem to be fulfilling the role that I thought they were there to fulfill. I guess there could be reasons, such as another family being super demanding or something, but it is still concerning that the service you should be able to expect doesn't seem to be there - or, at the least, is inconsistent. Just wondering if anybody has gone so far as to complain to guest services if they found their host/hostess lacking?

 

[clten]

We have had a cabana twice and twice the host has taken away from the experience rather than enhancing it so we left zero tip. We were not sailing concierge either time and I did feel that that made a difference in the service we received.

 

[RDP]

We sail concierge, so any cabana tip is incorporated into the tip we leave the concierge team at the end of the cruise. No issues with service, got drinks when we buzzed for them ( tipped the person bringing the drinks) , other than that I don't want to be bothered by a host constantly checking in on us.