Concierge tipping - cautionary tale!

[lorenni]

Departing the Dream in a couple of hours.

The current concierge team consists of SEVEN people. The three primary concierge staff, 2 bartenders and 2 food/general assistants. The bartenders and food staff are spectacular and work like crazy.

The tipping guidance you receive onboard clearly states that a general concierge tip will be allocated amongst all seven team members.

We have three staterooms this cruise. My brother took his tipping sheet - clearly wrote “CONCIERGE TEAM” and gave it to one of the three who told him to change it to say just the 3 names. My brother pushed back and the one insisted. So he changed it - but it didn’t sit right with him so he asked me. It absolutely didn’t sit right with me so I went to guest services.

IF YOU LIST A NAME(S), THE AMOUNT IS NO LONGER ALLOCATED TO THE WHOLE TEAM, but is instead allocated only to the names individual(s).

There was no miscommunication here. This was a clear money grab and an attempt by one person to reallocate a tip away from the supporting team. Guest services fixed it, and I made sure to do mine and my parents tips with guests services and not directly with the concierge three.

The one later cornered me in the lounge and waxed poetic about how my brother must have been confused. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

So, if you are trying to figure out concierge tipping, I strongly recommend speaking directly with guest services and not with the hosts directly. And I really hope he didn’t do this with many staterooms, as the supporting 4 do not deserve to be bamboozled out of their share of the tips.

***Edited by a moderator to remove specific names, keeping with board guidelines.***

 

[KnitchyFingers]

We are on the Dream in Concierge in March. This is good to know, I've been eyeing the new tipping procedures and trying to sort it all out in my head. Would be dying to hear if others have a similar experience. We just want to do what's right for all that work to make our vacation great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Joel0917]

the tipping in concierge is odd now. we were on wish and it's divided among 9 people. it's not automatic. you have to fill out a conciege tipping form, and take it to concierge or down to Guest Services. Well the line at GS is crazy so i just took it to concierge and handed it to them. they did add it to the stateroom.
they can also give you a sheet that you can fill out if anyone in the team of 9 warrants additional tipping.
The extra bartenders from 5p-10p and then the wonderful food servers by the coffee..i tipped with cash on last day/evening directly. They cannot be added to the tipping form.

 

[lorenni]

the tipping in concierge is odd now. we were on wish and it's divided among 9 people. it's not automatic. you have to fill out a conciege tipping form, and take it to concierge or down to Guest Services. Well the line at GS is crazy so i just took it to concierge and handed it to them. they did add it to the stateroom.
they can also give you a sheet that you can fill out if anyone in the team of 9 warrants additional tipping.
The extra bartenders from 5p-10p and then the wonderful food servers by the coffee..i tipped with cash on last day/evening directly. They cannot be added to the tipping form.

Yours isn’t the first comment I’ve read about unmanageable lines at GS on the Wish. Does the wish not have the option to book an Appt like you can on the Fab Four? Or are there just so many people that the option is useless?

 

[DCLDVC1]

Please do not spam me with your great Danny experience. It’s not going to change the fact that in our experience he was shady and dishonest and tried to steal from his team.

I've sailed in Concierge with Danny many times and to call him shady and dishonest is laughable.

 

[Lillebelle]

I really don't know what to make of this new concierge tipping situation. I haven't sailed since they implemented it but sailed concierge several times prior and figuring out tipping was always the worst. For my first couple cruises, I assumed that the tips we added for 'Concierge' were divided among everyone in the concierge lounge (including the servers). Then one cruise I thought to ask and was told no, it only goes to the three 'hosts', and the other people can only receive tips in cash.

Now it seems like they both added a recommendation and expanded it to cover people who were previously left out (maybe?). This isn't the first thread where I've seen comments that the concierge host was pushing back on the amount of tip in the new system. I wonder if the hosts are making significantly less money now that there's both a recommended amount and it is getting shared more ways?

And it's so freakin awkward that the most accessible people to you to ask about it are the people who are the potential recipients of the money...

 

[3DisneyFanz]

I've sailed in Concierge with Danny many times and to call him shady and dishonest is laughable.

Which part of it is laughable? Do you not believe the OP or do you think taking actions to ensure other members of the team aren’t tipped isn’t “shady or dishonest”?

 

[Eeyore54 fred]

When I sailed concierge in March, I went to guest services and got seven little envelopes and put individual names on each one with their tip. I handed each person their tip on the last day. That way I knew each person got what I wanted them to have.

 

[Eeyore54 fred]

Yours isn’t the first comment I’ve read about unmanageable lines at GS on the Wish. Does the wish not have the option to book an Appt like you can on the Fab Four? Or are there just so many people that the option is useless?

Yes, they do. I went to guest services twice on the Wish, made an appointment both times and was seen fairly rapidly.

 

[Doingitagain]

When I sailed concierge in March, I went to guest services and got seven little envelopes and put individual names on each one with their tip. I handed each person their tip on the last day. That way I knew each person got what I wanted them to have.

We have used cash for tips and put them in Thank You cards. That way you control who gets tipped and how much.

 

[DCLDVC1]

Which part of it is laughable? Do you not believe the OP or do you think taking actions to ensure other members of the team aren’t tipped isn’t “shady or dishonest”?

I don't believe the OP's version of the story.

 

[lorenni]

I don't believe the OP's version of the story.

Welp, luckily guest services called concierge, had the entire amount backed out and then reapplied it to the full team and showed me the automatic breakdown between each of the 7 team members. Because it had been applied only to the three hosts based on the written change from “TEAM” to listing the three host names.

You can believe what you want. No skin off my nose.

 

[allashore]

Welp, luckily guest services called concierge, had the entire amount backed out and then reapplied it to the full team and showed me the automatic breakdown between each of the 7 team members. Because it had been applied only to the three hosts based on the written change from “TEAM” to listing the three host names.

You can believe what you want. No skin off my nose.

not the first time this has happened with a conierge host
and not suprised it happened with Danny this is a DCL problem, people pay lots of $ to be in concierge, and should get whatever the host do b/c thats part of what we pay for, service above and beyond, not b/c if they do something special they get a bigger tip, by handing out popcorn?

https://www.disboards.com/threads/concierge-gratuites.3889673/ post #7

we have sailed many times concierge, before the suggested $8 tip and 2x since it was first suggested, we normally get 2-3cabins

for our family the most helpful people are room stewart - always amazing going above & beyond, the lounge bartenders & the people who put out the food out in lounge
in main dinning head waiter, waiter & assistant waiter,
therefore for our family the above mentioned deserve the most $$$$
not a concierge host who is nice, and doing their job

since we book our excusions, tastings, spa etc ahead of time I am not sure what the host do for us ????
yes they are nice to talk with, can't think of anything magical thou
for the $ that we pay to be in concierge above a regular cabin, to get on & off boat early, I'm not really sure what they do???
not sure if people realize, besides boarding the first day when all 3 host are at lunch or in lounge, most other times, it is only 1 or 2 of them

we have always given seperate tips to the bartenders, & lounge food people, then one for the 3 host b/c we were told the 3 of them split no matter which host you give envelope to. perhaps on our next cruise in Sept I will put it on our acct with guset services for the host only, to insure it is distributed properly, and then continue to tip others in cash

 

[Trera]

The new tipping policy has caused a lot of controversy over the last number of weeks. Everyone will continue to have a way they like to do it and there will never be a general consensus on how it is done.

Prior to the new policy we had always tipped the hosts in an envelope we handed them prior to disembarking the ship and I felt like we were generous in our amount whether the staff took care of lots of requests or not. Many of the hosts we have gotten to know very well over the last 8 years we have cruised DCL and our DD looks forward to seeing them every time we get on board. The food servers and bartenders we always gave cash the last night of the cruise and placed it right in their hands and thanked them for their service during the cruise.

On our cruise a few weeks ago we handled it the same way. I will say that with the bartenders that we didnt tip all of them because there were simply some of them that never served us. There was one bartender name Latroy on the Wish that made sure our glasses were constantly filled throughout the happy hours and we tipped him accordingly.

I think these conversations are good for people who are unsure how to start out tipping the concierge staff but once you are on board and have a cruise under your belt..............I think most will find a sweet spot that makes sense for everyone. We enjoy good service and make sure the staff knows when we feel we have gotten it.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sarco11]

I think these conversations are good for people who are unsure how to start out tipping the concierge staff but once you are on board and have a cruise under your belt..............I think most will find a sweet spot that makes sense for everyone.

I will be setting sail on my 6th Concierge cruise soon and this will be the first since the new tipping policy. It is causing anxiety, which sucks since I would rather just be looking forward to our trip. We had our system worked out for tipping, and maybe that system is still appropriate? We tipped the 3 hosts with cash in the envelope (apparently will have to state names?) and gave cash to the individuals who were there for the food service and the bartenders.

Do they "autocharge" the concierge tips to the room like they do for the others? Will be doing more reading on this situation for the next 12 days...

 

[Ariel 2021]

Is there a cash tip jar for the bartenders so we can just tip them as we get drinks?

 

[Lillebelle]

Do they "autocharge" the concierge tips to the room like they do for the others? Will be doing more reading on this situation for the next 12 days...

No, the concierge gratuity is "at your discretion" like it always was, the difference is now they actually provide you with a formulaic recommendation vs before where it was a complete mystery. You will still need to explicitly add the gratuity if you want it charged to your account.

Is there a cash tip jar for the bartenders so we can just tip them as we get drinks?

I didn't see an actual jar. I'm sure you could just hand cash to them though and they'd take it.

Trying to alleviate the overall level of concern with the new system -- we sailed the Wish about a month ago and I liked the new system WAY better than the old way.

To clarify what happens -- we received our paper tip slips per usual, with an additional letter that said the following:

"Our guests often ask for guidance regarding gratuities for the Concierge Team. As a suggestion, we recommend $8 per Guest per day for your voyage. It is however up to your discretion to determine the gratuity amount you feel is appropriate, based on the excellent services provided by your Concierge Team. Your gratuity will be shared among the Concierge Team:"

And then it had two columns with names explicitly listing the people among whom the gratuity would be split. Then there's just one spot to put a number. I was told if you don't want it split evenly, you could explicitly list amounts on a separate sheet, but we did not do that.

I liked the new system because:
a) It equally rewards both the hosts and servers -- we assumed the 'Concierge tip' included everyone on our first cruise, and only found out on our second cruise that it didn't.
b) I don't have to bring a ton of cash to be able to tip all the servers
c) Having a recommendation at least provides you with a framework to work off of vs before where it felt like such a shot in the dark
d) The explicit list of who is included (which Glenn said they only recently started including) also allows you to make sure you cover anyone else that isn't there, and should eliminate the shadiness from OP's experience. We did have a couple evening bartenders not on the list; we did ad hoc tips for them as we felt was warranted.
e) There are SO MANY PEOPLE working the Wish concierge lounge. It's so much simpler to just give one tip and be done with it rather than trying to chase down all those people to give them cash. And while overall we felt the level of service was great, it really did end up being more of a team effort vs us having a few individuals we saw all the time. Thus, an even split feels like the most fair thing since I'm sure even the people we didn't see as much were working hard to help the overall population of guests.

So don't stress! I found it much less awkward than before. I'm sure it was a tough transition for hosts that were used to getting the whole tip but again, I think it makes for a more streamlined and equitable experience.

Have an amazing cruise!

 

[Froxfield]

All the above highlights what a ludicrous farce "tipping" US style is!!! We now look for cruise lines where gratuities are included: much to be preferred. After a myriad of US holidays and cruises, I have never understood why the US seems to think that this gratuities system ensures better service.

 

[John VN]

All the above highlights what a ludicrous farce "tipping" US style is!!! We now look for cruise lines where gratuities are included: much to be preferred. After a myriad of US holidays and cruises, I have never understood why the US seems to think that this gratuities system ensures better service.

Our Cruise Line of Choice does not outright encourage tipping. We DO NOT tip those in Concierge who we do not interact with, just ridiculous IMO to reward someone who is simply fulfilling their job requirements. Those we do interact with and are attentive are happily compensated.

 

[starry_solo]

All the above highlights what a ludicrous farce "tipping" US style is!!! We now look for cruise lines where gratuities are included: much to be preferred. After a myriad of US holidays and cruises, I have never understood why the US seems to think that this gratuities system ensures better service.

Lol you do realize that many cruise lines hire people from international countries that pay low. It's not just the US based cruise lines that do that.