Tip Question / Experiences - More or Less?

[Bronco Joe]

When tipping, have you thought the recommended amounts were too high? Too low? How much have you tipped above the recommended? Are there some areas that you think might be over tipped?

 

[vgaskin]

Our dining room head server whatever he is called really didn't do anything worth tipping that I saw. I tipped him the minimum. Our server, asst. server, and room steward all were excellent so I tipped them more. We have a family of 5, so the 3 night cruise was not bad but I am now figuring up our tips for our 7 night and am in sticker shock, have to save a little more money! If they were like the staff we had on the wonder, I don't mind, if they don't wow me, I might be alittle miffed with the recommended amounts.

 

[Bronco Joe]

I had thought much the same. We were on a 4 day cruise our first time and had a similar experience. For a family of four the "recommended" tip for the week is a little over $300. I also am unsure for what the head waiter tip is suppose to be intended. It seems like tipping a server's supervisor for just being there. Does anyone know where the recommended amounts come from? Are they based on some number? Also, why hasn't the recommended amount gone up the last few years? Isn't there inflation?

What about all the meals eaten at the restaurants during the day where you always get a different server? Is that suppose to be covered under the regular tip each server receives? I feel uncomfortable NOT leaving a tip at breakfast or lunch. Actually, the server we had one day at lunch at Triton's was the best by far. (I remember he poured out ketchup for my daughter's french fries in three spots, like a Mickey, on a separate plate for her.) It seemed a shame he did not receive the benefit of that good service, although I am sure he was tipped generously by the cruise guests he had in any case.

 

[CRenze]

Whew! I'm glad someone brought this up? I have a question concerning tips. Is it based on a per person? I believe in tipping and tipping WELL for a job well done but what about kids. I think the suggested rate is kind of high for a kid if it is based on a per person, especially since the kids spend most of their time in the labs and workshops with the counslers (who by the way according to everything I've read, aren't even on the chart to be tipped, but can be tipped per your descression).
Anyone have any suggestions for what the tipping rate should be (from a child) for the stateroom host/hostess? I myself will tip the suggested rate unless they do an exceptional job, since I am a neat freak and make my own bed and keep the room tidy (my hubby makes fun of me because I am so anal about that kind of stuff), I know "it's their job" to make the bed but I alway feel so bad letting someone else pick up after me. I even go as far as to fold the dirty towels so all they have to pick them up and go.

Thanks for any advis you can suggest.

Cindy

 

[Favorite Auntie]

These people work very hard for their tips. I think if anything they are not tipped enough. And for people that think they should not have to tip for the kids, you need to go on this cruise and see how WONDERFUL everyone is with the children. The waitstaff go way out of their way for the kids, as do the room stewerds. I personally have had the best head waiter, Allen (sp?) He is super and I think he is undertipped! That is just my opinion though....

 

[4cruisin]

I would like to defend the head server...the one that is behind the scenes. He/She really does deserve more than the paltry tip that is suggested. He is the person that keeps everything running smoothly and coordinates everything that happens in the diningroom. We had John from Scotland on our last cruise and he was absolutely fantastic. He made sure that we were being taken care of at every dinner. One night, the kids club upstairs decided it was jump and pound as loud as you can time and John flew out of the dining room like a shot and next thing you know, the pounding stopped. Our assitant server was pretty useless, his contract was almost up and he was either worn out or just did not care anymore. We never complained but John obviously knew what was going on and really went out of his way to try to help our the server and make the best of the situation for us.

Just because you don't always see what the head server is doing, does not mean that he is not working.

Just my .02

 

[Bronco Joe]

Originally posted by Favorite Auntie
These people work very hard for their tips. I think if anything they are not tipped enough. And for people that think they should not have to tip for the kids, you need to go on this cruise and see how WONDERFUL everyone is with the children. The waitstaff go way out of their way for the kids, as do the room stewerds.

I don't think anyone is suggesting *not* tipping for the kids. I agree all of the DCL staff work hard for their tips. When I go to a restaurant I tip 15% to 25% based on service. Kids tend to have lower bills because their meals are cheaper. I believe on the DCL it is the opposite - you are tipping for the service and it doesn't have anything to do with the cost of the meal - sort of like a character meal. But that still doesn't tell me what tip tells a server, "Thanks, you did a wonderful job for us and we appreciate it," and what might just be construed as what is expected. Does that make sense? I have no way to gauge what level of tip is appropriate because I have nothing to judge it against.

I agree 100% the kids love the waitstaff and the waitstaff deserves to be tipped well. More to the point, as another poster mentioned, the children's counselors should probably be tipped as well. I guess I don't understand why they are not and the waitstaff and room stewards are.

 

[kajohn]

I think the tipping is a little low, the recommended amounts on the cruise ships haven't changed much at all over the years! We always tip extra, to everyone if we feel they deserve it (which is almost all the time!).

As for kids, they are making more of a mess at dinner and in the room than an adult does, so they should actually be tipped more for kids not less than an adult IMHO. Even in the regular world I always tip extra when my kids dine with me than 15% because their meals are cheaper, but the waiters usually work harder for them, so I tip accordingly 20-25% (especially if my child spills something etc.)

I know tips are expensive on a cruise, we spent $450 on tips for my family of 5 for our 7 day cruise, but my philosophy is that is part of the cruise cost, if I can't afford that, then I shouldn't cruise.

 

[jrabbit]

Yes the suggested tips are per person so even the children count. The wait staff and room stewards work very hard to make your trip enjoyable. We have never tipped less than the recommended amount, even when the service may not have been the best it could have been.

Like some others experienced, the asst. server (beverage person) kind of ingore us after the first day or two when we don't by a bottle of wine or any cocktails (because there is the automatic tip included). When they continued to pay attention to us throughout the cruise we always tip them way over the recommended amount, if they don't - they get the minimum.

As another person posted, you are served by the entire wait staff crew throughout the cruise. They work at topsiders and the in the sit down restaurants throughout the day. They can even be found in the other food outlets (scoops, plutos, etc). For anyone to stiff their servers a tip is very selfish!! Everyone needs to tip their wait staff because they work hard for us at least 16 hrs per day every day of the cruise. You are tipping them for all of the other meals you partake of not just dinner. That's why you do not "deduct" tips for dinners eaten at Palo or Topsiders. When you remember that you are tipping for 3 meals a day, the per person tip per meal is really pretty cheap!!

You definatly do NOT need to make your own bed, nor fold your own towels. Your room steward will keep your room cleaner than you do your own (at least all of our past stewards have). If there is something you need them to do, just ask them!! I have read where others have problems with some of the chemicals they use to clean with, and asked the steward not to use them, they didn't and from what I read, the room was still in exceptional order.

All of these folks are working for the tips, DCL pays them a very minimal amount (approx $50/mo).

"Now go do the right thing"

 

[CRenze]

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions. I don't want you to think that I'm not a "tipper" because I am, most times above and beyond (I guess mostly becasue I use to be a waitress..a loooonggg time ago). I was just trying to see if the children should tip at the same rateas an adult. This is my first cruise and don't want to short change anyone.

Cindy

 

[alexandrew]

you have a child that is booked in Flounders Reef for every meal? Should waiter/asst waiter still be tipped accordingly, even though child is not present in restaurants for entire cruise?

 

[Cruise]

alexandrew,

In my opinion, yes, you should. Whether the child is there or not, there is a chair reserved for that child. DCL won't fill that chair with another person because there has to be the option for the child to come to dinner if need be. As such, the servers won't get tipped for one of the chairs in their rotation if not tipped for that child - whether present at dinner or not.

Same goes for deducting amounts for nights spent at Palo or eating on deck at Pluto's or Topsiders. It's not as if someone else can take an empty chair in the resturants that night and tip the server for them... they have to be left open for the passenger assigned to them.

Julie

 

[r4dsny]

DH and I had this same tip discussion just last week near the conclusion of our 4-day Wonder(ful) cruise. Since this was our first cruise, we ended up comparing our experiences with the CMs to the experiences DISers had written about here. Ironically, had I not read what some of the staff were capable of, I would probably have felt our CMs were fabulous. As it was, I was a tad disappointed we didn't receive some of the extra attention others have experienced! (Oops, I forgot about our head server.... another irony since he appears to be the least favorite.... he stopped by our table to make our straws whistle and melt toothpicks into tiny sunglasses. No kidding. Now THAT is extra attention!)

Well, on our final night at dinner, we had our tip envelopes filled, sealed, and ready to go. We elected to go with the recommended amounts and had arranged for the tips to go on our credit card, so we had the little printed vouchers from guest services stuffed in each envelope.

As our dinner progressed, so did our guilt for not tipping extra! To further compound matters, my DH happened to see another table give their envelope to our asst. server who then took it behind the servery, opened it, and made a disappointed face - presumably at the amount. (We got the impression she was fairly new. Our server seemed to talk her through everything.)

Long story short..... after dinner, we asked our server if we could tip them at breakfast and took our envelopes back to the room with us that night so we could pry them open and add more money.

How much.... how much..... well, instead of grilling strangers in the hallways, we decided to assume Disney's recommended amount for the server was (we hoped at the time) roughly 15%, so based on that we added another 5% in cash ($20) to his voucher, and a lesser added amount to the asst server and..... yes... head server (master of whistle straws and toothpick sunglasses).

BTW, my server's recommended amount would have been 15% had our total dinner bill been approx $390 (for 4 people) for four days. (Is that right? His recommended tip was $59.) I don't think our family could have eaten those meals for less than $100 a night anywhere else, and that's not taking into account covering breakfast and lunch service as well.

So unless my logic is faulty (entirely possible), even adding to the recommended amount as we did was likely STILL not approximating what we were shooting for, which was 20%.

Ah, the guilt remains.