My Time Dining

[JACKBAUER24]

Since I am set up for MTD and the tips are pre-paid . Does this include stateroom tipping also?

[Cruising89143]

Yes.

[DianeMMHH]

I had the same question.............thanks for asking it!

 

Diane

[Durangler]

Since I am set up for MTD and the tips are pre-paid . Does this include stateroom tipping also?

 

Yes.

Really?!? :confused: I assumed stateroom steward tipping was seperate!

I'm set for MTD as well. Had a gift for the steward as well as anticipated tip.

[negc]

Really?!? :confused: I assumed stateroom steward tipping was seperate!

I'm set for MTD as well. Had a gift for the steward as well as anticipated tip.

 

You can still give the room steward a gift if that is your choice and you will get vouchers for the dining room staff and the room steward indicating that your tips were paid.:)

[Durangler]

You can still give the room steward a gift if that is your choice and you will get vouchers for the dining room staff and the room steward indicating that your tips were paid.:)

Well, I'll be darned! :o Good news for me.

Steward will still get the gift, and tip as well I imagine.

Will see how MTD goes as far as Xtra tip. :)

[jlp20]

OK I’ll bite, what is the idea behind a voucher?

[Gingerbint]

OK I’ll bite, what is the idea behind a voucher?

 

We had our first cruise this year in June and we had MTD.

So it was quite new then so it may have changed since we travelled but on the last evening we got delivered to our room some paper vouchers each printed with Steward, Restaurant waiters, Head Waiter etc and an envelope for each one.

You place the voucher in the envelope and hand this to the relevant person. You can add extra to this in cash should you wish.

The staff then can apparently 'cash' the vouchers later to get the money you pre paid.

If you have MTD the voucher tips are pooled (I believe) between all the MTD staff as you don't always have the same waiter or same table every time you dine. We didn't, we rotated between 3 different tables and staff.

So if you have a specific staff member who has given you great service then either give cash tip direct to them or if in envelope hand this to them with a nod there's something extra in there for them.

The room steward gets his alone so any extra in the envelope should go to him.

 

As I said this may have changed now but thats was what happened when we travelled in June.

[Eliger]

I believe that the vouchers are only an acknowledgement that the gratuities have been charged to your account. The waiters have told us that when gratuities are added to our account, they are automatically transfered to the accounts of the crew, and they already know by the last dinner who has given the gratuities through the automatic payment. In MTD, I assume that the money is divided up among the people serving in the MTD dining room. At first when they started to put the gratuities automatically to our accounts, we didn't get any enveloppes. So we asked for them at the Customer Relations Desk. Now we don't bother to give any enveloppes unless we add extra.

 

Some of you may disagree with this, but I'm just relating what my understanding is.

 

Gerry

[NorbertsNiece]

All well explained; at least is how I would have described it.

 

If you have room service however, these guys/gals should be tipped at the time of service as they are not included in the pre paid gratuities pool. Room service after midnight and in the early hours has a charge applied.

[jlp20]

My experience is with Princess, where they have had “auto tipping” for years. On Princess, you agree to the auto tip policy, but can add, lessen or stop it completely once you’re on board. There, the monies are charged to the pax on a daily basis. It has been verified from crew posting on the Princess boards that the crew is notified ASAP when someone stops the auto tip.

 

So on RCI, they know before you board that you are MTD and the tip is “prepaid”. I know the service crew lives off the tips they earn. On Princess, the auto tip is divided among steward and dining room staff at a set percentage, the room steward getting the larger share. I’m not positive, but I’m guessing the voucher is a worthless piece of paper in an envelope where they are hoping extra money will be added.

 

I also know that Princess crew are required to cough up any extra tips and that a second “pool” is made up of this money. Does RCI follow Princess again on this policy? I don’t know and I don’t care. We know by the second day if the room steward is just doing the minimum (or even less) or is actually going the little extra. So, if we think the steward deserves “extra”, it is delivered on the third day, in private. If he or she puts it in the pot on the seventh day, that’s up to them.

 

We have become great fans of the “Anytime Dinning” on Princess, but from what I have read RCI is doing a poor imitation. Anyway, on Princess 1/3 to 2/3 of the ship does any time, so the chances of getting the same servers even just twice in a seven day cruise is slim. Little chance to reward a server for remembering your likes and dislikes. So, in the event a server has done something deserving extra consideration I go to dinner with a five and ten dollar bill in the pocket. A fold and a handshake gets it delivered to the person I feel deserving.