Surcharged restaurants - do you tip here also?

[Travelergirl]

No one tells you if at the surcharged restaurants aboard ships, do you add a tip to the payment as well, or are tips for service included? I hate paying a fee for a meal when I have paid for a supposedly all-inclusive cruise. However, the quality of food in the standard (free) restaurants seems to have gone down. The quality in the surcharged places seems better. But I have paid a surcharge. Do I leave a tip as well? Why doesn't someone tell you this in the cruise brochure booklets? :confused:

[Aquahound]

The tip is included in the price of the specialty restaurant.

[Nanatravel]

TIPs are a sign of gratitude for excellent service. Ask your main dining room Maitre' de before you go to the specialty dining restuarant what your Cruise Line's policy is. Some say it is includes gratuity other do not. It does vary.

[navybankerteacher]

If the service is good, leave a tip; if not, don't.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

On HAL -- there is no tip included in the price of the Speciality Restaurant -- so we do tip the servers at the end of the meal. Now any drinks we order there -- cocktails or wine -- there is a 15% gratuity added to the bill.

[cb at sea]

On RCI, the tip is included in the surcharge...

[pris993]

When cruise lines started the speciality restrauants the extra charge was for the service.

 

We seldom use them but if we did, we would not tip extra.

 

The few times we have used them we did not feel either the food or service was significantly different.

[momofmeg]

This is my understanding. A tip IS calculated into the surcharge, but most lines give you a place to add a tip if you choose, HAL does not.

Normally we will tip some extra if we feel they merit it. On HAL we give them a cash tip since there is no place to add a tip when we sign the bill.

 

It is similar to how most lines automatically take out for tips for the crew. Even though, essentially we have paid our tips, normally we still give our steward, the dinning room manager, our waiter, etc. an extra tip. Sometimes a couple of others whom we felt gave us outstanding service. This cruise we gave a tip to a crew person at the coffee bar who waited upon us several times.

 

So, it boils down to personal choice.

[Arwenmark]

The TIP is included in the charge, no need to leave more, some people do anyway that is up to them.

[FUN33]

We asked a server on a recent RCCL cruise about the tip in Chops. It cost $25 pp to eat in the restaurant; he told us there waiters receive $8.50 of the $25.

 

We always tip additional when in the specialty restaurants.

[hubofhockey]

I will tip extra and do it in cash. If you write in an extra amount for service above and beyond what you get elsewhere, the tips will go into the pool. The service we have received in the specialty restaurants has been outstanding. As long as we get that service, we'll leave extra.

 

Only $8.25 or $16.50 for what usually is a $150 meal is only a little over 10%. I feel better about leaving an extra $10 to $20.