Gratuities on Allure

[Cru1ser]

i know tips on Allure is $11.65 per person per day. that includes tips for main dining room services.

 

if we don't go to mdr at all or only go once or twice, then the tips will less than $11.65 pp pd, right? or, no matter if you go there or not, the $11.65 pp pd will remain the same?

 

thanks.

[BillOh]

It remains the same.

[Cru1ser]

It remains the same.

 

thank you!

[onefishtwofish]

it depends on your dining room selection...my time dining includes the gratuities no matter what, but unless something's changed from October, if you have the traditional dining, you can choose to put the gratuities based on your own choice.......;)

[Cru1ser]

it depends on your dining room selection...my time dining includes the gratuities no matter what, but unless something's changed from October, if you have the traditional dining, you can choose to put the gratuities based on your own choice.......;)

 

we will have the traditional dining.

 

what do you mean by "you can choose to put the gratuities based on your own choice."?

[onefishtwofish]

You can choose to do whatever grats you want to....only the my time requires set gratuities....since you have traditional, you can give them whatever you feel is right (your choice)......for example, if you only use the dining room on 2 nights, you don't have to give them 7 nights worth..you can choose to give them 2 nights worth since that's when you were there.....it's totally up to you. The $ to tip are like guidelines - you can do more or less if you feel they deserve more or less.... They give you envelopes and you put the cash in them and give the envelope to the person on the last night ;)

[Cru1ser]

You can choose to do whatever grats you want to....only the my time requires set gratuities....since you have traditional, you can give them whatever you feel is right (your choice)......for example, if you only use the dining room on 2 nights, you don't have to give them 7 nights worth..you can choose to give them 2 nights worth since that's when you were there.....it's totally up to you. The $ to tip are like guidelines - you can do more or less if you feel they deserve more or less.... They give you envelopes and you put the cash in them and give the envelope to the person on the last night ;)

 

Oh? but BillOh said:

It remains the same.

:confused: :confused:

 

 

 

i thought no matter how many nights we eat at the main dining room, no matter if we eat there at all, we have to pay the $11.65 per person per day gratuities, and it's automatically charged from our on board account.

 

so, i was wrong. it's totally up to us. if we eat there on 2 nights, we can choose to give them 2 nights worth or nothing at all:D.

 

what's the gratuities guidelines for main dining room services? how much per person per night?

 

on the last night, if we choose to pay that by cash, then it's easy, just put the cash in the envelope when they provide one; but if we choose to pay that by our on board credit from our TA, then how to pay that? how to pay a certain amount of money for gratuities using our obc?

 

They give you envelopes and you put the cash in them and give the envelope to the person on the last night

which person?

[libertybelle41]

OK, If I eat two nights in the main dining room (traditional dining) and I eat several nights at a specialty restaurant, I then can put a tip in the envelope at the end of the cruise for the two nights I ate in the dining room and for the other nights at the specialty restaurants I can tip at time of service?? is that about right?

 

I want to make sure I'm compensating these waiters the correct way.

 

Thanks

[PrettyBree]

well they charged us the grat. up front bc there werent any more options for other dining times except my time dining... however, if we go to a specialty rest. are the grat. i already paid for those too???

[onefishtwofish]

The envelopes are left on the bed towards the end of the week with your Cruise Compass. The envelopes have the title of the person - waiter, maitre d, stateroom attendant etc.....unless you're my time dining, you can put whatever cash amount you want to in the envelopes.....you don't have to tip what they say per day per person - those are just guidelines. ;)

 

As for the specialty restaurants, I don't know - we have never eaten in one, so can't help you there. :p

 

With the ob credit from your TA, I don't know how you can do that, butr I'm assuming it's just like any other credit in your account.....though I THINK that if you charge tips to your Sea Pass card, they charge only the full amount (like they do for my time dining) and you can't specify amounts - I THINK.......:rolleyes:

[Cru1ser]

The envelopes are left on the bed towards the end of the week with your Cruise Compass. The envelopes have the title of the person - waiter, maitre d, stateroom attendant etc.....unless you're my time dining, you can put whatever cash amount you want to in the envelopes.....you don't have to tip what they say per day per person - those are just guidelines. ;)

 

As for the specialty restaurants, I don't know - we have never eaten in one, so can't help you there. :p

 

With the ob credit from your TA, I don't know how you can do that, butr I'm assuming it's just like any other credit in your account.....though I THINK that if you charge tips to your Sea Pass card, they charge only the full amount (like they do for my time dining) and you can't specify amounts - I THINK.......:rolleyes:

 

thank you so much!

[Shanafan]

We did not eat in the dining room at all. We ate in the windjammer and specialty restaurants every night. I paid the suggested tips AND paid tips at the specialty restaurants. We used the windjammer and several other places for breakfast and lunch. I wouldn't dream of cutting the tips because we ate SOMEWHERE 3 times a day!

[Babyberger]

I asked the same question last year on these boards because I knew we weren't going to be in the MDR every night. What others pointed out to me that I had not thought of was that the waiters and assistant waiters work in other venues (including the MDR) during breakfast and lunch. It probably wont be "your" wait staff, but they all work hard and since they really do count on the tips we chose to tip the entire suggested amount. We also tip additionally in the specialty restaurants. This year we don't plan on setting foot in the MDR for dinner, so we chose MTD so that a table would not be assigned to us. Because we have MTD we will have to pre-pay our gratuities and this is just fine with us!

 

Also, last year we did add our gratuities to our seapass account and I am almost positive you could only do that if you were giving the entire recommended amount. If you are willing to give the entire amount than you can charge it to your seapass account and any OBC you have will be be applied.

[dotcomgirl]

If our TA gave us prepaid gratuities does this cover the MDR tips? So we will not need to put tips in an envelope on the last day unless we choose to tip extra? And/or what will the prepaid gratuities cover?

[Babyberger]

You should take something from the TA that shows they are paying your pre-paid gratuities and then check with guest relations to make sure that did happen.

 

Per the RCI website your pre-paid gratuities will include:

 

For new bookings that set sail on or after July 1, 2011 the suggested gratuities are:

Waiter: $3.75 USD a day per guest

Assistant Waiter: $2.15 USD a day per guest

Head Waiter: $.75 USD a day per guest

Housekeeping staff: $5.00 USD a day per guest

Suite Housekeeping staff: $7.25 USD a day per guest

[tiyana4]

I never cared for the envelope system personally. It is so much easier to let them add it to your S&S card and be done with it. Oftentimes TA's will offer to pay gratuities but it will come in the form of OBC. Just be sure they distinguish which one it is so there are no surprises.

[CaptData]

The amount you pay for the Specialty Restaurant includes the tip ie Chops $25.00. That includes the tip for the staff.

 

The tip for your waiter/waitress is shared by all waiters ect. Don't forget you also eat in Windjammer and other places besides MDR. So even if you only eat two nights in MDR (and the rest of dinner in specialty Dining areas) you still are beaning served by people all trip long. Just pay the amount in full and it will go to whoever served you no matter where you eat lunch/breakfast/supper.

[Rancher Dave]

Tips that are pre-paid or go on your Seapass Account will be exactly the amount RCCL suggests be paid. No adjustments are possible. So if you want to give extra to a crew member the extra is going to have to be in the form of ca$h.

 

As already mentioned the ships for dining crew not only covers the work they do at dinner but also all the service they provide around the ship in other venues for breakfast and lunch etc...some may see their server every morning where they eat breakfast and again at dinner or may feel like they have two dining crews....and giving cash to the crew in other venues in addition to what you put on your seapass is always welcomed by crew.