Maitre'd tip

[Protseq]

What does he do? He occasionally will stop ask if everything is okay and usually on the last day of the cruise he will stop by. So what does he do that he should be tipped extra?

 

I have to agree with your question. What does he do? In MDR open seating, you are lucky to see an assistant matr'd anymore. This has been our experience over the last few cruises, and not just with Holland America. Tom

[Softball20]

We generally always tip the maitre d'. I think that the only times we haven't is when we've never seen them at all during the cruise. Otherwise, we always have an envelope for him/her on the last night.

[peaches from georgia]

We generally always tip the maitre d'. I think that the only times we haven't is when we've never seen them at all during the cruise. Otherwise, we always have an envelope for him/her on the last night.

Not being negative or judgmental, just wondering why you always tip him. We have never had a maitre d' do a thing for us and the only time we have had one come to our table was on the last night of the cruise (everyone at the table laughed about the 'coincidence' that he was suddenly interested in how we enjoyed the dining room and could he do anything for us).

 

We regard the maitre d' as part of the officer/staff hierarchy who is salaried and not one of the crew who receive hourly wages and need tips to survive. If he had done something exceptional for us, that might be another story.

[Softball20]

After reading this thread, I'm not exactly sure why :) I can say that last summer on the Equinox (not HAL) we had a wonderful maitre d' who really accommodated our group of 12. She set aside the same table for us every night and it was ours for the night/cruise! She also came over to us each and every night for a few minutes to chat. She was still on board on our next Equinox cruise, and again went out of her way to be accommodating. I will say that there are some maitre d's who we have never seen for the entire cruise - don't really recall which ship. I think that in those instances we haven't given a tip, but otherwise, we have.

 

I get that they are salaried, but I guess we have always done it to recognize them and good service.

[peaches from georgia]

After reading this thread, I'm not exactly sure why :) I can say that last summer on the Equinox (not HAL) we had a wonderful maitre d' who really accommodated our group of 12. She set aside the same table for us every night and it was ours for the night/cruise! She also came over to us each and every night for a few minutes to chat. She was still on board on our next Equinox cruise, and again went out of her way to be accommodating....

With that kind of service and accomodation to your group needs we would have tipped also. ;)

[Cruise Organizer]

Unless the DRM has provided service, I do not tip him. Though on the NA last summer, we had two extraordinary DRM. They pitched in and helped the waiters when there was a rush. they also came around each night to see what we enjoyed and what we didn't. We were brought items off the menu that we told him we loved. Extras appeared without asking. They conversed with us, not just hi and good bye.

I made sure that I found and tipped both - cruise was 12 days and I gave each $10 - not a lot.

In March, we were on the Westerdam and we met one the the DRM - he remembered us. He stopped bye and said hi, even though he was not at our table. For lunch in the MDR, he would see us, come over and seat us wherever he wanted - window, table for 4, large table.

 

The DRMs that just have their hand out get nothing from us.

[Wayfairers]

Great info - glad to know they are now call DRM and not maitre d' and thanks for the info that I had the name wrong.... google isn't always right, huh?!

 

We have always seen the DRM (or maitre d') on our cruises. But, it has been over 2 years since we cruised so that may be one of many changes in that time.