What to do about tipping waiter if we never dine in MDR on RCI

[maryyl]

My bitter half hates dining in the MDR, so we always eat at the buffet. I feel bad about our assigned waiters where we never dine. Can we ask RCI to assign other cruisers to our places so the waiters don't lose out on their "tips"?

[Jimnbigd]

Yes, you should tell the Maitre D' that you will not be using the MDR in the evening so someone else might be able to use it. As for tips, you are still expected to tip the full amount. The staff in the buffet works hard too. I think most dining tips are pooled and shared, so your MDR wait staff should still receive their proper tips. Just put the recommended tips on your ship account and you'll be fine.

[LHT28]

On some ships the waitstaff rotate in different dining venues during the cruise you may see your MDR waiter from breakfast in the buffet at lunch

So just leave the auto tip in place if that is how they do it

 

Yes do let the Maitre'd know you will not be there for dinner other people may want to change dining times so that would free up a spot

[paul929207]

First, be sure you have Anytime Dining. That way you will not be taking a space from someone who wants to eat in the MDR.

 

Second, just leave on the autotip. You will be waited on by the waiters in the buffet as well as those you see at breakfast and lunch.

[cruzeluver]

Those who work in the buffets are part of the auto -tipping.

[spookwife]

My bitter half hates dining in the MDR, so we always eat at the buffet. I feel bad about our assigned waiters where we never dine. Can we ask RCI to assign other cruisers to our places so the waiters don't lose out on their "tips"?

 

Bitter half?! heheheh

 

it is polite to inform the Head waiter upon embarkation that you will not be using your assigned seating.

 

alternatively you can choose My Time Dining instead and just never make any reservation.. although you will be required to prepay the gratuities up front.

 

regardless, you should still pay the gratuities even if all you do is eat in the Windjammer/buffet or room service as that fee also covers the servers in the buffet,

 

*Just realized I was no longer in the Royal boards, but the advice still stands. some lines call it Any Time dining though, not My Time.

[maryyl]

The last time we were on RCI Mariner otS (April 2011) , we were given coupons to hand to cabin steward, waiter, busboy, and maitre d' on the last day. The coupons were actually labelled "waiter", "busboy", etc. so I didn't know if our favourite waiter at the buffet (who served us every night) would have been able to cash it. The "recommended tips" were charged to our stateroom bill. The official line, I believe, is that it is shared amongst the 4 above-mentioned people.

[RoofingPrincess]

Maryyl, those weren't really coupons that the recipient would need to "cash". They're just something for the passenger to put in an envelope and hand to the staff.

The actual bookkeeping takes place behind the scenes, and the accounts of those who served you (dining room staff and cabin attendant) are credited regardless of whether you hand them the voucher or not.

Some staff like to have the voucher so they can see if the amount they receive in their pay check matches up with their own accounting of the vouchers.

[cb at sea]

If you don't change to MTD, and never eat in the MDR, just take the tips to the Maitre' d on the last evening....he'll see that the tips get to the proper folks. By tipping those who have been assigned to you, you will not have to tip the WJ folks at all....as by paying the people that the ship suggests you tip, you're covered.

[maryyl]

First, be sure you have Anytime Dining. That way you will not be taking a space from someone who wants to eat in the MDR.

 

Second, just leave on the autotip. You will be waited on by the waiters in the buffet as well as those you see at breakfast and lunch.

 

 

On Mariner, we had an assigned table even tho we had "my time" dining, so I presume the same table would have the same waiter for the duration of the cruise?

[Dayenu]

My bitter half hates dining in the MDR, so we always eat at the buffet. I feel bad about our assigned waiters where we never dine. Can we ask RCI to assign other cruisers to our places so the waiters don't lose out on their "tips"?

 

Send your bitter half to lonely dining in the buffet, and join the cheerful crowd of MDR dining - see if this will sweeten your bitter half!

 

And don't think you will deprive somebody from tips - just put them on your credit card, the staff pool tips, it's a common mistake they go to a certain person. Unless you tip over "suggested" by the cruise line.

[janetz]

Send your bitter half to lonely dining in the buffet, and join the cheerful crowd of MDR dining - see if this will sweeten your bitter half

 

LOVE IT!

 

[SadieN]

On our last HAL cruise we only ate in the buffet. We were assigned ATD. At night we were asked for our cabin number. We left our tips on our account, we figured they would end up in the correct place.

[maryyl]

Send your bitter half to lonely dining in the buffet, and join the cheerful crowd of MDR dining - see if this will sweeten your bitter half!

 

Is there still hope after 40+ years together?

 

And don't think you will deprive somebody from tips - just put them on your credit card, the staff pool tips, it's a common mistake they go to a certain person. Unless you tip over "suggested" by the cruise line.

 

Last year, RCL still gave labelled envelopes for tips the last day. I don't know if they have now followed other cruiselines' policy of just adding it to your bill.

[Langley Cruisers]

So just leave the auto tip in place if that is how they do it...

 

Second, just leave on the autotip...

 

Perhaps it's all just semantics but I wanted to address this as more than one person has called it "auto tip" on RCI.

 

There is no auto-tip on this line; to me, auto-tip means they charge it to your account daily as a service charge or hotel charge as it's called on Princess. Royal does not do this "automatically". You must ask them to charge the gratuities to your account, or you can pre-pay them in your final payment before leaving home, or you can pay in cash at the end of your cruise.

 

I know regular RCI cruisers understand this policy, but for someone new coming in and reading this, it could be misleading. No auto-tip on RCI, but there are several ways to pay your gratuities. :)

[LHT28]

Perhaps it's all just semantics but I wanted to address this as more than one person has called it "auto tip" on RCI.

 

There is no auto-tip on this line; to me, auto-tip means they charge it to your account daily as a service charge or hotel charge as it's called on Princess. Royal does not do this "automatically". You must ask them to charge the gratuities to your account, or you can pre-pay them in your final payment before leaving home, or you can pay in cash at the end of your cruise.

 

I know regular RCI cruisers understand this policy, but for someone new coming in and reading this, it could be misleading. No auto-tip on RCI, but there are several ways to pay your gratuities. :)

Thanks for the explanation

 

so you can ask RCI to put the gratuities on your account automatically...no worries that way;)

 

 

From RCI website

For the convenience of guests, pre-paid gratuities may be arranged online or added to your booking by your travel agent, before your sail date. While onboard, you may have gratuities added to your account by filling out a pre-pay gratuity form. Or, you may pay in cash at the end of your cruise, using envelopes provided to you in your stateroom.

[maryyl]

From RCI website

For the convenience of guests, pre-paid gratuities may be arranged online or added to your booking by your travel agent, before your sail date. While onboard, you may have gratuities added to your account by filling out a pre-pay gratuity form. Or, you may pay in cash at the end of your cruise, using envelopes provided to you in your stateroom.

 

 

And the cash all goes into a common pool to share with other crew? I dunno...

[sparky-elpaso]

From RCI website

For the convenience of guests, pre-paid gratuities may be arranged online or added to your booking by your travel agent, before your sail date. While onboard, you may have gratuities added to your account by filling out a pre-pay gratuity form. Or, you may pay in cash at the end of your cruise, using envelopes provided to you in your stateroom.

 

 

And the cash all goes into a common pool to share with other crew? I dunno...

 

Some of your gratuities go to people "behind the scenes" that you may never see. And if you have "my time dining" your tips are prepaid.

[DanJ]

 

 

And the cash all goes into a common pool to share with other crew? I dunno...

 

Yes, the basic amount of the pre-paid gratuities gets pooled with those who pay cash for the tips, and the money divided up amongst those in the tipping pool based on their position. Any money you pay to a crew member over and above this amount is theirs to keep.

[skandls]

Please understand that the tips for the waitstaff are now shared under some formula set by the cruise lines. In the 'good' old days you saw your wait staff for breakfast and dinner every day. Most days you also had lunch at 'your' table. Today the wait staff are required to take shifts in the buffets and sometimes the free seating MDR for lunch. Much of the pay for these people comes from the tips even if they do not have a 'table' for dinner.

 

If you do not use auto tipping then make sure you leave a generous tip in the buffet when you have your meals there. Just as you leave a tip for your cabin attendant.

 

I personally think its time to call the tips a service charge and let people opt out for legit reasons.

[Starry Eyes]

NCL pools the "service charges", including the buffet and behind the scenes people. I believe there are other lines that do not pool the waiter's tips. Based upon statements from our assistant waiter on a relatively recent RCI cruise, I do not think the waiter's tips are pooled. That assistant said the asstopnd waiters rotate through the buffet...while on that rotation, they do NOT get the tips. He explained that assistant waiters hope to be lucky in the timing of their buffet rotation assignments, as they want to be on that rotation as little as possible. For example, it is bad luck to start and end a contract on the buffet rotation, as one gets fewer tips.

 

Based on this info if I were only going to dine in the buffet on an RCI cruise, I would go to the Madre D the first day and tell him I would not be using my MDR assignment. I would then try to notice delightful buffet waiter or two to sit in their buffet area...I would tip them in cash appropriately. On RCI, the MTD slots are limited in number and often much in demand, so I would not take a MTD slot...doing so might deny that MTD slot to somebody who really wants it.

 

I wish RCI would have make a "no MDR" dining category for those using only buffet and specialty restaurants...That would allow such guests tips to be assigned to the waiters on the appropriate rotation.

[njhorseman]

Despite what an assistant waiter said (and I've found it's not uncommon for an inexperienced crew member to not really understand where their paycheck comes from), in its tipping FAQs, Royal Caribbean gives a pretty strong hint that there may be some pooling of tips:

 

Notice to guests: Gratuities may be shared with other crew members depending on the particular service requirement.

[Starry Eyes]

Despite what an assistant waiter said (and I've found it's not uncommon for an inexperienced crew member to not really understand where their paycheck comes from), in its tipping FAQs, Royal Caribbean gives a pretty strong hint that there may be some pooling of tips:

 

Notice to guests: Gratuities may be shared with other crew members depending on the particular service requirement.

 

My Assistant waiter was not inexperienced...He seemed ready to move up to waiter. I think he understands his pay better than I ever will.

 

The key word in the sentence from the FAQ is "may". He may have to share tips depending upon the service requirement. Imagine if steward A is under the weather, and steward B picks up the slack, cleaning 20% more cabins...no surprise if steward B gets some extra money or repayment in kind, eventually. Same if another assistant waiter covers part of a dining section.

 

Does the website say that tips will be shared with the staff covering the buffet in the evening?

[maryyl]

On the final day of our RCI cruise we were given labelled envelopes for "maitre d", "waiter", "asst waiter", and "cabin attendant". I specifically asked our cabin attendant if she had to share whatever was in the envelope and she said, "no, she gets to keep it".

[rvsullivan]

I guess I would wonder if the object of this exercise is to reduce the amount of money you are going to give, or to ensure it goes to the appropriate place. If the latter, I would just set up auto tips and be done with it. If your trying to save money, then I would just not tip.