How much and how to tip the maitre'd

[mrsraggy]

Hello,

 

If I don't like my dining assignment or table, and ask the maitre'd to make a change. how much should I tip him? Should I approach him "cash-in-hand" when I make my request to grease the wheels or is that tacky?

 

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.:confused:

[jhannah]

There is no need to "grease the wheels" in advance. He will be happy to assist you however he can. How much to tip is dependent on what his efforts are worth to you. The old "do unto others" rule works well here. What would you like to get in recognition of your actions to please a customer?

[peaches from georgia]

Approaching him 'cash in hand to grease the wheels' is not only tacky, but smacks of bribery. If he changed your table you would then think he had done so in exchange for your cash and that leaves me with a negative impression of both of you.

 

Giving him a gratuity at the end of the cruise for his service is what is appropriate.

 

We have NEVER tipped any steward at the beginning of a cruise and never will. You reward for service given, not to ensure service being given. :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

When we used to have table problems and went to the maitre d', at the time listed on the daily program, he was not the one who was addressing table problems, time changes, etc. Usually his assistant was there.

And we didn't tip him before hand either.

[Esme]

We never tip the Maitre'd. He is an Officer and as such should not accept a tip.

[cruzincurt]

Why do we have to tip people in management for doing their jobs?

[jhannah]

We never tip the Maitre'd. He is an Officer and as such should not accept a tip.

But many do accept tips. I know that it's been a common practice of many people over the years to toke the maitre d' for services rendered. Personally, I never have. I agree with Esme and Cruzincurt that a person in this position is generally doing nothing out of the ordinary according to their job description. That said, if one really goes above and beyond in taking care of something for me, then I wouldn't hesitate to provide a token of thanks.

[willowoodf]

On our wonderful cruise just over, we did not tip the maitre'd. I had read here that some people do, but I didn't even know who he was, so saw no reason to tip him. I never saw him or talked to him except for the last couple of days when he walked up to me in the Lido and asked me how everything was. I still didn't know who he was until DH told me. Once I knew what he looked like I saw him standing at the entrance to the main dining room.

 

We did, however, tip our waiter (Dede), asst. waiter (Ryan), wine steward (Joel) and head steward (Zarr). I hadn't heard about tipping the head steward, but he was such a nice man and brought us over a cake for our anniversary and took pictures for us. Our wait staff was so excellent and friendly, I tipped them more than I originally planned.

 

Mary

[Tarkus]

i'm in the "never tipped 'em" camp too...

[dippy]

Tipping is for services received. If I do not receive any service, I do not tip.

[kryos]

Hello,

 

If I don't like my dining assignment or table, and ask the maitre'd to make a change. how much should I tip him? Should I approach him "cash-in-hand" when I make my request to grease the wheels or is that tacky?

 

Any suggestions will be most appreciated.:confused:

I wouldn't tip him a dime ... not for that sort of thing. That's a normal request for a passenger to make, and he shouldn't expect a tip in order to accommodate you.

 

Now, of course, if you were asking for some sort of special consideration ... maybe to get seated at the Captain's Table one night (I'm just using this as a far-fetched example), then, yeah ... you might want to grease his palm.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Tipping is for services received. If I do not receive any service, I do not tip.

You're truly a person after my own heart.

 

That's exactly as I believe. If my service is "adequate" ... i.e., no complaints, they get auto-tip. If anyone truly exceeds my expectations ... doing things for me that I wouldn't have expected or that go way above the "call," then I grease palms.

 

People can call me cheap if they want to, but I think this tipping business (and not just on ships) has gotten way out of hand. Seems people expect tips nowadays, whether or not they've done anything to truly earn them.

 

Sorry ... I just won't play that game.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

On our wonderful cruise just over, we did not tip the maitre'd.

The maitre'd is considered "management," isn't he? As such, he shouldn't be getting a tip. That would be like tipping the owner of a restaurant for good service provided by your waiter.

 

Tip the waiter, the heck with the maitre'd. He gets paid generously enough. It's the waiter who is working for peanuts and who depends upon that tip.

 

I can't help but wonder, though ... is the maitre'd included in the auto tips pool? Does he get a cut at the end of the week? If so, that really stinks. Just my opinion ...

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[dippy]

You're truly a person after my own heart.

People can call me cheap if they want to, but I think this tipping business (and not just on ships) has gotten way out of hand. Seems people expect tips nowadays, whether or not they've done anything to truly earn them.

 

Sorry ... I just won't play that game.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

Absolutely!!!!!

 

Auto Tipping: Anyone with a few firing neurons will realize that this is a scam used by cruiseships to ensure that enough $$$$$$$ are generated to pay their staff. I do not autotip! Most people will just assume they have to autotip but you can opt out as I do. I tip for services given (PERIOD) :mad:

 

A long time ago, tipping began to ensure that service staff provided the best service they could and if they did not, they did not get a tip. It was also a way for the service sector to lower prices by lowering wages of services staff. The lowered wage would be supplemented by the TIP left. However, the cost of the service remained the same if not higher since most people calculate their tip as a percentage of the final bill which includes taxes. As such, I tip on the pretax amount.

 

Auto Tipping makes the assumption that the best service will be given and thus you must tip. Guess what I never have, nor will I ever, pay for services before they are received. Let's say the average cruiser spend $200 for services and generates $30 in TIPS plus your busboy, waiter and steward at another $70 in tips. Approximately $100 in tps per person and if you have 1800 pax on a ship that's $180,000 in TIPS per cruise; multiply this by 52 weeks and that's 9.36 million $$$. Oh and why shouldn't the government get their fair share in taxes??? I have to pay tax on every cent I make.

 

ONLY A FOOL PAYS FOR SOMETHING HE HAS NOT RECEIVED; hold on one second, isn't that what we do when we purchase vacations. Yes, but the smart person gets travel insurance and does a lot of research before they book their vacation.

[peaches from georgia]

Absolutely!!!!!

 

I do not autotip! Most people will just assume they have to autotip but you can opt out as I do. I tip for services given (PERIOD) :mad:

 

That's fine and your choice. But you do realize, I presume, that when you tip your stewards in cash, after having opted out of the autotip, that they turn your gratuity into the pool anyway and share it. You are therefore tipping HAL employees who provided you no service and are virtually doing the same thing as if you had kept the autotip on. :rolleyes:

[dippy]

they turn your gratuity into the pool anyway and share it.

 

Sure they do. Hmm, let me see, I just received a $30 cash tip that no one on the ship knows about and I'm going to give it up. Maybe I'll give up small amount for appearance sake. I have spoken to several waiters and believe me, they only give up a small amount if any. If you believe that they give up all the cash tips to the tip pool, then could I interest you in a nice piece of property on a flood plain????

[kryos]

Sure they do. Hmm, let me see, I just received a $30 cash tip that no one on the ship knows about and I'm going to give it up. Maybe I'll give up small amount for appearance sake. I have spoken to several waiters and believe me, they only give up a small amount if any. If you believe that they give up all the cash tips to the tip pool, then could I interest you in a nice piece of property on a flood plain????

You know, this is an excellent point. I think on my next cruise ... which is a long one ... I'm gonna try to pull my cabin steward aside (assuming he is taking good care of me) and point blank ask him ... how can I make sure YOU come out ahead? Auto tip or grease your palm privately. I have no problem with the 3.50 per day in auto tips for the cabin steward ... but I'd much prefer to make my own decision on how much to tip ... even if that's significantly more for great service ... but I would much prefer he get that tip to himself ... not have to share it with all of his bosses who never so much as fluff my pillow the entire cruise.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Grumpy1]

You know, this is an excellent point. I think on my next cruise ... which is a long one ... I'm gonna try to pull my cabin steward aside (assuming he is taking good care of me) and point blank ask him ... how can I make sure YOU come out ahead? Auto tip or grease your palm privately. I have no problem with the 3.50 per day in auto tips for the cabin steward ... but I'd much prefer to make my own decision on how much to tip ... even if that's significantly more for great service ... but I would much prefer he get that tip to himself ... not have to share it with all of his bosses who never so much as fluff my pillow the entire cruise.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

Then your best option is to leave the autotip in place and give an additional tip to any that you feel deserve it. They will have to turn in the extra, but once it is determined that you left the autotip in place, 100% of the extra is returned to the person you gave it to.

 

Any one that does not turn in their extra tips risks being fired, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are extra tips planted at times to test the honesty of the crew.

 

Our autotip on the World Cruise amounted to $2280 for the two of us. We also tipped about another $1000 to those we felt deserved it. We do know people that felt that a total of $500 was adequate for the 114 days and removed autotip. I hope there weren't many that felt that way.

 

Grumpy

[peaches from georgia]

Any one that does not turn in their extra tips risks being fired, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are extra tips planted at times to test the honesty of the crew.

 

Grumpy

I absolutely agree. These stewards live and work together very closely for long periods of time. One steward might be able to hide a tip or two that they should have turned in, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time, especially living in such close quarters. We have discussed the tipping situation with several stewards; they are not willing to risk their jobs to keep a few bucks that they should have turned in. The best thing you can do for your steward is to leave the autotip in place and then tip extra for super service. That way the ones you wanted to tip directly get to keep it. ;)

[Cruiseoften]

Then your best option is to leave the autotip in place and give an additional tip to any that you feel deserve it. They will have to turn in the extra, but once it is determined that you left the autotip in place, 100% of the extra is returned to the person you gave it to.

 

Any one that does not turn in their extra tips risks being fired, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are extra tips planted at times to test the honesty of the crew.

 

Our autotip on the World Cruise amounted to $2280 for the two of us. We also tipped about another $1000 to those we felt deserved it. We do know people that felt that a total of $500 was adequate for the 114 days and removed autotip. I hope there weren't many that felt that way.

 

Grumpy

 

 

Grumpy's reply should be in very large letters for all to see!! Almost without exception, those gals and guys deserve all the extra you care to give[/size+7]

 

Officers don't need TIPS.

[blackbird71]

 

Our autotip on the World Cruise amounted to $2280 for the two of us. We also tipped about another $1000 to those we felt deserved it. We do know people that felt that a total of $500 was adequate for the 114 days and removed autotip. I hope there weren't many that felt that way.

 

Grumpy

 

Grumpy,

 

Just got the 2006 WC Brochure and in it this year tips are pre-paid for full cruise paxs, along with a glass of house wine with your meals.

 

:) back to my dreaming...

[blackbird71]

I have never tipped the maitre'd but once and only then because we ordered one meal off menu on Crystal. ( lobster thermador made with two of the biggest tails I have seen :))

 

But I do tip extra, on my recent Radisson cruise, with tips included, I still "brought" lunch for my room stewardess and her asst.

 

One of the things I have thought about, dreamer that I am,,, is on a World Cruise when would you extra tip. I have pretty much come up with segment or monthly for my answer to myself.

[dippy]

Here is a site that discusses cruise wages...

 

http://www.cruiselinesjobs.com/eng/wages/

[JLT]

Prior to the auto-tipping policy, I remember that on the cruise lines that made suggestions for tipping a $.50 per day was suggested for the Maitre'D.

Frankly, I never gave it because he never seemed to appear until the last night. I'm so glad to see that others don't tip except for exceptional sertvice.

[mrsraggy]

Hi,

I didn't mean to be tacky. I am simply uninformed. :confused:

Thought I'd better find out the proper way of doing things before I embarassed myself or someone else.