Appropriate tip for Concierge?

[Daghis]

This will be my first cruise with access to a Concierge (in the Concierge Lounge). What is an appropriate tip for him? And am I correct in my understanding that the gratuity is typically offered on the last day of the cruise?

[Clarea]

This will be my first cruise with access to a Concierge (in the Concierge Lounge). What is an appropriate tip for him? And am I correct in my understanding that the gratuity is typically offered on the last day of the cruise?

Yes, they should have envelopes out the last couple of days. They usually have a form to add their gratuity to your on board account, but I've not cruised since the changes in gratuity policy. They probably will change the form now.

[Annefran]

I would like to know how much is appropriate for a normal 7 night cruise also. :)

[marci22]

For 2 people, having a couple/few drinks each night, for 7 nights, I think $50 is generous for the concierge. Tip on the last night. I usually use the stationary and write a thank you note and put the money in there. If you are a real pain, and monopolize his time, give him more. If you stop in a couple nights only, give less.

 

Also tip the bartenders separately like you would if you were paying for drinks at the bar. You can tip as you go or tip at the end.

 

But in the end you give what you want to give. There is no designated amount.

[jbrezen]

Are the bartenders typically the same throughout the entire sailing? I was thinking of tipping them at the end, but if they are different each night, then I would want to tip as I go.

[Paul65]

For 2 people, having a couple/few drinks each night, for 7 nights, I think $50 is generous for the concierge. Tip on the last night. I usually use the stationary and write a thank you note and put the money in there. If you are a real pain, and monopolize his time, give him more. If you stop in a couple nights only, give less.

 

Also tip the bartenders separately like you would if you were paying for drinks at the bar. You can tip as you go or tip at the end.

 

But in the end you give what you want to give. There is no designated amount.

 

So, if you're going in there to have a drink or two, and tipping the bartenders separately, why are you tipping the concierge in addition?

 

I am not looking for an excuse to not tip; I've just never been in the situation (but will be on my next cruise), so I am curious.

[Clarea]

Are the bartenders typically the same throughout the entire sailing? I was thinking of tipping them at the end, but if they are different each night, then I would want to tip as I go.

They are typically the same for the entire cruise, but not always. Sometimes they get reassigned. We usually give something for each drink.

[jbrezen]

They are typically the same for the entire cruise, but not always. Sometimes they get reassigned. We usually give something for each drink.

 

Dumb follow-up question, I'm assuming you bring cash if you are tipping with each drink since they aren't billed to your account? What would you recommend/ drink?

[spookwife]

Yes, they should have envelopes out the last couple of days. They usually have a form to add their gratuity to your on board account, but I've not cruised since the changes in gratuity policy. They probably will change the form now.

 

the concierge is NOT included in those daily tips.

 

Daghis: honestly its a subjective thing for both the Concierge and the bartender. Our Bartenders have been VERY good to us so they tend to get about $50 at the end of a week long cruise. the Concierge gets between $20 and 50, based on how much he does for us. sometimes we don't use him for anything but to chit chat and others he takes care of a lot of stuff for us, issues with the cabin, reservations, etc. I normally just snag the envelopes in the desk that goes with the stationary. although in the future I think I may start taking some of my handmade thank you cards since they no longer give out the vouchers.

 

It should be noted that we use the CL a LOT.. as in every morning for breakfast( well sometimes second breakfast) and tend to be there for most if not all of the nightly cocktail hour.

[Clarea]

Dumb follow-up question, I'm assuming you bring cash if you are tipping with each drink since they aren't billed to your account? What would you recommend/ drink?

We bring a bunch of $1 bills and usually tip $1 per drink, sometimes more.

[spookwife]

Dumb follow-up question, I'm assuming you bring cash if you are tipping with each drink since they aren't billed to your account? What would you recommend/ drink?

 

although I rarely saw anyone tip each night, those that did tended to be ones that had no intention of coming back on the last night.

 

tip about the same as you would if you were paying for it in the VCL. couple three bucks. after the first night they tend to remember EXACTLY what you like and when you walk in, they catch your eye, cock their head and when you nod, by the time you make your way to a chair, your drink is waiting for you.

[jbrezen]

Thank you, sorry to hijack Marc. Will "buy" you a drink in the CL this weekend :p

[BillB48]

So, if you're going in there to have a drink or two, and tipping the bartenders separately, why are you tipping the concierge in addition?

 

Part of my tip to the concierge is like the tip to the head waiter... the concierge is responsible for making the place run right and the like even if I don't see him very much. Then it depends on what I ask them to do... did they make reservations at Chops or Portofino, did they have pull a few strings to get you the time/day you wanted, did they book a number of tours for you, did the internet gobble up your minutes in error and he reapplied the credit for you? There are many ways they can cut through the red tape of the guest services desk saving you a boat load of time from standing in line. That is where I try to figure in how much I throw in the tip jar. In the end it is what you feel comfortable with.

[leaveitallbehind]

Thank you, sorry to hijack Marc. Will "buy" you a drink in the CL this weekend :p

 

As others have posted it is subjective as to amounts but there will likely be 2 bartenders all week in the CL along with the Concierge. We have given cash in the envelopes to all seperately on the last night of the cruise. The $20 - $50 range as indicated also by others would be appropriate IMO. See you and Marc Saturday!

[Annefran]

Great information thanks to all that posted. Yes Daghis, sorry for highjacking your thread. Great question, thanks so much for posting!

 

Happy Cruising!!!:D

[Paul65]

Part of my tip to the concierge is like the tip to the head waiter... the concierge is responsible for making the place run right and the like even if I don't see him very much. Then it depends on what I ask them to do... did they make reservations at Chops or Portofino, did they have pull a few strings to get you the time/day you wanted, did they book a number of tours for you, did the internet gobble up your minutes in error and he reapplied the credit for you? There are many ways they can cut through the red tape of the guest services desk saving you a boat load of time from standing in line. That is where I try to figure in how much I throw in the tip jar. In the end it is what you feel comfortable with.

 

OK. Thanks. We splurged on a suite mainly for the space, and I'm not sure how much time, if any, we'll spend in the concierge lounge. I guess I'll just wait and see. :)

[jamscckmc]

Paul if you never enter the CL or ask anything of the concierge then you probably don't need to tip. We usually have a drink in the CL before dinner and sometimes after. If we are in a hurry get a quick breakfast there . We rarely have asked for anything from them. There always seems to be a few people who monopolize their time and I hope they tip well. Generally we tip $50 to the concierge and $20 to each waiter. If you are on Allure or Oasis you can have a full made to order breakfast and lunch in the CL. We tipped more and there were more people to tip.

[marci22]

Part of my tip to the concierge is like the tip to the head waiter... the concierge is responsible for making the place run right and the like even if I don't see him very much. Then it depends on what I ask them to do... did they make reservations at Chops or Portofino, did they have pull a few strings to get you the time/day you wanted, did they book a number of tours for you, did the internet gobble up your minutes in error and he reapplied the credit for you? There are many ways they can cut through the red tape of the guest services desk saving you a boat load of time from standing in line. That is where I try to figure in how much I throw in the tip jar. In the end it is what you feel comfortable with.

 

Yes. The concierge can be very helfpul if you just ask. He/she often saves us a trip to guest services and usually takes care of minor issues so it is worth some amount of gratuity.

[ryano]

I have not ever and probably will not ever gain access to the Concierge. While I know risk getting flamed and am donning my flame suit as I type this, 50.00 seems awful steep for a tip.

 

Please dont get me wrong. Im all about tipping the staff but why does the Concierge that may or may not do anything for you deserve a lot more gratuity than your cabin attendant and waiters who work their butts off for you daily?

 

Also, isnt the Concierge a salary position? And a very decent salary at that?

 

Again, Im just curious here :confused:

[redcrown]

I have not ever and probably will not ever gain access to the Concierge. While I know risk getting flamed and am donning my flame suit as I type this, 50.00 seems awful steep for a tip.

 

Please dont get me wrong. Im all about tipping the staff but why does the Concierge that may or may not do anything for you deserve a lot more gratuity than your cabin attendant and waiters who work their butts off for you daily?

 

Also, isnt the Concierge a salary position? And a very decent salary at that?

 

Again, Im just curious here :confused:

 

From what I have understood, by way more knowledgeable posters than me, RCCL changed the wage scale for concierges a few years back. Now they are more dependent on tips. For what I use the concierge for on most trips $50 is way high for me. But then again I do not use their services that often perhaps only to take care of our internet services so my tip is less. Then again if as one time on the Liberty I used Oana much more so the tip was considerably higher than my usual.

[critterchick]

I have not ever and probably will not ever gain access to the Concierge. While I know risk getting flamed and am donning my flame suit as I type this, 50.00 seems awful steep for a tip.

 

Please dont get me wrong. Im all about tipping the staff but why does the Concierge that may or may not do anything for you deserve a lot more gratuity than your cabin attendant and waiters who work their butts off for you daily?

 

Also, isnt the Concierge a salary position? And a very decent salary at that?

 

Again, Im just curious here :confused:

 

Well, I do use the CL on a daily basis for a couple of cappuccinos and a few drinks, and I think that $50 as a baseline for a week is pretty steep as well if the Concierge isn't visibly doing something for me. We will tip the bar server as we go, a dollar a drink (even on the final night). We may ask the Concierge to make a few reservations for us and apply our Internet coupons, and that's usually it. I figure $20 for 5-7 nights is about right for that level of service. If the Concierge does more for us, the tip goes up.

 

But there's no "right" answer.

 

The salary is probably decent, but it's half of what it used to be 3-4 years ago. But I have no idea where they started and where they are now, so I can only base my tips on what somebody does for me.

[spookwife]

I have not ever and probably will not ever gain access to the Concierge. While I know risk getting flamed and am donning my flame suit as I type this, 50.00 seems awful steep for a tip.

 

 

welp lemme tell you what Reyno did for us over Christmas:

 

got us reservations for the Wine tasting( not his fault there was a major miscommunication and we never actually got to attend)

 

kept us supplied with daily print outs of our sign n sail bill( including one day when his printer had died and he went all the way down to GS to get it)

 

Chit chatted amiably with everyone, both morning and night

 

while not for us directly, he DID arrange for one particular cruiser to get a drink that was not part of the 'usual' offerings.

 

Made sure the poor girl who was stuck cleaning up after the ginormous MESS some private event had the night before got our compliment/kudos in writing for her boss.

 

Introduced us to a few amazing new people( even if one swore cheese was evil.) under the guise of not letting them feel lonely.. (he was sailing alone)

 

 

was on the phone before I finished mentioning that the restrooms on the deck below were not flushing( yes, Virginia, even Royal has loo issues)

 

Provided us with advance looks at the dinner menus for the entire week( not his fault the DR made weird changes to when formal night was as well as replaced a few main entrees)

 

and all while battling a fever/flu. and a entry door that seemed to have all sorts of whacked out issues.. wouldn't work, wouldn't close automatically, the casing fell off one afternoon..etc) and an adjacent outside door that always seemed to get stuck open letting in one hellacious breeze. On previous cruises he has made reservations for us at Chops, offered to snag us a cabana and I bet if we had asked instead of doing it ourselves, gotten Mr Spook that tux shirt that actually fit....

 

as for our lovely bartender, My glass of red was poured by the time I got to the chair and Mr Spook's JD and Coke was more JD than coke.

 

both of them more than earned the tips we gave them that week.

[Daghis]

Thank you all for your "tips" regarding tips in the Concierge Lounge. They've been very helpful!

[Paul65]

welp lemme tell you what Reyno did for us over Christmas:

 

got us reservations for the Wine tasting( not his fault there was a major miscommunication and we never actually got to attend)

 

kept us supplied with daily print outs of our sign n sail bill( including one day when his printer had died and he went all the way down to GS to get it)

 

Chit chatted amiably with everyone, both morning and night

 

while not for us directly, he DID arrange for one particular cruiser to get a drink that was not part of the 'usual' offerings.

 

Made sure the poor girl who was stuck cleaning up after the ginormous MESS some private event had the night before got our compliment/kudos in writing for her boss.

 

Introduced us to a few amazing new people( even if one swore cheese was evil.) under the guise of not letting them feel lonely.. (he was sailing alone)

 

 

was on the phone before I finished mentioning that the restrooms on the deck below were not flushing( yes, Virginia, even Royal has loo issues)

 

Provided us with advance looks at the dinner menus for the entire week( not his fault the DR made weird changes to when formal night was as well as replaced a few main entrees)

 

and all while battling a fever/flu. and a entry door that seemed to have all sorts of whacked out issues.. wouldn't work, wouldn't close automatically, the casing fell off one afternoon..etc) and an adjacent outside door that always seemed to get stuck open letting in one hellacious breeze.

 

So, he made a reservation for you, wasted paper by printing out your bill daily, allowed you to look at the dining room menu, battled some unrepaired maintenance items with the CL, and was friendly and chit-chatted with you and others, despite the fact that he had fever/flu.

 

That actually sounds pretty bad. Sounds like he tried hard, but if the regular concierge on our cruise has a fever, I hope he will not be interacting with the guests.

[marci22]

I have not ever and probably will not ever gain access to the Concierge. While I know risk getting flamed and am donning my flame suit as I type this, 50.00 seems awful steep for a tip.

 

Please dont get me wrong. Im all about tipping the staff but why does the Concierge that may or may not do anything for you deserve a lot more gratuity than your cabin attendant and waiters who work their butts off for you daily?

 

Also, isnt the Concierge a salary position? And a very decent salary at that?

 

Again, Im just curious here :confused:

 

I did say it was 'generous'. Usually on a 7 night cruise, we will go every morning for coffee, every evening for drinks. Concierge will always greet us, ask us if we need anything, etc. I will leave 40-50 for my husband and me. I gave $20 on one 5 night. It depends. I also give ~$20 per bartender.

 

Sometimes there will be several posters saying 'oh we always give $100!' I heard one big spender on a cruise say he had given $300 to concierge. For most people, I think $20-50 is very nice. Any amount is nice!