Tipping for special dining

[NYDVC]

Hello;

 

We are not new to cruising but not experts either. I have a question about tipping. First I did try and search for this but was unable to find anything so I appologise if this has been discussed before.

 

When dining on a ship that is charging you $20 pp for the meal. i.e. specility resterauntes, what do you TIP the waiter. I have to say for my meals I have always loved the staff and have ended up tipping an amount comparable to what the meal would cost on land. Is that typical? Just does not seem right to me to give 20 % or so of $20 dollars per person.

 

What do you do in this case.

 

 

thanks for your input.

[Aquahound]

What cruise line? Of the lines I have sailed, the tip is already included in the charge. I'm pretty sure this holds true on all the major cruise lines. You have the option of addiing additonal tip, but that's your choice.

[leaveitallbehind]

Specific to RCI the restaurant surcharge is gratuity inclusive so no additional amount is required. However, as aquahound indicated it is always your option to add more if you wish - how much, if any, is up to you.

[cb at sea]

The tips are included in the fee...there's no reason to tip additionally. If you want to, a token amount as "extra" is fine. No need to go overboard with the tip.

[NYDVC]

Wow, they must love me then. I did not realise that. The fee goes to the wait staff. Great info thanks.

I have primarily been on Disney. Next cruise I will ask about that at guest services. just to be sure.

Thanks for the input.

[leaveitallbehind]

Wow, they must love me then. I did not realise that. The fee goes to the wait staff. Great info thanks.

I have primarily been on Disney. Next cruise I will ask about that at guest services. just to be sure.

Thanks for the input.

 

Again, regarding RCI, part of the fee goes to the wait staff - the primary reason for the charge is for the upscale food. Any required gratuity for the wait staff is part of that - not all of that.

[spookwife]

Hello;

 

We are not new to cruising but not experts either. I have a question about tipping. First I did try and search for this but was unable to find anything so I appologise if this has been discussed before.

 

When dining on a ship that is charging you $20 pp for the meal. i.e. specility resterauntes, what do you TIP the waiter. I have to say for my meals I have always loved the staff and have ended up tipping an amount comparable to what the meal would cost on land. Is that typical? Just does not seem right to me to give 20 % or so of $20 dollars per person.

 

What do you do in this case.

 

 

thanks for your input.

 

OFFICIALLY part of the fee is the tip. there is no need or obligation to tip further.

 

that being said, we do what you do.. ballpark figure of what it would have cost us here( although we do limit it to outside Baltimore and DC for economy's sake) and add a little extra.

[spookwife]

The fee goes to the wait staff. Great info thanks.

.

 

to clarify : PART of the fee is the tip. not all. no clue as to what percentage is the tip and the server will share it with the guy that wanders around all night filling water glasses and clearing dirty plates.

[NYDVC]

OFFICIALLY part of the fee is the tip. there is no need or obligation to tip further.

 

that being said, we do what you do.. ballpark figure of what it would have cost us here( although we do limit it to outside Baltimore and DC for economy's sake) and add a little extra.

 

 

thanks for the clarification, glad to hear I am not the only one doing this. I felt a little foolish there for a bit. Truthfully we have always had great service so we wanted to show our appreciation.

[Gunner22aa]

I tip the exaxt same amount that I would in any restaurant I go to. 20% of the cost of the meal. $50 dollar meal, $10 tip.

[PrettyGirl01]

We will always leave a tip. We appreciate the effort they make to give us a special evening.

[gerif]

We usually leave $5 or so per person. The service is almost always over and above.

[Putterdude]

There is certainly no requirement to tip, the waiters participate in the auto-tip pool, however, often people do tip in the Specialty Restaurants. Depending on the level of service and the degree we connect with out waiter...we will leave $5 to $10 pp as a tip.

[ducklite]

I tip the exaxt same amount that I would in any restaurant I go to. 20% of the cost of the meal. $50 dollar meal, $10 tip.

 

Same here.

[Treven]

Whenever I eat in one of the speciality restaurants I always leave a $20 cash tip. I specified that it is cash as if you add a tip to the "bill", that tip gets thrown in the pool and your waiter gets a bit of the pooled amount. Admittedly I don't know what the breakdown is. I figure the breakdown is none of our (the cruisers) business.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On HAL -- tips are not included in the fee you pay to dine at the specialty restaurants. They get a few pennies from the Hotel Service Charge that is divided among all crew members (not including the bar staff).

So we do tip and leave an amount that is comparable to the restaurants we dine at home -- 20% of the bill.