NYDVC Posted October 9, 2013 #1 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquahound Posted October 9, 2013 #2 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted October 9, 2013 #3 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb at sea Posted October 9, 2013 #4 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYDVC Posted October 9, 2013 Author #5 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leaveitallbehind Posted October 9, 2013 #6 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spookwife Posted October 9, 2013 #7 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spookwife Posted October 9, 2013 #8 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYDVC Posted October 9, 2013 Author #9 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner22aa Posted October 9, 2013 #10 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrettyGirl01 Posted October 9, 2013 #11 Share Posted October 9, 2013 We will always leave a tip. We appreciate the effort they make to give us a special evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerif Posted October 9, 2013 #12 Share Posted October 9, 2013 We usually leave $5 or so per person. The service is almost always over and above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putterdude Posted October 9, 2013 #13 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducklite Posted October 9, 2013 #14 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treven Posted October 9, 2013 #15 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted October 9, 2013 #16 Share Posted October 9, 2013 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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