Paid restaurants gratuity

[cole'snana]

Received an on board gift from Holland of free dinner in a restaurant on board with a fee. Is it customary to leave a tip? Is there usually more than one server as in the Main dining room?

[Krazy Kruizers]

All specialty restaurants on HAL ships do charge a fee for dinners -- that is normal.

There is no built in tip in the charge for the specialty restaurants. The servers do get a few cents from the Hotel Service Charge which is charged to your shipboard account each day per person.

You will have 2 servers take care of you.

We do tip the servers at the end of the meal. That is just us. Other people do not. You have to decide for yourself if you want to do this.

Any drinks, wine that you buy in the specialty restaurants does automatically add on a 15% gratuity.

[take us away]

I also leave a tip for the servers in the specialty restaurants.

Edited December 19, 2015 by take us away

[RuthC]

It is totally up to you whether or not to leave a tip in a specialty restaurant. The level of service you receive is a good guide in making your decision.

 

If you do decide to leave something, then it must be done in cash. There is no method by which you can add it on to your "bill"---there's no bill presented.

When you get used to walking around with no cash it can be easy to forget to tuck some in your pocket.

[UAL_FlyGal]

We always leave a 20% tip or more for the Specialty Restaurants. Here's the more: If the bill is $40, $8 is the tip, right? Well, we would leave $10. $2 won't break us and we find the service in the Specialty Restaurants exceptional.

[cbr663]

The servers in the speciality restaurants do not only work in the speciality restaurants and hence, are included in the daily tips that are charged to your onboard account. It is entirely up to you if you wish to pay an additional tip, but rest assured, these servers receive more than a "few cents" from the hotel service charge.

[jig]

All staff are part of the pool system, no matter where they work. I have looked around and have never seen anyone put something in the folder. Incl. us. What I do, an we are usually doing long b2b2b type cruises at the end a leave with the officer in charge an envelope with a fair amount to be shared by the staff. We have been thanked very much. But to each his own.

[2ptu/000]

If you search Cruise Critic for tips in paid restaurants, you will see that it isn't considered something you need to do. You certainly may leave a tip. We don't as we only dine in the paid restaurants once a cruise. The last time we were in the Pinnacle we had terrible service. We do tip our servers in MDR the last night. If I used the paid restaurants frequently on a cruise, I would also see they got a tip the last night. Leaving the tip with the officer in charge is a good idea as you will have several people serve you during a meal.

[sail7seas]

The servers in the speciality restaurants do not only work in the speciality restaurants and hence, are included in the daily tips that are charged to your onboard account. It is entirely up to you if you wish to pay an additional tip, but rest assured, these servers receive more than a "few cents" from the hotel service charge.

 

The stewards who serve us in Tamarind and Pinnacle on HAL ships do not work in other dining venues as a regular course. If there is a Code Red, they may be called on to assist.

 

[cruz chic]

The stewards who serve us in Tamarind and Pinnacle on HAL ships do not work in other dining venues as a regular course. If there is a Code Red, they may be called on to assist.

 

 

I have to disagree. I have seen the ladies that work in the tamarind also in the lido in non code red or orange days. There was one lady that worked in there every day on the eurodam.

 

The service has to be exceptionally bad for me not to tip extra.

Edited December 19, 2015 by cruz chic

[taxmantoo]

I have to disagree. I have seen the ladies that work in the tamarind also in the lido in non code red or orange days. There was one lady that worked in there every day on the eurodam.

 

The service has to be exceptionally bad for me not to tip extra.

 

The Tamarind waitresses do indeed serve double duty as Lido servers for breakfast and lunch.

[KirkNC]

We leave a cash tip unless the service is not good.

[sail7seas]

I have to disagree. I have seen the ladies that work in the tamarind also in the lido in non code red or orange days. There was one lady that worked in there every day on the eurodam.

 

The service has to be exceptionally bad for me not to tip extra.

 

Thank you for that correction. I never go to Lido breakfast so have never seen them. :)

 

[cruz chic]

Thank you for that correction. I never go to Lido breakfast so have never seen them. :)

 

 

I should have mentioned it was at lunch. I really dislike the lido so it would be rare for me to be in there at breakfast. I'd be happy to never go there at lunch either but Hal is closing the MDR so much now. I don't want to eat in the pinnacle every day at lunch.

[cb at sea]

The "fee" includes the tips. Some will add extra....some don't. It's up to you and what you feel the service is worth.

[jtl513]

I have to disagree. I have seen the ladies that work in the tamarind also in the lido in non code red or orange days. There was one lady that worked in there every day on the eurodam.

On our Eurodam cruise there was one doing escort duty in the MDR on a Gala night, and on the N.A. two were working the Indonesian Tea.

 

I have looked around and have never seen anyone put something in the folder.

I always leave the tip in an envelope.

.

Edited December 19, 2015 by jtl513

[DaveOKC]

Personally, I do tip in these dining facilities IF the service warrants it. Last cruise it did not.

 

Funny thing, our cruise was one of the first ones with the new, higher daily hotel charge and the service on the ship was below average for HAL. I know that this is just a coincidence, but it is interesting.

[Stratheden]

We always leave a 20% tip or more for the Specialty Restaurants. Here's the more: If the bill is $40, $8 is the tip, right? Well, we would leave $10. $2 won't break us and we find the service in the Specialty Restaurants exceptional.

 

We found the service in the PG on the Zuiderdam nowhere near as good as we got from our regular waiters in the MDR.

We had an 8.00pm booking in an almost empty room at the rear of the restaurant that had a big empty table for 8/10 in the middle that remained uncleared for over an hour. One very tall aloof waiter served us. My DH's fillet (medium rare) was well done at one end and MR at the other. No one came near us until we had almost finished eating to enquire whether it was ok. Of course they offered to replace it - but how many fillets can one person eat. The ambience didn't exist amongst the detritus of previous meals.

 

We certainly did not tip the PG staff.

 

We will never pay to go to the PG. Maybe we will use the free vouchers with our upcoming cruise - maybe not.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Stratheden

[PatsyAnne]

JMO, but all of the stewards are included in the service charge. I have been as impressed by the Lido and MDR stewards as the PG, and am not going to tip more just because I paid more for the meal. That doesn't mean I won't tip for exceptional service.

[dakrewser]

The stewards who serve us in Tamarind and Pinnacle on HAL ships do not work in other dining venues as a regular course. If there is a Code Red, they may be called on to assist.

 

 

Now that there's no longer lunch in the Tamarind, the ladies from there work in the Lido during the day.

[dakrewser]

One very tall aloof waiter served us. My DH's fillet (medium rare) was well done at one end and MR at the other. No one came near us until we had almost finished eating to enquire whether it was ok.

 

 

Why did you not call it to his attention before that? Why wait for him to inquire?

 

Personally I hate wait staff that continually interrupt your dinner table conversation to inquire "is everything OK?"

[DaveOKC]

Why did you not call it to his attention before that? Why wait for him to inquire?

 

Personally I hate wait staff that continually interrupt your dinner table conversation to inquire "is everything OK?"

 

Even worse is when they come around right after you are served your dinner and had not had time to take a bite before asking how your meal is!

[sail7seas]

Now that there's no longer lunch in the Tamarind, the ladies from there work in the Lido during the day.

 

That likely is why they no longer serve free lunch in Tamarind. They have cut crew so much, they need the ladies to augment the staff in Lido.

 

[OceanTraveller4ever]

If I have a Neptune suite, and go to the PG for most breakfasts, with the occasional dinner, I will tip the staff. Otherwise as the occasional PG patron, I do not think it is warranted.

With the increase in the daily service charge, and the over-inflated US buck, it gets to be quite taxing.

As an off-topic, the US buck is now ensuring that HAL will be getting less business from the northern folks (no fault of theirs),

[Stratheden]

Why did you not call it to his attention before that? Why wait for him to inquire?

 

Personally I hate wait staff that continually interrupt your dinner table conversation to inquire "is everything OK?"

 

As I said we were in an almost deserted room at the back and no one came near us to enquire if everything was ok. DH started on the good part of the steak and it was not until towards the end that he realised it was well done at the other end. We could have gotten up and wandered around and made a scene but decided not to.

 

The PG is not anything great IMHO. No atmosphere at all. Very aloof staff. I cannot understand why some people book and pay for many meals there for their cruise over and above the dining room. They must have some very ordinary restaurants at home if they think the PG is worth the extra money.