Extra Tip for Room Attendant & Dining Room Waiter

[realnice46]

We also choose to pre pay tips, but for good service I usually like to give a little extra. What in general is a good amount for room steward and waiter in dining room.

[boom_boom]

For me it depends on the level of service and the number of days you're aboard. I might do $20 for a 4-night cruise but, $50 and up for a week or more. IF the service warrants the extra.

[I_r_a]

Hi R,

 

> What in general is a good amount for room steward and waiter in dining room.

 

Whatever you feel comfortable with.

 

Don't forget the asst cabin steward, the asst waiter and your wine steward.

 

Ira

[TommyD3]

Don't know about the room steward, but the dining room staff pool their tips. Therefore your tip for your top notch staff is shared with the worst staff in the dining room. Makes me tend to not give extra tips.

[wwcruisers]

36 minutes ago, I_r_a said:

Hi R,

 

> What in general is a good amount for room steward and waiter in dining room.

 

Whatever you feel comfortable with.

 

Don't forget the asst cabin steward, the asst waiter and your wine steward.

 

Ira

Sadly, the assistant cabin stewards are no more. The room stewards have been working on their own, for over a year now.  I think that they have few cabins (total) assigned to them, but they are VERY busy!

[Marelaine]

2 hours ago, TommyD3 said:

Don't know about the room steward, but the dining room staff pool their tips. Therefore your tip for your top notch staff is shared with the worst staff in the dining room. Makes me tend to not give extra tips.

 

Are you sure about that? I've read that if you leave your auto-grats in place, the waiters and stewards may keep any extra tips that you give them. If you remove your auto-grats, they are suppose to hand over the tips to the shared pool.

 

Generally, we leave our auto-grats in place, no need to chase down the behind the scenes people who took care of us. The second to the last night we bring tips, along with brief thank you notes, for those who have exceeded our expectations.  Steward and head waiter - $40 to $50. Assistant waiter and bar server in the MDR - $20. We have a new tradition of tipping someone on the last night, who wouldn't ordinarily be part of the tipping pool, such as a restroom attendant - $10 and a compliment on how well they have done their job. 

[TommyD3]

I asked the restaurant manager on Eclipse yesterday and he confirmed the all tips are pooled. I was referring to extra tips handed to staff

Edited May 8, 2019 by TommyD3

[Marelaine]

11 minutes ago, TommyD3 said:

I asked the restaurant manager on Eclipse yesterday and he confirmed the all tips are pooled. I was referring to extra tips handed to staff

 

Thank you, but that is disappointing. It makes me feel less inclined to tip extra.

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Marelaine

[miched]

On our recent cruise we were told by GR that the Cabin Attendant gets to keep all  extra gratuities given to him be it cash or from the ship board credit and etc

 

I think the bar staff also keeps any additional that is given for their service.  Some will share with the other the BTs working that bar if cash is given after given a drink.  Seen it happen at the Martini Bar and Eden Bar.   They both had a “pot” that the cash was put into.  

 

All cash given to the other employees is theirs, if given any other way it is pooled.  

 

Either way they will will end up with some extra money.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[helen haywood]

When one says that they tip extra for service that “exceeded our expectations,” what does that really mean?  I have had good service in the MDR...but I’ve never asked for anything special.  My waiter has been friendly and my orders have been delivered 90% correctly.  What would constitute service that exceeded one’s expectations?

 

 

[Marelaine]

57 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

When one says that they tip extra for service that “exceeded our expectations,” what does that really mean?  I have had good service in the MDR...but I’ve never asked for anything special.  My waiter has been friendly and my orders have been delivered 90% correctly.  What would constitute service that exceeded one’s expectations?

 

 

 

We have been very lucky to have excellent servers. We have never asked for anything special, either, but we've been pleasantly surprised.

Examples of exceeding our expectations: A head waiter who, realized that my son's disability made it difficult for him to cut his food, so he did it for him. I never would have expected that type of personal service, as I do these things myself,  but it was very nice to have him help. A bar server in the MDR who, knowing my husband liked a particular drink, would bring it as soon as we were seated. Same server was working the buffet during lunch, one afternoon, and surprised us with our drink order. A waiter and assistant waiter who went out of their way to entertain my mother. One evening she couldn't decide which desert she wanted, after choosing one, the assistant delivered the other desert to her stateroom so it was waiting for her when she retired in the evening. We have been very lucky to have excellent waiters and stewards. Would you agree?

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by Marelaine

[SunNFunCruzer]

We just got off a fabulous Holland 10 day cruise and tipped our waiter/asst waiter/asst m'd/cabin steward/asst cabin steward extra.  We didn't eat at the main dining room every night (it was a 10 day cruise), but the staff were friendly, courteous, engaging and they remembered our preferences without us having to ask and claimed to "miss us" when we didn't come to dinner.  Lol.  😉  We also didn't have our room serviced every day.

 

But, if you take a moment to ask them about themselves and their culture and homeland, you'll realize that a lot of them leave their families (and send a great deal of money home) and that they have dreams of what they'll do next (buy a small store, buy land and sell produce, work for a major hotel chain in a large city, etc.). They work soooo hard, and such long hours, that the least we can do is provide a little extra and know we had a hand in making a dream or two come true.

 

We have had absolutely terrible experiences with staff as well, but not in many, many years (thankfully) -- thus the tip to the Asst M'd.

[micheleata]

It is my understanding that if you hand cash to your room attendant/ waiter that it is theirs alone to keep.  

 

I always put it in a thank you card and hand it to them the night before we disembark.

[4774Papa]

Room Steward I usually give $30-$40 for a two week cruise (in addition to prepaid gratuities).

 

Waiter, assistant waiter, sommelier and sometimes the Maitre D (sp), is more complicated, since we do Select Dining and don't always have the same group.

 

However, on our last Eclipse cruise, for the best group that we  had about half our meals, I tipped each one $20, except for the head waiter, I gave him $30.

 

Also, I usually take a lot of $1 bills and tip the waiters at the Elite Happy Hour.

[dkjretired]

You will get conflicting answers on where tips go, I believe what Tommy said but don’t know if the info given to him is accurate. I have seen the opposite answer given on this board from other people in the know. I think most who post on here are well meaning but also believe we don’t know what the policies are, who gets what and what areas are pooled.

[m8zenblue]

I have posted an answer to this subject before and was ridiculed for my tipping practice. 

On Embarkation I tip the cabin attendant a very generous amount. 

On Debarkation I also give a very generous tip to our waiter and his assistant and to the sommelier. 

And I always insure I at least give a thank you card to the maitre d and assistant maitre d. 

The last time I answered this question I was accused of attempting to get better service than other passengers, lol, isn’t that the whole idea ?

Oh, and btw, we did get excellent service !

 

 

[dkjretired]

37 minutes ago, m8zenblue said:

I have posted an answer to this subject before and was ridiculed for my tipping practice. 

On Embarkation I tip the cabin attendant a very generous amount. 

On Debarkation I also give a very generous tip to our waiter and his assistant and to the sommelier. 

And I always insure I at least give a thank you card to the maitre d and assistant maitre d. 

The last time I answered this question I was accused of attempting to get better service than other passengers, lol, isn’t that the whole idea ?

Oh, and btw, we did get excellent service !

 

 

 

Your choice as is all tipping. I won’t recommend an amount on these threads because I don’t know the circumstances for the service rendered or the financial situation of the poster.

Edited May 9, 2019 by dkjretired

[Gordoncruickshank]

I think that pooling tips is common in dinning areas. I know that all cash tips go into a pool in Luminae and it has been like that since it opened on the Eclipse and Silhouette. I often feel it makes life easier. We often have excess abc and i use some of that to cover extra tips for Luminae or Blu when we used that.

[boscobeans]

I always ask if and when the room steward is going ashore at any of the ports of call and tip  $20 on those mornings. 

 

Always auto tip and almost always add a decent amount to the room steward and the MDR staff including our bar/drink server.  . 

 

Additional dollars here and there to bartenders, room service and servers in lounges and theater as well. 

 

Never feel pressured and for the most part feel they all do a great job.

[jcpc]

2 hours ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

I think that pooling tips is common in dinning areas. I know that all cash tips go into a pool in Luminae and it has been like that since it opened on the Eclipse and Silhouette. I often feel it makes life easier. We often have excess abc and i use some of that to cover extra tips for Luminae or Blu when we used that.

Prior to sailing on Edge I would have said that tips are pooled in Luminae.  At least that was always our experience on SM when we dined in Luminae.  However, we specifically asked on Edge if tips were pooled and we were told definitely not -- each person keeps his/her cash tips.  And, I can believe it because we did not witness the "teamwork" that we usually experience in Luminae.  I did not see any waitstaff "helping out" in tables that were not assigned to him.

 

So I really think the concept of pooling cash tips in dining venues varies from ship to ship.

Edited May 9, 2019 by jcpc

[Gordoncruickshank]

13 hours ago, jcpc said:

Prior to sailing on Edge I would have said that tips are pooled in Luminae.  At least that was always our experience on SM when we dined in Luminae.  However, we specifically asked on Edge if tips were pooled and we were told definitely not -- each person keeps his/her cash tips.  And, I can believe it because we did not witness the "teamwork" that we usually experience in Luminae.  I did not see any waitstaff "helping out" in tables that were not assigned to him.

 

So I really think the concept of pooling cash tips in dining venues varies from ship to ship.

We have as yet no experience of the Edge although we have a booking on it for next February. Our Celebrity cruising has been in the main on the Eclipse and the Silhouette with one trip on the Reflection. We will await with interest what happens then. 

[Gypsy2]

How do you go about using OBC to use as gratuitous in Blu?

 

[keithm]

On ‎5‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 12:50 AM, realnice46 said:

We also choose to pre pay tips, but for good service I usually like to give a little extra. What in general is a good amount for room steward and waiter in dining room.

We do the standard auto tip. After that we usually tip about $100 for our attendant & head waiter. We tip half that for their assistants. If I see the asst. is actually doing most of the work(which I've noticed before)I then reverse the tip amount. This amount is based on 14 night cruises either in interior or standard balcony cabins. What you choose to tip is your choice.

[DirtyDawg]

Most cruisers likely don't tip over and above the daily auto-tips.

So, if you want to tip the waiter and your steward an extra $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, or $10,000 per week it's all gravy for them.

Tip what you and your budget dictates.

[citronella]

I can never understand all the chat about whether the tips are pooled or not. What does it matter ? When you tip in a restaurant on land it’s pretty standard that tips are pooled. So why would it matter on a cruise ship ? 

 

I would like to see the gratuities become part of the fare - I bet some of the pickiest and most demanding passengers are the ones removing the auto tips.