Specialty Dining Tipping

[JF - retired RRT]

36 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

This brings up something I have coming up. I have a dinner party for 12 people that I am hosting/paying for on Diamond Princess for DH's 60th birthday. I paid the $29 pp fee in advance, as the ship requested, to secure the reservation. Usually, when DH and I dine in a specialty, I leave $10 cash ($5 pp) for the wait staff, unless the service is poor. Based on that, I was thinking I should leave $60 for the birthday dinner, but it sounds as if many think this is not necessary. Thoughts?

Hmmm. When someone pays for my meal, I leave the tip.

You may want to find out how your guests feel about you lifting the whole load or are they thinking of contributing the tip.

[ukestrummer]

when special dine was STARTED at $5 each, was described to cover TIP, maybe before your time, evolved into a cHARGE for the dinner

 

[Daniel A]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Perhaps we can avoid all the emotion on the usual tipping subject.  Whether or not you tip in a specialty restaurant is personal preference although the language on the menu and on the tab certainly "encourages" the practice.  We do tip our waiter if we are really pleased with the service, and do not tip if the service sucks.  I will usually take some cash to dinner so that if we do decide to tip we can quietly slip it to our waiter (whether he/she actually puts it into the tipping pool is their decision).

 

Folks on these boards also should be considerate of the fact that those of us who live in North America come from a "tipping culture" why many on these boards from other parts of the world come from different cultures where tipping is not the norm or it is done at a relatively low amount.  

 

Hank

Of course now comes the question of how much to tip?  I already know I can tip whatever I am comfortable doing but I am usually comfortable deciding how much to tip in a restaurant based on a percentage of the tab.  The better the service, the higher the percentage I give.  Are we supposed to tip based on a percentage of a $29 cover charge?

[voljeep]

has it been covered how much to tip for the suite breakfast in a specialty dining room ?

[JF - retired RRT]

33 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Of course now comes the question of how much to tip?  I already know I can tip whatever I am comfortable doing but I am usually comfortable deciding how much to tip in a restaurant based on a percentage of the tab.  The better the service, the higher the percentage I give.  Are we supposed to tip based on a percentage of a $29 cover charge?

You're supposed to tip extra if you want to, as much as you feel that you need to leave.

We generally give $10 IF the service was good. Nothing if the waiter isn't attentive or makes mistakes in our order.

[frugaltravel]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

Of course now comes the question of how much to tip?  I already know I can tip whatever I am comfortable doing but I am usually comfortable deciding how much to tip in a restaurant based on a percentage of the tab.  The better the service, the higher the percentage I give.  Are we supposed to tip based on a percentage of a $29 cover charge?

I would tip based on the cover charge.

[paradiselivin1]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Perhaps we can avoid all the emotion on the usual tipping subject.  Whether or not you tip in a specialty restaurant is personal preference although the language on the menu and on the tab certainly "encourages" the practice.  We do tip our waiter if we are really pleased with the service, and do not tip if the service sucks.  I will usually take some cash to dinner so that if we do decide to tip we can quietly slip it to our waiter (whether he/she actually puts it into the tipping pool is their decision).

 

Folks on these boards also should be considerate of the fact that those of us who live in North America come from a "tipping culture" why many on these boards from other parts of the world come from different cultures where tipping is not the norm or it is done at a relatively low amount.  

 

Hank

 

Couldn't agree more. Thanks, Hank.

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

has it been covered how much to tip for the suite breakfast in a specialty dining room ?

Down boy .... down 

 

 

bad doggy !

 

[Kate P.C]

We also tip cash in the specialty restaurants. We have even seen crew who dine there give tips to the waiters in cash. If crew tips them, why shouldn't we? (If they are doing an amazing job)

[Daniel A]

6 minutes ago, Kate P.C said:

We also tip cash in the specialty restaurants. We have even seen crew who dine there give tips to the waiters in cash. If crew tips them, why shouldn't we? (If they are doing an amazing job)

Crew probably doesn't pre-pay gratuities. 

[Kate P.C]

6 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Crew probably doesn't pre-pay gratuities. 

Nope, but their salaries are much smaller then ours, and they still tip everywhere they go. 🙂

[tip]

We choose to dine in the specialty restaurants on so called "formal" nights because we just do not like the aura of the MDR on those nights.  We have always left $10 cash each time because I felt that we have had exemplary service. Only once did we not leave a tip and that is when the waitperson refused the wrap up the remaining portion of my wife's steak for her.  In the past there was never a problem.  It was wrapped in a piece of aluminum foil like a swan and my wife had it to accompany her breakfast this next morning.  I am not sure what the waitperson's problem was that night.  Maybe she felt overworked?

[CZEE]

9 hours ago, voljeep said:

has it been covered how much to tip for the suite breakfast in a specialty dining room ?

 

Hilarious.  Let's have another tipping thread.  LOL

[Aus Traveller]

6 hours ago, Kate P.C said:

Nope, but their salaries are much smaller then ours, and they still tip everywhere they go. 🙂

Only the ship's officers (including the Cruise Director's staff) have what is called "deck privileges" that allows them to dine in the passenger areas. The officers are quite well paid.  Maybe you earn more, but I don't know about that.

[Aus Traveller]

5 hours ago, tip said:

We choose to dine in the specialty restaurants on so called "formal" nights because we just do not like the aura of the MDR on those nights.  We have always left $10 cash each time because I felt that we have had exemplary service. Only once did we not leave a tip and that is when the waitperson refused the wrap up the remaining portion of my wife's steak for her.  In the past there was never a problem.  It was wrapped in a piece of aluminum foil like a swan and my wife had it to accompany her breakfast this next morning.  I am not sure what the waitperson's problem was that night.  Maybe she felt overworked?

Maybe she thought there might be health issues if the steak wasn't refrigerated promptly.

[pris993]

Tips are always a personal choice... auto tip  just making it easier... tip more if you like, use your own judgement.   We love the Crown Grill, if we go several nights we try to get same table and tip at the end of the cruise.   When we eat at the buffet, ask for something special... we tip on the spot if someone gets what we requested, we appreciate the responsiveness to our request.

[zalusky]

As has been said tipping is a personal thing.   So how about we all keep our mouths shut and not tell everybody about all the ways we tip.    Please!

[MissP22]

7 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

You're supposed to tip extra if you want to, as much as you feel that you need to leave.

We generally give $10 IF the service was good. Nothing if the waiter isn't attentive or makes mistakes in our order.

That's what we normally give and it's always in cash, not added to the bill since when you do that it's put into the pool money & they only receive a portion of it. 

[Kate P.C]

On 10/18/2019 at 2:38 AM, Aus Traveller said:

Only the ship's officers (including the Cruise Director's staff) have what is called "deck privileges" that allows them to dine in the passenger areas. The officers are quite well paid.  Maybe you earn more, but I don't know about that.

All staff (and that includes shops, casino, youth staff, photo department, spa, production, dancers, art auctioneers, musicians, and there may be more) and all officers have deck privileges. Crew doesn't ( waiters, laundry, dishwasher, deck attendants, carpenters, bartenders, room stewards and many more).

[PMGS247]

When presented with a tab for signature at the end I always put something in the tip line, but I don't always get a tab to sign?  Sometimes the waiter/waitress just says have a nice evening and we're dismissed.  In the future I plan to bring some cash for this scenario, but I'm still scratching my head on why sometimes I get a tab to sign, other times not.

[Aus Traveller]

11 hours ago, Kate P.C said:

All staff (and that includes shops, casino, youth staff, photo department, spa, production, dancers, art auctioneers, musicians, and there may be more) and all officers have deck privileges. Crew doesn't ( waiters, laundry, dishwasher, deck attendants, carpenters, bartenders, room stewards and many more).

I didn't mention all the categories who have deck privileges. I realise it includes those you mentioned. I can add "guest entertainers and guest lecturers".

 

The point I was making was that the crew (waiters, stewards etc.) are not permitted to dine in the specialty restaurants. The staff with deck privileges who do dine there, are well paid. Obviously they do not pay the daily auto-gratuity, but they have written instructions from head office to tip if they use the specialty restaurants. I don't think this means that, therefore, passengers who pay the auto gratuity have to tip extra. However, if they want to, they can. 🙂

[frugaltravel]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

I didn't mention all the categories who have deck privileges. I realise it includes those you mentioned. I can add "guest entertainers and guest lecturers".

Well you did say "only" the ship officers so I read your post the same way.

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by frugaltravel

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, frugaltravel said:

Well you did say the "only" so I read your post the same way.

 

OK. Point taken. I was trying to point out the difference between (let's call them) 'staff' and 'crew' who we know are not very well paid by our standards. 🙂

[jondfk]

I can only say what I do which is:

 

If the service is beyond what I might expect, I do leave a few dollars ($10 typically), to recognize very good service.  I do this with the full knowledge that the staff are part of the gratuities pool.

 

On the other hand it's not a certainty that service in Crown Grill (or Sabatini's) will in fact be better than should be expected.  We've been disappointed in both venues on rare occasions.  On such occasions we simply pay the cover charge and make our way out.  

 

I take a similar view of my steward and others who serve us (notably our Sanctuary stewards).  If they are doing more than just going through the motions, I recognize them additionally.  If on the other hand service only just meet expectations, they've earned nothing extra.  I don't see this so much as my making a choice but rather of them making a choice regarding what level of service to deliver (and thereby what level of recognition to strive for).

 

I absolutely ALWAYS recognize by name and position any staff who go above and beyond and there are some each and every cruise.  I've been told repeatedly by service staff that this feedback is worth more than money to anyone who is looking to advance with the company.    

[MissP22]

14 hours ago, jondfk said:

If the service is beyond what I might expect, I do leave a few dollars ($10 typically), to recognize very good service.  I do this with the full knowledge that the staff are part of the gratuities pool.

 

This should also be done directly to the waiter with cash in hand otherwise they only get a portion of the amount. 

We never use the "tip" line on the receipt.