Tipping for Room Service

[Mum2Mercury]

6 hours ago, Hutcha said:

They are included in your pre paid grats. If they are not doing extra, why pay them extra?

Hauling a tray of food specially to your room is "extra". 

[Cruising89143]

Last month the delivery attendant brought our lunch into our stateroom. She went over the complete order to ensure that everything was correct as we ordered. Yes, we gave her a gratuity even with the surcharge as we always do. There was no added gratuity. I assume that RCI is keeping the surcharge. 

[ONECRUISER]

7 hours ago, SeattleAl said:

I have no problem with a small tip. From what you folks are saying the current Cruise Compass on Quantum is incorrect and the delivery is not contactless. That makes tipping easy. I just didn't know what to do if only left outside the door.

Royal is known for Outdated or not Updated published info. Shoot one Cruise about 5yrs ago Main Dining opened at 6pm though about 1/4 Early Seating had 5:30pm on our Cards. Was interesting as couple hundred of us walked to out Tables with Crew wondering why we all were so early. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by ONECRUISER

[sandy toes]

7 hours ago, Hutcha said:

They are included in your pre paid grats. If they are not doing extra, why pay them extra?

Room service is NOT part of prepaid tips. 

[poocher]

5 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

You always give your room service delivery person $5. Help the crew out. 

Yup that’s my standard room service tip.  

[poocher]

5 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

You always give your room service delivery person $5. Help the crew out. 

Sorry, double post.

Edited June 1, 2022 by poocher

[JamesEM]

I was on the Allure last week and had room service once, while delivery took an hour the food was hot and good, also delivered  to the cabin.

[ldubs]

11 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

They bring what you ordered in a reasonable amount of time,  slipping then a couple of $ ain't gonna break your piggy bank.  Late or not exactly what you expected, same as anywhere else, no tip or just a penny.😉

 

 

 No, no.  Never give a penny as a form of protest.  😦

[dleahy4444]

If I’m on a cruise and I could afford to spend thousands of dollars to entertain myself, and maybe blow money at the casino, then I can spare a few dollars for the person hauling up a tray of food for me eat in my pjs since I didn’t want to get my own breakfast. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve worked hard to be in the position to have discretionary funds, and when I’m on vacation I will treat myself, but I also recognize that some people also work very hard yet aren’t as fortunate. Sure I’ve paid the pre-paid gratuities, but that is spread among a lot of staffers. A few extra dollars isn’t going to break me. 

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

There was no added gratuity.  I assume that RCI is keeping the surcharge. 

If there was no charge above the $7.95 that was a mistake. Kinda hard for RCI to keep something they didn't get.

[Cruising89143]

9 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

If there was no charge above the $7.95 that was a mistake. Kinda hard for RCI to keep something they didn't get.

I was referring to the surcharge with RCI keeping that and not giving the delivery person any part of that. 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, cruisingator2 said:

I was referring to the surcharge with RCI keeping that and not giving the delivery person any part of that. 

What surcharge? I think it has already been established that the room service delivery person is not part of the grats pool for cabin attendants (or any other group as far as we know). Again, what surcharge is RCI keeping from them?

[Cruising89143]

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

What surcharge? I think it has already been established that the room service delivery person is not part of the grats pool for cabin attendants (or any other group as far as we know). Again, what surcharge is RCI keeping from them?

There was a charge of $7.95 for each order placed. I’m referring TO THAT. I  ‘m not referring to the standard gratuities that we all pay. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, cruisingator2 said:

There was a charge of $7.95 for each order placed. I’m referring TO THAT. I  ‘m not referring to the standard gratuities that we all pay. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

That's a standard room service fee not a surcharge -  not sure why you would assume the delivery person should get that. That service fee has an 18% grats on it (and I suppose you could call that a surcharge) - that should belong to the delivery person.  If you think they don't get that I assume you think RCI keeps the 18% grats on everything.

[Cruising89143]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

That's a standard room service fee not a surcharge -  not sure why you would assume the delivery person should get that. That service fee has an 18% grats on it (and I suppose you could call that a surcharge) - that should belong to the delivery person.  If you think they don't get that I assume you think RCI keeps the 18% grats on everything.

There was no gratuity added to our room service order. Maybe because it took one hour and forty-five minutes to deliver which was the reason for my comment that I have explained but thank you for not taking the time to read my prior comments. 🙄

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

There was no gratuity added to our room service order. Maybe because it took one hour and forty-five minutes to deliver which was the reason for my comment that I have explained but thank you for not taking the time to read my prior comments.

I read your comments just fine and understood there was mistake in your favor for room service. 

[rudeney]

For non-suite guests there is a $7.95 charge for room service with an 18% gratuity ($1.44) added to that.  If the gratuity is not added, then as @Biker19 stated, it's a mistake.  Even if the $1.44 gratuity were added, each person needs to decide if that's enough of a tip to have food brought to your stateroom.  If you believe it is, then that's that.  Personally, I don't ever tip anyone under $5 for any sort of personal service, whether is valet parking, luggage handling, table service or room service.

[Cruising89143]

2 minutes ago, rudeney said:

For non-suite guests there is a $7.95 charge for room service with an 18% gratuity ($1.44) added to that.  If the gratuity is not added, then as @Biker19 stated, it's a mistake.  Even if the $1.44 gratuity were added, each person needs to decide if that's enough of a tip to have food brought to your stateroom.  If you believe it is, then that's that.  Personally, I don't ever tip anyone under $5 for any sort of personal service, whether is valet parking, luggage handling, table service or room service.

No, $1.44 is not enough IMHO and will leave it at that. 

[Bronx12]

19 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

That isn't always the case.  We just stayed in a suite on Quantum and the room service guy insisted on bringing the food into the cabin and putting it on the dining table.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom suite on Serenade, May 8, and our breakfast room service was the same way. Having our coffee/toast/fruit delivered is definitely worth a tip in our opinion.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Bronx12

[sandy toes]

9 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

 

 No, no.  Never give a penny as a form of protest.  😦

What exactly are you protesting? 

Being lazy? staying in your cabin? having someone bring what you request, to you in said cabin?

Kindness...

[cruzsnooze]

The daily auto gratuity took away the need to tip any more then that. How many times can you tip for the same service? Once is more then enough for me. 

[Mum2Mercury]

2 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

There was no gratuity added to our room service order. Maybe because it took one hour and forty-five minutes to deliver which was the reason for my comment that I have explained but thank you for not taking the time to read my prior comments. 🙄

Now that's a fine line, and I'm not sure what action would be proper. 

 

On the one hand, that's not a reasonable amount of time for food delivery, and I'd be tempted to say, "Don't tip."  On the other hand, the staff is overworked, and I think the long time frame might not be the fault of the staff member.

 

I believe -- given those circumstance -- I'd tip the delivery person, and go to Guest Services and ask for the $7.95 fee to be removed from my bill.  That is, I'd reward the little guy /the guy on the front lines who's working hard, but stick it to (or at least attempt to stick it to) the big company who has created a bad situation without enough workers. 

[Mum2Mercury]

20 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

It is very rare for them to just knock and leave food outside your door.     If they do, then no tip is the obvious answer.   

If I were the delivery person, I'd never leave your food and run.  Even if I wasn't going to bring the food in, etc., I'd hang around a moment in hopes of a tip. 

 

A question -- and this is more about the fee than the tip: 

 

Is the room service fee $7.95 no matter what you order?  That is, if I order myself one bacon-and-egg breakfast, the fee is $7.95 ... or if I order four breakfasts for my whole family, or if we eat two breakfasts each, the fee that goes to RCCL is still the same $7.95? 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Mum2Mercury

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, sandy toes said:

What exactly are you protesting? 

Being lazy? staying in your cabin? having someone bring what you request, to you in said cabin?

Kindness...

 

I'm not protesting anything and do not understand your questions?   Leaving a penny for a tip is offensively impolite.   If the service is that bad, better to leave nothing.  

[rudeney]

44 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

If I were the delivery person, I'd never leave your food and run.  Even if I wasn't going to bring the food in, etc., I'd hang around a moment in hopes of a tip. 

 

A question -- and this is more about the fee than the tip: 

 

Is the room service fee $7.95 no matter what you order?  That is, if I order myself one bacon-and-egg breakfast, the fee is $7.95 ... or if I order four breakfasts for my whole family, or if we eat two breakfasts each, the fee that goes to RCCL is still the same $7.95? 

 

Yes, it is per-order, no matter how much is ordered.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/in-room-food-service