curious about alternate dining.

[jphc318]

This is just a question to see what everyone does so please be gentle:D !

Really was just wondering if you are on a week long crusie (or longer) and say you eat in the alternate restautants and never in the dining room,do you still tip the wait staff in the regular dining room?(I would because i live by the immortal words of steve martin from MY BLUE HEAVEN "I TIP EVERYBODY")

How do you tip the staff in the alternate dining?

Thank you ahead of time for your responses.

john

[pinkrosesdeb]

Hi John, we used to live in Palm Bay and have a timeshare in satellite bch. Moved to Sarasota 6 yrs ago. Still have many friends over on your coast. Anyway, you probably should consider going to the dining rm. last nt. of your cruise with tips for the wait staff even if you don't eat in there. Their tips are the majority of their pay and they count on their tables being full to make their wages. You will also see them many times in different areas where you usually don't leave a tip so this way you tip them for service everywhere. As for the alternative rests, we haven't done them yet but I see differing opinions on when and how much to tip. If you are eating there only once and you are going to tip, do it at the end of the meal just like any nice place. If eating there more than once, then I would tip at the end of the 2nd dinner or the end of the cruise. Many say the tip is included in the price of the meal. Just don't let it worry you so much that you forget the most important part of your cruise....HAVE FUN!!! Deb

[pacthepuppies]

This is just a question to see what everyone does so please be gentle:D !

Really was just wondering if you are on a week long crusie (or longer) and say you eat in the alternate restautants and never in the dining room,do you still tip the wait staff in the regular dining room?(I would because i live by the immortal words of steve martin from MY BLUE HEAVEN "I TIP EVERYBODY")

How do you tip the staff in the alternate dining?

Thank you ahead of time for your responses.

john

 

2 gentle answers-

1. Yes- you need to tip your regular wait staff as THEY rotate thru the other resturants like Windjammer, etc... where they do not get any tips, and so they may serve you at other times- so it is just a way of easily covering all the bases. OTOH- you can also give $$ directly to the WJ staff if you eat dinner there all week, but still should tip the DR staff for breakfast and lunch service, etc...

2. When you dine in the other rest they bring you a slip for the surcharge- we added on another $15 as they corked our non-alc wine for free, and were very attentive- but you dont have to add an extra tip- just like when you buy a drink a tip % is already there, but you CAN add more if you feel that the staff deserves it...

hope this helps!

[caviargal]

On a recent cruise on another line, we were fortunate to have a suite. This gave us access to the specialty dining room for breakfast and we dined in the specialty restaurant for dinner each evening, just our personal preference. We would have lunch in port or on the balcony. We dined a total of 2 times in the lido.

 

We tipped the staff in "our" restaurant in cash every evening, and tipped the manager and sommelier extra on the last night. We also tipped our Concierge at the end of the cruise and room service as we went. Our room steward was also tipped well as he took excellent care of us.

 

We did reduce the amount of the auto gratuities as we were also told the cash tips were put in a pool and distibuted. We tipped far more than the recommended amounts in total but the service was outstanding in all areas.

 

Personally, I find auto tipping highly impersonal. I always bring notecards with me on a cruise and write a personal thank you to those who took such good care of me.

 

On cruise lines with Open Sitting or Freestyle, I think it make sense but IMO, not for traditional dining.

[jphc318]

Hi John, we used to live in Palm Bay and have a timeshare in satellite bch. Moved to Sarasota 6 yrs ago. Still have many friends over on your coast. Anyway, you probably should consider going to the dining rm. last nt. of your cruise with tips for the wait staff even if you don't eat in there. Their tips are the majority of their pay and they count on their tables being full to make their wages. You will also see them many times in different areas where you usually don't leave a tip so this way you tip them for service everywhere. As for the alternative rests, we haven't done them yet but I see differing opinions on when and how much to tip. If you are eating there only once and you are going to tip, do it at the end of the meal just like any nice place. If eating there more than once, then I would tip at the end of the 2nd dinner or the end of the cruise. Many say the tip is included in the price of the meal. Just don't let it worry you so much that you forget the most important part of your cruise....HAVE FUN!!! Deb

Thanks for your responses all and yes i do tip the wait staff wether i dine in the dining room or not was just curious what others did and felt about it.

Thanks

john

[jphc318]

2 gentle answers-

1. Yes- you need to tip your regular wait staff as THEY rotate thru the other resturants like Windjammer, etc... where they do not get any tips, and so they may serve you at other times- so it is just a way of easily covering all the bases. OTOH- you can also give $$ directly to the WJ staff if you eat dinner there all week, but still should tip the DR staff for breakfast and lunch service, etc...

2. When you dine in the other rest they bring you a slip for the surcharge- we added on another $15 as they corked our non-alc wine for free, and were very attentive- but you dont have to add an extra tip- just like when you buy a drink a tip % is already there, but you CAN add more if you feel that the staff deserves it...

hope this helps!

Thank you for being gentle:cool:

[pacthepuppies]

very welcome:D

[Nliedel]

I agree with everyone else. I know there are some people who do this, eat in the specialty restaurants every night, but I'd gain 300lbs if I did that! :D

[pinkrosesdeb]

nliedel, too funny! I actually FEEL like I weight 300lbs when I walk off the ship anyway. Maybe I should rethink the multiple nts. in chops and portofino!? John, I understood why you were asking and I have asked the same question when we ate several times in the Windjammer. That is when people told me how it worked so now we do make sure to tip our dining rm. waiter at the end. We saw them working in many other places during the wk. Hope those fires are above you still, very scary. Deb

[jphc318]

nliedel, too funny! I actually FEEL like I weight 300lbs when I walk off the ship anyway. Maybe I should rethink the multiple nts. in chops and portofino!? John, I understood why you were asking and I have asked the same question when we ate several times in the Windjammer. That is when people told me how it worked so now we do make sure to tip our dining rm. waiter at the end. We saw them working in many other places during the wk. Hope those fires are above you still, very scary. Deb

Thanks Deb for your response and concerns.So far so go we shall see with the fires.We were supposed to get rain today none so far and looks beautiful outside.Maybe this week.

john