Maitre'd bottom fishing for tips

[steveaaaa]

Why is it that a fat salaried position needs to fish for tips. Why does the cruiseline encourage it by dropping off an envelope in your cabin for the Maitre'd.

 

What point is the job anyway?

 

I know I would not complain to him about my waiter.That is how your food gets spit into.

 

Is it to stop jeans in the dining room?Well they are not doing that good of a job.

 

Is it to assign your table? Why not have open seating on the first night and you get to keep that table for the whole cruise.

 

Why all the pomp and circumstance? Dressed up like a penguin stopping by each table for 1 minute at the start of the cruise and at the end of the cruise.

 

Is he the band leader of that poor singing we must endure?

 

Is he in charge of excessive Birthday and Anniversary cakes? How can there be so many?

 

Steve

PS. I figured it out...Someone must keep the Red,White,and Blue team scores.:rolleyes:

[vacruizer]

One word - tradition.

[Cleavis]

one word - Ripoff.

[steveaaaa]

one word - Ripoff.

 

I like your word better.LOL:D

Steve

[steveaaaa]

One word - tradition.

 

Tradition went out the port hole with Auto-tipping.

Steve

[hstrybuf]

I found this job description on a site for cruise line jobs. Judge for yourself if what he does deserves a tip.

 

Maitre D'/Restaurant Manager - takes care of seating arrangements, service, and oversees the wait staff for the dining room. Under the maitre d' are the head waiters, and each of them is responsible for several waiters and busboys. Fluent English Language skills required. Salary range: $3400-5200 U.S. per month, depending on the cruise line and gratuities from passengers.

[The4Cruisers]

Here's another word: OPTIONAL

 

If you don't like it, don't tip. If we feel the Maitre D did something for us that warrants a tip, we'll provide.

[Mrichy555]

Here's another word: OPTIONAL

 

If you don't like it, don't tip. If we feel the Maitre D did something for us that warrants a tip, we'll provide.

 

Tu'shey

[big_duck]

Tu'shey

 

Is that supposed to be touché?

[Mrichy555]

Is that supposed to be touché?

 

Lol I just got owned. I almost spelled tushee when I first spelled that, imagine that haha

[mlpreston]

I saw our Maitre D' ONCE during the entire cruise. Other than that it was the hostess who welcomed us nightly, came and talked with us at our table every night, talked to our children and joked with us. SHE made the cruise special, not the Maitre D'. Personally to adhere with "tradition" I tipped the maitre d' $3, however I tipped the hostess $20 and our head waitress and assistant waitress $20 each too at the end of the cruise. THEY all deserved their tips.

[RjayB]

At least you have the "option" to not tip the Maitre'd. We don't tip him (her? never seen a "her") unless we have asked them to change our seating.

 

The truly criminal "fat salary" people that extort tips are the port stevedores -- the ones that threaten (implicitly) to throw your luggage in the sea if you don't tip them, yet while standing underneath signs that say "It is not necessary to tip stevedores." THen all they do is move your bags 10 feet into the bin. Jeez they piss me off:mad:

[alexieb]

Tu'shey

 

Tooshie? LOL

 

 

TOUCHE'

[mikesteg]

I usually do tip them a few bucks unless there is a reason not to do so. They do run the waiters and therefore are somewhat responsible for the level of service. However, it seems to me that a few bucks is more than sufficient. If they get $2 per head that's $1500-3000 a week (assuming the big ships still only have 2 Maitre'ds). Even on the low end and assuming 9 months employment per year, that's $54000 per year. Very generous for that level of management/skill since that would put them at $100k+ per year based on the salary quoted below. Of course, I think many people don't tip, but I'm not going to make up the difference....

[mikesteg]

At least you have the "option" to not tip the Maitre'd. We don't tip him (her? never seen a "her") unless we have asked them to change our seating.

 

The truly criminal "fat salary" people that extort tips are the port stevedores -- the ones that threaten (implicitly) to throw your luggage in the sea if you don't tip them, yet while standing underneath signs that say "It is not necessary to tip stevedores." THen all they do is move your bags 10 feet into the bin. Jeez they piss me off:mad:

 

Yep, if I lived close to Galveston I'd probably do that on the weekends. At $1/bag I bet I could pull in $100+ per hour during the rush hours.

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

Yea well I can say that the lowest form of "fishing" I have seen was from the cruise director asking people to tip the Maitre'd!!! Yup right there in the main theatre!

 

Now I have a question that maybe someone here can answer.

 

We all hear about the hard work the Maitre'd puts into seating arrangements. Does anyone really believe that he personally assigns each passenger a table every single week? They kinda lead you to believe that. He couldnt possibly have time to do so.

 

Personally I think there is a computer that does all the work and he only makes changes upon request after boarding.

 

He is a supervisor to the wait staff and gets paid accordingly. THATS IT!

 

So what does the maitre'd do for me? He interupts my dinner with bad singing. Most of the time I never see this mysterious man, but I sure hear him.

 

I skip the tip.

[Mrichy555]

Tooshie? LOL

 

 

TOUCHE'

 

I know I was already corrected and technically yours is wrong too :eek:

[AmberMarie]

I'm sure the Maitre'd is doing a lot of "behind the scenes" services for you to make sure you have an enjoyable experience.

[Mrichy555]

I'm sure the Maitre'd is doing a lot of "behind the scenes" services for you to make sure you have an enjoyable experience.

 

Agreed but didnt we already tip in in the 10$/tip a day that is automatically added to out SS cards? Does he not get a cut of that?

[tootsiescurly]

How about the cruise lines attempt to make you think you are dining at a high class restaurant!?!

[CaptainEdwardJohnSmith]

Agreed but didnt we already tip in in the 10$/tip a day that is automatically added to out SS cards? Does he not get a cut of that?

 

No he don't.............but I could stand corrected! :)

Happy cruising everyone

[halos]

Agreed but didnt we already tip in in the 10$/tip a day that is automatically added to out SS cards? Does he not get a cut of that?

 

no.

Maitre'd is not included in that $10 a day.

 

 

One of the few areas I noticed where X was superior and that was the maitre'd, (Danuta, from Poland) who visited each table every single night (and this was a 14 day cruise) and made sure her wait staff was giving 100%. She was the first Maitre'd we had ever tipped.

If the maitre'd shows up and introduces him/herself the last night of the cruise, just to get his/her envelope, he/she doesn't get one from us.

[njs]

Just returned from the Inspiration ~ we had no problem with tipping our maitre d' (ajimi) in the Mardi Gras dining room. With his help we were allowed to switch our dining time and we were placed with 2 other couples we enjoyed. Our service was prompt and pleasant and the food was excellent. Also saw him on the Lido deck at lunch and at the late night buffets (checking to make sure everything was ok) He was very visible and obviously interested in the "food experience" ~walked thru the dining room nightly to make sure everyone was satisfied with food and service. The Inspiration is the first ship we have been on that still gives the galley tour. Felt the maitre d on this ship did alot more for his money than on other ships and he ran a good dining room with pleasant staff - I think he deserved any extra tips ( and it is optional so no one needs to stress about it if they dont want to tip)

[AmberMarie]

Random question about asking to be reseated-- Say we are sat with couples that we feel we wouldn't enjoy our dinner with... When we ask the Maitre'd to move, what do we say? Can we sit with younger people closer to our age and/or more fun to be around? I would just be so scared that I'd end up worse the 2nd time around, so I would end up just staying where I was. :(

[kristikae]

We all hear about the hard work the Maitre'd puts into seating arrangements. Does anyone really believe that he personally assigns each passenger a table every single week? They kinda lead you to believe that. He couldnt possibly have time to do so.

 

 

They actually do assign the seating. I sat and talked with one on a cruise while he was busy assinging the next weeks sailings' dining.

 

I have a rule I use as far as tipping them. If I don't see them at all during the week until the last night they don't get a tip from me. If they've stopped by my table at least once during the cruise they get a tip.