Maitre'd bottom fishing for tips

[arkycruisers]

was on the conquest a month ago -first night told our waiter that i was allergic to seafood and things like oyster paste and othe things that go into some non seafood item --the hostess danille from sao paolo came over the same night ,and offered tyo bring the menus for dinner a day in advance so that she would help me choose safe items --we said we appreciated that but we really wanted to know about oyster paste --was used in some chinese dishes one night -after that she came over everynight to see how things were and was very nice to us --we saw the maitre'd the last night for one minute --we gave our envelope to danielle

[ParrotRob]

I can assure you that it is the case. You can believe it or not, as you choose.

 

Matthew

 

Good, because I choose not. Unless, of course, you're wearing a nametag.

[cansailor]

I am always greeted by name the moment I walk into the dining room on the first evening.

 

 

You must wear a name tag. I don't believe you for a second.

[cansailor]

Rob, I posted without seeing your message. What some people would have us believe, huh?

[JLC@SD]

40-60k a year plus room and board all meals included. What does that add to the 40-60k per year???

 

.......40K to 60K if they work 12 months......if they work 80% of the year (which they do)......that is 32K to 48K per year.

[cruzincurt]

Quote "The chef will be involved in doing the menus. The Maitre'D makes sure that there is something on the menu that you like. If there isn't, he'll organise what you want."

 

Really? Check the menus closely, sometimes in small print at the bottom it says something like "Tuesday,eastern" or "third day".

 

The menu is the same week after week after week. People post them on the internet because they are repeated over and over. There is no way they make up and print new menus each week.

 

Salaried job...management..no tip due IMO.

 

What I want to know is, how they can spend $750,000,000 or more building the ship and still have a crappy sound system and old worn out music in the dining room?

[hdawson]

With such negativity on the Carnival board, I don't understand why anyone sails on the line. If you don't like Carnival, then find another vacation.

[hstrybuf]

I can assure you that it is the case. You can believe it or not, as you choose.

 

Matthew

 

That may be the case on Cunard, which appears to be the only line you've sailed, but it isn't the case on Carnival.

[mlpreston]

After ONE Carnival cruise I can safely say my family were impressed with the value and the service on Carnival. However, for no moment did the MD have anything to do with making my cruise special.

The housekeeping staff who were so kind and helpful when my DS 5 had an accident in his bed made my cruise special, they made sure he didn't feel embarassed and they even made him an extra towel animal to take to bed. The towel animals they made each night made a great end to a phenomenal day. - These people earned their tips.

 

Our Jubilee dining hostess Christina from Romania made our cruise so special. In fact, we found out which ship she is moving to next and when so that we can cruise with her service once again. She greeted us each night and once meals were served, she would come to our table, make sure that everything was okay and spend the next 15 minutes feeding our DD 7mos. her freshly pureed vegetables so that we could also eat our meals. We never asked for this service, she just came over and started doing it; our DD loved the attention. - SHE earned her tips.

 

Aniela, our head waitress did everything she could to accomodate our DS 5 who is a very picky eater. She would come and sit with us during dinner and talk to us. She would pull our DS from the booth during the performances so that he could dance with her. HE loved it. One night she tied a napkin to look a bit like Funship Freddy, everytime our DS would pet the doll being cradled in her arm, it would jump. He thought it was great! - SHE earned her tips.

 

Desak our assistant waitress was so eager to please. She was polite and friendly and whenever she saw us walking somewhere on the ship, she would stop and say hello. - SHE earned her tips.

 

The MD said Hello on the final night as we entered the dining room. This was the first time we'd seen him the entire cruise. We gave him an envelope to adhere to tradition, he said thank you (acting as though he was so surprised to be getting tips!) and we never saw him again. Christina came to say goodbye to us, giving us hugs, we gave her photos of our DD and DS and she was truly thankful.

 

If one cant understand why we would cruise on Carnival it is for THESE people that we cruise on Carnival. They made our vacation THAT MUCH MORE special.

If you don't understand why we cruise on Carnival, find another forum and another cruise line to suit your tastes. Every board will have negativity, this is a hot debate, it is a personal preference to tip or not to based on the level of service you received.

[picklebongo]

I tip sometimes but on one of my cruises the Maitre'D moved my party after the first night of dining because a family wanted to sit at our table, near other members of their family. I thought it was rude to just move us with no advance notice and we were much closer to the window. We didn't find out until we came to dine the following night. It turned out our server was far superior, but it still wasn't a good feeling initially.

[Minnesota Lady]

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:

Totally agree! Just home tonight from the Victory, great cruise, dining room and the person in charge could care less. We are not fussy, but when your waiter tells you a problem from many cruise passengers was taken to the Maitre'd and he could care less until tip night, there is a problem.

[ala-kat]

We've only had one request of a MD. He was not interested in working with us - just a 'no'. 'No' tip.

[memphislonghorn]

Thoughts: Capt. Smith went down with his ship, I swear! I watched you die! LOL just joking... I want to change my screen name to Captain Ahab.

Matthew...you sail on the QE2 every time. No wonder they greet you by name!

Personally, my experience with the MD has been good. My tablemates have been great, on Fantasy he even knew the name of our missing tablemate, who never bothered to dine with us. The singing is hokey, but its fun, especially after the captains cocktail party!:D He also did stop by our table every night to say hello. So I looked at the tip as a reward for the whole wait staff that attended my table, including the MD.

[VentureMan_2000]

I have a couple is issues...

 

1) Why does the M'd deserve a TIP for moving you from a sucky table to a table you enjoy yourselves at..?

 

2) If the M'd was deserving of a TIP... the Carnival would include it in the TIP amount. He's Salaried. Sounds like a Management problem. There is no reason to TIP the M'd... that that I've heard of yet... :cool:

[Boozebabe]

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....

 

I wonder if they pay taxes anywhere????

[clgcrusier]

I have yet to actually see the person that voice on the microphone is attached to, therefore I do not tip him. I wish I made that kind of salary-why on earth should he get tips on tip of it? Now my waiters and room stewards-I only wish I could give them more! THEY remember the names, the drinks, the likes and dislikes of thousands of people a year! On our last cruise a little girl was crying and clinging to one of our waiters on the last night, much like the little girl on American Idol with Sanjaya!:D

[rellersi]

The Maitre"D will earn my tip when he stops interupting my dinner with so called entertainment! :mad:

 

I just do not get this "tradition" at all. They ask you to dress up to make your meal time special (in the tradition of cruising when the Titanic was built) and then while they have you captive they start singing as if you were eating at a Chuckie Cheese!! :confused: The one contradicts the other.

 

And another thing, I really don't like to see the waiters dancing on top of the table/serving station where they will be setting my food in 5 minutes! :eek:

 

Want to make my dinner time special and enjoyable? Let me eat in peace and then go to the show lounge for some amateurish singing and dancing! ;)

 

Ciao for now!

 

Fins Up! :cool:

 

Amen to that

[big_duck]

I have a couple is issues...

 

1) Why does the M'd deserve a TIP for moving you from a sucky table to a table you enjoy yourselves at..?

 

Same as any land restaurant.

[rellersi]

Wow, a whole 40-60K per year. Including tips. Yeah, that's a "fat salaried" position, just like the OP said. What a ripoff, indeed. :rolleyes:

 

If you want to tip, tip. If you don't, you DON'T HAVE TO!!! What is so hard to understand about that?!?!?

 

A lot of people in the good old US of A (including my 3 children) would love to be making 40-60k per year and he lives on the ship, does not have the rent or other expenses

[iamgolden]

I just got off the Inspiration, and did not feel the need to tip the MD when all he did was stop by the table every night, which I considered an intrusion. By the second night my sister and I were contemplating hiding under the tablecloth when we saw him making his way down the rows of tables, it was purely tip sucking up. And to add insult to injury, Risa, the Entertainment Director just about demanded that we tip him at the disembarkation talk, I have never listened to one of these "lectures" and now I know why. They prattle on about tipping and wait until the end to tell you the stuff you really need to know.

[Boston6]

I had a problem with some fellow diners (read: drunk, foul-mouth, obnoxious, redneck, bubbas) on the Legend a few weeks ago. When the Maitre'd came by we explained the situation and he said he would take care of it. I don't know what was said or done, but they were on best behavior for the rest of the cruise.

 

Maitre'd got a tip from me.

[gail811]

We have never tipped the Maitre'd extra, until our last cruise. We requested a seating change as soon as we boarded; they had our group of twelve split into tables of four and eight. Since we had FIVE young men with us, we knew that would not fly! On our first night at dinner we had just been seated when the Maitre'd arrived and offered us a round table for 12 just inside the dining room, he called it the Captain's table. We accepted and enjoyed our cruise much more having dinner each night as a group. Well, our first evening we were about the last to leave the DR as our service was SLOW; not bad, just slow. Our waiters were wonderful, but obviously had too many tables to serve. Night two when the Maitre'd stopped by and asked, we told him our waiters were wonderful, but service slow, and our bar waiter was never around until our meal was almost over. From then on, our bar waiter was there when we arrived and our meals came much quicker. Being seated behind his podium gave us the opportunity to see him in action. He had eyes like a hawk and if a waiter even bobbled a glass, much less broke one, he was on top of him AND his head waiter. I felt kinda bad for the waiters, but this particular Maitre'd kept the dining room in order. Again, we were able to see this guy doing his job and doing it well, and for the same reason we tip our room stewards above and beyond for a job well done, we tipped him.

Funny note: one of his female assistants spoke to one of the men at our table one evening. She walked over and whispered something in his ear. When she walked away and we all asked what the secrecy was about he laughed and said she had asked him to please not rock back in his chair! He had leaned back to say something to his son and she saw him; said it was "dangerous" and he could injure himself!

[jetskier]

Sorry, Matthew. You lost all credibility with that one, friend. Hundreds and even thousands of people cruising every trip, and you expect anyone to believe the Maitre d' recognizes you by sight the minute you walk into the restaurant? Unless you are Tony Blair or a member of the royal family, I think you're bloody full of it.

 

I would believe he is telling the truth. I have sailed multiple times on the Holiday and the Fantasy. The MD's on both recognized me and greeted me by name. The new MD on the Holiday Dec 4th was talking to me as we were changing our dining times. I happened to ask about the asst MD whom he said had just left on vacation. I had mentioned I had taken a photo of her and given it to her last cruise. I joked that I had her pick up the phone and act like she was working. A puzzled look came over his face and he said just a minute. He pulled up an email and asked if it was this photo in the email. It was. It turns out that it was his girlfriend. He thanked me for taken it as he does not have many photos of her.

 

We when came back on the Holiday in January, he greeted us by name and welcomed us back.

Dave

[barneco]

Interesting thread. Tipping is such a volatile topic.

 

My personal feeling is that if the Maitre'D does me a specific service then I will tip him, otherwise he is just doing his job. As another poster said, we don't tip the head of housekeeping just because they supervise the cabin stewards. Additionally, we don't tip the chief engineer or the cruise director (at least I don't) just because the ship doesn't break down or I still lose at bingo :)

 

The bottom line to me is that one should tip additionally, if one feels it is the thing to do based upon the level of service provided to them and not because it is expected.

 

Barry

[jennbill]

bump