do you tip maitre d'?

[lafayettedvm]

dont breath fire on me for this question. it was just something i always wondered. do you tip maitre d' extra while cruising or tip them at all? lets say in a perfect world that everyone ate in the dinning room and every one left the maitre d' $1 per cruise. on smaller class ship with 2 sailings per week and 2 maitre d's. these people would be raking in some cash. that would be about $80,000 from a $1 dollar tip. i know the world is not perfect, but i know those like myself always gives something. i just tend to give extra if they did something extra special like moved my seating or something. i just wondered what other do for tipping the maitre d'. or do you tip him/her at all? i see a lot of people entering the dinning room and not giving him anything. i think a lot of people dont know what he/she does besides speak and greet. could someone shed light on their job?

[ShedQueen77]

I didn't tip the maitre'd. On our cruise he did nothing for us. We didn't change our dining time or did he bother to even speak to us except for a brief 10 seconds the first night and of course, on the last night in an attempt to collect his tip.

 

I saw the assistant maitre'd doing most of the work. I did give her a tip but I'm sure he got a cut. I guess I can at least say I tried to tip the proper person.

[redskin80]

Only once, the Destiny, he was great, he was funny, he actually came by our table every other night and spoke with us. On Lobster night he came by and took the Lobster out of the shell for the three who had it that evening. That was the one and only time.

 

I believe that he was from Croatia and his line was " No It's True".

 

When we would sit down each night at dinner after about noght three we would make bets on how many times he would say it that night.

[mlpcruiser]

I agree with everyone else so far. Our first cruise, we thought we had to, so we did, even though we hadn't planned for it. The last two we didn't, because like the others, we never even saw him! Our waiter and assistant waitress did all the work, and we gave them extra cash tips on the last night.

[MrPete]

I did once, when he performed a service for me.

 

Other than that, he's a fully paid staff member.

[Dave85]

We usually do, so long as they make an effort to come by the table more than once and seem like they're really trying. We always tip Ken Byrne, I think we've sailed with him 3 times now.

 

We did NOT tip our Maitre D' Miguel on our Liberty cruise two weeks ago, he was incredibly obnoxious and didn't come by our table even once the entire week. I understand they're busy people, but you'll rarely see a Maitre D' who doesn't make an effort to make the rounds at least once...

[dbrucern]

No not the maitre'd but do give a nice tip to a waiter and assistant. We also tip our room steward on the first day because we like a pot of coffee delivered to the room at 5:30am and we have always had this happen on a cruise without having to call room service.

[LHP]

We usually do because they perform a service for us on every cruise.

[caribbeach]

I think the maitre'd is like any other "boss". He is there to "put out fires" and insure your satisfaction. If you have issues during your cruise and you need his services, he should by all means be tipped (in my opionion at time of service) and well. If you do not use him and feel he is undeserving, why do it? I tipped him the first time I cruised because I thought it was "expected". After that I did not, until I needed something on our last cruise and then I tipped and "well". It was worth every penny!;)

[caribbean dreams]

I Have never tipped the Maidre'd, i would if any had done anything spacial for us but as of now, none have.

 

I always tip the waiters extra.

[GoinCruisin]

I do when they perform a service for me.. otherwise no. Although once, on the Valor, we had the very best Maitre'D ever, he came around and spent time at our table every night... and took a very active interest in the thoughts of the guests...

[SoonerOne]

I pre-paid our tips, surely you are not talking about tipping more if you have already paid in advance:rolleyes: This is our first cruise, so I am not sure if we need to tip extra. We had planned on giving our room Steward a little extra though.....advice?

[cruisetobeaches]

Only on two cruises. One, on the Inspiration (he was very entertaining and you saw him every night), and once on the Miracle (he stopped by frequently).

 

Footnote: On our recent cruise on the Glory, he (she?) did not get anything from us or anyone else in our party. Not real sure we even HAD one! If we did, that person must have been "elsewhere" every night! Wait staff was excellent, though and we always tip over and above when service is above par.

[VentureMan_2000]

Never. And I don't appreciate him coming over the second to the last night doing the TIP prep faux handshake... :rolleyes:

[matj2000]

On my last two cruises, We requested to be moved to a larger table with other guests and we were turned down both times. I did this as soon as we got on the ship.

It was like going and seeing the "Great Oz".

First an assistant screens you, then he calls you up one at a time to make your request, while everyone else is kept back about 20ft behind the rope.

He never visited our table and hardly said a word overhead till the last night.

I still tipped him $2!!!!!

I have no idea why........

[irishgirl]

No tip unless he does something specifically for me. Just because he shows up at the table to say hi isn't enough.

[bluejeans]

It's according.

If we eat in the dining room, we do.

But most of the time, we don't eat in the dining room, so we don't tip him.

[MississippiMom]

I remember seeing the maitre'd on the first cruise that I took; he came around the night before "tip night" to say "hello," and we never saw him again. On all our other cruises, I never, ever remember seeing the maitre'd, and I'm a dining room person.

 

I have never tipped the maitre'd, but I definitely would if he/she had performed a service for me. In the meantime, I would rather give the cash to my waiter and his/her assistant.

[*CruiseFan*]

I remember seeing the maitre'd on the first cruise that I took; he came around the night before "tip night" to say "hello," and we never saw him again. On all our other cruises, I never, ever remember seeing the maitre'd, and I'm a dining room person.

 

I have never tipped the maitre'd, but I definitely would if he/she had performed a service for me. In the meantime, I would rather give the cash to my waiter and his/her assistant.

 

This was the same with us on one of our cruises (can't remember which) -- we never saw him, even at the door, yet he came around on tip night. I understand it's a large ship, but it was awkward. Our group had made the decision to not tip that year, and we have typically tipped in years past, even if it is only $10. It's like the OP said, it adds up. It's a case by case basis. If they do something that just knocks your socks off then yes, naturally we would tip.

[ShedQueen77]

I pre-paid our tips, surely you are not talking about tipping more if you have already paid in advance:rolleyes: This is our first cruise, so I am not sure if we need to tip extra. We had planned on giving our room Steward a little extra though.....advice?

 

The tips for the maitre'd are not included in the pre-paid tips. They will place envelopes in the cabin the night before at turn down and talk about it in the capers as well.

 

We handed the extra tip for the cabin steward directly to him the last night. We knew he'd be busy in the morning as we would be as well. We wanted to thank him personally for the great job he did.

[gypsygirl]

Never. And I don't appreciate him coming over the second to the last night doing the TIP prep faux handshake... :rolleyes:

 

I thoroughly agree.

[ShedQueen77]

Never. And I don't appreciate him coming over the second to the last night doing the TIP prep faux handshake... :rolleyes:

 

Our maitre'd did the same thing. While I was thoroughly disgusted with the blatant "I'm here for my tip" behavior, I didn't say anything. When he came over, DH asked him who he was. When he said he was the maitre'd, DH replied "Oh, we thought Larisa (the assistant maitre'd) was the maitre'd as she's the one we've been talking with for the whole cruise". Never saw Franc after that.

[cruzzza]

I am surprised that more people don't tip, but it appears that most don't. I always tip, even if it's just $2.00. If I have an enjoyable dining room experience, and I always do, then I tip. He is in charge of my overall experience, so I feel if it is good, he deserves at least a little bit. I have had some that were better than others, and those I tip more. The most I've ever tipped was $10.00, however, and he did switch my dining time for me.

 

My favorite so far is Jean Pierre. I've had him twice and both times were very enjoyable. I actually can remember him and his name, not true with any of the others.

[babyher]

I am pretty much with the majority here

 

Only once out of 5 cruises have I even seen the Maitre D and that was the night before tip night "glad hand'

 

We have never changed dining times or dining rooms or had them do anything spcial for us, so we have never tipped them.

 

 

On all our cruises the waiters and asst.waiters have been great. Them we always tip extra

[Drew's Wife]

Seems like we are in the minority, I just had no idea that most people did not tip the Maitre'd until reading these threads. Although we prepay our tips, we still tip our servers, steward, and the Maitre'd very well at the end of each cruise. It seems that everytime we cruise, the Maitre'd always comes around to our table to see if there is anything we need, and to make sure that everything is in order. Only once did we really have to ask him for any special service. I just figure he keeps the dining room running, even though he might appear be behind the scenes more than our servers, and therefore deserves to be tipped accordingly.