TIPPING Etiquette when visiting specialty dining rooms...

[GigglewolfOfTheSeas]

I've always wondered what the appropriate tipping etiquette was when once decided to dine in RCI's "specialty" dining rooms (Chops Grille or Portofino Italian Restaurant).

 

1) Should one tip the waiter's in the specialty dining room, after having paid the surcharge to dine there? I was always under the impression the surcharge INCLUDED the gratuity for the extra service one received in these venues.

 

2) When one prepares the week's gratuities for their assigned waiter/assistant waiter in the Main Dining Room, does one still need to include gratuities for the night you ate in the specialty dining room? (A.k.a.- Do you still tip the dining room waiters for 7-nights, when you only required their services & ate there 6-nights, for example?)

 

In the past, I've always erred on the side of caution and overtipped in either case, but just wondered what the consensus was or if this was stipulated somewhere.

 

Thanks for your advice! Serenade in ONE WEEK!!!

 

Cheers!

Gigglewolf O' The Seas

:D

[FlyingPhotog]

Yes, and yes.

 

We'll be on the Serenade 2 weeks after you, so don't make a mess. :p

[GigglewolfOfTheSeas]

Haha...I won't make a mess, but I hope we have better weather than you.

;)

 

Cheers & Bon Voyage,

Gigglewolf!

[Jimmers]

The gratuity for the specialty restaurants is included in the service charge. We always receive such great service there so we add $5-10 pp.

 

The second part of your question is interesting. Though I had never thought of not tipping for the full week in the dining room, I think a case could be made for prorating the tips based on the times when you eat ashore or in a specialty restaurant.

 

If you just go to the windjammer on a particular night I would say definitely give the full weeks tip in the dining room.

[cruisePRN]

It's an individual choice. The gratuity is included in the surcharge for the specialty restaurants and the $30 PP is quite hefty already. In a land based restaurant would you tip if you didn't eat there?

[Catperson]

We just returned from the Serenade, Alaska cruise, which was fabulous, by the way. The two of us ate at Portofino's and even though we were charged $20 each surcharge, I left an extra $20 tip on top, as the service was so outstanding. Actually, our service in the dining room was outstanding too and we tipped extra in there as well.

[chiguy67]

When we dined in both Chops and Protofino's we had such good service that we tipped and extra $10-20. It is like going to a regular land based restaurant, you give them your Sea Pass card and they return it with a receipt that you can add extra gratuity.

 

Also the dining room service was also great we tipped for the entire week and added extra.

[phoenix1181]

We always tip the dining room staff for the full length of the cruise. They're there, waiting to serve you, regardless of whether you eat in the dining room or not. And, unlike a land based restaurant, they don't have the opportunity to earn tips by serving another party...........

 

We also generally tip extra in the specialty restaurants. The service is always so wonderful we have to express our pleasure with an additional tip.

[JJ2sail]

As others have said.....

We tip the full amount to our dining room waiters, plus usually a little more, no matter how many nights we eat there.

 

We also tip $5 to $10 extra in the specialty restaurants, usually because of the very good service.

[GigglewolfOfTheSeas]

Thank you all...it seems to be the general consensus to tip "above & beyond" and I would agree. In fact, in the past I've done the same thing you folks did: tipped a little extra in the specialty dining room AND tipped the main dining room waiters for the "missed" night.

 

Generally, those folks work SOO hard they deserve it, in my opinion.

 

Cheers!

Gigglewolf

:)

[kidless]

I would never have thought to remove tips from the dining room staff because we didn't eat there one night. People really do that?

[Carnival Game]

We didn't eat in the dining room three times and yes, I lowered the tip. His service wasn't great anyway. I gave more to the cabin steward instead.

[Cruising89143]

I would never have thought to remove tips from the dining room staff because we didn't eat there one night. People really do that?

 

Looks like someone has another cruise coming up soon. My favorite ship for the quick get away cruises too. I would like to see the Sovereign one more time before she leaves the fleet. Wish I were there today as I'm taking some vacation time and am sitting here at home!!!!!!!:)

[It'sRC4ME]

We ate at Chops on Freedom of the Seas, and paid $25 each for a service charge and then ordered a bottle of wine. The total bill came out to approximately $90 dollars, so we just rounded it up to $100.

[BoLTMaNv2]

We didn't eat in the dining room three times and yes, I lowered the tip. His service wasn't great anyway. I gave more to the cabin steward instead.

 

 

That's plain sad how was his service not great? Hopefully some other cruiser paid extra to balance you out. Even decent should get a tip from the entire cruise IMO. Are you comparing the service to the specialty exclusive restaurant service...the place where the cruiseline extracted more money from you??? Or are you a buffet eater/room service type? Keep in mind you have a reserved spot in the dining room EACH night of your cruise. You miss it they still have to prepare for you anyhow.

 

...really sad part is the truth if there's one there's bound to be more on every cruise doing the same thing. YES people really do that!

 

People complain about the food and the service all the time on cruises... look in the mirror for some of the reasons the cruiselines have had a downward trend.

 

It's going to be a sad day when surcharges for extras are the norm... that is the way we are heading watch. Surcharge for service... Surcharge for better. Its coming... specialty restaurants are just the tip of the iceberg. How about better production shows in a more intimate venue for a fee? Same thing all they need is a bigger ship for the extra venue. It's coming.

 

At least the cabin steward got his/hers at least you made one persons day who served you all week.

[Carnival Game]

You don't have to feel THAT sorry for him.

 

The table behind us seemed to be his priority so maybe some of them did tip extra to make up the difference.

 

Their tips probably balance out with some tipping less and some tipping more, just like in a restaurant.

[BoLTMaNv2]

You don't have to feel THAT sorry for him.

 

The table behind us seemed to be his priority so maybe some of them did tip extra to make up the difference.

 

Their tips probably balance out with some tipping less and some tipping more, just like in a restaurant.

 

 

It's been shown that experienced servers can spot a non-tipper/low-tipper with 90% accuracy.

 

He (which is indeed wrong) probably did what he felt best for his paycheck.

 

Again look in the mirror as to why his "service" might not have been there on your trip. He has seen many many guests he knows whats up most likely and probably read you like a book. Who knows they might keep a database on you if you cruised before... wouldn't doubt it. Why did the table behind you have such a 180 degree different result with the same guy???

 

The saddest thing and it happens every cruise... a light dining room on the last (tip) night. Decency should prevail yet doesn't.

 

You usually get what you put into a situation...its a form of Karma.

[Carnival Game]

Nonsense.

 

There's nothing about my "looks" that would shout "poor tipper". And I'm not! I typically tip 20% in a restaurant.

 

Furthermore, what about the other people at my table? You think he eyed us all and made a snap judgment and decided to give us substandard service? :rolleyes: If so, he got what he deserved.

[mgmigs]

are you kidding me??? your blaming the guest for the bad service they received? :confused:

 

It's been shown that experienced servers can spot a non-tipper/low-tipper with 90% accuracy.

 

He (which is indeed wrong) probably did what he felt best for his paycheck.

 

Again look in the mirror as to why his "service" might not have been there on your trip. He has seen many many guests he knows whats up most likely and probably read you like a book. Who knows they might keep a database on you if you cruised before... wouldn't doubt it. Why did the table behind you have such a 180 degree different result with the same guy???

 

The saddest thing and it happens every cruise... a light dining room on the last (tip) night. Decency should prevail yet doesn't.

 

You usually get what you put into a situation...its a form of Karma.

[katiel53]

We didn't eat in the dining room three times and yes, I lowered the tip. His service wasn't great anyway. I gave more to the cabin steward instead.

 

Did you eat in the dining room or buffet for breakfast or lunch those days? The waiters/waitresses as well as assistants that work in the dining room at night also work in the dining room or buffet at breakfast and lunch. So, unless you didn't eat at all, you stiffed not only your waiter but the assistant as well.

 

 

I think there are people, not saying you are one of them, that just look for excuses to not tip the waitstaff. I wonder how they would feel if their boss didn't pay them when they worked all week.

 

We tip the full amount even though we eat in Portofino or Chops several nights during the week. We also tip extra in the specialty restaurants when we get great service. I know the tip is included, so if the service is average, then we won't tip extra. That's only happened once and most times we end up tipping extra to the dining room staff too.

 

On Mariner we have seen waiters from Portofino working there during the day. I think the employees work hard. I do believe that at some point RCI is going to go to the service charge as other lines do. That will eliminate some of the questions regarding tipping. What that will do for service is another question.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[MakinGold]

We dined in Portofino once on our last cruise. The tip is included, so there is no need to leave an additional tip. We didn't, in our case, because we were somewhat disappointed in the service. It was adequate service, but I had read so much here about how outstanding the service was in the specialty restaurants that it perhaps had me expecting too much.

 

I generally apply other gratuities to my SeaPass account, so the DR waiters get their full week's tips, which I think is how it should be. They are dedicated to our table, whether we happen to be there or not. We didn't tip any extra to the DR waiters, either, though, because we were a bit disappointed there, as well. The waiter and assistant waiter didn't seem to work that well together, and there were quite a few small glitches with the service. This was the first time out of six cruises that we felt disappointed with the service, so I think it was just a bit of bad luck.

[gdpups]

Sad when people have to flame one another just for asking a question. Everybody has their own opinion on tipping.

 

Just wanted to mention I though the tips to the dining room staff are pooled and also cover tips to those in other venues such as the Windjammer. Isn't that true! I've got several cruises planned over the next year and plan to eat several nights in specialty restaurants so was wondering the same questions. But, I'll be eating in the other venues as well, so plan on the standard tip and adding more for excellent service, but that just my plan and understand if others do what THEY feel is right. I'm just not into judging others!

[Merion_Mom]

I am going to try to paraphrase the best explanation of the gratuities on Royal Caribbean that I have read.

 

RC has determined that this is how they will compensate all servers adequately:

 

They request that you provide per passenger, per day, $3.50 for your dining room waiter, $2 for the assistant waiter, 75¢ for the headwaiter, and $3.50 for the cabin steward.

 

RC then assigns the waiters and assistant waiters to stations in the dining room for dinner, days and times in the dining room for lunch and breakfast, days and times in the Windjammer. As a general rule of thumb, waiters are assigned to four weeks in the dining room followed by one week in the Windjammer. Headwaiters work in the WJ every day, usually, as do assistant waiters.

 

RC believes that this kind of rotation and assignment results in their workers receiving a fair share of the gratuities left by the passengers. The waiters know that they won't get many, if any, tips during their week in the WJ, but they know that then they return to the dining room. The assistant waiters know that they won't be tipped specifically at lunch and breakfast, but they know that they be tipped by their dinner passengers.

 

RC has worked all of this out. If the passengers would just follow the guidelines, these goals will be met. If they start "fooling with it", or leaving less because they "didn't eat in the DR one night", it messes with the formula.

 

You eat on the ship. Regardless of where you eat, people are providing service. RC has devised this method. Apparently, it works well enough that their staff members are VERY happy and stay on for many contracts and many years.

 

Is that clear?

 

:)

[LMB01]

Clear?

 

Yes - so is the fact that I don't eat in the MDR or the WJ - therefore, do not feel that I need to leave a tip for the Headwaiter, waiter and ass't waiter. Some people "mess" with the system far beyond the parameters you outlined.

[Merion_Mom]

Clear?

 

Yes - so is the fact that I don't eat in the MDR or the WJ - therefore, do not feel that I need to leave a tip for the Headwaiter, waiter and ass't waiter. Some people "mess" with the system far beyond the parameters you outlined.

 

You don't eat any meal except dinner?!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!