tips...

[98Charlie]

There are many ways to look at the tips and to justify either taking them off or leaving them on.

 

Personally, I would leave them on for a couple of reasons:

1. Even if I only would use the dining room one time, the seats are reserved for me should I want to use the facility. The waiters will be there and should get the tip for that reason if nothing more.
   
2. Yes, the same waiters that work the dining room will be at the buffets for breakfasts and lunches. We always run in to our waiters in these venues during each cruise.
   

 

Charlie

[eurolady]

I am so glad this questions was raised....I have only been on one other cruise and it was a RCI.....we never ate in the dining room so we tipped at the buffet for the servers we met that kept replenishing our drinks or brought us something extra and doubled our cabin stewards tip (the man couldn't do enough for us)....on the last night of the buffet there were noticeably more people....I asked my sister the "Cruise Queen" why and she said it was because so many people don't want to tip the dining room staff....I was really surprised that people would go ahead and take advantage of that service and then avoid the tip......I am going on a CCL cruise in the near future and for reasons I won't go into....will not be using the main dining room.....I would like to make sure that my tip allocation goes in the right places and all this information really helps.....for how I cruise the room steward is the guy I would like to see get the most $.

[Kwst8ofmind]

We took our first cruise last year and I was so stressed about getting dressed up and eating with strangers I almost made myself sick over it. (true introvert here)

 

By the end of the week I felt like I was leaving family behind. We made 4 great friends and I felt like our waitress was my daughter!

 

These folks work hard, long and hard days and deserve more than 5.50 if you ask me.

I am frugal by nature, yet I tipped these guys very well as the service was better than any ever received off ship at home. I took 60 dollars in singles and 40 in gold dollar coins for tipping. The staff thought the gold coins were great! The wait staff got 1 gold coin and 4 singles per night.

 

The buffet staff got a dollar per day if they got my drinks, more if they went out of their way.

 

The room steward got an addition 5 each day and a 20 on the last day.

[LHT28]

I am frugal by nature, yet I tipped these guys very well as the service was better than any ever received off ship at home. I took 60 dollars in singles and 40 in gold dollar coins for tipping. The staff thought the gold coins were great! The wait staff got 1 gold coin and 4 singles per night.

 

The buffet staff got a dollar per day if they got my drinks, more if they went out of their way.

 

The room steward got an addition 5 each day and a 20 on the last day.

 

Now that is tacky!!:eek:

[srlafleur]

Now that is tacky!!:eek:

 

Why?

 

 

BTW they still have to turn in all tips to the pool.

[LHT28]

Why?

 

 

BTW they still have to turn in all tips to the pool.

 

JMO

It is like treating them like children ..."if you are good I will give you a gold coin;)"

 

Tip extra at the end of the cruise if you feel they did a great job.

We leave the auto tip in place & tip extra at the end of the cruise to those that went the extra mile for us.

 

There has been lots of discussions on the "gold coin" & $2 bill tips.

Like you say it goes to the POOL on most cruiselines now

[Guest carlogesualdo]

JMO

It is like treating them like children ..."if you are good I will give you a gold coin;)"

 

Ya know...that's kinda the general nature of tipping: if you're good, I'll give you money. Tipping is tacky. We do it anyway.

[deepnite10]

the gratuties are put into a tip pool a distributed..you can ask that

your s be distrisbuted to the wait staff in the buffet rather than any

of the main restarauts..

[Teetype]

... on tipping is that tipped personnel have everything to do with my happiness on land and sea. I can just imagine the fun if I had to make my own bed, clean the bathroom, dust everything, keep the coffee, food, towels, drinks at hand, wash the linens, etc, all week. Why bother to go?

 

That being said, it's also really nice to bring along some thank you cards for those who you see daily (usually the room steward and wait staff). Write a short thanks on the note and include the extra in the envelope with it.

 

Cheers!

Tee

[Kwst8ofmind]

The people getting the the gold dollars did not think they were tacky, they were thrilled. It was not like here is gold coin you good boy.

 

Most had never seen the gold dollars before and some staff asked me if they could get one to send home.

 

It was not like they were getting one coin, as I stated they got other money with them. To you it maybe tacky because you are used to the currency, but the folks I gave them too thought they were a special treat.

[LHT28]

The people getting the the gold dollars did not think they were tacky, they were thrilled. It was not like here is gold coin you good boy.

 

.

 

It was not the the coin I was saying was tacky it was your method.

 

Is it a REAL gold coin or just your USD in coin form?

 

A real gold coin I would not turn down either:D

[Guest carlogesualdo]

If you pay your tips up front, you do not pay any additional unless you feel like someone has gone out of their way to provide exceptional service. There are some people you will need to tip in addition, however. These are: porters who carry your luggage ($1 or $2 per bag, generally), room service (generally $1 or $2), and individually for each alcoholic drink you buy (15% or so, they will add this on to your bill automatically).

 

I'm going to quote myself because I forgot to mention something...shore excursions! Just about all of the shore excursion operators I've encountered take tips, so be sure you're ready to leave one.

[amcjeep4life]

My understanding of the whole "pooling tips" thing is as follows:

 

Auto tips are indeed pooled and divided between all the aforementioned people, however.........

 

Any extra tips you give your cabin steward or head waiter are kept by them, as long as you left your auto-tips on. If you take your auto-tips off, they have to pool the money you give them, theoretically including the extra.

 

To the OP- leave the tips on, since it does benefit the servers when they are wroking at the buffet. Besides, it's really less than $40 pp for the week. Even the buffet workers deserve that!

[Jane110]

There are many ways to look at the tips and to justify either taking them off or leaving them on.

 

Personally, I would leave them on for a couple of reasons:

1. Even if I only would use the dining room one time, the seats are reserved for me should I want to use the facility. The waiters will be there and should get the tip for that reason if nothing more.
   
2. Yes, the same waiters that work the dining room will be at the buffets for breakfasts and lunches. We always run in to our waiters in these venues during each cruise.

Charlie

 

 

I agree with you.

 

I'd never sit and calculate how many meals in the buffet vs how many I ate in the dining room. And if I didn't eat one night? Should I take even more money off my tips? :rolleyes:

 

I think the OP is an inexperienced cruiser and so the question is valid. But once someone has been on a cruise it's apparent how hard those people work to create a good experience for cruisers - whether it's bringing escargot in the dining room or cleaning a used fruit plate away from buffet table, it's all work.

To practically create a spread sheet to decide how many hours they work in the buffet vs the dining room, and how many penny's should be subtracted from the suggested tip is just plain cheap. You're going to pay hundreds...or thousands... for a cruise and then deduct $ome because you think you the waiters didn't work hard enough to earn the full amount?

 

I'd never stiff the staff, and we always give more to those to go even further to make our cruise great.

 

So to answer your question LaurenLou - Yes, it's tacky to adjust the tip downward. They work just as hard whether you eat in the buffet or the dining room.

Have a great cruise!

[Jane110]

I'm a newbie travelling next month with my 2 daughters. We have paid the tips upfront. Do we pay again? If so, how much in $. Coming from the UK i really have no idea on what is acceptable or would be considered 'stingy'

 

If you've paid your tips upfront for the 4 of you, you don't need to pay again.

 

However, people with kids should tip the cabin attendant extra because kids generally create more work for them. Cleaning up after 2 adults and 2 children is a lot.

 

Also, if you have a particular waiter that's been especially kind to your kids, bringing them special dishes or extra condiments, lots of running back and forth to keep the little ones happy, taking care of spills, etc, you might want to tip a little extra to that person personally as well.

[trvlgrl422]

A good rule of thumb is:- if you have to ask if anything is tacky or not, then it usually is.

G.

 

 

How is one to learn if they don't ask questions? There is that expression that goes something like this-"There isn't any such thing as a stupid question." Isn't the whole point of theses boards is to ask questions?

[Guest carlogesualdo]

How is one to learn if they don't ask questions? There is that expression that goes something like this-"There isn't any such thing as a stupid question." Isn't the whole point of theses boards is to ask questions?

 

There are, indeed, stupid questions. The corollary is that there are also stupid answers. This question really wasn't a stupid one, and I think you make a really good point here with your response.

 

BTW, stupid questions are the ones people ask because they weren't paying attention when it was addressed previously. Like when they're drunk and slurring through muster...

[madelinerose]

We are not planning on eating dinner at the dining room- just grabbing stuff from the buffet. Is it tacky to adjust our tips for this???

 

Yes.

[AllieInMD]

My kids were 12 and 17 - but if I had little ones - THIS would make me tip extremely generously...

 

There were little ones at the table next to us in the dining room. The waiter and asst waiter went around and cut the meat of the little ones - so their parents could actually eat a meal while it was still hot and not have to worry bout the little ones.

 

 

Also, if you have a particular waiter that's been especially kind to your kids, bringing them special dishes or extra condiments, lots of running back and forth to keep the little ones happy, taking care of spills, etc, you might want to tip a little extra to that person personally as well.

[floatinrocks]

It is true the same people work in the buffet as the dining room, but I have to question the service thing somewhat. The service in the buffet is along of the lines of dishing up food onto a plate as you pass by, clearing the table as you finish, maybe getting you a drink or silverware if you didn't already get it yourself. That's barely more than you get if you go eat at McDonald's.

 

It doesn't matter what they are doing, if they HAVE TO BE THERE serving you in whichever way, they deserve to be paid for it. It's not a lot of money, I can't believe people don't just leave it alone!!!:eek: Reverse positions and then think about what to do and I agree with the previous poster, this is tacky.

[mstrc1]

There are many ways to look at the tips and to justify either taking them off or leaving them on.

 

Personally, I would leave them on for a couple of reasons:

1. Even if I only would use the dining room one time, the seats are reserved for me should I want to use the facility. The waiters will be there and should get the tip for that reason if nothing more.
   
2. Yes, the same waiters that work the dining room will be at the buffets for breakfasts and lunches. We always run in to our waiters in these venues during each cruise.
   

 

Charlie

 

Good point and good tipping.

[tankerman]

Call me old school! I think at 39 i'm fairly young and you can see I first cruised at 23 years of age. The problem is alternative dining. One of the best parts of cruising is getting dressed up and meeting people that you talk to and become friends with while dining. The wait staff get to know you and your likes and dislikes. I don't think to tip or not to tip would be such an issue if traditional dining was the only option. It's hard to believe people would actually skip dinner the last night to keep from tipping. In the past you would hand the wait staff an envelope with cash in it and they would smile and show real gratitude. Try the dinning room expirence!

[floridanative1]

You do not need to pay again. Your agent has simplified your trip by taking care of the tips. Just be sure to check your account before the last day of the cruise to make sure it is correct and that tips aren't charged a second time.

We occasionally tip someone extra. For example, I have food allergies and the assistant maitre' helps me every meal with my choices and sometimes arranging special dishes to accommodate my needs. I usually hand him/her a special envelope with a thank you note and an extra tip at the end of the cruise. I also let the cruise line know of anyone who is outstanding or rotten. Enjoy your cruise!

[Charisse4]

We are not planning on eating dinner at the dining room- just grabbing stuff from the buffet. Is it tacky to adjust our tips for this???

 

 

YES it's tacky! Those kids will make your cruise what it is, in the dining room and in the buffet. They work both.

[mstrc1]

You do not need to pay again. Your agent has simplified your trip by taking care of the tips. Just be sure to check your account before the last day of the cruise to make sure it is correct and that tips aren't charged a second time.

We occasionally tip someone extra. For example, I have food allergies and the assistant maitre' helps me every meal with my choices and sometimes arranging special dishes to accommodate my needs. I usually hand him/her a special envelope with a thank you note and an extra tip at the end of the cruise. I also let the cruise line know of anyone who is outstanding or rotten. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Yes, don't pay tips twice, just pay a good tip for the service rendered, no matter where you are.