do you have to?

[cruisecruisecruise1234567]

I got to thinking about that too there is no way they can be doing both running from the dinind room to the buffet. thats just rediculous. like I said I wouldnt walk into a resturaunt and hand a waiter $5.50 if I didnt eat there and the place that I did eat...give that guy $1.00.Thats just stupid.cruise ship or land vacation...you should tip who serves you...a tip is supposed to be for good service...not some surcharge you automatically pay. if I eat there I will tip them and if I dont I wont...I will tip the person who serves me...

 

 

When you get on board, go to the pursers and remove the tips.This way there is no question of bad service,you have not left yet.:D

 

Then if you want,tip each person daily.

[quickrate]

One of the reasons the cruise lines went to auto grat is because so many people stiffed the staff! The waiters and assistants in the dining room do pull double duty- they work at night in the dining room and then during the day at the buffet. I many times see my waiter on the Lido deck clearing dishes with a smile on his or her face. Please realize that the staff on a cruise ship make your cruise enjoyable by the wonderful service they provide you.

Pat

[UFQ202]

When we cruise we always take a bunch of small bills to tip people like room service, the person who brings my DH his coke at dinner and other people who have made our cruise special. It's not much but makes us happy. I have also learned to leave some dollars in the cabin in case my kids order room service so they can tip. :)

[Terry305]

I dont understand how people that seem to have an education, that can book a trip, buy the fare, negotiate the vacation , do not understand a simple tipping procedure, I do understand it frorms someone new in this Country , but people which part of $10.00 per person per day is not clear???

 

Hellooooo

 

:confused:

Please excused the typos my lap top is in this crazy mode and the delete button to correct my typos is not working.

[STiVo]

Ok. I have tipped the full amount on the couple cruises I have been on. I state that upfront because for some reason it means something to some of you guys. That being said, I don't really have a problem with a cruiser that only ate in the buffet, as stated earlier in the thread, offering a reduced dining tip. You tip for services that you use, generally, and it's, i don't know, wasteful to hand over money for a full service meal that you didn't utilize. I personally love the dining room and not so much the buffet.

 

But in the restaurant at home the table isn't saved for you all week.

This would be a valid argument if there were diners that were turned away due to the saved seat. The ship certainly won't turn any cruiser away so the "empty table" theory doesn't hold up. The waiter will indeed make a a few less dollars, just like I did when I waited tables and lots of folks didn't show up on a Tuesday night. The table attendant will not have to wait on that table and will be spending extra time to get an even better tip at another table. Trust me, I've been there. Honestly, it's part of the service industry.

 

 

$10 per day, per person is dirt cheap for tips. If you can't afford to do AT LEAST that....stay home.

Agree with you 100%. The ones who quibble over this are just cheapies and will make all kinds of excuses!

I also think it's rude to just call people "cheapies" when they prefer to utilize less pricey dining options to save some money. Realize that some cruisers have been scraping together for years to take this one cruise. They got here by making very calculated spending decisions. I suspect that some of us on here have some money to buy lots of drinks, souvenirs, and leave plenty of extra tips. Others will take no excursions as all and not buy a lot of extra stuff to take back with them, but I personally think they have a right to enjoy their vacation right next to the rest of us. Do you guys really think that these folks should just stay home?

 

Steve

[chironex]

I always thought tipping was a cheap way for the owners to force the patrons to pay for their staff - by guilt.

 

First cruise I ever went on was out of Australia - they did not tip. The cruises were more expensive - but the staff were paid better and the booze was cheap due to being in international waters.

 

Here you have to supplement the wages of the staff and pay higher prices overall. And why do they not offer duty free drinks on the cruise? Helloooooo - they are in international waters and still flog you an arm and a leg for a drink.

 

Automatic tipping should be banned. I will tip good if I feel the service was superior and will now carry tip cards that say "Tip #1 - be good to your mother" and hand them off to people.

 

Why can't big business pay their employees a liveable wage - and include that in their price. Oh wait - cuz no-one would go on these cheap cruises - so what they do is jack up the price of everything - so a cheap cruise now turns into a very expensive holiday.

 

My sister in law has a great rule of thumb on cruises - take the automatic tip off as soon as you go on - give a tip immediately in cash to your room attendant. Tip as you go along - in cash.

 

As it goes - cash is straight to their pocket. Much more civilized don't you think?

 

Remember - tipping is really an American thing - they don't do it in many parts of the world. They are trying - but local resistance is strong. I would rather see someone get paid a decent wage all the time, rather than rely on whether the place has a large turnover of patrons. And I am quite happy to pay higher for things if it does reflect this.:D

[keenie803]

Agree with you 100%. The ones who quibble over this are just cheapies and will make all kinds of excuses!

 

How are you cheap??? I didnt say I wasnt going to pay the $10.00 per day...Im just going to make sure I get it to the person who deserves it. That doesnt make me cheap its called being FAIR sweetie.

[octobercruiser]

The cruise industry should go the way of the all inclusive land vacations...one price covers everything including tip. Believe me, some people will still tip and when they do it will be because the service really warranted the tip. Honestly, if they raised the prices by 200 or even 400 pp but included all tax, food, drink and tips I'd book a cruise tonight. And if you think about it, the cruise industry would still make boat loads (literally) of money in their casinos, from the non-drinkers, children, bingo and excursions...not to mention art shows and other B.S. cruise extras. JMHO

[HurricaneSally]

How are you cheap??? I didnt say I wasnt going to pay the $10.00 per day...Im just going to make sure I get it to the person who deserves it. That doesnt make me cheap its called being FAIR sweetie.

 

 

I tried to tell you that the cruiseline knows what is fair. Why wrack your brain trying to figure it out, when it's done for you? Or, do you just want somebody to bow and scrape for your few bucks?

[sinkers22]

How are you cheap??? I didnt say I wasnt going to pay the $10.00 per day...Im just going to make sure I get it to the person who deserves it. That doesnt make me cheap its called being FAIR sweetie.

 

How are you going to make sure it goes to the person you think deserves it? The only way you can do that is to take off your $10.00 per day (or $5.50 for the dining room staff) and tip the Lido staff in person. So, if that's the case, you aren't going to pay the $10.00 per day like you state above. The $5.50 for your wait staff in the dining room will be going to the people serving you in the Lido. They are the same people! Makes no sense. Just tip $10.00 and stop quibbling over it. When you see how much everyone does, it's not much at all. It comes to $38.50 per week for your wait staff. Where do you think you can go on vacation for 7 days, have 3 meals a day and spend $38.50 total for tips? Nowhere!!

[chironex]

The cruise industry should go the way of the all inclusive land vacations...one price covers everything including tip. Believe me, some people will still tip and when they do it will be because the service really warranted the tip. Honestly, if they raised the prices by 200 or even 400 pp but included all tax, food, drink and tips I'd book a cruise tonight. And if you think about it, the cruise industry would still make boat loads (literally) of money in their casinos, from the non-drinkers, children, bingo and excursions...not to mention art shows and other B.S. cruise extras. JMHO

I absolutely agree with you.

[Nuttycruisegirl]

When you get on the cruise you will see that the staff members usually have more than one job...I was surprised to see our assistant waiter flipping burgers at the burger stand at like 1 AM after she had already worked a long night in the dining room. So the Waiters you miss by not seeing them in the dining room, are probably assisting you in other areas of the ship. It's just a little odd when your not used to the tipping system. :)

[gargoyle999]

Yes you should leave the tips on your S&S for you dining staff. These same people man the Lido buffet and also work the dining room at lunch and dinner too.

 

Our dinning room waiter was also sweating his butt off working at the burger station on the Triumph during the day. Probably earned the tip as much for that as for serving us dinner each night! :)

[steveaaaaa]

I dont understand how people that seem to have an education, that can book a trip, buy the fare, negotiate the vacation , do not understand a simple tipping procedure, I do understand it frorms someone new in this Country , but people which part of $10.00 per person per day is not clear???

 

Hellooooo

 

.

 

What part of Tip is not clear with you? Its not mandatory,it is exactly that,a tip.

If you think its their wages,then it should be included in the fare.

 

We should also tip in cash,so the higher ups don't take a cut or an administration fee taken out.

 

What do you do when you have a waiter from Japan? Tipping is an insult.

 

Steve

[STiVo]

When you get on the cruise you will see that the staff members usually have more than one job...I was surprised to see our assistant waiter flipping burgers at the burger stand at like 1 AM after she had already worked a long night in the dining room. So the Waiters you miss by not seeing them in the dining room, are probably assisting you in other areas of the ship. It's just a little odd when your not used to the tipping system. :)

 

Just because you have more than one job, which I have had, doesn't mean that you get tips, or at least the SAME degree of tips, for both jobs. I have waited tables in the afternoon and worked the front or did dishes in the evening. I wouldn't expect the same degree of tip here on land for each of those jobs no matter how hard I'm working. Hey, if you want to leave a tip for that stuff, go for it, but I'm hard pressed to criticize people for picking and choosing the services they utilize and tipping accordingly.

[GamerMom64]

................Tip as you go along - in cash ...................:D

I do this normally in everyday life and on land vacations :p so if a cruise line offers to do the math for me, hey, I'm on vacation :D

[Terry305]

Good grief!!!!! They don't work in the dining room and on the buffet at the SAME TIME.

 

The waiters work the breakfast and lunch buffets and dining rooms on alternate schedules.

 

$10 per day, per person is dirt cheap for tips. If you can't afford to do AT LEAST that....stay home. \

 

Sorry to be annoyed, but for heaven's sake, these people work very hard and very long hours. And they put up with a LOT of crap....probably from people who don't want to tip them) They deserve every penny they make, whatever it is.

 

I've worked tipped positions, it's always the people who are the cheapest who literally run you to death and there's no limit to what they ask for.

I've seen it over and over and over again.....

 

Buster the sad part is that they know, this members know, they are americans and they know ,some just pretend not to, thats pathetic, If they can't tip they shall stay home ,no doubt about it, I dont get it, the OP knows about tipping, she might had not cruise before but she sounds like an American, I am not been rude I am just tired of persons pretending not to know simple stuff and tired of reading lame excuses.

They post and post (some ,not all) about how great is to cruise and some are just cheap, no other name but that cheap, they think they are doing this people a favor, if you go to eat in a restaurant dont you know that besides your bill you are suppose to tip????pleaseeeee!!!

[GamerMom64]

..........................she might had not cruise before..............................if you go to eat in a restaurant dont you know that besides your bill you are suppose to tip?.........

Terry, some people really do not know. Maybe they don't live in big cities where we tip as a matter of fact in daily life. Maybe they don't eat in restaurants often so they can save their money for a dream cruise. We don't know so we really can't say.

 

To the OP:

....................My husband and I dont like to have big long meals and probably will only eat there once. (just to try it)......................

Your cruise fare includes all those delicious meals in the dining room. Eat there as often or as little as you'd like, I hear it is a fabulous experience. If you've already paid for the dinners, might as well enjoy them. ;)

[DocF]

Let me suggest something different for the OP. We rarely go out to eat at home. For one thing, good restaurants around our part of the world are not plentiful and are very expensive. We really enjoy the dining rooms on the ships. It is great to relax, be catered to by (usually) good waiters and enjoy a good meal. We have had good companions at our tables, but we also have had a table for just the two of us. You will be missing one of the real pleasures of a cruise if you do not eat your dinners in the dining room. Trust me on this.

 

Doc:D