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Why tip specialty servers & not main servers


Happy HALer

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This is my first NCL cruise but on costa/carnival, "x" ammount was deducted each day for tips and on the last day we could allocate extra tips to anyone that we thought had earned it (unless of course, we tipped them in person previously).

 

Does it work differently on NCL? In regards to specialty restaurants, I'm not sure what the "norm" is as I've never been to one before. (Not as many options on the other lines).

 

Thoughts?

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I think the person(s) posting this wrong info are the one(s) who are too cheap to tip anything extra. I know one person who posts repeatedly that the tip is the surcharge. That is totally wrong. The correct info is that the tip is includeed, but the surcharge for the specialty restaurant is not only for the tip. If that were the case, why would the same wonderful food not be served in the dining room as in Cagney's for example?

 

Part of the surcharge is for the better food. To us, the service in the specialty restaurants is far better than in the dining room. On our last cruise on Pearl, we had dinner one night in the dining room and the service was none too great. We also had most lunches in the dining room and again service did not warrant anything extra.

 

We do tip extra in the specialty restaurant when the service warrants it. For example, we didn't tip anything extra the first night in Cagney's. We also went there the last night and we had the greatest service, so we tipped extra. In LeBistro, the peppercorn sauce was very salty and it made the meat inedible. Our waitress never offered to get us another entree or anything, so we didn't tip her anything extra.

 

To be fair, I have to say we were on Pearl the week of transitioning to 2.0 so I think there were lots of things that were far better the next week. We are looking forward to our going on Pearl again in February and we know it's going to be a great cruise.

I hope you're not accusing me of posting this information because I'm too cheap to tip. For one, I've never eaten in a specialty restaurant, and for two, I do tip above and beyond. I don't know why I feel I have to explain myself, but I guess I felt you may be attacking me.

The post I read about the tip being the surcharge stated that on the bill you receive, the only thing listed is the word "Gratuity." As I have not eaten in such a restaurant, I have no first hand knowledge. Have a nice day.

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Never had our sea pass swiped.:confused:

Odd. For my last three NCL cruises (Gem, Dawn, Spirit), the greeter just inside the entrance to the main dining rooms has taken my sea card and swiped it, then told the hostess which table to seat me at. I thought this procedure was fleetwide by now. I've been told that this is the way data is relayed to the electronic boards that display the occupancy level of each dining room. It also captures the data for other planning purposes (e.g., figuring out dining trends, popularity of certain menus, etc.).

 

A question for those who haven't had their cards swiped: are you sure your spouse/dining partner didn't hand over his sea card? They only need one card per party. It's done so quickly that it could easily be missed.

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I for once do not tip anything extra at the specality restraunts.

 

We usually only eat breakfast and dinner, breakfast is served in room by the butler who gets tipped seperatly and for dinner we always pick a specality restraunt. I have heard half of the autotip is for the waitstaff, so that means i'm already paying $10 a day for the two of us per dinner.

 

I know the argument that some of that tip being for the "behind the scenes people" that also are involved in making our breakfast, etc. but when i'm on land I don't go back in the kitchen and pass out a little extra to everyone I can find. :)

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Odd. For my last three NCL cruises (Gem, Dawn, Spirit), the greeter just inside the entrance to the main dining rooms has taken my sea card and swiped it, then told the hostess which table to seat me at. I thought this procedure was fleetwide by now. I've been told that this is the way data is relayed to the electronic boards that display the occupancy level of each dining room. It also captures the data for other planning purposes (e.g., figuring out dining trends, popularity of certain menus, etc.).

 

A question for those who haven't had their cards swiped: are you sure your spouse/dining partner didn't hand over his sea card? They only need one card per party. It's done so quickly that it could easily be missed.

We've been on 6 NCL cruises and EVERY time they've swiped 1 card from our party in the main dining venues.

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I hope you're not accusing me of posting this information because I'm too cheap to tip. For one, I've never eaten in a specialty restaurant, and for two, I do tip above and beyond. I don't know why I feel I have to explain myself, but I guess I felt you may be attacking me.

The post I read about the tip being the surcharge stated that on the bill you receive, the only thing listed is the word "Gratuity." As I have not eaten in such a restaurant, I have no first hand knowledge. Have a nice day.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to attack you. I guess that sometimes my posts come across differently than I mean them to. I have just seen so many posts that say the surcharge is the tip and that if an additional tip is given, it would be tipping huge amounts. I can think of two people who use this argument over and over even though they have been told they are wrong a hundred times at least.

 

One of these people brags about how using the Concierge Lounge on Royal Caribbean for free drinks is a perk given to her and therefore sees no reason to tip for her nightly drinks. That poster to me is definitely cheap as is the other one I mentioned to start with.

 

They give wrong info repeatedly and the wrong info is perpetuated. I don't know you nor do I know your tipping habits. That makes no difference to me. From reading these boards, most of the times people ask about tipping, it turns out they are trying to either remove tips or reduce/elminate them. That is not how the question is asked, but that is what they mean. If you doubt what I am saying, please try reading a few posts on other cruise boards as well as here.

 

Once again, I am sorry if it appeared as though I were attacking you. I was most certainly not.

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I read here in a post from an NCL ship-based employee that all cash tips have to be turned in to the "pool" and shared by the pool's formula. I don't know if that really happens, but if so, that is too bad in my opinion.

 

 

Maybe James can fill us in on the true story ....

 

From the horse's mouth.;)

 

Post#8

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=16679864#post16679864

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A question for those who haven't had their cards swiped: are you sure your spouse/dining partner didn't hand over his sea card? They only need one card per party. It's done so quickly that it could easily be missed.

 

Positive - on the Star a week ago. No swiping.

 

Back to the tipping thing, we had almost the same conversation as this thread at our table the first night in Soho. Something about it made me husband feel like he should tip extra - and I was "why, what's different about this then anywhere else we go?" (because it wasn't that the food was better, we didn't think it was, and it wasn't that the service was so much better - we do tip extra if it is.) Like I believe someone else said, maybe its the psychological thing about getting presented with a "bill" to sign with a tip line. But as I pointed out to my husband, even if you think they deserve extra you don't tip on a surcharge, which is what you're signing for, you tip on the service.

 

There was also a long debate at another table between guests and server about the 2-for-1 coupon and the surcharged food items .....now I clearly understood the coupons to be for your dining room surcharge but they had apparantly been told somewhere else on the ship that it also was good for example on the lobster - pay extra for one lobster, not the second) The surcharges on surcharges seem to confuse people also.

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Sorry, I didn't mean to attack you. I guess that sometimes my posts come across differently than I mean them to. I have just seen so many posts that say the surcharge is the tip and that if an additional tip is given, it would be tipping huge amounts. I can think of two people who use this argument over and over even though they have been told they are wrong a hundred times at least.

 

One of these people brags about how using the Concierge Lounge on Royal Caribbean for free drinks is a perk given to her and therefore sees no reason to tip for her nightly drinks. That poster to me is definitely cheap as is the other one I mentioned to start with.

 

They give wrong info repeatedly and the wrong info is perpetuated. I don't know you nor do I know your tipping habits. That makes no difference to me. From reading these boards, most of the times people ask about tipping, it turns out they are trying to either remove tips or reduce/elminate them. That is not how the question is asked, but that is what they mean. If you doubt what I am saying, please try reading a few posts on other cruise boards as well as here.

 

Once again, I am sorry if it appeared as though I were attacking you. I was most certainly not.

That's OK.. It's hard to read a person's intent by their writing. I'm glad to know that the surcharge is not the tip, because I do plan on dining in Le Bistro on our next cruise. I feel the same way you do about people who stiff staff. Like many folks, I've worked in the restaurant industry up to my 30's, so if anything, I over tip. No harm, no fowl. :)

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A question for those who haven't had their cards swiped: are you sure your spouse/dining partner didn't hand over his sea card? They only need one card per party. It's done so quickly that it could easily be missed.

I'm sure my DH hasn't given his card to be swiped, nor have I. But mind you, I've only sailed on Majesty twice. Maybe they're not implementing that system since it's been sold.:confused:

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I'm sure my DH hasn't given his card to be swiped, nor have I. But mind you, I've only sailed on Majesty twice. Maybe they're not implementing that system since it's been sold.:confused:

That's possible. Also, I don't think the Majesty has the electronic boards that display the occupancy level of each dining room, right?

 

However, I am surprised that the Star, according to daldog, doesn't swipe since the Star is the Dawn's sister and it's definitely done on the Dawn.

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Never had our sea pass swiped.:confused:

 

last cruise, on the NCL spirit...our sea pass was swiped everytime we entered the dining rooms.

i feel that one reason for this, if there is a complaint...they can track your servers. another reason, it showed up on the screens around the ship...showing how full/available tables are.

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I read here in a post from an NCL ship-based employee that all cash tips have to be turned in to the "pool" and shared by the pool's formula. I don't know if that really happens, but if so, that is too bad in my opinion.

 

I also understand that the service charge pool is shared much like a company bonus program. There are goals, comment cards, seniority and other factors that determine who gets what. I would not be surprised that supervisors and lead persons take theirs off the top.

 

Maybe James can fill us in on the true story ....

gut feeling, cash tips in the specialty dining rooms and a few other places do not normally get turned in regardless of what should be..

 

For those who have heard the Sur charge covers the tips, that used to be the thought, don't know if was true, but we do, leave extra as our service has always been so abslutely outstanding

 

NIta

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We've never had a card swiped in any restaurant - we tend to eat primarily in the specialty restaurants so maybe that's something that only done in the main dining rooms.....

 

As for tipping, I cannot recall a single time that we haven't left a tip for our servers in the specialty restaurants. The service is SO superlative (at least it has been when we've dined there) and attentive, why wouldn't we recognize that?

 

As for suite pax eating in Cagney's for breakfast and lunch - we realized that on our recent Dawn cruise that the same servers that we were seeing in Cagney's at night were the same ones serving breakfast and lunch at Cagney's. We were told by one of the hotel directors that Cagney servers have to be promoted to a certain level in order to serve there (who knows if this is true or not) but just relaying along the comment from the HD. Since we tended to sit at the same table whenever we went to Cagney's breakfast or lunch, we had the same server each time and we left him a tip at the end of the week.

 

Maybe everyone doesn't understand our thinking but the $$ for the specialty restaurant upcharges are built-into our calculations about the onboard charges and we always bring enough cash to express our thanks to our butler, concierge, room stewards etc who have all worked so hard to provide us with an ideal cruise experience.

 

We made a decision some years ago to cruise only once a year - but always in a suite. It works for us and we enjoy our time onboard immensely.

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We've never had a card swiped in any restaurant - we tend to eat primarily in the specialty restaurants so maybe that's something that only done in the main dining rooms.....

I've only had it done in the main dining rooms, never in a specialty restaurant.

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In the US it is customary to tip 15-20% of the total bill, excluding tax. I view it that the wait staff's portion of the soon-to-be $12/day charge is pegged to the cost of dining in the ship's free restaurants. So, if we have a $40 additional charge for dining in a specialty restaurant, then it would be appropriate to tip an additional 15-20% of that $40 charge, or $6 to $8, consistent with what would be customary in any land-based restaurant.

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I for one like to tip in any venue when I receive good service. I feel $10 a day is not enough for all the hard work performed to please me and mine by all the staff aboard.

 

Ditto that!!!!:) I tipped $5 in the dining room most nights as every night they brought me a huge vat on Bearnaise sauce and I CANNOT GET ENOUGH of that delicious concoction!!!!:D

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I hope you're not accusing me of posting this information because I'm too cheap to tip. For one, I've never eaten in a specialty restaurant, and for two, I do tip above and beyond. I don't know why I feel I have to explain myself, but I guess I felt you may be attacking me.

The post I read about the tip being the surcharge stated that on the bill you receive, the only thing listed is the word "Gratuity." As I have not eaten in such a restaurant, I have no first hand knowledge. Have a nice day.

 

Here I was goiing to come to your defense, and you two have settled it.. HEHEHE.. I was going to stick up for you and say, although you and I have disagreed on occasion on posting, I think it would be great to meet you on a cruise some day as I always enjoy reading your posts. 8-)

 

Odd. For my last three NCL cruises (Gem, Dawn, Spirit), the greeter just inside the entrance to the main dining rooms has taken my sea card and swiped it, then told the hostess which table to seat me at. I thought this procedure was fleetwide by now. I've been told that this is the way data is relayed to the electronic boards that display the occupancy level of each dining room. It also captures the data for other planning purposes (e.g., figuring out dining trends, popularity of certain menus, etc.).

 

A question for those who haven't had their cards swiped: are you sure your spouse/dining partner didn't hand over his sea card? They only need one card per party. It's done so quickly that it could easily be missed.

 

We have sailed on the Sun, twice on the Star and now on the Pearl (both times on the Star and the one time on the Pearl within the last 12 months) and I can assure you our card was never swipped when we entered the main dining room. I don't know why it seems to differ from ship to ship, but I think it does.

 

So if you're leaving a cash tip, who gets it? Head waiter only, or do all that participated in serving you receive a part of the tip as well?

 

I always give our tip directly to the wait person. Head waiters get on my nerves more than anything.. LOL..

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My DH and I have left tips for every meal, at every venue. These people more than deserve it. Some passengers are polite to the crew and some are down right rude. You could not pay me enough to endure what these hard workers have to go through.

 

Our tips are just a small nod to them that we appreciated their service.

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Here I was goiing to come to your defense, and you two have settled it.. HEHEHE..

 

I always give our tip directly to the wait person. Head waiters get on my nerves more than anything.. LOL..

 

Thanks, Terry:).. I appreciate that.. but it was a misunderstanding, anyway.

 

I thought the wait person who takes my meal/dessert order, etc., WAS the head waiter. Oh well. I'm sure they have a good system in place.. I was just curious.

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