specialty restaurants - tipping?

[rowlady]

it is custom to leave a tip on the table after dining in one of the specialty restaurants on the Jade? I am happy to do that if the service warrants it but am not sure of the normal procedure..........

 

Debbie

[uppitycats]

it is custom to leave a tip on the table after dining in one of the specialty restaurants on the Jade? I am happy to do that if the service warrants it but am not sure of the normal procedure..........

 

Debbie

 

All of the waitstaff circulate through the specialty restaurants and the regular ("free") ones, so presumably are part of the $12/per person "service charge" assessed at the end of the cruise. So it's not necessary to tip them.

 

But ... many folks seem to think that they are getting extra or special waitservice in the specialty restaurants, special enough to deserve an extra tip, so they do leave something extra at the table.

 

We ate in 3 different specialty restaurants while on the Jewel and while we found the food and service excellent, we also found food and service excellent in the regular restaurants, and didn't perceive anything "special" in the specialty restaurants, so we didn't tip extra.

[nlt46]

When we signed the bill at the end of the meal, we added on a tip. I don't carry money around on a cruise ship. Everything for me is done with the sign and sail card except for room service. Nancy

[roger001]

I found the service to be excellent and the servers so nice in both free and specialty rooms, that even though they did not ever indicate they expected a tip, I always left $5. I figured if I can spend that much on one beer it wasn't going to hurt to give the price of a beer to a hard worker. But certainly not necessary.

[cynbar]

I have sometimes left a tip (I always carry some cash, just in case) if I felt the service was superior, much better than should be expected. Those times have been in the minority, however. In general, the autotip is intended to cover all servers.

[suzyed]

Sometimes we left a tip(more often than not) and sometimes we didn't....kind of depended on if they went above and beyond, or were extra nice. ;)

[terrymtex01]

We have always left a tip in the specialty restaurants and as of last Oct, try to always leave it in cash. Unless we get poor service in a MDR, we leave a tip there as well. In the specialty we leave 20% of what the specialty charge is and in the MDR we would leave $5.00 or so. Breakfast and lunch in Cagneys was a challenge for us as we did not know for sure what to leave, so finally decided to leave what we would leave in the MDR for breakfast or lunch.. $5.00.

 

I am HORRIBLE about not having cash with me any time, on a cruise or here at home, but I believe it was NewMexicoNita that said if we apply the tip to the bill in the specialty restaurants, it goes into a pool that is divided amongst them all or something like that. Nita I hope you are reading so you can verify if it was you and if that was what you were saying. I honestly don't remember what the reason was, but I know after I read it I wanted to try to leave a cash tip whenever possible.

 

I do want to say that none of the extra tips are necessary as they are all included in the DSC, but it is just what we like to do when we can. I would hate for someone to feel badly if they were not able to do it, etc, because they are all taken care of by the DSC and they do NOT expect anything extra. So don't let that keep you from trying a specialty restaurant, etc. One of the main reasons we do is that we usually eat often in Cagneys for breakfast and lunch and most of the staff are there for evening hours too, so we kind of get to know them and start to think of them as "family" by the end of the cruise.

[rowlady]

Thanks everyone for the advice - I will try to remember cash when we eat in the specialties so we are prepared in case.............

 

Debbie

[Sam The Cat]

We have always left a tip in the specialty restaurants and as of last Oct, try to always leave it in cash. Unless we get poor service in a MDR, we leave a tip there as well. In the specialty we leave 20% of what the specialty charge is and in the MDR we would leave $5.00 or so. Breakfast and lunch in Cagneys was a challenge for us as we did not know for sure what to leave, so finally decided to leave what we would leave in the MDR for breakfast or lunch.. $5.00.

 

I am HORRIBLE about not having cash with me any time, on a cruise or here at home, but I believe it was NewMexicoNita that said if we apply the tip to the bill in the specialty restaurants, it goes into a pool that is divided amongst them all or something like that. Nita I hope you are reading so you can verify if it was you and if that was what you were saying. I honestly don't remember what the reason was, but I know after I read it I wanted to try to leave a cash tip whenever possible.

 

I do want to say that none of the extra tips are necessary as they are all included in the DSC, but it is just what we like to do when we can. I would hate for someone to feel badly if they were not able to do it, etc, because they are all taken care of by the DSC and they do NOT expect anything extra. So don't let that keep you from trying a specialty restaurant, etc. One of the main reasons we do is that we usually eat often in Cagneys for breakfast and lunch and most of the staff are there for evening hours too, so we kind of get to know them and start to think of them as "family" by the end of the cruise.

 

 

Thank you for your respone My GF and I have sailed 3 times with NCL and has always left 20% at least at the speciality resturants and leave between $5-15 at the MDR. Even though the staff are part of the tipping pool most of them make the dinner a special time. We also tip the room attendant extra to

[Sam The Cat]

I met to add that I am not the only one to tip extra

[Us2inFL]

...said if we apply the tip to the bill in the specialty restaurants, it goes into a pool that is divided amongst them all or something like that.

 

I believe you are correct. Years ago, we were in Horizons and gave the server a ten dollar bill. She was not certain what to do with it and went over to the maitre d'.

 

If you leave you tip on the check, it gets pooled. If you tip cash, I think it goes into their pocket.