Settling at least one controversial topic: tipping in Chops/Portofino

[PrincesScuba]

I'm watching an updated version of "Cruising Do's and Don't's" on the Travel Channel right now. (yes, they finally made a new version)

 

They have lots of different ships featured on different lines.

 

They cut between these various ships and their corporate spokesperson.

 

RC's "face" is Lisa Bauer. She JUST said that the $20 fee for Chops or Portofino (ok, so they made the show before they increased Chops to $25) IS the gratuity.

[Happy ks]

This argument will never be settled. Some think the gratuity is included, some think the included gratuity is not enough.

 

I think it should be left up to the individual, if you feel like giving more money, you should. If you don't, I don't think anyone here has the right to pressure you into giving more or making you feel cheap because you didn't.

 

Above all else, don't tip because the food tastes better to you, the service staff had nothing to do with that. Tip because you are feeling generous. Believe me, the servers are making money in the specialty dining rooms even without additional tipping. Some think they are only getting $1.50 per person, I was told by the maitre d' it is more like $5 per person, the rest is to pay for the better food.

[Mark_K]

I'm watching an updated version of "Cruising Do's and Don't's" on the Travel Channel right now. (yes, they finally made a new version)

 

They have lots of different ships featured on different lines.

 

They cut between these various ships and their corporate spokesperson.

 

RC's "face" is Lisa Bauer. She JUST said that the $20 fee for Chops or Portofino (ok, so they made the show before they increased Chops to $25) IS the gratuity.

Officially, the charge includes the gratuity and always has, whether you want to add to it is your choice.

 

Regardless of what she said, there's no way the charge IS the gratuity. RCI would never provide food that much higher in quality, and that much more expensive, charge $25/pp and give all the money to the wait staff.

[PhoenixCruiser]

We will still continue to leave an additional tip based on the level of service.

 

###

[cb at sea]

See! If you feel your $40-50 TIP isn't enough, you're free to leave more, but that's a mighty hefty tip!!!! A meal for two (on land) would have to cost $200.00-$250.00 to warrant a tip like that...and don't forget...your drinks are extra and you're charged 15% on TOP of the "surcharge" in the specialty restaurants.

 

We've eaten in some mighty fine restaurants, and including drinks, our bill is seldom above $140 or so....

 

Your surcharge IS the tip!

[shelby_36]

We left extra last time but after reading and looking at it closer we didn't this time. It said somewhere plainly it incudes gratuidy- I think on the bill.

[HorrorFan]

We left extra last time but after reading and looking at it closer we didn't this time. It said somewhere plainly it incudes gratuidy- I think on the bill.

There is no argument about that. The price you pay DOES include the gratuity. Some folks here don't believe the gratuity they get is high enough, though for the life of me I cannot quite see how they come to that conclusion. I have never seen anyone here say that they know for certain how much of that $20-25 goes to the server. I tend to tip what RCI recommends, and they state quite clearly that the tip IS covered.:cool:

[marci22]

See! If you feel your $40-50 TIP isn't enough, you're free to leave more, but that's a mighty hefty tip!!!! A meal for two (on land) would have to cost $200.00-$250.00 to warrant a tip like that...and don't forget...your drinks are extra and you're charged 15% on TOP of the "surcharge" in the specialty restaurants.

 

We've eaten in some mighty fine restaurants, and including drinks, our bill is seldom above $140 or so....

 

Your surcharge IS the tip!

 

I have to agree, according to the Travel Channel, cb has been vindicated. The surcharge includes the tip.

 

You go girl!

[Cruzaholic41]

That's why is says Additional Tip on the form, not Tip.

[cruisenfever]

We always tip in addition to the $20/$25 that is charged. We know that the entire surcharge amount is not all tip. We have always received exceptional service at either Specialty Restaurant and we feel that our servers deserve it.

[Puffinater]

I have to agree, according to the Travel Channel, cb has been vindicated. The surcharge includes the tip.

 

You go girl!

 

 

Agreed the tip is included in the surcharge. The statement made was "the surcharge IS the tip" big difference in the two. The surcharge is not the tip as stated.

[grneyes]

We always tip extra too.

the surchange( $25.00) is not the trip for the servers.

We aways have great sevice and feel like tipping extra.

But you don't have to tip more if you don't want to.

[stephanie1]

I usually travel solo. Each time I went to Chops or Portofino I gave a $10

tip. Since my last cruise I learned that a part of that extra $20-25

goes to the server.

 

I may continue to tip that amount or maybe a little less. Now I realize

that bad service should not be rewarded and since the extra fee

includes a partial tip, I will not feel guilty.

 

Off topic but relevant: On the last cruise I had a bad very unfriendly cabin steward. Because of that I really should not have tipped him as well as I

did but the guilt comes out and I gave the standard gratuity.

 

I have always had good to great service at the restaurants. I am actually

happy now that the servers get part of that extra.

[granddutchess]

We always leave an additional gratuity when we have dinner at Portofino. The service and food has always been of exceptional quality.

[HB Cruiser]

I posted this about a year ago but caught h**l over it but here it goes.

 

Our entire group (10) went to Chops and got talking with our waiters during the entire meal. Once it was over, and they were closing the restaurant, we spent another 30 minutes speaking with all three waiters about life on the ship and so on. During our conversation (here is where it starts) I asked about the gratuities from the surcharge as I at that time had read all kind of stories on these boards. All three stated they shared in ALL the gratuities from the surcharge and not all the $25 goes to the staff. They receive (this was May 2008) $7.50 of the $25 surcharge making it a total of $1.25 each staff member received from each person eating in Chops.

 

Now, I personally do not think $1.25 per person is even close to what these fine servers should receive for my pleasant experience. We always tip more than the surcharge.

 

Tim

[Rancher Dave]

As the service has typically been well beyond the other dining service onboard RCCL, I have tended to give extra.

 

To those who think we are overpaying the crew by tipping extra, just look around and note that some nights its really slow in there and many in there are crew. Not sure if the crew has to pay for their surcharge or not...but over the past 8 times dining in either of the two places I have seen crew every time in there. I will not fault the captain for taking guests there one night, its a nice environment in which to entertain.

 

Ultimately it is up to each person if they want to offer up more and if they do great, if they don't at least the surcharge offers up some money to the crew serving all of the guests.

 

On Serenade the teamwork in the two specialty was incredible, everyone helped every table so noboday was every wanting for service...it was always right there. I think on our last night we did Chops for the three of us I ended up giving a nice big extra tip plus had two or three frozen drinks in there as well.

[Gonzo70]

Wow, it is sad that misinformation keeps being spread on this topic. The surcharge includes the gratuity - the entire surcharge is NOT gratuity. The cruise line retains the majority of the surcharge to cover the cost of the higher quality food, the expenses of operating the specialty restaurant, and for profit. Only a small portion of the surcharge goes to the servers as gratuity.

 

While nobody should feel the need to tip more, please do not base your decision as to whether or not to add more tip on falsely believing that you are tipping $25 per person already. Most of that $25 goes to the cruise line. It really upsets me that cb and some other people continue to blatantly mislead people when this topic comes up.

 

Just think, if the entire surcharge went to the servers, Royal Caribbean would be losing big money on the specialty restaurants! Do you really think they are giving away the large, high quality cuts of steak at Chops for free???

 

Also consider that on Royal Caribbean's sister line, suite guests on Solstice Class get some complimentary meals in the specialty restaurants - they are told that the suggested gratuity during these comped meals are $5 per person. From this it can be reasonably presumed that about $5 of the surcharge in specialty restaurants goes to the servers.

[JJ2sail]

I'm watching an updated version of "Cruising Do's and Don't's" on the Travel Channel right now. (yes, they finally made a new version)

 

They have lots of different ships featured on different lines.

 

They cut between these various ships and their corporate spokesperson.

 

RC's "face" is Lisa Bauer. She JUST said that the $20 fee for Chops or Portofino (ok, so they made the show before they increased Chops to $25) IS the gratuity.

 

 

I quoted that show year or so ago, when I saw it. But it didn't do any good.:rolleyes: I see we are back at it again.:( I have to admit that we usually tip a little extra too, that empty line on the receipt that says tip, always gets me!:o

[Gonzo70]

I quoted that show year or so ago, when I saw it. But it didn't do any good.:rolleyes:

 

It didn't do any good because it contains false and misleading information. Unfortunately it is probably not the last time someone posts it here and not the last time cb does her little rant about $200 to $250 meals. :rolleyes:

[sk8man]

We always tip in addition to the $20/$25 that is charged. We know that the entire surcharge amount is not all tip. We have always received exceptional service at either Specialty Restaurant and we feel that our servers deserve it.

 

I agree with you. We have always had excellent food and superb service at Chops or Portofinos so we leave extra. Same thing for the dining room or the room steward. If the service is above and beyond, I tip more than the suggested amount.

[long time lurker]

For me, when a business takes it upon itself to include a set gratuity, I am of the opinion that the business has established what is appropriate for that service. If they want the amount of the tip to be decided by me for a certain level of service then they would not inclued the tip. Personally I think at least from me they servers would get a better gratuity if I determined the value. I guess it is the prinicple of the thing, I have already been charged a gratuity.

[MAZANDSTEVE]

We tipped $5 extra on the first 2 times then $10 on the last night, even if the charge is inc the gratuity it was well worth all the extra, the food and service was superb, we had a lovely young man from the Pillipines, I cant remember his name, he was funny but proffesional and loved his job, he served us 3 times in there and made is a pleasant experience. $40 plus an extra tip is a bargain.:)

[marci22]

Agreed the tip is included in the surcharge. The statement made was "the surcharge IS the tip" big difference in the two. The surcharge is not the tip as stated.

 

I agree the entire surcharge is NOT the tip. I also agree that it's a big difference, but when someone on Travel Channel is broadcasting 'tip is included' in the surcharge, most people would feel that tipping has been covered in their payment, and rightly so.

 

I do give extra but I do not feel it is necessary to do so. I would not think someone is cheap if they did not add extra. It is stated over and over, gratuity included. This is a case where tipping should really be completely optional.

[carhirer]

So that's "settled" then?

[Toddcan]

I posted this about a year ago but caught h**l over it but here it goes.

 

Our entire group (10) went to Chops and got talking with our waiters during the entire meal. Once it was over, and they were closing the restaurant, we spent another 30 minutes speaking with all three waiters about life on the ship and so on. During our conversation (here is where it starts) I asked about the gratuities from the surcharge as I at that time had read all kind of stories on these boards. All three stated they shared in ALL the gratuities from the surcharge and not all the $25 goes to the staff. They receive (this was May 2008) $7.50 of the $25 surcharge making it a total of $1.25 each staff member received from each person eating in Chops.

 

Now, I personally do not think $1.25 per person is even close to what these fine servers should receive for my pleasant experience. We always tip more than the surcharge.

 

Tim

 

 

Tim, You need to carry your math calculation a little further.

 

Let's assume that the $1.25 per person per server is correct.

 

How many people eat at the restaurant in one single evening? Perhaps 100? Do the math. That's $125 in tips for EACH person for an evening.

 

Sorry to break it down even more for you, but here it goes. If your waiter is Fred, and he serves your table of 4. Your logic is that the $5.00 (4x$1.25) is not near enough for your pleasant experience. Make sense. BUT, you forget that Fred is also getting $1.25 from every person in the dining room, all evening long.. even those he does not serve.

 

Do you see it now?