Question I cannot answer Re Tips

[GEORGET]

George, the explanation given by madforcruising is the correct one.

 

Everyone eats on the ship, somewhere. Royal Caribbean has devised their system for ensuring that each server gets a fair share of passengers' gratuities. *We* might not have invented the same system, but the workers are apparently content and believe that each one gets a fair amount from it.

 

That is why people are telling you to just tip the people as suggested: $9.75 per person per day, regardless of age of the passenger or where they eat on board. That covers the cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter.

 

That is why "$200 for the cruise" does not begin to meet the minimum suggested guidelines for four people for fourteen nights, even for just the dining room staff, ignoring the cabin steward.

 

That would be $3.50 + $2.00 + .75 = $6.25 x 4 x 14 = $350.

 

Sorry got it wrong it should be £ not $ i assumed when he said 200 he meant dollars.

 

Will recommend he pays the waiters. but as i said he prefers to give cash to all those who serve him.

 

IMHO If everybody paid the service charge upfront and it was pooled on every cruise to all serving staff this would be an easy question to answer

[PrincesScuba]

Sorry got it wrong it should be £ not $ i assumed when he said 200 he meant dollars.

 

Will recommend he pays the waiters. but as i said he prefers to give cash to all those who serve him.

 

IMHO If everybody paid the service charge upfront and it was pooled on every cruise to all serving staff this would be an easy question to answer

 

Sure, if RC included it in the fare or charged it automatically to your account, we wouldn't have to have these discussions.

 

But they don't. ;)

[PrincesScuba]

Sorry got it wrong it should be £ not $ i assumed when he said 200 he meant dollars.

 

 

Yes, then, "about £200" sounds right. :)

[petesweet]

Sorry, too late to edit out for me:o

 

No problem at all. After I sent it through, I realized ours really was a totally different situation. Kathy

[petesweet]

QUOTE=crusinmama06;20634135]Our MDR Assistant Waiter on Freedom waited on us every morning in the Windjammer.

 

So unless he plans on skipping breakfast and lunch, then leave the dining tips on.

 

And can I ask, you say the dining tips are $200 for his family? Just curious, how many are in his family? How many days? It seems like he is counting all of the tips, not just the dining.

 

Family of four 14 day cruise. His children do not want to dine in the MDR.

will mention that the staff rotate though, something i never thought of as we always have MTD.

If all the tips were pooled it would make this question easy to answer.

 

You are very kind--and brave:D--to try to solve this problem for your friend. I hope his experience on Royal Caribbean will be a great one.

Kathy

[marci22]

I agree, Georget, you are very brave. There is one Harry Potter spell that I usually say before answering certain posts and it seems to do the trick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spells_in_Harry_Potter

 

Let us know how it all works out; we are curious. (I promise not to blame the messenger)

[Debde]

Will recommend he pays the waiters. but as i said he prefers to give cash to all those who serve him.

 

And this system others use also so he's not wrong in doing what he prefers to do. Because CC is only about one percent of the cruising population-I have found-I am not the only one brave enough on line to admit that's how I tip-:eek: nor am I the only one who tips this way too.

As I said

Tell him to tip as he feels comfortable.

Because:

You are correct that tips are not pooled. If I go on a getaway weekend cruise and choose to spend the entire weekend in my room and get room service all weekend-:eek: :D I would tip my room service waiter and not MDR.

[temple1]

Sorry got it wrong it should be £ not $ i assumed when he said 200 he meant dollars.

 

Will recommend he pays the waiters. but as i said he prefers to give cash to all those who serve him.

 

IMHO If everybody paid the service charge upfront and it was pooled on every cruise to all serving staff this would be an easy question to answer

 

If your friend is not going to use the Main Dining Room I would suggest they register for My Time Dining. Otherwise their assigned servers in the dining room is going to be stiffed by your friend and his family. That means according to the calculation of PrincessScuba - the individuals assigned to their needs in the dining room will be stiffed $350 because of the lost table.

 

Your responses to me about his method of tipping in the past on other cruise lines has me confused. You said he is used to tipping in advance by paying the daily fee or whatever the other lines call it. But then you said he prefers to pay in cash to the individual servers.

 

If he prefers to pay in advance, register for my time dining. That is pooled tips and everyone is happy.

[jmraggs]

Thi will again, like all tipping threads bring out all the different opinions about tipping. So I´ll give mine as well which is based on my knowledge of the tipping system onboard.

 

The recommended tips are the major part of the crews monthly payment. The waiters rotate between Dining room and Windjammer, The system is et up in a way that while they are stationed in the Windjammer they will not receive tips from the recommended list, but the other weeks in the MDR compensate for that. So to keep the system running IMO everybody should at least tip the recommended amounts, regardless if using the MDR or not. Of course tips above and beyond for great service are always in order. If you Now when people start skipping MDR tips and give their servers in the WJ the tips it screws the system, as some in the MDR get stiffed and some in the WJ receive sort of "double tips", because the MDR waiter not getting a tip might not get an additional tip during his WJ time, while the guy tipped in the WJ might still get the full tip during his MDR time.

 

I´m not saying this is the best system and I know many will disagree with me and that´s fine.

 

This is exactly my way of thinking too and I have often thought about what you have said. I go with the cruise line recommended guidelines as everyone would get their fair share and everyone would have their time in the WJ without tips, unless someone wanted to tip that person extra on top of the guidelines. This is what I do, but I am not about to tell someone else what to do with their money and how to tip!:D

[Kurbanfan]

Also On my recent cruise the tip box for the Windjammers was not there.

 

 

I have never seen this in the Windjammer:confused: Is this something new:confused:

[Kenny 11]

Oh no....not someone trying to get out of tipping again. The staff rotates between the MDR, Windjammer and other restaurants. That means, that sometimes they get tips...sometimes they don't.

 

When you tip in the MDR....that has to cover the staff through their next rotation into other venues where they may not receive tips.

 

When you cheat them out of their MDR tips, they lose about 95% of their income....meaning they then have to work the Windjammer and other places basically for free.

 

These are hard working people, who are trying to make a little money for their families back home. Tips are nothing for us, but they really mean a lot to them. I just can't imagine spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a cruise, and then whining about spending a few dollars to support the staff that helps us have such a wonderful vacation.

 

I will probably get toasted for my two bobs worth, but here goes

 

Being English, tipping is a touchy subject, normally we tip people who give us good service and make a difference to our night out/ holiday etc, not just to make up their wages. By the sounds of it they must be being used as slaves to have to make up to 95% on tips:eek:

I would like to see them paid a good wage in the first place and I would gladly pay a bit more for the cruise, as it is i have prepaid our tips for sept (140 pounds, not a just few dollars) and don't really expect to pay any more, except 15% on our bar bill.

We have worked and saved hard to pay for our 2500 pound cruise, why should we have to pay the staffs wages when it is the responsability of RCI to do that.

Like I said tips should be for rewarding good service and not to top up cr*p wages.

 

Al

[megr1125]

I have never seen this in the Windjammer:confused: Is this something new:confused:

 

I haven't either.....I just leave a few dollars on the table when we leave, or, if I can, hand it to the server......