Bear3412
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2011
seriously? how is that even legal?
Registered over seas.
seriously? how is that even legal?
On a cruise your "fast food" workers are the MDR staff. Your tips are for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
That said, I really wish they would just pay the CMs and just make tipping like in a regular hotel situation.
Right, but what's an appropriate tip for handing you a burger at one of the fast food counters? They're not performing MDR service, why should a customer be expected to tip as such?
So what you want is a fast food only Cruise, so you can get out of paying tips? Thats not the kind of cruise that I prefer!
just to weigh in, i don't mind the new policy (we have always tipped at least the minimum), but i'm bothered by the necessity to do it in the first place. If the only "salary" the cms receive is tips (which seems ridiculous), and those tips are now automatic, then that amount should be included up front as part of the cruise fare, and disney should compensate the servers/cms with a base salary just like you would with servers in a restaurant. Then if people are really impressed with the service, they can tip voluntarily on top of that. A tip should be an added incentive for excellent service; it should not be the only income of the person providing the service....imho.
I will be going to guest services to have it removed on our first day of the cruise. I appreciate why they are doing this, but as someone who tips based on service... I have issues with the tip being "automatic". We usually tip very well, and above what is recommended due to the fact that we have 2 young children. (We understand they are a little more work than adults). However, on one of our cruises we had 1 individual who we only saw once for 2 minutes with a robotic speech that he made to all of the tables. I have never been on a disney cruise, and based on previous postings... I have a feeling we will be tipping a ton due to the fact that it sounds like the staff go above and beyond! I feel that the amount I tip is my decision (I understand I can always add more to what they charge on my account) but if I have issues with one individual, I do not want to go to guest services and have that amount reduced. 2 reasons- I do not want to feel like I am cheap (when in reality we are truly good tippers) and I also do not want to have to explain why this person does not get the recommended amount. I do not want to get anyone in trouble, and we will just acknowledge that with a little less in tips. If we get horrible service at a restaurant, we do not tip 15-20%. If the service is great and they go above and beyond, then we tip closer to 20% The same will hold true for Disney. Feel free to flame if you must, but I do not feel this is unreasonable.
Personally, they should just include the automatic tip with your fare. It's irksome that with the premium DCL charges, that they cannot pay their staff better as it is. The purpose of a tip is to be an extra incentive for excellent service. Seeing how we always charge our tips to our onboard account and we've never had cause to lower the minimum, I'm sure my family would appreciate not having to make a trip to GS. However, most of the excellent service my family received on our first DCL trip in January came from people who don't directly receive tips from guests. Our servers and room hosts were "average". We weren't compelled to tip them more.
Eh, by the time I cruise again, it'll be the norm--so I'll just make sure I have the suggested amount in my account by the time I sail. Hopefully I won't have cause to visit GS to lower or eliminate the tips.
Just to play devil's advocate... if a person is eating all their meals from the quick serve locations, why tip in that situation?
I've never heard of tipping fast food workers.
seriously? how is that even legal?
Just to weigh in, I don't mind the new policy (we have always tipped at least the minimum), but I'm bothered by the necessity to do it in the first place. If the only "salary" the CMs receive is tips (which seems ridiculous), and those tips are now automatic, then that amount should be included up front as part of the cruise fare, and Disney should compensate the servers/CMs with a base salary just like you would with servers in a restaurant. Then if people are really impressed with the service, they can tip voluntarily on top of that. A tip should be an added incentive for excellent service; it should not be the only income of the person providing the service....IMHO.
Me either. Like I said, I was just playing devil's advocate. If someone doesn't use the dining rooms, I don't think they should be expected to tip.
I have always used them, though, and have tipped accordingly.
Did you ever speak with your Head Server of this issue? This was definately a time when the HS should have been brought up to speed with an issue with the server.I am fine with having the tips added at the beginning of the cruise even if I did reduce the tip for our main server on our last cruise. He was asked by my husband to look at me when speaking rather than him because I have a hearing loss. He never would, finally one of the interpreters sitting with us just interpreted for me but it was awkward not being able to answer until the interpreter finished and really slowed the ordering down. I am fine when I can see a person full face but if they are turned away I can't always understand what is being said. For the next cruise we will both have hearing issues which will be interesting since I also have multiple food allergies to deal with.
FWIW: Our Fantasy cruise is costing a lot less than the RCCL Oasis similar rooms booked over 18 months ago. I checked with RCCL on the day we booked in October 2010. I also checked the prices on RCCL FOS and Carnival Dream for the exact itinerary and same room types on their first day of booking and the prices were higher on those two ships than Disney. And last week, Disney refunded $561.40 to me because I am a DVC member cruising in June making my cruise even less expensive.
My point is that Disney does not always charge a premium. What is wrong with them adding the tip to your account just like many or most of the other cruise lines do? If Disney added it to the cost of their fare, it would cause pricing confusion. For example, Disney recently advertised $157 per person per day for a balcony in June. If they added tips, they'd have to change that to $169 per person per day. Perhaps, not a big deal to some, but if you multiply that out, that makes it harder to compare to other mainstream cruise lines that don't include tips. The other cruise line may offer $159 per person per day and it seems cheaper until you read the fine print that it excludes tips. I know that Disney is often (but not always!) higher priced, but my point is that they don't want to make the difference bigger. If all the cruise lines did it, that's one thing, but I don't think any cruise line will do it without getting the others to agree.
Just got off the Fantasy where they automatically charged the "recommended" tips to our stateroom for the servers and stateroom host. When did this start? While we are very good tippers I REALLY didn't like the liberty taken to just charge us automatically. That's not so much a tip as a service charge. Yes it can be changed but it's a hassle.
I will be going to guest services to have it removed on our first day of the cruise. I appreciate why they are doing this, but as someone who tips based on service... I have issues with the tip being "automatic". We usually tip very well, and above what is recommended due to the fact that we have 2 young children. (We understand they are a little more work than adults). However, on one of our cruises we had 1 individual who we only saw once for 2 minutes with a robotic speech that he made to all of the tables. I have never been on a disney cruise, and based on previous postings... I have a feeling we will be tipping a ton due to the fact that it sounds like the staff go above and beyond! I feel that the amount I tip is my decision (I understand I can always add more to what they charge on my account) but if I have issues with one individual, I do not want to go to guest services and have that amount reduced. 2 reasons- I do not want to feel like I am cheap (when in reality we are truly good tippers) and I also do not want to have to explain why this person does not get the recommended amount. I do not want to get anyone in trouble, and we will just acknowledge that with a little less in tips. If we get horrible service at a restaurant, we do not tip 15-20%. If the service is great and they go above and beyond, then we tip closer to 20% The same will hold true for Disney. Feel free to flame if you must, but I do not feel this is unreasonable.