So, if the head server was supposed to get a $15 tip

[Started With a Mouse]

But why do they come looking for an envelope when it automatically comes off?

Ditto. I'm on vacation, I don't think I should play the envelope/excellence game. They charge me for gratuity on my folio, I use my credit card to settle my bill. The end. It seems a little ridiculous.

 

[bumbershoot]

But why do they come looking for an envelope when it automatically comes off?

They did the voucher system when I was on RCCL, too. The employees seem to need the vouchers. To turn in, maybe? I don't know. But the cruiselines that do this give you envelopes with slips in them, and you give those to the people you're tipping. If you want to put more in, you do. If not, then not.

Another tipping thread I saw last night said that it's possible they do not need the vouchers. I don't know. I just figure that the cruiseline is giving these out, and there must be a reason, so I'll use them by giving them out.

 

[jsolar]

On my first cruise in 2009, the head server came to our table every night. Not only did he talk to us about our day but he gave suggestions on what to do the next day at port or on the ship. He was wonderful. Fortunately we had no issues so he didn't t need to do anything.
We did tip him (as well as our server Brandon who was amazing) more than the suggested amounts.

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[ludari]

I usually go over as well for my servers including the head server especially if they did something special for me or helped with a food request. It's all about the service and you shouldn't feel like you owned them anything if they did provide the service you expected.

 

[Ptwolfman]

A bit off topic, it should be easy to give all the servers their tip envelope at dinner but when should I give the room steward theirs?

 

[jaminmd]

A bit off topic, it should be easy to give all the servers their tip envelope at dinner but when should I give the room steward theirs?

We left ours on the bed for him before we left for dinner on the final evening, so he received it when arrived for our turn down service. He was very kind, polite and our room was spotless, so we left him a lot more than the suggested amount.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

That's what we usually do, too, unless we saw the host/hostess on our way out for dinner. In that case, we'd hand it over personally.

We left ours on the bed for him before we left for dinner on the final evening, so he received it when arrived for our turn down service. He was very kind, polite and our room was spotless, so we left him a lot more than the suggested amount.

 

[Rogillio]

I have to just suck it up and pay the "recommended" to the head server. Frankly, after 12 cruises, the head servers have never done anything for us....we are low maintenance so have never asked. I know the overall atmosphere and experience is supposed to be attributable to him it I just done see it. So we have no issues giving him the min. We always over tip our servers and stateroom hostess.

 

[poohluv2u]

We have always given the tip to our stateroom attendant personally, as they have always been around just before dinner. This time they were no where to be seen, so I kept it with me incase we saw her after dinner. When we got back to our room there was the comment card on the bed, but no towel animal anywhere. In six cruises that has never happened before, I wondered if she was miffed that her tip wasn't on the bed. We never saw her in the morning either, but left her tip on the counter. Anybody ever not have a towel animal?

 

[disney1990]

I have always heard said, if the dining room is running well, the Head Server is doing their job.

On our last cruise, the Disney Dream, the Server and Assistant Server were so busy with some of the tables, the Head Server jumped and helped.

 

[MouseLovinMom]

I say, give what you think they've earned. We had one head server that got the recommended--that's it. He did his job but not one bit more in 7 nights. The service wasn't bad, but it wasn't above and beyond either. One the flip side, we've had the same head server for 5 cruises. He remembers birthdays without being told, handles food allergies without being reminded, orders some special things that he knows we enjoy, has snacks sent to the room every afternoon that we are in port, plans ahead for my picky child, and so on and so on. This man is a dream, he gets a lot more than the recommended tip but he earns it. As far as the last morning goes, I think the turnaround time is so short that the servers are very preoccupied. I don't think it's a lack of sincerity or unhappiness about the tip. It's just too many things going on in too short of a time span. We have a friend on one of the ships, whenever we sail with him we always say goodbye the last night because he never knows what the morning will bring. If we are lucky enough to see him, it's usually just for a quick minute.

 

[su_A_ve]

We just got off the Dream yesterday....we tipped Ali, our head server, exactly the preprinted amount. He came around to the table nightly. Our server also got exactly the suggested amount...he did his job, but never went out of his way. Our assistant got extra....he made sure to bring our standard drink before we asked, and kept them coming. He always brought coffee before our desserts came, he made a point to check back with us, even between courses, to be sure all was well.

Ditto. Ali came around every night, very polite and all but nothing extra so he only got what was suggested. But our server and even more the assistant servers got extra due to their superb service to us.

There was a big table next to us that Ali was literally there every night for LNG times, but due to a very demanding group. At one time, he brought over a package of crackers to see if that was good enough for them or if they wanted a different kind. He seemed to be doing whatever he could to keep the group happy. I sure hope they did in fact tip him accordingly however...

In our case, we didn't even give him the envelope...

 

[JennLK]

Ditto. Ali came around every night, very polite and all but nothing extra so he only got what was suggested. But our server and even more the assistant servers got extra due to their superb service to us.

There was a big table next to us that Ali was literally there every night for LNG times, but due to a very demanding group. At one time, he brought over a package of crackers to see if that was good enough for them or if they wanted a different kind. He seemed to be doing whatever he could to keep the group happy. I sure hope they did in fact tip him accordingly however...

In our case, we didn't even give him the envelope...

Ali was FABULOUS with us. My son still calls him his best friend. He spent a good deal of time with us just checking in and chatting with our son .

 

[Marlea98]

On P&O our waiters were okay but on tip night they went out of their way to entertain our kids, fuss over us etc, so we only left the recommended amount. We may as well have not been there any other night for all of the attention we were given by them in general.

On our first and only DCL cruise so far (Wonder) we had Sam and Ozar (the drinks guy) - we tipped Ozar $20 one night as he was doing his best (something must have gone wrong somewhere out back or wherever and he was quite stressed and upset), that the next night he came up to us with the drink slip and quietly asked my husband if the amount written in the tip section wasn't actually a $2. We said, nope, it's a $20 and the look on his face was priceless. It left us with a good feeling in that he realised he was acknowledged for how lovely he was to us the night before despite whatever was going on. One night, hubby had too many tequilas and margaritas in PV and missed dinner - Ozar offered to organise someone to send him up something to eat when I asked for some extra desserts to take back to the room. He was horrified when I said just to put them on a plate and I'd take them back! He said it was his job to make sure I wasn't inconvenienced and I said that I'm a mum and can do anything! He wasn't overly chatty but when he did talk to us he was friendly and courteous. We're low maintenance travellers and don't put on fake airs and graces so we're happy to be left alone unless we need something we can't do/get for ourselves. I'm even one of those who help scrape and stack the plates when we're finished dinner...

We also had a wonderful room attendant, Ferdie. He was lovely to my kids and also was happy to bring me heaps of extra toiletries (I tipped him $10 for them as I loved them so much). If my kids were tired and wanted to go to bed before he'd get to our room, I'd search for him to collect extra towels for the morning and tell him to skip our room for turndown. We'd leave him lollies or other treats as well. Ferdie was just the best for our family. He'd even bring in some of the oversized things left in our FE for us and leave them on the bed so they wouldn't be taken or damaged.

We're on the Fantasy next year and I hope we'll see Ferdie and Ozar again.

 

[sgc1107]

We just got off the Dream yesterday....we tipped Ali, our head server, exactly the preprinted amount. He came around to the table nightly. Our server also got exactly the suggested amount...he did his job, but never went out of his way. Our assistant got extra....he made sure to bring our standard drink before we asked, and kept them coming. He always brought coffee before our desserts came, he made a point to check back with us, even between courses, to be sure all was well.

Ali was out HS on the wonder in 2008! We loved him! I've got pics with him! Also maybe the dream & fantasy's size may make it more challenging for the HS to make rounds every night... Just a guess?? But I would expect a hello on the first night!

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[kimb96]

I tipped our head waiter extra as I felt he went out of his way. He greeted us every night. Our first two nights in the dining room was terrible service. Not mediocre, straight up bad service. Dh's food was wrong both nights. We didn't get our wine until we in our 2nd or 3rd course. Ds missed dine and play both nights as his food didn't come out until after 9. Seriously, tables around us were looking at dessert menus and ds had not yet recieved his food. We hardly saw our server. On the second night, when dh recieved the wrong food again, steam was coming out of his ears. After waiting 15 minutes, dh finally asked a different waiter if he could fix the situation as our server was nowhere to be found. I was super stressed and could see the dream of ever cruising with disney again disappearing. The head waiter came by and dh explained the problem. The next night the server was falling all over us to make us happy so we knew something was said to him. The rest of the cruise was fine. Our server was effecient and polite. The assistant server had our drinks out in a timely manner. We gave the server and assistant server the recommended amount and no more. Our head server got double.

 

[Henlady]

Just wondering which ALI you all have had? We have had the ALI who is the somewhat older gentleman, slightly stocky with dark hair. I understand there is a younger man who is taller and thinner also named ALI. The Ali (older) we have had is wonderful, and we've been lucky to have had him as our dining room head on several cruises. On one cruise he was over seeing Palo Brunch and stopped to speak to us. I'm going to miss not seeing him on the Magic next week.

 

[JennLK]

Just wondering which ALI you all have had? We have had the ALI who is the somewhat older gentleman, slightly stocky with dark hair. I understand there is a younger man who is taller and thinner also named ALI. The Ali (older) we have had is wonderful, and we've been lucky to have had him as our dining room head on several cruises. On one cruise he was over seeing Palo Brunch and stopped to speak to us. I'm going to miss not seeing him on the Magic next week.

This is "our" Ali .

 

[Henlady]

This is "our" Ali .

Nope, that wasn't "our" Ali. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of him.

 

[tripster222]

We had "this" Ali as our Head Server as well! According to our receipt, his last name is Atar. He was excellent! We saw him every night and he went out of his way to entertain the children. Our first night was in Enchanted Garden and he drew pictures for the children on the tablecloth! I think he even did a magic trick fo them. Our Server was just as great! We had Sasa Keteles. He was wonderful!! He alway addressed the children as "princesses" and entertained them and asked us about our day. The one person I wasn't impressed with was our Assistant Server, Barry Menezes; though, maybe he was new. He forgot to bring the children their milk on the 2nd night (well, actually placed it on the wrong table) and I had to ask for my coffee two of the nights. And one of those tiimes, when he brought it, he asked if I would like cream...and when I said yes, he proceeded to pour quite a bit into the cup and then add coffee to it! It was not at all what I expected! I thought he would leave the cream as usual, for me to add as little or as much as I wanted. Needless to say, I wasn't goint to drink any of it; but, broke down and took one sip to satisfy my coffee craving before I left the table and went upstairs to grab a cup on Deck 11! (Not quite the same! ) I know that I should have said something...but, I was just too overcome to do so. (He seemed to watch and copy a lot of what our server did, so maybe he was "in training". At least, I'd like to believe so, and give him the benefit of the doubt. )

Needless to say, we did give our Head Server and our Server a "little" something extra.