tipping kids club counselors and conceirge

[Tonydana]

sorry if this is a duplicate post.. i thought i read somewhere that we do not tip kids club counselors.. is that a rule that they cannot accept tips? what if we would like to tip to thank them fortheir service?

how much do you tip your conceirge if you are staying in a suite?

thank you...

almost trip time

 

[KayR]

Don't know about concierge, but I always take candy for the kids club staff.

-Kay

 

[Tonydana]

how many counselors are there usually? would want to bring enough...

thanks for the reply..

 

[KayR]

There are quite a few Kids Club Staff, sorry, I don't know the exact number. I usually take 3-4 bags of wrapped candy and then put it together in a gift bag. The staff will share it at their meetings.

 

[stefanie.cadell]

How many counselors there are really depends on your little cruiser's ages.. There are usually 3 counselors to each of the teen areas (6 total). Then about 20 or so between the Lab & the Club. Then the nursery usually has 6-8ish.

Candy is a great tip for your YACs (Youth Activities Counselors). Some of the best "tips" we've received came from guests that would wrap up uneaten portions of their meals & bring them to us. We don't really get to eat guest food more than once or twice a contract. One set of parents brought us a pizza from Palo & it was AMAZING! Went so fast too! Another time a dad ended up sending his daughters up to the club with plates of goodies from a midnight dessert buffet. AWESOMENESS!!

The BIGGEST tip you could EVER give your YAC is to write into DCL specifically naming counselors. This will go so far & the YAC will get instant recognition & the letter will go into their file.

 

[grits98]

We ALWAYS tip the youth counselors with cold, hard cash! I figure they have got to have one of the most demanding jobs! From my understanding, all of the counselors combine their tip money and use it together for whatever they decide.

 

[Tonydana]

i definately don't have a problem bringing them goodies, etc. and writing a nice comment/letter about them.. but if they can get the cash tips, would really like to give that to them also.. who can't use some extra $$

 

[MomsOf2boys]

How many counselors there are really depends on your little cruiser's ages.. There are usually 3 counselors to each of the teen areas (6 total). Then about 20 or so between the Lab & the Club. Then the nursery usually has 6-8ish.

Candy is a great tip for your YACs (Youth Activities Counselors). Some of the best "tips" we've received came from guests that would wrap up uneaten portions of their meals & bring them to us. We don't really get to eat guest food more than once or twice a contract. One set of parents brought us a pizza from Palo & it was AMAZING! Went so fast too! Another time a dad ended up sending his daughters up to the club with plates of goodies from a midnight dessert buffet. AWESOMENESS!!

The BIGGEST tip you could EVER give your YAC is to write into DCL specifically naming counselors. This will go so far & the YAC will get instant recognition & the letter will go into their file.

I would feel silly sending food to the groups. I hadn't thought about the fact that they would eat so differently than us. Maybe this Palo trip I will ask for a wrap up for my kids and send it up to the youth counselors.

We made labels to go over full side candy bars saying thank you from the XXX Family! We just got variety packages of 20 bars and put those as well as skittles and other non-chocolate varieties in a gift bag and dropped it off to be shared. We did take names down. Each time we picked up the kids we asked them which adults they played with. We then thanked them and wrote down their names/country as we left.

We have not yet tipped concierge. The last cruise they specifically said they would not accept anything. We instead wrote letters about them and sent in as well as mentioning them on the cards available while on the cruise. Not once, but each time they did something we thought needed thanked. We are staying concierge this time and are now not sure of how we will tip and is it supposed to be enveloped to each individually or specifically? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[sissy_ib]

i definately don't have a problem bringing them goodies, etc. and writing a nice comment/letter about them.. but if they can get the cash tips, would really like to give that to them also.. who can't use some extra $$

They do not get to keep the cash. They have to pool any and all cash tips given and it goes for group parties. Still nice, but don't think the person you are giving it too gets to keep it or do what every they want with it.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

I hadn't thought about the fact that they would eat so differently than us. Maybe this Palo trip I will ask for a wrap up for my kids and send it up to the youth counselors.

I believe the budget was $1.50 per day per CM when I was aboard. It does get repetitive and as hard as the mess chef's try, they don't have a lot to work with budget wise.
Sometime's if you could make it to the crew mess around 11/11:30pm, any left over food would be brought down from the restaurant's.

The counselors would really like some food from Palo is you can sneak them some. They do have one of the toughest job's on the ship!

Ex Techie

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

They do not get to keep the cash. They have to pool any and all cash tips given and it goes for group parties. Still nice, but don't think the person you are giving it too gets to keep it or do what every they want with it.

Correct, non-tip positions do not get to keep the cash.
The policy used to be that it was to be handed in and it was donated to charity, but I've heard on here recently that the YAC's can use it for parties or celebrations.
And those comment card's mean a lot when it comes to performance reviews and promotions.

Ex Techie

 

[tessasmom]

Hehehe! I see you brought your question to the boards!! Nice! Now I have a better idea for our cruise! See ya real soon!! Are you as excited as I am Tonydana???

 

[mndisfam]

Actually, I would love to hear about something we can do for the counselors. If it wasn;t for them, our cruises would not have been so fantastic. I think they have the hardest job on the ship.

If we donated giftcards from a store or something, could they even pool them or something? i would really like to do something more than just mention them which we always do.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Gift card's are fine, and they can, if they wish, offer them for a prize.
They are Staff not Crew so get more time off and get to go to Merrit Island Mall or whatever the Wonder's nearest mall is now on their home port day if they are not scheduled.

Ex Techie

 

[sissy_ib]

Actually, I would love to hear about something we can do for the counselors. If it wasn;t for them, our cruises would not have been so fantastic. I think they have the hardest job on the ship.

If we donated giftcards from a store or something, could they even pool them or something? i would really like to do something more than just mention them which we always do.

Writing a comment card may not seem like much since it is such a small act for us, but it really does mean a lot of the CM you acknowledged. They get things like extra time off, pay raises and promotions based on their performance so in the long run a good comment that you spend 3 minutes writing can mean a lot of extra cash in their pocket. A nice thought may be to bring some blank thank you cards and give them to the individual CMs with the candy or what ever you chose to give.

 

[JCWolf]

Thank you for asking this question - I hadn't even thought about it. This will be our first Disney cruise and I'm very nervous about the kids club. My DS (15) has Down Syndrome and stuggles verbally. I think he's going to want to spend a lot of time at the kid's clubs and I know the counselors will be working hard. I would have hated to get off the ship without showing my appreciation.

 

[jrbdad]

Any other thoughts on tipping concierge?

When we got upgraded to concierge during our cruise this summer, I went to the concierge desk to take care of our gratuities and the form that they had us fill out included a line for the concierge staff as a whole, but is said "at your discretion." That was a tough one -- to this day I don't know if I did enough, too much, or just right? Felt look a good amount. They did tell me that it would show a ticket for one concierge staff member, but it would go to all of them.

 

[momto2girls]

Any other thoughts on tipping concierge?

When we got upgraded to concierge during our cruise this summer, I went to the concierge desk to take care of our gratuities and the form that they had us fill out included a line for the concierge staff as a whole, but is said "at your discretion." That was a tough one -- to this day I don't know if I did enough, too much, or just right? Felt look a good amount. They did tell me that it would show a ticket for one concierge staff member, but it would go to all of them.

Yes, when we tipped concierge, it was one amount and I guess they have some ratio that splits it up among everyone in concierge?

As for the kids' counselors, we never tip them. Our kids are probably the only kids on earth who say that the kids' clubs are boring and won't stay there longer than 1/2 hour (I keep hoping that they'll like it *this* time).

 

[MomsOf2boys]

Any other thoughts on tipping concierge?

When we got upgraded to concierge during our cruise this summer, I went to the concierge desk to take care of our gratuities and the form that they had us fill out included a line for the concierge staff as a whole, but is said "at your discretion." That was a tough one -- to this day I don't know if I did enough, too much, or just right? Felt look a good amount. They did tell me that it would show a ticket for one concierge staff member, but it would go to all of them.

I'm glad to hear about one single line and they do the dividing. I'm sure it will depend on how much you feel you ask of them but did you also look at what you tip for the other regular positions and go by that or did you just create a number that seemed right for you? Thank you for your posting.

 

[jrbdad]

Honestly - I sent my TA a text while onboard and asked for advice - then tripled that and later added a little cash as well. How's that for scientific?

Our entire family felt like the concierge staff MADE our cruise. We liked it so much we booked the same stateroom for next year - but will be paying full price .