A tipping problem.....

[ivanova]

Okay, this is one I haven't seen addressed on the boards prior to our cruise last week.....

Our service (Juan) served us on the first night. The next day (Monday) he injured himself on the way to the dining room for dinner. So a different server took care of us that night. Tuesday Juan was able to work breakfast, but due to pain (stitches in his leg) wasn't able to work dinner. Our assistant servier (Robert) and head server (Bhoola) did a superb job of taking care of Juan's section. Then Wednesday night again, Bhoola & Robert had to cover for Juan. Same with disembarkation breakfast on Thursday.

I went to Guest Services for "guidance" and got nowhere (was told they are not allowed to "advise" us about tipping).

I went ahead and tipped Juan $12 per person (instead of the normal $14.75 per person). Only AFTER we'd done the tipping did Bhoola tell us that Juan's tips would be divided among him & the other servers (including Robert our assist server) who covered for him. Now I feel bad and wish I had tipped more.

Lesson learned I guess.

 

[lrodptl]

Forgive yourself!

 

[logan1_2000]

you tried to ask for advice--they copped out on you--you did what you thought was right, and your idea of what was right should appear to any reasonable person as a reasonable interpretation of "right". dont give it another thought.

 

[CM_Mom]

Don't beat yourself up about what can't be helped. You DID try to do the right thing.

Thanks for sharing about the situation so all of us will be aware of what might happen in the future. All in all, that sounds like a pretty fair way for the servers to handle the problem.

 

[webray]

So..you tipped Juan separately..and then your fill in servers.

Or..you tipped less for the whole trip because your server wasn't there.

I am not seeing your problem, and definately not seeing why you would decrease your tip if you had excellent service.

 

[ivanova]

I decreased the tip because no one explained it would be split between Juan & the fill-in servers.....so I thought I was just tipping Juan for the one night (out of four) that he served us. It wasn't until AFTER we'd done the tips that our Head Server told us what would happen with Juan's tips (he wouldn't get them all).

Since Bhoola (head server) and Robert (assist server) did most of the fill-in work, I gave them HUGE tips to compensate for them filling in for Juan.

Had Guest Services told me when I asked that Juan's tip would be shared by everyone that served us, I would have tipped based on overall service given and not reduced Juan's tip (I still would've increased Bhoola's & Robert's tips too).

I just feel that in the process Juan got short-changed because the process was not explained to me in advance.