Any changes with Concierge tipping?

[Uncleromulus]

Or is it the same free for all where no one knows anything and you are left to your own devices???

 

[Bettyscruise]

You are on your own to decide an amount, if any.

From the DCL website regarding "other" tipping;

"Dining Manager Your Discretion
Room Service Your Discretion
Palo Your Discretion
Remy Your Discretion
Senses Spa & Salon An 18% gratuity will automatically be applied to all spa services
Vista Spa & Salon An 18% gratuity will automatically be applied to all spa services
Babysitting Gratuity not expected
Port Adventures Optional; not included in Port Adventures price "

No mention of concierge staff.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Thought as much---

 

[nrexxma44]

We have always tipped the concierge's about 500f for a 7 night cruise. We are frequently in the lounge, and use the concierge's for some food preferences, and the many changes to our itinerary. I think it is a personal choice...I know they all work really hard, and we generously tip good service off the boat as well!!

 

[cgolf]

I really wish they gave some guidance on this, for our two cruises we didn't tip extravagantly because yes we had drinks and food in the lounge, that was about it other than sitting at slow times and chatting about life with the hosts and learning a little about them. On one of the trips they printed out our boarding passes.

When we go out around home we are 15-20% tippers when we dine out, not sure if that puts us in the normal, generous, or cheap range. I will add that the tip amount was causing stress for some, we got asked a few times onboard what the tip level was supposed to be from other guests, we were all lost on this.

 

[wilkeliza]

To be completely honest I never would have thought of tipping the concierge staff. I would have assumed their keeping the lounge stocked and pleasent was apart of their base pay. Do people usually tip when they stay concierge on land as well? I kind of assumed the extra cost of the rooms was also so the staff could be paid decent wages sine the lounge alone can't account for the massive upcharge.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

We only do concierge aboard ship and tip the hosts as well as the bartender.

 

[bumbershoot]

Do people usually tip when they stay concierge on land as well?

Some do.

I kind of assumed the extra cost of the rooms was also so the staff could be paid decent wages sine the lounge alone can't account for the massive upcharge.

I agree 100%.


Some have said that the Disney ship concierges aren't paid, and it's ONLY tips, similar to the servers, etc. I scoff at that. Those employees are smart people, and there's no chance they would take that job for ONLY tips, when there are no tipping guidelines for cruisers. Especially because none I've met live in low cost areas; our fave was from London (she's gone, sniff sniff). She couldn't live at home if she was doing it for tips, without tipping guidelines.


Tip what you want. Don't let it cause you stress. Undertip, overtip, do what feels right to you and your wallet.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Tip what you want. Don't let it cause you stress. Undertip, overtip, do what feels right to you and your wallet.

I so agree. I think some people have lost the knowledge that tips are entirely UP TO YOU. Not set by what others may think of you.

 

[wilkeliza]

Hm I was just informed that my fiance has been tipping the conceirge staff with out my knowledge so seems he's clued it haha. I'll be honest I never think of tipping because he handles it.

 

[over50visits]

Or is it the same free for all where no one knows anything and you are left to your own devices???

Well phrased! That sums it up.

 

[Uncleromulus]

To be completely honest I never would have thought of tipping the concierge staff. I would have assumed their keeping the lounge stocked and pleasent was apart of their base pay. Do people usually tip when they stay concierge on land as well? I kind of assumed the extra cost of the rooms was also so the staff could be paid decent wages sine the lounge alone can't account for the massive upcharge.

DCL does a great job at not telling anyone if Concierge Hosts are actually a genuine tipped position--or fully salaried with any tips being a nice extra--or something in between.

Some insist they are Ships Officers--which makes it quite odd to me that a Ships Officer would work exclusively for tips.

To ME anyway they are sort of an "elite" Guest services position..

But as we see DCL apparently just relies on the good nature of the patrons to tip generously.

And you are right--with the extra $$$ Concierge costs, one would think the Concierge Hosts would get paid!!

 

[Bettyscruise]

But as we see DCL apparently just relies on the good nature of the patrons to tip generously.

On the final night, along with the other tip envelopes, there is a Concierge envelope, so I'd say DCL at least "asks" for a tip. They just offer no guidance, probably because the service level varies so much from person to person. On our last cruise we had perhaps four encounters with the staff and received minimal attention IMHO. Had I asked for more, I would have tipped more. FWIW; I did offer a on-the-spot tip to the cabana host, (not concierge), and he refused it.

 

[kaseyC]

DCL does a great job at not telling anyone if Concierge Hosts are actually a genuine tipped position--or fully salaried with any tips being a nice extra--or something in between.

Some insist they are Ships Officers--which makes it quite odd to me that a Ships Officer would work exclusively for tips.

To ME anyway they are sort of an "elite" Guest services position..

But as we see DCL apparently just relies on the good nature of the patrons to tip generously.

And you are right--with the extra $$$ Concierge costs, one would think the Concierge Hosts would get paid!!

Then you add in the fact that at one time the concierge staff was not a tipped position. IIRC, correctly our first few Concierge cruises in 2006-2009, they would not accept tips. There was the unspoken 3 times rule... you had to offer it to them 3 times before they would accept. Our first cruise on the Dream was the first time, tips seemed required (expected) and we started hearing that the staff was a tipped position.

Honestly, I have a hard time believe they are not salaried.

 

[Uncleromulus]

The "official" response from DCL when I asked if they were Ships Officers and if they were fully salaried, partially salaried, or a tipped position was:

"You will be interested to know that all DCL employees are paid a salary that is negotiated and agreed to under contract"

Period.

Nothing about tips, nothing about Officers. So we might be tipping ships officers who already make 70K a year..or make $2.00 an hour and in the same tipping category as the Assistant Room attendant.

And if that last is so, then they rely on folks already paying a lot of extra $$$ for concierge to shell out even MORE $$$ in tips so the concierge staff can make decent money.

My own conclusion is that DCL still prefers things to be left in the dark--

 

[belac]

Now you do get a letter in the room with a section to fill out for Concierge tips. It was confusing last 2 cruises to us as well so, we just tipped them in cash. Before that on our CL cruise we weren't allowed to tip them, told no. So yeah a bit of a, what the heck happened ? then .... on my phone to search.
I searched here while on-board and saw some threads where the policy changed and something like $25 per day, but I forget as we were rushed and Wifi not good.
I think we finally did $300 for a 5 night and $250 for a 4 night (Classic ships). We did get special attention for DS on the 5 night and did ask for some changes to Spa appointments, but it was run of the mill concierge service for the most part. They were super nice and pleasant always.

I hope we didn't make them feel underappreciated with that. We saw other families asking all sorts of things and had them running a bit, but we didn't. We did have gifts for them as well, just as a token, nothing else. While we know and realize that it is ultimately up to us and what we can afford I can't help wondering.

I never understood why asking or telling what tip amounts are, what is customary...is taboo. If DCL isn't telling anyone and then supplies a letter to fill out with Concierge tips without a general guideline as other positions, I can see clearly why people would wonder what is customary. Mostly, I think because they don't want the host to feel underappreciated and want to do right by them. So if there were some guideline or some general idea of what guests have left, compared to length of cruise and services, requests etc, it would be helpful.

Again, I know it is at Your Discretion, as all tips are. If you feel it was so-so service then the lower scale, exceptional at the higher scale but what the heck is the scale?

We generally tip at restaurants, spa, salon, porters, etc.. I even tip the guy that fills up my car's gas tank at the station. I know the scales for all that. It would be nice to know and discuss the scales of tipping the Concierge host.

 

[FigmentSpark]

The "official" response from DCL when I asked if they were Ships Officers and if they were fully salaried, partially salaried, or a tipped position was:

"You will be interested to know that all DCL employees are paid a salary that is negotiated and agreed to under contract"

Period.

Nothing about tips, nothing about Officers. So we might be tipping ships officers who already make 70K a year..or make $2.00 an hour and in the same tipping category as the Assistant Room attendant.

And if that last is so, then they rely on folks already paying a lot of extra $$$ for concierge to shell out even MORE $$$ in tips so the concierge staff can make decent money.

My own conclusion is that DCL still prefers things to be left in the dark--

That type of comment from Disney smacks of "Yes, we pay them, but we expect they will also be tipped, so please tip. We just don't want to tell you to tip."

 

[belac]

That type of comment from Disney smacks of "Yes, we pay them, but we expect they will also be tipped, so please tip. We just don't want to tell you to tip."

That is why it would be nice if we discussed it, since they obviously won't. Someone, somewhere came up with customary 15-20% tips for restaurant servers and the scale was born...

 

[Uncleromulus]

Now you do get a letter in the room with a section to fill out for Concierge tips. It was confusing last 2 cruises to us as well so, we just tipped them in cash. Before that on our CL cruise we weren't allowed to tip them, told no. So yeah a bit of a, what the heck happened ? then .... on my phone to search.
I searched here while on-board and saw some threads where the policy changed and something like $25 per day, but I forget as we were rushed and Wifi not good.
I think we finally did $300 for a 5 night and $250 for a 4 night (Classic ships). We did get special attention for DS on the 5 night and did ask for some changes to Spa appointments, but it was run of the mill concierge service for the most part. They were super nice and pleasant always.

I hope we didn't make them feel underappreciated with that. We saw other families asking all sorts of things and had them running a bit, but we didn't. We did have gifts for them as well, just as a token, nothing else. While we know and realize that it is ultimately up to us and what we can afford I can't help wondering.

I never understood why asking or telling what tip amounts are, what is customary...is taboo. If DCL isn't telling anyone and then supplies a letter to fill out with Concierge tips without a general guideline as other positions, I can see clearly why people would wonder what is customary. Mostly, I think because they don't want the host to feel underappreciated and want to do right by them. So if there were some guideline or some general idea of what guests have left, compared to length of cruise and services, requests etc, it would be helpful.

Again, I know it is at Your Discretion, as all tips are. If you feel it was so-so service then the lower scale, exceptional at the higher scale but what the heck is the scale?

We generally tip at restaurants, spa, salon, porters, etc.. I even tip the guy that fills up my car's gas tank at the station. I know the scales for all that. It would be nice to know and discuss the scales of tipping the Concierge host.

OF course with Concierge you are already paying a LOT of EXTRA $$$ for the service. One might expect to have Concierge host service to be part of that expenditure....

It's not like a restaurant server or a room attendant where all the users pay the same for the meal or the room to be made up.

So I myself find it a bit "cheeky" for DCL to then expect to have Concierge guests pay the large part of the Concierge hosts salary by way of tips.

OR tip someone who might already be making big bucks--I still don't know which it is.

 

[belac]

So I myself find it a bit "cheeky" for DCL to then expect to have Concierge guests pay the large part of the Concierge hosts salary by way of tips.

OR tip someone who might already be making big bucks--I still don't know which it is.

More like sneaky, same type of sneaky that restaurants do when they put on the bottom of the menu in the tiniest of print, "parties of 6 are automatically charged an 18% gratuity" The server adds it to the bill, no one looks at the individual charges then party of 6 puts down another 20% on top as the tip.
It is a game now for us, If the server tells us (yes some do) we up that tip and tell them thank you for that, you deserve another x% for letting us know (that is if the service was good). If they don't we just pay the bill with 18% built in.

I thought I remembered reading here that the concierge (yes while on the cruise desperately searching) were no longer a well salaried position, I could be way wrong though - since we don't know for sure, but that is my blurry memory.

Edited to add:
OK here is an old thread look down to bottom
http://www.disboards.com/threads/tipping-concierge-on-fantasy-dream.3482327/#post-55163096

There are other old threads referring to the Concierge team not being a salaried position anymore so than room attendants.