Let me try to help.....tipping on a cruise ship is not the same as tipping in a land-based restaurant.
The cruising industry has their own traditions and the main one is to tip at the end of the cruise, usually on the last night at dinner. That is where you would hand over your tip envelope to your wait staff, usually get a few photos in and thank them for their week of service. On
DCL we have always built up such a great relationship with our wait staff that we always have added more to our tip envelopes (above the recommended amount).
At breakfast and lunch you are not expected to leave a tip. No one will think you are stiffing them if you leave the dining room at lunch or breakfast without leaving a tip...it is just not done that way.
Your tip at the end of the week includes all your meals, not just dinner. Again, as mentioned in the other post...this is why it is important to tip at least the recommeded amount at the end of the week.
Now, of course there are some people that feel if they tip their wait staff at the beginning of the week it will insure great service, but we have ALWAYS had great service and I am under the notion that tips are earned. We have not been disappointed in our service.
Same goes with tipping your room steward.....we either hand him or her their envelope when we see them the last night, or we leave it with a note on the bed while we are at dinner.
Your room steward will leave your tip envelopes (4 of them) in your cabin (dining room server, assistant server, head server and room steward) a day or two before the last day. You can either put cash in the envelope or charge them to your onboard account at guest services and they will give you vouchers to place inside your envelopes.
Here is a handy tip calculator to help figure out the exact denominations you would need for your envelopes.
http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/
