Clarification on Tipping.

[Skallywag]

I am sure this has been answered before but just trying to sort out the minimum recommended amounts for tipping at present. Notice that the dining room server is recommended more than the stateroom hostess and would have thought it would have been the other way around. Have I got it correct please. Have takent he figures from cruise trip calculator as follows:-
dining room server $51.52. Assistant server $37.52 Head Server $13.02 and stateroom hostess only $50.54.

Also just on a personal note what does the head server do for his tip?

Just thought I would start by putting the mimimum amount in little envelopes to save worrying about it on the cruise.

 

[Viking]

I am sure this has been answered before but just trying to sort out the minimum recommended amounts for tipping at present. Notice that the dining room server is recommended more than the stateroom hostess and would have thought it would have been the other way around. Have I got it correct please. Have takent he figures from cruise trip calculator as follows:-
dining room server $51.52. Assistant server $37.52 Head Server $13.02 and stateroom hostess only $50.54.

Also just on a personal note what does the head server do for his tip?

Just thought I would start by putting the mimimum amount in little envelopes to save worrying about it on the cruise.

It has always been this way. If you think that your stateroom hostess deserves more than the server, simply give her more
The head server oversees everything in the dining room, usually pops in every night or at least every other night. He/she takes care of special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Tipping him or not has been discussed on many, many threads. During four crusies we had three head servers who did a great job, showed up every night, and thus made a great job. Needless to say that we tipped them something above the recommmended amount. Once we had a headserver we only saw twice: First night for some seconds. Last night to retrieve his envelope. For that cruise we had prepaid tip vouchers from our German travel agency, but we beefed them up for the rest of the personnel - except for him. And if we hadn't had prepaid ones, we would have tipped him well below the recommendation.

 

[Cindi0511]

On our 2003 cruise, we asked our server and assistant server what the head server did. They both got the look of death in their eyes and said he does so much more than anyone will ever know. Apparently they handle all of the complaints and people who can't or won't be satisfied no matter what you do. Both Carmen and Manuel said they wouldn't have that job for the world. It is my understanding that he deals with cast member problems too, as far as the servers go.

My GUESS, and it is only a guess so feel free to correct me if anyone knows for sure, but if you only see the head server a few times during the cruise, it could mean it's a very bad week for some people, them included.

Just my opinion and what I have been told...

 

[Tiggeriffic]

We've been on two Disney cruises. On our first cruise, we only saw our head server the first night and the last night. We tipped the recommended amount, but wondered why. On our second cruise, our head server helped us deal with special dietary requirements for our daughter who needs gluten free food. He went out of his way to make sure that our requirements were met and even caught some mistakes that were made by the kitchen before they got to us. On that cruise we tipped the head server quite a bit more than the suggested amount.

The stateroom hostess on our first cruise was fantastic. Our cabin was spotless and she was friendly and it was obvious that she worked incredibly hard. We tipped her quite a bit more than the suggested amount - even more than our waiter because we thought she worked harder for us. The stateroom host on our second cruise was not very good. Our cabin was not very clean (not gross, but there were things that were obviously missed). He only received the recommended amount.

Tipping is a very personal thing. However, I feel that the recommended amounts are part of the cost of cruising, but I am completely comfortable adjusting them up or down depending upon the service that I receive.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Have I got it correct please. Have takent he figures from cruise trip calculator as follows:-
dining room server $51.52. Assistant server $37.52 Head Server $13.02 and stateroom hostess only $50.54.

Also just on a personal note what does the head server do for his tip?

Here are DCL's official tipping guidelines for the four main tipped positions. For two passengers, multiply by two. For four passengers, multiply by four.

Per Guest per cruise ... 3-Night . 4-Night . 7-Night
Dining Room Server ...... $11.00 .. $14.75 .. $25.75
Dining Room Asst. Server . $8.00 .. $10.75 .. $18.75
Dining Room Head Server .. $2.75 ... $3.75 ... $6.50
Stateroom Host/Hostess .. $10.75 .. $14.50 .. $25.25 ​

These aren't really "mimimum amounts." These are guidelines. You can go higher or lower. Now, having said that, we've always treated these guidelines as minimums, and we've always tipped quite a bit more.

The Head Servers work long hours, 7 days a week -- not just at dinner, but at all meals and between meals. You might want to read the following recent thread about Head Servers:

"What does the Head Server do?" at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=833629

 

[poohssmum]

I have to say, after our first cruise, that I wondered what exactly the head server did. On that cruise, our Head Server saw us to our table the first night, she did a quick drop-by mid-week and was there with hand out on the final night of the cruise. During the rest of the week ... every time I observed her, she was standing at a podium :dunno I did not observe her have any more interaction with any of the tables being handled by my serving team ... or any other serving team in the area. We tipped the recommended amount, but certainly scratched our heads.

On our cruise last year, our Head Server was just amazing. I did not see that man stand still for more than a minute, and that was usually when someone was talking to him. At our table alone, he was refilling glasses, cutting meat for the children. We saw him every night, at least twice ... except the last evening. He stopped by quickly at the start of our meal to say hello and we assumed he'd be back at the end of the meal. I had to track him down at breakfast the final morning to make sure he got his envelope ... which did include more than the recommended amount.

 

[ivanova]

three cruises so far with DCL and so far we've had three great head servers - but Adrian on the repo cruise was head & shoulders above the rest - I did notice that all the head servers seemed to hustle (at least in our dining rotation) and I saw them all throughout the cruise at breakfast, lunch, Topsiders, late night buffets, etc.

After our repo experience, I have a great deal of respect for the head servers too.

 

[ivanova]

oops duplicate post

 

[KEH]

Not had Adrian as Head Server personally but saw him in action on the recent repositioning cruise and was very impressed. He saw us at breakfast and lunch and a couple of times and came and spoke to us even though we weren't "his" table.

We were far more impressed with him than our own HS (who shall remain nameless) whom we rarely saw and who swanned past our table with a quick "everything okay" without waiting for an answer.

 

[Jsme]

Our head server was wonderful on our last cruise. We leave with no dessert on Thursday and he made sure he got me the next night. Thursday was my bithday and he made sure they got my cake and sang to me. He was awesome. I was so embarassed and I asked them all to sing quietly so he grined and they all whispered singing Happy Birthday to me. I have to say this time our head server was better than our server and assit server.

He even remembered me on the elevator and on our last morning. He told me he hoped I had a wodnerful birthday cruise. I know he had to handle a situation at our table prior to us getting there on our first night. Seems that one lady refused to have to share a table with others. LOL This was funny. Her two children were embarrassed beyond belief. Who wants to share a table with someone like that? LOL

 

[DisneyElf]

We recently completed our fourth cruise - Repo back to Florida.

First 3 trips had great head servers --

Guess KEH & us had the same server - late seating, LAPLAPLAPLAP (lol). First time we got onboard and weren't asked if there were special ocasions, or how were we doing on the nightly stop by.

Only time we saw him was when he gave us our gifts from DCL -- and of course the last night.

I will have to admit -- this was the first time I didn't tip at least to the guidelines. Now... our stateroom host -- he received more than the guidelines as well as our servers.

 

[Skallywag]

Thank you to everyone for their views on this. Glad to see i was not the only one who was confused as to why stateroom hostess was paid so little compared with waiter. Would have thought they did more work but perhaps i am wrong.

Will just put the recommended amount in little bags and swop or add to as we feel we should.

 

[DIS NURSE]

Great info DIS'ers! Thanks! I have one stupid question though..........how do you give these envelopes to the servers the last evening/day? Do I have to track them down? Please tell me again how far in advance I can charge it to the KTTW card and get a receipt for them? I really don't want to spend my last moments on the ship scurring around trying to arrange all this!

 

[ivanova]

Thank you to everyone for their views on this. Glad to see i was not the only one who was confused as to why stateroom hostess was paid so little compared with waiter. Would have thought they did more work but perhaps i am wrong.

Will just put the recommended amount in little bags and swop or add to as we feel we should.

I'm not sure what you mean by "so little" - they're almost the same (less than 2 dollars apart).

The stateroom hosts to hustle as do the servers. I don't know how the guidelines were built (based on number of hours worked or what) but the main server and stateroom host/ess probably do the most work, hence why their pay is close to being the same.

 

[lbgraves]

Perhaps the confussion is because you are aware of everything that the stateroom host/hostess does for you all day. You are usually only seeing your servers for dinner. That is not where their work ends, however. They also work 16 hour days serving anyone on the ship who goes in their station for breakfast & dinner where ever they are working...Topsiders, the dining rooms, Pluto's, Scoops. Your tip covers the entire day...and you do not tip the other servers who take care of you during the rest of the day. It is suppose to even out when everyone takes care of their own servers.

 

[Cindi0511]

Our head server was wonderful on our last cruise. We leave with no dessert on Thursday and he made sure he got me the next night. Thursday was my bithday and he made sure they got my cake and sang to me. He was awesome. I was so embarassed and I asked them all to sing quietly so he grined and they all whispered singing Happy Birthday to me. I have to say this time our head server was better than our server and assit server.

He even remembered me on the elevator and on our last morning. He told me he hoped I had a wodnerful birthday cruise. I know he had to handle a situation at our table prior to us getting there on our first night. Seems that one lady refused to have to share a table with others. LOL This was funny. Her two children were embarrassed beyond belief. Who wants to share a table with someone like that? LOL

JSME, I hope you got that whispered song on video. How magical!

Your second paragraph is why I think that sometimes head servers are rarely to never seen. I do understand wanting to see something concrete in order for a tip, but also consider the fact that I may not see some rough situations because the head server IS doing his/her job, and that is worth the minimum to me. I would be uncomfortable as all get out, OK and probably just plain mad, to have to watch some selfish person throw a fit in the dining room. It wouldn't be a normal person having a bad day -- with my luck it would be the person who wouldn't be happy if they were served Paris or London on a gold platter. And if they're not happy, NOBODY around them can be happy.

Please understand, I am NOT saying any of the previous posters are wrong for feeling what they feel or paying/not paying what they did. I wasn't there, and I am not bashing or defending shoddy work. I just want to pose other possibilities to be considered when tipping.

 

[Skallywag]

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for that information you are probably so right that a lot goes on behind the scenes so to speak. Am still going to put the suggested amount in little bags and add to as we think fit. That way we will not have to worry about it. Would also like to know how we get the money to the relevant servers. We are doing Palo the last night so presumably can give it to them early. When do we get the official envelopes for it?
Thanks to everyone for their help.
Brenda

 

[ivanova]

you can pop into the restaurant before or after Palo and give the servers their envelopes then - or at breakfast the next morning if you go to your assigned restaurant instead of the buffet

 

[cherries]

Another question...

my husband and I are travelling with our 2 year old twins... do you think they have to leave tips too?

 

[tvguy]

In a nutshell, a head server's job is to make sure you have a great dining experience, in spite of things stupid passengers do.
We had MacClean as your head server, saw him every night, but never needed his services until the last morning. We had late seating, so our last breakfast was at 8 am. The IDIOTS who has our table for early seating didn't show up as scheduled at 6:30 am for breakfast the last day, but showed up at 7:45 am. Technically, they we not even supposed to be allowed into the dining room at 6:45. MacClean made sure they got their last meal, and since the DORKS we sitting at our table, quickly (within a minute) found us a table to sit at. We didn't get our last meal with our waiter and assistant server, but they checked on us frequently, as did MacClean. First class service even AFTER we had handed out tips.