Confused about Tipping

[bogino]

I just picked up my documents today and I went over some tipping questions with my agent. She is a specialist in cruises of all kinds (Celebrity/Princess/Carnival/Cunard etc.). She has not been on the Disney Cruise though. When I pointed out to her the "recommended tipping" schedule on castawayclub.com, her only surprise was that the amounts were per person/per week including children. That is, on a 7 day cruise you would spend $25.75 + $18.75 + $6.50 + $25.24 for a total of $76.25 per person or $305.00 for a family of 4. She felt the amounts were reasonable for the adults but that you do not tip for the children. I need some further guidance here...

 

[din]

Although we have not been on DCL cruise yet, coming up though, and from what we have read here, they cater to the children in the dining rooms, sometimes above and beyond acording to some post. That may help in clarifying the need to tip for each guest.

Or you could look at it from a typical restaurant that you tip based on service and total bill and therfore that would include the children.

 

[dianthus]

I think the cruise lines your agent caters to are more adult oriented, with few kid's programs- Celebrity & Princess. I think these cruise ships don't suggest it for kids, as they view them along for the ride, so to speak. Those ships don't prioritize kid's programming at all.

Disney is very different. The servers really cater to the kids and tips are their primary source of income. Our servers has a different smoothie waiting for my DD everynight when she arrived. They had teddy bear binoculars for the kids to look around the dining rooms with, toys, crayons, etc.. They did ketchup bottle juggling and would sing to them and play games. All the servers seem to go the extra mile... We not only tipped for my DD, but left both of them much more than the suggested amounts. Dinner with Janna & Luke was a big attraction for my DD ( and us too! they were fun!) each day!

 

[aprilgail2]

When I go out to restaurants locally with the kids I certainly tip the waiter/waitress for them and if we stay in a hotel I add extra money for the maid if I have kids so I certainly would think that you would tip the staff on the Disney Cruise also...

 

[dijid]

This is something my DH and I were discussing last night. I'm not going to argue what the right thing to do is, I just want to point out that the DCL tipping guidelines aren't inline with restaraunt practice, which do make them seem a bit high. I understand that the servers on Disney go to great lengths to entertain the kids. So do the servers at our favorite Mexican restaraunt here in town. When we eat there, we tip (generously) based on the total amount of the bill. The standard for tipping is the total amount of the bill. Our DD is only 2 and she eats from the kids menu (as she will on the ship if she doesn't just eat off our plates) and the cost is a fraction of my meal. So, the expectation is the proportion of the tip from her meal is less than that from DH's or mine. Which leads me to think along the lines of your travel agent...it doesn't necessarily make sense to tip the same amount for children.

I've cruised twice before (before kids, not DCL) and have always struggled with the cruise practice of expected tips. I do tip, but I firmly believe that the cruise lines should include the amounts in the cruise cost and then pay their employees better.

 

[mg]

Our children, ages 3 and 4, were not catered to at all on our 7 day cruise in January. I did tip the recommended amount but I didn't feel we should have. We did not eat in the dining room on 3 out of the 7 nights and my kids did not eat the nights that they were there. The first night on the ship we arrived in the dining room at 6:00 and at 7:15 had not received our meals. That is a long time for children to sit at a table with nothing to do. We did let the waiter know that this was not acceptable to us and they did make more of an effort during the week. I think a lot of the problems had to do with the assistant server. She was horrible and the head waiter had to do some of her work as well as his. I know a lot do not agree with me but if we decide to do another cruise I will not be tipping the recommended amount for my children or myself if we are not in the dining room.

 

[bkline]

We have taken our DS on 3 cruises (Norweign, Royal, and Disney). I have always tipped at least the recommended amounts. Most times, I have given more. I figure if my DS wan't there, someone else would be in that seat. Although Norweign and Royal do not have the level of activities that Disney offers, the staff in the dining room has always been very attentive to him. The other cruise line dinners last longer (in my experience), because they have more courses.

 

[SC Minnie]

On our 7day on January our servers earned every penny that they received in tips - especially for DD7. Their was another child at our table and if our servers had not been so attentive and entertaining the two girls would have been bored out of their mind. A leisurely dining experience for the adults would have been out of the question. After getting the recommending tipping amounts from the boards here I thought they were high until we were on the cruise. The level of service we received was over and above what was expected and we had high expectations!

I had anticipated DD7 wanting to skip dinner and stay in the clubs but it was just the opposite. She wanted to go to dinner every night and see what magic trick Eddie (our server) was going to preform that night.

 

[dianthus]

dijid & mg-My DD is 10.. How quickly you forget! I can see your point with toddlers 1-4, as they eat so little and getting them to sit still for an hour is the real challenge, isn't it! If you opt out of the dining for 3 nights, then the tip should be adjusted accordingly. I think it also depends on your servers. The 2 on our cruise really worked as team... Mg- it's too bad you and your kids didn't have a good experience. Everyone I know who has cruised DCL has been so impressed, especially the attention they give all the kids. You should write DCL and let them know. Someone told me they ( DCL management) take the comment cards very, very seriously and recognize those who go above and beyond for their guests.

The way I figured it was 3 full restaurant meals- about $150 for the three of us daily x 7 days = $1050 x 20 percent for excellent service is $210.00. We gave them each of them $100, instead of the $75 & $50 suggested. We saw no reason to tip the Head server, as he was nice, but his job is to greet people and fix problems as they arise. We had no problems. If he did something worthwhile, I probably would have... When we had brunch in Palo's, we thought the $10 PP charge went to the server, so we didn't leave anything extra. I discovered on these boards it doesn't, so I feel bad... I'll know for next time, which is coming up soon.

Our servers told us that they have been stiiffed and given nothing several times- it's happened to all of them at least once. It's nice to see their positive attitudes towards guests didn't change because of a few people... Not tipping at all is so wrong! I couldn't believe someone would do that after enjoying themselves for 7 days on the ship.

 

[DisneyKids]

Oooops...sorry. Traffic issues on posting caused my repeats. Many apologies!

 

[dianthus]

The same thing happened to me when I posted before too! You can click on edit & check delete on the duplicate posts if you want to get rid of.

 

[DisneyKids]

dianthus - as you can see, I took your advice and deleted my duplicate posts. Thanks.

 

[anny_c_99]

As far as the tipping goes: on a 3 day cruise?

Resturant Server:$11.00

Resturant Assistant:$8.00

Head Server:$2.75

Stateroom Host(ess):$10.75
____________
$32.50

Is this per person a day, or per person for the entire 3 day?

I know this question has been asked before, and I'm sorry, the hubby and I think differently....I say per day, and he says"per 3 day.....Thanks for the info.

Anny

 

[IrishCowboy]

Anny,

The suggested amount that you have listed is per person for the ENTIRE 3 day cruise.

 

[anny_c_99]

Thanks IrishCowboy! My hubby will be glad to hear this..

Anny

 

[bennytobunny]

We were at first horried about the amount Disney recommend you tip and though as you do tipping for children, we also come from the U.K where we are not mad on tipping and usually only tip for outstanding service.

We left for our cruise and I was determind to tip as I saw fit, but if I put my hand on my heart we ended up tipping more, the service was amazing and they treated my son like a little prince, his starter arrived almost immediately as we sat dow, Ryan was 3 at the time and was content munching, and our head waiter always kept my son amused.

They were all worth the tip and more, the only one I did begrudge tipping was the matrade, but that was just me, we only saw him on envlope day.

Trust me you will see they really are worth there salt, and apparently Disney only pays them something like $60 a week and they reley on there tip's.

Have fun and enjoy, I know you will have a wonderful time!!!!!!