Cruise Tip Calculator correct?

[True Romance]

Hello,

I am trying to estimate our gratuities for our 10 MR next year. I found the cruise tip calculator from the Sticky on this thread. This is what that site recommends for Disney.

Server $4/day/person
Assistant Server $3/day/person
Head Server #1/day/person
Stateroom Host $4/day/person

So that equals $12 per person per day. Just looking at minimum right now, not added gratuities for exceptional service.

I was also just on the phone with DCL reservations and asked about the pre-pay gratuities and they said it worked out to $18 per person per day.

What am I missing? Is the Cruise tip calculator outdated? For a family of 5 on a 10-day cruise that is a $300 difference. I want to make sure I am budgeting correctly. Which one is right?

Thanks so much.

 

[kcashner]

I love it when we know more than the DCL employees. Sorry, I had another issue with them this morning....

You are correct that the suggested tips total $12 per guest per night of the cruise. Don't know what planet the CM was on.

 

[szubieta]

Don't forget the tip for clubs for the children too.

 

[kcashner]

The counselors in the kid programming are not a tipped position. If you choose to tip them in cash they are required to turn it over to their department manager and it will be used for a department party. If you give them a gift card that does not have their name on it, same deal--must turn it over. If you give them some sort of munchies, that can be shared with the group of CMs in that area at that time. If you give them a gift card with a specific name on it, they can keep it.

The BEST thing you can do for them is to note them by name on your evaluation or write a letter to DCL naming them.

 

[szubieta]

The counselors in the kid programming are not a tipped position. If you choose to tip them in cash they are required to turn it over to their department manager and it will be used for a department party. If you give them a gift card that does not have their name on it, same deal--must turn it over. If you give them some sort of munchies, that can be shared with the group of CMs in that area at that time. If you give them a gift card with a specific name on it, they can keep it.

The BEST thing you can do for them is to note them by name on your evaluation or write a letter to DCL naming them.

Good to know...eval card, gift card, a letter and some candy.

 

[DopeyFan1966]

I'm all new to this. How do we do the tipping? Daily, at the beginning, at the end? And what if we want to tip more for exceptional service? How do we do that?

 

[dizney-cruiser]

I'm all new to this. How do we do the tipping? Daily, at the beginning, at the end? And what if we want to tip more for exceptional service? How do we do that?

You will get envelopes left in your stateroom on the last night - you can put in there what you want but there will be a page there with "DCL suggestions"

 

[poeticdiabetic]

Good questions...

My question is this: We just want to prepay our tips before the cruise. How do we go about doing that? We don't want to do the envelope thing. Too much calculations for the kid while on vacation!

And regarding cash, all that we were going to bring was about $150. And that's for spending on the streets of Nassau. (It might even be less than that.) We just want to buy some small trinkets and sightsee.

 

[jilljill]

Good questions...

My question is this: We just want to prepay our tips before the cruise. How do we go about doing that? We don't want to do the envelope thing. Too much calculations for the kid while on vacation!

And regarding cash, all that we were going to bring was about $150. And that's for spending on the streets of Nassau. (It might even be less than that.) We just want to buy some small trinkets and sightsee.

Call DCL or your TA, whomever you booked with, and ask them to pre-pay your tips. You will pay for them before your cruise. You will still get the envelopes in your cabin along with pre-paid vouchers that you will put in the envelopes to hand out to the appropriate 4 people.

Plan on having cash for tipping porters at the airport, port and for the room service delivery people (if you order room service on the ship).
I wouldn't bring any less cash than that, you never know if you will need more. Don't want to be caught short if there's no need to.

 

[True Romance]

I love it when we know more than the DCL employees. Sorry, I had another issue with them this morning....

You are correct that the suggested tips total $12 per guest per night of the cruise. Don't know what planet the CM was on.

Thanks, that makes me feel better. So it sounds like, even if we do pre-pay our tips, it would be $12/person/day.

Another question, if we choose to pay onboard, can we cash out some of our onboard credit to pay the gratuities? We have quite a bit of OBC/Disney giftcards/Disney Reward points coming to us. I was thinking of either paying gratuities or going all out with spa/photos/bingo/drinks/merchandise/etc.

 

[schwoomp]

If you wait to pay on the cruise, can you pay with a credit card? I'd rather pay later than charge to my card and pay now. Or will I need to have cash for this?

 

[kcashner]

If you choose to pay your tips on board by charging them at Guest Services, you can use any of the above questioned methods--Onboard credit from DCL or a TA, Disney Gift cards, Disney Dollars, Credit card, Reward points, and even cash! Anything that can be used to pay for your KTTW account can be used for tips.

For the poster who didn't want to do the envelope thing--you do the envelopes whether you pre-pay your tips, charge them at GS, or pay cash. If you pre-pay or charge after boarding you will get coupons showing the CM's name and the amount charged. You will place 1/2 of the coupon in the envelope and give it to the appropriate CM, the other 1/2 is for your records. The only difference is that if you pre-pay you don't have to fill out the charge form after boarding.

 

[poeticdiabetic]

Call DCL or your TA, whomever you booked with, and ask them to pre-pay your tips. You will pay for them before your cruise. You will still get the envelopes in your cabin along with pre-paid vouchers that you will put in the envelopes to hand out to the appropriate 4 people.

Plan on having cash for tipping porters at the airport, port and for the room service delivery people (if you order room service on the ship).
I wouldn't bring any less cash than that, you never know if you will need more. Don't want to be caught short if there's no need to.

Thanks! I'm going to call DCL in July in order to prepay my tips. We will be going with minimum cash, though. No big cash need from us. We are driving down from Atlanta so we're not going to have to deal with the airport. And we are going to be in a Cat 11 inside cabin, so we will definitely not be ordering room service,

(We cut costs so much as a family, we could have a TV show. My DW is obsessed with saving money.)

 

[mmouse37]

Thanks! I'm going to call DCL in July in order to prepay my tips. We will be going with minimum cash, though. No big cash need from us. We are driving down from Atlanta so we're not going to have to deal with the airport. And we are going to be in a Cat 11 inside cabin, so we will definitely not be ordering room service,

(We cut costs so much as a family, we could have a TV show. My DW is obsessed with saving money.)

I understand not needing cash at the airport since you are driving but just wondering what being in Cat 11 has to do with not ordering room service??? Room service is free to everyone on the ship and is offered 24 hours a day...have a hankering for a tuna sandwich at 2:00 am...no problem. Want a Mickey Bar at 11:00 pm before bed....again, no problem...call up and it is delivered. All you need to tip is $2-3 per visit...a great value!

Not trying to push you to use room service....just wanted to let you know that the service is available to everyone onboard, regardless of what type of cabin you are in.

MJ

 

[LMCmom25kids]

Others have mentioned that we need to give the tip envelopes to the 4 CM's ..... how EXACTLY do we do this? Do we have to play "search the entire ship for the right CM?" or what? Sorry... new to this also, just don't get it. We thought about pre paying tips also.

 

[Deb T.]

Good questions...

My question is this: We just want to prepay our tips before the cruise. How do we go about doing that? We don't want to do the envelope thing. Too much calculations for the kid while on vacation!

And regarding cash, all that we were going to bring was about $150. And that's for spending on the streets of Nassau. (It might even be less than that.) We just want to buy some small trinkets and sightsee.

Just wanted to make the suggestion that your $150 spending cash for Nassau be in small bills. Price haggling is an accepted practice there and you wouldn't want to negotiate an item down to $2 and then pull out a $20 to pay for it. When I see something I want to buy, I usually decide how much I'm willing to pay for it and then pull that amount of money out of my pocket before starting to bargain, giving the impression that's all the spending money I have left.

 

[Deb T.]

Others have mentioned that we need to give the tip envelopes to the 4 CM's ..... how EXACTLY do we do this? Do we have to play "search the entire ship for the right CM?" or what? Sorry... new to this also, just don't get it. We thought about pre paying tips also.

You leave the envelope for you stateroom host on the bed before you go to dinner on the last night because he/she will come in during that time for the evening turn-down service.

You give your server and assistant server their envelopes at the end of dinner on the last night. The head server will stop by your table to "see how things were during your cruise" and that is when you give him/her their envelope.

 

[LMCmom25kids]

You leave the envelope for you stateroom host on the bed before you go to dinner on the last night because he/she will come in during that time for the evening turn-down service.

You give your server and assistant server their envelopes at the end of dinner on the last night. The head server will stop by your table to "see how things were during your cruise" and that is when you give him/her their envelope.

Thanks! Got it!

 

[tink4eternity]

You don't have to "chase" anyone down. The 4 people you give the tips to you see everyday. The first one is your room host/hostess. The other 3 you see at dinner everynight. The "head" server. Your server and the assistant server.
2 weeks ago when we were on our cruise, I gave our room hostess her little envelope when she was getting rooms ready for bedtime the last night of the cruise. I gave the "other" 3 their envelopes the last night at dinner. It is very easy to do. I had some concerns also, but its very easy to do.

 

[jilljill]

Others have mentioned that we need to give the tip envelopes to the 4 CM's ..... how EXACTLY do we do this? Do we have to play "search the entire ship for the right CM?" or what? Sorry... new to this also, just don't get it. We thought about pre paying tips also.

There are only 4 envelopes to be handed out - room host/hostess, server asst. server and head server.

There's no search and seek game to hand out the envelopes. This is what we do, we leave the envelope for the cabin host/hostess propped up against the pillow so they find it when they come to turn down the room for the night; then we hand the envelopes to the servers at dinner the last night - you definately don't need to hunt them down that night.