Don't shoot the questioner!!!

[momof2tx]

I do have a question about tipping, though. How disastrous is it if you don't tip the recommended amount or if you do not tip at all? Do the cruise employees DEPEND on the tips i.e. - make wages like waiters at restaurants ($2.13 an hour, so they do DEPEND on tips) or do they really get a reasonable salary & the tips are extra?

A vote on if anyone who has or has not tipped?

We will tip, but were just wandering the other cruiser's thoughts.

 

[JennsBabySky]

They actually DEPEND on those tips. They do not get paid a reasonable wage and need those tips! But it is good to see a thread like this one, I'd rather everyone ask before they get on board so that everyone knows to tip for good service. Although, I believe if you don't have excellent service that you aren't obligated to tip the recommended amount. I think they still need to earn that tip. Personally, I've never had anything but extraordinary service and have always tipped extra! The staff at DCL have been unbelievable.

 

[my3kids]

The tips are their pay, essentially.

 

[WDWLVR]

They really do depend on those tips and work very hard for them.

 

[Melrosgirl]

If people aren't planning on paying at least the recommended tip, they shouldn't be cruising. It's part of the cruise cost. cruisers should go onto the ship assuming the service will be very good. Very good equals at least the recommended tip. Never less.

 

[TiggerKing]

We were actually talking with our server last week about what it is like to be a cruise employee. He mentioned that they get about $50 per month, and then rely on tips for their actual income. So, just a thought to keep in mind about tipping!

BTW, he and his wife both work on the Wonder, so that is their sole income.

 

[wdwmom2]

I was discussing this with a young CM that was standing outside of Animators Palate on the April Wonder cruise. I did ask him how much he earned.(I hope I wasn't being too nosey, but I really wanted to know.) He said that he makes $.15 an hour. All I could think was WOW. No wonder they totally depend on their tips. I tipped everyone more than the minimum, our service was "Excellent" . Now, if our service would have been less than I had expected, they would have not got the extra. And if less than exceptable, I probably would tip less than the recommended amount. But this was definately not a problem. Take care of your CM's, and your CM's will take care of you!!!

 

[momof2tx]

Thank you for the responses....they make it easier to tip more than recommended.

 

[ivanova]

our stateroom host last year did not give excellent or even "good" service ... so we tipped less than the recommended amount.

this year our stateroom host ROCKED!!! And we tipped WAY more than the recommended amount.

 

[rae519]

our stateroom host last year did not give excellent or even "good" service ... so we tipped less than the recommended amount.

this year our stateroom host ROCKED!!! And we tipped WAY more than the recommended amount.

Good for you, Ivanova! We had a horrible hostess a few years ago and had to chase her down for toilet paper, wash cloths, etc. I could NEVER tip the recommended amount and didn't. Considering I always tip more than the amount, this was a difficult thing for me to do, but I can't justify stiffing her.

The servers do talk about those who have stiffed them or judged their service on whether they liked or disliked the food. You have to judge the service you are given individually and tip accordingly.

Rae

 

[missmulan]

i am freshly off the Magic (yesterday) and when i went to guest services to get all the tips taken care of, the person in front of me had a family of four and only tipped the server & asst. server. she put a big fat ZERO for the stateroom host/hostess and head server. Now i can certainly understand the head server but i cannot understand why you won't tip the person who cleans your room twice daily (including your bathrooms). i thought that was pretty crappy.

 

[tecdavidt]

We always tip and we tip according to service. If service is terrible the tip is not the suggested amount but we still tip. If the service is what we expect we give the suggested amount. If the service is above and beyond our expectations then we tip over the suggested amount. Not leaving a tip is never a choice because this is their income. My opinion is the person who leaves nothing appears to be cheap to the cast member and they may not every know their service was not up to the cruisers expectations. When the cast member does not receive the full recommended amount I would hope they realize they didn't meet the cruisers minimum expectations. Kathy

 

[TooPure4u]

When I sailed in January, my stateroom host was also not very good. She did make the little animals out of towels but for her to get us toilet paper, tissues or soap was obviously too much to ask. We tipped the amount they suggested but I wasnt very happy about it. Oh well....hopefully it will be better this trip

 

[tvguy]

I do have a question about tipping, though. How disastrous is it if you don't tip the recommended amount or if you do not tip at all? Do the cruise employees DEPEND on the tips i.e. - make wages like waiters at restaurants ($2.13 an hour, so they do DEPEND on tips) or do they really get a reasonable salary & the tips are extra?

A vote on if anyone who has or has not tipped?

We will tip, but were just wandering the other cruiser's thoughts.

You must be in Texas. It is the only state I am aware of that allows a sub-minimum wage for those who get tips. Here in California, the minimum wage for everyone statewide is $6.75. Some San Francisco are communities have "living wage" laws that require $10.25 an hour if you also offer health insurance, and $11.50 if you don't.
Now cruise ships, unless they are American flagged, are exempt from any minimum wage laws. Most of the lines do pay a flat $50 a month for people who work 7 days a week, 16 hours a day for 6 months straight. Tips are the biggest part of the workers income. Sounds awful until you realize that the nations many of these folks are from have very low costs of living. On our HAL cruise, our waiter was from Indonesia. He said the $50 alone puts him at middle class level at home. The tips make him rich. He had been with HAL 5 years, and planned to retire in another 2 years at age 30 with the nest egg of tip money he had saved. He had a wife and 3 kids back home and said he would never have to work again.

 

[my3kids]

Virginia allows a separate minimum wage for waitresses and those in tipped positions.

 

[aprilgail2]

Virginia allows a separate minimum wage for waitresses and those in tipped positions.

So does NY...I never realized that some states gave waitresses/waitors minimun wage!

 

[dzneprincess]

I have often wondered, for those that say they give extra for great service, what amount are you takking? $10, 20, 30, 40 , 50?? Do you feel comfortable in stating?

 

[pearlieq]

We did tip some positions extra - here's what we did on our last cruise:

Dining Manager - We weren't celebrating anything special, so we only saw the guy twice. He stopped by for a long chat on tip night (surprise, surprise) but I went ahead and tipped him the $13.00 or whatever the recommended amount was. I wasn't too thrilled about it, but figured it was only $13.00, so I wasn't going to make a stink about it.

Stateroom Host - He was OK. He was efficient and friendly but didn't do anything "above and beyond". He was supposed to be tipped $56.00 or something like that. I rounded it up to $60.00

Assistant Server - He worked very hard, and was very efficient. He was nice enough, but not very friendly. He didn't really try to make conversation or anything, but he did a very good job and we didn't want for anything. I think he was supposed to get $38.75, which seemed ridicuously low for the amount of work he did. We left him $75.00

Lead Server - Our lead server was fantastic. He was friendly, accomodating, efficient, and very thoughtful. He complimented my dress on formal night, he brought us surprise appetizers and desserts to try, he chased my husband into the hall one afternoon to check up on me as I had been feeling a little queasy the night before, he provided an informed and helpful run down on the menu each night, he enquired about our activities and plans and made helpful suggestions, and all sorts of other nice things. He was really a gem. Again, the $56.00 he was supposed to be tipped felt ridiculous. I couldn't live with the idea of leaving him only $56.00 for everything he had done all week. DH and I figured that if we had gone out to a similar type of formal dinner at home, the check would have been about $100. For service like we got on the ship, we would have tipped at least $20.00. So, we multiplied $20.00 times 7 nights, which came out to $140.00. We rounded it up to $150.00, and that's what we left him.

That's what worked our and felt right for us. Your mileage may vary...

 

[CheapMom]

MARYLAND ALSO ALLOWS sub-min wages for servers

 

[rae519]

i am freshly off the Magic (yesterday) and when i went to guest services to get all the tips taken care of, the person in front of me had a family of four and only tipped the server & asst. server. she put a big fat ZERO for the stateroom host/hostess and head server. Now i can certainly understand the head server but i cannot understand why you won't tip the person who cleans your room twice daily (including your bathrooms). i thought that was pretty crappy.

Yes, I agree. That wasn't very nice. Although the Head Server might not be around much, he is the "behind the scenes" boss who does earn his tips as much as the others who are serving. As for the host/hostess, we keep a very clean room so there isn't much for him/her to do, but we still feel that he/she deserves a tip. The one we didn't tip as recommended just didn't even do the minimum things (clean towels, soap) - and forget the cute towel animals and chocolates, and never had even a one from this hostess and forget asking for ice!! IF she couldn't figure out that we weren't happy with her after the third day I chased her down the hall to get clean towels and soap, then she could never figure it out!

Rae