Gratuities at Magic's Topsiders

[ZeroToHero]

Be careful of relying on employment information from this board, regardless of the source. The best way to find out is to ask Disney directly. Also, you may wish to ask what tips a server can expect (again from Disney, I haven't seen anyone here yet who speaks with authority on that).

I'm just saying, don't make an employment decision based on this! Many things to consider, such as the true wage/tip level, job availability, quality of work (do you want to work in the dining area versus repairing plumbing, for example), your own expectations and career progression, etc. etc.

DCL has a website for prospective employees (I suspect you've already checked there). Good luck!!!

They only get paid around $10 a week by DCL, but if they get the suggested tip's, they "could" earn up to $56/person on a 7 day cruise they serve in the MDR's in tip's for a Dining Room Server, and $42/person on a 7 day cruise for an Assistant Server.

A Stateroom Host/Hostess also "could" earn $56/person on a 7 day cruise.

Which position were you thinking of applying for?

over50visits is right that you shouldn't take any comment's on here as gospel, and speak to DCL or your recruiter about wages. and your "opportunity to earn" amount's.

Also if you are a US citizen, then tax is payable, so that is worth thinking about.

Ex Techie

Oh yeah, I've done research and met with a recruiter - I actually work for Disney now, so I'm able to talk to people, but they're very secretive with their wages...

And Ex-techie, I was thinking of applying for Guest Communications Coordinator.

Polly-Anna, sorry that I hijacked your thread!!!

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

That's making up and printing the Navigator etc if I'm not mistaken?

Ex Techie

 

[kcashner]

Ex-techie's info is quite consistent with what we've been told by a couple of servers--that they make about $50 per month from DCL. One was quick to add that he also gets his room and board on the ship and transportation "both ways" between contracts. He made a big point of saying that this was transportation to his front door, not just to the airport in the nearest big city.

We also spoke to one "kid" who identified himself as "the only US Citizen server on the ship" and complained that he was the only one who had taxes withheld. He told us his father was a chef--I got the distinct impression that daddy decided it was time for him to do some real work! He was NOT impressive!

Interesting that they said you "could" get $56 per guest per week, since the "suggested" tip is $28 ($4 for server or stateroom host X 7 nights). Unless the guest was doubling the suggested tip, it wouldn't be $56. However, our favorite server told us that if everyone tipped at least the suggested, he made about $4000 per month, which he said was about 10 times what he could earn "at home."

No, this is not definitive info...just what we've been told by a couple of CMs.

CMs in non-tipped positions are totally different in pay scale!

 

[rk33l4n]

We've only ever eaten at Topsiders for breakfast & have not left a tip.

On our last cruise on the Magic in October, we were auto-grated for the MDR servers and added additional cash to their envelopes.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

]Interesting that they said you "could" get $56 per guest per week, since the "suggested" tip is $28 ($4 for server or stateroom host X 7 nights). Unless the guest was doubling the suggested tip, it wouldn't be $56. However, our favorite server told us that if everyone tipped at least the suggested, he made about $4000 per month, which he said was about 10 times what he could earn "at home."

No, this is not definitive info...just what we've been told by a couple of CMs.

CMs in non-tipped positions are totally different in pay scale!

Kathryn, I used the cruise tip calculator, but neglected to see that it auto selected 2 people, hence my miscalculation.

It should have said for a 7 day cruise, $28 and $21 respectively for the Server positions and $28 for the Stateroom Host/ess.
Completely by mistake!

Ex Techie

 

[kcashner]

Techie--that makes more sense...thanks for the correction.

I don't think that anyone here is suggesting that you tip at Topsiders for breakfast or lunch. The main dining room servers rotate thru Topsiders for these meals and are tipped at dinner. The question concerned tipping at dinner. Again, tipping at Topsiders is not expected. However, I've never seen anyone refuse a tip.

 

[pxlbarrel]

As people have already mentioned, your wait staff show up everywhere when they're not serving you dinner. We saw them at breakfast in Topsiders and Lumiere's, Lumiere's at lunch, Parrot Cay at the buffet lunch, on Deck 9 clearing the tables on deck and on Castaway Cay's bbq.

Even if you don't use the main dining room, you're utilizing the services of either your server or somebody else's server.

We had late dining on our last cruise and it was deliberate even though we usually eat really early while at home. We didn't want to have to rush back to the ship while on shore excursions so we chose the late dining. Did we like it? Well... we liked that we never missed dinner because of a shore excursion. But i gotta tell ya, we were so tired from said excursions that sometimes it was tough to eat. (which is probably not a bad thing considering my advancing Pooh years...) And we couldn't take advantage of the Pirate Night buffet because dinner ended just as the festivities started up. Doh! And we're not snacking people so we didn't really snack to survive until dinner. (Ironic since on sea days we seemed to gorge ourselves during the day.... weird)