gratuities

[Jodi Perez]

... duplicate post.

 

[Jodi Perez]

Thanks princessshmoo. I'll do that and not do that... respectively.

 

[lbgraves]

Regarding the timing of some of the comments, a lot of people read a post and don't finish the thread to catch the additional information posted before replying.

DCL set up the tipping the way it is so that you don't need to worry about tipping for every meal. Basically it is like a tip pool, only the work is pooled. If each guest covers their tips, then each server will be taken care of.

If you do end up going to early dinner, the servers will bring the kids' food on a quicker schedule than the adults'. Our kids would be finished before our entrée arrived so we took them to the club and came back to finish our dinner together.

 

[C6PT7]

I'm okay with paying the tip (at least a big portion of it) especially now that I realize the same waiters are taking care of the dining areas throughout the whole day. But we aren't typical cruisers...

So no one get worried about my waiters... I'll make sure we take care of them.

How do these 2 posts fit together?

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Ah the tipping debate. Funny how a billion dollar corporation, and one of the most expensive cruise lines still forces gussets into a corner by not suficinatly paying their staff.

I always thought carnival only did that cause it was a "Lower end" cruise. Doesn't matter the people in my carniv cruises were FLAWLESS - I couldn't believe it esp after the crap people talk on it.

I hope Disney measures up!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Ah the tipping debate. Funny how a billion dollar corporation, and one of the most expensive cruise lines still forces gussets into a corner by not suficinatly paying their staff.

I always thought carnival only did that cause it was a "Lower end" cruise. Doesn't matter the people in my carniv cruises were FLAWLESS - I couldn't believe it esp after the crap people talk on it.

I hope Disney measures up!

I'll just point out that the $12.00 a day gratuity suggestion is pretty much in line with most cruise line gratuities/service charges applied to all reservations. It's not just a Disney thing.

 

[Jodi Perez]

How do these 2 posts fit together?

Umm forgive me for being dense but how do they not fit together? I basically said in both posts that I intended to tip our waiters

 

[C6PT7]

Ah the tipping debate. Funny how a billion dollar corporation, and one of the most expensive cruise lines still forces gussets into a corner by not suficinatly paying their staff.

I always thought carnival only did that cause it was a "Lower end" cruise. Doesn't matter the people in my carniv cruises were FLAWLESS - I couldn't believe it esp after the crap people talk on it.

I hope Disney measures up!

What an odd thing to post when Carnival Cruise Line and Carnival Corp posted revenues of $10.9 BILLION in 2011, and they charge for tips?

 

[C6PT7]

Well at least a big portion of it, and take care of them aren't the same thing IMO.
Sorry if I offended you earlier. I just couldn't grasp how you would come to your conclusions as above but also pay to bring someone to care for your children when you want down time.
Thats all.

 

[KristiMc]

I would suggest that you wait until your twins are a little older and everyone can enjoy the shows and dinner. To me it doesn't make sense to spend the amount of $$ on a Disney Cruise if you are going to need to skip the meals and or shows. Wait until they are little older and they/you will enjoy it much more.

 

[Jodi Perez]

I would suggest that you wait until your twins are a little older and everyone can enjoy the shows and dinner. To me it doesn't make sense to spend the amount of $$ on a Disney Cruise if you are going to need to skip the meals and or shows. Wait until they are little older and they/you will enjoy it much more.

thats not really an option seeing as how our cruise is paid in full and we leave in 28 days. Also, We NEED a vacation.. life with 3 young kids wears on a person and while the cruise is expensive its pretty much the only vacation that will actually be a vacation with that many little ones... Anything else would be more work than it would even be worth. But thanks for chiming in.

 

[Poohcandi]

I truly believe you meant no harm by your original post. I have also posted questions that I thought were fairly innocent and been blasted by people. Before our first Disney Cruise I too wondered at the cost of tipping, we are a family of 7 and it definitely adds up over a 7 night cruise that you are already paying a lot of money for. I was particularly confused about paying the tip for my 2 year old, thinking what service is she possibly going to receive. By the end of the cruise I was enamoured with our servers, the whole family loved them especially my 2 year old who they doted on, they would bring her bowls of cherries after they realized how much she loved them. She always sat down to 4 different beverages and would count them each time to make sure they were right. As others have stated it is definitely worth the effort to try out the MDR, and if it doesn't work out, remember you are travelling with lots of families who understand that meltdowns happen. I truly hope you enjoy every moment of your cruise.

 

[Jodi Perez]

Well at least a big portion of it, and take care of them aren't the same thing IMO.
Sorry if I offended you earlier. I just couldn't grasp how you would come to your conclusions as above but also pay to bring someone to care for your children when you want down time.
Thats all.

AT LEAST.. I said. Also take in to account that the first post was early on in the conversation before I had a chance to consider all sides. Also I would like to make note that you are still being offensive. I didn't come to ANY conclusions above. I was ASKING A QUESTION. If I had already decided I wouldn't have bothered posting. I was questioning the validity of this charge just like I did the validity of paying for a sitter, or splurging on a cruise, or really splurging by choosing disney. It was all thought about for a long time and researched for a long time and while no solution is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for a family with so many little ones and a small budget, this was the best overall option. We are looking forward to some MUCH NEEDED downtime as I've literally not even had a haircut in over two years because I don't have a sitter to watch our children long enough for me to get to a salon. Fault me for it if you want but I have every right to consider the validity of the charge before agreeing to pay it. I ended up satisfied that it was valid and stated that I intended to pay it so I really don't even understand why the issue is continuing.

 

[Jodi Perez]

I truly believe you meant no harm by your original post. I have also posted questions that I thought were fairly innocent and been blasted by people. Before our first Disney Cruise I too wondered at the cost of tipping, we are a family of 7 and it definitely adds up over a 7 night cruise that you are already paying a lot of money for. I was particularly confused about paying the tip for my 2 year old, thinking what service is she possibly going to receive. By the end of the cruise I was enamoured with our servers, the whole family loved them especially my 2 year old who they doted on, they would bring her bowls of cherries after they realized how much she loved them. She always sat down to 4 different beverages and would count them each time to make sure they were right. As others have stated it is definitely worth the effort to try out the MDR, and if it doesn't work out, remember you are travelling with lots of families who understand that meltdowns happen. I truly hope you enjoy every moment of your cruise.

Thank you very much for your post... of course personalizing the staff always helps when thinking about the expense. I appreciate your view!

 

[tvguy]

Ah the tipping debate. Funny how a billion dollar corporation, and one of the most expensive cruise lines still forces gussets into a corner by not suficinatly paying their staff.

I always thought carnival only did that cause it was a "Lower end" cruise. Doesn't matter the people in my carniv cruises were FLAWLESS - I couldn't believe it esp after the crap people talk on it.

I hope Disney measures up!

It is, as they say, what it is. People wait years to get jobs on cruise ships......because the base pay......by their home nation's standards.....is good, often more than the average annual salary in their homelands, and add in the tips, the jobs make many of them wealthy.....again...by their home nation's standards.
Customers find tipping confusing and a hassle. The cruise lines and the workers seem to like it. As long as 2 of the 3 groups supports the current system, I think it will continue.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

What an odd thing to post when Carnival Cruise Line and Carnival Corp posted revenues of $10.9 BILLION in 2011, and they charge for tips?

Oh ok I didn't know that I just know especially the snobbery around not only here but in real life that carnival is the Cheaper lower end cruise. I'm not very verse in cruising so I didn't know the tip system was in such broad ranger across the different lines.

Damn record profits and still have this ****ty tip system. I only pay it because my servers on carnival were always out of this world outstanding.

I hope I can expect the same type of service on disney

 

[bumbershoot]

Glad you'll be tipping them. I really encourage you to write out a timeline to make SURE that what you're thinking of makes sense. Have you looked at the Navigators for cruises like yours will be, to see about the timing of everything?

The above WAS at the end, but I didn't want it to get lost.

early dining really wouldn't work either because they start getting really cranky (the 18 month olds) by 6:30. I'm thinking more of everyone around us than us... we are used to this nighttime routine but the other diners would DEFINITELY be annoyed by two squirming screaming twin boys

This isn't the first time I've gotten the impression that people think that their children are going to be the Worst Kids EVER on the cruise. They won't be. The dining rooms are FULL of kids in different levels of enjoyment of the room, from totally loving it to really not enjoying it at all.

The staff are AMAZING with kids, they help to keep them amused, they help to get them fed quickly and move on to their next plans.

I'm just not sure when your kids are going to be fed, and by whom. As mentioned, Cabanas is a sit-down place at dinner. Unless you're just feeding them from the places near the pools, you're going to be sitting down with them at some point.

I'm sorry if it seems like we are badgering you about this, just know it's because everyone wants you to enjoy the meals you've paid for. (Well, and no one wants to see the wait staff lose out on tips, but we ALSO want you to enjoy the MDR.)

Agreed and agreed.

If we choose early seating... we would not be able to attend any shows correct? (before 8 o'clock of course.)

Well that's true. Or at least the kids wouldn't.

You're going to take them to the shows, then...feed them? Where? Then your friend will end up missing...what part? starting when?...to then sit in the room watching the kids? I'm just trying to work this out, in case you've missed something that needs to be changed before you embark.

honestly.. I know this is going to probably sound silly to most of you but the "babysitter" is a friend of mine who has agreed to come and we have just covered the cost of her cruise she isn't being paid anything additional.. so I kinda feel guilty about sending her to bed with the kids and going to the dinner that she and her 3 year old daughter would probably enjoy....

[/QUOTE]

Getting an entire cruise is a HUGE salary. Doesn't matter what YOU paid, what matters is what she's getting. Have you talked to her about this? What does she think?

It's an important conversation anyway. We sent MIL on a cruise and since we'd have to pay the full amount for just her anyway, we had her take a friend. The friend was supposed to help my MIL really enjoy the cruise. And the friend didn't. The friend, it turned out, smoked, and Holland America still allows smoking on balconies. In the planning process the MIL suddenly wanted a balcony (which on HAL increased our costs tremendously and unexpectedly); turned out it was for the friend. Who was getting a free cruise (she didn't even pay the port fees/taxes as she agreed to). She dragged MIL to the smoky casinos to watch the friend gamble. MIL doesn't gamble at all. And on and on. MIL ended up sick and coughing at the end of the cruise thanks to having all the second hand smoke from the casino and blowing in from her balcony. We thought the friend understood why exactly we were sending her on a cruise, but she didn't.

t was actually only an extra $300 to bring a babysitter because we would have had to pay for two staterooms (and 4 adult tickets) anyway

From all your posts...2 parents and 3 kids. And you went for two staterooms? I'm sure it'll be pleasant, but my extended family that exists on one salary went for ONE stateroom for two adults, one mom, and 7 and 11 year olds. Anyway, you see it as being just $300 above what you would have spent, but again, the friend and her kid are getting a totally free cruise. This is AMAZING. And now you don't want to overwork the friend so she can enjoy herself...

the defensiveness was mostly in reply to the pp who seemed to think I was crazy for bringing a sitter but questioning the tip

Not sure they/we think it's crazy, just that it's confusing. I know that for me it wouldn't be possible to bring a sitter. We don't make enough to do that (and now that we've been burned by the MIL and her friend, I wouldn't trust the situation). Nor do we know anyone who would do that for/with us.

I haven't had a haircut since Labor Day weekend 2012. My kid's 10, LOL. Sometimes life is just like that (thankfully I like my hair long and it's healthy). I can count the dates we've had on one hand since we got married and got our insta-baby. The ONE time we hired a sitter it was over $100 which is a bit much IMO. Alas, no sane family (tried MIL twice, did not work out, DS refuses to be alone with her for a few reasons now). And the available friends are kid-free, so he had to be totally self-sufficient by the time they were OK to watch him. Recently he has made friends with kids who have moms who love having sleepovers and have invited him. Woo!

Anyway, your kids won't be the only noisy crankypants kids there, and you're not the only one with one income... We personally didn't cruise with DS until he was 8, because of all the issues that go along with babies. And back then we *definitely* couldn't have afforded to bring someone else along! You're not alone in the difficult stuff, but you've made decisions that many of us weren't able or willing to do. Hence the confusion.

 

[squirrel]

The shows that are in the theatre each night also play on the TV's. A lot of people don't know this and miss them all together.

I love the main dining rooms for dinner. I have never gone to Cabanas for the sit down dinner (29 nights on DCL). I don't know how many nights you are going for but I would try and make it to the main dining room at least once for dinner. Once you have been to the dining rooms you will want to give the CM's full tips and even more if you can afford it.

 

[Jodi Perez]

Glad you'll be tipping them. I really encourage you to write out a timeline to make SURE that what you're thinking of makes sense. Have you looked at the Navigators for cruises like yours will be, to see about the timing of everything?

The above WAS at the end, but I didn't want it to get lost.




This isn't the first time I've gotten the impression that people think that their children are going to be the Worst Kids EVER on the cruise. They won't be. The dining rooms are FULL of kids in different levels of enjoyment of the room, from totally loving it to really not enjoying it at all.

The staff are AMAZING with kids, they help to keep them amused, they help to get them fed quickly and move on to their next plans.

I'm just not sure when your kids are going to be fed, and by whom. As mentioned, Cabanas is a sit-down place at dinner. Unless you're just feeding them from the places near the pools, you're going to be sitting down with them at some point.




Agreed and agreed.



Well that's true. Or at least the kids wouldn't.

You're going to take them to the shows, then...feed them? Where? Then your friend will end up missing...what part? starting when?...to then sit in the room watching the kids? I'm just trying to work this out, in case you've missed something that needs to be changed before you embark.

I will not respond to everything you said but I will make a few notes to clarify things for you. We will most likely be feeding our children at the quick service locations or at room service. They would not only appreciate that they are not being forced to sit still for some big length of time but they also will be more interested in the food offered at these locations. I do feel sad that they will miss the whole experience but I am hoping we will be able to cruise again in a few more years when they are older so they can enjoy everything.

As for my friend, she is very appreciative of the "salary" and she would never be offended if I asked her to stay in the room. But I would feel guilty about it. It interesting to me that people are saying that the workers on the ship deserve a tip for their work but do they not also receive a cruise as salary? IF my friend did nothing but WORK for the entire cruise, it really wouldn't be much of a salary... just as the crew members work rather than enjoy the cruise. If the crew members deserve a tip... than certainly I owe it to my friend to make sure she at least gets as much out of the cruise as possible. Just trying to be fair.

As for the two staterooms, this was forced by disney. Because my children are aged so young they technically NEED to have two cribs in the room. Something that doesn't fit in a standard stateroom. I could have upgraded categories but again the price jumped hugely when looking at that option. It actually would have been more expensive than bringing the sitter.

Also, multiple people have said they can't afford a sitter to come along. I don't believe this is true. I truly mean it when I say we are way under middle class. Our bills get paid and our paycheck is pretty much gone. If something major comes up, we are in a bind for a while until we can straighten things around. But If you can manage to save thousands to go on a disney cruise in the first place then surely you can come up with slightly more to offer a free trip for your "sitter" You managed to pay for a free trip for your mother and her friend. You can afford what YOU DECIDE you can afford.

Anyone who has twin boys specifically (and a daughter who's only a year and a half older) would understand the predicament I'm in. Most people don't understand twins.. they feed off of each other MUCH MORE than siblings of different ages (argue about this if your want but I won't even acknowledge it because if you personally don't have twins, you probably don't understand) Its not double the work, it quadruple. Instead of simply having an extra diaper to clean you are changing one diaper, while simultaneously trying to keep the other child from playing it it. You are bathing one child while the other climbs up your back trying to get in the tub. You are feeding one child while the other gets impatient and reaches for their food, throwing it at you, on the floor and anywhere else you can think. You get the point. A mom with 18 month old twins... NEEDS a break. we considered going on vacation without our kids but we don't really trust anyone else not to let them set the house on fire. And moreso, we would MISS THEM TERRIBLY!!! So we decided on this method. While we really want the kids to enjoy it, ultimately the vacation is for us. Honestly, they'd be just as excited to go to the park everyday for a week. It is my DH and I that want to get away from all the stress and responsibilities of a home and work for a few days.

I don't think my children will be the worst behaved children on the ship... in fact, despite what i said, they are quite well behaved... but they are 18 MONTHS OLD and as with any child that age, they listen about 50% of the time... and seeing as there are 2 of them someone is almost always doing something crazy. (My almost 3 year old on the other hand... will listen very well and would have enjoyed the dinners.) They will ALL enjoy the shows though... even cranky.. my boys would perk right up for all the lights and music... but we would likely not stay long at the shows either.

 

[mmouse37]

If the understanding of your friend is that she will help you out with your kids so you and your husband can enjoy your honeymoon cruise in return for her/daughter's cruise fare paid, then I would go to late dinner with your husband at 8:15 in the MDR and go to the early stage show with your kids (show ends around 7 ish and will keep them entertained).

Your friend and her child could go to early dinner in MDR and then watch the kids while you are at dinner. She could watch the show on the TV.

It would be a shame to miss out on the MDR's for dinner and the shows since both, at least to me, are a huge part of the Disney cruise experience.

We have cruised DCL 32 times and I still go the shows and dining rooms each time we cruise. I was in awe again on the Fantasy last week during the stage shows. I just love them and enjoy the "spectacle" in the whole theatre.

MJ