Gratuity for Concierge

[DisneyMommy77]

Hi,
I need help trying to figure out how much to plan on tipping the Concierge on our upcoming cruise, so I can set this money aside. We will be in a one bedroom suite on Wonder. 2 adults, 3 small kids on a 5 night cruise. I honestly have no idea what would be appropriate.

We sailed on NCL previously with a butler and he was pretty much at our beck and call and served dinner to us each night in our suite and did so many more things for us. However, I am under the impression DCL concierge does not do as much as a butler. Can anyone share how they decided how much to tip the concierge? Assuming you have a very helpful/good concierge, what would be appropriate? I know it's at our discretion, but could really use help of what would be adequate.
Thank you.

 

[sillecruisers]

Okay, this seems like a big no-no to talk about. I asked at guest services what to tip concierge. She hemmed and hawed and seemed unwilling to give me an answer. I finally got $50 out of her as a suggestion. So I tipped $100. I don't feel like concierge did all that much for us. It was nice to have them there but I also felt like we already paid such a premium for concierge (I know, it's for the room, but I also believe it's for the perks). So there. I said it. Judge me. lol. That was for a 4 night cruise. We were a party of 5. The only thing we asked them for was mickey bars. We had everything booked on our own in advance- Remy, cabana and shore excursion (Blue Lagoon Dolphin Swim). We stopped by for coffee and snacks. My husband tipped the concierge bartender separately but I don't remember how much.

 

[bumbershoot]

When people give numbers you go from very low (generally b/c there were no/few requests of the concierge) to very high to in between. And being given those numbers ends up being of no use, because of the spread between low and high.

Go with your own wallet in mind, your kind heart guiding you, and your actual experience onboard.

Since there is no guideline given, that means there are no guidelines and hopefully no expectations. The concierges I have met do not seem stupid, so they probably read their contracts, and they know what their compensation is, along with the fact that there is no set gratuity for them. I personally do not worry much about this issue and follow what I said above to figure out what to tip them.

 

[SonicGuy]

We are on the Wonder in a one bedroom this Monday - 2 adults and 2 kids. We usually plan $125 for each of them as a base and then adjust from there. This is a 6 night cruise.

 

[waggles02673]

As others have mentioned it is really a personal thing and they are very appreciative of anything they are given. At the end of the cruise you will receive an extra piece of paper for tips for the Concierge Staff. We usually plan on $100 per but we use them a lot. This is based on 7 nights. With the 1 bedroom you can order in from the MDR so for dinner we would tip the waiter $10 and Breakfast $5. This is for my wife and I.

 

[DisneyMommy77]

Thank you everyone! This is helpful!!

 

[TestingH2O]

Go with your own wallet in mind, your kind heart guiding you, and your actual experience onboard.

This is very eloquent. So often people either get so fixated on the first, they forget the second or they feel pressured into the second and ignore the realities of the first.

OP, your experience with the butler does not match what I experienced with concierge, but the Wonderb is still a bit different as it does not have a lounge. The fact that you are aware suggests you'll make a good decision for you and your family based on your experiences.

 

[Bear3412]

fwiw old CL Tip Poll; http://www.disboards.com/threads/tipping-the-concierge-the-poll.2971416/

 

[Bear3412]

Fantasy ship. 5-6 sailings.
I can (do) have odd requests. For our family, 2A 2K (6-11)-(10-15), kids ages over the years, we have tipped the Concierges (it's pooled) between $250 - 400, for our Fantasy 7 night sailings.

That was the decision related to our satisfaction of the Concierges.

I may(do) in fact annoy the Concierges with trivial questions/requests. They thrive to help. They ask to help. Yes, they started it. lol.
They seem to eat it up. They love challenges and tests of their knowledge, etc, in the off season, outside of summer.

They often ask for more. It almost seems the more you ask the more they ask , off season, of course.

Ironically, when we tipped high, we felt it was light due to our multiple odd requests, that of course were fulfilled. The major request was some unique time needed ashore with their credentials in a foreign port.

Tip as you wish. CL tip is variable. If you never use the personnel, than don't tip. I can relate to that.
I just can't understand those that don't utilize the resources available to them.
These folks are resourceful and there to assist in any way. They want to assist.
Especially on the Dream Class with the Lounges.

When they don't hear from you, .... they are a miss.

They thrive on requests. It usually gets them out of the office, IYKWIM.

Of course don't ever feel any or all requests are extrapolated into expected tips.
That's not how they operate.

Make requests of the CL staff, they like it. That's what they do. It's there job.
Also, I suppose, the more they do, the more tip potential they may earn.

After a re-read was that snooty? That wasn't the intention and neither are we fwiw.

Enjoy CL, don't be shy, and ask away. Trust me.

Tip as you wish and are comfortable. Some tip $0 , some tip $1000.
If you fall between those two, it's all good.

Smooth Seas to All

 

[Uncleromulus]

There are so many opinions about this--and unfortunately DCL is happy to let them remain opinions--refusing to make any official comment on whether or not Concierge is even a tipped position.. much less offer any guidelines

Some say it is--others say no. Since there are no guidelines as with the other tipped positions, we give based on the actual service we get--which isn't a whole lot since we rely on Shoreside to do much of the tour, meal, spa etc bookings for us.

My own view is that folks over tip Concierge because they are SO VERY NICE--even if they haven't done a thing for you.

 

[dclpluto]

nice tips people give. Just my opinion it's your money. But I wouldn't tip them more than the captain makes. A cruise ship captain doesn't make that much 156k in 2012 going by the Internet. Not Disney all cruise ship captains average. That's more than I make but I thought it would be a lot more. It's your money tip as you want.

 

[VbChristy]

Hey I have a side question on this as it relates to concierge- since you are all concierge travelers. Our 125 days was yesterday (midnight or today actually) to get our requests to shoreside. My husband who stays up later was supposed to email them at precisely midnight (email was all set up). He apparently fell to sleep and forgot. So I woke up at 3 and sent it in. Will we get an email telling us if we are too far down the list for a cabana now? (I am ticked btw.) Can anyone tell me what I can expect? Thanks. (And I'm curious what to tip as well. There have been good answers but just not concrete. Just like with Palo.)

 

[TestingH2O]

Hey I have a side question on this as it relates to concierge- since you are all concierge travelers. Our 125 days was yesterday (midnight or today actually) to get our requests to shoreside. My husband who stays up later was supposed to email them at precisely midnight (email was all set up). He apparently fell to sleep and forgot. So I woke up at 3 and sent it in. Will we get an email telling us if we are too far down the list for a cabana now? (I am ticked btw.) Can anyone tell me what I can expect? Thanks. (And I'm curious what to tip as well. There have been good answers but just not concrete. Just like with Palo.)

If you sent to disneycruise.com, you should have gotten an auto reply. If you sent to Disney.com, you won't get an auto reply.

Either way, you'll get an email on Monday saying they got your requests and have scheduled them. Our replies have always said something like "this shouldn't be a problem" and we've gotten exactly what we wanted including cabana number and appointment/adult dining times. Now, when we've requested a cabana, we given our specific first choice but also a range of other numbers. However, we've gotten the exact number we wanted.

You're still in the concierge only window now, so I would think the only thing you'd risk not getting would be a specific cabana if someone asked for it at exactly midnight.

 

[Hundredacre]

We have never travelled CL, but reading threads like this mAke us less likely to try it. I think it is strange for dcl to give an envelope for tipping without any guidance for amounts and that it makes for a very awkward situation. I can only think dcl does that because it puts pressure on people to overtip. Without guidence, no one wants to undertip someone or some staff who have been so intimately involved in their trip. The price for CL is also so extreme that if dcl is not paying their cl staff more than other tipped staff it really reflects poorly upon them.

 

[VbChristy]

If you sent to disneycruise.com, you should have gotten an auto reply. If you sent to Disney.com, you won't get an auto reply.

Either way, you'll get an email on Monday saying they got your requests and have scheduled them. Our replies have always said something like "this shouldn't be a problem" and we've gotten exactly what we wanted including cabana number and appointment/adult dining times. Now, when we've requested a cabana, we given our specific first choice but also a range of other numbers. However, we've gotten the exact number we wanted.

You're still in the concierge only window now, so I would think the only thing you'd risk not getting would be a specific cabana if someone asked for it at exactly midnight.

Thanks so much!!! Excited! (And thanks in the other thread as well!)
Eek- I just got an email thanking me and that my items have been calendered

 

[Uncleromulus]

We have never travelled CL, but reading threads like this mAke us less likely to try it. I think it is strange for dcl to give an envelope for tipping without any guidance for amounts and that it makes for a very awkward situation. I can only think dcl does that because it puts pressure on people to overtip. Without guidence, no one wants to undertip someone or some staff who have been so intimately involved in their trip. The price for CL is also so extreme that if dcl is not paying their cl staff more than other tipped staff it really reflects poorly upon them.

My feelings exactly!

DCL RELIES on the confusion so most folks OVERTIP---and from a previous thread I read on this very subject, Concierge staff know this and "agreed" to be a primarily tipped position.

Since DCL is mum on the entire subject, no way to know if that is true or not.t

 

[OKW Lover]

Another point of confusion, do you tip each concierge host separately? If I were to decide that host x did much more for me than hosts y & z, would it be appropriate to tip at different levels? Or do they pool tips in which case it really doesn't matter.

 

[Uncleromulus]

They give you one envelop and one sheet to write down an amount for "concierge"--meaning to me they share the tips among the 3 of them.

I guess in the end each would receive a "pooled" tip from a guest for whom they did almost nothing--would probably even out.

 

[OKW Lover]

They give you one envelop and one sheet to write down an amount for "concierge"--meaning to me they share the tips among the 3 of them.

Hmmm, I guess I haven't cruised in Concierge in the past year or two. I don't recall at that time that that we got a separate envelope for them. Perhaps I'm just disremembering.

 

[jetskigrl]

Go with your own wallet in mind, your kind heart guiding you, and your actual experience onboard.

I love this!! This is exactly what we did. We had a set amount budgeted for Concierge tips but once we got on board and experienced it, we added more to the amount. On our cruise, the concierge hosts definitely enhanced the experience.

For the OP though (since it was indicated they would be on the Wonder), we did not receive a tip sheet for the generic "concierge." Instead, we had a primary concierge assigned to our room (one host handled the port side rooms, the other host handled the starboard side rooms). So when we got the tip sheet, it had our assigned host's name on it.

We did have one occasion where the other host helped us out with something and we tipped her directly at that time. Everything else was handled by our primary host. So I think our tip just went to our assigned host (if anyone knows for sure if tips are pooled on the Wonder, please feel free to correct me)