How much do I tip?

[shelly3girls]

I am trying to budget for our first 7-day cruise. I searched through the boards (search is down) but couldn't find anything on how much I should tip. What is the recommended tip and how much more than that do people normally tip? I want to budget for great service!

 

[xABearx]

We usually tip anywhere from $2 -$4 per delivery for the 2 of us ..... Andy

 

[shelly3girls]

Sorry, what I should have said was gratuities. How much do I give the servers?

 

[xABearx]

Here's is the info from the DCL website with the suggested figures:

What about gratuities?
We'll make it easy. It is customary to give gratuities in recognition of service, which you will most likely be treated to in abundance aboard the ship. As a guideline, may we suggest the following:

Per Guest per cruise 7-Night
Dining Room Server $25.75
Dining Room Asst. Server $18.75
Dining Room Head Server $ 6.50
Stateroom Host/Hostess $ 25.25
Dining Manager Your Discretion
Room Service Your Discretion


Hope this helps out ...... Andy

 

[jrabbit]

Remember that the guidlines are PER PERSON. If there are two of you multiply by 2, if five, then multiply by 5.

And as you can see, it really adds up!!! And is very much earned by your wait staff.

What may not be obvious is that you are tipping your wait staff for 3 meals per day, even though you are only served by them at dinner (usually). They all work at topsiders and the other restaurants during the day. So if everyone tips their people like they are supposed to, then they all are being tipped for 3 meals per day (and then the tip doesn't look so big after all).

Nike's slogan applies to tipping: "Just Do It"

 

[Tandyc]

So we are talking about $300 or so for a 7 day with 4 people if you include room service. Holy cow! I'm so glad to know this now and add it to the budget!

Thanks

 

[momm2four]

Do you tip the same for small children, for example, a five year old? I was just thinking children that age might be eating in the kids' clubs on several nights.

Lori P.

 

[makaylee]

 

[makaylee]

I have heard severaly people adimatly (sp?) respond to this question with a YES! You should always tip the full amount for children no matter how small. They are usually even more work than adults. Even if they are in the kids clubs during some dinners, they are still being "served" dinner by someone. My daughter was 5 on our last sailing and I tipped the recommended amount even though she was absent from a couple of dinners.

 

[shelly3girls]

Am I correct in thinking that we should tip even more for great service? If I break down how much I would tip for all of these meals it seems as if the amount should be higher especially for the dining room server and asst. server. We tipped extra on our 4-day b/c our servers were outstanding, I thought this was pretty common.

 

[abitjaded]

We charged the recommended amount early in the week. That way you can get your "tickets" without waiting in a long line. Then we did put extra cash in the envelopes on the last night because our service was outstanding, er... "excellent".

Carla

 

[kcashner]

Yes, you should tip the same amount for small children. Children are usually more work than adults, and they don't have any "add on" tip for alcohol, etc.

That is why the guidelines say "per passenger, including children." Even if your child eats dinner with the club/lab group, she is eating somewhere. The servers take their turns rotating thru the buffets, lunch, and breakfast. Even though you tip your server on the last night, that tip represents their earnings for the meals when they served in another capacity (Scoops, Pluto's, buffets) also.

 

[momm2four]

Thanks for the replies. That makes sense

Lori P.

 

[alexandrew]

I tip the recommended amount for our server, asst server, head server for the 4 of us (me, DW, DS/7 DS/2).....This is my rule for when we travel on 3-day cruises....both DS's are in Oceaneers/Flounders during dinner, and we dine at Palo one night....thus I am tipping for 4 of us for 3 days, when they are only actually serving DW and I for 2 days (2 meals actually)....I think this is very generous....

As for our stateroom host, who really works so hard to make things perfect, I tip recommended +25%, and more if service is exceptional...