May 12, 2007 -- Taking the Magic to the Mediterranean -- 14 day Repo Cruise!

[littleowensmommy]

Ken,

Love the t-shirt design. Thanks for your hard work.

Kathy

 

[Scott H]

Erik,

Your folks are welcome to attend the wine and cheese event. Also, I placed an order for some shirts etc today. The time line was 2-3 days to process and about 5-7 days for standard shipping.

Magic express is a great thing and we will use it upon our return for this trip.

 

[gydell]

On the cruise boards there is a discussion going on about tipping at Palos. Last cruise we did not do Palos but are planning on doing it this time. How much do you tip the servers? Since I have not eaten there I think $50 seems a bit high to tip for 1 meal, but I do not want to under tip either. So I am looking to the pros on this site for help. Thanks!

 

[kpros]

On the cruise boards there is a discussion going on about tipping at Palos. Last cruise we did not do Palos but are planning on doing it this time. How much do you tip the servers? Since I have not eaten there I think $50 seems a bit high to tip for 1 meal, but I do not want to under tip either. So I am looking to the pros on this site for help. Thanks!

The question of tipping at Palo will always get lots of action on the main cruise boards. If you read all the postings on the latest thread, you will see that the art of tipping at Palo is total a personal decision. Many people feel that the $10 per person cover charge is in fact the tip for the server. Others think that it goes to the company to cover the extra cost of the food. We have never received an answer to that question that we felt was totally reliable.

This is what we normally do. $5 per person tip for high tea, $10 per person tip for brunch and $15 per person tip for dinner. I don't know if that is right or wrong, but that is how we do it.

Ken

 

[tig82174]

Erik,

They could take the Magical Express (for free) to MCO on Friday evening. Also you may want to consider adding the meal plan to your reservation. It's really a good deal and would probably save them $. Let me know if you need any details as I've used it 3 times since July.

Kathy

Thanks for the tip! I may indeed set them up with Magical Express from the resort back to the hotel...although it isn't that much trouble to drive them and I'm sure that us driving our rental car would be faster so they could enjoy more park time on Friday during the day/afternoon before they head out.

Unfortunately I cannot add the meal plan to our reservation because we are staying at AKL using our DVC points and DVC Member Services informed me that DVC members are not eligible for the meal plan unless they are staying in DVC resorts....if we use our points to stay in a NON-DVC Disney resort (like AKL) then we cannot purchase the meal plan. (Plus I thought I read somewhere that in order to buy the meal plan everyone on the reservation must purchase it and they must purchase it for the entire length of the reservation...which would also not work since Jason and I are staying in the room for 7 nights and my parents will be there for only 4 of those).

We are definitely curious about the meal plan, however, and next time we stay in a Studio at Saratoga we'll probably sign ourselves up to test it out.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

i know that i started this thread but now i am forced to say that i cannot go....we even went through all the hassle of rebooking onboard in nov to get our tips paid for and everything!!!!

It has always been our plan to only take two kids and have my mom watch the other two but her health is not good and she can no longer watch them...thus we are forced to cancel....i am sorry to not meet all you nice folks...

i cannot delete my first post but i can change it whenever you want to have messages and links to other posts, etc...just pm me and i will make the changes asap!!

y'all have a great time and i will be thinking about you on this cruise of a lifetime!!!!

 

[tig82174]

The question of tipping at Palo will always get lots of action on the main cruise boards. If you read all the postings on the latest thread, you will see that the art of tipping at Palo is total a personal decision. Many people feel that the $10 per person cover charge is in fact the tip for the server. Others think that it goes to the company to cover the extra cost of the food. We have never received an answer to that question that we felt was totally reliable.

This is what we normally do. $5 per person tip for high tea, $10 per person tip for brunch and $15 per person tip for dinner. I don't know if that is right or wrong, but that is how we do it.

Ken

I definitely don't think the $10 reservation fee is the tip....in fact I'm pretty sure at one point in some cruise guide book or other source I read it explicitly stating that the Palo servers not only are NOT tipped out of the $10 but are also not included in the general tips collected from every cabin-member at the end of the cruise. Therefore when diners don't add a tip onto their Palo meal the server basically gets stiffed! (And as a former server who worked my way through college waiting tables at Ruby Tuesday's ....I can tell you that's about the most classless thing you can do! )

I think we usually tip about the same as Ken....I want to say that for a dinner at Palo for the two of us we usually tip $25-$30 depending on how much we like our server. If you think about a tip being 15%....then $25 is what you'd leave for a total bill of about $167.00....which is about $80/person. When you think about the quality of the food you get...the amount....the fact that it's appetizers, salad, beverages, entrees, and (multiple) desserts....and factor in the fact that it IS Disney, after all (which means an automatic "mark up for magic" hehehe )....that seems about right.

 

[gydell]

Sorry you can't make the cruise and that we didn't get to meet you.

I hope no one else drops out!

Thanks for the info on Palos.

 

[littleowensmommy]

Erik,

I had no idea about that meal plan rule when not staying at a DVC resort. Disney makes no sense to me sometimes. You're still paying with points so what difference does it make to them?

I agree with Ken's guidance regarding Palo tipping. I've never been to High Tea. Is it worth doing?

Does anyone know how many the private dining room at Palo holds? Would anyone be interested in getting together for a dinner party there? I'll try to organize this if you like.

 

[kpros]

Erik,

I've never been to High Tea. Is it worth doing?

Does anyone know how many the private dining room at Palo holds? Would anyone be interested in getting together for a dinner party there? I'll try to organize this if you like.

We like to do High Tea. It's something that we probably wouldn't do anywhere else and it gives you some quiet time in the afternoon.

The private room at Palo holds at least 10 or 12 or maybe even 14. I've only been in there once for brunch on the May 2005 Repo. I thought I had a picture of that brunch, but I couldn't find it.

Ken

 

[seaulater]

The question of tipping at Palo will always get lots of action on the main cruise boards. If you read all the postings on the latest thread, you will see that the art of tipping at Palo is total a personal decision. Many people feel that the $10 per person cover charge is in fact the tip for the server. Others think that it goes to the company to cover the extra cost of the food. We have never received an answer to that question that we felt was totally reliable.

This is what we normally do. $5 per person tip for high tea, $10 per person tip for brunch and $15 per person tip for dinner. I don't know if that is right or wrong, but that is how we do it.

Ken

On the last cruise I was on I asked and was told that the extra $10 goes for about $8 in extra food costs and the other $2 gets split up if I remember right. We also tip $10 extra for brunch per person because that is where the server works the whole cruise. They aren't getting any of our tips on the last night of the cruise. We usually don't go to dinner at Palo's, but might for the 14 day. We will have to wait and see.

 

[seaulater]

We like to do High Tea. It's something that we probably wouldn't do anywhere else and it gives you some quiet time in the afternoon.

The private room at Palo holds at least 10 or 12 or maybe even 14. I've only been in there once for brunch on the May 2005 Repo. I thought I had a picture of that brunch, but I couldn't find it.

Ken

You do, it's on one of those 25 disks with the picture of Shari's broken champagne glass I'll see if I can find mine.

 

[milestogo]

Would anyone be interested in getting together for a dinner party there?

I would love that count us in for 2!

I've never been to Palo, so I'm really excited about it.

 

[milestogo]

txaggie94gigem, I'm so sorry we'll miss you! Does the discounted kids fee help you at all to bring them?

 

[littleowensmommy]

Kelly,

You've got to check out the Disney Crocs for kids. The kids get all the cute colors! Unfortunately, I let my kids pick their colors and Owen picked the Red/Black version and Amy picked the Pink/White. I love the Blue/Green and Green/Yellow combinations. I should have just ordered them with out asking for the kids' input. I order my Crocs from Nofeargear.com. They offer free shipping on orders over $75.00 so I always order for the whole family at the same time to take advantage of that offer. They have the adult Disney Crocs too but the colors aren't as fun as the kid colors.

 

[milestogo]

I'm on it! That sounds very fun!! I got your message and will email you this morning!!!

 

[tig82174]

Does anyone know how many the private dining room at Palo holds? Would anyone be interested in getting together for a dinner party there? I'll try to organize this if you like.

As long as it didn't conflict with one of the fun theme nights or a formal night...Jason and I might be down for that.

 

[gydell]

We have a crack of dawn flight tomorrow to Dallas and will not be home until late on the 1st so - HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!


Hopefully we will win our game but with quite a few of the starters suspended, I don't know. At least it isn't supposed to rain or snow.

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Oh Elizabeth we will miss you!!!! We will keep you in mind always as you started this great thread!

Ken - I think we were at High Tea at the same time on the Repo cruise! I loved it and would really like to do it again as I really did not get to enjoy it fully as my dad was not feeling well.

Here is a picture of the private dining room we had for brunch. I loved brunch too. Never have done dinner, and it really does not interest me.

Debbie

 

[first timers]

Hi Everyone

I've been working on the name badges and thought that I would use the same basic design for a T-shirt logo also. So I put something together and opened a Cafepress shop. This is the first time I've done this, so I hope it will work.

The address is www.cafepress.com/may2007ebrepo

Let me know what you think. I'm going to order a shirt today and see how the quality of the graphic looks. I will let you know when I get it.

Ken

Ken- The shirts look great. I like the flag theme on the shirts and name tags. We are going to have to order some too. Alex