New to Disney, I'm wondering about tipping.

[DebbieOBX]

When i sail HAL or Carnival, i usually remove the auto tips, and tip the people that served ME.

I love doing this, as it makes me feel good to know i'm personally tipping the best.

What are Disney's ways.

thanks debbie

 

[PrincessShmoo]

When i sail HAL or Carnival, i usually remove the auto tips, and tip the people that served ME.

I love doing this, as it makes me feel good to know i'm personally tipping the best.

What are Disney's ways.

thanks debbie

Disney will auto-charge your tips on your onboard account. You can go to Guest Services at any time and remove them.

DCL's auto-charge is for tips, not the "hotel service charge" as on HAL. BTW, a little off topic, you are aware on HAL, if you remove the hotel service charge, anyone receiving cash tips from you must turn them in? Then HAL will see if you removed your service charge, and the tips must go into the service charge pool to be divided as usual. And they get questioned as to why you removed the service charge (like they did something wrong). If you leave the service charge in place, any additional tips you give they get to keep.

 

[DebbieOBX]

Thank you so much. I would HOPE that what i was passing out hand to hand could be kept. Thats just nuts to have the staff turn it in.

grrrr Debbie

 

[su_A_ve]

on DCL, auto tips are the norm, but you can remove them. You will still get envelopes to hand in to the staff where you typically put in the voucher stating you auto tipped and any more if you wish.

You can adjust the auto tips up and down or even remove them however.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

On DCL the auto tips go to the CM's directly.........no pool here,except maybe the bars, there I dont know.

AKK

 

[lanejudy]

On DCL, the auto-tips go to 4 positions who are directly assigned to you: your stateroom host and your dining service team (server, assistant server, head server). As stated, you can adjust the amount up or down or remove the auto-tips and do all cash. I'm not sure if other tips - like for drinks or room service - might go to a shared pool that is divided or if it stays with the individual. Some positions are not allowed to accept cash tips, or if they are allowed to accept it they must pool it for the whole team. Non-monetary items given to such CMs can be kept (phone cards, etc.).

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[kcashner]

On DCL, if you use the auto pay or otherwise charge your tips, you'll get coupons with the names of the 4 people who are getting your tips (one for each person). The automatic 15% bar gratuity is the only pooled gratuity on DCL. If you add more tip to a bar ticket or add tip to a room service ticket, that added amount goes to the person who actually served you.

 

[clten]

As others have said, DCL's auto charge of the gratuities is a little different than most of the cruise lines. Most other cruise lines the per day/per person charge may look similar to what DCL is auto charging to your shipboard account. But on other cruiselines, that money goes to a "service fee" or other similarly named "surcharge". Those charges are pooled and divided among the staff however the cruiseline has established their policy. The cruiser has little/no control over who gets the money. (We would tip the minimum even for poor/just okay service, but when we had difficulty with a server on Princess to the point we wanted to make sure he got no tip, it was quite a Herculean effort to have tips removed from our account. And that was several years ago, I'm not sure we would be able to do it today at all.)

On DCL, the tips that are auto charged are still tips -- you have full control over the amount and who gets what. When they automatically charge the recommended tips (which is currently $12/pp/pd). That is divided among 4 positions (head server, server, asst server and stateroom host). You will get tickets showing the tip amount along with envelopes so you do still hand them to the individuals to show your appreciation. Now, you can choose to remove them entirely and tip in cash. Or you can still charge them to your stateroom account and adjust the amounts -- raise them all, raise some, lower others -- however you want to do it. We used to tip in cash before DCL started automatically applying the tips to the shipboard charges. Now, we allow them to charge the standard and add cash. It's just easiest for us and I know the cast members appreciate having their tips in a cashless form since so many have to wire cash home.

 

[slatterie]

Ok here is my related question...so when do you hand these envelopes over to the "4"? What if something happens and you are unable to connect with them in person at the end? How do they get the voucher auto-tip (and any additional if we feel its exceptional service)? Is there a drop off at guest services? I dont want to spend my last moments on the ship trying to track people down....hard enough keeping up with DH and DD

 

[jdb in AZ]

Ok here is my related question...so when do you hand these envelopes over to the "4"? What if something happens and you are unable to connect with them in person at the end? How do they get the voucher auto-tip (and any additional if we feel its exceptional service)? Is there a drop off at guest services? I dont want to spend my last moments on the ship trying to track people down....hard enough keeping up with DH and DD

the voucher is a print-out of funds credited to the CM's accounts. If you're doing additional cash, then you would have to track them down.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

On DCL, if you use the auto pay or otherwise charge your tips, you'll get coupons with the names of the 4 people who are getting your tips (one for each person). The automatic 15% bar gratuity is the only pooled gratuity on DCL. If you add more tip to a bar ticket or add tip to a room service ticket, that added amount goes to the person who actually served you.

I did not know this about the pooled tip for the bar staff. Good info.

Ok here is my related question...so when do you hand these envelopes over to the "4"? What if something happens and you are unable to connect with them in person at the end? How do they get the voucher auto-tip (and any additional if we feel its exceptional service)? Is there a drop off at guest services? I dont want to spend my last moments on the ship trying to track people down....hard enough keeping up with DH and DD

We hand ours out the last night at dinner. Sometimes on the 7 nights we would receive them Thursday evening (late seating dinner) and DH would hand them out then, so 2 nights early.
I wouldn't wait until the last morning because some staff needs to be processed through immigration or it might be there day off. Regardless, even if they are there they are very rushed that last morning. Easier to hand it out ahead of time.

 

[clten]

Ok here is my related question...so when do you hand these envelopes over to the "4"? What if something happens and you are unable to connect with them in person at the end? How do they get the voucher auto-tip (and any additional if we feel its exceptional service)? Is there a drop off at guest services? I dont want to spend my last moments on the ship trying to track people down....hard enough keeping up with DH and DD

Tips are usually handed out on the last night and we usually don't find it difficult or time consuming to track down the 4. Our stateroom host is usually peeking outside of the rooms they are doing turn down on the last night (they know you are trying to find them) or we leave it on the bed before turn down service.

If you go to the MDR the last night, you will see all three of your dining room team. (We always have the head servers handy so when they stop by to see how everything is, we hand it to them then rather than trying to track them down as we are leaving.)

Outside of that, if you cannot give them out personally, if it is charged to your account, it is not a big thing that they get the voucher. They are notified of the tips they receive and the guest who give it to them. If you were adding extra in cash, that is a little more difficult. I would be more likely to leave the serving team envelopes with the head server by the door of the MDR than at guest services. Chances are that head server will see them during dinner service to pass them along.

 

[meajuly5]

Are the tips included In the paid on full amount or us it an additional charge once you get onboard?

 

[CruznLexi]

When you do auto gratuity it is added to your account. I pay mine with final payment. When you get your stubs in has thier names on it at the bottom so it goes to them directly. You can remove the auto and adjust it your self but we can add to it if need be which we do almost every time plus the extra cash is not needed to be carried around.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Are the tips included In the paid on full amount or us it an additional charge once you get onboard?

Uness you paid Pre-paid tips, they are extra. They will be charged to your onboard account when you board. They are not actually paid out until the end of the cruise, giving you time to adjust/remove them as you wish.

 

[meajuly5]

Ok, thanks! Just trying to wrap my mind re: what paid in full means! Once I am pif, still responsible for auto tips, any excursions and onboard purchases.

 

[My 2 princesses]

Uness you paid Pre-paid tips, they are extra. They will be charged to your onboard account when you board. They are not actually paid out until the end of the cruise, giving you time to adjust/remove them as you wish.

Does anyone even remove or downgrade the tip charges? This is our first trip and all I've ever read is about excellent service. Then I saw in one thread that people thought their head servers were 'creepy' and such, so I wondered if they still paid full or made changes. And if you pre-pay, can you still make changes?

 

[MouseMomx2]

Does anyone even remove or downgrade the tip charges? This is our first trip and all I've ever read is about excellent service. Then I saw in one thread that people thought their head servers were 'creepy' and such, so I wondered if they still paid full or made changes. And if you pre-pay, can you still make changes?

We have never had cause to decrease the tip amounts. In fact, we have always added at least a little bit of cash to the envelope. We have had some head servers that were quite visible and others that we never saw. Our feeling is that if the dining room is running well then the head servers deserve the $1 per day per person tip (suggested amount). If we make a more personal connection with our head server we add some cash to the envelope.

If you feel that any of your team (servers/stateroom host) do not deserve the full amount of the suggested tips then you can definitely adjust accordingly. Personally, we have taken more than 10 DCL cruises and have never had that experience.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Does anyone even remove or downgrade the tip charges? This is our first trip and all I've ever read is about excellent service. Then I saw in one thread that people thought their head servers were 'creepy' and such, so I wondered if they still paid full or made changes. And if you pre-pay, can you still make changes?

Yes, unfortunately, there are those who remove their tips. The attitude of "why can't cruiselines pay a living wage, instead of the crew members relying on tips for their income?" is usually the driving motive there.

On DCL, the tips are added to your onboard account as a convience. You can go to Guest Services once onboard to remove/adjust your tips at any time. Or, if you asking about adding more, you can just add cash to the tip envelope you receive at the end of the cruise along with the voucher you receive.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Does anyone even remove or downgrade the tip charges? This is our first trip and all I've ever read is about excellent service. Then I saw in one thread that people thought their head servers were 'creepy' and such, so I wondered if they still paid full or made changes. And if you pre-pay, can you still make changes?

In our 7 cruises we have only done it one time. We switched the tip between the server and the assistant server. To us it was warranted.
Every other time we have always overtipped.