New to Disney, I'm wondering about tipping.

[Jackson's grammie]

Not only excellent service but the CM's on the ship are the hardest working people I have ever seen in all my travels. Make sure you say hello and get to know them a little. We have always added cash in the end because we did not feel they were getting enough for the services they provide. I also try to keep a little notebook so when I run across someone who is going out of their way to make my day a little nicer I try to write their names down so I can mention them in the comment card. That goes a long way into getting them promoted and having extra time off.

 

[dringster]

Thanks for asking this I was also confused, but all the great info has been brilliant

 

[DebbieOBX]

A few things:

Thanks everyone for your reply's.

Our last PC cruise in Nov on HAL we only ate in the MDR 1 night of 14 nights. The service was soooooooo slow. NOT the worker themselves, but understaffed. We removed His tip and tipped the Lido staff. I believe 4 Lido staff folks took good care of me and hubby.

Also on another HAL cruise, my little grandson fell around the pool deck. Well this little young lady came right to Him, ran for an ice pack and took care of Him like he was her own. After chatting with Her, we found out she was missing a child of her own, and missing tending to that child.

She was the bathroom cleaner, and SHE was tipped very well. Oddly i will never forget her and her story and smile. : )

So sometimes i connect with 'others' then the 4 that get auto tipped. I just enjoy tipping my own way.

thanks debbie

 

[sandrakit]

Some people don't tip at all & that makes me furious ! The waiter , assistant waiter , head waiter & stateroom host get a small wage from Disney each Month of $ 52.00 ! When people do not tip the workers are basically working for room & board ( Very small cramped room & the same food everyday ) I know this from my friend who worked on the Magic & Dream ( resigned last month ). I witnessed a conversation on my last night ( Jan 23 , 2013 ) on the Dream of couples saying they were heading to guest services to remove their tips & I asked why to hand to them personally & they responded with NO they paid enough for their cruise & that they were not tipping ! I was so mad & I told them they wouldn't be getting paid then & they said TOO BAD ... I appreciate my service team & leave the required amount & add cash to the envelopes & treat them with candy , chocolates & peppermints ( all were truly thankful & the man who was mopping the floor had tears in his eyes and said no one had ever given him anything & he hugged me ) . If people would at least tip the required amount the workers are very happy anything extra is a bonus ...enjoy your cruise , you will be treated like royalty !

 

[kcashner]

Some people don't tip at all & that makes me furious ! The waiter , assistant waiter , head waiter & stateroom host get a small wage from Disney each Month of $ 52.00 ! When people do not tip the workers are basically working for room & board ( Very small cramped room & the same food everyday ) I know this from my friend who worked on the Magic & Dream ( resigned last month ). I witnessed a conversation on my last night ( Jan 23 , 2013 ) on the Dream of couples saying they were heading to guest services to remove their tips & I asked why to hand to them personally & they responded with NO they paid enough for their cruise & that they were not tipping ! I was so mad & I told them they wouldn't be getting paid then & they said TOO BAD ... I appreciate my service team & leave the required amount & add cash to the envelopes & treat them with candy , chocolates & peppermints ( all were truly thankful & the man who was mopping the floor had tears in his eyes and said no one had ever given him anything & he hugged me ) . If people would at least tip the required amount the workers are very happy anything extra is a bonus ...enjoy your cruise , you will be treated like royalty !

This is completely consistent with what we've been told--that the tipped positions are paid about $50 per month. In addition they get room and board, laundry of their "costumes," (they are responsible for laundry of personal items), and transportation home at the end of their contract and back at the start of the next contract. They are totally dependent on tips for their income. As is often pointed out, the job isn't slavery and no one is making them do it...but not tipping is just wrong.

No, it is not at all difficult to give out the envelopes on the last night. You'll see your people at dinner. For the stateroom host, leave the envelope on the bed if he isn't in the hall when you come out. If you are dining in Palo or Remy on the last night, stop by the main dining room and hand the envelopes to the head server--he'll see that they go to the right people.

 

[Yokelridesagain]

A bit off topic, but I've always wondered about this. If you order an alcoholic beverage (cocktail, bottle of wine, wine package, etc.) in the dining room, does the 15% autotip for that go into a general pool? That's what I understood a PP to mean.

In other words, if I choose not to order drinks in the MDR am I depriving the assistant server of some hoped for income? (I realize the answer is yes either way, but if it's a tip to a general pool and not personally to them the impact is less.)

 

[PrincessShmoo]

A bit off topic, but I've always wondered about this. If you order an alcoholic beverage (cocktail, bottle of wine, wine package, etc.) in the dining room, does the 15% autotip for that go into a general pool? That's what I understood a PP to mean.

In other words, if I choose not to order drinks in the MDR am I depriving the assistant server of some hoped for income? (I realize the answer is yes either way, but if it's a tip to a general pool and not personally to them the impact is less.)

The 15% gratutiy included in the bar tab is pooled for all bar servers. Any additional cash you give in the bars (or your MDR asst server), goes directly to the person who you tip.

 

[ravensilverlight]

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?

Unless things have changed recently, there isn't really a way to SPECIFICALLY pre-pay your gratuities. You can figure out how much they are and pay the amount before you cruise, absolutely. But in my experience, when you do that, it's just credited to your stateroom account in a lump sum, not earmarked for tips. Then when you get on board, you can absolutely adjust it as you see fit.

Somebody else correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[teamadco]

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.

Thanks for all the tipping info...when you say $12/pp/pd that means all people in your cabin including children right? Also what kind of non-monetary gifts are appreciated? What kind of phone cards? Can we buy those ahead of time or on board? Any other suggestions to show appreciation?

 

[CruznLexi]

We add tips with final payment or just a few weeks before we sail. Don't have to worry about that once we are on the ship. Phone cards used to be something that the crew used frequently but most these days have IPHONE and smart phones. Some like candy. The best thing you can do is a nice comment on the comment card. A lot of people do bring bags of candy.

 

[ciraulo887]

Unless things have changed recently, there isn't really a way to SPECIFICALLY pre-pay your gratuities. You can figure out how much they are and pay the amount before you cruise, absolutely. But in my experience, when you do that, it's just credited to your stateroom account in a lump sum, not earmarked for tips. Then when you get on board, you can absolutely adjust it as you see fit.

Somebody else correct me if I'm wrong!

We just got off the Wonder on February. I did the pre paid gratuities. I was a little confused because I didn't see anything when we got into our stateroom about it. I was thinking there would be vouchers with our excursions tickets. I finally asked guest services and they assured me that were paid. The vouchers arrived in my stateroom along with the envelopes on the last day if the evening. I would NEVER cancel our the gratuities unless the service was just AWFUL. If you ate out at breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all those days your tips would be way more. I always wondered about tipping the children's activities staff. They are so good! Also, does anyone add amounts to the drink bill over the 15%? If so, how much more do you add?

 

[sbassgva]

One more note about room service tipping, there are two options, in cash or by adding it to the ticket. Many people, myself included have never or don't usually get a ticket with room service. In fact, until recently I had always heard the best way to tip those crew members was with cash when the food arrived. However, if you add the tip to the ticket, the crew member who took your order (or organized your order for delivery if you left a breakfast ticket outside of your stateroom) will also receive part of the tip. So, I recommend asking for the ticket and charging the tip so that everyone involved gets something.

 

[n8nally]

Another question: Is the autogratuity divided equally amongst the four? This is assuming I do nothing (no adding, taking away or adjusting) and just prepay or pay when I settle my account. I hadn't given this any thought, but this thread has me wondering if my stateroom host and my main server shouldn't get a bigger piece? Also, if I wanted to tip other people outside of the four, can I request additional envelopes? Or charge them to my account even if it isn't a generally tipped position such as a kids club attendant?

 

[Meghatron]

Another question: Is the autogratuity divided equally amongst the four? This is assuming I do nothing (no adding, taking away or adjusting) and just prepay or pay when I settle my account. I hadn't given this any thought, but this thread has me wondering if my stateroom host and my main server shouldn't get a bigger piece? Also, if I wanted to tip other people outside of the four, can I request additional envelopes? Or charge them to my account even if it isn't a generally tipped position such as a kids club attendant?

No, it is not split evenly. The $12 per person per day is a total for budgeting purposes. It is broken down into different amounts depending on the assumed duties of the individual position. You can then adjust as you see fit depending on the service received.

The only other tipped positions I'm aware of are bartenders and room service CMs. You would not be allowed to tip a kids' club CM, either via cash or onboard account. If you tried to give them cash they would have to refuse it. They can accept non-cash gifts like snacks, phone cards, etc.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

No, it is not split evenly. The $12 per person per day is a total for budgeting purposes. It is broken down into different amounts depending on the assumed duties of the individual position. You can then adjust as you see fit depending on the service received.

The only other tipped positions I'm aware of are bartenders and room service CMs. You would not be allowed to tip a kids' club CM, either via cash or onboard account. If you tried to give them cash they would have to refuse it. They can accept non-cash gifts like snacks, phone cards, etc.

The $12 breaks out to $4 for room host; $4 for server; $3 for asst server; and $1 for head server per day.

Bartenders/drink servers tips are handled through the auto 15% added gratutity on all bar bills. That amount is pooled and divided among all bartenders/drink servers. You can tip cash additionally to these positions, if you wish. Any additional cash tips are kept by specific server/bartender you give them to.

 

[n8nally]

The $12 breaks out to $4 for room host; $4 for server; $3 for asst server; and $1 for head server per day.

Bartenders/drink servers tips are handled through the auto 15% added gratutity on all bar bills. That amount is pooled and divided among all bartenders/drink servers. You can tip cash additionally to these positions, if you wish. Any additional cash tips are kept by specific server/bartender you give them to.

Thanks!

 

[browerjs]

The $12 breaks out to $4 for room host; $4 for server; $3 for asst server; and $1 for head server per day.

Bartenders/drink servers tips are handled through the auto 15% added gratutity on all bar bills. That amount is pooled and divided among all bartenders/drink servers. You can tip cash additionally to these positions, if you wish. Any additional cash tips are kept by specific server/bartender you give them to.

First time cruiser here, and I'm trying to understand all the tipping ins and outs, and what % of my food bill is being tipped.

Is the server, asst server, and head server with you at all three meals or just dinner?

If I have a party of 4 (2 adults/2 children), I'm essentially paying $32 for a dinner tip. Am I getting a ~$160 meal every night? If so this would be the customary20% tip at a "normal" restaurant for great service?

 

[MouseGrandma]

Okay, I am confused. Last time we sailed, it was 2010. You had to go to guest services and put your tips on your onboard account. Nothing was automatic. Please explain - now do they put the "suggested" tips onto your account automatically? What do you do if you want to tip more? What do staff prefer? Should you continue to go to guest services so the tip will be all electronic, or should we put extra cash in the envelopes with the "suggested" tips which are already charged to our account? Is that how it works? I want to do what is best for staff members, and we always tip more than the "suggested" amount.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

First time cruiser here, and I'm trying to understand all the tipping ins and outs, and what % of my food bill is being tipped.

Is the server, asst server, and head server with you at all three meals or just dinner?

If I have a party of 4 (2 adults/2 children), I'm essentially paying $32 for a dinner tip. Am I getting a ~$160 meal every night? If so this would be the customary20% tip at a "normal" restaurant for great service?

Your tips cover all meals. So you're tipping for 3 meals a day all at once.

You may or may not actually see/use your dinner server for breakfast and lunch. They do serve in other venues during the day, quick serve locations on the pool deck, the buffet, and the two MDRs that serve those meals as well. And have other duties also. Sometimes they may be doing table clearing/cleanup on the pool deck. One time our asst server was clearing towels in the Quiet Cove pool area.

 

[Aura of Foreboding]

First time cruiser here, and I'm trying to understand all the tipping ins and outs, and what % of my food bill is being tipped.

Is the server, asst server, and head server with you at all three meals or just dinner?

If I have a party of 4 (2 adults/2 children), I'm essentially paying $32 for a dinner tip. Am I getting a ~$160 meal every night? If so this would be the customary20% tip at a "normal" restaurant for great service?

Your servers and assistant servers work in the other restaurants at breakfast and lunch, where you don't tip, so the tips that go to them are really covering your service for all three meals a day. You may not get *your* server at those meals, but your server will be working somewhere.

Believe me, those servers EARN their tips!