Palo/Remy Tipping

[mab2012]

I agree that it’s a “damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t” kind of thing. Most people hate the U.S. tipping custom, but most people would also complain if tipping went away, causing restaurant prices to increase and servers to stop being solicitous.

See, I've never understood why this should be true. Employees in other industries manage to do a good job without the motivation of a tip. Why should servers be any different?

I have not yet been to France, but I've been to restaurants in several other countries where tipping is not expected. Can't say I've personally noticed any difference in service. Maybe I've just been lucky.

 

[squirk]

See, I've never understood why this should be true. Employees in other industries manage to do a good job without the motivation of a tip. Why should servers be any different?

I have not yet been to France, but I've been to restaurants in several other countries where tipping is not expected. Can't say I've personally noticed any difference in service. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Mmmm…. I think if we ended tipping and just paid servers the federal minimum wage (or better), there would be an overall shift in how servers as a whole conducted themselves.

Not that they all would suddenly become categorically rude or indifferent, but I think there’d definitely be a change (again, overall; there will always be exceptions) in how eager they are to please when they know they’re gonna get paid the same regardless.

I’m not saying service would become bad (bad servers won’t be kept around for long), but I think it would be different, and would take some getting used to by the dining public.

 

[mab2012]

Mmmm…. I think if we ended tipping and just paid servers the federal minimum wage (or better), there would be an overall shift in how servers as a whole conducted themselves.

Not that they all would suddenly become categorically rude or indifferent, but I think there’d definitely be a change (again, overall; there will always be exceptions) in how eager they are to please when they know they’re gonna get paid the same regardless.

I’m not saying service would become bad (bad servers won’t be kept around for long), but I think it would be different, and would take some getting used to by the dining public.

Yeah, a sudden change could be difficult, I'll grant you that.

I'm not necessarily saying that there shouldn't be any financial motivation for excellence. Other industries offer performance-based bonuses, pay raises, and other recognition. There's no reason food service can't do the same. IMO dumping that responsibility on the customer is just lazy management.

The transition could be tricky though, and it doesn't seem like there's much appetite to go there anyway, so in the meantime most of us will just keep blindly adding our 18-20% tips, which I think is where this little side-discussion started.

 

[lizzyb]

There is an automatic 18% added at Remy.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Just got off the Dream yesterday. We had brunch at Palo and it was exceptional. At the very beginning, once we were seated, our server (Freja) explained there was an 18% gratuity added to the bill. Since we are Platinum, the $45 per person fee was waved but a $16.20 gratuity was on the bill. She did far more service and made our experience fantastic than the auto-gratuity that we add much more and there is a line to add additional gratuity to your stateroom account.

 

[Doingitagain]

Just got off the Dream yesterday. We had brunch at Palo and it was exceptional. At the very beginning, once we were seated, our server (Freja) explained there was an 18% gratuity added to the bill. Since we are Platinum, the $45 per person fee was waved but a $16.20 gratuity was on the bill. She did far more service and made our experience fantastic than the auto-gratuity that we add much more and there is a line to add additional gratuity to your stateroom account.

Is that new? We haven’t had an auto gratuity in the many times we dined at Palo, but we haven’t been since 2019.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Is that new? We haven’t add an auto gratuity in the many times we dined at Palo, but we haven’t been since 2019.

This was our first Platinum and Palo (we made Platinum after the B2B in Jan 2020). To your question: I don't know if it is new. Anyway, the $16.20 - whether mandatory or suggested - was way too small for the service, time, and enjoyment we experienced with Freja. The only thing we missed with the table service versus the buffet was the caviar, that large dish of caviar.