Originally posted by kcashner
The kind of meal you have at Palo would cost at least $50 per person...in most places, probably closer to $100.
If you consider the appetizer and dessert to cost around $10 each and the main course to cost around $30 at comparable US restaurants, that would be around $50 per person for a 3-course meal. And that's using pricing from deluxe hotel restaurants or the high-end WDW restaurants such as Citricos and California Grill.
I have to disagree with the line "in most places, probably closer to $100." Of course, there are some restaurants where typical dinners are $100 per person for the food alone. But such places are a few notches above Palo, and would typically involve very unusual, expensive foods.
At least until now, Palo has charged an automatic $5 per person gratuity to the service staff for the food service, and a 15% automatic gratuity on wine and other drinks. I think it's a fine idea to leave an additional tip, but you really should include these automatic tips in your calculations.
My guess is the the majority of passengers do not tip above the automatic tips -- after all, by charging these automatic tips,
DCL is sending the message that they've calculated the tips for you. I think the service staff deserves more, but I think some of the folks on this board (especially those who enjoy writing about how much they tip) are very generous.