Tipping at Palo's

[Big MacK]

On our last cruise, we had dinner at Palo's for 4 adults. It wa a fantastic evening. Our server was excellent, spent alot of time with us conversing. We took our time and we did not feel rushed. If anything, when we thought we were nearing the end of the dinner, our server would bring us more entre's, desserts, etc for us to try.
When it came time to sign off on our tab, we took into consideration how much a evening dinner like this would cost us back home, and tipped our server accordingly.
Was this the proper approach?
How do other people tip at Palo's?

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

On our last cruise, we had dinner at Palo's for 4 adults. It wa a fantastic evening. Our server was excellent, spent alot of time with us conversing. We took our time and we did not feel rushed. If anything, when we thought we were nearing the end of the dinner, our server would bring us more entre's, desserts, etc for us to try.
When it came time to sign off on our tab, we took into consideration how much a evening dinner like this would cost us back home, and tipped our server accordingly.
Was this the proper approach?
How do other people tip at Palo's?

Officially, your gratuity is included in the $10 Palo fee. By the way, it's Palo, not Palo's. Also, there is a 15% auto-gratuity on paid beverages at Palo (and elsewhere on the ship).

According to DCL's official website:

What about gratuities?
It is customary to give gratuities in recognition of service,
which you will most likely be treated to in abundance aboard
the ship. As a guideline, may we suggest the following:

Per Guest per cruise ... 3-Night . 4-Night . 7-Night
Dining Room Server ...... $11.00 .. $14.75 .. $25.75
Dining Room Asst. Server . $8.00 .. $10.75 .. $18.75
Dining Room Head Server .. $2.75 ... $3.75 ... $6.50
Stateroom Host/Hostess .. $10.75 .. $14.50 .. $25.25
Dining Manager ............ Your Discretion
Room Service .............. Your Discretion
Palo ...................... Gratuity included
Vista Spa & Salon ......... Your Discretion
Babysitting ............... Gratuity not expected
Shore Excursions .......... Optional; not included in shore
........................... excursion price.

For your convenience, a 15% gratuity is automatically added
to bar, beverage, wine and deck service tabs. All gratuities
can be charged to your room charge.

At the Walt Disney World® Resort, 15% is the customary
gratuity at restaurants and bars.
​

It's not clear how much of the $10 per person fee goes to the service staff. Presumably, the money goes into a pool. DCL no longer says that all of the money goes to gratuities, as they did when the fee was $5, so I assume DCL gets part of the $10 fee. (It's been suggested that it's a 50-50 split.)

We've always tipped more at Palo, and I assume we'll do so again next time. I'm sure an extra $5 or $10 per person is appreciated.

Some folks here have posted that they leave an extra $20 per person -- on top of the tip portion of the Palo fee and the auto-gratuity on beverages. That seems very generous, but I'm sure the servers don't mind!

 

[daisy112878]

We go in sept for our first dcl cruise. My DH and I have discussed tips. We plan on going by our experiences at other nice restaurants. We plan on tipping like you did and going by what this meal would cost at home. If any they only get $5/person for a tip that's just laughable in my opinion. I tip more then that at an Applebee's or Chili's.

 

[webray]

We go in sept for our first dcl cruise. My DH and I have discussed tips. We plan on going by our experiences at other nice restaurants. We plan on tipping like you did and going by what this meal would cost at home. If any they only get $5/person for a tip that's just laughable in my opinion. I tip more then that at an Applebee's or Chili's.

We are with you daisy, people who go to Palo and don't tip above the service charge or tip $5 is definately a joke. I would feel bad for any server there, they work their butts off and they do a great job.

Those servers deserve to be tipped on what the meal would cost you, and even then, I am sure most people don't even come close, as how many restaurant servers bring you out so many items above what you ordered.

I am sure there are also those people who do tip those servers as they deserve to be tipped. Hubby and I are in that group.

 

[inkkognito]

We, too, base our Palo tip on what we would give at a comparable shoreside restauant for the same type of meal.
Barb

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

If any they only get $5/person for a tip that's just laughable in my opinion.

We are with you daisy, people who go to Palo and don't tip above the service charge or tip $5 is definately a joke.

Okay, let's play the "what would this meal cost and what would the tip be" game.

If I go to a good hotel restaurant such as Citrico's at the Grand Floridian, the per-person, food-only cost is likely to be around $50 ($8 appetizer + $8 salad + $26 entree + $8 dessert). At 20%, the per-person tip on the food would be $10.

If only $5 of the $10 Palo fee goes toward gratuities, then that would mean a guest would need to add $5 to bring the tip up to $10, or, if the guest adds $10, the tip would total $15, which would be equivalent to 30%.

There's an 15% auto-gratuity on beverages such as bottled water, wine, other alcohol. and specialty coffees. A guest may want to add to that gratuity to bring the percentage to 20% or more.

Someone might want to challenge my premise that a 4-course dinner at Palo is comparable to a $50, 4-course dinner at a good hotel restaurant. The ingredients, preparation, and presentation at Palo are in the same class as a good hotel restaurant -- much better than dinner house chains, but not in the same class as true fine-dining restaurants. I guess if someone orders 3 entrees and 4 desserts, then my premise would not apply. But for a typical 4-course meal at Palo, I think $50 is about right.

So, if a couple spends $50 on wine and bottled water and the couple leaves an extra $5 per person ($10 total), the service staff would end up with a gratuity of $27.50 ($10 from Palo fee + $10 extra + $7.50 auto-gratuity).

I think we tipped an extra $10 per person, and we spent about $50 on wine and bottled water. So the service staff ended up with a gratuity of around $37.50 from us.

Yes, we tipped more than $5 per person -- but I wouldn't call $5 "laughable" or "a joke."

 

[ljql_5969]

Interesting...

 

[daisy112878]

Horace - I hope you didn't think I was calling your post laughable b/c I was not in anyway. Sorry if you took it that way. I really didn't mean for it to be that.

I was talking about the people that don't leave any tip except paying the $10/person fee. If someone has a party of 2 and they only pay the $10/person that means the server only got $10 in tips total, this is what is a joke. I'm sure those servers work a lot harder and deserve more then $10. We will probably leave an extra $20 but that's just us and we always over tip esp. if we have a great server.

Also I was told that the tip on alcohol was put into a pool for the bartenders not for the servers. Is this not correct? If this is correct that means the server is not getting any of the tip from that wine or beer we're ordering unlike a restaurant at home.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I was talking about the people that don't leave any tip except paying the $10/person fee.

On the other hand, I can't really fault those guests, considering that DCL explicitly publishes that the gratuity is included at Palo. And, if 100% of the $10 per person fee actually goes to gratuities, then the tip would work out to 20%, based on a per-person, food-only estimate of $50. (I still assume that only about 50% of the fee goes to gratuities, but I could be wrong.)

I wish DCL would explain the $10 fee and gratuity guidelines better.

Also I was told that the tip on alcohol was put into a pool for the bartenders not for the servers. Is this not correct? If this is correct that means the server is not getting any of the tip from that wine or beer we're ordering unlike a restaurant at home.

I don't know how the pool is split. I would hope that the pool from beverage auto-gratuities is split in an equitable manner. The same applies to the gratuity portion of the Palo fee and even any extra gratuity. After all, your service at Palo isn't just from your main server, but also from your bread server, the host/hostess, the bartender, and the sommelier.

The same is true at a "restaurant at home," where you're likely to put a tip on a single line on your credit card slip, but where that tip is then shared according to some formula.

 

[natsmom125]

This is about the 500th thread on this topic.

Of the $10.00 fee that is charged for dinner at Palo....your server gets between .40 and .50 of that charge. Not half, not 3/4, not all of it..... .40 to .50 cents. That is all. I know what it says on the web site...but I know
this for a fact.

Personally, we base our tip at Palo like Barb does hers. Plus we add a little extra because we ususally have one of our favorite servers and they are very special to us. These people work long, hard hours and they deserve every
amount they get.

If you don't agree with me, then that is your decision..but I know this to be true.

Phyllis

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Of the $10.00 fee that is charged for dinner at Palo....your server gets between .40 and .50 of that charge. Not half, not 3/4, not all of it..... .40 to .50 cents. That is all. I know what it says on the web site...but I know
this for a fact.

In a pooled gratuity situation, your server may get only .40 or .50 of a fee -- but then your server is also getting .40 or .50 of everyone else's fee in the entire restaurant.

What matters is how much of the $10 per person Palo fee goes towards the gratuity pool and how much goes to DCL. How that pool is then allocated to the various service crew members in Palo is an issue between Palo management and the servers.

Disney needs to be more forthcoming about what the $10 Palo fee really represents.

By the way, another reason we tip extra at Palo is that the Palo servers, like all the servers on the ship, don't just work at dinner. You'll also see them working lunch buffets and at Castaway Cay. Presumably, their brunch and dinner gratuities are their compensation for all the work they do 7 days a week, at all hours, all over the ship and Castaway Cay.

 

[princessmomma]

I wonder how a Palo server's wage compares to the wage of a server in the dining room??

 

[SeaSpray]

On our last cruise, we had dinner at Palo's for 4 adults. It wa a fantastic evening. Our server was excellent, spent alot of time with us conversing. We took our time and we did not feel rushed. If anything, when we thought we were nearing the end of the dinner, our server would bring us more entre's, desserts, etc for us to try.
When it came time to sign off on our tab, we took into consideration how much a evening dinner like this would cost us back home, and tipped our server accordingly.
Was this the proper approach?
How do other people tip at Palo's?

This is basically what we did too. We tipped our server extremely well because we felt she did an extremely wonderful job

 

[jrabbit]

Remember back when the charge for dinner in Palo cost $5.00? Back then they called it a service fee for using the restaurant and that you were to tip the server. And back then Brunch in Palo cost $10.00 and DCL stated that $5.00 was for the service fee (same as dinner) and the extra $5.00 was for your first glass of Champange.

Then they bumped up the dinner fee to $10.00 and call it a tip, but they didn't change the charge for brunch - so you know that DCL really didn't make the $10.00 fee for dinner your servers tip.

You can trust what natsmom125 says since she has a DD that's a server in Palo.

Horace says that: "In a pooled gratuity situation, your server may get only .40 or .50 of a fee -- but then your server is also getting .40 or .50 of everyone else's fee in the entire restaurant." I really don't know how the pooling works, the way Horace describes it is one way where ALL of the nightly tips are pooled and then distributed. Another method of "pooling" is more of a revenue sharing where a server keeps their own tips but then is required to "pay" the kitchen crew and other workers (but not the servers) a portion of their tips. A third way is a combination of the first two - all tips are pooled then they are distributed to everyone in a predetermined manner.

 

[Jsme]

I say each person should do what they are comfortable with. On a thread like this it is easy to be flamed over a honest question.

For the record we tip on top of the $10 surcharge according to what a meal like we enjoyed would cost out. Normally we go out to very nice restuarants several times a year so we base it on the average bill of these dinners.

Horace in the future you might want to be careful how you word your statements on here. Your statement about Palo is Palo not Palo's could be taken as a flame.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Remember back when the charge for dinner in Palo cost $5.00? Back then they called it a service fee for using the restaurant and that you were to tip the server.

Actually, back when the fee was $5, DCL clearly said the fee was for gratuities. Now, DCL no longer says that.

In the 1999/2000 brochure, the wording was:

Is there a romantic restaurant just for adults?
The ship features an adults-only alternative restaurant called Palo. Dining hours for Palo are 6 - 11 p.m. Reservations are required, and taken (once on board) on a first-come first-served basis. Palo dining is limited to Guests 18 and older. There is a service charge of $5 per Guest for gratuities.​

Currently, the DCL website says:

What is Palo, and how do I make a reservation there?
The ship features an elegant adults-only restaurant called Palo. Reservations for champagne brunch, high tea and dinner at Palo can be made online in advance of embarkation or after you board the ship. Since seating is limited, advance reservations are recommended. Palo dining is limited to Guests 18 and older. The Palo Dining Option is $10 per Guest for dinner.​

The other big difference is that in the 1999/2000 brochure, Palo wasn't mentioned in DCL's gratuity guidelines chart. Now, the chart specifically lists Palo, and says that the gratuity is included.

I think everyone who has posted in this thread is in agreement that it's appropriate to tip extra at Palo -- regardless of what DCL publishes in their gratuity guidelines.

Horace in the future you might want to be careful how you word your statements on here. Your statement about Palo is Palo not Palo's could be taken as a flame.

Are you serious? All I wrote is, "By the way, it's Palo, not Palo's." I apologize if that came across as a flame.

 

[natsmom125]

JRABBIT.....thanks...DD would love you...but she's only 12.....it's a dear friends DD who is a server in Palo.

And like I said earlier.....there are 500 posts on this subject and she and I have discussed this topic many, many times.

Phyllis

 

[SeaSpray]

JRABBIT.....thanks...DD would love you...but she's only 12.....it's a dear friends DD who is a server in Palo.

And like I said earlier.....there are 500 posts on this subject and she and I have discussed this topic many, many times.

Phyllis

I can see the confusion here! The lady who's daughter is a CM at Palo also has "nat" in her user name. It's an honest mistake We had her daughter as our server twice on our cruise last year at Palo and she was outstanding!

 

[Cindi0511]

Just checking: is everyone in basic agreement then that a "typical" dinner at Palo would cost approximately $50 (without drinks)? Are most of you saying that you add about a 20% tip based on that $50 and completely disregard the seating fee or whatever they call it at the moment?

I PROMISE I am not trying to be a pain -- we are trying to figure out our budget for our next cruise, and I certainly don't want to undertip. The servers are phenomenal. This is the first time that we read that the gratuity was included at Palo, and we were just confused.

Any ideas of who we could ask at DCL?

Thank you to all who have been helpful!

 

[atakaratemom]

I think that you should base the tip on the quality of your server and whatever you feel comfortable with. I've read a number of posts about this and the amounts people tip seem quite varied. I went in knowing we would leave a tip above the surcharge, but I really hadn't decided how much. We ended up leaving our server $40 in addition to the $20 charge for Palo because we just thought she was amazing. I based it entirely on her service which was fantastic. I have dined at many fine restaurants and never in my life have I received the level of service she provided. Just go enjoy an awsome dining experience and tip whatever you think is appropriate.

Mary