tipping @ cruise end

[hilltopfamily]

Am planning our 1st cruise for family of 5 and thought of a question---- I'm sure you seasoned cruisers can help me know the right thing to do! We'll be going on a 7 day, probably Eastern Carib. @ end of July 2003.

Not trying to sound "cheap" but just wanting to have all my $$ saved and ready to go ahead of time soooooo.........When calculating tips for serving staff, do I prorate the recommended amount of tipping for my 3 children or do I use the DCL recommended amounts for all 5 of us and multiply by 7 days?

thanks for the advice

 

[tstobb]

The suggested rates are per passenger, age doesn't matter.

 

[kajohn]

I have 3 kids too, and I know it adds a chunk of change at the end of the trip but; the way I look at it, the staff probably has to work harder dealing with kids than dealing with an adult, so they definitely deserve the full amount, (if not more!!!)

Have a great cruise!

 

[tksbaskets]

What I did was save the tip $ aside before our trip and had them all labeled and in seperate envelopes. I think I got the suggested amounts from Dave or Barb's sites. It made it so nice at the end of the cruise to just take the $ out of the in-room safe and put them into the little tip envelopes. No standing in line at guest services, no wondering if I had money left....

I did slip a little extra in our server's envelope. He was really nice

Hope this helps.

 

[Cruise]

Originally posted by hilltopfamily
do I use the DCL recommended amounts for all 5 of us and multiply by 7 days?

thanks for the advice

Also be aware that the recommended amounts are listed by cruise length. That amount is for the entire cruise for one person. So you would multiply the amount by 5 (for the number of people in your party), but not by 7 days of the week.

For example, the recommended tip for your Stateroom host for the 7 day cruise is $25.25. With 5 people in your party, that comes to $126.25 for the entire cruise length.

Though I did read a while back where someone else thought it was per day too and ended up tipping that amount times the 7 days.

Julie

 

[4nana]

Yep, this is one time our family was oh so glad they contributed to the cookie jar for over 2 yrs!!
No AARP or infant breaks here....LOL
Between our waiter, asst., head waiter, stateroom host', it was cha ching, cha ching, cha ching x 16, amounting to over $1500 tips for the week! Our servers Ronald and Adina treated us like royality, earn every penny and more, so we were more than glad to abide!

 

[SuperDisneyDad]

Here's the suggested tipping totals for 5 people for a 7 night cruise:

Server: $128.75 ($25.75 per person)
Assistant Server: $93.75 (18.75 per person)
Head Server: $32.50 ($6.50 per person)
Stateroom Host(ess): $126.25 ($25.25 per person)

Grand Total for the 7-night cruise: $381.25

** You can also tip room service a couple of dollars as well at your discretion.

We usually go to guest services on the 2nd or 3rd day of the cruise in the middle of the afternoon when nobody else is there and simply charge the tip amouts to our room. I don't like to carry too much cash with me since we don't need it on the ship, so this works out really well. If we get outstanding service (which we usually do), I'll add some cash in their envelopes at the end of the cruise.

 

[my3kids]

We went with a family of 5 also. The tips were expensive, but we ended up giving more to both the server and assistant server. By weeks end, while it isn't easy to had over that much money, you'll really want to because they have been so nice.

 

[marycaym]

i don't find any guidelines/recommendations on how much tip the counselors in the kids club? any suggestions?

 

[AnnMorin]

Originally posted by Cruise
.

Though I did read a while back where someone else thought it was per day too and ended up tipping that amount times the 7 days.

Julie

Yup that was me on our second cruise, this past cruise was much cheaper although we were extra generous with our stateroom host he was the best!

 

[buzz&woody'smom]

What are the suggested amount for 4 people (2 adults and 2 children) for a 4 night?

Thanks!!!

 

[tstobb]

From the DCL web site:
"Help! I'm really confused about tipping!
We'll make it easy. Of course, you should never feel that a reward is automatically expected from you. But 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

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. "

So, for the 4 night, total suggested is $43.75/person so that's $175 for all 4 of you.

 

[kelljacques@aol.com]

Does anyone have the site for the snazzy disney envelopes

 

[Cruise]

Originally posted by kelljacques@aol.com
Does anyone have the site for the snazzy disney envelopes

Is this the one you're talking about?

http://users.adelphia.net/~heidiw/maid_envelopes/

Julie

 

[hilltopfamily]

thanks everybody for replying and adding your great advice

this will help us in planning our cruise and will, hopefully, make the bite a little less painful at the end of the cruise

penny

 

[Michelle]

Marycaym, the counselors in the children's programming are not tipped positions. Some people give them small gifts in appreciation, and it's also nice to mention them by name on the comment cards you get at the end of the cruise.

 

[vicnmickey]

I was just wondering if you could tip the recommended amounts in the beginning of the cruise. This would eliminate the long lines, at the end of the cruise.

 

[tstobb]

You can go to guest services at anytime during your cruise to take care of the tips.

 

[NejTheLion]

Now, I'm sure this wouldn't happen, but what if you had wonderful service the first few days, decided to head down to Guest Services mid-cruise and take care of tips, but then something happened during the second half of your cruise and you determined that one of those CMs needed a deduction? Are tips non-refundable once they've been put on your account or since it's just an account you have going, can you change the amounts?

I'm sure it's more likely that the service would exceed your expectations requiring you to return to Guest Services to increase all of the tips, but I'm assuming that wouldn't be a problem at all