Tipping for Conceirge and OC

[2Princes_&_1Princess]

We're going on a THREE DAY Cruise with 2 adults and 3 small children. What is a good tip for our concierge team -- and how many of them will there be? I noticed Disney doesn't have any guidelines and we're clueless.

ALSO -- what about counselors in the Oceaneers Club? How many will there be, and how much should we plan on taking for them??

PLEASE HELP!! Oh, and PLEASE don't tell me to do what I'm comfortable with -- I'm apparently a cheap-a** and have no clue. Please, just tell me what's nice to give.

And, we live in Orlando, so I don't think the crew are going to want anything from our hometown, kwim?

 

[atinkerbellmom]

You do not need to tip the kid's club people. They are on a totally different salary. My DD did take to one of the girls and as a result we bought a thank you card in port and gave her that with $10 just to say thank you. My DD "use to be" shy, not anymore; so last cruise we did not do that again.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Technically, you're not supposed to tip concierge. And one time one of our concierge hosts was an officer and you are not supposed to tip officers.

That doesn't mean people don't. There was a good thread about that last fall.

There are usually two concierge hosts. Sometimes two women, sometimes a man and a woman.

We've usually tipped them a wee bit of cash and tell them to go buy a drink on us on their time off. They do seem surprised to get a tip.

I think most people do tip their suite stateroom host more than the recommended amount because they are taking care of two rooms.

 

[Voireon]

If you believe anyone did an exceptional job in concierge, the oceaneer's club, or really anyone else, they love phone cards. Calling is normally $7.95 a minute on-board, or some other high rate on cell phones, so the phone card is much appreciated. At least this was what our first waiter told us. After that, we always got phone cards in addition to the minimum tip if we think someone did an exceptional job. Our last hostess broke down in tears when we gave it to her, so I have no doubt that it's a wonderful gift.

 

[flexsmom]

We've been told that the kids club group pools anything they receive and shares it amongst all of them. Our last cruise, I bought 4, $10 gift cards from Walmart or Target and had each of my children choose their favorite two counsellors to give them to, along with cards they drew for them. I know that they were pooled, but I thought it was a good exercise for the kids to undertake to recognize the people who's job it is to take care of them and help them have fun.

On the concierge side - we've done that twice now, and neither time have we tipped the concierge staff. We loved the service in terms of the extra nightly goodies, but those are delivered by someone else, and for the most part, we never called them for "extra" stuff and I know that normally they are somewhat resistant to tips to begin with.

 

[mmhouse]

We've never tipped in OC, but we've also never, in 6 cruises, had great service there.

Last September Sandie and Arnaldo were our concierge team. We had a problem with our suite and they went above and beyond to try to make up for it. Our kids gave them a few things like glow necklaces on pirate night, etc. Then at the end of the cruise we tipped them each $50. Looking back that may not have been enough considering how helpful they were. I'm so glad we were dealing with them and not guest services on the problem. They were in no way surprised to receive a tip and they did not make us try to give it to them 3 times before they would take it as has been reported before.

 

[2Princes_&_1Princess]

We've never tipped in OC, but we've also never, in 6 cruises, had great service there.

Last September Sandie and Arnaldo were our concierge team. We had a problem with our suite and they went above and beyond to try to make up for it. Our kids gave them a few things like glow necklaces on pirate night, etc. Then at the end of the cruise we tipped them each $50. Looking back that may not have been enough considering how helpful they were. I'm so glad we were dealing with them and not guest services on the problem. They were in no way surprised to receive a tip and they did not make us try to give it to them 3 times before they would take it as has been reported before.

For what length cruise did you give them the $50 each tip? Can I ask what the issue with the suite was??

 

[hjensen]

We tipped the concierge $100 on our last cruise. We never asked for anything special but we appreciated then visiting us every day and leaving the special treats in the room!

 

[2Princes_&_1Princess]

We tipped the concierge $100 on our last cruise. We never asked for anything special but we appreciated then visiting us every day and leaving the special treats in the room!

Was that for a 7-day cruise? Did they bring you something more/different than the treats that are included in the suite ammenities?

Did they decline the tip at first?

Did you give them $100 each, or between the two?

Would you think that you would do less on the three day, or the same??

 

[mmhouse]

It was a 7 day. They did more for us than what is normal, but I'm guessing they would have done the same for anyone having the same problems.

They did not decline it at all and did not seem surprised to get it. I think most people tip the concierge team.

$50 each at the end of the cruise and then some small gifts all along. We gave them the glow necklaces which they loved and wore to the cm disco after work. Then on Pirate night we gave them goody bags with all kinds of pirate stuff in it. We also tipped a couple of dollars to the person who came in to bring the daily "gift" each afternoon - he was very nice and always interacted with us - we looked forward to seeing him also.

I'm not sure I would do less based on the number of days, but possibly on the level of service. I think you will know what you should tip once you are there (sorry that probably doesn't help) based on the level of service you receive. I've heard of people only seeing the concierge staff 2-3 times (at the meeting as soon as you board, at the concierge party, and on the last night when they bring you a small gift) during an entire 7 day cruise and in that case I probably wouldn't tip them. Our team was very attentive and we really enjoyed getting to know them. They did special things for and with our kids.

 

[hjensen]

Was that for a 7-day cruise? Did they bring you something more/different than the treats that are included in the suite ammenities?

Did they decline the tip at first?

Did you give them $100 each, or between the two?

Would you think that you would do less on the three day, or the same??

Yes it was for a 7 day cruise. They didnt bring us anything different or special. Just the usual fruit and cheese plates.

Our Head conceirge was named Dania and she did refuse the tip at first. I just kindly told her that I did not want to have to ask her three times before she would accept it...so then she laughed and did accept it.

We actually had a team of three for our conceirge. I only gave her $100 for the three of them. Like I said before we really didnt have them do anything special or extra for us. But with that being said...we are going again at the end of Feb. and are again in a Cat. 3. I will be hesitant on tipping again if we do not really use them for anything extra.

I cant say what or if I would tip them for a three day! It all depends on how much you would use their services!

 

[flexsmom]

We have stayed in a Cat 3 twice with another planned for this December. We have not tipped our concierge team, although we have tipped our room attendant well above the recommended, as well as our servers. It was nice to have the concierge team check up on us via phone a few times, and once or twice I called them to assist with switching out tickets for ship-board activities. Yes, we really enjoyed the nightly goodies, but it is not the concierge team delivering those - or at least not on the few evenings I happened to be outside when our "room service" guy was pushing a cart through the passageway with the trays. I happened to be stuck behind a group blocking the passageway, so I was looking over the cart and saw the list of all of the suites with each night and the assigned "goodie" that was to be delivered, along with the trays for that evening. I am not discounting how great it is to receive those extras - we look forward to them and should we ever have a serious issue or really need to pull the cord on using the concierge team, then certainly I would not hesitate to tip them. We just have not experienced that level of involvement by them to date.

Obviously, this hasn't impacted our desire to book the suite - we love the room, the space, the ability to order full breakfast and dining room menus - all of that combined with the availability of the concierge makes it worth it, for us.

 

[Disney? Again?]

We have been doing Cat 3, 7 night. Last trip, I thought I had enough phone cards and iTunes cards (which I heard was fun for the OC Cast) and I sure didn't -- there are 22+ people in those positions. I ended up lumping what I had together in a big envelope and let them "fight it out"

The Concierge was very attentive, especially as it was my husband's bday on board, and our seating was changed without our knowledge, etc. Therefore, they got an earful. They visited us every day and talked with my son, brought him Arcade cards, etc. I wasn't sure if they could accept cash tips, so I left them $50 international phone cards (there were two of them, so $100 total left).

Now that I am reading this thread, I should probably have done more. For a three-day, I would do less than that UNLESS you really are getting specialized service. They do a great job, but I keep comparing them to "land" where the IPO Planners, etc. do so much work for us and they can't get tipped at all. Seems ironic because WDW requires so much planning and effort vs. the 22 suites on the ship.

If they serve you at all, I think a $20 phone card or a little cash is a nice gesture -- everyone likes a surprise, right?

Plan on there being two Concierge people you will interact with. For the OC, limiting it to two or three counselors that your child/children connect with is probably the best idea. Then the counselor can deal with the behind-the-scenes stuff. Have fun!