Tipping for Mediocre Service

[Jessebuggy]

I know tipping has been covered before but wanted to share a recent experience. We just returned on Saturday from our 3rd DCL aboard the Magic. (There were a lot of new faces mixed in with some familiar faces. Word on the ship was that the new faces were being trained so that all positions on all 3 ships would be filled.)

Our room hostess, as sweet as she was, was not good. When our beds were made, the bedspread was sloppy and looked as if a child had been jumping on it (in both of our rooms), towels were sometimes replaced in the bathroom -- sometimes not, our shampoo and conditioner was never replenished and we had to ask for more (we no longer pack these from home for a DCL since they are provided). There were other times when the kids had a late night snack from room service before bed and she would come in the morning to make the beds and leave the tray all day.

So, herein lies the problem. DCL has their suggestion for tips. Normally, we would go with the suggestion or higher depending on the service we received. On this trip, we did not feel that their suggested amount (family of 5 in two rooms) was money that was earned by our hostess. I spent more time straightening beds than she did and it was my vacation. We left our envelope out on the last night. We still did leave her a nice tip but just not what DCL suggested. Our room hostess was very short with us when we returned to our room that night.

Now, I feel that we should have left her less than we did since she had an expectation that she should get what DCL suggested no matter what kind of service she delivered.

Anyone else have this experience?

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Our last host wasn't very good at all. He just did "surface" type things and that was it. One time we walked into our room finding him and his supervisor. It was a surprise inspection. The inspection stopped as soon as we walked in though. We did leave the recommended amount.

We do get the cold shoulder from a lot of the servers the morning of disembarking. We have always given over the recommended amount. It always hurts. I hate that morning!!!

 

[jlindemer]

So, what happens if the tips are prepaid? Will they treat you differently if they know ahead of time what their tips are?

 

[luv that cruise]

we have been cruising disney for over 10 years and have noticed a decline in service all around on the last few cruises. Still good service but just not like it used to be. We keep a tablet and write our comments, both good and bad, throughout the cruise. That makes it easier to remember names and details. We attach that paper to our survey at the end of the cruise. In your situation, I would have written comments each and every time things were not up to your expectations. You will be long gone by the time those comments make their way back to the employee who will have to answer to his/her supervisor.

 

[luv that cruise]

We do get the cold shoulder from a lot of the servers the morning of disembarking. We have always given over the recommended amount. It always hurts. I hate that morning!!!

Yeah - the last morning is depressing and sometimes i skip it. I am sure it is hard on those workers to get us off and turn over the ship in just a few hours to get the new passengers on and greeted with smiles.

 

[TravelGrl]

We do get the cold shoulder from a lot of the servers the morning of disembarking. We have always given over the recommended amount. It always hurts. I hate that morning!!!

We are going on our first cruise in a year so I am not sure I understand what you are saying. If you left over the recommended amount, why did the the servers give you the cold shoulder. That is counter intuitive!

 

[kcashner]

When you were initially unhappy with the service you were receiving, did you call Guest Services or housekeeping? My logic is that they SHOULD know how to do the job, but they also deserve one chance to know that you are unhappy and to make it right. If you didn't discuss it with GS or the housekeeping supervisor, then the hostess might think all was well!

I disagree about the quality of service decreasing overall. There are A LOT of new CMs on the ship. They have shortened contracts in order to bring on more trainees. The long term goal is to have plenty of fully trained CMs ready to go for the Dream as well as to fully staff the current ships. However, we've noticed an increase in supervision to correspond with new employees. We've had CMs tell us that they are telling their friends that it's a great time to apply to DCL IF you want to work hard and have a long term plan to continue with them.

If you pre-pay your tips, your servers, host, etc do not know about that until the last night. The fact that you have pre-paid means that DCL has the money. The appropriate people will still see the money in the check that they get every 2 weeks--after you've left the ship. They will get the tip coupon from you on the last night. Your room host might know if you have opened the envelope and left the coupons out in the room.

Also ...I tip the suggested amount or a bit more. Have never had the "cold shoulder" on the last morning. Or maybe I'm too dense to realize it.

 

[pixiedustaholic]

I, too, feel that we were treated cooly by our serving team on the last morning. I was very disappointed as we tipped well over the recommended amount.

 

[Olga]

Just as if you were staying in a hotel, it is your responsibility to inform room service to come and retrieve your dirty dishes. No need to go to bed with dirty dishes lying about until morning, room service will respond promptly to remove them for you. Sorry, but it is not the job of the hostess to remove dirty dishes, it is proper protocol that you call room service.
To save energy towels are not replaced daily unless they are left on the floor. A hanging towel indicates there is no need for new ones at this time.

 

[pamrob]

I was surprised to read the comments on here. We, too, experienced some indifference on the last morning. Our assistant server, who had received the suggested tip, was a bit cold and abrupt. On the other hand, the main server was most pleasant. I do realize that morning must be difficult but it doesn't feel good to go out on a sour note.

 

[2bundles]

Our server was cold to us on the last day. We were not impressed with his service, or that of the Head Waitress. Our kids never ate in the dining room, so we tipped full for us and half for them.

This is the whole problem with the tipping policy. If they expect it regardless of service, then what is the point of tipping at all? I would prefer Disney used the money to pay them all well, so they weren't only nice to the people they thought would tip well.

 

[jlindemer]

Where do you see these crew members on your last day? I may try to avoid them after reading this!

 

[tvguy]

I, too, feel that we were treated cooly by our serving team on the last morning. I was very disappointed as we tipped well over the recommended amount.

We got aced out of our final morning breakfast with our servers by the dorks who had early seating, and showed up 15 minutes before the end of early seating breakfast, and took our table for late seating breakfast.
However, the Head Server quickly found us a tape, and relieved our Server and Assistant Server so they could come over a couple of times and check on us and say goodbye. There were just a pleasant the final morning as they were the first night.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I've never been on a cruise before, but that is changing this year!


I plan to do what I always do, tip often and a lot for great service, don't tip for poor service yet let those in charge know right away so problems can be corrected early.

I am very puzzled as to why the servers who got more than the suggested tips are treating people cool? Maybe they will miss all of you?

 

[Olga]

The servers on the ship work not only dinner but breakfast and lunch and Castaway Cay, so to reduce a tip because one didn't eat dinner in the diningroom isn't very kind. I wish DCL would add tips automatically if only for this reason alone that some will reduce the tip because someone in the party missed dinner.

 

[ptk55369]

We traveled (and ate) with another family all week. On the last day the servers seemed kind of cool overall until the other family left and then they were all hugs and kisses and thankful and happy. Kind of made me wonder about what our friends tipped or whether we got more of a goodbye because we left after they did.

I know we tipped fairly well above the recommendeds but I thought it was well deserved. I think you work all week and if you are good, getting the recommended amount or less has to chafe a bit. That has got to be hard.

At the same time, those tips add up!! Filling out that worksheet on board was hard for me because I am cheap but good service is good service and should be rewarded no mater how much it hurts me prying open my wallet.

I know our Lead Server not only worked in the other restaurants but we saw her working out at Goofy's by the pool and in other places beyond meal time - I swear she worked 16-18 hour days.

 

[acourtwdw]

The last night tipping thing makes me very uncomforatable so on our last cruise (Jan 10 ) we went to Palo on the last night and tipped our room steward in the morning.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

We had very poor dining service on a RCCL cruise. We spoke directly with each server and the Head of the dining room but the service remained poor. The last night I had NO PROBLEM handing them their tip envelopes with a VERY reduced amount of cash in them. In fact they are darn lucky to get anything.

Rob

 

[JTN2005]

We have only been on 1 Disney Cruise, January of 2009 in the Eastern Caribbean on the Magic, the service was outstanding at all times on all levels. We are boked on the EBTA on April 10th. I hope the service is the same. We tipped over the suggested amount to all parties concerned. Sad to hear some have had bad experiences.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

When I went on my first Disney Cruise in 2008, our assistant waiter was wonderful! He went out of his way to help have a wonderful dining experience. When we saw him working at Pluto's one day, he even came out from behind the counter to get us drinks. We didn't expect that, but it was so nice of him.

We tipped him extra. We are hoping that he is on the WBTA because we would love to have him again!