Tipping for Mediocre Service

[Eeyore'sthebest]

We've had decent contact in the morning before disembarking. But they are rushed. Just try to remember back a week or 3 or 4 days earlier when you were boarding. Many of us get to the port prior to it opening. Have you noticed that there are still people leaving the ship? And did you want to get on the ship IMMEDIATELY? Of course you did. Those servers need to feed everyone, clean up the dining room and get prepped for the next round of guests. It's a lot of work to do in a very short period of time.

Give them a break folks. I know we had incredible servers on our last cruise. They did pause for a few seconds to take a picture for me with my DD. But they were business focused that morning. And to be honest, I don't blame them. They have a lot to do in a very short period of time.
A leaving guest is out of the dining room/off the ship by 9 a.m. They are boarding AND feeding another 2500 fresh faces in less than 3 hours. And they need to be on their "A" game when the passengers get on the boat.
Sorry, but I understand that my cruise is ending but someone else is getting on right behind me and wants that same Disney magic that I just experienced. These servers are exhausted and the day has just started for them. Sorry, but I'm tipping on service for my entire week and not the last few minutes prior to disembarking when we're all tired and exhausted! Just my 2 cents.

 

[outahere]

We make a point of getting to know our room attendant. When we took our first DCL trip we had Maricar. There were 17 of us, and she had 4 of the 6 cabins. By the end of the cruise she was family to us. Not only did we tip above, I also sent Cinnabons to her house so her family could have a treat! Our servers were good - but a table of 17 is hard. But on the last morning we were treated very well, even got a hug good bye.

We also had Maricar as our cabin attendant on one cruise, and she was absolutely the BEST attendant we have ever had. By the end of the cruise she felt like family to us too, and she received a tip well above the recommended amount. On our last morning she was in another cabin as we were leaving and we waved and said goodbye as we walked by. We were a few feet down the hall when she came running out of the cabin and gave us all a hug. I really wanted to take her home with us.

As for the cold shoulder treatment - we don't usually go to the dining room for breakfast on the last morning, so I don't know how our servers would have treated us. However, we have gotten the cold shoulder on the last morning from a couple of cabin attendants, even though we tipped at least the recommended amount. I do think it may be, at least partially, an emotional defense for the CMs. Plus, they are really stressed to get everything done before the next set of guests boards.

 

[Jessebuggy]

I think I am in the minority here... But here is the flip side for all the posts with the "we got the cold shoulder" theme. Not to say that doesn't happen, I am sure it feels like it... He is the warm fuzzy story...

We make a point of getting to know our room attendant. When we took our first DCL trip we had Maricar. There were 17 of us, and she had 4 of the 6 cabins. By the end of the cruise she was family to us. Not only did we tip above, I also sent Cinnabons to her house so her family could have a treat! Our servers were good - but a table of 17 is hard. But on the last morning we were treated very well, even got a hug good bye.

This last trip, September 2009, was more of the same. Laura and Eva in the dining room were awesome! Marilyn for a stateroom attendant was beyond great. And she had huge shoes to fill after Maricar! We took time to talk to her and introduce the kids to her and she too became family. She iced beverages, cleaned up after a 5 and 12 year old (and their parents) and would call to have dishes picked up for us. At the end of the trip it was sad to leave her. It was also sad in the dining room. Laura was starting her leave, so we didn't get a chance to say good bye. However the night before it was hugs for all of us. Eva took time to say a real good bye to the kids, including hugs for all. I even got a hug from Zan - who stopped what he was doing to say good bye. I swear, I had tears in my eyes when we left the ship - it was like leaving home, and family, behind.

It has to be hard on the CM's. They make attachments to some of the people they take care of. If they didn't I would be shocked. So, imagine how they feel - they have to say good bye to most if not all of us!

This has been my experience in the past as well. I just didn't feel the "Magic"!

 

[pxlbarrel]

They are incredibly busy on the last day. We noticed that as soon as somebody left their cabin for breakfast, the room attendants were in the door before it had a chance to close! I half jokingly said to my brother that our cabin would be cleaned before we reached the elevators.

We had incredible service from our servers and our cabin attendant (Maricar ... she is good, isn't she!?) My observation was that they never seem to be off duty. It wasn't unusual to see the cabin attendants to be polishing the the railings and windows in the hallway at 10 at night and you'd see them in the morning getting the rooms ready. When did they sleep? They were everywhere at everytime so my hats off to these people.

We didn't experience the cold shoulder nor did we really witness it either. We saw a lot of hugging going on at our last breakfast. Saw some servers carrying children around and playing even though you knew they were incredibly busy.

I do know that our cruise was the one just before Christmas. Maybe it makes a difference if the cruise isn't totally a madhouse and they know the next one will be. LOL

 

[calmpets]

We always tip at breakfast on the last day, and leave the room steward's tip when we leave the room for the last time. I've have varying levels of service on different cruises, but I think we've only tipped less than recommended once. Regardless I never noticed a marked difference on the last day, although I've heard this experience on the boards before. I would really chalk it up to the CMs trying to expedite getting everyone off the ship. Emotional attachments or not, they really don't have the time to do more than the basics on that last day - they are on such a tight time frame!

 

[Jessebuggy]

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and comments. I appreciate all of your feedback. I just love this place!!!

 

[NitaO]

I have cruised only once on Carnival and this past Feb. I went with DCL. We had a great cruise. But I did notice some difference. I thought my room hostess on the carival was way better. He came into the room and introduced himself, whereas we only saw our hostess on DCL in the hallway. I did to try to talk to her serval times, but she was very short with me. But all in all she did clean the room and I had no comlaints in that area and she got the recommended tip. Our dinning staff was good, Server was great with the kids, asst. server was just ok. I got the same kind of service on Carnival. I guess I went into this cruise all wrong, comparing. I guess I was expecting to be a 5 star service. Dont get me wrong , We loved our cruise and would go on DCL again. Disney does go all the way for the kids and they had a blast.

 

[tjbaggott]

I for one prefer to go to the buffet on the last morning, rather than the sit down restaurant. Our sit down time was just too early for us considering we were up late the night before. We really did enjoy the buffet and the more relaxed atmosphere there on our cruise last fall. Our servers for the cruise were good, but not great. Didn't bother us to not see them one more time, we said our goodbyes the night before and left the recommended tip amount. We gave our stateroom Host more than the suggested amount as he was AWESOME!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

We have always left a tip that is above the recommended amount. I have also experienced the cold shoulder a few times the last morning, but other times I have experienced sad times because we were so attached to our serving team and didn't want to say goodbye. The perfect solution for us is to eat at the buffet and avoid all of it and leave the tip on the last night.

 

[DisneyCruiser83]

I have had both the cold shoulder and a warm send off. I think it just depends on the person. Some are better at handling the change-over than others. I would not fault the cold shoulder people, they do the best they can. I usually have great service all week!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Six cruises.

Bad service, three times.

One x head server.
One x stateroom host.
One x Main server.

Rule 1.

Complain as soon as it occurs.

On the Main server, we complained to the head server, was all corrected there and then and we were checked on every meal. Reason:- 'Hot' Food served cold. End result, -Full tip given.

Stateroom host, spoke to the stateroom host on our expectations, was corrected, by themselves, this was concierge room, we could have spoken to concierge, but I had planed to double tip re room size, in end was above normal but below double.

Head server, never saw on one cruise, nothing like any other head sever, We didn't need him our servers were great, so when I finally saw him on tip night with his hand out I shook his hand said hello told him his tip was added to my servers.

Last Breakfast, never had cold shoulder, but have had once a ''professional fast service'',

I pre pay tips, these can still be changed.

 

[sbell111]

I have not been on a DCL before but the tipping issue is playing on my mind a lot. ... Also coming from a country that doesn't do tipping as the norm the recommended tips seem a lot. Of course I will pay it but if the service isn't great I won't pay over the recommended amounts.

The way I look at it is simple. The recommended amounts for tips are based on the presumption that 'good' service is received. If the service is better than 'good', a larger tip will be left. If the service is worse than 'good', a smaller tip will be left. Bad service should never be rewarded with a 'good' tip.

 

[dylan'smom]

I totally agree with you and like I said I will tip. I didn't realise that the servers also serve during the day. I was thinking of tipping the day staff separately but if this is not the case then I will do the childrens tips with ours

I love when this is brought up!
There are still a lot of people who do not know this and think the tips are for dining room in the evening only, so this is great to get the word out!

And this also goes for the Head Server that you don't see...they are responsible for your servers and are working (sometimes behind the scenes) to make everything run smoothly. So please don't judge them solely by how much time they spent with you personally, but how well they supervised & helped to train their servers.

As many have said... bring up any problems as they arrise so that you will gladly pay the full suggested amount (or more), as this is their livlihood & we all know they work really hard.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

And this also goes for the Head Server that you don't see...they are responsible for your servers and are working (sometimes behind the scenes) to make everything run smoothly. So please don't judge them solely by how much time they spent with you personally, but how well they supervised & helped to train their servers.

As I posted re head servers just a few posts above, I know their duties, they *must* visit you, its actually every dinner, as an agreement. They can be behind the scenes as well, they might spend a bit more time with others if there are issues, or require extra help but they must get around to all of their allocated tables.

5 of 6 cruises, this has been the standard, one of six it wasn't.-Myself and others didn't see him at all till tip night. If I had wanted a birthday or anniversary or special request, it wouldn't have been handled by him.

They should help and sort the wait staff team, take your special orders, organise birthdays and anniversaries, check and recheck everything is ok.

On the one cruise where a server had some issues, the head server there being very proactive, solved it in a minute or two and checked and rechecked it was solved every night.

 

[Angelhalo]

I think we have to understand that our servers are human. On our last DCL cruise I too noticed that on the very last morning, things were slightly cooler with our servers but I don't hold it against them. They are functioning human beings just like us. They have emotions, and they have bodies that function just like ours. I assumed they were drained, and possibly even sad to see us go when they had just gotten to know us. Sometimes I think we just expect way too much out of them, as if they are some sort of pony doing tricks for us. I just try to think about how I would feel if I worked on the ship....I get out of my bed in my room that is barely big enough to turn around in...I'm exhausted because I had to work late last night to make sure the last morning for everyone is perfect. I'm meloncholy because these great guests that I have taken the time to get to know are just about to leave, and I am also feeling the stress of a brand new family that is about to board and be my guest for the next cruise. Seems pretty stressful both emotionally and physically. So I don't fault them one bit if they don't feel like doing a song and dance on the final morning.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Just remember, if you go to Topsider', tip the staff separately. I've been told by insiders that MDR servers don't share their tips with Topsider's staff.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Just remember, if you go to Topsider', tip the staff separately. I've been told by insiders that MDR servers don't share their tips with Topsider's staff.

Presume re Dinner at Topsiders? As breakfast/Lunch is often the Animator's palate team?

 

[eskimoinparadise]

Presume re Dinner at Topsiders? As breakfast/Lunch is often the Animator's palate team?

Yes, sorry about that. We actually haven't eaten in the MDR on our last six Disney cruises. It's either Topsider's or Palo's.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Yes, sorry about that. We actually haven't eaten in the MDR on our last six Disney cruises. It's either Topsider's or Palo's.

Palos you tip there and isn't covered in normal suggested tipping.

The staff who are Animators that night at dinner, tend to cover Breakfast and Lunch at Topsiders, not all but thats normal.

Parrot Cay and Lumiere's teams, on the day of their rotation tend to say in the same place all day long.

 

[sbell111]

As the old saying goes, "when in Rome do as the Romans do"
The dinner servers work at all of the eating places during the day, as well as Castaway Cay. The children are being served by diningroom staff regardless of where they have their meals. Yes, by all means include your children when tipping the dining staff and your stateroom host.

In order for the argument that you should tip your dining room servers well even if you don't eat in the dining room to be correct, it must also work in reverse. If you get less than satisfactory service in the other eating areas, you should reduce your dining room servers tip accordingly.