tipping wait staff for nights kids are in program

[vegasandcheerio]

I don't want to open a can of worms as tipping seems to be a sensitive subject.... but here goes: How have you past cruisers handled tipping the wait staff the nights your children opt to eat with their peers? My children define the words social butterflies and it will be a struggle to get them to dine with us.

We are not wealthy- my darling grandma has treated us to the cruise, but she will be staying home due to health concerns. We have been setting aside money all year but with the incredible price of gas ( we are driving) etc it will still be tight for us.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.

 

[minniemouse1]

We tipped as if our children dined with us every night.

 

[staylor]

We also tip as if our children were with us. Look at it this way, the waitstaff and their family at home are budgeting for that money. The cruise line is expecting that the staff is going to get their minimum amount each cruise.

 

[ivanova]

I tip for everyone in the party, regardless of who eats dinner in the dining room ... because the same wait staff are waiting on them during breakfast & lunch as well ... so they are still earning their tips even if the kids don't eat dinner in the dining room.

 

[ksjayhawks]

We tipped as if everyone was there every night. When you look at the suggested amounts, it is very reasonable, considering the type/quality of food you are getting. You would tip more than that at home for the quantity of meals.

 

[lbgraves]

Your children will be served by someone else during the dinner with the club, so yes a tip is necessary.

We were actually able to have DS eat with us for early dining & told our servers that he would be going to the club for activities. His food was brought out with our drinks & his dessert by the time we were getting our 2nd course so that I could take him to the club within 30 minutes of sitting down. I made it back before the entree was served & we enjoyed the rest of the meal while he enjoyed his time in the club.

 

[OJulie67]

Our DD only ate with us one night...but we tipped as if she was there every night!

 

[trishy]

Same here - everybody for every night. Even if they eat with the clubs, they are still being waited on and cleaned up after by the ship's wait staff. This holds true for breakfast and lunch also.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Before my opinions on tipping--a little background.

We had a different situation on Carnival Cruise...it was our honeymoon and on night 3 of the cruise, they moved us to a family section to undo a mistake on another group whose seating had been split up. We were at a table for 2--supposedly in front of the windows-but the view was blocked by a support beam.

We were humiliated on the night they presented us a cake--as we had plans--but they drew out the festivities for the evening. We walked out as they were going to do their parade--had one foot out of the dining room. Our waiter spotted us leaving and strongly insisted that we return to our table for our surprise. The dining room was presenting the cakes all evening--why we had to wait until after the dessert conga line, I don't know. But in any case we didn't appreciate that. When the cake was finally brought--they wanted us to smooch--and we did not feel comfortable as children were eyeing us every where. We are not PDA kind of people (at least we weren't at the time We said we didn't want to do that--and again, it was insisted upon. So we complied and had them immediately wrap the cake so that we could leave.

Sorry for all the back ground, but I wanted the info to explain why we tipped as we did. At the end of the week--we tipped this waiter just for the nights we were in the dining room as we felt poorly treated and that they crossed their boundaries in conduct with us. We did tip at the current recommended daily tip per passenger.

We also refused to tip the Matre D' b/c he rudely dealt with us in the table switch and was ultimately responsibile for how we felt during the trip when in the dining room. And trust me that he was infuriated at this--but then he said something very rude to me as I left the dining room and I felt justified at my action.


I feel that any staff on ship must earn there tip. The exception--are the bartenders where you pretty much don't have a choice in the matter. If you feel the wait staff did an outstanding job than tip accordingly. If you or your children miss a few nights in the dining room, it isn't the wait staff's fault. If they did an outstanding job the rest of the trip, then you can tip as if you were in the dining room the whole time. In our case--the wait staff was not to our liking, did nothing to make us feel special. Where they tried to make us feel special it was very forced and uncomfortable. So we tipped the bookrate for only the nights we ate at his table. Since our previous table was taken by other people, we didn't go back to tip that waiter. Our room steward on the trip was fabulous--especially when we flooded our ADA bathroom (we didn't request an ADA stateroom--and that is a whole other can of worms). Since the room steward, in our opinion, went above and beyond--he earned the rest of what we didn't tip in the dining room.

To each his own, I guess. IMHO--tip what you feel they have honestly earned--tip less if you think they did below avg, tip the going rate if you think they did avg, tip more if they did something extra to make you feel special.

We did end up complaining to the cruise line. They gave us $250 for dinner as well as a voucher for a discount on our next trip.

 

[BethA]

All the talk of someone is waiting on your child, or you if you eat at the buffet has me confused. Do the tips just go to the server you give them to, or do they pool a part of that. I seem to get different impressions.

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

You should tip as if all the members in your family are there. The choice not to eat there is your's, however you will still be served in some form or fashion somewhere else on the ship.

One the other hand, it is not your responsibility to supply the staff with their income. That is Disney's job. The gratuity (a gift of money, esp. for service, as in a tip) that you leave should reflect the type of service you received.

 

[webray]

Yes, you do tip as if the children are in the dining room with you every night.

Just as..adults only, we tip as if we eat in the dining room every night..even if we don't. We go to Palo, or have room service, the tip is still the same..plus extra..lol, for the Palo server or room service person.

 

[vegasandcheerio]

I appreciate all the input. We will tip for all nights and force- I mean hope- the kids will deign to join us occasionally.

 

[MrsPete]

I would tip on behalf of the children, but I would tip only the minimum amount since they weren't actually there at dinner (the most labor intensive meal).

 

[trishy]

All the talk of someone is waiting on your child, or you if you eat at the buffet has me confused. Do the tips just go to the server you give them to, or do they pool a part of that. I seem to get different impressions.

Your server also has to rotate through the dining rooms during breakfast and lunch. They will also be doing duty in the buffet at Topsiders during breakfast and lunch. We've seen our server or asst. server during these times on all 3 cruises. I would definitely take that into account when tipping for the entire family.

 

[kcashner]

The above post says it all. The servers take turns rotating thru Topsiders (where your kids will eat if they are in the club/lab at meal times), the ice cream/fruit station, the pizza bar, the burger joint, etc. (yes, I know all the names, but for the sake of newbies...) THe also rotate thru the various food places at lunch and breakfast. You and the children will eat each meal somewhere. The tip to your dinner staff reflects not only the service that they gave you at dinner, but also the service that they provided to you or someone else on all other occasions where tipping is not standard.

So...that is the long answer to saying yes, you should include the amount for the children in your tip, even if the children never ate with you. They ate somewhere, and someone served them. That person is certainly hoping for a tip from his assigned tables!