Tipping

[Lynnyl]

Hi! When you go to Palos, how much do you add to the tip? Does the wine you buy have an automatic tip added on?
Do you tip the people in the kids programs?

 

[Kimnicki]

From what I understand, you should tip 15-20% on what you think the meal would normally cost if you had paid. I would think they add gratuity on the wine, since they do for any other alcholic beverages. As for the kids programs, they are not listed as tipped postions but a lot of people buy phone cards and hand them out to the counselors.





Kim

 

[kcashner]

At Palo, any alcohol has the usual 15% tip added automatically. At least a part of the $10 per person charge is for tip, although there is some controversy as to how much. Most people add an additional tip for the server, either by writing it on the KTTW charge at the end or leaving cash. THe standard recommendation is to consider what a similar meal would cost at a land restaurant, and add an appropriate tip.

The kid counsellors are not allowed to accept cash gifts, and are not one of the positions for which tips are suggested. Be aware that there are about 10 counsellors in each age group. A nice touch is to ask each child if there was a special counsellor or 2 and give them a small gift like a phone card or gift card to Target or Wal-mart. These 2 stores are suggested as they are where the "crew bus" goes when the ship is in port to allow the crew to get their necessities. It's not realistic to get something for each counsellor your child might have encountered! A note from the child or a small gift of something special to your home town is also nice.

 

[makaylee]

You might want to remember that $5 per person is already given to the wait staff from the extra fee you pay to go to Palo. So you might want to figure that in to the extra amount you tip.

 

[Lynnyl]

Thank-you all for your helpful replies. I am right to assume that an estimate for dinner at Palos is about $50/person? Its hard to guess when restaurants vary so much! Thank-you again for your help.
Lynn

 

[kcashner]

You're definitely in the right ball park. Yes, restaurant costs do vary. According to the "old"DCL literature, the $5 cost of eating at Palo was for the gratuity. Now that it has been increased to $10, there is some conflicting info as to whether this entire amount goes to the wait staff or if they only get a part of it.

Consider the service you get, and then decide how much more you want to add. My "sense" is that most people probably add about $5-10 per person...although this is only my guess. That gives your server somewhere between $10 and $20 per person (depending on how much of the $10 to DCL they actually get.)

And enjoy!!!

 

[webray]

The meal you get at Palo would cost you approx $150 in any good restaurant in any major city...tip accordingly! The service is outstanding..when hubby and I recieve outstanding service...the server definately gets more than 15-20%, mainly, because outstanding servers are few and far between, in any city or restaurant!

We like to encourage good service, and shorting a good servers tip only encourages bad service.

 

[Lynnyl]

Webray,
Do you mean that it would be $150/couple, or $75/person? Are you including alcohol in that? I'm just trying to figure this out so that I do tip appropriately, generously, but it is hard when the bill cost is hidden and the wine cost is already partially tipped.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by webray
The meal you get at Palo would cost you approx $150 in any good restaurant in any major city...tip accordingly!

I don't agree. At restaurants that are comparable to Palo, you can get an appetizer, salad, entree, dessert and coffee for around $50, perhaps $60 depending on what you order, per person (before tax, tip, wine, bottled water, or drinks) -- certainly not $150 per person.

Be as generous as you wish with your tip, but start your tip math with realistic cost assumptions. And, as kcashner wrote, take into account that your Palo service fee includes at least $5 per person towards service staff gratuities. And remember that there's an automatic 15% tip on wine, bottled water, alcohol, and non-alcoholic speciality drinks.

 

[The4OfUs]

It also depends on how much you EAT, our server kept bringing us things we didnt' order, to try... for example, we had the souffle for dessert, but Florencia asked if we wanted to sample some others, we said yes, and next thing you know, she brought us one of ALL the other desserts to try! That's five additional desserts! She did that with us at brunch as well, and with some of the appetizers and I think (I went into a food coma soon after so I don't remember clearly) also a different main dish to share...so without alcohol (which we brought) I'd say we EASILY hit $75 a head (and that is a "professional" estimation, as DH is a chef, and can cost these things out appropriately). Everything there is to order, there's no heat lamps at all, we were watching them prepare things...the ingredients are exceptional, the service behind the "line" has been boiled down to an absolute art, and the service was wonderful, so we tipped accordingly.

Keeping in mind that we tend to tip on the high side, being "in the business", we left $40 for dinner. That would assume a $200 dinner, so it was probably a bit much, I'd guess we were closer to the $150 for the sheer fact that we didnt' pay for our wine, we brought a bottle...BUT, had we bought that very same bottle it'd have added about $100 more to the bill, so I don't have any regrets for how much we left her...she earned every single penny, and then some. =)

Now that I'm writing this, I wonder if they pool the tips like most restaurants, splitting a percentage with the bartender, bus people, etc...and I also wonder exactly how much of that $10 per person she got...I am going to have to email her and find out more! Adding that $10 in, I bet we overtipped, but you know what, it's not often we're pampered the way we were by this server - she spent SO much time with us (her other tables that night were no shows, they didnt' bother to cancel so the waitlist didn't fill the tables in, how sad is that) talking about the food, how it was prepared, and so on, so I feel really good about it - an 11 day vacation and that was the most we shelled out for ANY meal, it was MORE than worth it.