Tipping

[disneyri]

Hello all,

since I have had a bit of trouble getting much from this thread I figured I would ask 4 definitive questions.

1. For room service do I tip each time they come and drop off my food. I am in a inside stateroom.

2. For Palo. I have gathered the 20.00 my wife and I will pay to eat at this much more exquisite restaurant. I am expecting to tip an addition maybe 20.00 under the impression it is a 125.00 meal value. Not sure where someone would see 300-350.00 unless wine was included.

3. The 3 bottle of wine deal from DCL. Do we bring these bottles of wine to dinner or can you only buy separate bottles from the dinner menus for either Palo or std restaurants.

4. Lastly the 18% gratuity. That is not something I should expect since my room service is standard...a 10/23 sailor said that they were CAT3 and never saw it anyway?!

Only other note I wanted to make about the walmart cards. Someone said phone cards for kids club. These cards are for possible phone usage but even more a gift for the Port Canaveral port where employees can take a bus to Walmart to buy gifts! I thought it was a nice idea.

thanks

Jay

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by CM_Mom
The difference between maid service in a hotel and a stateroom host is that your stateroom host does SO much more. Our stateroom host made the beds in the morning and picked up any clothes that had been left laying around and left them folded neatly on the foot of the bed. We asked for ice at the beginning of our cruise and our small collapsible ice chest was kept supplied with ice without asking again. We were provided with extra hangers and extra pillows. We had towel animals every evening and our beds were turned down and the couch bed made up ready for sleeping. The towels were always fresh in the bathroom and we always got a cheerful Hello when we saw him in the hall. He was also the one responsible for delivering our luggage to our room and picking it up on the last night so we didn't have to worry with it.

Maybe I don't stay in the right hotels, but I've NEVER had that type of service from a maid service in a hotel.

I think the reason so many folks on these boards mention tipping extra is that they pay for the quality of service they receive and it's consistently between above average and fantastic.

I would also guess that while those of us on the DisBoards are usually a generous bunch that there are lots of folks who go on a cruise and never tip at all!

chocolates!!! Don't forget chocolates!!!

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Originally posted by disneyjunkie
I know plenty of Americans with college degrees that do not make $5000+ per month. Why anyone would feel sorry for them is beyond me. I'm sure they work hard and deserve the tips they receive.

Looking forward to our first DCL cruise next year.

Most of the servers on the DCL ships work the equivalent of 2 full time jobs for most Americans. I don't feel sorry for them, but they certainly deserve the tips they work so hard to get. No one is going to stand on his or her feet for 15 or more hours a day for $50 a month.

Marcy

 

[MarcyIn Florida]

Originally posted by disneyri


1. For room service do I tip each time they come and drop off my food. I am in a inside stateroom.

2. For Palo. I have gathered the 20.00 my wife and I will pay to eat at this much more exquisite restaurant. I am expecting to tip an addition maybe 20.00 under the impression it is a 125.00 meal value. Not sure where someone would see 300-350.00 unless wine was included.

1. Yes, you tip every time they bring food to your stateroom, regardless of the type of cabin. You will get different room service servers, so it should be done every time.

2. We tipped $20 for brunch and $40 for dinner. Given the level of service that we received at Palo's -- the best service I have ever received, by the way -- we wanted him to know how much we appreciated him.

 

[jrabbit]

Originally posted by disneyri
Hello all,

since I have had a bit of trouble getting much from this thread I figured I would ask 4 definitive questions.

1. For room service do I tip each time they come and drop off my food. I am in a inside stateroom.

2. For Palo. I have gathered the 20.00 my wife and I will pay to eat at this much more exquisite restaurant. I am expecting to tip an addition maybe 20.00 under the impression it is a 125.00 meal value. Not sure where someone would see 300-350.00 unless wine was included.

3. The 3 bottle of wine deal from DCL. Do we bring these bottles of wine to dinner or can you only buy separate bottles from the dinner menus for either Palo or std restaurants.

4. Lastly the 18% gratuity. That is not something I should expect since my room service is standard...a 10/23 sailor said that they were CAT3 and never saw it anyway?!

Only other note I wanted to make about the walmart cards. Someone said phone cards for kids club. These cards are for possible phone usage but even more a gift for the Port Canaveral port where employees can take a bus to Walmart to buy gifts! I thought it was a nice idea.

thanks

Jay

1) Yes, tip each time Room service delivers food to you. Unless you are order a full meal, a couple of bucks is usually suficient.

2) It USED to be that the per person charge was for tips. Over the past year or so people have reported that it is a "service fee" for using Palo. Regardless, I would plan on tipping the extra $20 (for a total of $40) for your dinner at Palo. You don't have to leave anything extra (other than the base $20) if you don't want to, but after your meal there, you'll feel like it. I've never had dinner at Palo, just brunch and we left an extra $20.

3) You don't actually physically recieve the bottles of wine (unless you ask for them). Your assistant server knows that you have purchased the package and will ask you to choose a bottle from the appropriate list each evening (there are at least 2 levels of wine package you can purchase). If you don't finish a bottle, you can take it with you OR they will recork it and it will be available for you the next evening.

4) Noone really knows what the "18%" gratuity is except for the person that brought it up - and he's not participating in this thread anymore. You just need to worry about tipping a couple of bucks or more depending upon how much you order from room service. The more items you order the more you should tip. If you order a full dinner for 3 people you should expect to tip $10-$12 in addition to any auto gratuity on beverages ordered.

Regarding your last note: there are two types of cards - prepaid phone cards and gift cards. The kids club councilors do appreciate them. You know, if you give them a gift card rather than a phone card, they can purchase a phone card if they want to (but not the other way around).

My last comment is to remember that the recommended gratuities that DCL publishes is a per guest rate. Yes the recomended tips seem high but for all of the meals you eat onboard - they really are not.

 

[din]

Originally posted by disneyri
Hello all,

since I have had a bit of trouble getting much from this thread I figured I would ask 4 definitive questions.

1. For room service do I tip each time they come and drop off my food. I am in a inside stateroom.

2. For Palo. I have gathered the 20.00 my wife and I will pay to eat at this much more exquisite restaurant. I am expecting to tip an addition maybe 20.00 under the impression it is a 125.00 meal value. Not sure where someone would see 300-350.00 unless wine was included.

3. The 3 bottle of wine deal from DCL. Do we bring these bottles of wine to dinner or can you only buy separate bottles from the dinner menus for either Palo or std restaurants.

4. Lastly the 18% gratuity. That is not something I should expect since my room service is standard...a 10/23 sailor said that they were CAT3 and never saw it anyway?!

Only other note I wanted to make about the walmart cards. Someone said phone cards for kids club. These cards are for possible phone usage but even more a gift for the Port Canaveral port where employees can take a bus to Walmart to buy gifts! I thought it was a nice idea.

thanks

Jay

1. Yes it is customary to tip every time room service shows up.

2. I would say you about right for the price with wine included of about $100- $150 for two. Not sure where you live, but that is about the price in a good San Francisco restaurant.

3. We have never bought a wine package, but individuals bottles. They keep the bottles and it shows up the next night at our table. I belive that is the same with package wine. Also wine that we did not finish at Palo was also sent to the dinning room. We have never had any issues with it.

 

[brack]

Originally posted by CheapMom
That made me laugh!
I am a democrat who has a tendancy to overtip!

I laughed too and I'm a Republican who has a tendency to overtip!

 

[logan1_2000]

Not sure if I am the only labor and employment lawyer here with an ivy league degree in industrial and labor relations, but I was fascinated at the international comparative economics and wage survey this thread morphed into. And the great humanitarian with his $9,000 cruise including, if I could decipher his William F. Buckley-speak, $2,000 in on-board spending, gosh I do miss him so. What a...well, you decide for yourself. I think it rhymes with "Bag Off", thats what he is.

Hey, seriously, looks like most of the folks here know, or NOW know, that foreign flagged vessels are not subject to U.S. wage and hour laws (by the way, restaurants in the U.S. are even exempt and can pay a subminimum wage to tipped employees. Didja know that? And these 10 hour per day estimates are so far off it is scary. Spoke with my server on my first DCL cruise, and they work about a year's worth of hours for the average worker in just 6 months, then are off for two months, then can come back on another 6 month contract after that.

Most seem to have gotten the decency message here--dont itemize your damn tipping, and indeed, they are working all other meal shifts--we used to ask where our servers would be the next day before dinner. Take good care of these hard workers. For the best of them, who get to know you such that after a day or two you start showing up and having a favorite drink or appetizer brought to you w/o asking because your server has paid attention, or for example knows that if there is shrimp, you want it, or somehow anticipates...well that is what a high class cruise is all about, and tip money is indeed relatively little (like 10 cents on the dollar for the on-board bar and spa and shutters bill for Mr. High Fallutin' Cat. 3 and his mystery 18% of we dont know what.

Sorry for the typos--its late. And by the way, the commments about Disney not letting Union reps on the ships--that is United States labor law that says Disney does not have to let outsiders onto their premises.

 

[TootyJane]

Originally posted by lrodptl
.... We were in a cat 3 and using room service. An 18% gratuity is included and we tipped on top of that....

I don't understand this statement at all. Having stayed in a Cat. 2 suite on three cruises the only time a gratuity was included was when we ordered alcoholic drinks or soda was ordered with the meal and that gratuity was only 15%.

 

[rwcmath]

Can the tip for room service be put on the room charge? We intend to charge the tips for the cruise, but do we need money for tips for cheese platters and Mickey Bars (never had one!).

rwc

 

[praisehisname]

Originally posted by jbbt
The guideline for tipping the regular dining server alone is $3.75 per person per day according to the Passporter. Now obviously the server won't always have that number of guests and some people will tip above and some people will tip below or not at all. But in the best case scenario the server will be tipped ($3.75 per day x 48 guests x 7 days) $1260.00 per week!!!! Multiply this number times 4 weeks and add the $50 disney wage and you get $5090.00 per month!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure the recommended tip is not per day, it is a total per person for the entire cruise. So if the head server gets $3.75 (for a 4 day) and you have 4 people in your family, you would tip him $15 at the end of your cruise.

Am I the one misunderstanding it? This is how we tipped on our last cruise, did I shortchange our servers?

Denise

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by rwcmath
Can the tip for room service be put on the room charge? We intend to charge the tips for the cruise, but do we need money for tips for cheese platters and Mickey Bars (never had one!).

rwc

The only way you can charge a room service tip is to order a beverage (alcohol or soda) otherwise there is no slip to be signed or to add gratuity to. Even then I am not sure the person delivering it would receive that particular tip, but I could be wrong. Just throw some singles in the drawer near the door and give a couple when you get your delivery and you'll be fine.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by praisehisname
I'm pretty sure the recommended tip is not per day, it is a total per person for the entire cruise. So if the head server gets $3.75 (for a 4 day) and you have 4 people in your family, you would tip him $15 at the end of your cruise.

Am I the one misunderstanding it? This is how we tipped on our last cruise, did I shortchange our servers?

You understood correctly. For the head server, the $3.75 suggested tip guideline is per passenger for the entire 4-night cruise, not per day.

Here's a full list of the suggested tip guidelines:
<blockquote>Per Guest per cruise, 4-Night cruise
Dining Room Server -- 14.75
Dining Room Asst. Server -- 10.75
Dining Room Head Server -- 3.75
Stateroom Host/Hostess -- 14.50
Dining Manager -- Your Discretion
Room Service -- Your Discretion

A 15% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine, and deck service tabs.</blockquote>
For the four main tipped positions, that works out to $43.75 per person, or $175 for a family of 4. As noted throughout this thread, that's how the the servers are paid for the work they do at meals all day, 7 days a week. And a stateroom host does more than a housekeeper at a hotel, and does not receive a normal hourly wage.

By the way, many of us choose to tip more than the suggested guidelines, because of the great service.

You probably won't even know who the Dining Manager is unless you need special favors. Only tip the Dining Manager if the Dining Manager does something special for you.

If you use room service, $2 to $5 in cash per delivery should be about right, depending on the size of your order.

 

[rwcmath]

Thanks, TheWog! We nearly ready!

rwc

 

[TheWog]

Good luck. Have a great time!!!!

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

Originally posted by TheWog
The only way you can charge a room service tip is to order a beverage (alcohol or soda) otherwise there is no slip to be signed or to add gratuity to. Even then I am not sure the person delivering it would receive that particular tip, but I could be wrong. Just throw some singles in the drawer near the door and give a couple when you get your delivery and you'll be fine.

Concerning the auto-gratuity, I was told that those are pooled and split evenly between all the bartenders/servers. If you add anything to an individual bill, that additional tip goes directly to the person who served you. I believe this is the case with the Palo surcharge, as well.

 

[TheWog]

Thanks Lloyd. I knew someone would know for certain.

 

[kcashner]

A comment on the $5K per month.....one server mentioned to us that DCL figures that a server will get about $3000 per month in tips. He consideres anything over that to be a really good month. Of course, there are also times when he doesn't see the 3K. There are people who don't tip at all!!!!!

 

[jgalecpa]

I know I've posted it before, but here goes again.

Here is a nice link to a great tip calculator for many lines.

Click the Disney button, make sure you enter the number of days and people and it will do the rest.

Note the tips are per day per person.

Hope this helps.

http://members.aol.com/CruiseTip/


jim

 

[jbbt]

Originally posted by praisehisname
I'm pretty sure the recommended tip is not per day, it is a total per person for the entire cruise. So if the head server gets $3.75 (for a 4 day) and you have 4 people in your family, you would tip him $15 at the end of your cruise.

Am I the one misunderstanding it? This is how we tipped on our last cruise, did I shortchange our servers?

Denise

Just to clarify, the guideline for "head" server is $3.75 per person for an entire 4 day cruise, but I was speaking about the "regular" or "main" server. It is suggested that they be tipped $3.75 per night or $14.75 per person for a 4 night cruise. For a family of 4 that would be $59.00.