tips....not the average question

[ahain]

Just a thought...it is true that some people skimp on tips (or don't tip at all), but based on many of the discussions here on the DIS, it sounds like alot of people tip extra as well!

 

[Tinknalli]

If you have time off to enjoy these.

True!

 

[disneywonderfun]

Correct on the to seatings. I made that correction. You may be correct on the number of hours they sometimes work as well. I used the figure from the DCL website that says 70-84 hours.

I think your analysis is fairly accurate based on what CM's have told us. Our stateroom hostess on our last cruise, for example, had 12 rooms with a total of 36 people. If everybody tipped the suggested amount, the weekly tip amount would be a touch over $1,000. I have heard that generally up to a third do not tip at all on some cruise lines. If that is the case, the weekly tip goes down to around $700. Again, from some areas of the world, that is still a very large level of compensation for the hours worked. We generally tip at least the suggested amount when we are in regular staterooms, but do not feel guilty that the suggested amount is too low.

DWF

 

[jenf22]

If everybody tips, perhaps. No real expenses? They have a home some place with expenses.

With tips being automatic, I think most people pay the standard tip. If you believe the people on these boards, several people leave hundreds extra. I would love to see stats on how many people take off the tip. We always tip the standard and add extra for the servers who go above and beyond. We've never lowered a tip.

We've had multiple servers who were single. Not everyone is supporting a family back home. The presence of a family should not equal more pay. I pay for good service - not good service based on the amount of bills my server has.

I just think these people are doing considerably better than the folks on this board make it sound. We've heard stories of midnight movie showings for the crew with everyone up all night partying. We've been on multiple excursions with members of the crew because Disney rewarded them with the excursion. Every server we've ever had has spoken highly of their job. I'm sure it's super hard, but in their minds it's totally worth it.

 

[Tinknalli]

I bet fewer people tip extra now that tips are automatic. I would dare say that before tips were charged to the account lots of people rounded up when tipping cash.

 

[Ravenne]

Just a thought...it is true that some people skimp on tips (or don't tip at all), but based on many of the discussions here on the DIS, it sounds like alot of people tip extra as well!

I'm not even sure how people skimp on tips. DCL auto charges tips to your OBB. Do people physically go to guest services to have the tip charge removed from their accounts? Can you even do that?

 

[JohnDS]

I'm not even sure how people skimp on tips. DCL auto charges tips to your OBB. Do people physically go to guest services to have the tip charge removed from their accounts? Can you even do that?

Of course.

 

[tinkerone]

I bet fewer people tip extra now that tips are automatic. I would dare say that before tips were charged to the account lots of people rounded up when tipping cash.

not sure this is true. we have always tipped extra adding cash to the slips in the envelope. there is nothing stopping you from tipping extra with the automatic tipping, i think people were just so annoyed at this that they said they would not tip extra.
theres not much difference imo.

 

[disney1990]

With tips being automatic, I think most people pay the standard tip. If you believe the people on these boards, several people leave hundreds extra. I would love to see stats on how many people take off the tip. We always tip the standard and add extra for the servers who go above and beyond. We've never lowered a tip.

We've had multiple servers who were single. Not everyone is supporting a family back home. The presence of a family should not equal more pay. I pay for good service - not good service based on the amount of bills my server has.

I just think these people are doing considerably better than the folks on this board make it sound. We've heard stories of midnight movie showings for the crew with everyone up all night partying. We've been on multiple excursions with members of the crew because Disney rewarded them with the excursion. Every server we've ever had has spoken highly of their job. I'm sure it's super hard, but in their minds it's totally worth it.

Nobody said anything about tipping according to how many people they were supporting back home - don't know where that came from. I was talking about their personal expenses (because somebody said they have no expenses).

Just a thought...it is true that some people skimp on tips (or don't tip at all), but based on many of the discussions here on the DIS, it sounds like alot of people tip extra as well!

Yes, it does sound like a lot of people here on the DIS board tip well, but percentage of cruisers do you think are on the DIS board? 1%, 5%. I personally know of people that have tipped far below the recommended tips. And yes, people do remove tips as well.

 

[tinkerone]

I'm not even sure how people skimp on tips. DCL auto charges tips to your OBB. Do people physically go to guest services to have the tip charge removed from their accounts? Can you even do that?

sad but true. i would die of embarrassment, things would have had to go waaaayyyy south, before i would go to guest services and take the tips off my account but some do.

 

[Disney Canadian]

I'm not even sure how people skimp on tips. DCL auto charges tips to your OBB. Do people physically go to guest services to have the tip charge removed from their accounts? Can you even do that?

Yes, you go to guest services and have them removed. We removed ours for our Head Server. He was very shmoozy and a "used car salesman" type. That put us off right away. Then, as my DH took DD to the club check in during late seating, he came over and had a 5 minute conversation with our table mates in his/their native tongue. This was very uncomfortable and awkward for me as I had no idea what they were talking about and it was just all out rude, imo. Isn't it their job to make you feel welcome and comfortable?

We were very happy with the rest of our service team and they were compensated for their hard work.

 

[ahain]

sad but true. i would die of embarrassment, things would have had to go waaaayyyy south, before i would go to guest services and take the tips off my account but some do.

I agree. I know that there are also people in the "I spent plenty of money on this trip and Disney should pay their workers a fair wage..." camp. When I used to work as a waitress, about once or twice a week someone would leave a note (instead of a tip) stating that they were sorry but they were philosophically opposed to tipping. (It always struck me a funny that these people would wait until you weren't looking, toss the note on the table and BOLT) I'm sure these people go on cruises too and are likely REALLY appalled by the idea of automatic tips.

 

[Ravenne]

sad but true. i would die of embarrassment, things would have had to go waaaayyyy south, before i would go to guest services and take the tips off my account but some do.

Ah ok, I agree with you on that one.

So on the off chance that you do have to remove tips and you've pre-paid tips, do they credit your OBB?

 

[disprincess4ever]

Though the DCL employees work hard for not a ton of money, do you see them complaining? I'm sure DCL has a very low employee turnover rate, as we all know servers who have been there a long time.
Though the wages projected here are low, DCL offers one of the best employee experiences; compared to other cruise lines. Automatic tipping leads to less people not giving a tip. DCL tries to rewards it's employees and make them feel special. They have movie nights, parties, a bar, their own beach on Castaway Cay, they can go on excursions, etc. Sure there may be little time for this, but it's the thought that counts.
On our last cruise, our server told us DCL got a bus for a select amount of cast members and took them to Pompeii for the day as a free reward! I thought that was a nice jester.
Another DCL benefit is there contracts are relatively short compared to other cruise lines. I watched a documentary that said Norwegian servers had 9 month contracts while DCL is 4-6 months.

I think what really keeps the crew members coming back though is not the money, but the positive Disney environment and that they can interact with guests and make them happy.

 

[tinkerone]

Though the DCL employees work hard for not a ton of money, do you see them complaining? I'm sure DCL has a very low employee turnover rate, as we all know servers who have been there a long time.
Though the wages projected here are low, DCL offers one of the best employee experiences; compared to other cruise lines. Automatic tipping leads to less people not giving a tip. DCL tries to rewards it's employees and make them feel special. They have movie nights, parties, a bar, their own beach on Castaway Cay, they can go on excursions, etc. Sure there may be little time for this, but it's the thought that counts.
On our last cruise, our server told us DCL got a bus for a select amount of cast members and took them to Pompeii for the day as a free reward! I thought that was a nice jester.
Another DCL benefit is there contracts are relatively short compared to other cruise lines. I watched a documentary that said Norwegian servers had 9 month contracts while DCL is 4-6 months.

I think what really keeps the crew members coming back though is not the money, but the positive Disney environment and that they can interact with guests and make them happy.

you are so right on the mark.

I hired a person, who has become a close friend, largely on the fact that he worked on DCL. If you can put that on your resume most employers would know that you are more than qualified in customer service.
so yes, disney has good benefits but i think the one that no one thinks of is the benefit of being able to say 'I was a disney employee'. that alone will open lots of doors.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Though the DCL employees work hard for not a ton of money, do you see them complaining? I'm sure DCL has a very low employee turnover rate, as we all know servers who have been there a long time.
Though the wages projected here are low, DCL offers one of the best employee experiences; compared to other cruise lines. Automatic tipping leads to less people not giving a tip. DCL tries to rewards it's employees and make them feel special. They have movie nights, parties, a bar, their own beach on Castaway Cay, they can go on excursions, etc. Sure there may be little time for this, but it's the thought that counts.
On our last cruise, our server told us DCL got a bus for a select amount of cast members and took them to Pompeii for the day as a free reward! I thought that was a nice jester.
Another DCL benefit is there contracts are relatively short compared to other cruise lines. I watched a documentary that said Norwegian servers had 9 month contracts while DCL is 4-6 months.

I think what really keeps the crew members coming back though is not the money, but the positive Disney environment and that they can interact with guests and make them happy.

While I don't diagree with your post I would find it extremely unprofessional to hear a CM complaining, especially within earshot of a passenger. I work in a hospital and wouldn't dare complain, whine , gripe, vent, whatever where a patient or family member could hear. We have a private lounge where we can shut the door and let it all out. I find it annoying even in places such as Best Buy, etc. i'm sure the CMs let it all out when they get to the crew bar.

 

[chateau]

percentage of cruisers do you think are on the DIS board? 1%, 5%.

This makes me wonder how I found the DIS in the first place..don't remember!

 

[dolphingirl47]

It is actually not that easy to have a tip removed from your account. On the LA to Vancouver Respositioning Cruise, we voiced a concern to our head server the first evening and he made some snide remarks and laughed at us. We have never not tipped and often add some extra, but there was no way this guy was going to get a tip of us.

We raised the issue with the Food and Beverage Manager that evening when he came to see us to see everything was OK and he had us moved to a different section because of the original concern, but this was still in the same section that the head server was in.

So I went to guest services and asked who our head server was and they confirmed it was the same guy. So I asked them to remove the tip and explained why. They told me that they could not do it and to come back once the tip receipts had been issued and they would then refund me.

In the end it was not necessary. On that first night, the Food and Beverage Manager sent the Maitre D' over to assist us with sorting out our issue and move us to another table and he looked after us all week. He came by every evening to see how we were and to have a chat. We had agreed that we would tip him instead as he was absolutely amazing and made our cruise magical. In the end this was taken care off automatically as it was his name on the tip receipt and not the name of the original head server.

I have to admit if I had not been so angry about the behaviour of the original head server, I would not even have considered going back once the tip receipts were issued.

Corinna

 

[holula]

We removed the tip in 2012 for our server on the Dream. He was AWFUL. We had Togo to guests services after the tip receipts were issued. Then they had to take our cabin number and the reason why we were changing our tip and we had to sign it. I don't know if the procedure has changed but I can't imagine wanting to do it every cruise!! It was a hassle.

 

[JohnDS]

We removed the tip in 2012 for our server on the Dream. He was AWFUL. We had Togo to guests services after the tip receipts were issued. Then they had to take our cabin number and the reason why we were changing our tip and we had to sign it. I don't know if the procedure has changed but I can't imagine wanting to do it every cruise!! It was a hassle.

Odd, others have reported they removed all automatic tips with no questions asked.