Tips?

[lillygator]

Oh my! I just saw in a thread that the minimum recommended tip amount for a 7 day cruise is about $610!! Is this correct?

For us that is a weekend end trip up to Disney!!!!

Can anyone give me some guidelines....does everyone you deal with need to be tipped?

 

[Jestocost]

That number would be right for about eight people! You can go to the cruise trip calculator here to get the recommended amount for your

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

 

[kcashner]

The recommended tips for a 7 day cruise is $76 per cruising passenger.

 

[lillygator]

Whew~

I was thinking wow - that is high!

So with a young under three child....what would the tips for a week be?
I put in for two adults and no kids....around 152.60. How much should eb added for a child?

Also who else needs to be tipped?

dining room server
assistant server
head server
st room hostess


WOW this cruise will be way more that I thought!

 

[lillygator]

doers anyone ever add any thing other than money to the tips?
ie...phone cards?

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

doers anyone ever add any thing other than money to the tips?
ie...phone cards?

We always get a 12-pack of phone cards at Costco to bring with us and put one in each of the envelopes, in addition to what we would usually tip. We also hand them out to other people on the last night of the cruise, people such as bartenders or Palo wait staff, anyone who's helped make the trip enjoyable for us. We find it's a nice way to say goodbye and thank you.

 

[kcashner]

The tip for the child should be the same as for the adults. Tips are calculated per passenger, NOT per adult. If you think about it, the child probably adds as much work for the servers as an adult, possibly more. If you are talking about a baby who does not eat dining room food, that would be a different matter.

The 4 people that you listed are the standard people who are tipped. You may choose to tip a counsellor in the kid's area or anyone else who renders a special service. A small cash tip is appropriate to the room service people if you use them, and a tip is appropriate if you eat at Palo. A 15% tip is automatically added to any bar drinks that you order.

Phone cards or other small remembrances should be IN ADDITION to the recommended tips, not instead of....

Consider where the serving staff comes from and how they live in their home country. Many are supporting families "back home." True, no one is forcing them to work for DCL, and it is a great thing for their resume...but they work very hard for very long hours for very minimal salary. They work primarily for the tips.

 

[dizmomof2]

The childrens' tip amount is the same as the adults. The children are actually more work and get more attention.

Our servers were so great with the kids. The kept them busy while DH and I were finishing our dinners. The state room host actually took requests from the kids on which towel animal they wanted. The crew definitely earn their tips!

 

[disneyholic family]

my personal preference is to give cash only, no phone cards or anything like that...
but i know there are many people who do give phone cards..

by the way, remember that you also should tip if you use room service....

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

As I said in my earlier post, I give the phone cards in addition to what I'd normally tip, not instead of. It's really just an excuse to find everyone we wanted to thank and to thank them personally. The card is just a nice little extra. I would feel pretty cheesy walking around the ship on the last night handing out $5 bills....

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by lillygator
Oh my! I just saw in a thread that the minimum recommended tip amount for a 7 day cruise is about $610!! Is this correct?

The numbers in the DCL brochure and on the DCL website are the recommended tip amounts -- not the minimum recommended tip amounts.

I think most of us treat DCL's recommended amounts as the minimums. But you should feel just as free to go lower as to go higher, based on the quality of the service you receive. (Considering the excellence of the people who work on the DCL ships, it much more likely that you'll want to adjust up instead of down.)

As others have noted, the amounts are per passenger (regardless of age), per cruise based on the length of cruise -- not per stateroom or per day.

For the four main tipped positions, our preference is to pay against our shipboard account at Guest Services. If you don't wait until the last minute, it's quick and easy. You get two receipts for each tip -- one to keep for your records, and one to put into the envelope. Neither you nor the tip recipient has to bother with cash. It's accurate and secure. If you provided a credit card that gives reward point points, you earn points on the tips.

Remember that for crew members in the four main tipped positions, the tips are essentially their paycheck. They support their families back home. They work 7 days a week, often starting early in the morning.

 

[ivanova]

I was told by a CM that "non-tipped" positions (i.e. kids' counselors) are not supposed to accept cash tips, and if they do (some silly rule that if a guest insists 3 times you then need to accept it) they are supposed to report to Disney all cash that they accept, and their paychecks are "adjusted accordingly" (meaning, an equal amount is deducted from their checks).

With that in mind, we used the calling cards to tip the teen club counselors instead of cash.

 

[webray]

Yes, tip for child is same as adult.

Also..you must tip your server at Palo if you eat there...that is above and beyond the tipping envelopes, as you do it per meal.
You treat the meal like you would in any upscale restaurant and tip accordingly.