Extra tipping for dining staff

[worldsbestcandles]

Thanks WBC, we tip in the US & Caribbean at 10/15 % irrespective of the service given, we are too lily livered to not do so!! But we know the value of the meal we have had there & base it on that. I just find it fascinating that the tipping culture on cruise ships seems to replace a decent wage structure, make no mistake we do tip but don't really know why, particularly the room steward who we seldom even see.

 

Well I agree with you there. For some reason it is acceptable in the US and on cruise ships to pay less than minimum wage and have the salary based on tips. I have no idea how it started but I know its what we've got LOL.

 

Do you tip in hotels in the US or abroad? That is something else we do when traveling. I always grew up with $1/person/day for housekeeping at a hotel. In that respect, the housekeepers in a hotel would make $14 off of us for a week, but they also have a fixed 8 hour shift and are only available during set times. The room steward is working by 6am when the early risers get breakfast and has to wait around until after the late risers go to breakfast too. They then get a rest in between and are back working from 5:30pm until at least 10-10:30 spread over the dinner crowd, so they work long hours with odd gaps and leave notes, fill the ice buckets (which hotels don't typically do) plus an odd towel animal or whatnot depending on the cruiseline. So they really do more than a typical housekeeper in a hotel so we do tip more if we they made an effort to be friendly and were helpful if we had any problems.

 

Obviously, these are just my thoughts.... but at least you know where I'm coming from. Cheers! :D

[Johnthed0g]

$10

 

I am a fairly particular person. My wife and I gave our headwaiter a card with our specifications at the start of a 5 night cruise with $20. If the service wasn't good from that point forward we were going to remove our auto-tips. The service we received was absolutely amazing, both he and the assistant took very good care of us. At the end of the cruise, I gave both of them a thank you card. An additional $20 to the headwaiter and $10 to the assistant. This was on another cruise line, but that is how I view tipping. Pre-tip so that the team knows that I have some expectations, flexibility to yank the auto-tip if needed, and a end of cruise tip to recognize excellence. On that cruise, I also gave the bar waiter a thank you card and $5. He had been receiving the 15% of the drinks I had been ordering, but again this was recognition for great service.

Do you find you get a lot of saliva in your food??

[Johnthed0g]

WBC....we go by the $US 1 /Day option for houskeeping, I actually asked elsewhere if anyone would tip a housemaid anything like £50 in a hotel.. 90% said they didn't, 10% lied about it!!

[mardon]

You know JohnthedOg - I think you are a dog. You don't see the room steward so you don't know why you should tip him???? Who cleans your room, who makes up your bed?

Ugh! How long do you want the room steward to stay in your room? And Wunderlust -

I am sure that you would have gotten the same GREAT service even if you didn't pretip.

That is an insult to the crew. We have cruised MANY times and have made so many friends with the crew, many of whom we email to. "Pre-tip so that the team knows that I have some expectations, flexibility to yank the auto-tip if needed." You can't beat the service you get on Celebrity.

 

I have to leave this post right now because I can't believe what I am reading. If you are going to be stingy about the tipping, STAY HOME! Always looking to stiff the crew!

[Johnthed0g]

Mardon...

I have not said anywhere that I do not tip, I have said that I wonder why it has become custom & practice to make the passengers make up the wages. As far as the room steward goes people say we should tip for good or exceptional service, if all he does is his basic job I still tip but I don't know what for, other than it's expected & he relies apon it. I am trying to get an idea of the cultural differences between the US & UK on the subject. No need to be unpleasant.

[glenneagle]

We were 3 couples on Solstice last week.Our waiter and Assistant were superb.We auto tipped and gave the waiter an exrta $150 and Aw $100.

[Johnthed0g]

We were 3 couples on Solstice last week.Our waiter and Assistant were superb.We auto tipped and gave the waiter an exrta $150 and Aw $100.

Thats the sort of input I am looking for, how long was the cruise?was that amount between the 6 of you? what made his service so good?

[mardon]

The pre-paid/auto tips ARE NOT pooled.

[glenneagle]

We were on a 7 night.Yes between all of us.

[Johnthed0g]

We were on a 7 night.Yes between all of us.

Thanks & what was so special about his service/attitude? This is another world from P&O, we gave our waiter team £60 from my wife & I total for 18 nights!! what about wine waiter/sommelier?

[Lsimon]

I know that the American system of compensation through gratuities is foreign to many people from Europe and other parts of the world. That should not be surprising since you are sailing on a foreign based ship.

 

I wish that the compensation of the service staff wasn't so heavily dependant on gratuities and that instead they received a "fair salary" as similar positions do in your country. Unfortunately this is not the case. For those of you who would consider having the gratuities removed: the failure of you to recognise this very different system and shortchange these people for their hard work is very unfair.

 

I once met up with some Americans in a European port for dinner. They were extremely rude and mean to the staff at the restaurant. The things that angered them were standard activity in many European restaurants, like charging for bread among other things. They were even upset about communication problems when they themselves were the issue because they didn't speak the local language and therefore should have been more accommodating to the staff. Their behavior was quite embarrassing to us. My point is that there are people from all over that fail to understand the customs and practices of the foreign places they visit. We all need to be more understanding and do what is appropriate for the places we travel to.

 

This is a similar issue on gratuities. The amounts are not large and Celebrity is making it easier for all with the prepay and/or auto pay procedures. It is unfortunate that this is even called a gratuity rather than a service charge but get over it and accept the difference.

 

For those that don't worry about the base amounts of the gratuities your attitude is great and I'm glad you share my feelings.

 

For those, like the original poster, who were curious about "additional gratuities": This are a very personal decision and it depends on your own feelings and financial position. If you don't feel the need to provide extra then don't. However, if you feel as we do, that exceptional service deserves a little extra compensation then do whatever you feel is right. Personally, we almost always tip extra as it rare that we don't receive exceptional service on Celebrity. We often give these staff between 50% and 100% of the base amount of the tip and when service has really been something special we have been known to give more than that. We spend a lot on a cruise and the the few extra dollars that we give for the special service means a whole lot more to the staff than it does to us.

[Lsimon]

... what about wine waiter/sommelier?

 

The wine and liquor servers all receive 15% automatically added to all charges. Like other servers we will tip extra if service is very special. For those we see infrequently we'll add a few dollars onto the individual bills. For those that serve us daily we give them something more substantial at the end of the cruise.

 

 

Let me also add that we also make an effort to make sure the staff knows how much we appreciate their great service. We do this through being friendly with them, thanking them verbally, telling them know how much we appreciate the great service, complimenting them to their superiors and writing comments on our evaluations and notes left at the front desk. These actions are probably at least as appreciated as the cash tips we give them.

[Johnthed0g]

LSimon ...I agree about the recommendations, they do get taken notice of. Interacting too is important, but some people you just seldom see, our last cabin guy was never about, didn't even thank us for the tip, not that it was necessary but would be polite. Tipping has to be right, too much is ..well too much, & too little is an embarrassment all round, this is what we never know when there is no bill to give a percentage of. Wine waiter on our last P&O cruise we though we were generous by slipping her £10 others gave nothing as she got the %, I wonder now if it was too little.....

[Lsimon]

LSimon ...I agree about the recommendations, they do get taken notice of. Interacting too is important, but some people you just seldom see, our last cabin guy was never about, didn't even thank us for the tip, not that it was necessary but would be polite. Tipping has to be right, too much is ..well too much, & too little is an embarrassment all round, this is what we never know when there is no bill to give a percentage of. Wine waiter on our last P&O cruise we though we were generous by slipping her £10 others gave nothing as she got the %, I wonder now if it was too little.....

 

I think the staff is appreciative of the just recommended amounts and very appreciative of anything additional. As I've said, anything over and above the recommended amounts is a personal decision and once made shouldn't be worried about. As far as I'm concerned the only ones that should feel badly are those that stiff them out of the basic gratuity - that is unless there was something very wrong about the service they received.

[wanderlust402]

Well I agree with you there. For some reason it is acceptable in the US and on cruise ships to pay less than minimum wage and have the salary based on tips. I have no idea how it started but I know its what we've got.

 

Keep in mind that US labor law does not apply at sea. There is no "minimum wage." We took a behind the scenes tour on another line recently and they mentioned that international maritime law limits work to 70 hours per week. I asked about a minimum wage and the guide/PR person fed me a line about how the crew members wouldn't agree to work unless they were being paid well based on what they could get in their home country.

 

Yep. Floating sweat-shops. But at least they are making more than they would have in their third-world country. Enjoy your cruise. Again, I never feel bad tipping well when I receive good service. If the service is bad, I would first escalate the issue to management and if not resolved, I would have no problem with removing the auto-tip.

[sandancer]

Just off the Equinox and had an enlightening conversation with some of the waiters about tipping. We always prepay our tips and asked them if they are told who has done this. The answer was yes but many people ask to have the tips removed and say they will tip in cash. Then they don't go to the dining room on the last night. The other trick was to give the waiter an envelope with perhaps half of the recommended tip and say that it is in addition to the auto tip when in fact they have removed them. This really shocked us. They said this happened with US guests as well as Europeans. One thing I must add is that, in my ignorance, I thought perhaps that if the staff knew they would get the tips anyway (if pre-paid) they would not make so much effort to give good service and I have found this to be totally incorrect. If anything, because they know you have ensured they get the tips, they try even harder to please you.

[worldsbestcandles]

[quote name='wanderlust402']Keep in mind that US labor law does not apply at sea. There is no "minimum wage." We took a behind the scenes tour on another line recently and they mentioned that international maritime law limits work to 70 hours per week. I asked about a minimum wage and the guide/PR person fed me a line about how the crew members wouldn't agree to work unless they were being paid well [I]based on what they could get in their home country[/I].

Yep. Floating sweat-shops. But at least they are making more than they would have in their third-world country. Enjoy your cruise. Again, I never feel bad tipping well when I receive good service. If the service is bad, I would first escalate the issue to management and if not resolved, I would have no problem with removing the auto-tip.[/quote]

I realize that they have different laws governing them, but I don't understand why it became that way in the States for restaurants either. I much prefer the European way of paying decent money and then tipping is for really special service.

The waiters I know in Europe make a good enough amount of money that they can work in restaurants their whole lives and make a career out of it. They have passion and (at least the ones I know) love what they do. Food is such an important part of the European life it is just amazing to me the difference. And yes, I know there are those in the States who work in restaurants their whole lives but seeing the differences in my friends is amazing.

[salbags]

I have just booked a trip on the Equinox for my parents and am really at odds with this tipping. When I booked the trip, I was told that if they wanted the open dining option then there would be an obligatory gratuity, but if they went for the set dining option then there would not be.
So my question is:
If they go for the set dinning and don't do prepaid is there a set obligatory rate put on your bill automatically when you get onboard and then you also have the optional extra tipping.
Or if the pre pay with open dinning is there still obligatory tipping or just optional and to whom.
Sorry to sound a novice on this, but have never cruised so have not a clue and have also heard that the obligatory gratuity has only just come in this January 2010. All advice most welcome.
Many thanks

[Johnthed0g]

The way I read it is this... A) pre-pay, B) auto -tip charged to your onboard account C) ask for auto-tip to be removed & tip in cash. We opted to auto-tip,just easier but as we have read it seems that it is expected that we pay more on top. If you opt to do select/freedom/anytime dining as you have no regular server they insist on pre-pay. All tips are in theory optional at your discretion but in fact are more or less obligatory.

[BananaAnna]

[quote name='salbags']I have just booked a trip on the Equinox for my parents and am really at odds with this tipping. When I booked the trip, I was told that if they wanted the open dining option then there would be an obligatory gratuity, but if they went for the set dining option then there would not be.
So my question is:
If they go for the set dinning and don't do prepaid is there a set obligatory rate put on your bill automatically when you get onboard and then you also have the optional extra tipping. [COLOR=red][I]Yes. More like 'recommended' or 'automatic' than 'obligatory'. It posts daily and you have the option to remove or decrease it.[/I][/COLOR]
Or if the pre pay with open dinning is there still obligatory tipping or just optional and to whom. [COLOR=red][I]Prepay with open dining covers the 'recommended' amount.[/I][/COLOR]
Sorry to sound a novice on this, but have never cruised so have not a clue and have also heard that the obligatory gratuity has only just come in this January 2010. All advice most welcome.
Many thanks[/quote]

[COLOR=red]Personally, I prefer to leave the 'recommended' amounts in place and prepay them. Near end or at end of cruise I usually will tip cabin steward/assistant cabin steward; waiter/assistant waiter, etc. an additional $15-$30 each depending on how I felt service was overall. It just gives me a moment to shake their hand, look them in the eye and thank them individually for making our vacation extra special.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#ff0000][/COLOR]

[Johnthed0g]

Can someone explain why they "pre-pay" is there some sort of advantage in this?

[Lsimon]

[quote name='Johnthed0g']Can someone explain why they "pre-pay" is there some sort of advantage in this?[/quote]

Pre-pay means it is added on your cruise bill when you make the final payment. Personally I see no advantage to this.

Only reason I can imagine why anyone would want this is that some people prefer to get expenses out of the way before their cruise so their shipboard account won't be large.

[BonnieVA]

[quote name='Johnthed0g']We opted to auto-tip,just easier but as we have read it seems that it is expected that we pay more on top.[/quote]

No! Paying more "on top" is NOT expected. It is solely done by those who feel a crew member went above & beyond their duty. And some pax probably do it out of kindness. But is is NOT expected. I would say that MOST pax do NOT tip anything extra.

[BonnieVA]

[quote name='Johnthed0g']Can someone explain why they "pre-pay" is there some sort of advantage in this?[/quote]

I see no advantage to this whatsoever. I'm sure Lsimon has it right in some pax's reasoning but I would just put the money in my own account & pay the bill later.

[UK Cruiser]

There may be an advantage in pre-paying gratuities if you are paying for the cruise in a currency other than US Dollars and the prevailing exchange rate is favourable.