Tipping: Reduced when you attend Specialty Restaurants?

[joan_al]

Let's say I'm going on a 7 Day cruise and I go to Chops and Portofino. That means I'm in the main dining room for only 5 days. Does anybody tip for those 5 days, or do you just tip for 7 days?

 

When I go to the specialty resturants I consider that above everything else. We tip for the entire trip plus the extras.

[sas80]

Read this interview:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1059

 

That explains it all!

 

steamboats

 

While the article is interesting, it is also interesting to note that there is no date attached to it. Is it recent? 5 years old? As well, it really only applies to Carnival. We cannot surmise that the situation is the same on RCCL. I have no reason to doubt that RCCL would do it differently but the article is about Carnival. The interviewee says nothing about his situation being the standard of the industry.

[cruiseacecat]

This thread is so sad. Regardless of how many times people are told that the waiters make $50. per month, someone will come along and dispute it.

Please take into consideration that most of these people who provide your service have families at home who DO pay rent, and buy food and clothing and many are sending their children to college so that THEY do not have to earn a living this way.

Those of us who can afford to cruise are very fortunate. It is very petty to begrudge the small requested amounts for tips. Please, put yourself in this position and imagine how you would feel if, after providing good service, you are left with nothing by some.

 

Anne

[lcguy]

You tip for all seven days because the tips are all pooled and will include when your severs are working either the MDR or Windjammer when you eat breakfast and lunch there too. Think of it as tips for a full day's eating, not just dinner.

Amybeth... remember the tourette's thread last week? You were right... it went poof!!! LOL

[sas80]

Go get 'em SAS, you cheapo!!! :D

 

Everybody is such a self proclaimed expert!

 

That post SPELLS IT OUT. It supports some of what people claim and obliterates other aspects of what people claim.

 

What I, personally, don't like about the post is the fact that the MTD servers are forced to pool their tips with the WJ staff. WHY? Why don't the MTD servers get to keep their earned tips like the regular servers do?

 

No matter what, even tho I posted something where the person CALLED RCCL, people are either going to ignore it or find some way of disputing it in favor of their own logic. Everybody has just got to be "right". In this case I'm not interested in being right as I am interested in passing along researched information so that people can learn.

[MAZANDSTEVE]

This thread is so sad. Regardless of how many times people are told that the waiters make $50. per month, someone will come along and dispute it.

Please take into consideration that most of these people who provide your service have families at home who DO pay rent, and buy food and clothing and many are sending their children to college so that THEY do not have to earn a living this way.

Those of us who can afford to cruise are very fortunate. It is very petty to begrudge the small requested amounts for tips. Please, put yourself in this position and imagine how you would feel if, after providing good service, you are left with nothing by some.

 

Anne

 

 

Told by who?? CC members?? they also say they get thousands a month and some say they get nothing but tips.

[sas80]

This thread is so sad. Regardless of how many times people are told that the waiters make $50. per month, someone will come along and dispute it.

Anne

 

Right. And park west sells quality auction pieces at affordable and reasonable prices. You should look into them next time you cruise.

 

Some people just are not inclined to believe the first thing they read. it's a desirable quality of human nature to question someone's logic until you are satisfied (or not) with it.

[andrzej5914]

This thread is so sad. Regardless of how many times people are told that the waiters make $50. per month, someone will come along and dispute it.

Please take into consideration that most of these people who provide your service have families at home who DO pay rent, and buy food and clothing and many are sending their children to college so that THEY do not have to earn a living this way.

Those of us who can afford to cruise are very fortunate. It is very petty to begrudge the small requested amounts for tips. Please, put yourself in this position and imagine how you would feel if, after providing good service, you are left with nothing by some.

 

Anne

 

I don't think anybody is saying that we should not tip. I for one will tip and tip generously, but only for services rendered. I'm not buying into the guilt of not tipping at the MDR when I don't use their services. I will be tipping somewhere else, either the food delivery person that brings my breakfast or lunch to my room or the specialty restaurant server that takes care of us that evening. I don't see a reason to "double" tip that particular day since I have not used the services of any of the regular venues. Also, on a port day, we went down to WJ, grabbed few items to take with us and that was the only time we used any of the regular restaurants on the ship. We were gone the entire day, we had lunch and dinner on land. We got back and we were so tired we decided just to relax on the balcony and then went to sleep. Tell me again, why should we tip anybody on the ship for that particular day?

[sas80]

I don't think anybody is saying that we should not tip. I for one will tip and tip generously, but only for services rendered. I'm not buying into the guilt of not tipping at the MDR when I don't use their services. I will be tipping somewhere else, either the food delivery person that brings my breakfast or lunch to my room or the specialty restaurant server that takes care of us that evening. I don't see a reason to "double" tip that particular day since I have not used the services of any of the regular venues. Also, on a port day, we went down to WJ, grabbed few items to take with us and that was the only time we used any of the regular restaurants on the ship. We were gone the entire day, we had lunch and dinner on land. We got back and we were so tired we decided just to relax on the balcony and then went to sleep. Tell me again, why should we tip anybody on the ship for that particular day?

 

apparently because, if you choose not to, someone's child wont be able to go to college, someone's grandmother will go hungry, and it will be all your fault and you are one heck of a cheap SOB for actually booking a cruise that you can afford (regardless of your real financial situation) and then even considering to not be extra loose with your hard earned money....

 

you did donate a years worth of salary to Haiti, right? Not clothes, not canned good, only MONEY!

 

;););)

[lcguy]

apparently because, if you choose not to, someone's child wont be able to go to college, someone's grandmother will go hungry, and it will be all your fault and you are one heck of a cheap SOB for actually booking a cruise that you can afford (regardless of your real financial situation) and then even considering to not be extra loose with your hard earned money....

 

you did donate a years worth of salary to Haiti, right? Not clothes, not canned good, only MONEY!

 

;););)

Particularly "Sassy" today aren't we? Must be the gloomy, rainy weather? :D

[andrzej5914]

Tell me again, why should we tip anybody on the ship for that particular day?

 

I should have added other than the stateroom attendant. S/he will get the full daily tips, more if they take care of some simple requests...;)

[sas80]

Particularly "Sassy" today aren't we? Must be the gloomy, rainy weather? :D

 

Lol, what weather? All I see are cube walls :D

[Redheada]

If I was working for RCCL this would be a topic that should be addressed. But I assume the crew is making enough money to survive since this apparently is working for them the way they have it set up. With that said, I do dispute that because you cruise you have more money than the people serving you. That is a HUGE assumption that everyone walking on a cruise ship has the money for tips or even a very expensive excursion. I have walked on a cruise with just enough for tips and very little extra.

 

Now times are a little better as I am getting older but I still work my A*(^(*^ off to cruise when I can and I have to save and budget every cent. Do I feel lucky - yes I do - but I also work hard for it just as hard as any other hard worker and it is my priority to travel over a nicer car or whatever. I dont think it is right to GUILT people into tipping more because you assume they have more money or work less. In fact most people I know that cruise WORK WORK WORK in order to even go in the first place. I care about where my dollars go for the most part as I am sure many people do.

 

Again I go back - is it a tip or a service charge? If it is a tip it should be based upon services rendered NOT because the person servicing you is from another country, makes less money, has more mouths to feed, or is sharing with all the rest of the crew, etc. If it is an amount that should be paid regardless of any surrounding circumstances then for sure call it a service charge.

[Mark_K]

This thread is so sad. Regardless of how many times people are told that the waiters make $50. per month, someone will come along and dispute it.

Please take into consideration that most of these people who provide your service have families at home who DO pay rent, and buy food and clothing and many are sending their children to college so that THEY do not have to earn a living this way.

Those of us who can afford to cruise are very fortunate. It is very petty to begrudge the small requested amounts for tips. Please, put yourself in this position and imagine how you would feel if, after providing good service, you are left with nothing by some.

 

Anne

Of course they dispute it, whether it's technically true or not, it's immaterial when looking at their total compensation. Just like it is for tip dependent workers in the US who officially make $2-3.00/hr but actually make many times more than that.

[Mark_K]

While the article is interesting, it is also interesting to note that there is no date attached to it. Is it recent? 5 years old? As well, it really only applies to Carnival. We cannot surmise that the situation is the same on RCCL. I have no reason to doubt that RCCL would do it differently but the article is about Carnival. The interviewee says nothing about his situation being the standard of the industry.

Since they only instituted time cards after he left and the lawsuit regarding overtime pay was settled in 2006, I'd say five years old is as good a guess as any.

[Kailyn]

Then maybe you can explain why in these tough economic times we don't see US citizens filling those positions. If the jobs are so good, even after taxes, it has to be better than being unemployed. You might recall that when NCL America was required to have an all-American crew, they quickly moved for a modification of that requirement because they couldn't retain enough US citizens in those service positions to meet the rule.

 

I tried last year, and the year before that. Applied for jobs with several cruise lines, mostly for jobs in the kids area (Adventure Ocean on RCCL) and guest services (purser's desk). I was almost done with college, loved cruising and travel and have a top-notch resume with school, GPA, and related work experience. I could have gotten more money on land but really wanted to cruise around for a couple of years.

 

Never got a call, e-mail, interview, nada. With any of the 3-5 lines I applied for. They simply do not like to hire US citizens. Sure, these jobs weren't the tip-dependent jobs like waiters and stateroom attendants, but the facts stand. I've met less than 20 Americans working onboard in about 10 cruises, including in high profile or highly paid positions.

[Mark_K]

I'm not stingy nor do I skip on tipping, but why should I tip "double" just because I decided to have breakfast and lunch in my room and thus "tip" automatically on the bill I sign and then tip at a specialty restaurant that evening, when once again I don't have a choice? Why should I also tip the waiter(s) at MDR for that day? They have not done anything for me?

I do it because it's easier and simpler and I figure the wait staff needs that extra buck or two a lot more than I do.

[MrPete]

Let's say I'm going on a 7 Day cruise and I go to Chops and Portofino. That means I'm in the main dining room for only 5 days. Does anybody tip for those 5 days, or do you just tip for 7 days?

 

Being my tip in the MDR per person is less than $2, I would not adjust it.

[andrzej5914]

I do it because it's easier and simpler and I figure the wait staff needs that extra buck or two a lot more than I do.

 

Good for you Mark, but I like to tip for services rendered and I like to tip very generously if the services are fabulous, but I do refuse to tip double just because...

 

We will have to agree to disagree on this issue.

[sas80]

Since they only instituted time cards after he left and the lawsuit regarding overtime pay was settled in 2006, I'd say five years old is as good a guess as any.

 

People on this thread are going to assume that it was written yesterday.

 

Where did all the critical thinkers go? Was there some space ship trip that I missed?

[Mark_K]

Good for you Mark, but I like to tip for services rendered and I like to tip very generously if the services are fabulous, but I do refuse to tip double just because...

 

We will have to agree to disagree on this issue.

Vacationing for me is about relaxing and having fun, not making sure I don't tip someone a dollar I didn't need to.

[rubrrick]

Everybody is such a self proclaimed expert!

 

That post SPELLS IT OUT. It supports some of what people claim and obliterates other aspects of what people claim.

 

What I, personally, don't like about the post is the fact that the MTD servers are forced to pool their tips with the WJ staff. WHY? Why don't the MTD servers get to keep their earned tips like the regular servers do?

 

No matter what, even tho I posted something where the person CALLED RCCL, people are either going to ignore it or find some way of disputing it in favor of their own logic. Everybody has just got to be "right". In this case I'm not interested in being right as I am interested in passing along researched information so that people can learn.

 

I'm not sure that I get your point here. The waiters from the MDR also work in the Windjammer, either for breakfast or lunch, or on sea days, both the Windjammer and MDR, and rotated to the WJ on a per cruise basis.

 

So, pooling MTD to take care of the waiters in the WJ needs to be taken into consideration.

 

That is why I'm for prepaid gratuities. Again it's just my opinion.:)

 

Rick

[sas80]

I'm not sure that I get your point here. The waiters from the MDR also work in the Windjammer, either for breakfast or lunch, or on sea days, both the Windjammer and MDR, and rotated to the WJ on a per cruise basis.

 

So, pooling MTD to take care of the waiters in the WJ needs to be taken into consideration.

 

That is why I'm for prepaid gratuities. Again it's just my opinion.:)

 

Rick

 

yet another self proclaimed expert :rolleyes:

 

and how is it that you are so wise and all knowing about this? (you conveniently forgot to mention that...)

 

How do you know that they don't work washing dishes, doing laundry, in the perfume shop?

[andrzej5914]

Vacationing for me is about relaxing and having fun, not making sure I don't tip someone a dollar I didn't need to.

 

I said I got your point,

 

btw, it's $6.25 per person per day for restaurant services, so for 2 it's $12.50, money that I gave to others that day if I chose to utilize room service or specialty restaurant. It's not just a $1 or 2. Basically I would be tipping $25 on the days I chose to utilize other services. $12.50 of that would go to people that have not provided any service that particular day.

 

Perhaps this is a cruise line issue. Don't charge tips on any extra services and then I would have no problem tipping the MDR waiter the full amount, provided that they did pool their tips together. I just have a hard time understanding why I should "double tip" on days that I chose other services?

 

Why not tip the store clerk even if you never stepped into one of the shops? or spa service people even if you didn't get a massage, etc.etc.

[sas80]

I'm not sure that I get your point here. The waiters from the MDR also work in the Windjammer, either for breakfast or lunch, or on sea days, both the Windjammer and MDR, and rotated to the WJ on a per cruise basis.

 

So, pooling MTD to take care of the waiters in the WJ needs to be taken into consideration.

 

That is why I'm for prepaid gratuities. Again it's just my opinion.:)

 

Rick

 

What's more, if the waiters from the MDR (not counting the MTD waiters) are rotated into the WJ for breakfast and lunch for the duration of the cruise, doesn't that mean that they are, in essence double dipping since they get not only their MDR tips for the week (all to themselves) but they also get to share in the pool that is generated for MTD and WJ staff by the MTD tips for the week.

 

Hardly fair!

 

you sure you really know what you are talking about? or are you expressing your assumptions erroneously as fact?