Confused about Dining Room Staff

[LAC2]

We know who are Waiter and Asst. Waiter are on each cruise (we dine traditional), but who are all the folks in the sports coats at the front desk Head Waiters? :o How do we know who the Maitre 'D is?

 

Lastly, we always leave the autotip on, and then reward, on the last night of the cruise, for the always excellent service from our Stateroom Attendant and Waiter/Asst. Waiter. The question is do we / should we tip the folks at the front desk of dining room?:confused: One evelope for all?:eek: For what exactly?:rolleyes:

 

We've been on several cruises, but have never really known what to do.

 

Thank you for your help.

[StLouisCruisers]

In my opinion, unless the maitre 'D or head waiters have been extra attentive or helpful in changing tables or solving problems for you, there is no need to tip them. Tip the ones doing the actual work, the waiter and jr. waiter.

[uppitycats]

In my opinion, unless the maitre 'D or head waiters have been extra attentive or helpful in changing tables or solving problems for you, there is no need to tip them. Tip the ones doing the actual work, the waiter and jr. waiter.

 

Yes, exactly. I've never yet had any of those "head waiters" or maitre'D do anything special for me, so don't tip any of them anything extra.

[paul929207]

If you do not know who the maitre 'd or head waiter is, there is no need to tip them. I tip them only if they a=have done something special for us.

[sultan_sfo]

Traditional Dining Experiences Only:

 

Princess former Dining Room Hierarchy used to be:

Head Maitre D' (with blazer jacket).

Maitre D' for "each" Dining Room (with blazer jacket) (sometimes referred to as Asst. Maitre D').

Head Waiters for sub-sections of the Dining Room (White Jacket).

 

On our recent cruises we found that the Asst. Maitre D' has been eliminated. So there are more of the White Jacket -- one usually at the entrance that replaced the Asst. Maitre D'. There are still Head Waiters for sections of Dining Room. Some large dining rooms also have a "Supervisor" who works under the Head Waiter. We found that they are sort of being trained to become Head Waiter.

 

Who Do "We" Tip?

 

The Waiter and Asst. Waiter (share in Auto Tip). So only extra cash tips.

 

Head Waiter: All special requests have to be approved / supervised by the Head Waiter -- special diets, etc. In our case, quite often when the Head Waiter notices a lot of wine being ordered at the table, the Head Waiter arranges better wine glasses, arranges extra appetizer items to go with the wine (special breads, vegetable bowls) that is already on the table when we come in. He also comes around and checks that our service is excellent. In that case, we tip the Head Waiter at the end of the cruise.

 

Maitre D' -- if he comes around often and comes to know us we just write the "You Made A Difference" and enclose a nominal tip say $10 or so.

 

 

but who are all the folks in the sports coats at the front desk Head Waiters? :o How do we know who the Maitre 'D is?

...

The question is do we / should we tip the folks at the front desk of dining room?:confused: One evelope for all?:eek: For what exactly?:rolleyes:

 

We've been on several cruises, but have never really known what to do.

 

Thank you for your help.

[cb at sea]

There's no need to tip the Maitre'D, unless he/she's done something REALLY special for you! If you don't know who they are, then they apparently don't need a tip!

The head waiter will probably visit your table....if you feel like it (many lines recommend a small tip to the head waiter) around $10 is sufficient....we've been on cruises where we've never seen either the head waiter or Maitre'D...no tip for them!

For some reason, cruisers seem to think they need to tip everyone they come in contact with...and that's simply not the case. Tip the folks that the cruiseline recommends you tip....that's all you need to do!

[CALMOM]

I consider, myself very generous when it comes to tipping. In addition to the auto-tips, I tip extra to the Waiter, Asst Waiter, Room Steward and every time I receive a drink from the crew. I have never tipped the Matre'd simply because they have never done anything personally for me. I have been very irritated that you never see the Matre'd until the last night and they make sure they greet every passenger (with their hand held out), expecting to receive a tip. The Matre'd is a salary position and I am sure is paid a lot more then my waiter and asst waiter who always make sure my dining experience is excellent. However, if the Matre'd does something personally for me and I am greeted, other then just the final night, I would reconsider.

[sultan_sfo]

I suppose it depends on the Maitre D' and the cruise. On our last 3 cruises, the Maitre D' came to know us personally. There was "never" a hand held out by the Maitre D' for a tip on "any" of our many cruises. So far we have been very lucky with the crew.

 

...

I have been very irritated that you never see the Matre'd until the last night and they make sure they greet every passenger (with their hand held out), expecting to receive a tip.

...

[themerle]

In my opinion, unless the maitre 'D or head waiters have been extra attentive or helpful in changing tables or solving problems for you, there is no need to tip them. Tip the ones doing the actual work, the waiter and jr. waiter.

 

 

That's exactly how we feel. We have tipped the maitre 'D several times at the end of the cruise for making a table change for us.

[fredman]

I have tipped the Maiter D at the end of the cruise if the room is small enough on a 7 day cruise he should have been able to make his rounds to every table at least once and inquire how you are enjoying your dining experience. For that I might tip him $5.00 or maybe $2.00 in an envelope. Might not be a lot of money...but overall I am sure he/she is getting a good tip overall.

 

He is an officer on salary but he is responsible for ensuring that all the junior and Head Waiters are trained properly and performing to expectations. He has to oversee the overall operations of the dining room and coordinates with the galley and Executive Chef.

 

We once had late seating on a B2B cruise on Carnival Freedom, the Maiter D got to know us well and he made sure that we kept our Head Waiter for the second leg as we were originally were to be moved. We really liked the wait staff and head waiter.

[jrzebird]

Like most, I leave the auto tip on, but I also tip my room steward. On my first HAL cruise we had traditional dining, and had a so-so waiter and great assistant. The head waiter was AWESOME and stopped every meal. We did tip each a bit more. On my last HAL cruise I had anytime dining. I never tipped a waiter because they were simply waiting on us, not making us feel special. The maiter d' however was exceptional and made sure we had whatever type seating we wanted and that we waited no more than 10 minutes (and then he apologized profusely). We did tip him at the end. I also give a server $1.00 when I'm at a show and get a drink delivered. Personally, I don't make a big deal of tipping. I'm on a pampering vacation and if someone goes out of their way (not all do) to make it special, it's my way of saying thanks.

[ONT-CA]

When the dinning room is clicking like a clock you have the Maitre d' to thank. You may think he is not in attendance but let me assure you that he is and the fact that you had a great evening of dinning was because he oversaw the conditions that made it so. Part of our cruse enjoyment is to watch the various techniques of staff in the room. There are several styles of management each Maitre d' can choose from and we have witnessed at least three.

 

We have had the pleasure of dinning with a Maitre d' at very late open seating. But the interruptions from staff and by pager, sometimes having to leave the table to attend to something, made us understand just how important his position is even though it occurs mostly behind the scenes. Knowing this we have always tipped the Maitre d'.

[hansi]

I consider, myself very generous when it comes to tipping. In addition to the auto-tips, I tip extra to the Waiter, Asst Waiter, Room Steward and every time I receive a drink from the crew. I have never tipped the Matre'd simply because they have never done anything personally for me. I have been very irritated that you never see the Matre'd until the last night and they make sure they greet every passenger (with their hand held out), expecting to receive a tip. The Matre'd is a salary position and I am sure is paid a lot more then my waiter and asst waiter who always make sure my dining experience is excellent. However, if the Matre'd does something personally for me and I am greeted, other then just the final night, I would reconsider.

 

But you are already paying 15% extra when buying a drink anyway!

[LAC2]

Traditional Dining Experiences Only:

 

Princess former Dining Room Hierarchy used to be:

Head Maitre D' (with blazer jacket).

Maitre D' for "each" Dining Room (with blazer jacket) (sometimes referred to as Asst. Maitre D').

Head Waiters for sub-sections of the Dining Room (White Jacket).

 

On our recent cruises we found that the Asst. Maitre D' has been eliminated. So there are more of the White Jacket -- one usually at the entrance that replaced the Asst. Maitre D'. There are still Head Waiters for sections of Dining Room. Some large dining rooms also have a "Supervisor" who works under the Head Waiter. We found that they are sort of being trained to become Head Waiter.

 

Who Do "We" Tip?

 

The Waiter and Asst. Waiter (share in Auto Tip). So only extra cash tips.

 

Head Waiter: All special requests have to be approved / supervised by the Head Waiter -- special diets, etc. In our case, quite often when the Head Waiter notices a lot of wine being ordered at the table, the Head Waiter arranges better wine glasses, arranges extra appetizer items to go with the wine (special breads, vegetable bowls) that is already on the table when we come in. He also comes around and checks that our service is excellent. In that case, we tip the Head Waiter at the end of the cruise.

 

Maitre D' -- if he comes around often and comes to know us we just write the "You Made A Difference" and enclose a nominal tip say $10 or so.

Thank you so much. The heirarchy is some what confusing, but your explanation helps a lot. We are better informed now and won't feel so uneducated on our next cruise this Nov. on the Emerald Princess.

[ccrain]

We've never tipped the Matre De, and have gotten to know a few quite well, but we have tipped Head Waiters and we almost always tip our waiter and asst waiter extra - we seem to always be able to find a pair that we just have a blast with. We even tipped a waitress in the Horizon Court one cruise because she was such a joy to have breakfast with.

 

The two Head Waiters we have tipped are Mario Renaudo, on our Golden cruise to Hawaii in September 2009, and Albuquerque on our Star cruises in 2007 and Dawn in 2005. Both made the trip extra special with unique and different dishes from the kitchen, extra special service and great dinner conversation - like a Chef's table every night. In fact we still email Mario, who is on the Dawn right now, frequently to catch up and try and plan when we can cruise together again - love his anti-pasta and bruschetta - yuummmmm.

 

Extra tips were not expected, but certainly well received, but quite frankly, most of them got a bigger kick out of our shopping for them and bringing them back some goodies from shore. One waitress on the Island in Alaska just went ga-ga over some divinity fudge we brought her back from Juneau. Mario really enjoyed his chocolate covered macadamea nuts on Oahu, and Judy handed out macadamea nut kisses to all the guys.

 

We also make it a point to get to know the Matre De and the head waiters by name. Most of them make it a point to know us by our name and we just feel we should do the same. That way when we find someone doing an extra special job, we can point them out by name.

 

We like interacting with the staff. We love to people watch during dinner. For us it only enhances the cruise experience. From our very first cruise when we were introduced to cruise dinner service (not your typical 'here's the menu, here's the food, here's the bill' style american service) we've been hooked every since.

 

The bottom line, you don't have to tip the matre de or Head Waiter. If they specifically made your cruise something extra special, then consider it, but its not expected.

[compozer]

One of the head waiters put us (2) at a table for four by the window (we asked) and said it was ours for the two weeks - anytime dining. And comes to our table and talks at least once in the evening. The other has brought us 2 to 3 different appetizers (not on the menu) every night and comes to the table after every course to see how it was. He also comes over to our table right away (with a plate of something) and gives us his recommendations for dinner. The Maitre d' also stops everynight and one night even joined us for a glass of wine. He calls us by name.

They are spoiling us and we wonder if it is because we are in a suite or what?