Pre paid gratuities newbie question

[marie1971]

I am a little confused regarding tipping we are down for mtd and have pre paid our gratuities. But we are taking this cruise to get away from everything and chill out so plan on room sevice most days apart from one booking at chops. Are our pre paid tips covered for everything like room service, concierge, kids club or does it just cover the main dining room experience?

[Stags14]

I am a little confused regarding tipping we are down for mtd and have pre paid our gratuities. But we are taking this cruise to get away from everything and chill out so plan on room sevice most days apart from one booking at chops. Are our pre paid tips covered for everything like room service, concierge, kids club or does it just cover the main dining room experience?

 

It does not cover everything. It covers the main dining room staff and your room steward/houskeeping staff. Room service, kids club and concierge are seperate.

 

You'll tip room service per trip, it's the only one you won't hand money to at the end. The rest, you'll get coupons to give for prepaid, and the concierge/kids club you will need to tip accordingly with cash. Depending how much you use them.

[JohninDC]

Bring a stack of $1 bills and tip the room service people a couple of dollars (more for a big complicated order) per delivery. Good luck! :)

[sparky-elpaso]

You actually don't need to hand out the little envelopes - the crew gets the pre-paid amount in their pay checks. But if the service has been really good you can always put a little extra cash in them.

[cb at sea]

Your tips are also covering those who serve you throughout the day, for breakfast, lunch, snacks, etc....in the other eating venues.

 

No tipping is required for the kids club. The fee you pay for Chops includes the tip.

[marie1971]

Thanks for the information everyone, that makes it alot clearer.

[Langley Cruisers]

...But we are taking this cruise to get away from everything and chill out so plan on room sevice most days apart from one booking at chops...

 

Marie, I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing cruise. Having said that, would you mind a suggestion? You mentioned room service for most meals. Personally, I would love to encourage you to go to the Windjammer for dinner instead of having room service. In the evening, the WJ is a calmer, quieter place with less commotion and activity. It is absolutely wonderful to go there at night and take dinner at your leisure. On our recent Med cruise, we had signed up for MTD and pre-paid our gratuities, yet ended up in the WJ every single night for dinner, it was that amazing.

 

Room service may seem like a nice quiet way to go, but speaking from experience, it can get old, quickly. You can definitely have that relaxing vacation and still take your meals in the venues onboard.

 

Since you have pre-paid, you don't have to worry about a thing; all the crew who will be taking care of you and who are included in the pre-paid gratuities will know you've pre-paid and will receive your tips, not to worry.

 

Have fun. :)

[Tetra]

I'm sure other ships differ, but I found the room service menu on the Monarch to be very, very limited. I would have used it for a snack, but not for main meals, over several days.

 

I'll agree that the WJ is a fine, relaxing choice for dinner. The lights were low, I found a table a little bit removed from the buffet area....very pleasant, low-key dinner.

 

Even the MDR was fine. It's wasn't stuffy, and you don't have to be all dressed up except on formal nights. Just a pleasant meal with great food and superb service. I can't imagine a better way to chill out than to have people waiting on you and bringing you terrific food. :)

[Dinkachu]

Disabilities often keep my in my cabin in the evenings and I have ordered off of the main dining room menu during supper hours on four ships: Grandeur, Mariner, Freedom and Radiance. They post the dining room menu on TV. The food comes hot and fresh from the dining room and they will honor special requests (rice instead of potato, extra veggies, two desserts etc.). I usually tip them according to the size of the meal and if someone dines with me we double the tip. Windjammer is fine at night, but if you want to eat in the room don't limit yourself to the small room service menu in the evenings.

[marie1971]

Thanks for the great advice, will definitely give the windjammer a go in the evening. We are lucky enough to be staying in a two bed suite, 4 of us, so I believe we can order anything from the mdr menu?

[ehfl]

Prepaid tips are for the main dining room. Obviously, if you order room service, you should tip accordingly for the extra service.

[hmallett]

I am a little confused regarding tipping we are down for mtd and have pre paid our gratuities. But we are taking this cruise to get away from everything and chill out so plan on room sevice most days apart from one booking at chops. Are our pre paid tips covered for everything like room service, concierge, kids club or does it just cover the main dining room experience?

RC try to make it easy for you - with prepaid tips, there's practically nothing to do! Gratuities are automatically added on to drinks and most other items. The only people we needed to tip was room service.

Bring a stack of $1 bills and tip the room service people a couple of dollars (more for a big complicated order) per delivery. Good luck! :)

A Brit sailing in Dubai likely won't have any US currency. ;)

In Europe we tipped room service in Euros. There doesn't seem to be en expectation from room services that you'll tip, but them seem grateful whatever currency you tip in!