Tipping in Specialty Restaurants

[joe6666]

DH and I actually asked our waiter at Chops about the tips. He explained it like this:

1. Yes, the gratiuity is included in the charge that is paid for the restaurant.

 

2. However, if you receive service above/beyond any additional tip is very much appreciated by the waiter/waitress.

 

3. With that being said... if you choose to tip above and beyond if you tip in cash the tip went directly to your personal waiter/waitress. If you tip on your seapass card the tip was split amongst all of the waiters/waitresses.

 

So if you appreciate your waiter/waitress tip them directly with cash.

 

So.... what kind of service would you consider above and beyond?

 

And... I would imagine this service above and beyond would not occur very often.... Right?

[northcove]

Sorry to correct your misconception but we do tip in the UK, just not to the extent that is the norm in the US. I object very strongly to be classed as a non-tipping nation.

 

Interesting. I've been there many times and was always told not to tip. Was told in bars, If I liked the bartender, then offer to buy him a drink.

 

I do remember a few situations in restaurants where the people I was visiting did tip. But it's not like here where the standard is around 20% of the check. More like they'd just round up the bill.

 

But I haven't been in there in a few years..perhaps things have changed?

[joe6666]

This tipping stuff does my head in. If the bill says that gratuity is included, then why on earth do people feel the need to tip any more. :confused: Doesn't the word gratuity imply payment for good services rendered?

 

I also wonder.

 

Some of these people claim to tip more for extra special treatment.... And then you find out that they always tip extra.:)

[cruiseatick]

lets get this straight evan though i have pre paid my gradtuites and i paid 110 for a dining package i should give more tips evan if im not in the ding room!!!maybe i should let the waiter in the specalty rest to get the tip from the head waiter in the mdr

[nbsjcruiser]

What exactly is the rule of thumb here? If I pay $20 or $30pp for a specialty restaurant, what should I tip? I've heard so many different ideas. In the past, we have had gratuity already added for alcohol, so we just figure approximately how much this meal would have cost, and gone from there. That might be giving a $30 tip on top of everything else, is this wrong? I've also heard that the surcharge INCLUDES the tip, but that just doesn't sound right? Any help would be great!

 

When the specialty restaurants first came out, the extra charge was said for "tips" so I do not tip extra. It is not expected and I do not give it - on any line.

[nycruiser80]

This actually came up with the people I was traveling with on my last cruise. A month ago I sailed the Allure with my partner and his family. We ate at a few special restaurants. The first night we ate at Chops and my partner's parents did not understand how the wait staff got tipped. I used to be a travel agent and have cruised a bit and told them that I was always under the impression that the tips where included in the fee. I honestly never tipped extra on my other cruises. I always thought it was included in there. So then I got worried I figured I slighted all these waiters over the years.

 

As the dinner came to a close, my partners father just had to figure this one out. He isn't shy either! The chef at Chops came to our table with our waiter to ask us how the meal was. My partners father asked them how tipping works for specialty restaurants. According to both the chef and the waiter they said that 10% of the specialty restaurant cost covers the food and the rest would be the grats divided by the wait staff. As it was explained to me by the chef, the food we are eating in the specialty restaurant is covered in our cruise fare for the most part. A small portion - the 10% from the specialty restaurant fee provides diners with a higher quality food product (better/larger cuts of meat better ingredients). The waiter explained you can tip more if you feel service exceeded your expectation. I honestly do not remember the chef or our waiters name. The chef was from Jamaica and was a very nice guy. He explained that his mother sparked his interest in cooking. Not sure how valid this is but I got it from two sources in a specialty restaurant. I know that many times the crew may have mis-information but since it involves their tips I am assuming this is correct.

[cruzincurt]

That makes sense since we already paid for the basic food service, they are not starting from zero.

 

As for service, I understand the meal in the specialty restaurant takes longer, and that's OK as the food is being prepared for each course, but IMO it never should mean that the used plates sit on the table for extended periods of time. That's what I encountered at my last visit to Chops and it wasn't that busy.

 

I thought the waiters were going out for a smoke or something. They seemed to disappear when we expected them to service the table after it was obvious we were finished with that course.

[Loyal2RCCL]

UNBELIEVABLE

 

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

 

You forgot the " !!!!!!! " :eek:

[dmwnc1959]

Having never eaten in a specialty restaurant on board a ship I would think that the service would be 'above and beyond' to begin with? Expected?

 

I know that tipping is one of those 'set your hair on fire' subjects, but if the

1) automatic daily gratuity for the MDR staff is already added to my shipboard account, 2) and the tip is already to my specialty restaurant bill, 3) and I'm not eating in the MDR that evening yet not removing that tip for the MDR staff, 4) and I'm not planning on eating in the MDR at all and still not removing those tips either = I don't see the need to tip the specialty restaurant staff extra either.

 

But if those who do want to tip extra do so, and they statistically outnumber those who don't, I can't help but think it makes the rest who don't tip extra look cheap?

 

It seems to be a Catch 22?

[dmwnc1959]

According to both the chef and the waiter they said that 10% of the specialty restaurant cost covers the food and the rest would be the grats divided by the wait staff.

 

Wow. Ten percent is a much smaller number than I would have thought. I would have expected it to be closer to 2/3 for food, 1/3 gratuity.

[Langley Cruisers]

I believe you are correct and I have long since despaired of hope that any corrections to her misinformation will cause her to discontinue spewing it out...

 

I'd like to meet her. Seriously. I wonder what she's like in person? :o

.

[peteukmcr]

Interesting. I've been there many times and was always told not to tip. Was told in bars, If I liked the bartender, then offer to buy him a drink.

 

I do remember a few situations in restaurants where the people I was visiting did tip. But it's not like here where the standard is around 20% of the check. More like they'd just round up the bill.

 

But I haven't been in there in a few years..perhaps things have changed?

Tipping in bars is a different culture, just as you mention. However, we're discussing tipping in a restaurant here and in the UK, even though in most cases we will not tip 20% as in the US, we do tip. Some may just round up the check but I will always try and leave between 10% - 15%, but then again that's probably due to the effect of travelling to the US for over 30 years :D

[Pushka]

I always felt that prices in Australia were more reasonable than in the UK when I visited.

It's changed Pete. We always allow for currency fluctuations but as of our trip last month we thought that prices in the UK and Europe had dropped significantly or ours had increased significantly. Tourism in Australia is really suffering and I can see exactly why!

As far as service above and beyond we tend to round up to the closest 5 or 0.

[joe6666]

This actually came up with the people I was traveling with on my last cruise. A month ago I sailed the Allure with my partner and his family. We ate at a few special restaurants. The first night we ate at Chops and my partner's parents did not understand how the wait staff got tipped. I used to be a travel agent and have cruised a bit and told them that I was always under the impression that the tips where included in the fee. I honestly never tipped extra on my other cruises. I always thought it was included in there. So then I got worried I figured I slighted all these waiters over the years.

 

As the dinner came to a close, my partners father just had to figure this one out. He isn't shy either! The chef at Chops came to our table with our waiter to ask us how the meal was. My partners father asked them how tipping works for specialty restaurants. According to both the chef and the waiter they said that 10% of the specialty restaurant cost covers the food and the rest would be the grats divided by the wait staff. As it was explained to me by the chef, the food we are eating in the specialty restaurant is covered in our cruise fare for the most part. A small portion - the 10% from the specialty restaurant fee provides diners with a higher quality food product (better/larger cuts of meat better ingredients). The waiter explained you can tip more if you feel service exceeded your expectation. I honestly do not remember the chef or our waiters name. The chef was from Jamaica and was a very nice guy. He explained that his mother sparked his interest in cooking. Not sure how valid this is but I got it from two sources in a specialty restaurant. I know that many times the crew may have mis-information but since it involves their tips I am assuming this is correct.

 

So the food is paid for by 10% of the price paid by the customer and the remainder is split by the wait staff?

 

So where does the ship make any money?

[james j feller]

JOE,

 

In your cruise fare.

 

JIM

[smoosh21]

We always leave an extra $10 for the 2 of us when we sign our slip for the specialty restaurant. If we eat in the same restaurant (say Portofino's) alot all week, we will give the waiter and asst an envelope at the end of the week. (Our experience has been the maitre'd gives us the same table each time so thats easy to do)

 

 

We usually leave a $10 cash addl tip on the table.

[nycruiser80]

So the food is paid for by 10% of the price paid by the customer and the remainder is split by the wait staff?

 

So where does the ship make any money?

 

 

I have no idea. We were all trying to figure this one out after they left the table. According to them 10% of the $25 we paid covers the "enhanced" food so that is $2.50 per person for better cuts of meat? They said the rest is a gratuity. Like I said in my post, many times you can't count on what some crew members tell you. In fact, while dining at 150 Central Park, on this particular cruise last month, our waiter (I forgot his name too!) told me that Royal Caribbean is planning to build a new ship for their sister company Azamara Cruises. I was surprised to here as I stay rather current with ship news. I know that last February the prez of Azamara cruises hinted that they may build a new ship but would announce that in January of 2012. I was a TA and still get many publications plus I frequent sites such as this almost regularly and I haven't seen anything so far about this except the hint I quickly read about in Travel Weekly last year. The waiter had a half a smile on him when he told me. Sometimes I really wonder if some of the staff know that these cruise boards exists and want us to spread false info. I don't know! I am probably over analyzing.