Tip Question

[envy4u]

If you do anytime dining do you have to pay the tips in advance or do they add them daily to your folio?

[DaveOKC]

They add them daily to your account. No need to mess with them, its automatic.

[qsuzi]

If you do anytime dining do you have to pay the tips in advance or do they add them daily to your folio?

 

You cannot pre-pay gratuities on HAL but you can buy OBC to cover this cost. Like Dave said, HAL charges them daily/automatically to your account.

[rbp3072]

All of your standard Tips & Gratuities, regardless of your selected dining options, are included in your daily HSC (Hotel Service Charge), of $11.50/pp/pd or $12/pp/pd for suite passengers, which you can view at any time by getting a current statement from the front desk during your cruise. (They update and add it at the end of each day).

 

If you desire to provide an additional cash tip to specific crew, you may do so at any time. Most folks seem to do this during the last 1-2 nights of their cruise. In addition, you may increase your HSC at the front desk as well, and this increase is split among all the crew that normally receive a share of the HSC. You can also decrease or eliminate the HSC, though this is looked down upon for obvious reasons.

 

Personally, I provide an additional cash tip direct to my room stewards, MDR stewards (provided I ate more than a couple of times in the MDR), and in the case of my last cruise, my retreat cabana stewards, two days prior to the end of my cruise. I also increase my general HSC in an attempt to compensate the 'little people' that I never get to meet. I budget a set amount pre-cruise for this, and will increase it further if I stay under budget during the cruise. I managed this last time, and had the front desk increase my HSC to 29.35/pp/pd, which resulted in a flat $250 increase/pp. (Not much over the course of a 14-day cruise, but can make a difference to the crew).

 

Copy/paste from HAL's website -

 

Our crew works very hard to make sure that every aspect of your cruise meets the highest standards. This includes those crew members who serve you directly, such as Dining Room wait staff and the stewards who service your stateroom each day. There are also many others who support their efforts whom you may never meet, such as galley and laundry staff. To ensure that the efforts of all of our crew members are recognized and rewarded, a daily Hotel Service Charge is automatically added to each guest’s shipboard account.

The daily Hotel Service Charge for suites is US$12.00 per guest per day, and US$11.50 per guest per day for other staterooms. (The charges are subject to change without notice)

If our service exceeds or fails to meet your expectations, you are free to adjust this amount at the end of each segment and/or voyage. The Hotel Service Charge is paid to Holland America Line crew members, and represents an important part of their compensation. A 15% Bar Service Charge is automatically added to bar charges and Dining Room wine purchases. In terminals, airports, ports of call and on shore excursions, we suggest that you extend gratuities consistent with customary local practices.

Edited March 20, 2015 by rbp3072
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[Ky Colonel]

Regardless of which dinning option you choose, "tips" (called "Hotel Service Charge") are charged to your on board account at $11.50 per person per day in all staterooms except the suites for which the rate is $12/pppd and distributed to the ship support staff at the end of each cruise according to a schedule. You are free to give additional individual tips to waiters, servers, stewards, attendants, etc, and you will need cash for those tips. You are also free to "ungive" the automatic (HSC) tips (or to give them in cash to whichever of the support staff you choose) by notifying the Front Desk of your wishes. Recognizing that most of the ship support staff are not paid a lot (and count on the tips), we have always given additional individual cash tips to any support staff who have been especially helpful and allowed the automatic (HSC) tips to be distributed according to HAL's formula. I hope this is helpful.

 

Rod

[Krazy Kruizers]

We always leave the HSC in place and do give extra tips to those at the end of the cruise who have made our cruise an enjoyable one.

Also remember that 15% is automatically added onto all bar bills.

[QARandy]

Are specialty restaurants included in the auto gratuity?

Pinnacle, Circ show, Italian rest. Etc?

[Ky Colonel]

QAR,

 

As best I understand HAL's program/system, the specialty restaurant staff is included in the HSC tip pool the same as all other support staff because, when they are not working in the specialty restaurants, they work at other jobs on the ship. On our last cruise, we frequently saw our Canaletto waiters working in the Lido and MDR. (Because we generally receive very good service in the specialty restaurants, we always leave a separate cash tip for the restaurant staff each time we dine there.)

 

If anyone has a different understanding of this matter, please feel free to weigh in.

 

Rod

[jtl513]

Are specialty restaurants included in the auto gratuity?

Pinnacle, Circ show, Italian rest. Etc?

There is no auto gratuity, there is an automatic Hotel Service Charge for services rendered by the Hotel Department staff. Everyone in the Hotel Department except officers gets some part of that pool. The share received by staff in the specialty restaurants does not change whether you go there or not.

[sail7seas]

Are specialty restaurants included in the auto gratuity?

Pinnacle, Circ show, Italian rest. Etc?

 

Many (perhaps most? ) of us tip additional when we go to alternative restaruants on the ship especially Pinnacle and Tamarind. You cannot write a tip onto an HAL slip so if you plan to tip, bring cash when you dine.

 

[Tripper10]

Many (perhaps most? ) of us tip additional when we go to alternative restaruants on the ship especially Pinnacle and Tamarind. You cannot write a tip onto an HAL slip so if you plan to tip, bring cash when you dine.

 

 

Can you leave a extra tip on a drink slip from a bar or lounge?

[RuthC]

Can you leave a extra tip on a drink slip from a bar or lounge?

No. You can't add a tip to a bar slip. If you want to tip extra you must leave cash.

 

The only place on a HAL ship that you can add a tip to a slip (at least that I can think of) is in the spa/salon.

[Typhoon1]

The Hotel Service Charge is automatically added.

 

Exceptional service, as is usually the case on HAL deserves additional compensation.

[Tripper10]

No. You can't add a tip to a bar slip. If you want to tip extra you must leave cash.

 

The only place on a HAL ship that you can add a tip to a slip (at least that I can think of) is in the spa/salon.

 

They should really add that, as the staff lose out on a lot of extras. Other comparable cruise lines have it and some people might not carry around tip money in ones and fives around the ship. Its just easier to give a few dollars when you can add it to the slip.

[RuthC]

They should really add that, as the staff lose out on a lot of extras. Other comparable cruise lines have it and some people might not carry around tip money in ones and fives around the ship. Its just easier to give a few dollars when you can add it to the slip.

You have to work with the procedure that's in place.

 

There is a 15% service charge added to bar bills in the first place, so it 's only additional gratuities being considered here. I don't know about you, but a lot of us tend to find our favorite watering hole, and hang out there (for the most part). It's easy enough to make up an envelope to had out on that last night---or even more, if there's a couple of lounges you want to thank.

[Tripper10]

You have to work with the procedure that's in place.

 

There is a 15% service charge added to bar bills in the first place, so it 's only additional gratuities being considered here. I don't know about you, but a lot of us tend to find our favorite watering hole, and hang out there (for the most part). It's easy enough to make up an envelope to had out on that last night---or even more, if there's a couple of lounges you want to thank.

 

 

That's just what I was saying. I don't want to work at it, and bother with getting change or funds and carry it around all the time. HAL should make it easier to leave extra over the 15% all ready in place. We buy drinks all over the place including dinner, theater and other venues. That's why every food and drink venue in the world has a gratuity line before the total.

[Despegue]

On a cruise, we frequent lots of different lounges and at different timings.

 

On nearly ALL other lines, we are able to give additional tips by adding this via the drink slip, which we nearly always do.

 

We will NOT bring US$ with us, why would we, we will be sailing a European ship in European waters:roll-eyes

And will NOT carry around euro coins when a cashless system is in use:rolleyes:

 

This is an ABSURD policy of HAL. Simply ridiculous and resulting in a loss of income for their hard working crew.

[Stratheden]

On a cruise, we frequent lots of different lounges and at different timings.

 

On nearly ALL other lines, we are able to give additional tips by adding this via the drink slip, which we nearly always do.

 

We will NOT bring US$ with us, why would we, we will be sailing a European ship in European waters:roll-eyes

And will NOT carry around euro coins when a cashless system is in use:rolleyes:

 

This is an ABSURD policy of HAL. Simply ridiculous and resulting in a loss of income for their hard working crew.

 

We will also not be getting US$ to cruise the Mediterranean in a couple of weeks.

[Boytjie]

I am surprised that HAL hasn't made a change to allow for tips to be added to drink slips, it is so much more convenient. I hardly ever have cash on my when on the ship.

 

That said, last month on the Regal Princess we invted a group of frineds for a toast i the wine bar and since I dd not know how many people would be involved in serving us, I opted to take cash and tipped the bar tender and the waiter that served us individually. But that was not a regular drinks-at-the-bar kind of thing.