Sky MDR questions

[AK Dreaming]

Just got back from a short cruise on the Sky and have another planned later this year. I wanted to know if anyone tips in the MDRs and if so how and who do you tip? Also, we asked for a table by the window on our first time in the Crossings and were told they could put us in the second row from the windows. This seemed odd as we are a group of four and the room was mostly empty and many tables for 4 were open by the windows and you can only make reservations for larger groups, so we said we would wait for a window table and magically were sat right away. Anyone else have a similar experience?

[cliffd64]

Just got back from a short cruise on the Sky and have another planned later this year. I wanted to know if anyone tips in the MDRs and if so how and who do you tip? Also, we asked for a table by the window on our first time in the Crossings and were told they could put us in the second row from the windows. This seemed odd as we are a group of four and the room was mostly empty and many tables for 4 were open by the windows and you can only make reservations for larger groups, so we said we would wait for a window table and magically were sat right away. Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

Regarding tips in the main dining rooms: You are already covering your waitstaff with the DSC that you pay for each day. Tipping is therefore not required and would be considered redundant in that case. In the event you have service that is way above and beyond the expected level, you may wish to tip, but that is not very likely. If you are really pleased with your service, you might want to fill out a comment card or "vacation star" card and name and praise your server. This are appreciated greatly.

 

As for window seats... many of the window seats can be reserved ahead of time for suite passengers and VIPs and CAS high rollers as well. They also can be subject to reservations made previously. In any event, you can ask for a window seat, and offer to wait if not available, and they will always try to accommodate your request. It's usually a balancing act to try to keep from overloading certain waiter teams as the restaurant begins to fill up... They try to keep things balanced across all their server stations.

[BamaVol]

I made note of servers names when they were extra helpful or friendly. When you get back home, you should get a survey from NCL and it asks if you remember any particular crew that stood out. I imagine this is part of their performance evaluation which I have read is a factor in how big a share of the tip pool they receive. This could be significantly more valuable to them than $5 in their hands, or so I believe.

 

I made MDR reservations online prior to our cruise for our party of 2. Unfortunately, I ran into the same thing you did and we were not always seated by a window. At sundown, that turned out to be a good thing as those at the window were complaining about the sun in their eyes.

[AMommyof2]

Last year on Sky our family of 4 requested to be seated by the window. The hostess told us window seats are on a first come first serve basis and there were no window tables available. Many of the tables were empty and the group that checked in right behind us were seated by the window.