MTD and tips

[Abbabug]

Hello everyone,

 

First time cruiser here booked on the Oasis of the Seas for Mar 26/16 sailing.

 

I have been reading and learning lots on this forum. Thank you everyone for your contributions.

 

On the RCI forum FAQ sticky, I read a post that MTD has pre-paid tips. How is prepaid tips different from RCI automatically charging the per person per day tips?

 

I was given the choice of 8:30 seating or MTD. We prefer to eat earlier. Are we better off walking in instead of booking a specific time?

[Essiesmom]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Tipping is a hot topic here at CC. Both Royal and Celebrity have gone to requiring prepaid tips/gratuities in My Time/Select dining. I think there are several reasons for this. In traditional dining, you have the wame wait team every night, get to know them, and are comfortable tipping them. Some people prefer to do it in person rather then with the auto tip, so have it removed and tip in cash the last night. This is fine as long as the amount is equal to what the auto tip would have been. But in My time, you don't see the same team every night, don't form a relationship, and many didn't know who to tip, or feel they needed to. So many didn't. And the staff got stiffed. You might an even more convoluted explanation if you post on the Royal Caribbean board here at CC, under Cruise Lines P-Z. Lots of Oasis experts there. EM

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

If you are accustomed to eating early, then just got to the MTD whenever you are ready to eat.

You may want to join your Roll Call at this link to see what others are doing and ask there:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2050445

You can also ask question on the main RCI board at this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

[138east]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Tipping is a hot topic here at CC. Both Royal and Celebrity have gone to requiring prepaid tips/gratuities in My Time/Select dining. I think there are several reasons for this. In traditional dining, you have the wame wait team every night, get to know them, and are comfortable tipping them. Some people prefer to do it in person rather then with the auto tip, so have it removed and tip in cash the last night. This is fine as long as the amount is equal to what the auto tip would have been. But in My time, you don't see the same team every night, don't form a relationship, and many didn't know who to tip, or feel they needed to. So many didn't. And the staff got stiffed. You might an even more convoluted explanation if you post on the Royal Caribbean board here at CC, under Cruise Lines P-Z. Lots of Oasis experts there. EM

 

Royal no longer requires that you prepay tips/gratuities for My Time Dining. They are now applied daily to your Seapass account. If you just pay the daily charge, you will have paid your tips for wait service and room steward. Any bar service will have 18% tip added to the bill. The only other tipping you need to worry about would be room service and any other special services like Adventure Ocean (kids) or free drink service for Diamond/Diamond+.

[cb at sea]

All of the cruiselines nowadays simply add the suggested tips to your account on a daily basis...eliminating the need to "pre pay" tips.

 

It takes all the guesswork out of it for you...and you can be assured that those who serve you get what is due them.

[trish1c]

It can get a little confusing.

 

Every cruise line charges a daily service charge. That fee goes to varies employees as tips. Bar servers are not included in this & get paid by the drink. You can alter the amount if you like but most people don't.

 

You have the option to pre-pay the daily service charge before your sail. If you don't do that, the amount will be added to your on board bill every day.

 

If you really appreciate the service you get from a crew member, usually the wait staff or your cabin steward, you can add in extra amounts when you sign your receipts or you can hand them cash but you are not obligated to do so. They have already been taken care of through the service charge you either paid in advance or as you go.

[Abbabug]

Thank you everyone. Tipping being a hot topic here makes me fearful of posting anywhere else :)

 

Ok, just so I understand better. Royal will charge the sea pass account $13pp/day x 6 for us. Would it be possible for us to allocate more of these to the steward and wait staff we encounter? That is, pay cash for these and then change the amount to the balance owing? $13pp/day x 6 LESS cash tip paid = balance on the seas pass account to be divided amongst the rest.

[trish1c]

Ok, just so I understand better. Royal will charge the sea pass account $13pp/day x 6 for us. Would it be possible for us to allocate more of these to the steward and wait staff we encounter? That is, pay cash for these and then change the amount to the balance owing? $13pp/day x 6 LESS cash tip paid = balance on the seas pass account to be divided amongst the rest.

 

No. It would be too confusing. It's a straight up math equation. At 13 per person per day, on a 7 day cruise assuming 3,000 passengers the line collects $273,000. There is another formula about how it gets divided among the crew but everybody gets an equal share depending on their job title.

 

If you want to give more to the people who you interact with as they take care of you, hand them cash.

[spookwife]

Hello everyone,

 

First time cruiser here booked on the Oasis of the Seas for Mar 26/16 sailing.

 

I have been reading and learning lots on this forum. Thank you everyone for your contributions.

 

On the RCI forum FAQ sticky, I read a post that MTD has pre-paid tips. How is prepaid tips different from RCI automatically charging the per person per day tips? actually no longer true. Royal no longer makes MTD people pre pay. and when they did it was the same amount as what is charged daily. just in one lump sum before you board. we prepay regardless as we consider it part of the cost and want it taken care of ahead of time

 

I was given the choice of 8:30 seating or MTD. We prefer to eat earlier. Are we better off walking in instead of booking a specific time?

 

my personal opinion: take MTD, make reservations online for the first night only for the time you want, or as close to it as you can get.

 

then each night as you leave, make reservations for the next night. you may not get exactly the time you want, certain blocks are far more popular, but you can certainly be seated earlier than 830 most nights.

 

when we have walked up without a reservation we find that it is much quicker to agree to be seated with others rather than wait for a 2 top for just us.

[LHT28]

Hello everyone,

 

First time cruiser here booked on the Oasis of the Seas for Mar 26/16 sailing.

 

I have been reading and learning lots on this forum. Thank you everyone for your contributions.

 

On the RCI forum FAQ sticky, I read a post that MTD has pre-paid tips. How is prepaid tips different from RCI automatically charging the per person per day tips?

 

It all works out the same in the end

Pre paid you pay before the cruise the other way you pay at the end of the cruise

 

If you prefer to eat early go with MTD

[auntjoy036]

Abbabug, I have nothing to add concerning tips. About getting an earlier table, I was on Oasis in November 2015. I had MTD and wanted to eat about 6:00. Before the cruise I made dinner reservations online for the whole week. It worked great. We were seated quickly, faster than the folks without reservations. We liked our server and assistant the first night, mentioned that to the head waiter, and had the same team in the same section of the restaurant all week. For us, a family that would have preferred fixed early dining, it was a perfect work-around.

 

Oasis is great fun. Have a great time.

 

Vicki