Tipping for waiter and maitre d

[Thrak]

Chefs are skilled and paid accordingly. They are not in the tip pool.

 

OP for 3 people for 1 week I'd do 60 to 90 (20 to 30 per person) to waitstaff.

 

Maitre D is totally dependent on interaction and services, 0 to 50

 

 

Did you miss the fact that he also said "kitchen hands"?

[Lucky TGO]

Whatever you want. (I hate going here) Everyone judges great in different ways. I don't know what they have done for you to makes you judge their actions as great. It's only money.

 

 

 

Welcome to cruise critic.

I'm just rating the answers. I like this one the best. :D

Tony

[cruzsnooze]

We have a great waiter and maiter d and was wondering what is a good amount to tip on top of the gratuity. We have three people at the table?

They are supposed to great or they don't get to keep their jobs. The auto gratuity took away all the worry from having to think you need to tip and keep tipping and then tip some more.

[neverbeenhere]

I'm just rating the answers. I like this one the best. :D

Tony

There is something about yours responses that makes mes think the typings wasn't so accurate in that post. But of course it was the best. :evilsmile:

[cr8tiv1]

Oops. Senior Moment:

 

I do not tip the Maitre d'... I do tip the Head Waiter that assists me every night.

 

I have taken Chocolate Macadamia Nuts to the Maitre d' if I have worked with him before...or have a very special request.

 

Depends how long your cruise is. Depends on how much you appreciate your servers. Depends on your tipping patterns at a restaurant. Depends on many other factors. Depends on what you are comfortable with.

 

My extra tips are rounded to the nearest bill. $10.00/$20.00/$25.00/$40.00 (not daily numbers times days/but total). Jr. Waiter gets half what the waiter gets (although sometimes he works much harder). Maitre d' gets slightly less than waiter. I see the maitre d' every night due to my special diet.

[pris993]

If we eat in the MDR, we often order off menu, then we tip extra to the waiter, head waiter and mat'rd ... usually $50 -$75 over and above the auto tip.

[FunforGin]

Hey Tony....do your guys on your row boat get tips? :)

[GUT2407]

That's only if you remove the daily gratuity. If you leave it in place, they can keep extra tips.

That's not actually what their contract says, it says all cash tips must be handed in, (it doesn't say if any is returned after checking on auto tips or whatever so that becomes speculation) but it is clear that all cash tips must be handed in.

[Lucky TGO]

Hey Tony....do your guys on your row boat get tips? :)

 

Everything is FREE and tipping is not allowed on the Rowboat. If you are lucky you can winn a bottle of that Great Princess Champagne that the boys make every Tuesday in the boiler room. :bottle-pop: :D.

The Captain of the Rowboat,

Tony

[Gallivanting Souls]

We have NEVER tipped the MD. He has never done anything for us. Our waiters, especially our head waiters have all been stellar and have tipped extra. All week you see the M'D at the front podium, then last night he suddenly appears doing the Maitre'D dance.

[kenexx]

Nothing. We leave the auto tip on and that covers it.

[Colo Cruiser]

Everything is FREE and tipping is not allowed on the Rowboat. If you are lucky you can winn a bottle of that Great Princess Champagne that the boys make every Tuesday in the boiler room. :bottle-pop: :D.

The Captain of the Rowboat,

Tony

 

 

No tipping? You have master keys to the staterooms don't you? ;p

[caribill]

You do realize, I hope, that they are part of the auto tip and part of the reason that it was implemented in the first place?

 

It was implemented in the first place when anytime dining was introduced.

 

When there was only traditional dining, you had the same waitstaff for the entire voyage and it was easy to tip who serviced you.

 

With anytime and often having different waitstaff every evening there was no way at the end of the cruise to track down who served you and give a tip.

 

So the auo-tip took care of that problem and at some point they expanded the tip pool to include food service personnel other than the staff in the dining room.

[caribill]

I thought they had to turn in all cash tips to "the tip pool" so other than self esteem for the receiver, the amount doesn't matter.

 

 

When they turn it in, they also include your cabin number. Once it is determined that you did not reduce or eliminate the auto-tip, the cash tip is returned to them. If you had reduced or eliminated the auto-tip, then the cash is just put into the tipping pool.

[satxdiver]

We have never found the need to add extra tips to the already fixed daily fixed tips. I like how the Europeans etc handle the tip issue. They pay their workers a decent wage and do not depend on or ask for extra tips. I wish the cruise lines would simply include the fixed tips into the cost of the cruise, pay their workers a decent wage and be done with this whole issue.

 

If you have really good service from someone, fill out a form praising that individual and how they made your trip great then turn it in a Guest Services. This will cause that person to get praise and perhaps a promotion on the crew. This is what we do for individuals that give great service. I worked for a major international corporation on client sites. Whenever one of them thought to send my manager a letter of thanks, it reflected on my annual appraisal.

[martin jenkins]

When they turn it in, they also include your cabin number. Once it is determined that you did not reduce or eliminate the auto-tip, the cash tip is returned to them. If you had reduced or eliminated the auto-tip, then the cash is just put into the tipping pool.

 

 

don't now why they do that on aussie cruises as our tips are already prepaid and u can't remove them.

[geoherb]

DH and I disagree about how much to tip extra to waiters and cabin stewards who perform above our expectations. He's more generous than I am. I remember the days of having to put cash in envelopes--and I try to get him to remember them too. In those days, we would round up the money in an envelope for most and would give an extra $10 or $20 to those who went above. I say an extra $10 or $20 is still a nice token of appreciation.

[LMaxwell]

Did you miss the fact that he also said "kitchen hands"?

No, did not miss that. I addressed the inaccuracy in the statement.

[Loonbeam]

Just to be consistent across the fleet so staff are used to the procedure when they move between ships.

 

don't now why they do that on aussie cruises as our tips are already prepaid and u can't remove them.

[Fat Albert]

I travel on cruise ships too and it is a very demanding service industry. I bring 2 bundles of 5's for every cruise. I give 5 bucks everyday to my steward and 5 bucks everyday to my Barista and 5 bucks everyday to the 2 or 3 Sanctuary stewards. I tip the head waiter 10 bucks and the asst. waiter 5 bucks every night. When we do the Crown Grill, Sabatini's, SHARE, Chefs Table I tip like a normal restaurant and the price for dinner is approx. 200 bucks. so I tip the Head Waiter/Mgr then the waiter and busboy. I traveled when we gave envelopes to the waiters on the last night and when we arrived for our table of 8 we were the only ones there for the evening. What a terrible thing to do to the workers. The cruise industry has changed very much since 2000. We are doing cruises 78,79 and 80 in the very near future and then we are leaving the cruise world. The sip and sail has made us decide to leave. The last cruise 19 day Panama Canal the morning coffee scene was like a Vegas bar, beers and mimosa and bloody Mary's more than tea or coffee and then the volume went up very quickly. If you enjoy the strings in the Piazza or some soft music the SIP and SAIL has taken away the ambience.

[2 Labs]

Thank you to everyone for your answers!!

[cruzsnooze]

When they turn it in, they also include your cabin number. Once it is determined that you did not reduce or eliminate the auto-tip, the cash tip is returned to them. If you had reduced or eliminated the auto-tip, then the cash is just put into the tipping pool.

Can you point that out in writing some where because my belief is all money goes into the tipping pool. I have asked several crew and got the same answer that ALL money goes into the pool but of course that is not real proof either.

[cruzsnooze]

I travel on cruise ships too and it is a very demanding service industry. I bring 2 bundles of 5's for every cruise. I give 5 bucks everyday to my steward and 5 bucks everyday to my Barista and 5 bucks everyday to the 2 or 3 Sanctuary stewards. I tip the head waiter 10 bucks and the asst. waiter 5 bucks every night. When we do the Crown Grill, Sabatini's, SHARE, Chefs Table I tip like a normal restaurant and the price for dinner is approx. 200 bucks. so I tip the Head Waiter/Mgr then the waiter and busboy. I traveled when we gave envelopes to the waiters on the last night and when we arrived for our table of 8 we were the only ones there for the evening. What a terrible thing to do to the workers. The cruise industry has changed very much since 2000. We are doing cruises 78,79 and 80 in the very near future and then we are leaving the cruise world. The sip and sail has made us decide to leave. The last cruise 19 day Panama Canal the morning coffee scene was like a Vegas bar, beers and mimosa and bloody Mary's more than tea or coffee and then the volume went up very quickly. If you enjoy the strings in the Piazza or some soft music the SIP and SAIL has taken away the ambience.

Why didn't you just tip the Barista $100 and they'd have your coffee ready when they see you walk up. Also you forgot to tip the cruise director or anyone else that said good morning to you, how come ;p

[umuva]

Before auto tips, as has been said, the MDR would be half empty on the last night. My wife has asked various cabin stewards over the years about what percentage of people tip. The answer has been consistently about 1/3. Quite frankly, if I can afford to spend thousands on a cruise and we get great service, which has always been the case, I can afford to tip extra.

 

 

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[Aus Traveller]

Just to be consistent across the fleet so staff are used to the procedure when they move between ships.

I am puzzled by your comment. It was in response to a post about the tips being included on Australian Princess ships. They are not consistent with the rest of the fleet. Crew do move from the Australian-based ships to other ships and they are savvy enough to understand the system of their remuneration.

 

For Australian-based cruises, auto tips were removed in May 2011 and the crew who are part of the tips pool on other ships (cabin stewards, dining room and buffet staff and bartenders) are paid at a much higher rate. This is equivalent to what staff are paid on the other ships. By the way, they tell us they love this system.

 

Occasionally I read a comment where someone in another part of the world says they would like the tips included in the fare, but usually there are a lot of responses why that cannot happen. The system running on Australian cruises proves that it can work and work very well. :)

 

Just as many passengers tip extra on top of the auto tip, many people on the Australian cruises tip, but usually not lavishly. I have to say that I am dubious about some of the claims of paying considerable tips every day on top of the auto tip.;)