Tipping in the Bar

[Elaine5715]

On 5/22/2019 at 3:33 PM, ricew001 said:

Any of you actual bartenders? Let me tell you from working in the restaurant industry and knowing 100s of bartenders - cash is king and niceness doesn't hurt. TIPPING affects your service. Don't kid yourself. Everyone gets good service but if you tip well, you get better service.

Go to a Bartender group on Facebook and look at what they honestly say.....

The cheapskates HATE the idea that tipping impacts services.  They are also shocked that bartenders remember who they are.  As my ex used to say as a young bartender, "cash and boobs first".  

[Elaine5715]

On 5/25/2019 at 3:54 AM, mredandchis said:

As a whole I dont tip.  For bar waiters there is one already on the order.  But then there is that one that stands out, one that makes the cruise a bit better.  Even a bartender, waiter, steward can just make an impression.  Money from my hand to theirs is just between us.  There are times were getting a waiter up around  lido isnt easy.  I slide them a tenner and i never have to look for them again.  We can even communicate across the ship with out saying a word.  Those tips on the bills are all pooled.  At the end of the cruise they get their share.  Cash is in the pocket,  It is the difference between being a VIFP, which is good, to being his VIFP, a bit better.   But with that said if you only drink 1 a day then the tip on the check is enough i think.

 

Yeah, no.  Cash tips are not always "between us".  Drink waiters tip out to bartenders.  Crew are together 24/7 and they do not cut out anyone they are supposed to tip out or they don't last long.  

[Elaine5715]

On 5/24/2019 at 8:04 PM, Palmetto Pilot said:

I usually tip my favorite bartenders cash at the end of the cruise. We like to get to know the bartenders and have conversations with them and again the ones we click with, we leave a cash tip at the end of the cruise. 

 

On 5/24/2019 at 8:11 PM, coevan said:

I don't understand this. Do you go to your favorite watering holes at home and save up their tips for a week? Your tipping for being served a drink. 

What if they aren't there?  Do you pocket that?

[ray98]

On 5/25/2019 at 9:14 AM, Purvis1231 said:

I do not know how much a bartender or server makes but if the sale 100 $8.00 drinks day that is $144.00 in tips. I know they work at least 10 hours so that is around $14.00 a hour. So I am sure they would be grateful for any additional tips. 

 

 

Yet a bartender on a ship is probably averaging 40 drinks per hour.

[Luckiestmanonearth]

If you tip extra using your sail and sign card, does that go to the bartender or get pooled and split between all bartenders

[repo-cruiser]

2 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

The cheapskates HATE the idea that tipping impacts services.  They are also shocked that bartenders remember who they are.  As my ex used to say as a young bartender, "cash and boobs first".  

As a former bartender I can tell you we see it as a bribe to get better service not a tip. We still gladly excepted the bribe.

[Elaine5715]

1 hour ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

If you tip extra using your sail and sign card, does that go to the bartender or get pooled and split between all bartenders

It gets split between the bartenders working that bar at that time.

[Elaine5715]

38 minutes ago, repo-cruiser said:

As a former bartender I can tell you we see it as a bribe to get better service not a tip. We still gladly excepted the bribe.

The cash or the flash?...🤣

The plebes hate it when reality is shown.  They are shocked when they hear things like the customer who calls his scotch will be quickly receive repeat service than "Mr. What's On Draft?".

My Ex worked in a private club for a while so part of the extra tips included discretion, checking before telling the wife they were there (pre-cell phone) and keeping lots of secrets.  These people would like to call that a bribe, we called it rent money.

[Sebleo]

Amazing that people think tipping extra doesn’t get you better service. 

 

Sometimes non tippers do get better service because they happen to be in proximity of a good tipper. I hate it when my best tipping guests are sitting next to people that I know will not tip me because now I have to give them excellent service too. And I am not an anomaly. 

 

So, yes, everyone will get good service. Not everyone will get excellent service. 

 

Sometimes people get a strong drink because they tip well and sometimes people get a strong drink because they don’t. Doesn’t always mean you’re getting hooked up! 😂

[Sebleo]

3 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

The cheapskates HATE the idea that tipping impacts services.  They are also shocked that bartenders remember who they are.  As my ex used to say as a young bartender, "cash and boobs first".  

 

Right?  Do you remember me? Uh, of course. How can I forget that line you drew through the tip line on your $100 tab! 

[Purvis1231]

4 hours ago, ray98 said:

 

 

Yet a bartender on a ship is probably averaging 40 drinks per hour.

Ok then he/she is making over $50 per hour. 

[Purvis1231]

2 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

It gets split between the bartenders working that bar at that time.

What is the reference for this? I was told on the Dream it went to the serving making the delivery. 

[trex-de]

Recently, we give $1 per drink.  The bartender knows my name and will ask me if I want my regular if one or more are in front of me. I do not get it before those in front of me nor is my desire. 

 

I look around and rarely see others giving a cash tip. I really think this forum has the vocal minority.  Based on this forum and others, one would think bartenders would have problems finding where to put all the cash they are receiving.  I really don’t think that is the case. 

 

 

[SandiLynn]

We give cash tips even though we pay 18% of cheers package before we get our first drink. Do the bartenders get to keep their cash tips or do they have to pool them like the tips going on room card?

[coevan]

4 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

Ok then he/she is making over $50 per hour. 

 

 

is it any of our business, anyone ask what you make? 

[Purvis1231]

20 minutes ago, coevan said:

 

 

is it any of our business, anyone ask what you make? 

I am a Carnival stock holder so yes it is my business. 

[Elaine5715]

4 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

What is the reference for this? I was told on the Dream it went to the serving making the delivery. 

Depends on how your got your drink.  If you got it from the bartender, tips are split between bartenders working that bar.  Notice that they put tips in a communal jar?  If you get a drink from wait staff, wait staff split tips with bartenders making their drinks.  If they didn't, bartenders would slow play wait staff.  They also don't track with bartender made what wait team's order.  It is the same on land.  There just isn't barbacks and bussers to tip out.  

[coevan]

I own Apple too, never asked an employee what they earn. How do tips affect CCL's bottom line? I doubt cash is reported anywhere.

[Elaine5715]

25 minutes ago, SandiLynn said:

We give cash tips even though we pay 18% of cheers package before we get our first drink. Do the bartenders get to keep their cash tips or do they have to pool them like the tips going on room card?

It does not matter.  Bartenders don't pool tips, they split which is different.  And does it matter?

[Purvis1231]

I have not noticed a tip jar. 

Edited May 27, 2019 by Purvis1231
typo

[Elaine5715]

2 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

I have not noticed a tip jar. 

It is under the bar.  Hand them a cash tip.

[deadmoney]

It is human nature to take care of those that take care of you.

[coevan]

12 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

It is under the bar.  Hand them a cash tip.

 

 

I saw the tip jar right on the back bar, not hidden at all.

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 5/21/2019 at 1:45 PM, Saint Greg said:

 

What do you mean by "every time you use it they still get 18%?" You pay 18% of the package cost up front which is split among all of the bartenders. So if you buy the package you pay $363.93 over 7 days for the package, that's what your 18% is based off of. If you drink $546 worth of alcohol, you actually only tipped like 13%

 

This.  Which is why I am happy to tip an extra dollar for every drink when I have Cheers: that $9.35 per day that I "pre-paid" for gratuities with Cheers covers about 5 or 6 drinks at my usual 20% tip rate.  Since I drink well over 10 drinks per day when cruising, I will gladly tip that extra dollar to get their "actual received tips" back up to about 20% of the value of the drinks they serve.

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 5/26/2019 at 11:03 AM, ray98 said:

 

 

Yet a bartender on a ship is probably averaging 40 drinks per hour.

 

20 hours ago, Purvis1231 said:

Ok then he/she is making over $50 per hour. 

 

Bartenders (are supposed to) split their tips with the rest of the bar support staff - the guys/gals lugging buckets of ice, or cleaning up you spilt drink.

 

And I would say 40 drinks per hour is a little high unless there is a fair amount of bottled/canned product being moved - it takes a good three or four minutes for a bartender to take our order, get the frozen drink mix going, deliver it, and process our S&S cards - so that's two minutes per drink, if they can get the orders in pairs.  And that is when they are slammed, which they aren't always, even the Lido bars on the busiest of sea days - they will get slammed for 15 min straight, and then suddenly no-one orders a drink for 5 or 10 minutes, so they clean up or press limes or re-stock.  And that rate is for the "core hours" of 12 noon through 4pm-ish".  At 9pm, they might pour 10 drinks an hour for the whole bar.

 

Even with the super long days they work (I saw the same bartenders all day long from about 10am through 11pm) I bet it still doesn't add up as much as some would like to think.

 

Any way you slice it (like an orange, ha ha), it probably isn't anywhere near as good a pay/tip rate as a typical American bartender in a typical American "busy" bar.  Otherwise all those Americans would be clamoring to get a job on a cruise ship.

Edited May 27, 2019 by ProgRockCruiser