What do you tip your YC butler at the end?

[ColdCruise]

17 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

Do not forget that tipping culture is very different in various parts of the world.

 

In US when you ask for the bill. 18% service ha sbeen added and you are expexted to leave another 15% as a tip.

 

In Europe and Britain (I Know Britian is in Europe, but getting ready for Brexit), on a small bill we round up to the next pound / euro, for larger bill amounts.

 

So you see there are no right or wrong amounts to tip. It i swhat you are comfortable with.

 

I am in the US and have lived in Germany. 

In the US, you typically tip between 15-18% of the pre-tax bill, 20% for exceptional service maybe. I’m in Maryland and our state sales tax is 6% for everything except alcohol, which is 9%. Unless it’s poor service, I tip 18% - so easy to calculate since its either 3x or 2x the sales tax.

 

Usually an automatic tip (typically 18%) is only added to the bill for large groups (usually 8+,sometimes 6) or for special events. If that is added automatically, no one pays an additional percent, although people sometimes round up. If I can get the auto tip taken off, because they often try to charge it on the entire bill, including the tax ... which is illogical and greedy. If the server removes the auto tip, I tend to be generous.

 

 

[dexddd]

16 hours ago, seahags said:

,..perhaps, but there wouldn't be sales tax on a cruise?

You haven't sailed NCL?  They'll pass through any local sales tax on "Free" drinks while in ports that charge tax.

[seahags]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

You haven't sailed NCL?  They'll pass through any local sales tax on "Free" drinks while in ports that charge tax.

Yikes!  Nope, haven't sailed NCL...😬

[Nymich]

19 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

 

I am in the US and have lived in Germany. 

In the US, you typically tip between 15-18% of the pre-tax bill, 20% for exceptional service maybe. I’m in Maryland and our state sales tax is 6% for everything except alcohol, which is 9%. Unless it’s poor service, I tip 18% - so easy to calculate since its either 3x or 2x the sales tax.

 

In the US it is suggested to tip 20% of the total bill including tax.  Ask any waiter or waitress.   One can still do what they want but never say it is suggested to tip pre tax.

 

 

 

[Brendaflamingo]

His name was Vishnu on the Seaside last September.

He is Indian and very tall. He can speak English very well but he said he cannot read it.

Im worried when I go again and if I have great service, I don't want to offend my butler, if he usually gets more.

Thanks

[rkacruiser]

9 minutes ago, Brendaflamingo said:

Im worried when I go again and if I have great service, I don't want to offend my butler, if he usually gets more.

 

CGTNormandie's post states the gratuity situation well, I think.  Cruise staff appreciate whatever a guest chooses to offer as an extra gratuity.  I have had some who expressed surprise and much appreciation to my providing an extra gratuity.   

 

Because of the recent increasing daily hotel service charge, I am of the opinion, staff (at least on HAL and Princess) are not expecting anything more than what that service charge provides.  Having recently sailed on Westerdam and Coral Princess, in my dining area on each ship, I was the only guest that offered an extra gratuity to dining staff.  (On Coral, my Assistant Steward even asked my stateroom number after I gave his partner and him my envelope.  I think he may have been concerned that I had removed the automatic gratuity which I hadn't.)  On Coral Princess, the bar/lounge staff at Crooner's were so consistently pleasant, entertaining, and gracious, on that last night before Vancouver, the staff received many extra gratuities.  (Honestly, I never have observed so many envelopes and bills being offered by guests.)

[capriccio]

Just now, rkacruiser said:

 

Having recently sailed on Westerdam and Coral Princess, in my dining area on each ship, I was the only guest that offered an extra gratuity to dining staff.  (On Coral, my Assistant Steward even asked my stateroom number after I gave his partner and him my envelope.  I think he may have been concerned that I had removed the automatic gratuity which I hadn't.)  On Coral Princess, the bar/lounge staff at Crooner's were so consistently pleasant, entertaining, and gracious, on that last night before Vancouver, the staff received many extra gratuities.  (Honestly, I never have observed so many envelopes and bills being offered by guests.)

 

We've been sailing on Princess for 12 years.  Putting your name and room number on your tip envelop ensures (as has been explained to us the times we or our traveling companions forgot to do so) that the steward, wait staff, and/or bartender receives the entire gratuity after it is confirmed that you left the auto-gratuities in place.

[modes]

Some people are constantly asking for the butler to do things for them and therefore you should tip more. When we sailed the YC we never asked the butler for anything extra for him to do for us. Now after reading some reviews from recently they are escorting you to the shows and off the ship etc. we do not need this we go on our own so we tipped accordingly but not $150.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

24 minutes ago, modes said:

Some people are constantly asking for the butler to do things for them and therefore you should tip more. When we sailed the YC we never asked the butler for anything extra for him to do for us. Now after reading some reviews from recently they are escorting you to the shows and off the ship etc. we do not need this we go on our own so we tipped accordingly but not $150.

 

You tipped according to you own personal feelings and well you should.  Each individual is free to tip or not to tip as they please.  It is a personal decision.  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

1 hour ago, Brendaflamingo said:

His name was Vishnu on the Seaside last September.

He is Indian and very tall. He can speak English very well but he said he cannot read it.

Im worried when I go again and if I have great service, I don't want to offend my butler, if he usually gets more.

Thanks

 

Brenda, you will NEVER offend any butler with a $150 tip!  

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

Putting your name and room number on your tip envelope

 

 

I put the name of the person(s) receiving the gratuity.  I did not include my name or stateroom number on the envelope.  I did sign the short note I enclosed with the money in the envelope.

[ColdCruise]

6 hours ago, Nymich said:

 

 Why would you ask the server (waiter/waitress) how much of a tip to leave? If my boss asked me how much of a pay rise I want/deserve (maybe not the same thing 😏), of course I would state a higher amount. 

 

And always pretax - the server (or even the business) is not providing you anything with the tax, they are just acting as the governments’ tax collector. 

 

However, as tipping is a personal choice, reasonable people can agree to disagree. 

 

I just would not not like to give non-US based people the idea that they need to tip anything additional when an automatic tip or gratuity has been added to their bill, not that anyone would expect to receive more than 20% (esp not 18%+15%!).

 

This could be confusing ...especially when a visitor’s home country pays wait staff a living salary and they don’t rely on tips for their pay. The really liked the principle of “just round up”, or leave a few extra Euro for great service. Then again, I also liked having the VAT included in the posted price in stores (not saying I liked paying stiff taxes, just liked having it rolled in),

 

Btw we do eat out quite a lot where we live in the greater DC area, in a lot of different (mom-n-pop to chi-chi chef table) types of restaurants and seldom have seen any suggestion of a 20% tip.

[Nymich]

2 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

 

 

However, as tipping is a personal choice, reasonable people can agree to disagree.  Yes we can and tipping 15% in the US is someone who is paying a 1990's tip.  And not even on the full bill!   

 

I just would not not like to give non-US based people the idea that they need to tip anything additional when an automatic tip or gratuity has been added to their bill, not that anyone would expect to receive more than 20% (esp not 18%+15%!).  I don't think anyone was saying that except you bringing it up.

 

 

 

[JAGR]

14 hours ago, Nymich said:

 

I would never tip on tax.  Most restaurants around here that put suggested tip amounts on the bill base the amount on the gross, not net total. 

[Fogfog]

On 8/15/2019 at 6:39 AM, dexddd said:

You haven't sailed NCL?  They'll pass through any local sales tax on "Free" drinks while in ports that charge tax.

This just happened to us

We had the premium plus package..

they charged us a variety of charges the first day from the Spinnaker Lounge... on the drinks before/during sail away!! I KNOW some of those we were technically OUT of port and yet in the channel or US waters.  BUT had not charged us any taxes on the drinks form the Garden View during lunch. It was crazy. We never signed for anything... it was all just charged to the room

 

[rattanchair]

15 hours ago, Brendaflamingo said:

His name was Vishnu on the Seaside last September.

He is Indian and very tall. He can speak English very well but he said he cannot read it.

Im worried when I go again and if I have great service, I don't want to offend my butler, if he usually gets more.

Thanks

Dear BF,  Yes the famous Vishnu Domah, butler extraordinaire. I remarked to him how fluent he was speaking to passengers in the YC in French. Asked him how many languages he speaks. He is from Mauritius and besides speaking English, French, Creole, Italian (taught to him on board Italian language classes); he also speaks Hindi having been sent to religious school by his parents, in his youth. He stated that this ability has given him a great advantage in the hospitality field, naturally....

    Now I understand why you made up this thread. You experienced someone that far exceeded you wildest expectations !! Yes, I went as far as writing MSC about how Vishnu should be elevated to butler trainer. That it was because of his service, we went to the future cruise desk and booked two more Royal Suites. I was more in line with the post from Grateful RIC until we had Vishnu. We felt 'compelled' to tip him $400 and DW questioned me if it was enough? We have never tipped so much to one person for a week of service as we did to Vishnu. I thought he only serviced the Royal Suites because he was always looking for us, thought he had a GPS on us and I asked him how many cabins in YC does he provide butler service to...13 !!!   He was very kind when he received our gratuity,  he placed his hands, palms together in front of his heart in thanking the divine within us all. We told him we did not think it was enough for the service he provided us this week.

[rattanchair]

16 hours ago, modes said:

Some people are constantly asking for the butler to do things for them and therefore you should tip more. When we sailed the YC we never asked the butler for anything extra for him to do for us. Now after reading some reviews from recently they are escorting you to the shows and off the ship etc. we do not need this we go on our own so we tipped accordingly but not $150.

Dear Mo,  I hear you loud and clear. We consider ourselves very capable travelers. Been around the world several times like most of you on the CC boards. Cruises, lost count after the first hundred (started early no kids). Let me just say that until you experience someone so exceptional you will never understand where we are coming from. This Vishnu, put us in another place and time, reserved only for the 'leisure class'..Even my 'observations' were affected as I posted them to you all. I was accused of playing a 'role of landed gentry' and rightly so.  Being addressed as "Sir R" so many times in a day gets to you, in a rather 'fun' way. All the world's a stage and Vishnu pressed all the right buttons with me.

Edited August 16, 2019 by rattanchair

[max996]

5 hours ago, rattanchair said:

Dear Mo,  I hear you loud and clear. We consider ourselves very capable travelers. Been around the world several times like most of you on the CC boards. Cruises, lost count after the first hundred (started early no kids). Let me just say that until you experience someone so exceptional you will never understand where we are coming from. This Vishnu, put us in another place and time, reserved only for the 'leisure class'..Even my 'observations' were affected as I posted them to you all. I was accused of playing a 'role of landed gentry' and rightly so.  Being addressed as "Sir R" so many times in a day gets to you, in a rather 'fun' way. All the world's a stage and Vishnu pressed all the right buttons with me.

We had Vishnu last month as well, and agree that he went above and beyond throughout our week on board. We had our kids with us, and my wife and I wanted some "husband & wife" time on various nights throughout the week so we turned on the do not disturb light. Do you know that Vishnu would not allow our kids to even knock on the door when that light was on? LOL! I gave him an extra $100 just for that! He is the best in the business.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

So what is this I hear about Vishnu retiring to the upscale restaurant and bar he is building on Mauritius?  All funded by generous YC pax on MSC!  🤩😋😎

 

“Vishnu put his hand over his heart” after Rattan gave him a $400 tip.  Come to think of it...I would have put my hand over my heart if I ever gave out a $400 tip!!😱😳

Edited August 16, 2019 by CGTNORMANDIE

[Brendaflamingo]

Thank you Rattanchair,

Finally someone who understood what I was speaking about.   All this tax and percentage made no sense at all.

I guess you have to experience Vishnu to understand as we have. Right Max996?  Now it makes we wonder if you don't have Vishnu what experience will I have then. I just wanted to have my ducks in a row when it comes to tipping a butler since this is new to me.

 Im sailing on the Divina in spring with about 20 other people. Its going to be my wedding/honeymoon. We are all in the YC and Im wondering how they are going to plan our sitting in the YC restaurant. Ha Ha It really doesn't matter.

I became engaged on the Seaside last year. I have to say with the YC experience that was the best cruise Ive ever been on and Ive been on about 60.There was about 8 of us on that cruise. My son got married in Miami and we all went on a cruise. It was so nice in the YC experience I felt like I didn't want to be with all the crowds. If they had a casino for the YC I could have just stayed there the entire time.  The Seaside has a great design with everything in the same area for the YC. I see that is a little different on the Divina. They have the restaurant on the back of the ship and YC is at the front. Its all great though, to have such a problem to have to walk to our exclusive dining. Ha Ha

Well I hope all you people experience Vishnu one day and you know experience the magic spell.  Vishnus ears must be ringing.

in 5 languages.

thanks

[rattanchair]

3 hours ago, max996 said:

I gave him an extra $100 just for that! He is the best in the business.

Dear Max,   You are a 'man for all seasons', ' a man of principle, envied by rivals'!

[rattanchair]

39 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

So what is this I hear about Vishnu retiring to the upscale restaurant and bar he is building on Mauritius?  All funded by generous YC pax on MSC!  🤩😋😎

 

“Vishnu put his hand over his heart” after Rattan gave him a $400 tip.  Come to think of it...I would have put my hand over my heart if I ever gave out a $400 tip!!😱😳

Dear Norm,   I do not believe you for a second!   You are too fine a gentleman!

[rattanchair]

1 hour ago, Brendaflamingo said:

Now it makes we wonder if you don't have Vishnu what experience will I have then. 

Dear BF,  My sentiments exactly!!! We are booked back in the YC for Thanksgiving and Vishnu will be on vacation til January.. From reports from fellow CC poster PS Markle, Butler Leslie appears to be trained by Vishnu. We will see if the other butlers can perform the 'magic' of Master Vishnu.

   I must tell you about a stocky, Honduran waiter on the Divina, Manuel....Exceptional! We had to tipped   him $200, por mi y por mi senora! He would stand several tables away watching our every motion and run over to fill any need. (Royal Suites do have their advantages) . Best waiter we ever had, including our fabulous time on the Seaside RS. A $50 tip to the maitre d' on day one made for smooth sailing the rest of the cruise.

    Congratulations to DH on your wedding/honeymoon and best wishes to you! I will leave you with a Dr. Laura quote which I took to heart, "choose wisely and always treat kindly" and I am sure your marriage will last a hundred years !

Edited August 16, 2019 by rattanchair

[CGTNORMANDIE]

2 hours ago, rattanchair said:

Dear Norm,   I do not believe you for a second!   You are too fine a gentleman!

 

Thank you sir.  From one gentleman to another.

[DaCruiseBug]

We went on the Seaside last year and read all these comments of people tipping $50 here, $100 there etc and we were like...no way are we tipping that much we're so low maintenance we don't need anything.

 

We went on the cruise and these butlers are running around 24/7 taking care of you. Every time within 20 seconds of finishing a drink there was a new one on the way. It was amazing.

 

At the end of our cruise we tipped our butler $100 and the room steward $50. They were both outstanding and deserved the tip.