Bartender Tipping Experience

[Petersonfcu]

Was recently on a cruise -- ship and line to remain nameless -- where I had a unique experience with a bartender.  Unique for me, anyways. So I thought I would put it out there and see what others think.

 

On the first day of this seven day cruise I sit down at a bar with my wife.    I never prepay for drinks or a drink package on a cruise, opting instead to pay for individual drinks.  At the bar we order our usual: a glass of white wine for her, and a whiskey and coke for me.    The bartender comes back with the drinks and volunteers to me “I gave you a good pour.”  So I taste it and, yeah, there is plenty of whiskey in there.   So we are talking with the bartender, and we talk a bit about where he is from (the Philippines, surprise!) and some about Filipino politics, which interests me.   So I order another round of drinks, and I watch the bartender. Sure enough, he is pouring me a double when I have not ordered a double. This happens again a third time.   I am liking it.  I am liking it a lot. 

 

My wife and I then go back to the Cabin and talk about this.   I decide I am going to give the guy a good tip the next time we go to the bar.  My wife says “what about $20?” Yup, OK. So the next day we go to the bar and I order our  drinks and give him a twenty with my cruise card. He takes the card and bill and indicates he will keep an open tab.   All the drinks again come very strong, and I am very happy. After three rounds, I tell the bartender I want to settle up, and the bill comes:  for only ONE round. OK, now I am again very happy. But I think maybe its a mistake, and the charges for the other drinks might come through later on our sign and sail account.   But the charges for the second and third round never appear.   

 

We repeat the same thing, going to the bar and giving the bartender $20,  on four days of our seven day cruise. I get strong drinks and “free” drinks again each day.   I probably would have done this for more than four days, but the bartender was not always working at the bar we frequented.

 

Later I thought some about the ethics of this whole thing.   I am not sure it is right to accept the free drinks, as that comes off the ship’s bottom line.  On the other hand, I know it is common everywhere to want a bartender to give you a good pour, even when you know that when they pour more than one jigger that also comes off the ship’s bottom line.   I wonder if others have had similar experiences and what you thought about it at the time and afterwards.

[wowzz]

I think the bar tender will soon be out of a job! 

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 hours ago, Petersonfcu said:

Was recently on a cruise -- ship and line to remain nameless -- where I had a unique experience with a bartender.  Unique for me, anyways. So I thought I would put it out there and see what others think.

 

On the first day of this seven day cruise I sit down at a bar with my wife.    I never prepay for drinks or a drink package on a cruise, opting instead to pay for individual drinks.  At the bar we order our usual: a glass of white wine for her, and a whiskey and coke for me.    The bartender comes back with the drinks and volunteers to me “I gave you a good pour.”  So I taste it and, yeah, there is plenty of whiskey in there.   So we are talking with the bartender, and we talk a bit about where he is from (the Philippines, surprise!) and some about Filipino politics, which interests me.   So I order another round of drinks, and I watch the bartender. Sure enough, he is pouring me a double when I have not ordered a double. This happens again a third time.   I am liking it.  I am liking it a lot. 

 

My wife and I then go back to the Cabin and talk about this.   I decide I am going to give the guy a good tip the next time we go to the bar.  My wife says “what about $20?” Yup, OK. So the next day we go to the bar and I order our  drinks and give him a twenty with my cruise card. He takes the card and bill and indicates he will keep an open tab.   All the drinks again come very strong, and I am very happy. After three rounds, I tell the bartender I want to settle up, and the bill comes:  for only ONE round. OK, now I am again very happy. But I think maybe its a mistake, and the charges for the other drinks might come through later on our sign and sail account.   But the charges for the second and third round never appear.   

 

We repeat the same thing, going to the bar and giving the bartender $20,  on four days of our seven day cruise. I get strong drinks and “free” drinks again each day.   I probably would have done this for more than four days, but the bartender was not always working at the bar we frequented.

 

Later I thought some about the ethics of this whole thing.   I am not sure it is right to accept the free drinks, as that comes off the ship’s bottom line.  On the other hand, I know it is common everywhere to want a bartender to give you a good pour, even when you know that when they pour more than one jigger that also comes off the ship’s bottom line.   I wonder if others have had similar experiences and what you thought about it at the time and afterwards.

That bartender will be found out and reprimanded (probably fired if it continues). 

As for you: Treat wait staff respectfully and courteously and you will find that they will often go "the extra mile" (or the "heavy pour") for you without the need to bribe them with a $20.

 

That said, if a particular bartender remembers my custom recipe for a particular cocktail, reserves fresh squeezed citrus for my mixers, etc. I will tip him extra at the end of the cruise.

[Petersonfcu]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think the bar tender will soon be out of a job! 

I thought about that, but he said he had been with the cruise line for eight years, and that he was just two weeks from the end of his current contract.   He also asked us to fill out one of those cruise personnel compliment forms, without seeming concern about what we might actually say . . . .

[MicCanberra]

We have had a similar type experience. Again no mention of the line but we went for drinks one afternoon and found out that a happy hour (buy one, get a second for $2) was commencing in 15 minutes and did we want to wait. We did provide our orders and she said that the cards will be swiped later once the happy hour kicked in. We subsequently had numerous drinks, after the hour was over by about 3 hours.  The next day I tipped the waitress and her colleague. for the rest of the cruise (another 19 nights) and it seemed that no matter when we ordered a drink, the second was always $2, time didn't matter whether it was noon right through to 10pm. Needless to say we tipped them both a few more times during the cruise and again at the end.

I suppose being regulars and also being about the only ones drinking a lot of the times, they felt it worth it.

[msmayor]

I agree with a PP - that bartender will likely be 'discovered' and risks no additional renewal contracts.  We've spoken to many a bartender on the lines we've sailed, and they keep close tabs on the liquor inventory.

 

That being said, we have experienced bar tenders who are generous in that they remember what our preferred drinks are and automatically pour/mix as we walk in and sit down.  They WILL essentially keep an open tab and track our drinks, placing just one slip in front of us to sign instead of multiple.  They WILL give us a small taste of something we want to try before we need to buy.  They are normally friendly and engaging and enhance our vacation.

 

Those bartenders always get tipped appropriately during the week and will almost surely get an extra envelope at the end of the vacation.

[sanger727]

I'm sure this happens a lot more than you hear about. I'm also sure that if he gets caught he would be disciplined/fired. As far as the ethics of that. IMO, that's on him. You didn't ask for or solicit free or heavy pour drinks. You ordered what you wanted, drank the drinks you were served, and paid the bill. Seeing as how it happened for multiple days it seems unlikely that it was a mistake on his part, and he certainly had the opportunity to fix it later. I do remember reading a thread where someone with an unlimited drinks package reported checking their account and finding drinks on it from the dining room at times they weren't there and for drinks they didn't order. It didn't hurt them any so not sure if they told guest services about it. Could be something like that was happening here. If they are strict on liquor control bartender could be charging drinks to the account of someone with an unlimited package to cover himself.

[MicCanberra]

When we have had drink packages included in our sailings, and looked at the bill, we have sometimes found we had around 25 drinks that day some of which were in bars we didn't attend and at times after we had gone to bed.

I am sure someone had those drinks, the staff would have ways to make sure that they can account for any extra heavy pours or free drinks.

[bonsai3s]

Petersonfcu...You were generous.  The bartender appreciated it.

Being a nice guy and being generous to bartenders on cruise ships goes a long way.

Yes, we know...similar scenario happened to us....many times.

 

Our first thought (when we were much younger)......that the bartender is nice but may get fired.

We've sailed various cruise lines and ships through the years....and it continued to happen.  After many years of cruising, yes...it comes down to how you treat people and tipping.

 

I'll share one example:  We were on a B2B2B cruises....after the first cruise, we went to all the crew that gave us "above and beyond" service...including bartenders.  One supervisory bartender saw me on the second sailing.  He said "Mr. Smith, my bar is open to you all day".  I happen to be walking  by his bar at 2pm searching for friends.  He saw me and yelled "What would you like to drink?"  I said "No Thanks! it's too early."  He then said "Anything you want".  Jokingly, I pointed to a bottle that I don't even know just to joke with him.  Next thing I knew he gave me a nice drink.  I tried giving him my card.  He smiled and said "On me.".

[K32682]

I've found that directly tipping bartenders early in a cruise, at the beginning of an extended stay at a hotel or at a restaurant or bar you frequent regularly often reaps a noteworthy improvement in service although not quite to the extent of the OP.  An experienced bar tender can usually manage the inventory control system sufficiently to offer the occasional free round to his preferred patrons.   

[MicCanberra]

I have found that many bartenders on cruise ships are not necessarily looking for a reward first up even if they may be hoping for one by the end.

[c-boy]

13 hours ago, K32682 said:

I've found that directly tipping bartenders early in a cruise, at the beginning of an extended stay at a hotel or at a restaurant or bar you frequent regularly often reaps a noteworthy improvement in service although not quite to the extent of the OP.  An experienced bar tender can usually manage the inventory control system sufficiently to offer the occasional free round to his preferred patrons.   

me too, after all who doesn't like making money.

[rkacruiser]

On 9/25/2019 at 2:46 AM, wowzz said:

I think the bar tender will soon be out of a job! 

 

I agree!  As others have said, the Bar Manager keeps an eye on the liquor/wine inventory for a bar.  If something seems amiss, the employees at that bar will be questioned.

 

Being a frequent patron at a particular bar does sometimes result in "very nice pours".  I notice.  I used to offer an extra tip after every drink or when I left.  Don't do that anymore because I have found that it really does not seem to make a difference.  It's the "regular" patronage that seems to be more important to the bartenders and stewards.  I will recognize the "extra nice" service by a bartender and/or steward(s) at the end of my cruise.  

 

On more than one cruise, the bartender serving me recognized me from previous cruises.  On a previous cruise(s), I had provided an additional gratuity to the gentleman at the end of my cruise.  After ordering my first CC-7 from him on that Embarkation Day, I watched as he filled my glass half full of CC.  I thanked him when he served my drink, but did not need a refill, thank you very much, when he asked me.  (He received another additional tip at the end of that cruise.) 

Edited September 26, 2019 by rkacruiser
An additional thought to my original post

[MicCanberra]

CC7 is that a Canadian whiskey?

[whogo]

48 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

CC7 is that a Canadian whiskey?

it is Canadian Club whisky and 7up (a lemon/lime soda).

[MicCanberra]

27 minutes ago, whogo said:

it is Canadian Club whisky and 7up (a lemon/lime soda).

sounds alright, I prefer it with a dry ginger ale/beer

[George C]

Tipping helps getting a good drink on land or sea, recently all my cruises had drink package but on one cruise I was drinking Hennessy cognac and when bartender saw me I had my cognac waiting for me by the time I got to the bar , with a very healthy pour. 

[c-boy]

George, I love it when the bar staff see us approaching, and we hear " countess, count "  with a smile and wave, and start to pour our cocktails as we get closer. 

[rkacruiser]

19 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I prefer it with a dry ginger ale

 

I mix up my CC-7 with CC and ginger ale.  I like that way just as well.

[MicCanberra]

I like most whiskeys, if a better one I drink it on the rocks or just neat, if a medium one, I have it with dry ginger beer.

[Ferry_Watcher]

We just got off a cruise (HAL).  We would go to one particular bar (not super crowded or large) for the pre-dinner Happy Hour.  Despite tipping $5, we still had to request the mini carafe of nuts for our table (even though other servers were giving them to their guests).  Sometimes even a tip doesn't guarantee basic service!  We still continued to tip each day irregardless.

 

Maybe it is the difference tipping the actual Bartender vs Server.

 

[nalatrixie74]

one day lounging by the pool a waiter served me several drinks over a few hours, each drink was only $5. i mentioned it, he said it's all for you miss lori! i tipped rather well i thought. the next day i sat in same area, happy to see him coming, i ordered again, got charged full price that day. which was fine, thats what i expected in the first place. but he either didn't seem to remember me, or i didn't tip as well as i thought i did. he was still very nice

[CruisingAlong4Now]

Simply put, you stole drinks.  There is no ethical question. You knowingly took things without paying. That's stealing. The bartender made you complicit in his stealing.

 

The first time the bartender didn't charge me for drinks I had, I would have quietly said: "I think you miscounted. I actually had 3 drinks, not one."  That would tell the bartender that you were not going along with his scheme to steal from his employer and enrich himself.

[K32682]

2 hours ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

Simply put, you stole drinks.  There is no ethical question. You knowingly took things without paying. That's stealing. The bartender made you complicit in his stealing.

 

The first time the bartender didn't charge me for drinks I had, I would have quietly said: "I think you miscounted. I actually had 3 drinks, not one."  That would tell the bartender that you were not going along with his scheme to steal from his employer and enrich himself.

 

Not really.  Reaching behind the bar when no one is looking, grabbing a bottle and pouring yourself a stiff one is stealing.  More accurately the person who accepts the drink might be accused of receiving if the drink was actually stolen and not given with the approval of the bartender's superior.  

[GrammieK]

Maybe it was “the drink of the day” and was served at a lower cost?

 

its really a stretch to call it stealing!