Bar Tips

[beerman2]

10 hours ago, LGW59 said:

After my first visit to most bars and giving a proper introduction the the bartender, my drinks almost magically appear as I arrive at the bar going forward.  

What might be lost on people from overseas is many, many bartenders/servers work for a low wage in the US. And they depend on tips from us to make a decent wage.

Pretty sure for the hours crew work on the ship, tips are very beneficial.

[UKstages]

On 2/18/2022 at 2:02 PM, GeezerCouple said:

How do they do it!?  

 

Do certain crew members write this down in some central informal data base?

 

it's part of their culture. and i think they really do remember.

 

there are countries where hospitality is an art, including, but not limited to,  singapore, thailand and the philippines. as many of us have experienced, 60% or more of customer-facing crew members onboard at any given time can be filipino. anyway, if you hold a service job, particularly overseas, you're considered an elite member of your family because you have achieved great status. (and are likely sending money back home.)

 

so i think many of them really do remember minute details.

 

i ate at a brunch in a fancy hotel in bangkok years ago... i came back eight years later to be served by (mostly) the same staff, each of whom seemingly remembered my name and details of my job and my prior visit.

 

not surprisingly, tipping memorably does help folks to remember you. it is also possible that they have a card on you, on which they keep notes.

 

it's also possible, for VIP guests, that your photo is "backstage" in the employee areas. i've done a lot of travel to the philippines and i frequent one particular hotel in manila. apparently, whenever a "VIP" or frequent guest or high value customer is in the house, they post their linked in photo behind the scenes to alert employees!

 

i only know this because my linkedin photo at the time was about fifteen years old and a couple of the employees brought it out to show me and insisted it couldn't possibly be me. (ah, the ravages of time!)

 

 

[fabnfortysomething]

18 hours ago, LGW59 said:

After my first visit to most bars and giving a proper introduction the the bartender, my drinks almost magically appear as I arrive at the bar going forward.  

funny our drinks also magically appear by the brilliant bartenders getting to know their best customers

we dont tip extra but always fill in the vacation hero cards

[justhappy]

Pro tip re cash for tips or whatever,

the ATM machines in the casino that redeem slot machine cash out tickets can also break bills. Just insert a twenty, it will break it into 4 fives. Then if you want ones insert a five. They are always open, even when the casino is not.

[Cruising Lynne]

8 hours ago, fabnfortysomething said:

funny our drinks also magically appear by the brilliant bartenders getting to know their best customers

we dont tip extra but always fill in the vacation hero cards

I am glad you posted this. We do tip extra, but I also feel that since you do pre-pay gratuities with the package, you should be treated just as well as others. It makes me angry if I am at the bar and get skipped over because some one else may be more "special". Also, it may not be such a bad thing if the bar tenders don't have to handle dirty cash. When I get a drink at a busy bar, I am never sure where I should put the money. What does everyone else do?

[JGmf]

6 minutes ago, Cruising Lynne said:

When I get a drink at a busy bar, I am never sure where I should put the money. What does everyone else do?

 

At a busy bar on the ship, you need to give them your card to swipe in your drink package, put the money on the bar as you are handing the bartender the your card.  They'll know it was from you.

 

[rxlowry]

17 minutes ago, Cruising Lynne said:

I am glad you posted this. We do tip extra, but I also feel that since you do pre-pay gratuities with the package, you should be treated just as well as others. It makes me angry if I am at the bar and get skipped over because some one else may be more "special". Also, it may not be such a bad thing if the bar tenders don't have to handle dirty cash. When I get a drink at a busy bar, I am never sure where I should put the money. What does everyone else do?

Just off Joy.  We had great service from the first drink. Bartenders got to know us by name.  We didn’t tip extra.  It’s been the same on full capacity.  I don’t expect a drink in seconds or to cut ahead of others. We have given some tips at the end of a long cruise if the service was special.  For example, on the Spirit the bartenders would cover our drinks at the bar if we left to go dance.  
My advice is treat them well too.  Smile, please and thank you, ask about them if they aren’t getting slammed.  It goes a long way. 

[MoCruiseFan]

On 2/18/2022 at 9:50 AM, Mikial said:

After a number of cancellations and delays, we are - finally - headed out on the Bliss Sunday!

 

For those who have recently sailed -- are we tipping on the card at the bars these days, or should I be bringing a roll of singles with me?  Not sure if NCL has gone "cashless" since the pandemic...

As always the only correct answer to tipping questions is to tip whomever you want any amount you want any time you want.  What others may or may not do is irrelevant.

 

[MNcruisingcouple]

My wife and I have a slightly different strategy when it comes to tipping.  The tips are included in the package so whatever we give is being extra generous, assuming of course they get the pre-paid tips.  That is another subject and debate. 

 

Usually on the first day we scout the bars and more often than not Maltings becomes our favorite as I like whiskey drinks and single malt scotch.  We usually learn the bartenders' names and take an interest in them.  We always say hi as we walk by.  They always greet us by name as well and usually have our drinks started when they see us coming.  This is before any tipping.  While many have focused on them learning your name, it is nice to learn theirs as well.  Then sometime during the cruise we tip with a bigger bill to each of the bartenders we have interacted with.  This eliminates the need for a lot of $1's $5's.  This can work by the pool too if you tend to sit in a similar spot each day. 

 

Honestly the service usually is top notch all the way through using this strategy.  They are away from their families, as many of you have pointed out, so really trying to brighten there day with friendliness and kindness in addition to cash is appreciated. 

 

There is no right or wrong way to tip.  It is entirely subjective.  This is the strategy that has worked well for us.  Cruise well everyone!!

[aubreyc1988]

I don't have a hard rule when it comes to tipping extra, especially on drinks. If I'm sitting at the bar for a while and the bartender has taken good care of me and I have some cash in my pocket, I usually will leave some money. If I was sitting at the bar for a while and the bartender has taken good care of me and I DO NOT have cash in my pocket, then I just say thanks so much and leave. I've prepaid all my gratuities so I refuse to feel bad about not tipping extra all the time. 

[Lionkingrichard]

So just off the Dawn and service was great! Tipped the Bartenders and drink servers a little extra each day and they really appreciated. 

 

So on the ship people were saying that none of the staff gets the tips we prepay or at the end(daily).

 

NCL sent a letter to our room that said the Bartenders and drink servers, also Butlers/Concierge and also Children clubs don't share tips. It is used to pay their salaries.

 

So the extra tips they get really do help them!

 

 

[sanger727]

I don't typically tip the bars extra on NCL. Assuming you have free at sea you are already paying $20 pp pd in gratuities. I rarely have more than 5 drinks a day, usually less; making my per drink tip already $4+. I think that is ample. 

[geegee1]

 

On 2/18/2022 at 4:04 PM, Lionkingrichard said:

Plus if there are 5 people waiting for a drink and mine somehow shows up first, well.

I'll usually start off with a large tip on the 2nd day after figuring out where I'm going to be spending most of my time.

So I have had this happen a few times on a cruise.  Usually I'm just waiting for a beer, so it's easy for them to grab it and bring it to me on their way to someone else.

 

5 hours ago, billslowsky said:

If I've been waiting and your drink magically appears, so does my complaint card.

That's sad

[missinver]

17 hours ago, Lionkingrichard said:

So just off the Dawn and service was great! Tipped the Bartenders and drink servers a little extra each day and they really appreciated. 

 

So on the ship people were saying that none of the staff gets the tips we prepay or at the end(daily).

 

NCL sent a letter to our room that said the Bartenders and drink servers, also Butlers/Concierge and also Children clubs don't share tips. It is used to pay their salaries.

 

So the extra tips they get really do help them!

 

 

We got this notification as well on the Bliss last week.  As not everyone goes to the bar for a drink, they are not included in the daily service charge.  We enjoy a drink at the bar at night so tipped bar staff separately.  

[JustSomeLady]

2 hours ago, missinver said:

We got this notification as well on the Bliss last week.  As not everyone goes to the bar for a drink, they are not included in the daily service charge.  We enjoy a drink at the bar at night so tipped bar staff separately.  

The bar tips are included in the drinks packages, but when you add up how many times someone goes up to a bar for drinks versus the 20% gratuity of the package cost, it isn’t a ton of money.
 

My opinion: a dollar a drink is a good rule for beer/wine, and a couple dollars is good for a specialty cocktail. And if you take up a bar seat for a couple hours, leave $5 or more, depending on how long you’re there and what you order.

 

Should you be tarred and feathered if you don’t? No. But you should have to wait longer than the guy giving monetary gratitude to the server.

[deliver42]

I always tip the bartender, or the waiter in a bar for our drinks. In cash.