Do you tip at Speciality Restaurants?

[krufrank]

We have 2 “free” dinners at any speciality restaurant on our upcoming cruise. We are going to Cagney’s and then the Brazilian place. Do we need to tip after the meal? We’ve prepaid gratuities for the trip. Just wondering protocol. Thanks. 

[MacGuffin3]

Mandatory 20% tip is already included.

[krufrank]

3 minutes ago, MacGuffin3 said:

Mandatory 20% tip is already included.

But we aren’t paying after the meal. That’s my question. 

[MacGuffin3]

From what I hear there are some people who don't think 20% is sufficient and give them more.

[sid_9169]

13 minutes ago, krufrank said:

But we aren’t paying after the meal. That’s my question. 

They'll still bring you a slip afterwards, where you have the option of leaving a tip... I usually just leave cash...

[n4w]

18 minutes ago, krufrank said:

But we aren’t paying after the meal. That’s my question. 

If you wish to tip more, you may.  If you have it, the shareholder's benefit OBC cannot be used for gratuities. 

 

When you purchased the dining package or when you selected the Free at Sea, you already paid the mandatory dining gratuities. 

 

Dining and drink gratuities are separate from the DSC gratuities you prepaid for the trip.  Again, the dining and drink tips were charged to you when you selected them, so no need to tip more unless you want to.

 

Same as tipping your cabin steward, most will tip them additional.

Edited July 12, 2023 by n4w

[krufrank]

4 minutes ago, n4w said:

If you wish to tip more, you may.  If you have it, the shareholder's benefit OBC cannot be used for gratuities. 

 

When you purchased the dining package or when you selected the Free at Sea, you already paid the mandatory dining gratuities. 

 

Dining and drink gratuities are separate from the DSC gratuities you prepaid for the trip.

Thank you. 

[destar]

30 minutes ago, krufrank said:

But we aren’t paying after the meal. That’s my question.

You dont pay after meal, any free meal or alcohol package you already paid gratuity at booking. Some servers go above and beyond and bring you extra appetizer and other things, tipping additional is discretionary.

[9tee2Sea]

3 hours ago, krufrank said:

We have 2 “free” dinners at any speciality restaurant on our upcoming cruise. We are going to Cagney’s and then the Brazilian place. Do we need to tip after the meal? We’ve prepaid gratuities for the trip. Just wondering protocol. Thanks. 

if you think the service deserves an extra tip, then go ahead and leave what ever amount you feel comfortable with.  Tips are included with the specialty restaurants provided with the promo, but you act always leave extra.  Sometimes I would leave a $10.00 bill, sometimes I don't leave anything.  Your will know what feels right for you.  You will LOVE the brazil.  Be Aware, don't fill up on the great salad bar,  there will LOTS more food coming to your table.

[js]

I bring $20 to each specialty and give it to the server.

I know we "paid" already but it is something extra. I'm from NY we tip for everything LOL

 

[Beaver1975]

I am assuming you are talking about Latitudes Rewards dinners. There is no gratuity added to these dinners.  We typically tip with cash for our Latitudes Rewards dinners.

 

If you are talking about promotional dinners, then they have already paid gratuities for those dinners.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Beaver1975

[Langham1865]

To to sum up... some do and some don't.  It is up to you

[MacGuffin3]

3 minutes ago, Beaver1975 said:

There is no "mandatory" tip already added to their 2 "free" dinners. 

If it's part of the big "free at sea" package there is.  There are alternative ways to get specialty dining certificates I suppose but they didn't say anything about rewards.  As part of our cruise package we also get 2 dinners and yes, there is a mandatory 20% tip included, and nobody should feel a need to tip more than that.

[MacGuffin3]

20 hours ago, krufrank said:

we are going to the Brazilian place

Are there boats with churrasco joints on them?  Now I'm jealous.  There is nothing as "specialty" as that on Encore.

[krufrank]

20 minutes ago, MacGuffin3 said:

If it's part of the big "free at sea" package there is.  There are alternative ways to get specialty dining certificates I suppose but they didn't say anything about rewards.  As part of our cruise package we also get 2 dinners and yes, there is a mandatory 20% tip included, and nobody should feel a need to tip more than that.

Sorry, I should have said the dinners were apart of our “free at sea” package. I did say “free” in the OP but should have explained more. So, if I understand you - the 20% tip  is already factored into the price.  Thank you all for the clarification. 

[FastShip24]

20 hours ago, n4w said:

If you wish to tip more, you may.  If you have it, the shareholder's benefit OBC cannot be used for gratuities. 

 

When you purchased the dining package or when you selected the Free at Sea, you already paid the mandatory dining gratuities. 

 

Dining and drink gratuities are separate from the DSC gratuities you prepaid for the trip.  Again, the dining and drink tips were charged to you when you selected them, so no need to tip more unless you want to.

 

Same as tipping your cabin steward, most will tip them additional.

The op stated they were free meals. OP did not pay for anything

[FastShip24]

20 hours ago, krufrank said:

We have 2 “free” dinners at any speciality restaurant on our upcoming cruise. We are going to Cagney’s and then the Brazilian place. Do we need to tip after the meal? We’ve prepaid gratuities for the trip. Just wondering protocol. Thanks. 

Tip

[MacGuffin3]

24 minutes ago, FastShip24 said:

Tip

We already did.

[insidecabin]

The latitude meals include service as part of the comp, there is no extra required.

[FastShip24]

9 minutes ago, MacGuffin3 said:

We already did.

I was replying to the op

[FastShip24]

1 minute ago, insidecabin said:

The latitude meals include service as part of the comp, there is no extra required.

Why wouldn't you

[MacGuffin3]

5 minutes ago, FastShip24 said:

I was replying to the op

I was too.

[insidecabin]

6 minutes ago, FastShip24 said:

Why wouldn't you

When the service is to the required standard no more is required.

20% is more than enough

 

Why would you?

 

[FastShip24]

25 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

When the service is to the required standard no more is required.

20% is more than enough

 

Why would you?

 

Because it's a free meal. And if the service was go, I'll leave more.  

[MacGuffin3]

1 minute ago, FastShip24 said:

Because it's a free meal.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Everything, including the tip is baked into the price you paid. And for the 20% you already paid, good service should be the expectation, not the exception.