Is it tacky

[Cruisin' Ron VA]

IMO - The only good reason to tip the Head Waiter or Maitre'd at the beginning of the cruise is to ensure that you're seated at the same table as Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe...

;)

 

Otherwise?* Uber-Tacky.

 

 

You forgot Babs and Bette! :D

[hammybee]

After I took my 3/31/ on the Zuiderdam, I am surprised I even brought this up! :o.

 

The service was almost invariably excellent.

 

When I get a chance I will post my review of my wonderful cruise.

 

Delighted to hear you enjoyed yourself. Looking forward to your review.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

After I took my 3/31/ on the Zuiderdam, I am surprised I even brought this up! :o.

 

The service was almost invariably excellent.

 

When I get a chance I will post my review of my wonderful cruise.

 

Looking forward to your review. Glad to hear that you and your family enjoyed your cruise.:) Welcome Home.

 

Karin

[cruznon]

Brian,

LOL.

That was a great scene in a movie we both love!!! ;)

[Randyk47]

I guess I would have had to tip them on the Veendam to meet them. In 14 days neither made it to our table. Of course, the waiter barely made it. :rolleyes:

[JDRMYS]

There is usually no reason to tip in advance. However, if you are making a special request (are Jane and Marilyn on board?) or if you want to change tables either because of location or because you have found out at the first dinner that you will not get along with your tablemates, a gratuity to the Maitre d'Hotel is certainly in order. Shuffling around seating assignments to assure compatible tables is always a time consuming nuisance.

[joeinsb]

Although it happened on the second day of our 14-night cruise on Celebrity Summit, I gladly gave the head maitre d' a nice tip after he got us the best 2-person table on the ship (center, balcony, by the railing overlooking the lower dining room). Tacky or not, everytime we saw him he sure looked happy.

 

On Century--having read about this practice on line--I gave our cabin steward an "advance" on his future tip and let me say, our service could not have been better.

 

Granted, waving money in front of the maitre d' or any service employee in public looks kinda tacky, but if it's done discretely, I don't see the problem.

 

Something you should bear in mind, these guys don't make a ton of money. Recently, a young Filipino man who did some yard work for us told us about his brother who is a waiter on Carnival. His pay: $350 a month. That's for an 18-hour day. Why not ask him if he thinks a few bucks slipped into his hand is tacky?

[daveco58]

Speaking as a Bartender, I would take your money, laugh, and give you exactly the same service you would have received otherwise. My income is totally dependent on making everyone happy, and I just assume a good tip is coming if I do my job right. One big tip or one person stiffing me doesnt do much to affect my average.

So, yes, Tacky, and probably ineffective.

[daveco58]

<Sigh> another erroneous folk etymology. See World Wide Words (written by a real etymologist):

 

[Q] From Claire McBain, Thomas Lusk, Donna Guindon, and others: “What is the origin of the word tip as in the tip you would give a waitress at a restaurant?”

[A] Could I first dispose of the odd belief that it is an acronym for the phrase To Improve Performance? Modern folk etymology has a curious idea that the source of almost any short word lies in an acronym (perhaps because we’re surrounded by them), but the truth is that few such inventions are found before the 1930s.

Actually, this is a most interesting word. There are three distinct senses of tip in English: the one for an extremity probably comes from Old Norse; the one with the sense of overturn possibly also comes from a Scandinavian language, though nobody is sure. The one you’re asking about may derive from the German tippen, or possibly also be connected with the idea of an extremity, though authorities in language history are hedging their bets through lack of evidence.

It turns up first in the thirteenth century, meaning to touch lightly (as in the game tip and run). By the early 1600s, it had become thieves’ cant with the sense of handing something over, or passing something surreptitiously to another person. This may derive from the idea of lightly touching somebody’s arm in order to communicate. (This is supported by other appearances of the word in phrases like tip the wink and tip off and the noun tip for a piece of inside information, say on a horse race.)

One specific thing that was passed was a small sum of money. By the beginning of the eighteenth century it had taken on its modern meaning of giving a gratuity for a small service rendered; the first recorded use is in George Farquhar’s play The Beaux Stratagem of 1706 (“Then I, Sir, tips me the Verger with half a Crown”). By the 1750s, it could also mean the gratuity itself.

 

I've had many a wonderful cabin steward who fulfilled my every wish, also - and never had to resort to bribing them.

 

And I was told many years ago, it was the "touch lightly" thing - to "tip" someone was to palm a bill or coin, and discreetly pass it to someone during a handshake, as opposed to throwing an envelope at him, or leaving money laying around. Try it, if the waiter or Maitre D' is a pro, he will take the money, and get it to his pocket, without batting an eye, or looking at the bill, or allowing anyone else to discern what he is doing. Of course, now its the bill itself which is called a tip.