We Gave An Extra $20 And He Seemed Annoyed!

[wizard-of-roz]

The Matre D' in the Canaletto Dining Room, onboard the Golden Princess was very, very nice. He always greeted us with a verywarm "welcome" and he even had the chef make a few special appetizers for us on two of the seven nights.

We gave him a $20.00 bill, in an envelope on the last night, as well as giving our servers $10.00 each.....the Matre D' acted as if it were too little and the servers made no big deal over the extra cash.

Did we not give enough? Was what we gave an insult? Is this practice not acceptable any longer?

We noticed that NO ONE else sitting around gave anything.

What's up with this....Please enlighten me!!!! :rolleyes:

[christinelee]

You gave more than 99% of the people on the ship.....If it makes you feel any better, then you did right. Regardless of their reactions you are welcomed on my ship, in my house, and invited to dine with me and my wife anytime our paths happen to pass. You did Right!

[bplazo]

I think that what you did was a wonderfull. An extra $20.00 should have been more appreciated.

[Coral]

Whenever I have given extra money, they have always graciously thanked me for the envelope. I should also add, they did not look "in the envelope" while I was present. They were thanking me with out knowing the amount.

[TwinCruiserMom]

You did fine and he certainly should have been glad to get the extra tip. We did not tip the maitre d at all and I would hazard a guess that most people do not unless he has gone way above and beyond.

 

We did tip our waiters $20 each on the last day because they were wonderful and we, of course, left our automatic tips on. We also tipped the room steward an extra $20.

 

Personally, I think that if you leave the auto tips on, you are already giving more than a lot of people do, as there are some who remove the tips completely :eek:

 

Any extra you give should be based on what you can afford. And you should always fill out the cards (forgot what they call them) for any enployee who has gone above and beyond for you on the cruise. Those cards go in their files and can help them get time off or special treatment in one way or another.

 

There are all kinds of opinions on tipping and if you search the boards you will have hours and hours of reading on the subject :rolleyes: I think the way you handled the situation is very normal and you should not worry that you did something incorrect.

[vince_g]

For the little extra things he did, it seems like a generous token of your appreciation. Perhaps he had a bad day... or maybe you took him by surprise. As christinelee said, most people don't tip the maitre d'. Usually he doesn't really do much for most passengers. Most passengers I have spoken with said that the only time they saw him was towards the end of their cruise (bucking for a tip), and I have to agree.

 

It was generous... don't let it bother you Wizard.

[WannaCruise365]

The Matre D' in the Canaletto Dining Room, onboard the Golden Princess was very, very nice. He always greeted us with a verywarm "welcome" and he even had the chef make a few special appetizers for us on two of the seven nights.

 

We gave him a $20.00 bill, in an envelope on the last night, as well as giving our servers $10.00 each.....the Matre D' acted as if it were too little and the servers made no big deal over the extra cash.

 

Did we not give enough? Was what we gave an insult? Is this practice not acceptable any longer?

 

We noticed that NO ONE else sitting around gave anything.

 

What's up with this....Please enlighten me!!!! :rolleyes:

 

And we thought it just us..recently on the Libety of the Seas RCI we got extra envelopes (as we prepaid our tips on our Sea Pass) and left a generous additional tip to our cabin steward..frankly I would not have left anything extra (hubby loves to tip extra) as other than overly sweet HELLO'S,,we got VERY basic service...we didn't get clean bath towels half the time,bathroom countertop was rarely tidyed glasses not changed or even our ice bucket filled..granted I don't ask for much,,and I only asked about getting extra towels,, I am typically very happy with the service received from the cabin steward and don't feel right asking for every little thing..It would not have seemed so odd if she had not fallen over us and ran down the hall to say HI,,(I'd rather fewer hi's and some clean towels) we left the envelope the evening before we left of $35 extra,,(7 day cruise)..well you would have thought we'd stiffed her,didn't even look our way after the envelope was received she completely ignored us as we passed by, on another note the servers in the buffet we rather surprised and very thankful for the tips...

Since we rarely go to the dining room,,our auto tips go there..and we feel it necessary to tip the servers in the buffet,and other special crew members..Never has anyone reacted so odd to a tip..........oh well..

[chrysalis]

And we thought it just us..recently on the Libety of the Seas RCI we got extra envelopes (as we prepaid our tips on our Sea Pass) and left a generous additional tip to our cabin steward..frankly I would not have left anything extra (hubby loves to tip extra) as other than overly sweet HELLO'S,,we got VERY basic service...we didn't get clean bath towels half the time,bathroom countertop was rarely tidyed glasses not changed or even our ice bucket filled..granted I don't ask for much,,and I only asked about getting extra towels,, I am typically very happy with the service received from the cabin steward and don't feel right asking for every little thing..It would not have seemed so odd if she had not fallen over us and ran down the hall to say HI,,(I'd rather fewer hi's and some clean towels) we left the envelope the evening before we left of $35 extra,,(7 day cruise)..well you would have thought we'd stiffed her,didn't even look our way after the envelope was received she completely ignored us as we passed by, on another note the servers in the buffet we rather surprised and very thankful for the tips...

 

Since we rarely go to the dining room,,our auto tips go there..and we feel it necessary to tip the servers in the buffet,and other special crew members..Never has anyone reacted so odd to a tip..........oh well..

 

just a suggestion and comment....do you have any idea who difficult your post is to read when you use that color, small letter size and that type face?

[jckvpa0]

I think it's so odd that he opened the envelope then.

[janetz]

They looked in the envelopes right then and there? :eek: I have never seen that done. :) Don't let it bother you.

[sultan_sfo]

We always give extra in an envelop, and as mentioned by some posters above, the recipients never looked inside. BTW, we write on the envelop -- "Extra Tips" as a reassurance that we have not removed auto-tips. We also verbally thank them when we give the envelop. /Sultan

[drsb]

Is it possible they didn't realize the cash was extra? Did you tell them it was on top of the auto tip? Regardless, their reaction was tacky.

[Cruising Caribbean]

just a suggestion and comment....do you have any idea who difficult your post is to read when you use that color, small letter size and that type face?

 

Really? :rolleyes:

[Eddie4Paws]

We always give extra in an envelop, and as mentioned by some posters above, the recipients never looked inside. BTW, we write on the envelop -- "Extra Tips" as a reassurance that we have not removed auto-tips. We also verbally thank them when we give the envelop. /Sultan

 

 

Something like Additional Gratuity for Excellent Service should do fine. Thanks for the super idea!

[chrysalis]

Really? :rolleyes:

 

LOL......

[ldoc31]

Don't you wish that you had asked for the money back?

[yancycruiser]

Roz,

 

I concur with all the posters. You definitely did the right thing and I personally have never witnessed a waiter or any staff member opening an envelope in front of anyone. They have always put it in their coat pocket and thanked us.

[seacuracao]

Really? :rolleyes:

That is really funny, the "pancakes" thing, I mean:D

[Cruise Gopher]

What the heck? Why the HE(( did he open it right then and there?! Who does that!? Sheesh!

 

Sorry for your experience, I think that was very innapropriate for him to open it in front of you and everyone else.

 

Anytime we have tipped extra in an envelope the people are always very gracious and thank us very much and don't tear into the envelope like it's Christmas right in front of us.

[4cats4me]

When we tip our steward extra, we let him know it's EXTRA...

 

as far as maitre'd, we never tip them unless they do something extra

special [which has only been once]

 

But I have always noticed once they get their tips on the last evening,

they don't like to acknowledge us on the very last day -- they usually

act as if they've never seen us, but that's okay.

We know they have a lot on their minds on that last day trying to get

the rooms ready for the newcomers.

[Colo Cruiser]

Did he hold it up to the light??? :eek:

[S.S.Oceanlover]

The Matre D' in the Canaletto Dining Room, onboard the Golden Princess was very, very nice. He always greeted us with a verywarm "welcome" and he even had the chef make a few special appetizers for us on two of the seven nights.

We gave him a $20.00 bill, in an envelope on the last night, as well as giving our servers $10.00 each.....the Matre D' acted as if it were too little and the servers made no big deal over the extra cash.

Did we not give enough? Was what we gave an insult? Is this practice not acceptable any longer?

We noticed that NO ONE else sitting around gave anything.

What's up with this....Please enlighten me!!!! :rolleyes:

 

I've never given more than $10 to the maitre'd. What I'm interested in is how did he know it was $20.00 inside? I usually give my tip to the Maitre'd on my way out of the dining room and he puts the envelope into his pocket.

 

 

Bill

[Eddie4Paws]

Maybe it was his last day working for Princess and he didn't give a hoot. Either way, it was still inappropriate. I, too, have never seen that happen. I know how hard these people work and I always give additional for any service - as long as it isn't poor service.

[ccrain]

The Matre D' in the Canaletto Dining Room, onboard the Golden Princess was very, very nice. He always greeted us with a verywarm "welcome" and he even had the chef make a few special appetizers for us on two of the seven nights.

We gave him a $20.00 bill, in an envelope on the last night, as well as giving our servers $10.00 each.....the Matre D' acted as if it were too little and the servers made no big deal over the extra cash.

Did we not give enough? Was what we gave an insult? Is this practice not acceptable any longer?

We noticed that NO ONE else sitting around gave anything.

What's up with this....Please enlighten me!!!! :rolleyes:

 

Hi Roz (Give Brenda a scratch behind the ears for us please),

 

We tipped our wait staff in the dining room a little extra as well and they were very appreciative and did not open the envelopes. We have never tipped the matre de extra, but did give a large tip to a head waiter once who treated us and our guests like VIPs - Albuquerque on the Star - with dishes that weren't even on the menu!!!

 

He never opened the envelope either, but was very appreciative.

 

I'm trying to remember his name - it wasn't Mario was it? The guy with the perpetual scowl on his face? (Except during the cooking show!)

[donna travels]

They might have thought you cancelled auto tip and felt cheated. I like the idea of writing extra gratuity on the envelope. Also to the person about the room steward. They probably don't know who cancels their auto tips until after the cruise is over. Food for thought