If i were to receive bad service...

For example: Being that I have prepaid my gratuities and I happened to be waited on in the MDR and my waiter had/got a bad attitude, is there a way to reduce the amount of tip that that particular waiter would receive?

Thank you!

For example: Being that I have prepaid my gratuities and I happened to be waited on in the MDR and my waiter had/got a bad attitude, is there a way to reduce the amount of tip that that particular waiter would receive?

 

Thank you!

I do not believe you can remove or reduce prepaid gratuities. There was a lengthy thread here several months ago on that topic and the conclusion was no, as I recall.

Sent from my Kindle Fire

I would talk to Maître-d as soon asap to request another table and tell him why, I would also make sure this goes to comment card. We had a issue once on Princess and another couple complained to management and waiter was on best behavior for he rest of the cruise. Not sure about removing tips, preferred the old days when you just tipped waiter etc at end of the week

Each section of the dining room has a head waiter. the head waiter oversees the waiters and service in that section (and gets a portion of that prepaid gratutity), and should try to make sure everything meets your expectations. Generally, your head waiter will introduce him or herself at your table (the first night can be hectic, so second night is pretty common time), but if you need your head waiter at anytime, ask to speak with him or her. if the head waiter does not solve the problem, you escalate the issue up to the MadreD or higher (food and beverage manager or even hotel director), but I do not think you will need to do so. seems rare that a waiter would give you attitude anyway.

Even if there were a way it would be highly unlikely that you'd want to. We've been on something like 15 cruises with RCI and have never had a bad dining room experience. We've had some that were good and some that were great and some that were really great, but never anyone with a bad attitude.

So, I think the likelihood of an experience being so bad that you'd want to go to the trouble of recovering the $3 portion of the tip that the waiter gets for that day would be pretty small.

And, if you got a waiter that you just didn't like for whatever reason, you could always request someone else for other nights. That's kind of one of the nice things about MTD. Even if you're doing traditional dining I think they would try really hard to move you if you had a bad experience one of the nights.

Tom

You might get lucky and be assigned to one of the tables where you wait on yourself

While it's only happened twice in many, many cruises, we immediately told our headwaiter of the issue and had a new waiter the next night. Absolutely no reason to "suffer" with bad service and then whine about it later - deal with it then. Same thing with room steward.

Sure...but you will tell their superior, and have the problem corrected...rather than suffering thru the entire cruise! Right? If that doesn't work, then, by all means, reduce your tip....that's how it works!

I agree, talk to the head waiter if it happens. But we have been on 70+ cruises and can honestly say we have never had bad service. Yes, some better than others, but never so bad we had to move to another table.

, preferred the old days when you just tipped waiter etc at end of the week

You can still do it this way after you remove your auto tips. They still have tip envelopes at guest services that they are happy to provide you with.

Anticipating poor service? Might become a self fulfilled prophecy. Why not expect great service? Also might become a self fulfilled prophecy. You have the power to shape your own experience.

We tip on our own. You can go to Guest Relations ( think its called something else) on your first night, have them back off the automatic tipping. Then you can tip how you wish at the end of the cruise. Most the time we get great service. However, sometimes we don't. We still tip but maybe not as generously as we would otherwise. These workers are generally true professionals that work very hard for you. You will likely have great service.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We never had poor service from any of the employees. I treat them like I want to be treated. Some people are jerks from the get go and treat employees with disrespect. I am sure they do the same in their every day life as well.

It isn't the employees fault in the dining rooms that they are short on help. Blame RC. We saw that in the evening dinner halls. RC needs to hire more

help. Those people had too many tables to wait on. We felt that on the Quantum.

For example: Being that I have prepaid my gratuities and I happened to be waited on in the MDR and my waiter had/got a bad attitude, is there a way to reduce the amount of tip that that particular waiter would receive?

 

Thank you!

If you receive bad service immediatley report it to the Headwaiter. If that fails report it to the Dining Room Manager. Everyone has a boss and they all live on the ship. The Hotel Director is the head person on that side of ship management and will gladly get his/her staff in line.

Also keep in mind that the tips go to waiters in the breakfast and lunch venues also. So if only your MDR waiter is bad, you may not want to not tip all the other eating venue waiters. But, as others said, if it's so bad you want to not tip, then talk to the Head Waiter and request a change. But to be honest, I doubt this will be a problem. Even the "worst" waiters we've had have earned the standard tip.

We tip on our own. You can go to Guest Relations ( think its called something else) on your first night, have them back off the automatic tipping. Then you can tip how you wish at the end of the cruise. Most the time we get great service. However, sometimes we don't. We still tip but maybe not as generously as we would otherwise. These workers are generally true professionals that work very hard for you. You will likely have great service.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I believe the OP was referring to pre-paid gratuities.

Also keep in mind that the tips go to waiters in the breakfast and lunch venues also. So if only your MDR waiter is bad, you may not want to not tip all the other eating venue waiters. But, as others said, if it's so bad you want to not tip, then talk to the Head Waiter and request a change. But to be honest, I doubt this will be a problem. Even the "worst" waiters we've had have earned the standard tip.

I agree, for me the standard tip is just part of the cruise price. They have to earn the wow envelopes by providing good service. For bars, just be sure to carry plenty of ones and fives for outstanding results.

Hey papaflamingo, have fun on the Quantum and watch out for women drivers in the bumper cars....my neck still hurts.:D

Posted in error

We received extremely poor service while in the Cantina on Radiance of the Seas, it was so bad that we actually walked out before the food arrived. I'm pretty patient and usually not bothered and have never walked out because of service but this was awful. We called and complained and were immediately told that dinner in the restaurant of our choice would be complimentary and the manager was extremely apologetic. We ended up having a great dinner at the Samba Grill. It was amazing and the service was great.

Royal won't refund any prepaid tips. In the case of bad service the guest has no recourse. That's a dirty little secret of prepaid tips no one ever wants to disclose

I don't know , but I have a problem with anticipating bad service. Your going on a cruise to have a good time, why would you think about what could go wrong up front????

Call me crazy but I think you are looking for a reason to not tip

I have never had bad service, I have enjoyed excellent, good and OK service in the MDR. Having said that, many times the MDR service is not the waiters fault, but other reasons from the galley to how the Head waiter has set up his tables and the sometimes ridiculous requests from other tables in his or her zone, I can speak from experience on that. Or maybe he is just having a bad day, sorry that happens to all of us once in a while, luck may have it that it might effect you on a give day.

I say just pay the amount RC requests it is about the same that you would tip at local restaurants which is now about 20%.

For us yesterday, Yes we ate out all day, not every day thank heavens

Breakfast with tip $18 tip $3.60 I round it to $4

Lunch at local place $22 tip $4.40 Rounded to $5

Dinner with wine $75 tip $13 yes, I did not tip well LOL

Total tips $22

Anticipating poor service? Might become a self fulfilled prophecy. Why not expect great service? Also might become a self fulfilled prophecy. You have the power to shape your own experience.

So true.

I'd like to point out that service is slipping. This is NOT due to the wait staff, only more tables to serve. On my last cruise, after looking around for a water or bread refill, I could see my assigned staff busy with other tables, cruisers coming in late, and they never stopped. It would be different if they were hanging out at the wait station ignoring me, however this was not the case.

We politely watched and caught their attention and requested what we needed.

Did I feel at times we waited too long prior to service five years ago, certainly. However with prices staying low, cutbacks occur and that personalized service suffers, no fault of those serving. My two cents on the issue.

That being said, purposeful poor service, as others have guided you, is handled by the head waiter.

Please know that your wait staff also serves breakfast and lunch, and they alternate a week out of a month in the buffet, where tips have to be shared with them. They also share those megar tips with the assistant and head waiter. So for a meal that you would have tipped $15 at any restaurant, you only tipped $5... as your cabin steward and what not take up some of your prepaid gratuities.

What you will take back in your pocket is minimal, compared to the minimal amount that the wait staff receives. I'd try several venues of managerial contact prior to penalizing these folks for a tough situation in which they work. My own two cents again.

IF you get great service, reward them, I do, even in the windjammer.I hope you have a fabulous time! And write a review :)

Royal won't refund any prepaid tips. In the case of bad service the guest has no recourse. That's a dirty little secret of prepaid tips no one ever wants to disclose

This is interesting to read and hopefully not true! Due to having a last minute cancellation of one person of our party of 6, and then deciding that another person would be sleeping in a cabin they weren't booked in, we ended up with 1 person staying in a cabin where 2 were booked. We wanted to remove all of the gratuities for the 2nd person in that cabin, and went to Guest Services on the 1st day of the cruise and they supposedly refunded the pre-paid gratuities, but I've yet to see it on my credit card (this was done Feb. 8). We did tip extra cash to the cabin host where the person actually stayed, and also tipped the 2 dining room servers additional to make up for the removed gratuity.

I didn't receive anything from Guest Services, so hopefully the refunded gratuities will actually show up on my credit card.

I'm also expecting that the pre-paid gratuities and taxes/fees for the person who didn't make the cruise to show up, and they haven't yet either.