Select Dining with no Gratuities

If Gratuities have been removed can you go into select dining and tip wait staff ??

Did you remove the gratuties? Yes you could give cash to the wait staff just not sure why the gratuties were removed. The cabin Stewart and other staff are also a part of the standard gratuities.

People don't tip the wait staff on a ship on a daily basis, and you most likely won't have the same wait staff every night, so how will you handle this? And, how were you able to remove the auto tips when you're assigned to Select? Generally, you're not able to remove those tips because of what I cited above.

If Gratuities have been removed can you go into select dining and tip wait staff ??

We have seen people tip wait staff toward the end of a cruise. The waiters were required to check a list of people that had paid the standard gratuities. They had to pool and share any tips that came from people that had removed tips.

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People don't tip the wait staff on a ship on a daily basis, and you most likely won't have the same wait staff every night, so how will you handle this? And, how were you able to remove the auto tips when you're assigned to Select? Generally, you're not able to remove those tips because of what I cited above.

You can choose select dining without having to add the gratuities -that's been gone a while I think. I booked back in January and could choose select without adding it.

It is my experience that you no longer need to pre pay gratuities for select dining. What will happen however is that the standard grats will be automatically deducted on a daily basis unless you have specifically instructed guest services to remove these,

You used to be required to pre-pay gratuities if you chose select dining. I don't think you have to anymore, but everyone who doesn't pre-pay gratuities will have a daily service charge added to their account on board. You would have to go to guest services to opt-out of this and that's really meant to be a response to bad service.

But yes, I'm sure the wait staff will still accept cash. It's unclear if they will be allowed to keep the cash if you remove the service charge though.

If you remove the daily gratuities, please remember that they are intended to compensate not just the dining room staff but other food servers you may have, such as in the buffet. Better bring a lot of small bills. Seems cumbersome to me, not clear why someone would remove the gratuities unless they did indeed have poor service.

Even if you pre-pay gratuities, you have the option of giving extra in cash to anyone who supplied service above and beyond. There is disagreement on these boards as to whether the cash tips are pooled.

Now we all know that the reason select dining has auto tipping is because in the beginning passengers chose this option in order to avoid paying gratuities. Same as some passengers who eat in the scheduled dining, eating at the buffet on the last night in order to avoid the gratuities in the dining room.

I have zero wish to start one of those gratuity threads... but we all know this happens and its deplorable.

Bingo.

Even if you pre-pay gratuities, you have the option of giving extra in cash to anyone who supplied service above and beyond. There is disagreement on these boards as to whether the cash tips are pooled.

 

Now we all know that the reason select dining has auto tipping is because in the beginning passengers chose this option in order to avoid paying gratuities. Same as some passengers who eat in the scheduled dining, eating at the buffet on the last night in order to avoid the gratuities in the dining room.

 

I have zero wish to start one of those gratuity threads... but we all know this happens and its deplorable.

Even if you pre-pay gratuities, you have the option of giving extra in cash to anyone who supplied service above and beyond. There is disagreement on these boards as to whether the cash tips are pooled.

We usually tip extra for great service with Select dining. I asked the Maitre 'd how tips were handled as we had exceptional service from others and they said they were pooled. This was on the Solstice

Even if you pre-pay gratuities, you have the option of giving extra in cash to anyone who supplied service above and beyond. There is disagreement on these boards as to whether the cash tips are pooled.

 

Now we all know that the reason select dining has auto tipping is because in the beginning passengers chose this option in order to avoid paying gratuities. Same as some passengers who eat in the scheduled dining, eating at the buffet on the last night in order to avoid the gratuities in the dining room.

 

I have zero wish to start one of those gratuity threads... but we all know this happens and its deplorable.

Yes, people like that should stay home & eat at McDonalds!

The fee you pay for the specialty restaurants INCLUDES the tip for that venue. You can tip more if you feel the need....otherwise, don't! It's up to you. The overall gratuities you pay on the ship only cover your cabin attendant, waiters/ass't waiters, and head waiter. That covers all INCLUDED meals on the ship. The fee for specialties includes the tip..and all beverages have tip added to it. You need do nothing more.

Your removal of gratuities is not transparent....for example room stewards/butlers know if you've removed the standard gratuities. I know you are one of the (few) folks who actually will tip each of the folks who rely on gratuities for their income...but there are some (scum) who decide that there is no need to tip....or only tip one person instead of all the folks who get part of the standard gratuities.

remove gratuities at your own risk...and feel free to tip your cabin attendant and waiters and the others relying on those tips (how are you going to find them?) more than the standard gratuity.

The fee you pay for the specialty restaurants INCLUDES the tip for that venue. You can tip more if you feel the need....otherwise, don't! It's up to you. The overall gratuities you pay on the ship only cover your cabin attendant, waiters/ass't waiters, and head waiter. That covers all INCLUDED meals on the ship. The fee for specialties includes the tip..and all beverages have tip added to it. You need do nothing more.

Yes, that's true about the tip included in the price of the specialty rest. We found the service always excellent & usually added more tip. Being in the food/hospitality industry we like to take care of our own. We've all been stiffed by cheap sob's when we cater a wedding/office party & give top notch service, all the while being exposed to boorish slobs who feel it's their right to treat you like slaves. Try being a caterer. It's not for those with a thin skin!

I'm a bit confused by this thread. The question is regarding Select dining not speciality restaurants and my understanding is the whilst you no longer need to prepay grats for Select dining when you pay your cruise fare balance, the daily gratuity charge is added to your onboard account on a daily basis and cannot be removed.

We usually end up with the same wait staff even in Select and usually tip a little extra in cash to our waiter, assistant waiter and sommelier as the service is so good. I would be very interested to know if these extra cash tips are pooled as my daily grats are already pooled and I would like my extra tips to be for the specific people who I think have earned it and really looked after us.

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I'm a bit confused by this thread. The question is regarding Select dining not speciality restaurants and my understanding is the whilst you no longer need to prepay grats for Select dining when you pay your cruise fare balance, the daily gratuity charge is added to your onboard account on a daily basis and cannot be removed.

 

We usually end up with the same wait staff even in Select and usually tip a little extra in cash to our waiter, assistant waiter and sommelier as the service is so good. I would be very interested to know if these extra cash tips are pooled as my daily grats are already pooled and I would like my extra tips to be for the specific people who I think have earned it and really looked after us.

 

 

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From talking with staff about this issue, what I've been told is, that as long as you did NOT remove the auto tip, the staff that you gave extra tip to was able to keep it & not have to "pool" it.

From talking with staff about this issue, what I've been told is, that as long as you did NOT remove the auto tip, the staff that you gave extra tip to was able to keep it & not have to "pool" it.

That's exactly what we were told.

From talking with staff about this issue, what I've been told is, that as long as you did NOT remove the auto tip, the staff that you gave extra tip to was able to keep it & not have to "pool" it.

Thanks, that's good to know.

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