Waiters info regarding tipping

[springgrl]

I know what you are thinking - oh no, NOT another tipping thread! On our recent FOS cruise, when the dinner crowd had cleared, we had an interesting discussion with our waiter regarding salary and tipping of the waitstaff.

 

He told us that they are salaried at around $50/month (sounds very low, did he intend to say week?!!). If every person at his tables tip the recommended amount, he will make around $1000/week. He said this never happens; he can't remember a cruise where everyone did that. Usually, he said he makes around 600-700/week. He also said he can usually figure out by the middle of the week who might not tip.

 

Regarding pre-paying tips, he receives a printout of which tables have prepaid. He said many cruisers, however, put the tips on their onboard accounts during the week. Every morning at 8am, he said he receives a new printout so he knows who exactly has done this. Since there is no longer paper vouchers handed out, this should put everyone's mind at ease that your server DOES know you tipped him!

[CruisinCrow]

Thanks for that info. It's good to know about the printouts.

[MA cruisers]

interesting, good to know.

[BillB48]

Even though we have not been since they stopped providing the vouchers, I suspected that they knew who had prepaid but did not know for certain.... good to know.

 

On a similar note on how important your answers to the survey are to your wait staff and others. We were on the second half of a B2B and had the same wait staff for both legs. During the second half they both told us how important it was for them to get good ratings (which we had given them) as it helps them get a good position it the MDR as well as how many guests they will be assigned. They had also received some sort of recognition because we had identified them by name and complimented their service and thanked us for doing so.

[cruisenfever]

I know what you are thinking - oh no, NOT another tipping thread! On our recent FOS cruise, when the dinner crowd had cleared, we had an interesting discussion with our waiter regarding salary and tipping of the waitstaff.

 

He told us that they are salaried at around $50/month (sounds very low, did he intend to say week?!!). If every person at his tables tip the recommended amount, he will make around $1000/week. He said this never happens; he can't remember a cruise where everyone did that. Usually, he said he makes around 600-700/week. He also said he can usually figure out by the middle of the week who might not tip.

 

Regarding pre-paying tips, he receives a printout of which tables have prepaid. He said many cruisers, however, put the tips on their onboard accounts during the week. Every morning at 8am, he said he receives a new printout so he knows who exactly has done this. Since there is no longer paper vouchers handed out, this should put everyone's mind at ease that your server DOES know you tipped him!

He gave you correct information as that is how the program works.

 

And, they make $50 a month from RCI. :) They also have to pay for their internet time, things purchased from the crew store, their own laundry and they must pay for their uniforms.

[critterchick]

He gave you correct information as that is how the program works.

 

And, they make $50 a month from RCI. :) They also have to pay for their internet time, things purchased from the crew store, their own laundry and they must pay for their uniforms.

 

And their flight back to the ship after vacation. RCI only pays for them to go home.:confused:

 

I wonder if we will be anything confirming the prepayment or onboard charging of tips now that the vouchers have been eliminated. Mistakes do happen...

[karena1]

We were just on Majesty. First time where we did not get the vouchers. However, we did get envelopes so that if we wanted to give extra cash we had envelopes to do so.

 

I agree with the surveys, they are very important. When we did a B2B on Serenade last year, our waitstaff in MTD knew by Wed of the 2nd week that we had given them a personal "shout out" in the Survey, naming them by name. They were very appreciative that we did that for them. We had the same waitstaff the entire 2 weeks and had a blast with them.

[Ebbwboy]

When did vouchers stop? We had them 3 weeks ago on Serenade.

[rushedmom]

We had vouchers on Oasis in June...

Good to know about the prepaid tip list. I was told last year by a waiter that they got $50 a week from RCL.. Wonder which it is?

[Scotty G]

Good responses. They actually get $25 every two weeks. That continues when they are home between contracts. When you consider that they pay air fare one way, it reduces their take home in the course of a year. They also go back and forth on Choice Air. A tough job and we appreciate that there are those who want to do this for us!!!:D:D:D

[yogimax]

Good responses. They actually get $25 every two weeks. That continues when they are home between contracts. When you consider that they pay air fare one way, it reduces their take home in the course of a year. They also go back and forth on Choice Air. A tough job and we appreciate that there are those who want to do this for us!!!:D:D:D

 

Well said!

 

That is exactly why it upsets me (I can't speak for others) when I hear about so many people stiffing the staff!

[gw2fll]

Thanks for the information. Goes further at how important it is to use the Wow cards.

 

We are sailing again on NOS this November. We wrote a special recognition for the bartender at the Champaign bar, our waiter / ast waiter, and the MTD hostess. They were absolutely wonderful. Hopefully, we will get to see them again this November.

[marci22]

We had vouchers on Oasis in June...

 

We did not get vouchers on the Allure last week; we were the first cruise with no vouchers, we were told. They are eliminating them.

 

Our waiters also told us that they knew who tipped them via SeaPass.

[marci22]

Thanks for the information. Goes further at how important it is to use the Wow cards.

 

Yes, our wait staff said "thank you, these will help us".

[KathyPet]

Well what about tipping waiters if you have MTD when you may be in several different areas and have several different waiters and asst. waiters? THen how do they know who has tipped???

[marci22]

Well what about tipping waiters if you have MTD when you may be in several different areas and have several different waiters and asst. waiters? THen how do they know who has tipped???

 

Their tips are pooled. They probably know by the total number of people in MTD that week.

[Tucker in Texas]

Their tips are pooled. They probably know by the total number of people in MTD that week.

 

I've heard that the waiters like to get MTD assignments because they know they will get tipped out. We still will give them some cash if we happen to get the same crew every (or most) nights. That goes right into their pocket.

 

Tucker in Texas

[CocaCola19]

2800 per month :eek: plus room and food and assistance for an international ticket? That is a hell of a lot more than I made as a server - but I also didn't work 7 days a week. I wonder how many hours they work a week.

 

DON'T FLIP OUT - I TIP PER THE GUIDELINES.

 

I know what you are thinking - oh no, NOT another tipping thread! On our recent FOS cruise, when the dinner crowd had cleared, we had an interesting discussion with our waiter regarding salary and tipping of the waitstaff.

 

He told us that they are salaried at around $50/month (sounds very low, did he intend to say week?!!). If every person at his tables tip the recommended amount, he will make around $1000/week. He said this never happens; he can't remember a cruise where everyone did that. Usually, he said he makes around 600-700/week. He also said he can usually figure out by the middle of the week who might not tip.

 

Regarding pre-paying tips, he receives a printout of which tables have prepaid. He said many cruisers, however, put the tips on their onboard accounts during the week. Every morning at 8am, he said he receives a new printout so he knows who exactly has done this. Since there is no longer paper vouchers handed out, this should put everyone's mind at ease that your server DOES know you tipped him!

[alfaeric]

2800 per month :eek: plus room and food and assistance for an international ticket? That is a hell of a lot more than I made as a server - but I also didn't work 7 days a week. I wonder how many hours they work a week.

 

The MDR people we've talked to- not only is it 7 days, but it tends to be closer to 12-16 hours total a day. Not continuous, but not much sleep.

 

To be paid that for 7 on, 1 off, and be away from family- who they are trying to support- tough job.

[Scotty G]

2800 per month :eek: plus room and food and assistance for an international ticket? That is a hell of a lot more than I made as a server - but I also didn't work 7 days a week. I wonder how many hours they work a week.

 

DON'T FLIP OUT - I TIP PER THE GUIDELINES.

 

They work 10-12 hours a day but not all at once. They may work all three meals and then do the event on the pool deck at midnight (10:30- 1:30 for them). Get 4 hours off the ship a week at a port of call or homeport. This is not great but is even worse if their work schedule does not permit them to get off when they want. Their contracts are for 6 months and their vacation is usually 2 months (unless they get held over or called back early). Lots of first timers have told me that they hardly ever get off the ship since they send all of their money home.

 

Cabin stewards get the same kind of contract. The higher gratuities for cabin stewards are shared with the housekeeping (or other ship staff) folks that assist them on turn around day. If you tip extra they get to keep that!

 

Barmen and servers get the best deal for "hourly" employees since they get their share of the 15% plus the tips given to them by guests. That would be the extra tips written on the receipt or cash handed to them. At bars they will usually have a tip jar or box where all the bar tenders on duty share.

 

On meals. They don't eat nearly as good as we do on the ship.

 

They are provided a basic health insurance policy.

[vitacz]

Just a question - when you have prepaid gratuities, do you give them (MDR staff and stateroom steward) some cash at the end of the cruise as well?

When I was on the Carnival Liberty, we had prepaid gratuities and gave both 10 dollars extra anyway. But now I am going on Brilliance of the Seas for a European cruise (I am from Europe) and I don´t have any US dollars smaller then 100 dollar bills, which are not the best bills for tips :-D

 

Oh, and by the way, vouchers? what were there for? I don´t remember Carnival having something like that :)

[Scotty G]

Just a question - when you have prepaid gratuities, do you give them (MDR staff and stateroom steward) some cash at the end of the cruise as well?

When I was on the Carnival Liberty, we had prepaid gratuities and gave both 10 dollars extra anyway. But now I am going on Brilliance of the Seas for a European cruise (I am from Europe) and I don´t have any US dollars smaller then 100 dollar bills, which are not the best bills for tips :-D

 

You can use Euros for that.

[critterchick]

Just a question - when you have prepaid gratuities, do you give them (MDR staff and stateroom steward) some cash at the end of the cruise as well?

When I was on the Carnival Liberty, we had prepaid gratuities and gave both 10 dollars extra anyway. But now I am going on Brilliance of the Seas for a European cruise (I am from Europe) and I don´t have any US dollars smaller then 100 dollar bills, which are not the best bills for tips :-D

 

Oh, and by the way, vouchers? what were there for? I don´t remember Carnival having something like that :)

 

You can get your $100 bill broken into smaller denominations at Guest Services or at the casino cashier. :)

 

RCI is the last of the mass market lines to have traditional tipping. It used to be that you would give cash in an envelope to your waitstaff and cabin steward. But now many people opt to either prepay the tip or put it on their accounts once onboard. So you got a voucher to put in the envelope (you could, of course, also add cash) so you didn't look like you were stiffing the crew. I'm rather glad that they got rid of them, since the crew already know and they're just a waste of paper.