Extra tipping - when, how?

[TequilaToo]

We prepaid our gratuities, but would like to give a little something extra to our stateroom attendant, to our waiter, and the headwaiter for our section, who was extremely attentive to my son's lactose intolerance throughout the cruise. Since we didn't bring envelopes for additional gratuities, when and how is the appropriate way to do this?

[Clarea]

We prepaid our gratuities, but would like to give a little something extra to our stateroom attendant, to our waiter, and the headwaiter for our section, who was extremely attentive to my son's lactose intolerance throughout the cruise. Since we didn't bring envelopes for additional gratuities, when and how is the appropriate way to do this?

Same as before, give envelopes at the end of the cruise. Envelopes will be provided by your stateroom attendant. If you want more, go to Guest Services.

 

You also have the ability to add gratuties via your SeaPass account. Again, go to Guest Services and ask for the appropriate form.

[LA_CA_GAL]

Personally, when I meet our room steward, I introduce myself, find out his/her name, where they are from, family, etc.

 

I then show him my cooler, ask if he could keep it filled with ice, and give him $20.

 

Next day, I leave a note of thanx, with $10 in it, and every time I get great service.

 

As for MDR staff, I give them an envelope at the end of the cruise with an additional tip depending on how good the service was.

[TravelerThom]

We prepaid our gratuities, but would like to give a little something extra to our stateroom attendant, to our waiter, and the headwaiter for our section, who was extremely attentive to my son's lactose intolerance throughout the cruise. Since we didn't bring envelopes for additional gratuities, when and how is the appropriate way to do this?

Envelopes are available at Guest Relations. In my experience, folded bills in a handshake have also always been graciously accepted.

 

Thom

[malacajo]

So glad this question was asked, but I have a more specific one...For a 7 day cruise for 2 of us, how much do you suggest as an extra tip for dining room servers?? I just have no idea, anyone have guidelines??

[TequilaToo]

So glad this question was asked, but I have a more specific one...For a 7 day cruise for 2 of us, how much do you suggest as an extra tip for dining room servers?? I just have no idea, anyone have guidelines??

 

Good question!

[LMaxwell]

There is no "guideline" for above and beyond.

 

If you prefer to tip additionally on top of the auto-gratuities any amount will be appreciated and the crew will be thankful.

 

Some believe in tipping up front in order to receive better service (no real way to measure if that ends up being true or not), some like to tip as they go to those directly serving them, and others prefer to tip at the end after service is received.

 

I have never had an experience on RCI that would ever warrant the reduction of gratuities from the standard amount, and a few hard workers who deserved and earned an additional cash tip after I had received services, typically to bar staff and room stewards. Unfortunately RCI dining room experiences with service lately do not warrant tipping on top of tips to me. With MTD you pre-pay your tips so everyone is treated equitably as you may have different tables and servers; not the same each evening. Dining room services would, in my opinion, have to improve greatly to warrant an additional tip.

 

I do not use the spa or childrens camp, but some may choose to tip those staff if they use those services as they are not included in the automatic gratuity pool.

 

Room service is not included in the automatic gratuity pool, and while it is technically free many guests will customarily tip between $1-$5 per order. Some more, some not at all, but just saying what seems to apply to the bulk of people.

 

So, in short, whatever feels right to you in recognition of those that have gone the extra mile or in some way made your experience more pleasurable or memorable will be appreciated.

[Cigar King]

In my experience, folded bills in a handshake have also always been graciously accepted.

 

 

This is what I do...

[TequilaToo]

Unfortunately RCI dining room experiences with service lately do not warrant tipping on top of tips to me. ... Dining room services would, in my opinion, have to improve greatly to warrant an additional tip.

Wow, really? Our dining room experience has been excellent! We had early seating, and both our waiter and the headwaiter were very attentive, helpful, engaging, and gave us very good service.

 

We'd also heard stories about sub-par food quality on board the Oasis class ships - both from online sources, and from a friend who took a cruise on Allure a year and a half ago. But we've found the food quality to be excellent this trip - far better than what we experienced on Carnival and Norwegian lines years ago.

 

Can it be that they have upped their game recently?

[LMaxwell]

Wow, really? Our dining room experience has been excellent! We had early seating, and both our waiter and the headwaiter were very attentive, helpful, engaging, and gave us very good service.

 

We'd also heard stories about sub-par food quality on board the Oasis class ships - both from online sources, and from a friend who took a cruise on Allure a year and a half ago. But we've found the food quality to be excellent this trip - far better than what we experienced on Carnival and Norwegian lines years ago.

 

Can it be that they have upped their game recently?

 

I find RCI food quality to be good in the dining room. Items are prepared banquet style (industry standard) and not cooked to order. The quality matches expectations, no issues there.

 

The staff are friendly and have a good attitude but I have not found them to be engaging or attentive or efficient. This is mostly due to management giving them too much to handle. The result is slow service that at times I would rank as poor to barely adequate. If there were more staff and faster service the waiters and waitresses might have more opportunity to deliver personalized or WOW service that would warrant tips on top of tips. I would love to have dining service that warranted double tips. Maybe this is a result of MTD, but we have always been directed to MTD and not had the ability to get early or late seating, even on a cruise I booked almost 14 months out my only option was MTD.

 

Specialty restaurant cover fees include the gratuity (what amount, I don't know, and is not material here) but we had such fantastic service at Chops, friendly, talkative, made suggestions, frequently checked on us, brought us new things to try, etc, that we added a 40% tip on top of the dining charge. The server there earned every penny of it; way above and beyond, and was noted on our post cruise comments by name and position.

Edited February 21, 2014 by LMaxwell

[spookwife]

So glad this question was asked, but I have a more specific one...For a 7 day cruise for 2 of us, how much do you suggest as an extra tip for dining room servers?? I just have no idea, anyone have guidelines??

 

there is really no static answer for this. everyone is comfortable with whatever they choose to give and everyone's expectations are different. what I would consider worthy of a $20 extra tip at the end, our table mates to the left may think it's worth $50 and the ones on the right may decide it isn't worth any extra at all.

 

Things that we as a couple judge By:

 

water glasses: are they kept topped off all during the meal? same goes for wine if we have a bottle at the table.

 

Non alcoholic choices: when I order lemonade the first night does the waiter automatically bring it every night thereafter without asking past the second nigh( for confirmation) ?

 

one time, our table mate had a standing order for chocolate ice cream, to be delivered with whatever other dessert he ordered. he also requested a certain color of the fake sugar to be in plentiful supply. on the second night the fake sugar dish had that color and only that color( the rest of us didn't care and yes the waiter made sure of that)

 

promptness of ordering each course and how fast are the plates cleaned up?

 

how soon after each course does he come back to make sure we are enjoying everything? Most importantly how often does the assistant waiter bring around those damned tasty rolls?! ( yes I can make a meal out of them)

 

Friendliness and overall personality counts. Big time.

[TequilaToo]

Maybe the difference then, is between MTD and assigned seating. I didn't know assigned seating was hard to come by - the TA that arranged our group just told us we had early seating.

 

We didn't do any of the specialty restaurants, even though we had a credit from our TA that would have allowed us to do so, because we would have missed the MDR experience. Our waiter always made recommendations, in a few cases made some "dis"recommendations (told us some passengers found the Lobster Bisque a bit too heavy, and he was right!). Service was prompt, but not rushed - although we were enjoying conversation with our table-mates (other members of our group), so if it had been slow we might not have noticed or minded too much. The headwaiter was extremely solicitous - brought my son the next night's menu every night so he could choose his meal ahead and have the chef make a lactose-free version, if possible. Both the waiter and headwaiter regularly brought us things in addition to what we'd ordered - just because they thought we might like to try them.

 

I did find the dining room noisy - especially the baby seated at the next table over who seemed to be most unhappy at every dinner. But even without the infant cries, it was almost impossible to hear anyone else at the table unless then were right next to you, or practically shouting.

Edited February 21, 2014 by TequilaToo

[dz9yvr]

Envelopes are available at Guest Relations. In my experience, folded bills in a handshake have also always been graciously accepted.

 

Thom

 

 

This approach has always worked for me

[nascar junkie]

Extra upfront has always worked well for me. On cruise to Jamacia, we went on river canoe cruise with a dinner/party afterwards somewhere in the jungle. I gave a bartender 20 bucks and told him to not let my glass get empty or watered down. He loaded me up each and every time and I had a hard time getting back into the canoe to go back to the landing as he was constantly refilling my glass with what had to be quaddrouple shots of the good stuff. Point is, if you want service above and beyond normal, take care of the guy in the beginning.:D

[nelblu]

We prepaid our gratuities, but would like to give a little something extra to our stateroom attendant, to our waiter, and the headwaiter for our section, who was extremely attentive to my son's lactose intolerance throughout the cruise. Since we didn't bring envelopes for additional gratuities, when and how is the appropriate way to do this?

 

We got WOW envelopes from guest services.

[negc]

I find RCI food quality to be good in the dining room. Items are prepared banquet style (industry standard) and not cooked to order. The quality matches expectations, no issues there.

 

The staff are friendly and have a good attitude but I have not found them to be engaging or attentive or efficient. This is mostly due to management giving them too much to handle. The result is slow service that at times I would rank as poor to barely adequate. If there were more staff and faster service the waiters and waitresses might have more opportunity to deliver personalized or WOW service that would warrant tips on top of tips. I would love to have dining service that warranted double tips. Maybe this is a result of MTD, but we have always been directed to MTD and not had the ability to get early or late seating, even on a cruise I booked almost 14 months out my only option was MTD.

 

Specialty restaurant cover fees include the gratuity (what amount, I don't know, and is not material here) but we had such fantastic service at Chops, friendly, talkative, made suggestions, frequently checked on us, brought us new things to try, etc, that we added a 40% tip on top of the dining charge. The server there earned every penny of it; way above and beyond, and was noted on our post cruise comments by name and position.

 

Our experience, especially on our last three RCI cruises, has been the opposite of yours. The team of servers we had for our first (Baltic cruise) on Brilliance of the Seas was so good that we asked for and received them on our subsequent TA cruise. Six weeks later on the repositioning cruise out of Boston, we were able to request and get the same team. They were extremely attentive and personable. This was in My Time Dining which we have found to better serve our needs than the traditional dining times which we thought we preferred until our experiences in MTD proved us wrong.

It may all be a matter of luck as to the servers you encounter since we have had either excellent or extremely poor service on those occasions when we have dined in the specialty restaurants.

[LMaxwell]

Our experience, especially on our last three RCI cruises, has been the opposite of yours. The team of servers we had for our first (Baltic cruise) on Brilliance of the Seas was so good that we asked for and received them on our subsequent TA cruise. Six weeks later on the repositioning cruise out of Boston, we were able to request and get the same team. They were extremely attentive and personable. This was in My Time Dining which we have found to better serve our needs than the traditional dining times which we thought we preferred until our experiences in MTD proved us wrong.

It may all be a matter of luck as to the servers you encounter since we have had either excellent or extremely poor service on those occasions when we have dined in the specialty restaurants.

 

I think your experiences make an excellent point that this topic is very subjective and that there is no set guideline in regards to tipping above and beyond. Service levels can be and are variable and as such it will be a personal call once onboard based on your experiences.

[summersigh]

In my experience, folded bills in a handshake have also always been graciously accepted.

 

Thom

 

That's the way we do it too. :)

[hellsop]

Our experience, especially on our last three RCI cruises, has been the opposite of yours. The team of servers we had for our first (Baltic cruise) on Brilliance of the Seas was so good that we asked for and received them on our subsequent TA cruise. Six weeks later on the repositioning cruise out of Boston, we were able to request and get the same team. They were extremely attentive and personable.

 

And I have little doubt that the head waiter for the section that team worked in noticed that they got asked for right up at the beginning too. Stuff like that ends up getting remembered at performance reviews...