Specialty Dining Gratuities in Royal Suite

[bjahil47]

We are in the RS on our cruise in September.  Therefore we have Specialty Dining included at no charge.  Last cruise in RS while eating at a Specialty Restaurant we were not given a bill as cost was zero.  Can we ask for a zero balance bill so we can add additional gratuities from our OBC or do we have to leave cash?  Just curious if anyone has done this.  Thanks!

[RichYak]

I just left $10pp cash every time I went to a specialty.

[markeb]

Get an additional gratuity form from the Retreat Concierge. That will come off your onboard account. Check with them but you should be able to designate the specialty restaurant. 

[jelayne]

3 minutes ago, markeb said:

Get an additional gratuity form from the Retreat Concierge. That will come off your onboard account. Check with them but you should be able to designate the specialty restaurant. 

May depend on the ship, we were told unless a crew member was named it went into the pool and in some cases e,g, sommlier even with a name it went into the sommelier pool.  
We just leave cash and use the form for the cabin attendant and butler plus a amount to the crew emergency fund.

[wrk2cruise]

I don't think you would have any problem getting a $0 slip to add a gratuity in the specialty.

[markeb]

40 minutes ago, jelayne said:

May depend on the ship, we were told unless a crew member was named it went into the pool and in some cases e,g, sommlier even with a name it went into the sommelier pool.  
We just leave cash and use the form for the cabin attendant and butler plus a amount to the crew emergency fund.

I assume it goes into the pool whether cash or not. 

[Tony UK]

We wanted to leave a tip for an individual. We got a form from the retreat concierge completed it and handed it to the member of staff. It didn't come off our account.... we asked them and they explained that it was put into the pool of tips for the entire food and beverege service team even though we specified him. We got the form back and gave him cash!

 

[chemmo]

We asked if they preferred added to a $0 bill or cash, they preferred cash…

[dcbiker97]

We do the same and just leave a $20 when we both dine. When we go to Sushi for lunch I do $5pp. 

10 hours ago, RichYak said:

I just left $10pp cash every time I went to a specialty.

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by dcbiker97

[phoenix_dream]

10 hours ago, Tony UK said:

We wanted to leave a tip for an individual. We got a form from the retreat concierge completed it and handed it to the member of staff. It didn't come off our account.... we asked them and they explained that it was put into the pool of tips for the entire food and beverege service team even though we specified him. We got the form back and gave him cash!

 

Just so you know, they are obligated to put that cash into the pool regardless.  Not saying sometimes they might not, but they'd better not get caught keeping it all for themselves.  It frustrates me that it is handled that way, but that is how it is - I guess they want to make sure the behind the scenes people get their share or it.

[Jim_Iain]

On 7/1/2023 at 1:06 PM, bjahil47 said:

We are in the RS on our cruise in September.  Therefore we have Specialty Dining included at no charge.  Last cruise in RS while eating at a Specialty Restaurant we were not given a bill as cost was zero.  Can we ask for a zero balance bill so we can add additional gratuities from our OBC or do we have to leave cash?  Just curious if anyone has done this.  Thanks!

 

I asked the same thing to the waiter in Murano.    The Maitre'd came over and explained gratuities were included.   It I left extra gratuities using my sea pass the amount would go to the complete ships dining pool.   If you leave cash then it goes to the Murano Pool only.    

 

I didn't have any cash on us so didn't leave anything but on the next visit brought some cash and left a nice extra gratuity.