do you tip maitre d'?

[zebra36]

If it is included in the auto tip I just leave it alone, after all it is generally barely $5 for a 7 day cruise, if not I do not.

[memphislonghorn]

I only tip people who are DOING SOMETHING.:p Carnival takes the $10 a day gratuity off your S&S, that to me covers it. The tip is included when you order drinks, so the bar maid is covered. Now I will tip the steward IF they have done something extraordinary, gone out of their way for me. Otherwise, why would anyone give more? Ex. if I go to a restaurant, of course I will tip, usually close to 20%. I go to the same restaurant and get take out? Sorry, no tip. A tip must be EARNED, IMO.;)

[Buster27]

So, you don't think the person who fixes your take-out order does any work preparing your order?

What about getting it boxed up correctly and remembering all the little extras that have to be included? Don't think you'd be happy if the silverware, butter, rolls, jelly, salt/pepper...whatever else goes along.....wasn't there.

 

And you don't think the maitre'd does any work? Who do you think makes all the table arrangements? We've always had really compatable table mates and it's my understanding the maitre'd is responsible for that.

[TexasAlexus]

Wow,I'm surprised at how many people don't tip the maitre'd, but I agree with them. He/she is a salaried staff member and I think running the dinning, making table assignments etc is all just part of his/her job. We have run an experiement on our last 4 cruises. We take an evelope with a tip for the maitre'd with us on the last night and plan on giving it to hi/her, but they have yet to show up at our table even on "tip Night". Yes, the last four cruise we haven't even seen the maitre''d! So we end up adding some more money to the envelope and giving it to the waiter as an extra tip. Atleast in the good old days they would atleast make an appearance at you table!

[jeanlyon]

I agree, have never tipped the MD. I tip my waiters and my cabin person.

[shargurl]

No, we only tip our waitstaff and cabin steward.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Yes, usually we do - when he goes above and beyond. Anywhere from $0 to $100 (once), usually towards the middle to lower end of that range. It all depends, they can make a lot of things "happen". Not all of them care equally though.

 

Tom

[boundingmaynard]

dont breath fire on me for this question. it was just something i always wondered. do you tip maitre d' extra while cruising or tip them at all? lets say in a perfect world that everyone ate in the dinning room and every one left the maitre d' $1 per cruise. on smaller class ship with 2 sailings per week and 2 maitre d's. these people would be raking in some cash. that would be about $80,000 from a $1 dollar tip. i know the world is not perfect, but i know those like myself always gives something. i just tend to give extra if they did something extra special like moved my seating or something. i just wondered what other do for tipping the maitre d'. or do you tip him/her at all? i see a lot of people entering the dinning room and not giving him anything. i think a lot of people dont know what he/she does besides speak and greet. could someone shed light on their job?

 

For me I go on a cruise by cruise basis. I'm not going to tip the guy just because he came to work. The sucessful Maitre d will make himself available and let each guest know that he is there, for them.

A true Maitre d is so much more than a dining room host, if they understand that the tips should flow.

[skittl1321]

We didn't tip the MD. We did not plan to- as we had never seen him, but even if we did bring our envelope with us, we wouldn't have been able to... he didn't even come by for the "give me my tip, how is your last night going?"

 

Our waitstaff, they got the S&S tip and more. They were spectacular.

[irishgirl]

And you don't think the maitre'd does any work? Who do you think makes all the table arrangements? We've always had really compatable table mates and it's my understanding the maitre'd is responsible for that.

 

I don't think anyone is disagreeing that the Maitre'd does this as part of his "JOB" that he gets a very good salary for doing.

 

If the Maitre'd goes over and above his job duties, I will tip. The only time I have tipped was when we requested Garlic Cream Soup. The Maitre'd had it specially made for our group because we liked it so well. This deserved a tip.

[Ocham's Razor]

So, you don't think the person who fixes your take-out order does any work preparing your order?

What about getting it boxed up correctly and remembering all the little extras that have to be included? Don't think you'd be happy if the silverware, butter, rolls, jelly, salt/pepper...whatever else goes along.....wasn't there.

 

Yeah, I should tip the person for doing his/her job correctly????

How about I reward the restaurant with continued service, coming back again because they DO THEIR JOB CORRECTLY, they get my order right ????

 

And you don't think the maitre'd does any work? Who do you think makes all the table arrangements?

 

They get PAID a handsome wage to make the arrangements..(DOING THEIR JOB) Should we tip the Captain because he gets us to the island we chose to see???

We've always had really compatable table mates and it's my understanding the maitre'd is responsible for that.

 

It's not rocket science...they put age groups with age groups, single males with single gals, etc., etc...they do this evey week, on every cruise. And lots of times your table mate is a tool.

Look, I'm not saying if they do you a favor they don't deserve some greasing...what I am saying is that when people do their jobs correctly, they are merely DOING THEIR JOB. We have become a society that REWARDS people for doing what their supposed to do. (tell the truth, take responsibilty for their actions, etc.)

 

There is a difference between a job that depends on tips and a job where you are paid a wage for your service.

[uscboy]

Only time we saw our Maitre D' was on the beach with his family on St.

Martin. AND... he was seated for dinner at the table next to us during

dinner and didn't even stop by during the 'please tip me' night. Maybe it

was because his family was on board for our cruise, who knows.

 

But I did tip our waiter, asst. waiter, and cabin steward since they

actually work hard on the ship. How good of a job they did is a whole

other story and affected their tip, but at least they do something other

than just organize bad dinner "entertainment".

[Ms Belvedere]

How much do they recommend tipping the Maitre D in the Capers? I seem to remember $3.50 for the week per person, to me that's low and we tip him. I know that he's salaried but we occasionally ask for something extra like a table for 2.

Ms B

[Wylie Coyote]

I think tipping is appropriate for services rendered. If nothing was done for me, then why would I tip anything? Here is what the Carnival site says about the auto tips assigned to the S&S account:

 

What is the tipping policy onboard?Service Gratuities

For your convenience, we automatically charge the gratuities for dining and stateroom staff to your onboard Sail & Sign account. The total amount is $10.00 per guest, per day (our recommended guideline) as follows:

$ 3.50 Per Day Stateroom Services

$ 5.50 Per Day Dining Room Services

$ 1.00 Per Day Alternative Services: distributed to other kitchen and hotel service staff

For Cruises-To-Nowhere, gratuities of $10 per guest, per day must be prepaid.

Our Staff is totally committed to exceed your expectations in every way possible. If you are not satisfied with the service you receive, we encourage you to contact the Purser’s Information desk while onboard. This will allow us to address your concerns in a timely and appropriate fashion. At your discretion, you may adjust the gratuities at any time.

For beverage purchases, fifteen percent of the bill is automatically added to the Sail & Sign charge. Room Service staff may be tipped as service is rendered. Tipping your Maître d’ is at your discretion, based upon the service you receive.

So, if you do not tip your Maitre D, he gets nothing. He is not part of the tipping pool.

[Snipes]

We were on the Inspiration for New Years and had George the Greek as our maître d'. He is a truly facinating person that can make everyone in the dining room feel special. He changed our table after our first night dining "experience". He also stopped by our table many times over the week and even arranged special food for some of our table mates. We were one of the ships in Grand Cayman with the high seas and he even gave sea sickness advice and champagne to the brave ones that showed up to dinner that night. We have been on cruises before and cannot place the name of previous maître d's, but he is someone that made an impression on us. So for the first time we tipped because he made our cruise better.

[The4Cruisers]

I agree about George the Greek. Although he was not our MaitreD, we met him in the Piano Bar one afternoon when he was taking a smoke break. Very delightful gentleman!

 

The only MaitreD that we tipped was Joseph (aboard the Celebration at the time). We appreciated the table change he did for us, he always stopped by to chat and joke with my family, and simply made the dining room a fun time. When we booked Celebration a second time, we hoped to be in his dining room. Needless to say we were disappointed to find he was on his vacation then!

[CynCyn]

Just back from the Fantasy. Maitre'd did come by and speak each night. That is all he did. The first night,we asked the score of the BCS Championship and he said he would find out and never returned! The next night, a gentleman at our table asked him who won. He looked at us like we were crazy! No tip for him. We did tip assistant waiter and waiter. We did not tip the bar girl since she did not even appear at our table until the second night and never got it right after that! Guess we weren't important enough since all of us drank soda or coffee at dinner!

[tutzig]

I can tell you this. On our last Carnival cruise, the first nights service was simply dissapointing. Apparantly due to a sickness, the wait staff was short and they were using new people in positions that they could not keep up with. I am a travel agent and the leader of our group. I went down to speak with the Maitre D. Kristopher was his name if I remeber correctly. I explained the situation to him and that we were very displeased. He stated that the problem would be corrected and IT WAS. The net night, he came over and introduced our new server, stated that he hoped we could forget about the first night and take it from there, along with a bottle of wine for each of the tables in our group.

 

The rest of the cruise our service was wonderful. He did get a tip, as he provided a service.