Dining Room: Are we shortchanging the wait staff?

[ramidon1]

I have a general question regarding dining that I was wondering about. We are a family of 4 traveling with 2 teens. We usually ask for & get a table for 4 in the dining room. Often, the kids only end up eating dinner in the dining room a couple times as they would rather not dress for dinner or have plans to meet up with friends, etc. But on the other hand, we need the table for 4 on the evenings we actually all eat together.

 

Does that mean the wait staff that was assigned to our table gets shortchanged if all 4 of us are not there nightly? Are we still supposed to tip the dining staff as if 4 people dined there the entire week?

 

Similar situation when we eat at the surcharge restaurants, which we like to do a couple times during a week.

 

Guess this is one of the reasons they came up with open seating on some of the cruiselines...??

[cruizinmimi]

If you have a table for 4 because there is 4 in your family, then you tip for all 4 even if the kids do not eat at the table with you but a couple of times.

 

Enjoy your cruise:)

[cb at sea]

For the specialty restaurants, the fee you pay includes the tip, so if your entire family is eating there, you're already paying $80-90 for the pleasure! Some tip additional amounts, but it's not required, unless your server is really something special!

[srico17]

Does anyone know how the tipping works with the new open seating option? That questions just crossed my mind!

 

:)

[phoenix1181]

Does anyone know how the tipping works with the new open seating option? That questions just crossed my mind!

 

:)

 

For those who wish to participate in My Time dining, tips must be prepaid.

[Sue L]

I have a general question regarding dining that I was wondering about. We are a family of 4 traveling with 2 teens. We usually ask for & get a table for 4 in the dining room. Often, the kids only end up eating dinner in the dining room a couple times as they would rather not dress for dinner or have plans to meet up with friends, etc. But on the other hand, we need the table for 4 on the evenings we actually all eat together.

 

Does that mean the wait staff that was assigned to our table gets shortchanged if all 4 of us are not there nightly? Are we still supposed to tip the dining staff as if 4 people dined there the entire week?

 

Similar situation when we eat at the surcharge restaurants, which we like to do a couple times during a week.

 

Guess this is one of the reasons they came up with open seating on some of the cruiselines...??

 

 

You will see your waitstaff in the buffet and other venues throughout the ship for breakfast and lunch and throughout the day, so even though your kids may not be eating there each night that staff is helping you out in other parts of the ship. So yes, you should tip the full amount for 4 of you for the entire week.

[twoatsea]

OK, the Windjammer reasoning never works for me. When we go to a buffet at home, we tip $1 per diner. We serve ourselves; we do not get waited upon. Sometimes, we get our drinks served; sometimes drinks are self served. Cleaning each table after the diners leave so the next diner gets a clean table does not warrant a tip - that is mandated by the Board of Health! So, $1 per person is at least an acknowledgment.

 

However, $3.50 per person per day (or whatever it is now) for dining tips is also OK with me. In fact, it seems cheap for 3 meals whether one eats in buffet or dining room; cheap about $1 per person per meal. In fact, in the days when we ate in the dining room a lot & our server (et al) was very good, we tipped more.

 

Now, we rarely go to the dining room; maybe once in 7 days. But we still give the suggested tip because (1)we kept the dining room staff from getting regular customers since a table is reserved for us whether we are present or not, and (2)that is what we would pay at home for 3 buffet meals a day - so it is cheap tipping, no matter where we eat on the ship.

 

So, anytime dining will be great for us. We won't feel like we cheat the dining room staff from attentive regular customers who might have tipped above the suggested rate, & we still pay a cheap daily tip.