First Disney Cruise - Tipping?

[ArtemisPhoenix]

Does anyone know if the concierge tip recommendation covers the servers too? The regular tip suggested/added is $14.50 per person and the concierge one is $15.50. Is that a total of $30 per person per night that’s added to your bill, or does the $15.50 for concierge cover everyone?

 

[msmama]

Something I learned on my last cruise - you can go to guest services and add a tip to any tipped position at any point during the cruise. So, for example, if a bartender has been good to you all cruise, you can go and get one of the tip print outs (like the pre-paid gratuities) for them if you felt you wanted to tip more. It doesn't just have to be your assigned folks.

 

[DSLRuser]

I hand out $2 to $5 dollars as needed whenever someone gives me good service. Bar tender, pool server, embarkation day servers in the dining room. People in the buffet.

So many people work to give good service that are not covered by auto gratuities.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I hand out $2 to $5 dollars as needed whenever someone gives me good service. Bar tender, pool server, embarkation day servers in the dining room. People in the buffet.

So many people work to give good service that are not covered by auto gratuities.

To clarify - all those people you indicated are covered by the included gratuities. Bartenders and drink servers (regardless of where they are located) are covered by the 18% auto gratuity that's pooled and shared by all of them

Servers in the dining room and buffet are the same servers that serve you at dinner, so they are covered by the auto gratuity that covers all servers and your room host.

Now you certainly may tip additionally by directly tipping them. Any direct tips are not added to the tip pools to be shared, but are kept by the individual you tipped.

 

[DSLRuser]

To clarify - all those people you indicated are covered by the included gratuities. Bartenders and drink servers (regardless of where they are located) are covered by the 18% auto gratuity that's pooled and shared by all of them

Servers in the dining room and buffet are the same servers that serve you at dinner, so they are covered by the auto gratuity that covers all servers and your room host.

Now you certainly may tip additionally by directly tipping them. Any direct tips are not added to the tip pools to be shared, but are kept by the individual you tipped.

yep....but they dont get all the 18%....especially if I know I will interact with them again......I give them cash...so they remember me, and provide great service in the future

 

[kateandy08096]

I read so many great responses about adding more for great service but are we able to lessen it for horrible service? On our last cruise our cabin steward was soooooo bad. Never did turndown service. We had to go hunt him down to open the bunk. Never any fresh towels or anything. It was plain bad! It was our 1st cruise and we did pre paid so learned a lesson and definitely won't be doing that again.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I read so many great responses about adding more for great service but are we able to lessen it for horrible service? On our last cruise our cabin steward was soooooo bad. Never did turndown service. We had to go hunt him down to open the bunk. Never any fresh towels or anything. It was plain bad! It was our 1st cruise and we did pre paid so learned a lesson and definitely won't be doing that again.

You can go to Guest Services and adjust the gratuities as you see fit. You can entirely remove them, if you wish.

 

[kiford]

It was our 1st cruise and we did pre paid so learned a lesson and definitely won't be doing that again.

Pre-paid gratuities only means you've paid DCL not that the individuals have received the gratuity. You can still prepay and then go and reduce it at Guest Services. Whether you pay it before the cruise or it goes onto your account for payment during the cruise, it's not provided to the recipients until the end of the cruise.

 

[kateandy08096]

You can go to Guest Services and adjust the gratuities as you see fit. You can entirely remove them, if you wish.

Thank you. Do we have to give out the envelopes since they are already in the workers accounts?

 

[kiford]

Thank you. Do we have to give out the envelopes since they are already in the workers accounts?

You don't have to but it's a nice gesture and a chance to say thank you in person. I often don't see my room attendant before we disembark so I just leave it in the room and a couple of times one of our servers has been reassigned or not available. It's why I prefer not to do cash. At least this way I know it gets to them.

 

[kateandy08096]

Juse wondering because we aren't sure we will be making it to the MDRs depending on what we are doing that night

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thank you. Do we have to give out the envelopes since they are already in the workers accounts?

Well, they don't actually receive the gratuities until the cruise is over. But, if you haven't removed the auto gratuities, there's no problem with you not actually giving them the envelopes. I believe it just makes it easier (for us, the guest) to confirm that the name on the gratuity slip is the proper person who should be receiving your gratuity. Yes, it has happened that it's not.

 

[bakerworld]

We've only cruise DCL - 3, 4, 5 night sailings - and this is how we handle it:
Room Service - $5 per delivery. Bar Service we add to the tab so their tip is 20%. We spend the most time at the bars.

When the paper shows up with who gets what tip, with identified tip envelopes, we tear apart the perforated sheet, put each slip in the appropriate envelope and add $. Room steward we add $40-60 depending on service. We add $10-15 to the guy who checks on your table, $20-30 to the assistant server, $40-60 to head server. If we only go to one dinner we don't add $ figuring the auto-tip was enough. We've only done that twice - our first cruise and this last one. This last one is where we only added $40 to the room steward's tip because we were always in the room at the wrong time so she did very little - no bed animals, no turn down service. I did learn how to make the bed - not sure why the top sheet was rolled to the bottom of the bed but I learned to unroll it so we had a top sheet. The first night we slept with just the duvet cover and I don't know why that bothers me but it does.

We were on two 4D cruises where the room steward was exceptional, always checking on us, wire management to our cords, multiple bed animals, chocolate every night, pirate night scarfs. We figure out the maximum tip before we leave home and place it in a separate envelope so we have enough to bump people up or down. Our first cruise we had all these ones because we were trying add per drink or room service item but that was too much so we went to the $5 per occurrence system. I will say the better you tip the faster the service. Our next cruise I'm gonna bump the room service tip up to $10 for the cheese and salads.

 

[ksromack]

If you want to give more by going to Guest Services and upping the tip, will those sheets reflect this extra tip? I am talking about the sheet they give you at the end of the cruise (the sheet that you tear apart and place in the individual envelopes). We have always just added extra cash but I also realize that most of the staff are not from the US and I want to make it easy for them to send money home.

 

[Clarkson U]

If you want to give more by going to Guest Services and upping the tip, will those sheets reflect this extra tip? I am talking about the sheet they give you at the end of the cruise (the sheet that you tear apart and place in the individual envelopes). We have always just added extra cash but I also realize that most of the staff are not from the US and I want to make it easy for them to send money home.

You can take your original sheet with you to GS, add what you want to whom you want and then they will give you a new printed sheet with the updated amounts. It’s how we increase final tip for those we want to give more than the standard fare!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

You can take your original sheet with you to GS, add what you want to whom you want and then they will give you a new printed sheet with the updated amounts. It’s how we increase final tip for those we want to give more than the standard fare!

We do this every cruise. The GS crew are very familiar with the process, and are glad to help someone increasing the gratuities. It makes a pleasant change from the cruisers coming by to remove gratuities.

 

[ksromack]

You can take your original sheet with you to GS, add what you want to whom you want and then they will give you a new printed sheet with the updated amounts. It’s how we increase final tip for those we want to give more than the standard fare!

We do this every cruise. The GS crew are very familiar with the process, and are glad to help someone increasing the gratuities. It makes a pleasant change from the cruisers coming by to remove gratuities.

Thank you both for the explanation. This is what we will do…I think we get the sheet on the last night. I will try to find a time when GS isn’t so busy!

 

[Clarkson U]

Thank you both for the explanation. This is what we will do…I think we get the sheet on the last night. I will try to find a time when GS isn’t so busy!

Usually you get your sheet the night before - so on a 7 night cruise sheet on night 6 as you hand out the envelopes on night 7. In some cases we have gotten it morning of night 6 instead of evening of night 6 on a cruise. So you have some more time to make the adjustments.

GS at night usually after 10 pm is typically less busy or very early before 7 am is also not that busy from my prior experiences.

 

[Clarkson U]

I read so many great responses about adding more for great service but are we able to lessen it for horrible service? On our last cruise our cabin steward was soooooo bad. Never did turndown service. We had to go hunt him down to open the bunk. Never any fresh towels or anything. It was plain bad! It was our 1st cruise and we did pre paid so learned a lesson and definitely won't be doing that again.

Yes you can decrease it. Same process take your sheet to GS and ask to decrease it.

We had to do that on one sailing where the MDR service was just horrible and non existent. GS gave us no qualms other than to apologize for the poor service. Let me tell you on that cruise this was the longest GS lines I ever did see after the forms came out as one GS manager told me more than half the guests have an issue with the MDR teams this cruise- so they knew.

My comment card reflected this as well and they def read the cards and add to your profile because next sailing a few months later the first night all three from serving teal came by to let us know that we will get a much better service than last time (we didn’t say anything to this new crew) and at the end the dining room manager asked if service was back up to DCL standards or still needed work. So they know and keep track!

 

[KinsellaReed]

I tip about $1 per item or so, so usually around 2-3 dollars depending on breakfast or afternoon snack.

this is what I've heard as well - $1 per item or so - round up if larger order or quick delivery/etc