Gifts and tips for staff

[dcassetta]

Thanks very much, giving me an example is definitely of a great help! But then, the cash is inside the envelope and you give it just before leaving the ship or the night before?

Either the last evening or morning of departure is fine. If you are concerned about leaving cash, you can ask for tips to be added to your onboard account and they will print you a slip to give to your stateroom host or server.

 

[Lilsia]

I am another one who adds some cash to the envelope. Especially for our stateroom hosts. They always do an amazing job and always seem to be around when we need them.

 

[ACQUADUCK]

Best not to do it last morning at breakfast, for many reasons.

1/ Some crew will either leave for their break, or get an immigration check, it's happened frequently on our servers, they say an immigration check is random, and typically they do not know in advance. So teams change. They can get stuck in immigration as border control and disney prioritise cruisers.

2/ Breakfast last morning is rushed, formal, and there is a lot of opportunities on either side to forget.

3/ Cruising tradition on all cruises is that you tip at the last dinner, servers may think you have stiffed them if you leave it to breakfast.

4/ Easy to rectify errors last night, than long queues at guest services last morning with stateroom account enquiries.

 

[Senaby]

Thanks a lot everyone for the input and great advice. To be honest, we already did a Disney cruise two years ago but I didn't feel comfortable adding anything extra in cash inside the envelopes although we really had some great amazing staff taking care of us and frankly I regret it. I just put the regular tipping coupons inside the envelopes and I gave them on debarkation day. So at least now I won't do the same mistake again...

 

[amiskell28]

This thread has been really helpful, thank you, everyone. Especially the tip about giving it to them on the last night!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We always prepay gratuities in advance. We then add cash to the envelopes that we distribute to our stateroom host and dining room staff on the last evening of the cruise. We have added anything from zero to 50% of the standard gratuity, based on the quality of service we have experienced.

 

[AngelDisney]

Besides adding cash, you can add the amount to your account and a receipt is printed out to be put into the envelope. We had a wonderful server at embarkation lunch and we met him again at Palo brunch. Haven’t met any server so cheerful and willing to help as he was. Since he was not our Palo table server, I was not sure how gratuity was shared among the servers there. I went to guest services and told the CM I would like to tip a particular server for doing a great job. The CM showed me the picture of the server to confirm his identity and processed the additional tip amount. The receipt was just an extra act. Once the tip was processed, the particular server would have received the amount via the system. This is much better than putting cash into an envelope because we wouldn’t be able to hand him the envelope personally. I left the envelope with guest services and that was it. Of course, I also mentioned about him on the comment card.

 

[Dug720]

And just to note... If you were to change your table for any reason and your servers changed, DCL will prorate the tips between all your assigned servers based on the nights you were assigned to them so you don't have to do math. When I was on the Fantasy, the first night it was clear they did a "solo dump" table that was great for the two guys who got along famously but horrible for me who couldn't follow their blather about financial/investment junk and real estate junk. I didn't stress it that much - I had Palo night 2. I figured I'd just do Cabanas the other nights and try to get Palo on the final night. Well, I went to Cabanas night 3 only to discover it was like they took my least favorite/would never eat things from the MDR menus and put them all on the Cabanas menu. So I went to my assigned dining room while 1st seating was eating to see if I could be moved to my own table. I said I was willing to change rotations or servers if necessary. They moved me to another table with my head server but 2 new servers who were awesome. Got my green slips and my first servers were given 2 nights' worth (no issues there, I never dock them tips for my choice to eat in Palo) and the second servers the remaining 5 nights'. I added enough cash to bring the second servers up to if I'd had them all 7 nights and then some because they were that awesome.

(Incidentally, when my head server checked on me on night 3, I asked him to please tell my first servers it was NOT them and he laughed in a friendly way and said "Oh, we all knew that you were not comfortable with that table situation. We would have been shocked if you'd come back. They don't blame you at all." So the awkwardness was obvious.)

 

[Arizona Rita]

Without going into who it was on our second cruise we were so impressed with one of our lead servers that my husband wrote a letter during the cruise and gave it to guest service. The gentleman found out it was us who wrote and he could not stop thanking us. That man is now a restaurant manager on one of the four ships and has been for the past couple of years. Letters do make a difference. We also tip for service and usually end up giving more.

 

[professorandmom]

In addition to generous cash tips, we prepared small bags with assorted snacks...I had read this tip on the boards...granola bars, raisins, crackers, etc...folks really seemed to appreciate them...

 

[k8lass]

I'd like to give a gift to the Teen Room attendants. I read that they can't accept cash. What would be a nice gift to give them?

 

[dcassetta]

I'd like to give a gift to the Teen Room attendants. I read that they can't accept cash. What would be a nice gift to give them?

Recent magazines, paperbacks, and candy seem to be appreciated. You can include them on the comment cards.

 

[JennTheTurtle]

Increased tip.

AND mention them on the comment card at the end of the cruise OR if someone does something during the cruise you can go to Guest Services and ask for a recognition card, fill it out, and give it to them. Those mentions mean FAR more in the long run than any candy or trinkets (that they really do NOT have room for anyway) to the hard-working crew as those lead to little perks like extra time off during a week and are looked super favorably upon when annual reviews come up - both for raises and for promotions.

Also, those glowing comment cards can help a member get rehired when coming back. If they do a good job, but nobody mentions it and Disney has to downsize on a ship (for what ever reason) then the comment card could keep that "good" member employed but with a contract for a different ship, rather than no job at all.