msc yacht club tipping

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Tipping in Yacht Club

By wynkys , May 8 in MSC Cruises

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I am booked on a short 3-night repositioning voyage in a couple of months time.

I am travelling solo in the Yacht Club and would appreciate advice as to which

staff members I should tip and what amount would be typical for each for such

a short time.

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morpheusofthesea

21 minutes ago, wynkys said: I am booked on a short 3-night repositioning voyage in a couple of months time. I am travelling solo in the Yacht Club and would appreciate advice as to which staff members I should tip and what amount would be typical for each for such a short time.

A decent rule of thumb I have learned from one other poster ("pirate" something ?) was $10 for breakfast/lunch waiter and $20 for dinner waiter. So bring a couple of bucks for drink butlers. Same for room steward, your discretion.

47 minutes ago, wynkys said: I am booked on a short 3-night repositioning voyage in a couple of months time. I am travelling solo in the Yacht Club and would appreciate advice as to which staff members I should tip and what amount would be typical for each for such a short time.

You really don't have to tip anyone.  That said, if there are crew members that you felt went above and beyond to make your trip pleasant, by all means feel free to give them a tip at the end of the cruise.  The amount is totally up to you.  They will appreciate any amount.

Now that advice represents the "tipping is for recognizing outstanding service" philosophy.  Some subscribe to an additional tipping philosophy - "tipping to receive better service". If you adopt that approach, which I do not, you can tip your service providers as service is rendered to hopefully encourage them to provide better service in the future.

How you choose to tip is a personal choice.  There's no right or wrong approach. 

perakcruiser

1 hour ago, wynkys said: I am booked on a short 3-night repositioning voyage in a couple of months time. I am travelling solo in the Yacht Club and would appreciate advice as to which staff members I should tip and what amount would be typical for each for such a short time.

The Australians I know don´t tip, just like the Asians and Europeans do not tip. You can do whatever you want, nobody expects anything. And everybody is happy about your tip no matter how high or low. The nationalities you would insult by trying to tip them are not working on cruise ships  😄  

First time in YC

We gave an extra $100 to our butler, he deserved double extra, he was so happy, $50 to the junior cabin stewart.

Dining room waitstaff changes as there is no set time, it’s hard to get to know them well with 1 experience.

Lots of bartenders, lounge bar staff go above and beyond at the pool deck and in the lounge.

I saw 3 upon disembarking and gave each $20.

It does no matter what other people do, this is what we did.

I was a waiter for 10 years, am now a delivery person for 25 and tips are not just extra money but show how your hard work is appreciated.

And my wife is a bigger tipper than me, she would have given more lol

Are daily tips charged to the room for the waiters, room steward, etc.?  We always give extra above those room charged tips.  We are planning our first MSC cruise soon so I am not sure how it works on this ship.  The butler was never charged as a daily charge to our room so we know what we are doing with that.

1 hour ago, dasi11 said: Are daily tips charged to the room for the waiters, room steward, etc.?

Everyone, including your butler are covered by the daily service charge that will appear on your room charges if you booked in the USA.

Additional tipping is always welcomed but never expected.

How much is the automatic charge for butler?  Or is that just included in the total daily gratuity per day charge for YC?  We are in YC on Seashore next year, and I was wondering what the daily gratuity per day charge was.  We typically tip the cabin steward and wait staff (if we are at same table each night, and if they do a nice job) extra at end of cruise.  Never sailed MSC before.  We have been in Norwegian Haven few times, but dont recall what we tipped the butler.

36 minutes ago, brovol said: We have been in Norwegian Haven few times, but dont recall what we tipped the butler.

Just like the Haven. Those that find no use for a butler do not bother with an added tip. We tipped at the end of the cruise $20 when he told those assembled in the Haven Bar he was not part of the mandatory gratuities and any renumeration would be greatly appreciated. On our first Yacht Club cruise we had the same 'noshow' butler, who did show on the final night of the cruise. Had to ask DW who he was when he came to the door that evening. Tipped him $20 for helping take the luggage out into the hallway. Had another butler in the Celebrity Retreat Edge Villa, butler came to cabin saw DW's 12 suitcases  and did not offer to lug it up to the Master Bedroom where all the closets are located. He also was AWOL the rest of the cruise. He wasn't even worth $20. Our next cruise we had a butler on the Seaside who blew us away with service, Vishnu D. He has since left MSC is now a butler on Regent Grandeur. (That's another story). Vishnu would not let us go outside the confines of the Yacht Club without his escort. He reserved us tables at every YC event. Reserved us a table at Ocean House. He went above and beyond any butler we have ever experienced. Tipped him $400. Had another like Vishnu named JoEl, $400.We have had others of varying degrees in the Yacht Club since and have tipped those $200-$250 when compared to Vishnu and JoEl. Our last butler in the YC was again worth every cent of $400 for a week of superb service making last months cruise on the Seascape one our best cruises ever.

Best Cat Mom

I consider tips the same way that I used to evaluate giving raises in my business life (I'm retired now). There is always a "pool" of money at the beginning, not an unlimited supply to be given out. I start with a list of the team and then I rank the team members starting with who exceeded expectations the most, the ones who mostly exceeded expectations, who simply met expectations and who did not meet expectations at all. Then start assigning amounts to each group. If you have more left at the end, increase some. If you are short, decrease some. You need to work within your budget, but the percentage given to each is key -- and usually the toughest part to figure out.

12 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said: Just like the Haven. Those that find no use for a butler do not bother with an added tip. We tipped at the end of the cruise $20 when he told those assembled in the Haven Bar he was not part of the mandatory gratuities and any renumeration would be greatly appreciated. On our first Yacht Club cruise we had the same 'noshow' butler, who did show on the final night of the cruise. Had to ask DW who he was when he came to the door that evening. Tipped him $20 for helping take the luggage out into the hallway. Had another butler in the Celebrity Retreat Edge Villa, butler came to cabin saw DW's 12 suitcases  and did not offer to lug it up to the Master Bedroom where all the closets are located. He also was AWOL the rest of the cruise. He wasn't even worth $20. Our next cruise we had a butler on the Seaside who blew us away with service, Vishnu D. He has since left MSC is now a butler on Regent Grandeur. (That's another story). Vishnu would not let us go outside the confines of the Yacht Club without his escort. He reserved us tables at every YC event. Reserved us a table at Ocean House. He went above and beyond any butler we have ever experienced. Tipped him $400. Had another like Vishnu named JoEl, $400.We have had others of varying degrees in the Yacht Club since and have tipped those $200-$250 when compared to Vishnu and JoEl. Our last butler in the YC was again worth every cent of $400 for a week of superb service making last months cruise on the Seascape one our best cruises ever.

2020 cruise on the Meraviglia and 2024 cruise on the Seascape we tipped our butlers $200.  Both wereK and took good care of us.  They both seemed a little too reserved (introverted). On our 2022 Meraviglia, Leslie was our butler.    I truly believe he was psychic.  He correctly anticipated our wants/needs/desires almost before we did.  When we didn't need him, he was invisible.  When we needed something he was like a genie popping out of a lamp, or lie Radar O'Reilly from MASH. He was "politely" assertive when the situation warranted same.  We tipped him $400 and to this day, I think we undertipped him.

1 minute ago, chrisgp999 said: 2020 cruise on the Meraviglia and 2024 cruise on the Seascape we tipped our butlers $200.  Both wereK and took good care of us.  They both seemed a little too reserved (introverted). On our 2022 Meraviglia, Leslie was our butler.    I truly believe he was psychic.  He correctly anticipated our wants/needs/desires almost before we did.  When we didn't need him, he was invisible.  When we needed something he was like a genie popping out of a lamp, or lie Radar O'Reilly from MASH. He was "politely" assertive when the situation warranted same.  We tipped him $400 and to this day, I think we undertipped him.

Apologize for the following typos.  Was trying to multi-task.

 "Both were  OK"

 'or like Radar O'Reilly from MASH

44 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said: renumeration

remuneration. (happens to the best of us).

On 5/8/2024 at 12:43 PM, morpheusofthesea said: A decent rule of thumb I have learned from one other poster ("pirate" something ?) was $10 for breakfast/lunch waiter and $20 for dinner waiter. So bring a couple of bucks for drink butlers. Same for room steward, your discretion.

We tip only at the end, based on experiences during the week.   

Proabably $100 for the butler, and 50 to 70 for the assistant butler.   

We’ve tipped $30 or so for exceptional service from others, be they butlers (not ours), waiters we had regularly, servers form the pool/YC lounge, and $20-30 to several bar tenders and the often terrific pool guys. Also tipped the Maitre D’ from $50 to 75 but this was an exceptional guy. On other trips we have not tipped the MD.   

Haing said that, we are fairly big tippers, so evaluate the above in that perspective.

 We have never felt that a tip was expected and certainly not that the possibility of a tip changed the service level. Staff know that Europeans are generally not tippers and treat every one the same.  So just leaving the auto tips in place and nothing more is certainly fine as well.  And of course treating the staff with kindness and patience when they are busy.   

Does anyone know what MSC takes out as the automatic tip? What gets charged on your account, per person, on a daily basis? Specifically for yacht club? And does anyone know what it covers? Wait staff, and room Stewart I assume? Does that include something for the butler or concierge? 

23 minutes ago, brovol said: Does anyone know what MSC takes out as the automatic tip? What gets charged on your account, per person, on a daily basis? Specifically for yacht club? And does anyone know what it covers? Wait staff, and room Stewart I assume? Does that include something for the butler or concierge?   

$112 pp/week  .. 1413 crew  = 8 cents per crew member which goes to paying their contracted salaries. If passengers remove their gratuities the cruise line is obligated to make up the difference to reach the minimum contractual salary.

11 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said: We tipped at the end of the cruise $20 when he told those assembled in the Haven Bar he was not part of the mandatory gratuities

Probably only on US sailings, otherwise MSC would not find butlers for the ships in other parts of the world.

9 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said: If passengers remove their gratuities the cruise line is obligated to make up the difference to reach the minimum contractual salary.

Which is why MSC made it impossible to remove the gratuities for (almost) all Non-US-Pax. They know exactly the risk of removal for all nationalities 😉

Last time I booked I had to pay the gratuities with the deposit already. An on my travel documents they state the Hotel Service Charge as "Cancelled Items", which sounds like I cancelled it. I know it is just that I will not get charged double, but it sounds strange 😄

Capricruiser

Only Americans want to tip for everything.  It's included in your service charge.  At the end of the cruise you can tip extra your butlers and waiters.  

11 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said: $112 pp/week  .. 1413 crew  = 8 cents per crew member which goes to paying their contracted salaries. If passengers remove their gratuities the cruise line is obligated to make up the difference to reach the minimum contractual salary.

As I understand it, the MSC contract provides for their salary in full and in addition a guaranteed sum which reflects their anticipated minimum share of the daily service charge. This allows the crew to plan what they are sending home and removes the fear of being impacted by passengers removing the charges during the cruise.

Then as long as the service charges collected exceed the expected minimum they get an additional bonus, if it falls short then MSC cover the difference.

This always seemed like a fair solution and gives the crew some stability when they have a large percentage of guests from markets that allow the removal of the 'gratuities' during a cruise...

1 hour ago, Capricruiser said: Only Americans want to tip for everything.

Appears you beat us Americans at our own game in two categories.

47 minutes ago, Mark_T said: As I understand it,

As we are all lead to believe. BUT these cruise lines are not subject to oversight from any significant source. That is why they are foreign flagged. Here is a posting from a former crew member.  The last statement is the 'kicker'  ..."IF".

·11 mo. ago

Ex-crew here, although I wasn't part of the crew who received gratuities.

The simple explanation is that most of the service crew are guaranteed a certain wage per month, partially paid for by the cruise line and partially via gratuities, and if the amount of gratuities received during the cruise aren't enough to reach that guaranteed amount, the cruise will make up the shortfall. My understanding is that the maths is done so that if everyone on board the ship sailing at it's usual sailing capacity leaves their gratuities turned on, the amount in the pool will be enough to cover that wage for everyone. In the event people do overpay, it does indeed mean the crew get paid more-  IF the cruise line doesn't take a cut or reduce their contribution, the crew's pay does increase."

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said: Appears you beat us Americans at our own game in two categories.

Interesting that Morpheus, as a Brit when we holiday in the US I always find the whole tipping thing a bit stressful, who should I or shouldn't I tip, how much etc. I would say in the past I have always tipped Restaurant and Bar servers, hotel porters and taxi drivers, I'm always thankful when the bill comes and it has the suggested gratuities on, makes my life easier.

Off topic a bit, but I do find the percentage of the bill thing a bit odd for the tip amount. For example say a party of 4 who have all had a steak and a couple of bottles of wine between them compared to a party of 4 who all had a happy hour bowl of pasta each and a coke. The steak table would be paying a much heftier tip for the same level of service.

MsTabbyKats

25 minutes ago, mcoler181 said:   Off topic a bit, but I do find the percentage of the bill thing a bit odd for the tip amount. For example say a party of 4 who have all had a steak and a couple of bottles of wine between them compared to a party of 4 who all had a happy hour bowl of pasta each and a coke. The steak table would be paying a much heftier tip for the same level of service.

As an American, I never got that either........

57 minutes ago, mcoler181 said: The steak table would be paying a much heftier tip for the same level of service.

We seldom go out for dinner, lunch, or breakfast anymore since covid. We do all our dining on board ships at a table for two, preferably in a corner. But when we did go out and about we just tipped the suggested amount in cash rounded up to an even dollar amount, usually 20% of the tab.  On board ships we wait til the end of the last dinner meal. On the Regent Grandeur I made the mistake of tipping our waiter when he took our last meal order and for dessert he failed to look for my DW's small chocolate chip cookies as he usually did.

  Many times for breakfast our usual assigned dinner waiter pulls duty at the One Pool deck and we get a different waiter every morning so I tip these guys $10 for breakfast and again $10 for lunch. We stopped by, a few years ago, one of the Dine any time Aurea restaurant for a piece of Grandma's chocolate cake which wasn't offered at the time in YC. I tipped the waiter $5 and he kept coming back to our table every 2 minutes to see if we wanted another dessert or drink. I am surprised how little it really takes to get superior service on these ships. Sure, one does not have to tip anything and most do not, which makes it easier for those that do tip. And there are those that love to brag how they get the same service we get with not tipping. But do they really? I have never posted everything because these  sine nobilitate will go running to complain.

sverigecruiser

42 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:  I tipped the waiter $5 and he kept coming back to our table every 2 minutes to see if we wanted another dessert or drink. I am surprised how little it really takes to get superior service on these ships. 

I should really hate if that happened and I should regret tipping. I think that it's superannoying when they come to our table every 2 minutes to see if everything is okay! If something is wrong or I want something more I let them know!

For me that is NOT good service.

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If you tip your Yacht Club butler extra when and where do you do it?

By lilalila , March 18 in MSC Cruises

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I'm recently off the Seashore and felt my assistant butler and butler deserved a little extra gratuity.  I easily found our assistant butler alone in the hallway on the day of disembarkation and handed him some cash. I didn't see our butler until we got into the Top Sail Lounge to await being escorted off the ship and there were many people around.  Anyway, I didn't hand her cash until just before she passed us off to the security officer to "ding" us off the ship.  It felt awkward as the body language the butler projected was as if this wasn't the time or location.  I couldn't help wondering if it was because the security officer was watching intently or if there was some other reason.  At the most handing over the cash and saying thank you to her took two seconds so I didn't think I was holding up the line any meaningful amount of time.     

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I get tip envelopes from the concierge station and fill the envelopes on the morning of the last full day of the cruise.

During that day and evening, I quietly thank the staff members and hand them their envelopes.

No need to scramble and give someone their tip while leaving the ship.

Two Wheels Only

Any time, any place.....

Most people try to be discreet but sometimes, someone else might see. it's not a big deal if you don't want it to be. 

In your case, the butler might have wanted to spend a few seconds to thank you but in the rush, there wasn't enough time. That might have been the reason for the body language.  

I agree with the above response. Get envelopes from the concierge and distribute the last day.   

Also take pictures of your favorite crew members’ name badges so you can mention them by full name in the review you are asked to give several days after you return.  It isn’t awkward, they are more than pleased that you plan to mention them by name (I tell them why I am asking to take the photo). It makes a diffference to their career trajectory. 

Best Cat Mom

After we get envelopes from the concierge desk and fill each of them, we put the person's name on the envelope. We keep a list of the names and amounts for future reference and for the formal feedback to MSC. We'll carry a few envelopes around at a time and look for people in the YC area. If we haven't found someone and the day is almost over, we'll ask the concierge if they have seen the person recently. The concierge knows why a guest is looking for someone on the last day. They've even called around for us and had the person come to the concierge desk. This is why we make sure that envelope(s) are given to the concierge(s) earlier in the day. 🙂

8 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said: Any time, any place.....   Most people try to be discreet but sometimes, someone else might see. it's not a big deal if you don't want it to be. 

Who cares what Joe Blow from Idaho cares? 

Brighton Line

Not only envelopes, the Concierge also seems to always be busy the last full day breaking bills for passengers and combining bills for crew and doing currency exchanges as well. 

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