Concierge Gratuites

[Rococoyourboat]

I'm embarking on my first Disney cruise in early September. We are lucky enough to be sailing concierge and after viewing Disney's suggested nightly Gratuites I was curious as to what more seasoned concierge sailers usually tip. The current recommendation is 15.50 pp nightly and an additional 8 pp per night for the concierge lounge staff. Is it me or does 23.50 per night seem too low? Would love to hear what you recommend.

 

[Southern Pirate]

On a cruise where we don't use the concierge team very much, we usually tip $30 pp per night. If we use their service more, then of course the amount goes up

 

[gismo1554]

Its low based on the amounts that people claimed previously you should tip whenever anyone said "what type of price do you tip concierge". It really does depend what you use them for. For example during the staycations last year none of our requests were sorted at all so the recommended amount I would have felt better with rather than the amount we paid based on various discussions on the internet around what you should tip for concierge (it was our first time so we were trying to work out what would be reasonable). On our second concierge a lot more were sorted and they did help us out a lot onboard so I tipped happily more than that. I feel that at least now there is a base mark that you can work from.

 

[indylaw99]

I'm going to be curious to see what concierge service is like on the Wish with so many more guests. We've already seen a major drop in shoreside service. For example, we emailed them last week to verify whether we needed to get a boarding time as a concierge guest. They never responded. So we stayed up until midnight last night to check in, only to find out that we didn't need to get a boarding time. Things like that are frustrating. If I'm going to have to rely on the Internet for getting my answers, what is the benefit of being in concierge?

Hopefully they doubled the number of concierge hosts on the ship when they doubled the number of concierge guests. I'm going to reserve my opinions about tipping on the new ship until I see how that actually works out.

 

[LisaRN97]

I think the $8 per person, per night is almost a safeguard for the concierge staff. Some guests who have sailed concierge were not aware of tipping the hosts, bartenders etc. I too think the $8 per night is on the lower side, but we will tip appropriately and give more.

 

[disnygirl55]

After seeing this conversation back and forth for years, we just made a decision to keep it simple. I suspect the additional gratuities are added for the lounge staff - bartender, food service, etc. But that said, people are still getting different responses when they call in and ask who the tip covers, so who knows????.

Due to the $$ amount seeming really low, I tend to believe it is the "non-concierge host" team members in the lounge that the $8 covers. I still plan to tip for concierge how we always have. We use a rule of thumb of $100 x number of guests in stateroom x number of sailing nights. To illustrate - on a four night cruise for two guests - we will tip $800. (additionally, we will likely give each lounge food attendant another $50 and the bartender maybe $100 additional for the entire cruise - and would tip more for a longer cruise).

Some families tip higher, some tip lower. I don't feel anyone is wrong. We do a lot of our own planning and don't ask for much - but just REALLY enjoy the interactions we have with the team and the special effort they make to get to know us. From various polls I have seen, this seems to fall in the middle or slightly above from poll respondents. I'm sure this debate will continue for a long time. The recent change of adding the $8 per person might have made it more confusing. LOL

This should NOT be taken as advice or guidelines for your family. Everyone's experience with the concierge team is different, and I'm sure they are grateful for anything they receive. One change I have made over the years is to add the tip for the hosts to my credit card so they get it in their paycheck rather than cash. Knowing what a pain it must be for them to get the cash to their bank or credit union, it seems safer and more convenient for them. We still tip the food and bartender with cash. Not only is there really not a clear way to tip them on the bill, I want them to know that their service is appreciated. I think these positions are often overlooked.

 

[MKMK]

It is confusing. We are on our last night on the Magic right now (which is why I am researching this thread) and one of the concierge hosts called us to tell us we tipped too low? The form said $8/person/night ... which we did ... but apparently we didn't understand they had a 7 person team?

Wish they would just tell us how much they want and avoid the uncomfortable conversation on what was otherwise a fabulous trip.

 

[Andreac63]

So now I am really confused . Is it 8 per person in the stateroom or 8 per team member. And x the people in the stateroom? 8 per person seems low - we go next week DVC sailing. So it’s 3 days which would only be 48$. But 8 per 7 person team is 168 and then X2 is over $300 for a 3 day cruise.

 

[RadekBonk]

It is confusing. We are on our last night on the Magic right now (which is why I am researching this thread) and one of the concierge hosts called us to tell us we tipped too low? The form said $8/person/night ... which we did ... but apparently we didn't understand they had a 7 person team?

Wish they would just tell us how much they want and avoid the uncomfortable conversation on what was otherwise a fabulous trip.

That seems like a really weird phone call...

 

[ladyofthetramp]

It is confusing. We are on our last night on the Magic right now (which is why I am researching this thread) and one of the concierge hosts called us to tell us we tipped too low? The form said $8/person/night ... which we did ... but apparently we didn't understand they had a 7 person team?

Wish they would just tell us how much they want and avoid the uncomfortable conversation on what was otherwise a fabulous trip.

They what? I have never heard of such a thing. Agree with RadekBonk.

 

[lanejudy]

I would think it is $8 X # of nights X # of guests in the stateroom. That’s how the regular stateroom tips are calculated. And I have never heard of a CM contacting to say “too low.” It is a SUGGESTED amount and not a mandatory fee. You should be allowed to tip more or less as you see fit. Honestly when someone acts entitled to a bigger tip, they usually get less or even none from me.

 

[Maisie78]

Do people tip the bartenders in the lounge each time they order a drink or wait and tip at the end of the cruise?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I would think it is $8 X # of nights X # of guests in the stateroom. That’s how the regular stateroom tips are calculated. And I have never heard of a CM contacting to say “too low.” It is a SUGGESTED amount and not a mandatory fee. You should be allowed to tip more or less as you see fit. Honestly when someone acts entitled to a bigger tip, they usually get less or even none from me.

I totally agree. What a disconcerting phone call--I would give feedback on that one for sure.

 

[Magical_Suitcase]

It is confusing. We are on our last night on the Magic right now (which is why I am researching this thread) and one of the concierge hosts called us to tell us we tipped too low? The form said $8/person/night ... which we did ... but apparently we didn't understand they had a 7 person team?

Wish they would just tell us how much they want and avoid the uncomfortable conversation on what was otherwise a fabulous trip.

Calling a guest to complain about the amount of a "tip" is very unprofessional. You should definitely leave feedback on this situation.

 

[paladin732]

So now I am really confused . Is it 8 per person in the stateroom or 8 per team member. And x the people in the stateroom? 8 per person seems low - we go next week DVC sailing. So it’s 3 days which would only be 48$. But 8 per 7 person team is 168 and then X2 is over $300 for a 3 day cruise.

I’d report them.

 

[starry_solo]

It’s $8 per person in your stateroom, not $8 per team member

 

[LadybugsMum]

There's a spot in this DCL Fan vlog about tipping the concierge staff:

Edit:

Here's another vlog specifically about concierge and Pete says $150 for 3/4 night cruise and $300 for a 7 night cruise. That is per ROOM not per person:

 

[jennyturin]

• Concierge Lounge Team—Guests staying in Concierge accommodations are recommended a gratuity amount of $8.00 per night, per stateroom Guest

This is on top of:

• Dining room server
• Dining room assistant server
• Dining room head server
• Stateroom host

Guests staying in Concierge Staterooms and Suites are recommended a gratuity amount of $15.50 per night, per stateroom Guest. This includes gratuity for the Stateroom assistant host, who services the Concierge accommodations, in addition to the positions listed above.

So I take this to mean $23.50 per person per night is the recommended tip for Rotational Dining, your stateroom host and the whole concierge team.

 

[MKMK]

Not sure I have any advice because I still don't understand what Concierge was asking us for. Perhaps discretely ask a Concierge host when you board the ship.

To the comments above. Our state room was automatically charged $15.50/night/guest. We were on a 12 night cruise with 4 in our stateroom -- $744.

We received a separate form for the concierge tip that suggested $8/night/guest. We filled out the form and added (rounded up) $500 for concierge.

The concierge host called and said I didn't understand the form and was supposed to give them $8/night for each of the 7 concierge team members (=$8 x 12 nights x 7 concierge staff members). They came to our door with a new form for us to fill out. We rounded up and gave them $700. In addition, we gave the 2 concierge team members who bring the beverage cart around each night $100 cash because they were so entertaining.

It was a wonderful cruise, but to my earlier point, an uncomfortable ending. I hope they make it more clear on the expectation going forward.

 

[Sammie79]

• Concierge Lounge Team (Concierge Managers and the Concierge Servers): Guests staying in Concierge accommodations are recommended a gratuity amount of $8.00 per night, per stateroom Guest. However, it is always up to the Guest to determine what they feel is appropriate.

This is what I found online. I can’t believe the concierge host made you fill out a new form. We are about to embark on a dream cruise today and we’ll tip based on the service we receive.