ETA: On 1/19/19, DCL increased the recommended gratuity amounts. The new amounts have been updated throughout this post.
1. Main Tipped Positions
There are 4 main tipped positions on DCL: dining room server, dining room assistant server, dining room head server, and stateroom host. This means that DCL provides a suggested amount for the tip and thus makes me presume that these 4 positions rely heavily on tips for their income. You will have the same servers every night of your cruise as they will follow you around to each dining room. Here are some of our favorite servers and stateroom hosts we have met.
Andrew and Angaa:
Group hug with Andrew!
Angaa making napkin hats:
Our stateroom host Danny. He was great!
2. Main Tips are Automatically Charged to Your Onboard Account
For the 4 main tipped positions, DCL will automatically charge the suggested amount to your onboard account unless you tell them to do otherwise (more on that later).
3. Amount Per Person
The suggested gratuities, per DCL, are $13.50 per person (for adults as well as children of all ages), per night of your cruise. For example, a 7 night cruise would be $13.50 x 7 nights = $94.50 per person. This breaks down as such:
Dining Room Server = $4.50 per night, per person
Dining Room Assistant Server = $3.50 per night, per person
Dining Room Head Server = $1 per night, per person
Stateroom host = $4.50 per night, per person
4. You Present Your Tips on the Last Evening
On the last day of your cruise, your stateroom host will leave 4 small envelopes in your room as well as 4 slips of paper:
Each paper will have the name of one of your 4 tipped workers on it as well as the amount that DCL has charged to your onboard account for that worker. You can put the slips of paper in the appropriate envelopes and take them to dinner with you on your last night and present them to your servers after your meal. For your stateroom host, you should give him/her the envelope next time you see them. If you don’t think you will see them, I suggest leaving the envelope in an obvious place in your room so that they will see it when they turn down your room on the final evening. If you are not adding cash to the envelopes (see below), you don’t have to hand out the envelopes but some people still like to.
5. You Can Change the Amount for the 4 Main Tipped Positions
Like I mentioned earlier, DCL will automatically charge the suggested amounts to your onboard account. If you would like to either raise or lower any of the amounts, you can go to Guest Services anytime during your cruise and ask them to adjust the amounts. Another way to increase the amount you tip is to add cash to the envelopes you receive on the last day, in addition to the slip of paper stating the amount charged to your account. This is what we have always done. We have always received such exceptional service that I bring along extra cash to add to the envelopes. This saves me a trip to Guest Services, which can sometimes have pretty long lines towards the end of the cruise.
5. You Can Pre-Pay Gratuities
You can choose to pre-pay gratuities for your party up to 3 days before your cruise begins by calling DCL or your travel agent.
6. Some Tips are “At Your Discretion”
DCL states that tips for Palo & Remy servers (up charge, adult-only restaurants), as well as Dining Manager and Room Service, are “at your discretion”. This is frustratingly vague and often leaves people confused. All I can tell you is what we do. I have never encountered a Dining Manager (that I know of) on any of my 4 cruises, so I have never tipped this position. We usually tip our Palo server 15-20% of what we would estimate the meal would cost us on land. (ETA: Palo/Remy servers are tipped at the end of your meal, either with cash or charging the tip to your onboard account.) For room service, we usually tip room service $1-$2 per item. You can either charge these to your onboard account or use cash. I will caution you that we have had some pretty sneaky delivery guys who bolted out of the room so fast I practically had to chase them down with the tip, so if you do plan to use cash, have it ready before hand.
7. For Services & Items Not Included in the Cruise Fare (and a few that are), Tips are Automatically Added to the Bill
An automatic 18% is added to all spa services, as well as an automatic 15% for some beverages. This includes (1) any drink from a bartender (alcoholic or not) (2) any sodas, bottled water, or alcoholic beverages ordered from room service, and (3) smoothies, bottled water, or alcoholic beverages ordered from your dining room server. I put this in red because I think it is the one thing that surprises people the most. You are not charged for soda or bottled water from room service or a bartender, but you are charged a 15% tip for them.
8. You May Choose to Tip Excursion Operators, Bus Drivers and/or Luggage Porters
Bring cash if you think you might want to tip excursion operators or bus drivers (many people do). If you are arriving at the port by car (your own or a car service), you will use the assistance of luggage porters to help you get your bags from the curb to the ship. You may also wish to use a porter while disembarking the ship after your cruise. It is customary to tip them $1-$2 per bag.
9. If You are Booked in a Concierge Room, You Will Need to Tip Your Concierge Hosts
If you have reserved a concierge level stateroom, you will have 2-3 Concierge Hosts at your beck and call, as well as a bar tender in the concierge lounge. The hosts will (most likely) assist you with countless things during your cruise and will probably even surprise you will all sorts of things you didn’t even ask for. For some reason that I can’t figure out, DCL is completely silent on what you should tip them. They will provide you with an envelope for them on the last day, indicating that they expect you to tip them, but will give you no suggested amount. The jury is still out on whether Concierge Hosts make a decent salary without tips or rely heavily on tips for their compensation. I have read that some people tip nothing and others tip hundreds of dollars. We always give them what we feel comfortable with based on how much they did for us during the cruise. I will say, however, that we have always been blown away by our concierge hosts and therefore rewarded them with what we believe is a very nice tip. Here are 2 of our favorites, Danny and Jonathan:
10. Some Positions are Not Allowed to Accept Tips
The main ones that comes to mind are the workers in the nursery and kids’ clubs. I have heard that if you try and tip them they will politely decline, and if you insist, then they are supposed to turn over the tip to their supervisor. I’m sure there are other positions that will decline tips as well. If you really want to reward one of these people for excellent service, a great way to do that is to mention them by name on the comment card that you will be asked to fill out at the end of your cruise. I have heard that DCL takes these comments very seriously and actually does reward workers based on the positive comments they receive.
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Another great post! I don’t think I have ever come across a more concise description of who and when to tip before….and I’m not just saying that! (Grin!)
Thank you so much Michelle!!! I love helping out others by sharing the stuff I have learned. And I still plan to email you about homeschooling ASAP!
Sounds good. I’m always around…just let me know how I can help. My Rainbow Resource order just arrived yesterday, but I have been so busy with company that I haven’t even had time to open it yet! The anticipation is killing me! (grin!)
(Hmmmmm…still not getting the notifications to my email when you post. I have tried the “only send notifications when a comment is posted to my post” and also “subscribe to all comments.” They do not seem to be hitting the spam folder. )
Michelle, let me know if you get an email notification for this reply. I think I may have finally discovered the problem.
Sorry…my sister has been down from Canada for 4 days and I haven’t been online hardly at all. Ummmm…nope…still haven’t gotten anything. (And I double checked my spam folder.)
P.S. At this moment I’m thinking your torrential downpours from Texas just hit Boston. We are getting hammered.
Hmmm…still trying to figure out the issue with with comments notifications. Please be patient, I am not very good at the technical stuff! 🙂 I hope your rain has let up!
You’ve got it!!!! Sorry. I have been in the city overnight and am just now getting my email checked from the last two days.
We have sunshine this morning after 3 days of rain. Woo hoo!
I’ve really enjoyed your blog! We are going on our first cruise in November and your blog has been very helpful.
I’m so glad you like it! If there is something particular you are interested in that I haven’t yet addressed, please let me know so I can write a post about it!
Does this include children on gratuities or is it per adult?
The amounts are the same for both adults and children.
Thank you
Do you tip or get charged a fee for the children clubs?
There is no fee for the kids clubs, and the counsellors in there are not allowed to accept tips.
Hi, thank you for all the Disney info, I have really enjoyed reading all of your posts!
We are going on our first Disney cruise in January 2017 so we need all the advice we can get. We are from Australia and have visited America a few times and love to tip well as US wages are so low compared to ours.
I would like to double check if you are dining at your rotation restaurant and order any drinks then 15% is automatically added for tips per drink? Out of curiosity do people bring in their own cups filled with soda from the pool deck etc?
Hi Kym! So glad you are enjoying the blog! Actually, the only drinks with an automatic gratuity in the main dining rooms are alcoholic beverages, and I think smoothies as well. All other drinks have no extra gratuity, so no need to drag soda from the pool deck! I will try to re-word my post to clarify that. Any soda that you order from a lounge/bar (i.e. not a restaurant) will incur the auto gratuity. I hope you have a wonderful cruise!!!
Oh, thank you so much for making this so clear, with steps and photographs!
We have never cruised before and we (and our budget) wanted to be prepared so we can just relax and so we don’t accidentally stiff anyone! So looking forward to our first cruise ever (a DISNEY cruise no less! 🙂 in just a few short months! Thank you again so much!
You’re very welcome! Enjoy your cruise!!!
your reviews are awesome!!! I needed clarity on the tipping expectations, and this post was awesome. I am also now prepared to book our next cruise on board once I read your other post.
We are cruising in about a month and are super excited!!!
So glad I could help! Enjoy your cruise!
Do you leave tips for children ages 2 and infant?
Yes, tips are per person, regardless of age. I know it may seem strange, but the crew members will be doing things for infants/toddlers such as serving & cleaning up after meals (toddlers), setting up beds, bringing diaper genie or pack & play to your room, etc.
We have sailed Concierge seven times and have gotten know some of them very well from multiple trips. They do NOT receive any salary; they rely 100% on tips. We have traditionally tipped $200 per Concierge, and there have almost always been three per cruise. I talked to one person on our last trip who tipped them nothing, despite being in the Concierge lounge and drinking a lot of free alcohol throughout the week. I was horrified.
Thanks for the input Jani! I would be horrified too if someone didn’t tip.
Hello! I found you on Pinterest today and have read your posts for… an embarrassing amount of hours now. Who needs clean laundry anyhow? I have to say my husband,our 5yr old boy and I are doing Disney/Cruise in February and your reviews have made me feel SO much more informed! I’m very Type A and have probably read hundreds of bloggers reviews for most things, your reviews and posts are now my favorite. Thanks so much for being so detailed and even leaving links to buy the items you review. I feel like I’ll really be prepared now! 🙂
Thanks Kassie, I’m so glad you are finding the blog helpful! That is my main goal. I am type A as well and I try to think of things that I would like to know before my first cruise, and write posts about them. If you ever have any questions that the blog doesn’t answer, please feel free to email me at disneycruisemomblog@gmail.com and I will do my best to help. I hope your family has a wonderful cruise!!!
Thanks for all the great information! We are preparing to leave on our first cruise ever and the tipping was one part I was still unclear on! Now I know what to expect – thanks!
You’re very welcome! Enjoy your cruise!
We are sailing on our 4th Disney cruise this year and this will be our 2nd with the concierge as we are now completely spoiled! We really only spoke to one of the concierge hosts the entire last cruise (3 night Bahamas.) I wasn’t sure about the tipping either so I asked. In a very discrete way I was told they split the tips. (Again not sure if that’s true but the assumption I got.) Our host did everything for us, booked our cabana on Castaway Cay, set us up to run the 5k, booked our excursions and special VIP meet n greets with characters. We enjoyed every minute of it and have made this an annual trip that follows our DVC WDW vacation every summer. So back to tipping… I added a generous cash tip in an envelope and handed it to our concierge host with a big hug. Knowing she may have to split it, I made sure it was enough to thank each host, but if she gets to keep it all to herself then I’m sure it will let her know that we were extremely happy with her perfessionalism and service. Hope to hear more about concierge tipping from you soon. Thank you for this Blog!
~From a Disney Fan! 🙂
Hi Audrey! We have sailed concierge on the Wonder and Magic (never the Fantasy or Dream but hopefully some day) and I know what you mean about getting spoiled! Thanks for sharing the information you found out about tipping the concierge hosts – that is very helpful!
Hi, does this mean we can go to the desk and ask for gratuity to be removed from our bill and instead pay cash in the envelopes in the room? Or do we have to pay the gratuity in cash at the desk?
Hi Ashley! You can do either if you wish to pay your gratuities with cash. You can go to guest services, have them remove the charges from your account, and then present your servers with cash inside the envelopes. Or, you could give your cash to guest services to apply to your onboard account, and then leave the gratuities charged to your account. Hope this helps!
We have never passed out the envelopes….do you have to? Or do they get their tips anyway?
Any tips charged to your onboard account will be given to them anyway, whether you hand them the envelope or not. We always put extra cash in ours, which is why we hand out the envelopes on the last night.
Does it matter what currency you tip with? Is USD the standard? Just curious for some of the the cruises that go to several countries with different currencies. We usually travel with cash to match the currency of the countries we visit and sometimes that’s all the cash we have left over for additional tips at the end of the cruise. Would it make sense to get the money exchanged back to USD?
Where are you sailing to? In Mexico, the Bahamas & Caribbean, I have always used USD and they are happy to take them. I also used USD in Canada (Victoria, Vancouver, & Yukon). I have not cruised to Europe so I don’t know if people in those ports will be willing to accept USD or not….
This has gone up to 13.50$ per person.
We sailed on the Disney Magic – 5 Night Bahamian Cruise on 25th Jan.
We booked a placeholder thanks to your posts and are already planning our next Cruise. We are from Ireland 🙂
I had a question regarding tipping in the concierge lounge bar. It is my understanding that the alcohol there is free…if so, are the automatic 15% gratuities for alcoholic drinks added to the drinks? Or do you tip the concierge bartender at your discretion per drink ? Or are they tipped at the end of the cruise in an envelope like others?
Also I assume that they would be tipped separately than the concierge hosts, correct? Thank you so much for all of your information, I have learned so much from reading your site!
Hi Ed! Yes, the alcohol in the concierge lounge is complimentary during the daily happy hours, which are something like 5:00-10:00 pm. There is no auto gratuity added, most people tip the bartender at their discretion, sometimes a little each evening or sometimes all on the last evening (it’s my understanding that you will have the same 1-2 bartenders for the entire cruise). You will not receive a designated envelope (unless they’ve recently changed this), but you can ask a concierge host for an envelope if you prefer. And yes, you are correct that their tips are separate from the hosts.
Going on our first Disney Cruise next week and just discovered your wonderful site! I am already sure we will want to tip over and above the automatic amounts charged by DCL. Can you please give me a rough idea of how much extra you leave? I just have no idea of the range. We will be two adults, non-concierge, 4 nights to the Bahamas. Thank you so much!
Hi Emily! The extra amounts that we leave varies, usually dependent on how much cash I have leftover (although you can also add additional gratuity to your onboard account at guest services). On a 7 night, I typically leave $20-40 extra for each server, if they were exceptional, and the same for our stateroom host, depending on how neat/messy we were and how well they did. But, there are 5 of us, so for 2 people on a 4 night I would decrease those accordingly. I hope this helps, but you should only do what you feel comfortable with.
hi, I have been reading your blog for some time, just had a few questions. which ship would you recommend for a family of 7, 2 adults 5 children and this is the only cruise we plan on taking in a while so i wanted to know if there really is a big difference between types of rooms, i really wanted to do veranda but its much cheaper to do an inside room…