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No, I would not say it is his fault you didn't get your dining choice. It is not his fault that when you signed up for your cruise and requested early sitting that 754 people that signed up ahead of you also requested early sitting. It is not his fault if those same 754 didn't want to change to late and he had no table available to change you. The Maitre'd is in charge of running an orderly dining room and making sure everyone has a dining experience that meets their expectations. You can be ensured he is keeping an eye on the head waiters who inturn are keeping an eye on their section of waiters and assistant waiters. Should he be tipped for doing his job? That is up to each individual. We live in a society where tipping has become the norm. I can think of a lot of professions I wonder why we tip. If the criteria for tipping was "above and beyond", then we are tipping a lot of people for simply doing their job. It still remains your choice.

Do we know 754 people were ahead of her?
On HAL Zaandam we did not get our seating the way we requested it. The first thing we were told is we should have booked earlier. We had in fact booked our cruise just over a year earlier. I do not think that many booked ahead of us. He even looked funny when I told him how long in advanced we had booked and requested our seats. The Hotel Manager did come thru for us.

that happened to us before. we booked a year in advance requested early seating, and we got late. I do not believe that half the ship was booked for early seating one year in advance. Also he would not even consider changing us. Even when we showed him how early we booked. (I always carry my information where i paid for the cruise with me if there are ever any questions). We were just plain out of luck.

Let's be realistic here. Of course we don't know how many people are signed up ahead of you. I was trying to state a point though that sometimes we don't know all the facts. Too often people don't have all the facts, then get upset and let the situation ruin their cruise. There are many factors that can affect the dining room seating arrangements. The number signed up ahead of you, the number of groups on the cruise, special needs, and even the configuration of the table set up. For instance let's just say the last three tables left open for early dining are three tables of six. Just ahead of you three families of five signed up for early seating. That leaves three empty seats. If you are a family of three what will the Maitre'd do? He's not going to separate you--one at each table. He will assign you to a table at late dining where all three can sit together. We can speculate all day and night the "what ifs" and unknowns. I am just giving some information to help everyone understand how things are done.
It does sound like macmom111 had a stinky Maitre'd. It is unusual for them to not even consider changing them. They normally will write down your request and try to accommodate you if possible.

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They normally will write down your request and try to accommodate you if possible.

I know of the
Zaandam he did not try. When I spoke to the Hotel Manager he was surprised that we had come see him. BTW in appearred that there were the same emptty tables every night....yes I know those might have been assigned and the people chose to eat on the lido deck.

We have changed dinner times a few times without any problems. It would prolly depend on the capacity and prior juggling.

Have also crashed a few dinner times and was graciously accomodated. I tipped the materdee both times. I also tipped the service staff in cash, because my account was not linked to that assignment.

But if I don't ask for anything special, or get anything special..I don't tip the materdee

I agree with IslandCruz if I have not ask for anything special and got that special attention I do not tip the Mater Dee as it is his job to be the supervisor. Am I thinking regular jobs or do they make more than the waiter in wages? Seems like they would. The guy or gal who carries the heavy trays, sees to my wishes, and cares that my meal experience is good is the one who deserves a tip which I gladly give.

I am a strong believer in tipping where tipping is due or where tipping will make someone’s day. I have left big tips and I have left Zero. Having read the entire thread so far I think that what the matre D does for you has been understated. A great deal of responsibility is his (or hers) and your cruise enjoyment can be greatly enhanced by what they tell you at dinner and how they run the room. Since they do get paid and well comparatively to others on the ship I do not feel a tip is realy necessary unless something he did effected you directly, and not just changing your table, but a piece of info you didn't know about show times perhaps, or a story that made your children laugh, and if your waiters and servers were excellent it was his work that made it so. But I will continue tip the Matre D always unless he does something contrary, like drink your wine, or ignore your request without any attempt to help, or begging with envelopes, I hate that.

By the way, have you ever left an "OH Wow" tip for some one having a bad day. Think how much it can lift that person up. My wife and I stopped at a small diner in NY, No one there, power just went out, water line broke wetting down the chef. Power just came back up. The waitress clearly would get little business that day. We had a $25 dollar lunch and left a $15 dollar tip and sneaked out. Imagine what it did for her spirits, and what did it cost me a mear $15

Was Having dinner at my Local sunday afternoon watering hole watching the band as I ate outside on the deck. the waitress was not a very pretty girl but very nice. I think her looks actually caused her not to get as many tips as the Big Busted Blonde who was also waiting on the deck. My Bill was $48.00 I gave her a $100.00 dollar bill and told her to keep the change ...you should have seen her face. Being a young college girl she could really use the money. It made my night more than hers I think.

Same way I treat anyone that serves me if I have the money. I usually go by the 10% rule when getting services remdered like my truck fixed or my house painted. they will tell me how much it's going to cost and I tell them "NO treat me as if you were doing it for your mom and Ill pay you 10% more." I get supurb service.

Just my 3 cents

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Same way I treat anyone that serves me if I have the money. I usually go by the 10% rule when getting services remdered like my truck fixed or my house painted. they will tell me how much it's going to cost and I tell them "NO treat me as if you were doing it for your mom and Ill pay you 10% more." I get supurb service.

Have you ever tried givng a tip to that nice Police Office as he is serving you with a ticket?

The officer that stopped me a little while ago extended me some professional courtesy, so I gave him a tip: take Cool Runnings, Lost My Way, and Mell-a-Ril as a trifecta in the fifth at Del Mar.

When it comes to tipping, if I get really bad service, I leave a really bad tip; my thought is that if you leave nothing, the bad server may think that I simply forgot to leave a tip. Conversely, a 25 cent tip sends a clear message.
When service is exceptional, tips are exceptional.

I will only tip the Maitre' D the first night of the cruise. It kind of insures getting a great table, plus he will look for you the rest of the time to see if he can squeeze out another. Make him work for you.

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Originally posted by baby doll:
on I do not tip the Mater Dee as it is his job to be the supervisor.

What about Boyardee?

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Originally posted by MrOctober:
Was Having dinner at my Local sunday afternoon watering hole watching the band as I ate outside on the deck. the waitress was not a very pretty girl but very nice. I think her looks actually caused her not to get as many tips as the Big Busted Blonde who was also waiting on the deck. My Bill was $48.00 I gave her a $100.00 dollar bill and told her to keep the change ...you should have seen her face. Being a young college girl she could really use the money. It made my night more than hers I think.

Same way I treat anyone that serves me if I have the money. I usually go by the 10% rule when getting services remdered like my truck fixed or my house painted. they will tell me how much it's going to cost and I tell them "NO treat me as if you were doing it for your mom and Ill pay you 10% more." I get supurb service.

Just my 3 cents

Yep That's what I'm talking about. MrOctober, That was a real "WOW WOW" tip, Nice

Nope. Sorry.
Zero. Zip. Notta. We don't tip the Maitre d'.

We tip our waiter, assistant waiter and bar server very well.

On our last cruise, we walked past the Maitre d' seven nights, and not even eye contact with the guy. On our last evening at sea, he shows up..... glad-ragging us, big smile, asking us if we would like for him to take our picture, acting like he's our long-lost relative. Couldn't have been any nicer.

I don't think so! Homey don't play that.

A'ndrea

goin'cruisin the tip the waitress gets the message is one penny. Although I never got one, when I was a waitress, I surly knew what it meant. In California if you try to tip a police officer you end up in handcuffs. They call if, let me see if I can remember, Oh yeah "Bribery"