Gratuities

I have heard so many different things regarding gratuities, some say compulsory,some you can cancel some say you can choose the amount.

I have no problems with paying just what is best.

Please help.

I have heard so many different things regarding gratuities, some say compulsory,some you can cancel some say you can choose the amount.

I have no problems with paying just what is best.

Please help.

 

What is best is what Princess has in their FAQs:

 

To simplify the tipping process for our passengers, a discretionary gratuity of $12 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $11.50 per passenger in all other staterooms per day (including children) will be automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis.

 

Should you want to add to those, cash to staff is always appreciated.

What is best is what Princess has in their FAQs:

 

To simplify the tipping process for our passengers, a discretionary gratuity of $12 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $11.50 per passenger in all other staterooms per day (including children) will be automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis.

Should you want to add to those, cash to staff is always appreciated.

 

You either leave the full amount of the auto tip on or you have to cancel the full amount. It's either one or the other.

Best and easiest for all to leave it on. :)

LuLu

I have heard so many different things regarding gratuities, some say compulsory,some you can cancel some say you can choose the amount.

I have no problems with paying just what is best.

Please help.

 

 

I have never seen anyone here say that the gratuities are compulsory.

You can keep them on your account or have them removed.

The daily tip rewards your cabin steward and all dining personnel (in all venues) and some behind the scenes and room service personnel.

 

If you choose to have the daily tip removed from your account, any cash you give those included will have to be turned in by them. So the best way to reward those who serve you is to keep the daily tip in place and, if you wish, tip additionally in cash.

 

The daily tip does not include purchased beverages (15% added automatically to their cost), children's clubs personnel or spa services (lately a tip has been added automatically to Spa bills).

We always leave on the auto-grats (called hotel daily charge, or something like that). It's a much easier process than when it was "stuff the envelope" time on the last day of the cruise. Now, we can just concern ourselves with the staff we want to reward with something extra (and because we left on the tips, they get to keep the extra cash).

 

Some people claim they want to reduce the tips if the service isn't as good as they want. But any passenger who is having trouble with their cabin steward or waitstaff can go to the passenger services desk (or head waiter) and tell the supervisor what is off. Hopefully the problem will get fixed and the rest of the cruise wonderful.

Sigh... This seems to come up soooooooooooooooooooo often. However, this is the first time I've seen the twist about being able to choose the amount.

 

I understand the complexities regarding taxes, etc. blah, blah, blah for the crew and why the gratuities aren't included as a non-negotiable part of the cruise fare. I don't know that a sticky would help because there is always going to be conflict regarding what is "right", etc. and besides, the people asking wouldn't read the sticky.

 

I don't suppose there is a way to resolve the issue of this question coming up over and over (and over and over and...) but I wish there was. As usual, my take on this issue is: LEAVE THE AUTO TIPS ON. If you want to tip more (I know it's probably foolish but I do tend to tip my steward extra) then do so. Tips are personal and nobody can tell someone else how to handle the issue. Not even me and I am obviously the smartest, best, and most qualified person on the planet. (Or not...)

We were on Ruby in July and were able to reduce the amount taken automatically with no problem or questioning...

We were on Ruby in July and were able to reduce the amount taken automatically with no problem or questioning...

 

Did you receive poor service?

It is more of a service charge than a tip. Best and easiest is to leave it on your account. I think a lot of passengers tip the waiters and room steward extra for excellent service. And most times we do too. we never take the daily charges off even if the service is not quite up to par. They all wotk very hard.

Did you receive poor service?

 

 

Can't wait for the response!

 

 

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You must remember that you are also tipping the staff for anytime dining and the buffet. There is no way you would be able to tip them individually. Cancelling the tip becomes a negative on your room steward's record.

 

If you do try to tip individually they must turn the money in and it is split between all the staff. If you want to give extra to a specific person you must allow the automatic tip.

I have heard so many different things regarding gratuities, some say compulsory,some you can cancel some say you can choose the amount.

I have no problems with paying just what is best.

Please help.

 

The standard is as follows Per Person:

$2.00 Cabin Steward

$2.00 Table Waiter

$1.00 Assist Table Waiter

$0.50 Head Waiter and Others

 

Total = $5.50 Per Day Per Person

If you are in a Suite Category Total = $6.00 Per Day Per Person.

 

Most Cruise Lines add this rate directly to you Folio per day, However you can choose to opt out of the auto posting or increase or decrease the amount as you see fit based on the serve you receive. Personally I would not recommend to opt out of the auto posting. Don't forget the people serving you on your cruise do not receive any pay, there rely solely on Gratuities provided by the patron.

We were on Ruby in July and were able to reduce the amount taken automatically with no problem or questioning...

 

Why would you do this?

You must remember that you are also tipping the staff for anytime dining and the buffet. There is no way you would be able to tip them individually. Cancelling the tip becomes a negative on your room steward's record.

 

 

Not to mention all the staff behind the scenes you never see.

Sigh... This seems to come up soooooooooooooooooooo often. However, this is the first time I've seen the twist about being able to choose the amount.

 

 

Yes, you can choose whatever amount you wish to pay... not saying that is what people should do, but it is possible.

 

The standard is as follows Per Person:

$2.00 Cabin Steward

$2.00 Table Waiter

$1.00 Assist Table Waiter

$0.50 Head Waiter and Others

 

Total = $5.50 Per Day Per Person

If you are in a Suite Category Total = $6.00 Per Day Per Person.

 

Most Cruise Lines add this rate directly to you Folio per day, However you can choose to opt out of the auto posting or increase or decrease the amount as you see fit based on the serve you receive. Personally I would not recommend to opt out of the auto posting. Don't forget the people serving you on your cruise do not receive any pay, there rely solely on Gratuities provided by the patron.

 

That's simply not true. The crew is paid wages and the gratuities are on top of that. Certainly, in some jobs, the gratuities may possibly be higher than the wages, but the crew does not rely only on tips for their pay...

Edited September 2, 2014 by RickEk

We were on Ruby in July and were able to reduce the amount taken automatically with no problem or questioning...

They will allow you to do this but it's assumed that you received poor service from your cabin steward and dining waitstaff. Your cabin steward in particular may not get a promotion or pay raise if you, and others, reduce or remove the tip. If you reduce the auto-tip and tip extra to individuals, it's a tease because they must turn that in to their supervisor and it goes into the tipping pool.

They will allow you to do this but it's assumed that you received poor service from your cabin steward and dining waitstaff. Your cabin steward in particular may not get a promotion or pay raise if you, and others, reduce or remove the tip. If you reduce the auto-tip and tip extra to individuals, it's a tease because they must turn that in to their supervisor and it goes into the tipping pool.

 

On our last cruise we tried to reduce our stewards tip, and only his, he was dreadful in every way. We found out that just reducing his was not possible.

On our last cruise we tried to reduce our stewards tip, and only his, he was dreadful in every way. We found out that just reducing his was not possible.

 

I had one of those once. What we did is complain directly to his supervisor (which helped.) I didn't think about reducing just his tip, but that would be more work than I cared to do at that point.

The standard is as follows Per Person:

$2.00 Cabin Steward

$2.00 Table Waiter

$1.00 Assist Table Waiter

$0.50 Head Waiter and Others

 

Total = $5.50 Per Day Per Person

If you are in a Suite Category Total = $6.00 Per Day Per Person.

 

Most Cruise Lines add this rate directly to you Folio per day, However you can choose to opt out of the auto posting or increase or decrease the amount as you see fit based on the serve you receive. Personally I would not recommend to opt out of the auto posting. Don't forget the people serving you on your cruise do not receive any pay, there rely solely on Gratuities provided by the patron.

 

I am not sure where this poster got the above information, but I have never seen these numbers in 22 Princess cruises. Current standard is $11.50 per person per day for most cabins and slightly more for suites. That will be charged to your bill as a "Hotel Service Charge" and is divided up by Princess for all of your service personal.

 

The easiest way is to leave the "auto tip" on and only tip more it you receive exceptional service from someone. Your choice

They will allow you to do this but it's assumed that you received poor service from your cabin steward and dining waitstaff. Your cabin steward in particular may not get a promotion or pay raise if you, and others, reduce or remove the tip. If you reduce the auto-tip and tip extra to individuals, it's a tease because they must turn that in to their supervisor and it goes into the tipping pool.

Princess may assume that people remove the autotip because they received poor service from their steward and dining waitstaff, but I tend to assume that most people remove the autotip because they are cheap tightwads.

Princess may assume that people remove the autotip because they received poor service from their steward and dining waitstaff, but I tend to assume that most people remove the autotip because they are cheap tightwads.

 

LOL!!! I agree :)

On our last cruise we tried to reduce our stewards tip, and only his, he was dreadful in every way. We found out that just reducing his was not possible.

You can reduce the total amount, not specific. That way, everyone serving you loses whether you received great or poor service.

 

The most effective way to let supervisors know that service has been poor is to use the "Comment" card/survey. Otherwise, everyone is affected.

 

The bottom line is that if you choose to cruise on a Princess ship when the on board currency is $US, the tipping customs in the US are followed. It has nothing to do with what you do in another country. It shouldn't be a surprise because there are FAQs on the Princess website.

 

Comparing international pricing vs. US pricing is apples to oranges. You can't make a direct comparison because there are so many factors (legal, financial, insurance, marketing, etc.) taken into effect.

As others have mentioned overall tipping is still optional and subjective. I used to be really hung up on the auto-gratuity thing because it still sounds like a service charge more than a tip, but since I'd be tipping anyway and the amount they suggest is reasonable (usually less than 10%) then I've overcome my bias :rolleyes:

 

The suggested amounts, as I said, are pretty reasonable and I think they do all the auto stuff to make it easier on them and easier on most of us. There is the occasional person who just doesn't want tip for various reasons (culture, can't afford it...), but overwhelmingly most people just consider the dining/cabin attendant tip to be part of cost of the cruise. So, in those cases having it figured out and billed automatically just kind of falls in line with the rest of the pleasure of cruising (we don't have to make a lot of decisions).

 

Sometimes we think the amount is too low when we get exceptional service so we will, sometimes, tip additional, but we always leave the auto bill stuff in place. At least Princess is really fair about it. On other cruise lines you have to pay up front for Anytime type of dining.

 

I finally consoled my aversion to how it works by realizing that it is still optional and still subjective so still a "gratuity" instead of a service charge. We've never had really bad service on a cruise and we come from a culture where tipping is considered normal so I was really over thinking the whole issue. I also consoled myself knowing that if there ever was a bad enough situation where I felt so out of sorts that I didn't want to tip I could just complain to customer service and they'd make it up to me. Princess has always been more fair attending to even a slight problem that I might have. It's why we enjoy cruising with them so much.

 

For us a typical cruise our bill is around $120-150/person/day so the $12/day tip is usually < than 10%.

 

I don't consider the 15% on drinks to count in this case since that's going to the bar staff who are not covered by the daily tip amounts.

 

Still, like I said, the whole thing is totally optional so Princess has made it extremely convenient for those who consider it part of the cruise cost (most of us I'd guess) and reasonably convenient for anyone who has a religious or cultural aversion to tipping.

 

Ironically, we lose more money on Bingo than we usually pay in tips :eek:

 

Tom

It is more of a service charge than a tip. Best and easiest is to leave it on your account. I think a lot of passengers tip the waiters and room steward extra for excellent service. And most times we do too. we never take the daily charges off even if the service is not quite up to par. They all wotk very hard.

 

 

I had some poor service on my last cruise, but I didn't reduce tips at all. I agree they work hard and everyone has a bad moment or two- I've seen some of the people they have to put up with and I have a feeling some of those jerks don't tip at all. After reading a lot of the threads I decided for this cruise to take more cash tip money and tip in real time especially for our room steward. I'm hoping this will help improve our service.

 

 

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