Cheers Gratuities

So I purchased the Cheers program last week during our 8 day cruise. Gratuities are paid when the program is purchased. Each time you order a drink, you are given a receipt to sign that reads "$0.00 amount due" and has a line for additional gratuity. The 1st few drinks I ordered directly at the bar, and wasn't really thinking about tips at all. However, throughout the week I noticed the sever would look at the receipt and almost seem let down if there wasn't an additional tip added. I started adding $1.00 for each drink because I felt guilty. All I could think of, was that the automatic gratuity didn't go to the servers for some reason...does anyone know how the gratuities are paid out, and if the extra gratuity goes directly to the person that served me the drink?

Yes the additional tip goes to the server

If you drink 15 beers a day for 7 days, that an additional $105 pp, or $210 per couple over the cost of cheers. I might tip sometimes, if I have an exceptional bartender, but no way am I going to add $1 each drink.

If you drink 15 beers a day for 7 days, that an additional $105 pp, or $210 per couple over the cost of cheers. I might tip sometimes, if I have an exceptional bartender, but no way am I going to add $1 each drink.

My understanding of the program is that I was charged $37.50/day + 15% gratuity. Not 15% per drink. In fact, the receipt I was given when I signed up says exactly that. I guess that's what threw me about who was getting the tip. I hope the information I was given was not incorrect!

Classic case of "forget what you've paid"....the tips you paid for the package are divided amongst the servers. So, you paid A LOT in tips for drinks! Oh, well.

The staff LOVES "prepaid grats", as most forget how much they've already tipped.

Tipping more is fine, but unnecessary,.

I spent an extra $2-3 per day over 8 days to tip the servers/bartenders who were waiting on us a lot. For about $20 extra we had drinks waiting for us at bars and servers who would bee line for us on deck, MDR and in shows, got a few "samples" and overlooked an extra drink that exceeded my husbands daily limit one night. It was well worth it. We were never snubbed on the majority of drinks that I didn't add an extra tip to or treated any differently. It was an 8 day cruise at the end of October on the Legend and we never left the ship in ports so we spent a lot of time talking to the bartenders and waiters too.

We had it last Jan.and the one thing I didn't like was the wait between drinks...even if we were sitting there drinking them and they knew we were not cheating the system by giving them away. I like to get a coke and a mixed drink at the same time and the severs would not do it. That being said,it so worth it and I will be getting it again on my Nov. Cruise I just hope the bartenders aren't as "scared" of the rules as they were two yrs ago went it was first out.

My understanding of the program is that I was charged $37.50/day + 15% gratuity. Not 15% per drink. In fact, the receipt I was given when I signed up says exactly that. I guess that's what threw me about who was getting the tip. I hope the information I was given was not incorrect!

Right. You are each paying 5.63 per day in gratuities (based on the $37.50 figure). If you add on $1 for every drink I think that's a lot.

We had it last Jan.and the one thing I didn't like was the wait between drinks...even if we were sitting there drinking them and they knew we were not cheating the system by giving them away. I like to get a coke and a mixed drink at the same time and the severs would not do it. That being said,it so worth it and I will be getting it again on my Nov. Cruise I just hope the bartenders aren't as "scared" of the rules as they were two yrs ago went it was first out.

I don't think that is all the bartenders fault. The computer system knows you have cheers and knows how long it was since your card was swiped before.

I spent an extra $2-3 per day over 8 days to tip the servers/bartenders who were waiting on us a lot. For about $20 extra we had drinks waiting for us at bars and servers who would bee line for us on deck, MDR and in shows, got a few "samples" and overlooked an extra drink that exceeded my husbands daily limit one night. It was well worth it. We were never snubbed on the majority of drinks that I didn't add an extra tip to or treated any differently. It was an 8 day cruise at the end of October on the Legend and we never left the ship in ports so we spent a lot of time talking to the bartenders and waiters too.

Servers on deck, in the MDR and in the shows would bee line to you for $1 a day each? lol I find that hard to believe. OMG, that's the couple that tips me an extra $1 everyday!!!! I'm pretty sure they were just great bartenders and servers that got to know you and it had nothing to do with the extra buck they made. You were probably one of the lower tippers they had throughout the week. I'm not knocking you for what you were tipping but you have to be realistic and know your tips weren't the reason for the service. ;)

We had it last Jan.and the one thing I didn't like was the wait between drinks...even if we were sitting there drinking them and they knew we were not cheating the system by giving them away. I like to get a coke and a mixed drink at the same time and the severs would not do it. That being said,it so worth it and I will be getting it again on my Nov. Cruise I just hope the bartenders aren't as "scared" of the rules as they were two yrs ago went it was first out.

So are you saying that if you get an alcoholic beverage you can't get a soda at the same time? That is jacked up! I'm like you...I like to drink and sip on my soda at the same time so I don't get crunk....the way it looks I'm gonna be drunk by my second drink....JK!

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Servers on deck, in the MDR and in the shows would bee line to you for $1 a day each? lol I find that hard to believe. OMG, that's the couple that tips me an extra $1 everyday!!!! I'm pretty sure they were just great bartenders and servers that got to know you and it had nothing to do with the extra buck they made. You were probably one of the lower tippers they had throughout the week. I'm not knocking you for what you were tipping but you have to be realistic and know your tips weren't the reason for the service. ;)

lol you said it, so i don't have to. :)

Classic case of "forget what you've paid"....the tips you paid for the package are divided amongst the servers. So, you paid A LOT in tips for drinks! Oh, well.

 

The staff LOVES "prepaid grats", as most forget how much they've already tipped.

 

Tipping more is fine, but unnecessary,.

If you got your limit of 15 drinks per day the bartenders are getting 37.5 cents in tip per drink.

If I was a bartender I wouldn't LOVE that.

Bill

If you got your limit of 15 drinks per day the bartenders are getting 37.5 cents in tip per drink.

 

If I was a bartender I wouldn't LOVE that.

 

Bill

...and at 10 drinks a day it comes to 56.5 cents a drink.......that still ain't much!!

Hopefully most of you never find yourselves in the service industry.

If you got your limit of 15 drinks per day the bartenders are getting 37.5 cents in tip per drink.

 

If I was a bartender I wouldn't LOVE that.

 

Bill

Well I am a lifelong bartender and can tell you if I needed to make 600 pina coladas in a 8 hour shift,thats over 1 drink per minute non stop to make $225 for the day I would not be working at that bar/restaurant for very long!!!!Thank god most people still at least give a buck a drink

We had it last Jan.and the one thing I didn't like was the wait between drinks...even if we were sitting there drinking them and they knew we were not cheating the system by giving them away. I like to get a coke and a mixed drink at the same time and the severs would not do it. That being said,it so worth it and I will be getting it again on my Nov. Cruise I just hope the bartenders aren't as "scared" of the rules as they were two yrs ago went it was first out.

So you would want a bartender to lose his/her job and not being able to feed their family by breaking the rules for you ?

If you got your limit of 15 drinks per day the bartenders are getting 37.5 cents in tip per drink.

 

If I was a bartender I wouldn't LOVE that.

 

Bill

Exactly, I would still give them a $1 for each drink. That keeps them coming back so you don't have to go to the bar to get served!

We just got off an 8 day on the Liberty. We did not add a tip to each individual drink slip, but would give servers 1-2 dollars cash when they served us. This assured us they got the tip directly. Made for a great cruise. Also tipped extra to MDR bar server at end of cruise.

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No I don't want anyone to lose their job or break the rules for me. I never cheat, share or smuggle. My complaint is if the cokes are endless why can't I have one WITH my drink that counts against the 15 limit!!!!!!!!!!

No I don't want anyone to lose their job or break the rules for me. I never cheat, share or smuggle. My complaint is if the cokes are endless why can't I have one WITH my drink that counts against the 15 limit!!!!!!!!!!

The computer system is programed to only allow one drink every 5min on the cheers program. It does not matter whether its alcohol or not. So, if you want a soda and a drink, there needs to be 5min between orders.

Well I am a lifelong bartender and can tell you if I needed to make 600 pina coladas in a 8 hour shift,thats over 1 drink per minute non stop to make $225 for the day I would not be working at that bar/restaurant for very long!!!!Thank god most people still at least give a buck a drink

Really? That breaks down to $28 an hour on top of the small amount that the cruise ship pays them. I would say that $30+ an hour for someone from a country where most people make a few dollars a day is a pretty good wage, especially when room and board is covered too. There are probably quite a few unemployed people in the US that would think that is pretty good pay too.

I feel much better about the extra tips I added then based off most of the responses. I was worried that any extra tip I left was either going back into some pool of staff, or who knows, to Carnival directly. I have no problem giving the extra tip to the person that actually served me, especially after putting into perspective the low amount of the automatic gratuity...the Alchemy bartenders, and the servers who would take our order and bring us our drinks on the 10th level at the aft of the ship certainly deserved more than the initial nominal amount. Either way, best trip of my life...I may even write a review it was so good!

Those jobs are open for any unemployed Americans, all they have to do is apply for the job thru Carnival. They couldn't handle it for any length of time.

Really? That breaks down to $28 an hour on top of the small amount that the cruise ship pays them. I would say that $30+ an hour for someone from a country where most people make a few dollars a day is a pretty good wage, especially when room and board is covered too. There are probably quite a few unemployed people in the US that would think that is pretty good pay too.

I wish I made that a day. I would be happy with that.:)

Remember the 15% gratuity (per day) is on the package amount, so make sure to take care of your bartenders/servers once your "purchases" exceed the amount of the package for the day.