RC Gratuities - yes or no?

Hi all,

i am organising a cruise for a group and there is no clear answer to gratuities, can anyone advise a yes or no answer?

Q: Is the gratuity required?

A: Royal Caribbean automatically adds a $12.00 USD gratuity ($14.25 USD for Suite Guests) to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis. In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services during their cruise. Guests who have elected to prepay gratuities will not see a daily charge during their cruise.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5539

thanks, serene

the crew makes next to no salary and tips are their income. Yes, tip!

Yes IMO....if you cannot afford to tip, you cannot afford to cruise. This is their livelihood.

As an Australian I feel uncomfortable with the way that tipping works on cruises and would much rather it be all rolled in together.

Having said that it is how it works and putting it on your account on board means that you don't have to worry about it after that. Everything else you pay for on board has the tips included.

That's a very contentious issue and a question that may mean you will incur quite a bit of flack from CC members as there is so many conflicting opinions. There are gratuities and there are tips. In a way gratuities make up part of the employees wages, not like here in Oz where the cost of service is built into a product. If this wasn't the case the cost of a cruise would be much higher. So you are probably thinking like I used to (past tense) "why should I pay their wages, its their employers job to do that" Unfortunately, that's just the way it is. I recently watched a u-tube UK undercover video that showed an undercover person working on a ship, (made by a legal firm) VERY low wages about 1/2 the minimum UK hourly wage, 12 hr days , and hard work.

Please take in to account that in the written word, you can't see my facial expression, you can't hear the tone of my voice , so all I can do is assure you I'm not trying to give you a lecture, just asking you to look at it from a different point of view.

Now no-one yell at me pleeeezee.

RCL gives you a few options to take care of daily tipping...as previous posters have already stated, tips are an important piece of the crews' income and the majority of guests understand this and know that gratuities are just a part of the cost of cruising.

You can elect to pre-pay the daily tips before you even leave, which some people like to do in order to get that expense 'out of the way'. Both the ship staff and the crew knows who pre-paid their gratuities as a list is produced.

You can elect to just keep the gratuities charged to your on-board account daily and settle that bill up at the end of the cruise. Again, the crew will know that you are tipping through your on board account.

They will ALSO know if you opt to reduce that tipped amount at Guest Services during the cruise (which you certainly have the option to do) or if you remove it all together. Some cruisers will remove it completely so they can personally hand cash to their serving staff, cabin steward and other special crew members. Some lines will require crew members who accept cash from passengers who have REMOVED the auto-gratuity to pool that cash, so that all staff that would normally have received from the auto-gratuity will receive their share. If a passenger keeps the auto-gratuity on their account and wants to give 'extra' cash to crew, they get to keep that extra amount all for themselves.

That's what DH and I do. We pre-pay the gratuities (because in our opinion, the crew earns every cent of that money through their service and smiles) and we tip extra throughout the voyage and then at the end to crew members who really made our trip memorable.

Hi all,

 

i am organising a cruise for a group and there is no clear answer to gratuities, can anyone advise a yes or no answer?

 

Q: Is the gratuity required?

A: Royal Caribbean automatically adds a $12.00 USD gratuity ($14.25 USD for Suite Guests) to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis. In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services during their cruise. Guests who have elected to prepay gratuities will not see a daily charge during their cruise.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5539

 

thanks, serene

msmayor in post #6 gives you a very detailed way to choose from to handle tips. It is a wonderful summation.

Whether you are organizing a cruise for a group, or not, tips are part of the overall expense a cruiser should expect to be paying. The 'how' to take care of it (as msmayor outlines) can vary. If you are organizing a group of cruisers and will be holding separate group only activities on board it will make even more sense to add to the gratuities because the staff will be doing extra work -- in that case.

In some cultures 'tipping' in not expected nor done -- therefore those people who come from those cultures are unaccustomed to tipping.

That's a very contentious issue and a question that may mean you will incur quite a bit of flack from CC members as there is so many conflicting opinions. There are gratuities and there are tips. In a way gratuities make up part of the employees wages, not like here in Oz where the cost of service is built into a product. If this wasn't the case the cost of a cruise would be much higher. So you are probably thinking like I used to (past tense) "why should I pay their wages, its their employers job to do that" Unfortunately, that's just the way it is. I recently watched a u-tube UK undercover video that showed an undercover person working on a ship, (made by a legal firm) VERY low wages about 1/2 the minimum UK hourly wage, 12 hr days , and hard work.

Please take in to account that in the written word, you can't see my facial expression, you can't hear the tone of my voice , so all I can do is assure you I'm not trying to give you a lecture, just asking you to look at it from a different point of view.

Now no-one yell at me pleeeezee.

I am not going to yell at you, just question your logic when you say 'why should I pay their wages, its their employers job to do that'. One way or the other the customer of any business is paying the wages of the employees that work for a company. How that money is collected and dispersed may be different depending upon job type (service industries,eg. example wait staff, housekeeping staff) and culture (in some cultures tipping is simply not done).

Some cruisers would like all tips to be included in the cruise fare, others would not. In the end, I pay and expect to pay tips. As shown in post #6 there are various ways to accomplish it.....but in the end, those workers worked hard for the tips and deserve them, and I know from your post you agree.

Hi all,

 

i am organising a cruise for a group and there is no clear answer to gratuities, can anyone advise a yes or no answer?

 

Q: Is the gratuity required?

A: Royal Caribbean automatically adds a $12.00 USD gratuity ($14.25 USD for Suite Guests) to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis. In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services during their cruise. Guests who have elected to prepay gratuities will not see a daily charge during their cruise.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5539

 

thanks, serene

I have a delightful book titled "Behave Yourself" that presents the customs of most countries visited by tourists. It is very helpful and we check it before we go out into the world.

If I were visiting Australia or cruising on an Australian cruise line I would try to do as the Australians do so as not to offend.

As far as your cruise, Royal Caribbean is based on United States customs and that is the model you are expected to follow.

Pay your tips. As others have said, if you can afford a cruise you can afford to tip. Not to tip would be rude.

Since you come from a non-tipping culture, it might work better for your group if you call it a "daily service charge per person" rather than a "tip" or "gratuity". That is essentially what it is.

Yes, it is part of the cost of doing business, but this is the way that most of the cruise industry has chosen to price their product. By not including this amount in the cost of the cruise up-front, the cruise "looks" cheaper overall.

I'm sorry if I didn't explain myself very well.

I guess the answer to that is when I first started travelling I simply didn't know that the different countries had different ways of paying wages/industrial relations systems. I was somewhat naïve because it was different from what I was used to living in a country where gratuities are factored into wages and as a consequence services/food in restaurants cost more.

I would still have paid tips when travelling to the US, don't get me wrong, but I thought their employers were being tight*****. I didn't understand it.

Does this mean in Australia we don't need to tip porters at the airport and cruise terminal?

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It is my advice to the OP to pay the gratuities, I do prefer to pay up front so I can pay and forget and enjoy the cruise. You just have to take it as part of the cruise costs.

Does this mean in Australia we don't need to tip porters at the airport and cruise terminal?

 

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I've never seen porters at airports in Aus. Generally speaking we don't tip much here. In a restaurant we usually round up the bill or add a bit extra for great service but it's not expected and there's no "minimum 20%" or anything. Large groups may have a tip automatically added to the bill but even that is usually only 10%. I sometimes round up a taxi fare but only if the cabbie is extra helpful.

Hi all,

 

i am organising a cruise for a group and there is no clear answer to gratuities, can anyone advise a yes or no answer?

 

Q: Is the gratuity required?

A: Royal Caribbean automatically adds a $12.00 USD gratuity ($14.25 USD for Suite Guests) to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis. In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services during their cruise. Guests who have elected to prepay gratuities will not see a daily charge during their cruise.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5539

 

thanks, serene

You say there is no clear answer, yet you follow that by posting the clear answer from the website. You certainly should pay the gratuities, because that constitutes the primary earnings for the service staff (whether you think that's the right model or not, it is the model for this company). But, what you quoted clearly states that, "the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services during their cruise."

So, if you insist on not paying, you are allowed to do so, at your discretion.

Does this mean in Australia we don't need to tip porters at the airport and cruise terminal?

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk HD

I have travelled quite a bit and the only place I have seen porters at airports was in the USA.

With regard to the cruise gratuities I always pay them up front, so I would class them as part of the cost of the cruise.

I'm sorry if I didn't explain myself very well.

I guess the answer to that is when I first started travelling I simply didn't know that the different countries had different ways of paying wages/industrial relations systems. I was somewhat naïve because it was different from what I was used to living in a country where gratuities are factored into wages and as a consequence services/food in restaurants cost more.

I would still have paid tips when travelling to the US, don't get me wrong, but I thought their employers were being tight*****. I didn't understand it.

that's the perspective that's hard to get to. And it's great that you see it that way. We do have an odd system here.

The real answer is that there is not a REQUIREMENT to pay the tips.

But, as you just posted, the wage structure on ships (and the US in general) for many service industries are heavily reliant on tips. So it's almost better off just to pay them, and pretend that they are part of the fare- much like your home system.

It's odd sometimes to come from the US to other countries where tipping isn't something done- we are so used to tipping that you feel that you should- even though one should not (or just leave the loose change). Some countries go as far as putting "service charge" on the bill even though it's probably just incorporated into the price anyway.

Does this mean in Australia we don't need to tip porters at the airport and cruise terminal?

 

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I don't know about porters in Australia, but in some places not only do you not need to tip, you are insulting the server if you do and the tip will likely not be accepted or appreciated.

Does this mean in Australia we don't need to tip porters at the airport and cruise terminal?

 

Sent from my KFTHWI using Tapatalk HD

When we were there last year, I did extend a gratuity to a porter with the comment that "I hope I am not offending you by giving you this". He looked at me, smiled and said, "No you haven't and it is greatly appreciated".:)

I've never seen porters at airports in Aus. Generally speaking we don't tip much here. In a restaurant we usually round up the bill or add a bit extra for great service but it's not expected and there's no "minimum 20%" or anything. Large groups may have a tip automatically added to the bill but even that is usually only 10%. I sometimes round up a taxi fare but only if the cabbie is extra helpful.

Does the airport offer luggage carts for us to put our large luggage in?

Since you come from a non-tipping culture, it might work better for your group if you call it a "daily service charge per person" rather than a "tip" or "gratuity". That is essentially what it is.

I think they should just build it in to the cost of the cruise (the industry as a whole) and call it a daily service charge per person OR just build it in as a part of the cost and that's that.

To the OP, just call it a daily service charge.

Does the airport offer luggage carts for us to put our large luggage in?

Yes and they are FREE!!!:)

we prepay our standard gratuities (at final payment), and then also tip extra in cash at the end of our cruise directly to each person.

the crew work very very very very hard and deserve every penny!!

OP - The custom within the US, and on these ships, is to pay tips (or gratuities, service fee, etc). While some say it should be included in the cost of the cruise up front (and I'm not going to argue yes or no to that), know that the staff expect to receive these tips as part of their earnings. Right or wrong, that is the process and expectation in this situation. If you receive bad service, you should first discuss it with the appropriate person on the ship and second you can go to Guest Services to have your tips adjusted. But in my opinion, to withhold tips is unfair to the staff unless there is a problem.

You've been given great advice on the how to pay for the tips. I'm not going to offer anything further.

To the other posters who don't understand the OP's point.... Some countries (heck, maybe all others outside of the US) don't have the same tipping customs. Some places, gratuities are included in the cost, some countries gratuities can be an insult. So, inquiring about the custom on the ship is a great question. I applaud the OP for asking. As with many things you don't know about... there are the rules and then there are the normal customs and the reasons for the rule. The OP had the rule, but like many things with RCCL, there are the rules and then there are the real way things are done and the underlying reasons for it.

OP - encourage everyone to pay their tips (or whatever someone wants to call it). The staff work hard for it. Its an expected part of their pay.

I hope you and your group have an incredible time on your cruise.

Does this mean in Australia we don't need to tip porters at the airport and cruise terminal?

 

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No, there is no obligation to do so. I have however never seen a porter at an airport here, you just find yourself a baggage trolley, usually they are near the entrance and push it yourself. We are a pretty self sufficient lot. I've not been to a cruise terminal here, but I think it would be the same.