Can someone tell me if this is true?

crew members could be instructed to refuse tips and encourage the passenger to provide good feedback instead. I'll admit it would be a difficult cultural shift for some people but ultimately it would be a fairer system. From recent experience in the asian market i suspect there may be moves afoot in this direction already.

+1.

Problem with that thinking is that people start giving tips and the whole process starts over. It's already been tried.

That's because people rarely tip for having been provided with great service. Including the tips in the cruise prices would actually leave many passengers feeling unsatisfied.

Does the person who recommended that auto tips be removed know the effect this has on the staff? When auto-tips are removed, the supervisors assume that it's because someone on the staff has provided unsatisfactory service.

Staff know immediately when tips have been removed. They receive a list showing who has pre-paid (all on Select Dining or those from traditional dining who chose that option), who is having the daily charge on their SeaPass, and who has removed the tips.

Supervisors come down hard on servers where more than one of the passengers in their station take away the tips.

Such bad advice, from someone who purports to be a TA would make me suspect of anything else he tells you.

Passengers do that and like you say they do stiff the staff. They do that in restaurants all the time.

 

Chances are they could be put on a black or watch for list. I worked as a dealer for a short time in a casino. Our wages mostly consisted of tips. There was a belligerent customer that was rather rude and won a nice sum playing the tables. I colored him up and he left. The pit boss had to verify the amount because he was leaving with $500 chips and they watch those very closely. After he left the pit boss asked if I recieved any tokes and I told him nothing at all. He went into the computer and erased his comps for the day. Also tagged his account.

 

My best friend went on a cruise with his cheap a$$ brother in law. At the end of the cruise he stiffed the staff telling my friend f em I will never see them again. They got off the ship and he couldn't find his luggage. My friend and his wife stayed with them trying to find the luggage but left as to not miss their flight home. His brother in law and wife missed their flight and never did see their luggage again. My friend said they deserved it as the crew probalby tossed it over board.

 

Let them do as they please. As they have to live with themselves and karma will get even with them.

 

The person that wants to become a TA will soon find out how it feels to get stiffed as they will end up doing a lot of work with no pay as others will have them do all of the research and then book with someone else.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

I have a friend who is going on Celebrity with a group of friends. One of the friends makes all the travel arrangements...he's dabbling in TA.

Anyway, this is her first cruise and the group had a meeting to finalize plans and the guy that planned the cruise said they do not have to pay gratuities and they could tip staff as they saw fit...i.e., if someone isn't deserving of a certain % tip and someone is more deserving. Anyway the guy said if they go to the ship's purser when they board, and they can have the daily gratuities removed. :confused: Is this possible?

My common sense tells me it isn't....otherwise a lot of pax could do that and say they are going to tip and then don't.

No flames please...I told her I would post the question.

I would not trust anything this guy says or does if he is the one who planned the trip, and he is now giving you this absurd advice.

In fact, if I was one of the people going on this cruise, I would immediately take my booking into my own hands and assure things are done PROPERLY.

This guy is NOT the kind of person you want handling your cruise, and he should NEVER become a TA.

Just my opinion :)

Does the person who recommended that auto tips be removed know the effect this has on the staff? When auto-tips are removed, the supervisors assume that it's because someone on the staff has provided unsatisfactory service.

 

Staff know immediately when tips have been removed. They receive a list showing who has pre-paid (all on Select Dining or those from traditional dining who chose that option), who is having the daily charge on their SeaPass, and who has removed the tips.

 

Supervisors come down hard on servers where more than one of the passengers in their station take away the tips.

 

Such bad advice, from someone who purports to be a TA would make me suspect of anything else he tells you.

Exactly what I was about to say. For the people who think that by removing the auto tips and giving directly to deserving employees, you may, in fact, be hurting the good people rather than helping them.

The cruiseline assumes that you are removing tips because you are unhappy and this onus automatically falls on the employees not providing proper service. Once you remove the tips, the employees are required to turn in any monies received from you to the tipping pool where they will still receive only their prorated amount. If you leave the auto tips in place, any additional money you give an employee is his/hers to keep.

It's not the employees' fault that the company has disrespected/overcharged you. Removing tips will not hurt the cruiseline a whit, but it will hurt the people who have tried to make your journey pleasant.

If by removing tips you are trying to make a statement....that will certainly happen. The only thing is it may not be the statement you were trying to make.

So you are implying that tossing the punters luggage overboard is just reward for not tipping ? As for being put on a blacklist or a watch for list ... really ?

Not saying an eye for and eye is just. More of a warning that people who try to take advantage of others do get noticed and not in a good way. And there is more than one way to get even. Does it happen on purpose or was it a accident that it happened due to karma? Who knows? Did the crew toss the bags overboard or did it just happend that were misplaced? Doesn't matter, it happened and you can have your own opinion.

If you stiffed the crew and then missed your plane flight it was it because you stiffed them and are getting paid back? If on the way home you have car problems is it because you stiffed them? if you get home and find that the water heater burst did the crew do it, no but was it because you are getting paid back?

Could be that there aren't related but somehow it always seems that some people always have more problems and bad luck than others.

It may be pay me now or pay me later.

Why worry about being put on a black or watch list or believe that there is one. Just do what you feel is right and makes you happy. You shouldn't have to be coerced into paying a tip to avoid being on a list and maybe not receiving the benefits or service that you don't plan on rewarding with some token of appreciation.

happy crusing 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

First of all, we all know that tipping has nothing to do with the price one pays for a cruise to begin with. Those of us that travel frequently to other countries have a credit card that services our needs in foreign countries without a 3% conversion fees-nothing to do with tipping. To stiff hard working individuals, when you KNOW this is calculated by the cruise line as part of their pay is poor behavior by any country's standard. If you can afford the price of a cruise, you definitely need to afford the tipping costs involved. Vacation another way. Don't take it out on the crew because you disagree with the policy.

You state we KNOW the cruise line calculates a tip as part of the crew pay. Surely this is where the problem lies. I agree with some earlier posts that maybe the cruise line should increase the wage bill and pay a decent wage. I don't think anyone should be paid a low wage with the expectation of it being made up to a reasonable wage by tips. If this is so then maybe the worker does not look upon this extra remuneration as anything other than their entitled wages. I would like tips that I give to be looked upon as a bonus for exceptional service.

The original question has been answered fully, so it is therefore individual choice of how to proceed. Tipping is not compulsory. For convenience, as tipping is expected, it is easiest just leave as is. This saves a headache of who to give what to and the worry that you will forget someone.

the guy that's the wannabe ta is nothing but a cheapskate in training.

 

Just keep the gratuities as is on your account and that will auto distribute to everyone including the behind the scene personnel.

bingo

I would not trust anything this guy says or does if he is the one who planned the trip, and he is now giving you this absurd advice.

 

In fact, if I was one of the people going on this cruise, I would immediately take my booking into my own hands and assure things are done PROPERLY.

 

This guy is NOT the kind of person you want handling your cruise, and he should NEVER become a TA.

 

Just my opinion :)

No, no, no! This is not me and this is not a cruise I'm going on. The TA is not my friend....he's a friend of one of my friends. I don't know how this got misconstrued. :confused:

Maybe time to call "Time" on this thread? No ... please don't agree (or disagree) as it just wastes more bandwidth.

After discussions at a CC meet, where more experienced cruisers than I explained how the tip pool actually works (it is nothing like I thought it was) I arranged to do this last week on Solstice, and it was very easy to have the gratuities removed from my account. On the second to last day I just went to Guest Relations and asked for this to be done (they advertised it in Celebrity today: 5pm on the 2nd to last day was the deadline) and asked for a handful of vale envelopes. I didn't have to sign anything, no one asked any questions - it was not a drama at all. The next day, the total had been removed from my onboard account. Guest Relations was also happy to change my large denomination notes into smaller ones. I ended up spending about twice what the onboard tip total was, directing tips to my stateroom attendants and my servers in Blu who had done so much to make my trip memorable. As I tipped along the way to room service and bar staff, and because of the way the tip pool really works in relation to behind the scenes staff, I thought this was a good way to go.

I do not know about Celebrity but with most lines, if you give cash tips, the person who receives the tips has to turn the tip into the tip pool. They only get to keep any amounts above the standard tip.

So, while you may have felt good doing your grand gesture of handing the money to the recipient personally, in the end it was a totally meaningless gesture. Made you feel good but had no effect on who receives the money.

I do respect that you did that not to stiff the workers and that you actually tipped more than the minimum. As you are well aware, many people (not you) use tip removal to stiff the crew staff who work very very hard.

DON

Maybe time to call "Time" on this thread? No ... please don't agree (or disagree) as it just wastes more bandwidth.

Why? It's a good discussion and as long as people are learning something, it's never a waste. :rolleyes:

nothing "new" is being learned...

Why? It's a good discussion and as long as people are learning something, it's never a waste. :rolleyes:

nothing "new" is being learned...

Maybe not for you, but I now know several people that did not know this. :p

Sure....

Some might not have known that you could stop the auto tipping.....but now..it's just people griping about how bad it is to stiff the staff...or those crying how it is justified because the pay more for their cruise...

Maybe not for you, but I now know several people that did not know this. :p

Sure....

 

Some might not have known that you could stop the auto tipping.....but now..it's just people griping about how bad it is to stiff the staff...or those crying how it is justified because the pay more for their cruise...

Take some with a grain of salt.....and maybe a little tequila. :D ;) :D

I've read a lot worse....there will always be "stiffers"....no matter where you go. We see it in restaurants a lot....people eating a nice meal and throwing a dollar or two on the table. :rolleyes:

not taking it any particular way...the thread has run it's course.....it's done

Take some with a grain of salt.....and maybe a little tequila. :D ;) :D

I've read a lot worse....there will always be "stiffers"....no matter where you go. We see it in restaurants a lot....people eating a nice meal and throwing a dollar or two on the table. :rolleyes:

Although on the subject of tipping, if you can get your hands on a small something from your hometown (even just a postcard) it makes for a cute way to say thank you for your room steward (although not a replacement for a monetary tip).

I also like to make a small request up front and try to come up with an excuse to slip them an extra $5 at the start of the cruise, just to get us started on what I feel is a good footing. My MO is the small up-front tip along with my request for extra metal hangers - helpful for unpacking and what I presume is a pretty benign request. And then an extra $20 at the end of the trip with a quick note thanking them for all their hard work and recognizing that it's an important part of what makes vacation so enjoyable.

Actually I thought it was a pretty good Q from a new cruiser, I had no idea 4 years ago that tips were included, via prepaid grats or that you opt of of them, or that employees of cruise lines made so little.

If any new cruiser is reading this - learn from it.

Nothing that educates "is a waste of bandwidth" as one poster put it.

Although on the subject of tipping, if you can get your hands on a small something from your hometown (even just a postcard) it makes for a cute way to say thank you for your room steward (although not a replacement for a monetary tip).

 

 

.

What in the world is an Indonesian cabin steward going to do w a postcard from Pocatello Idaho?

DON

As a professional TA I can confirm that you can remove the daily gratuity charge to your account, as long as you are booked for early or late dinner sitting. You can then choose to tip as you see fit (however that is a whole other discussion!).

If you are booked on anytime dining, you must prepay gratuities.

Coming from a country that does not traditionally tip, we actually like the auto gratuities. Takes away our uncomfortable feeling of what do we do now. We leave tips for our waiters and cabin attendants, but just leave it behind - no fuss. We always reward the staff we feel have made our holiday special with official feedback. This enhances their chances of a promotion or pay increase which in the long run is probably worth much more than a few $$ tip, especially if in Aussie $$'s. Cheers

How many rooms is he/she booking? Did he/she get you a group rate? Is he/she getting the group some OBC credit? These are the things that TA's do.

I've often heard that a group can get a free cabins for booking a certain number of paid cabins. I've heard of some group organizers who keep that fact, and the free cabin, to themselves and others who pass on it and use the perk to exchange for other perks for everyone or to lower the average price. If the group got no special perks then I suspect the group organizer was doing it to cruise for free.

...I am not saying this is morally right but it happens and I have spoken to cruisers who do have all grats removed on the basis of "we paid more than many for the cruise so why should we pay additional". At the end of the day, cruise staff still receive way more money than they ever could earn at home and they sign up in droves for these jobs.

Jveervers: I'm stunned by your comment.

First you try to hold the high ground by implying you don't think removing the tips is morally right then you justify the practice. Your other posts go on to justify it more due to differences in compensation practices in different parts of the world. I don't know your actual practice and character so I really don't want to judge you but reading your posts leaves us with the impression that you might be a bit of a hypocrite who would stiff the hard working staff even though you know it is not correct to do so. If so then shame on you!

Jveervers: I'm stunned by your comment.

First you try to hold the high ground by implying you don't think removing the tips is morally right then you justify the practice. Your other posts go on to justify it more due to differences in compensation practices in different parts of the world. I don't know your actual practice and character so I really don't want to judge you but reading your posts leaves us with the impression that you might be a bit of a hypocrite who would stiff the hard working staff even though you know it is not correct to do so. If so then shame on you!

All but one cruise I have done I have had prepaid grats or prepaid grats included (123go).

The other cruise, I did the envelope thing and probably paid out more than what I would have done with prepaid. Call me what you want, this is what I do.