Just to drag out the tip discussions even more, here’s a point I’ve never seen anyone make regarding tips. This applies to most US cruise lines but I’m putting it here because I primarily cruise on Carnival and I see there is another tip discussion going on now. When I say Carnival below I mean any line that charges separately for tips.
People think that the cruise price would be the same whether the tips are included in the cruise price or separated out as it currently is on Carnival. This is not true. It would be cheaper if it was included in the cruise price. Here’s the explanation:
Carnival knows how much the average customer tips. They keep track of every penny spent and study it thoroughly. In our hypothetical example let’s say that on average 80% of passengers pay full tips through Carnival and the rest pay nothing. I think 80% is high but this is just an example. That means that Carnival has to charge more to those who actually pay tips to make up for those who don’t pay tips. Since Carnival charges $13.95 per day, and Carnival knows that only 80% of people pay tips, that means that they really only need an average of 80% of $13.95 or $11.16 per day from each and every passenger. So on a seven day cruise the 80% of passengers that are tip payers are paying an extra $2.79 x 7 = $19.53 more than they should while the 20% of scofflaws are paying $11.16 x 7 = $78.12 less than they should and $13.95 X 7 = $97.65 less than tip payers. Therefore Carnival is having us subsidize the cheapskates. So whether or not someone tips does affect me. That’s my point. $20 a week isn’t going to kill me but it’s the principle. Carnival cares less about it’s good customers than it does about getting bad customers knowing that the first group will help pay for the second group. Below I’ve just added some thoughts on this subject. You can skip it and go on with your day as my point has been made.
For those of you hanging around, why do cruise lines separate “tips” from the cruise fare? To make the price look artificially low. Same reason they don’t include port fees and taxes. Why did Congress pass a law several years ago requiring airline ticket prices to include taxes but didn’t do the same for hotels, cruises and rental cars? I don't know but don’t get me started on “resort” fees. Carnival knows a lot of people don’t read the fine print and get caught later. They also know that if people pull tips it’s already priced into the tips that the good passengers pay.
I think 80% was a generous estimate of the percentage of passengers that pay full tips. First of all about 20% of people just don’t care about anyone else. Maybe I’m high on this estimate, maybe I’m low. It’s about what I’ve observed. Add in the folks who will find any reason to be victimized or insulted and pull tips. Then you have the cheapskates. On top of that add in the Brits and Aussies, not that it’s their fault, it’s just not in their culture to tip. I’ve read posts from them where they are not going to tip and they don’t realize that it’s not really a tip, it’s salary that carnival calls a tip. Why do you think Carnival doesn’t do the “tips” scam in Australia? And then you have the people who fully intend to pay tips but run up a huge bill and then have to pull tips to pay the tab since they only have cash or a debit card. So in reality I think 70% is probably a closer number which means we’re subsidizing closer to $30 each over 7 days.
My thoughts on tips: What Carnival calls auto tips should be in the base fare and true tips should be at the option of the passenger. However, since “tips” are not in the base fare then everyone should pay them and they should not be removed. Then add something at the end of the trip, in person, if you feel they deserve it. If you remove tips because of one person then you are removing tips from several people. If you have a problem with someone, don’t pull tips, mention them in the survey you get and be specific. If you have problems with many people, it’s probably not them.
Now feel free to discuss amongst yourselves. Play nicely though.
