Yet Another Gratuities Question

Yes, these questions were answered. The short story is this won't work. You remove the auto gratuities and the crew cannot keep any cash, they have to put all the cash received into the pool.

How would they know - you can remove grats up until you leave the ship!

I leave a tip for the waitress. What she does with it after that isn't my concern. (And I don't reduce what I give her just because she might be sharing it with others.)

But do you do it before you’ve had your meal?

But do you do it before you’ve had your meal?

No, but you don't have to pay your gratuities until you've boarded.

How would they know - you can remove grats up until you leave the ship!

That's simple. The list of who removed gratuities would be updated after the passengers have left the ship.

No, but you don't have to pay your gratuities until you've boarded.

So you’re paying gratuities for service you haven’t yet had?

So you’re paying gratuities for service you haven’t yet had?

No, you aren't paying gratuities for service still to be received. If you've cruised before, you should know that gratuities are billed to your account each evening throughout the cruise. Therefore, you only pay gratuities after the service has been rendered.

So you’re paying gratuities for service you haven’t yet had?

No, you aren't paying gratuities for service still to be received. If you've cruised before, you should know that gratuities are billed to your account each evening throughout the cruise. Therefore, you only pay gratuities after the service has been rendered.

I would also add that while the gratuities are added to your account daily you don't actually pay them until they run your credit card at the end of the cruise.

..............The cruise line employees have a contract with the cruise line governing compensation including gratuities. A cruise line that violated this contract would have a difficult time finding employees and would face numerous law suits.

I don't think that's necessarily true. Employees coming from 3rd world countries might not want to make waves because they could lose their jobs. I don't think those jobs pay very well considering the long hours, hard work and being away from their families, but they probably make more on a ship than they could at home. For these reasons I would think they would put up with a lot of crap that we never ever would. If they were to quit there would be a million more people to take their place. Also, would they have much recourse if Royal wasn't abiding by their contracts considering they aren't flagged in the US and don't have to go by US labor laws?

If the cruise line was keeping the money then the staff would not come back contract after contract, year after year.

The system works so leave it in place

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Again I disagree, but I don't know if we will ever really know what is actually true. With that said I don't think Royal is giving all of the gratuity increases to the crew, but that's just my opinion.

Until someone has 100% actual proof then all of what we think or hope is true is just pure speculation.

[quote=ReneeFLL;56525725

Until someone has 100% actual proof then all of what we think or hope is true is just pure speculation.

Precisely! Just do the auto tips and give what you want to whomever at the end of the cruise. Let the cruise ship sort it out -- Ain't your problem unless you want to make it your problem. Geeeeeeez.:rolleyes:

Seriously? Do you go into a restaurant and ask the staff about their compensation? If it’s a chain restaurant, do you expect to have workers’ compensation amounts posted on the parent company’s website? I’ve never had a discussion with any crew member regarding the compensation s/he received. Absolutely none of my business and I would consider any such discussion to be terribly tacky at best. Why on earth would you bring up such a thing? Do you go around asking people how much they make and how they are paid?

I agree with you. But we have both been around here long enough to know that some have posted here that they have exactly those kinds of conversations with staff on the ships.

Let me preface this by saying.....we've always done pre-paid gratuities, we usually give the steward $20-$40, our waiters $20 each, and $1 per drink. Occasionally more if we superb service. I have no problem with the cash that we hand directly to each person. I also have no problem with giving money to the cruise line to pass on to the employees.

 

However, I've been reading a lot about how gratuities are going up and up and up, and how it seems that the lines are not passing that money on to the employees, or, if they are, it is part of their salary and not a true "tip" or "gratuity." I don't want to stiff the behind-the-scenes people, but I have been toying with the idea of removing my pre-paid gratuities on my next cruise (later this month) and tipping people in cash. It's my understanding, right or wrong, that cash handed to a staff member is theirs to keep and is not pooled.

 

Who has done this? Does it work? Should I do it immediately on boarding or wait until the end of the cruise? One suggestion I read on another site was to remove the "tips" and give a significant amount upfront to the steward and waiter so they know they aren't getting screwed, but, if the gratuities the cruise line charges are truly gratuities, the staff shouldn't know who paid and who didn't until the cruise is over.

I have not seen ANY credible reports that cruise lines are not paying out all the grats to the employees. There are a number of people who THINK this might be the case. But I cannot imagine it being kept that secret.

Yes, grats are part of the wage of certain employees. The same as waiters/waitresses in US food venues. But as I understand it, if everyone pays the auto grats, the crews make more than their minimums.

As I understand it, if you remove auto grats, and tip in cash, the employee is required to put that into the pool to be distributed. If you leave auto grats, they can keep the cash. And yes, they know who has auto grats turned off.

And BTW, how are your going to tip those who you do not directly interface with? Like the people who bus tables? Assistant stewards? etc etc?

Why not leave auto grats, and tip extra for extra services?

On our first cruise we spent a lot of time with one bartender. He told us he had worked three contracts and would work only one more (total of five). After that fifth contract he would have sufficient cash to build his dream house in his home country (Croatia).

Yes, and many have a very good time with all the Americans tipping hundreds and hundreds of Dollars extra. They work hard and are away from their families but make more money than most nautical and technical Senior Officers who do not get tips.

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That's simple. The list of who removed gratuities would be updated after the passengers have left the ship.

OK and the the crew has to check the list and look up in their notes if they received any cash from that person? :confused:

Do they publish pictures with the list so it is easier for the crew to identify the people?:cool::rolleyes:

Yes, and many have a very good time with all the Americans tipping hundreds and hundreds of Dollars extra. They work hard and are away from their families but make more money than most nautical and technical Senior Officers who do not get tips.

 

 

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I do not think they work that hard.... Lots of people work a lot harder! :confused:

OK and the the crew has to check the list and look up in their notes if they received any cash from that person? :confused:

Do they publish pictures with the list so it is easier for the crew to identify the people?:cool::rolleyes:

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And BTW, how are your going to tip those who you do not directly interface with? Like the people who bus tables? Assistant stewards? etc etc?

 

How did they get tipped before auto tips were invented?

I don't think that's necessarily true. Employees coming from 3rd world countries might not want to make waves because they could lose their jobs. I don't think those jobs pay very well considering the long hours, hard work and being away from their families, but they probably make more on a ship than they could at home. For these reasons I would think they would put up with a lot of crap that we never ever would. If they were to quit there would be a million more people to take their place. Also, would they have much recourse if Royal wasn't abiding by their contracts considering they aren't flagged in the US and don't have to go by US labor laws?

 

 

 

Again I disagree, but I don't know if we will ever really know what is actually true. With that said I don't think Royal is giving all of the gratuity increases to the crew, but that's just my opinion.

 

Until someone has 100% actual proof then all of what we think or hope is true is just pure speculation.

The staff aren't stupid, they know what we pay in gratuities and they know what they are supposed to get from those gratuities. If they weren't getting it then they wouldn't be signing repeat contracts. It's also my understanding from following these threads that the crew is represented by a union of sorts and they also know what should be paid out (and also see the larger picture).

Not sure what you are referring to. Are you saying the staff are all lying?

 

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Lying or scared to say otherwise,we used to see loads of programmes on tv about how badly treated they are,these seem to have vanished,are they now treated so much better or just affraid to say otherwise?

Another thing I find interesting is how the auto tip/service charge amount can vary so much between cruise lines,not to mentiion how people treat it,while RCI charge up to $17pppn & posters on the RCI forums thinks anybody mentioning reducing or withdrawing it is a meanie or a cheapskate,over on the P&O forums posters are in revolt about their increase to a massive £7pppn earlier this year & are withdrawing the payment in droves!

How did they get tipped before auto tips were invented?

That's were the phrase "tipped out" comes from. They received a portion of the tips given to the tipped employees. When I worked as a busser I received a portion of the tips each waitress received that I had helped during the evening.

OK and the the crew has to check the list and look up in their notes if they received any cash from that person? :confused:

Do they publish pictures with the list so it is easier for the crew to identify the people?:cool::rolleyes:

Like any other business the managers notify the supervisors which passengers in their area of responsibility have removed the gratuities and the supervisors in turn notify the crew members. As for turning in any cash received that is on the honor system and it's doubtful that 100% gets turned in. Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that the staff has to explain why one of their passengers removed the gratuities and if it happens too much it's a black mark against them. (With land based servers the business will presume that a tip was left even if one wasn't and this amount will be reported to the IRS as income. The IRS has come down hard on businesses whose employees earn tips and it's not as easy as it once was for them to underreport their income.)

The issue is cruise staff will tell you they are not getting all the money paid into the daily service charge pool. If you ask a cruise line how the money is broken down, they won't tell you who gets what. On some cruise lines it is impossible or nearly impossible to get the daily service charges waived and tip out individually, like we all used to. I truly believe that there is something fishy going on and that part of the daily service charges are going to stockholders and executive staff.

 

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If you believe this then the company is literally lying to customers and stealing from staff - why would you do business with them at all? Changing the way you tip doesn’t seem to be a solution if you genuinely believe RCI is doing that

Just one thought to add to this hashed and rehashed and rehashed topic. (thanks, Biker)

 

When you eat at a restaurant and pay with a credit card, do you leave the tip in cash, or add it to the credit card?

 

If credit card, the server is probably not getting all of it.

 

Does THAT bother you?

Yes, it does bother me and that is why I pay with credit card and tip in cash when I dine out. Money I leave as a thank you for services is for the server (and any support staff they have an agreement to pay out), not for managers to take a cut.

That's were the phrase "tipped out" comes from. They received a portion of the tips given to the tipped employees. When I worked as a busser I received a portion of the tips each waitress received that I had helped during the evening.

That is my point. They got what was coming to them. Now people make it sound like these folks are suddenly getting stiffed if someone decides to tip the old way. Tip the old way and these folks in the background get their money the old way.

How did they get tipped before auto tips were invented?

Be careful, someone may answer that question one day :o

Yes, these questions were answered. The short story is this won't work. You remove the auto gratuities and the crew cannot keep any cash, they have to put all the cash received into the pool.

That's not true on Royal Caribbean.