Orchestra...Gratuities added automatically?

hi I'm going on the Orchestra next week and I read that they put the gratuities automatically on your bill. Will they let me opt out of that and I will give the tips myself in cash? I've done that on a lot of other cruises.

Thanks....nomorebocci

Your tip of twelve dollars per adult and I think it was ten dollars per child in a room is automatically added to your bill. You can change the amount. Please think about what you are doing if you want to remove all the tip and just tip the people you want to. There a lot of people involved in waiting on you that you will not in-counter. It is best to reduce the amount and give the reduced amount to individuals that you want to show special thanks to.

Also from what I have read the bar prices have the gratuity already included in the price of the drink, so you don't need to add in extra there.

It seems the tip for Adults is $12.00 per day. Children are at $6.00 per day. You can change that at the main desk to be less or more. We usually hand our cabin person and extra 20.00 on the first day to make sure we get great service. When you get back you have to let us know what you thought of the ship. We are going on April 11th.

hi I'm going on the Orchestra next week and I read that they put the gratuities automatically on your bill. Will they let me opt out of that and I will give the tips myself in cash? I've done that on a lot of other cruises.

Thanks....nomorebocci

Yes, you can opt out of it. I did. Simply go to the Account desk and explain what you want to do. They will give you a form to fill out, that gives you the option to select tip amounts, $50, $80, $100 or $O (Nothing) Select 0 and they will simply credit your account for say $86. MSC does not give out envelopes for traditional tipping.

I did this because I had heard on some board that some cruise lines did not distribute the whole amount, kept some of it for "profit enhancement". I then personally gave out the suggested tips to the individuals. I questioned my waiter about this and he said he gets the full tip from MSC.

where is the account desk located on the ship I really want to change this as soon as possible once onboard I know people say oh people behind the scenes won't get tips oh poor them. I'm sure I can find a way to get to these people as I always do at restaurants and resorts. I'm just not going to tip for possible poor service that needs my help to get it upto par at the same price as it would be for avg service as I would assume $12 is the minimum for most ships without all the issues I've heard about. I will tip according to services not what they say I should.

I'm with you on that one. I am going on the Orchestra March 14 and I intend to have the gratuity taken off my bill asap. When I see that I am getting the service that I should be getting I will tip people accordingly. I don't feel we should be told we have to tip a specific amount. By the end of the cruise if I feel the service is up to par I might change my mind, but not until then. Sounds like MSC has a lot to prove to before adding gratuities automatically to the bill.

Whilst i agree with tipping crew directly, where you do decide to remove tips, please do not punish the rank and file crew for not being able to do something that is a MSC head office policy decision. Waiter, barmens and Cabin stewards etc work very hard and very long hours. Sure dont tip them if they personally provide bad service but dont confuse this with things that are out with their control = please. they are a long way from home and rely on tips for things we all take for granted

Hi there, we are also going on the 11th of April. I'll be traveling with my 2 daughters 33 and 16 and my grandaughter 9. Let's keep in touch.

Having the tip added automatically is not just an MSC practice. Lots of cruiselines do that now. I personally prefer it. I don't have to mess with envelopes, etc. and I can always give more if I'd like. I've never reduced or removed the automatic tip amount. I view the automatic tip as part of the cost of the cruise.

There are all kinds of reasons that I know nothing about regarding why one person gets good service and someone else doesn't, one day's service is better than another, etc. So, I don't pay much attention to bad service or OK service, but I sure take note of great service, and that's where my "real" tips come in. :)

Our last cruise was the first time we experienced the auto tip. It was fine and we didn't change anything. We actually gave more "on the side" to our waitstaff in the diningroom. They really worked hard and gave us exceptional service.

Our last cruise was the first time we experienced the auto tip. It was fine and we didn't change anything. We actually gave more "on the side" to our waitstaff in the diningroom. They really worked hard and gave us exceptional service.

That is what I do too. leave the automatic tip that all the crew get to share and give extra to those that have looked after me the most like my waiter or barman in my favourite bar or my cabin steward

where is the account desk located on the ship I really want to change this as soon as possible once onboard I know people say oh people behind the scenes won't get tips oh poor them. I'm sure I can find a way to get to these people as I always do at restaurants and resorts. I'm just not going to tip for possible poor service that needs my help to get it upto par at the same price as it would be for avg service as I would assume $12 is the minimum for most ships without all the issues I've heard about. I will tip according to services not what they say I should.

The Accounting Desk is on the 5th floor mid-ship (on the lowest floor of the atrium). You can't miss it.

If I'm traveling with my DH and son 19 and his gf, and the kids are in a seperate cabin but their cruise cards will be on my husbands or my credit card as they don't have one yet. Can they drop the automatic gratuities from their cabins bill or does the credit card holder have to do it for everyone? I figure the credit card holder would have to be the one to add to the bill but to drop I'm not sure.

If I'm traveling with my DH and son 19 and his gf, and the kids are in a seperate cabin but their cruise cards will be on my husbands or my credit card as they don't have one yet. Can they drop the automatic gratuities from their cabins bill or does the credit card holder have to do it for everyone? I figure the credit card holder would have to be the one to add to the bill but to drop I'm not sure.

I think you are right about the credit card holder. On one cruise when I was sharing a cabin with a friend and we each had given our own credit card details, we both had to sign forms to reduce the tip (as we wanted to give cash instead to our favourite personnel)

but I'm talking 4 people on one credit card with 2 cabins not 4 people on 4 different cards.

Can people who are not the credit card holder lower the gratuities or just the card holder.

Why do you want to lower the gratuities on their cabin? They are in their own cabin, so why do you want to take away the tips from their cabin attendant? It makes no difference how old they are and who's paying for their cabin. If a cabin steward has to make up their cabin, they should get a tip. And, they cannot take the tips off, the person holding the credit card must do it, but why you don't want to tip on the other room mystifies me.

They are going to eat too I assume. So the waiter deserves his share of their tip too. Why would you take it off in advance when you don't even know yet if the service is good or bad?

We have had auto tips added on Costa, NCL and Carnival and think it is a fair way to treat the staff.

Cruiselines started auto tipping to help make sure the staff are treated fairly. Personally I found it complicated when I had little envelopes way back when on HAL.

I would suggest all 4 of you go down to the account desk just to be sure it gets taken care of for both cabins. I've spoken with the Cruiseline and they clearly said that tips are shared between people we as passengers actually interact with atleast once on the ship not people behind closed doors so it is totally possible to do the cash tips at the end. I've also spoken to a friend who used to be a waiter on carnival and he said yes they do collect cash tips from the staff and distribute evenly but 99% of the staff he was with kept atleast some portion of their tips out of the group pot so they ended up with more than others since it was given to them for their service. However the little envelopes left in rooms if not handed directly to the room steward was collected by the steward manager or whatever the title is prior to the rooms being cleaned and put into the group pot so the room steward could not keep a large portion.

Its good to see people jumping on others backs about the issue (and I'm not just talking about the people on this thread) when they haven't sailed with MSC or when they did they from what everyone has been saying were the minority and haven't seen first hand bad service. I too will be attempting the lowering of auto tips probably not to nothing as I assume you'll do just not as high as $12 per person being $336 in tips total for what could be bad service is alittle much I agree with you. Especially when roomservice might not be used and if like most hotels in the economic times we're in the cruiseline has stopped completely changing and washing sheets daily and just making a bed which the kids, you and your DH can do making abit less work for the stewards also if your like me I ask where they take the trash or watch when the cleaning staff takes it from other rooms I take it to the garbage chute myself which saves the person even more work so why tip so much for less work they do it at home so why not do it in confined spaces like on a ship.

Well atleast the account desk won't have a long line hope you have a good trip.

On one thread I read that MSC employees receive higher salaries, and do not depend on tips. Does anyone know if this is true? I have never traveled to Europe but understand their customs are different than Americans when tipping is involved. Once again just asking the question, not saying I have intention of removing auto grat.

I can't say for sure but I'd assume so since the cruiseline says Per person per day gratuities for adults are: $12 (USD) for Caribbean sailings and Ocean Voyages, €6 (Euro) for Mediterranean and Northern European sailings, and $6 (USD) for South America sailings.

why else have lower auto gratuities for euro trips or could just be the custom for those areas not to tip to begin with.

On one thread I read that MSC employees receive higher salaries, and do not depend on tips. Does anyone know if this is true? I have never traveled to Europe but understand their customs are different than Americans when tipping is involved. Once again just asking the question, not saying I have intention of removing auto grat.

Not sure about higher salaries, but MSC staff are salaried, so the bar staff do not have to try to 'outdo' each other to earn tips. The tips collected via auto tips are shared between them equally I believe.

I can't say for sure but I'd assume so since the cruiseline says Per person per day gratuities for adults are: $12 (USD) for Caribbean sailings and Ocean Voyages, €6 (Euro) for Mediterranean and Northern European sailings, and $6 (USD) for South America sailings.

 

why else have lower auto gratuities for euro trips or could just be the custom for those areas not to tip to begin with.

I suspect this has more to do with fluctuating exchange rates, & the fixing of the tips at the time the brochures were published. Last year, 6 euros would have been roughly equivalent to $10-$12 dollars, but since then the dollar has gained in strength so the tips are working out at a higher rate for you at the moment, unfortunately.

I agree with Sparky about the exchange rate fluctuations. The tips used to be $10 or 6 euros per day which were broadly equivalent. I dont think there is any intention to charge US passengers more in tips, after all the US cruise price is substantially cheaper and your booking terms are so much more favourably than we non Americans pay. Not to mention that may things that are chargeable elsewhere are free in the Caribbean.