Tips going Up

I like the no-nonsense approach, and appreciate it, but also wonder how many people maybe remove the gratuities all together?

does any one have the current actual breakdown for each crew member, ie waiter, asst. waiter, headwaiter, dinning room manager, stateroom attendant, etc? rccl only gives broad breakdown and refuses when asked to give details. we have also been told, both royal and celebrity, take a cut for administration and pool the gratuities for distribution. we usually allow one person gratuity to remain on account and cancel the second and take this amount, ie 10 days at $13.50 equals $135.00 and distribute this in cash to the staff that we feel does an adequate job. example, if the head waiter only comes around on the next to last night he will get very little if any. We also tip the bar staff and diamond/suite staff as we go.

For all of us American citizens, come February we are all going to get such a large increase in disposable income we should be willing to share a little with the less fortunate.:D:halo:

does any one have the current actual breakdown for each crew member, ie waiter, asst. waiter, headwaiter, dinning room manager, stateroom attendant, etc? rccl only gives broad breakdown and refuses when asked to give details. we have also been told, both royal and celebrity, take a cut for administration and pool the gratuities for distribution. .

Exactly, so ask yourself why won't they be more transparent. Unless you know someone in the business and CHOOSE to believe them as I do , you'll get different answers to the same questions of who gets what. The average weekly income in the Phillipines that I could find on goggle for a service industry job was $145 US (after conversion of Phillipino pesos). That is the reason ALL the cruise lines use crew from lower waged countries and we Americans tend to think in terms of what we would earn and need to live in the USA not in the countries of the crew.

does any one have the current actual breakdown for each crew member, ie waiter, asst. waiter, headwaiter, dinning room manager, stateroom attendant, etc? rccl only gives broad breakdown and refuses when asked to give details. we have also been told, both royal and celebrity, take a cut for administration and pool the gratuities for distribution. we usually allow one person gratuity to remain on account and cancel the second and take this amount, ie 10 days at $13.50 equals $135.00 and distribute this in cash to the staff that we feel does an adequate job. example, if the head waiter only comes around on the next to last night he will get very little if any. We also tip the bar staff and diamond/suite staff as we go.

The broad breakdown is as much detail as the company will pubicly reveal anymore.

Exactly, so ask yourself why won't they be more transparent. Unless you know someone in the business and CHOOSE to believe them as I do , you'll get different answers to the same questions of who gets what. The average weekly income in the Phillipines that I could find on goggle for a service industry job was $145 US (after conversion of Phillipino pesos). That is the reason ALL the cruise lines use crew from lower waged countries and we Americans tend to think in terms of what we would earn and need to live in the USA not in the countries of the crew.

That sure isn't true

Someone needs to ask the question at the captains question/answer session. Does my cabin steward (or waiter) get all of the tip I pay with auto gratuities and or give them in cash. If not, what?

For all of us American citizens, come February we are all going to get such a large increase in disposable income we should be willing to share a little with the less fortunate.:D:halo:

Now THAT is funny! For those of us in California, it may well be the opposite - we'll be paying more. What else is new?! :mad:

yes i agree i will be getting maybe 18.00 dollars a day maybe so let the good times roll:);p(n)(n)

18 a day is a lot. Some will only get 18$ a month.

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Most passengers pay the gratuities with a credit card. Interchange and processing fees are deducted from the amount owed to RCI. That amount you pay is reduced by around 2-3%. While that does not sound like much, when you add up the millions paid by credit cards it adds up to real money.

But that is not my issue. I pay the gratuities and don't fret over what happens post payment.

yes i agree i will be getting maybe 18.00 dollars a day maybe so let the good times roll:);p(n)(n)

Agree, the tax cut is more than the media is reporting. For me it’s about $3200-3500/yr. An extra cruise!

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Someone needs to ask the question at the captains question/answer session. Does my cabin steward (or waiter) get all of the tip I pay with auto gratuities and or give them in cash. If not, what?

And while we’re at it, at the company Christmas party somebody should ask the Boss how much the janitor makes and why.

In both cases, I’d hope the response would be the same: None of your business.

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And while we’re at it, at the company Christmas party somebody should ask the Boss how much the janitor makes and why.

 

In both cases, I’d hope the response would be the same: None of your business.

 

 

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Amen, this discussion on tip allocation is absurd.

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And while we’re at it, at the company Christmas party somebody should ask the Boss how much the janitor makes and why.

 

In both cases, I’d hope the response would be the same: None of your business.

The scenario you've described is not the same. The relevant difference here is that RCI has voluntarily and publicly disclosed certain aspects of the crew's compensation, namely the gratuities. Some of us have an interest in knowing (as I've said several times) whether we are doing business with a company that is stealing from its employees and/or lying to us.

Most passengers pay the gratuities with a credit card. Interchange and processing fees are deducted from the amount owed to RCI. That amount you pay is reduced by around 2-3%. While that does not sound like much, when you add up the millions paid by credit cards it adds up to real money.

I am familiar with interchange fees and I agree it adds up to a lot of money, and that's where our credit card perks/rewards come from, too. I could be wrong but I think it's commonly accepted as a cost of doing business, though, and rolled into the price of goods and services by the retailer. Sometimes, there is no choice and it has to be built-in, when merchant agreements prohibit a fee/surcharge when paying with the credit card vs. the cash or debit price (although a cash discount can be provided as opposed to a credit card fee).

I don't think this justifies some "administration fee" being levied against the gratuities, though. Land-based businesses have to deal with the same situation. If your restaurant bill comes to $100 after tax and you pay $120 with your credit card, does the wait staff/employee tip pool receive the full $20, or some reduced amount? I think most people would (reasonably? naively?) expect the entirety of their tip going to the employees. I'm sure some restaurant operator or the like in our community could tell us how it works.

K

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The scenario you've described is not the same. The relevant difference here is that RCI has voluntarily and publicly disclosed certain aspects of the crew's compensation, namely the gratuities. Some of us have an interest in knowing (as I've said several times) whether we are doing business with a company that is stealing from its employees and/or lying to us.

I don't know why anyone questions it. If the employee wasn't getting paid what they are supposed to we would have heard it a long time ago.

There are thousands of former RCL employees who depended on tips that would have sounded off loudly long ago.

I don't know why anyone questions it. If the employee wasn't getting paid what they are supposed to we would have heard it a long time ago.

 

There are thousands of former RCL employees who depended on tips that would have sounded off loudly long ago.

I tend to agree, because otherwise it would almost require a conspiracy of silence amongst all current and former employees. Even NDAs and the threat of litigation would likely not be sufficient to prevent the information from leaking.

But I'm still left with trying to reconcile how we've heard that cabin stewards earn somewhere in the range of $1000-$1500 USD/month, yet should be earning over $3000 USD/month based on gratuities alone. Maybe the lower range is what's guaranteed by the cruise line, and a lot of guests remove the gratuities -- that could explain the discrepancy (besides the "company skims from the tips" theory).

Fantastic. The crew deserve it.

I tend to agree, because otherwise it would almost require a conspiracy of silence amongst all current and former employees. Even NDAs and the threat of litigation would likely not be sufficient to prevent the information from leaking.

 

But I'm still left with trying to reconcile how we've heard that cabin stewards earn somewhere in the range of $1000-$1500 USD/month, yet should be earning over $3000 USD/month based on gratuities alone. Maybe the lower range is what's guaranteed by the cruise line, and a lot of guests remove the gratuities -- that could explain the discrepancy (besides the "company skims from the tips" theory).

That's the thing. People read or hear things and conclude as fact

That's the thing. People read or hear things and conclude as fact

As Charles Darwin once said “on the ordinary view of each species being created, we gain no scientific explanation”

Guess people still believe in god and that the companies don’t take a chunk of the tips!

Get to know your cabin steward and ask what they like... alcohol, chocolate or whatever and watch their face when you give it to them on the last day (with the receipt and a note so they can’t get accused of stealing) will dampen their pain of working so hard every day away from their families for almost a year at a time.

You would think like someone said previously 1 steward per 19 cabins they would have a Rolex on and a Bentley in the port car park on tips alone for the 10 months.

As the bigger ships have come in the ratio of staff to passengers have gone down and the gratuities gone up

Thank you for that information. Already added for 2019 so that's great that we're "locked in" to the current tip rate. Thanks!

Mmmm

But isn’t that stiffing the crew too??

This is such a con-artist move. I honestly NEVER understood why ANYONE would prepay their gratuities. I somewhat understand the perspective of peace of mind to know everything is paid for before you sail, but what if you get poor service and don’t want to tip the full recommended amount? Also, when you prepay, your cruise line get a hold of your money that much sooner, and they collect interest based solely upon your generosity to pay more money than you have to, well before your sailing. I would NEVER prepay for gratuity. In all of my sailings, I always ended up paying the full recommended amount of gratuity (and honestly, more often than not, even more than that)...but why pay early and give the cruise line your money early?!

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I am aware that the recommended tip amount is being increased by $1/pp, beginning just after the new year. This is such a con-artist move. I honestly NEVER understood why ANYONE would prepay their gratuities. I somewhat understand the perspective of peace of mind to know everything is paid for before you sail, but what if you get poor service and don’t want to tip the full recommended amount? Also, when you prepay, your cruise line get a hold of your money that much sooner, and they collect interest based solely upon your generosity to pay more money than you have to, well before your sailing. I would NEVER prepay for gratuity. In all of my sailings, I always ended up paying the full recommended amount of gratuity (and honestly, more often than not, even more than that)...but why pay early and give the cruise line your money early?!