Crew earnings?

Does anyone know how much a waiter earns in total per month? Assistant waiter? Cabin steward?

Does anyone know whether the tips automatically added go 100% to waiters, asst waiters, room stewards, and their immediated mgrs ( e.g. housecleaning mgr, head waiters and maitre 'd)?

My husband and I talked to some Romanian waiters on the Caribbean Princess a couple of years ago and they said they would be happy if they made just $100 a day....that was their goal. We informed them that $100 a day was not good money and they should be trying for much more. We never out right asked them how much they made, but they informed us that they wanted a job that paid that much. They did say that the captain made a whole lot more that $100 a day (go figure).

If you go to the CC home page, click on features,then on Under the Captains table, Then on Gratuties whats the use, you will find an article that will answer most of your questions. Hope this helps. Bill

I read the article, interesting article...

Pardon me if I sound rude, but is this really any of our business? (If somebody's looking for work with a cruise line, I believe each company lists an employment section on their websites).

http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=261

Thanks for reference. I wonder when it was written.

p.s. to Piet Hein - You do sound rude in the manner you question my curiosity about crew earnings. Your attitude makes no sense to me. The topic is one of general interest and relevance.

Owl 61, I saw the article for the first time in the past twelve months when the boards were having many posts on auto tipping pro and con. I think that it was written in that time frame, but it could be a reprint. Maybe one of the moderators may have better info as to date. I agree piet-hein sounds rude to me also.;) Bill

If you work in an area that receives tips, the cruise lines generally pay those workers $50 per month. As a matter of course, cabin stewards take care of anywhere from 12 to 16 cabins. For waiters, they generally serve between 16 to 20 passengers, per seating. If you multiply those numbers by the minimum tips, you can get a general idea of how much they make in a 7 day cruise, remembering that a goodly number of passengers tend to tip more and that a pretty high number of passengers tip nothing. I asked out butler on average, how many passengers don't tip a dime and he said they figured it to be nearly 10%--and that number is higher for the short cruises of 3 and 4 days.

p.s. to Piet Hein - You do sound rude in the manner you question my curiosity about crew earnings. Your attitude makes no sense to me. The topic is one of general interest and relevance.

I don't see how it is improper... it is not like anyone is asking a specific person, its more along the lines of "I wonder how much doctors make" etc. I too am curious, for example do they consider the fact that they have free meals and lodging, and use that as justification to pay less? It is a benign question, and I don't think someone has to be putting in an application to be curious.

I'm sorry, I have to agree with Piet Hein. Unless one is applying for a position, IMHO it is NObody's business how much someone else earns. I can't imagine asking someone I'm dealing with (waiter, salesclerk, dentist.... ) how much they get paid. :eek: It may be of interest, but not relevant to my cruise.

And I agree with Mary Ellen who agrees with Piet.

Don't know and don't care.

What ever they make, it's enough to draw people to the job and high enough to keep them working same position for years.

That being said, I have to figure it's good money compared to any thing else they could be doing.

I don't see how it is improper... it is not like anyone is asking a specific person, its more along the lines of "I wonder how much doctors make" etc. I too am curious, for example do they consider the fact that they have free meals and lodging, and use that as justification to pay less? It is a benign question, and I don't think someone has to be putting in an application to be curious.

Many people who are curious are looking to rationalize not/short tipping.

The actual contracted salary for tipped service staff on most cruise ships is between US$40 and US$70 per month. Most belong to maritime unions and so pay monthly union dues of US$20 or US$30. In the end thay receive about US$1 per day, plus any tips they earn.

Their final net earnings are determined by:

1. How good they are at doing their jobs.

2. How generous - or cheap - their Guests are.

FYI, I do not know the date of the article about Gratuities that was referenced in an earlier post - http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=261 but it is a reasonable representation written by someone with many years of experience on cruise ships. There is a link in the article to the editor of Cruise Critic - if you have other questions, you might communicate to the editor using that link.

Let's 'play nice' in this discussion - name calling and comments about other members is not acceptable. Thanks and enjoy the rest of the discussion. :)

Whoever said that people are not interested in what other people earn is dead wrong. A whole sector of magazines exist that run at least one big article a year on what people are making.

I find this whole topic intriguing. Cruise line jobs, whatever the pay, are highly competitive and coveted jobs in countries like the Philippines which are dependent on remittances from relatives working abroad.

Came across this site that gives some idea of wages (including tips)

http://www.cruiselinesjobs.com/eng/wages/

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/other/jobs_overview.asp

Thanks, Phil, for your helpful info...as usual.

My tipping question is not about how much they make but rather how the service staff feels about freestyle dining and prepaid tips. When we experience freestyle we didn't have the same waiter more than once.There was no connection as we never got to know each other and there was little interaction

When you have the same waiter everynight you bond in a certain way and I think their true personalities come out. They know the things you like, be it a certain kind of bread, what you drink with dinner that is already there for you. Those are the things that can deserve an extra tip. One of our waiters took the tine after dinner to make all kinds of things out of the napkins which was going to make his next setup really rushed. Some cynical people only see it as grovelling for an extra tip. I don't look at it that way and am always happry to give them more.

I found the service in the dining room to be nothing extra with the freestyle dining. They were all getting the same tip with the prepaid tip and since they wouldn't see you everynight, there was no incentive to try for anything extra. Kind of hard to track one down that you would like to give more to when you've only seen them once. Serving the courses was spotty because our waiter had to serve different courses with people coming in at different times. They never seemed to have a minute to socialize.

Just wondering if this setup has impacted their tips in a negative way and if they prefer set seating. But then, I guess the "worker bees" have no say in company policy and just have to go along what is sent down to them from on high.

I think it would be relevant to include the hrs they have to work to make a good wage, 14 to 16hrs a day, 28 days a month, my wife is an ex maitre d, on unions the ITF is free, but because these ship all sail under flags of con, other unions are not much help, regards

iheartbda-,

You ask a very intelligent question. Many ask it, but very few get a straight answer.

For the past 100 years or so (since 1911), the cruise lines have aranged for the passengers to pay the salaries of the crew during the cruise. There are many arguments about whether or not this is a good idea. In the end, it really doesn't matter - because that is the way it has always been done, and it is extremely unlikely to change anytime soon. Anyone who does not like it should either get used to it or choose another type of vacation.

Since 9-11 the mass market lines have struggled a bit to ensure that their ships are always completely full. In doing so, they have made cruising affordable to the masses. There are also many arguments as to whether of not this was a good idea. Once again, it really doesn't matter at this point. That's the way the market has developed, and will take quite some time to change to any great degree - if it changes at all.

This new cruising public is composed of nearly every segment of humanity. Many still cannot really afford to cruise, but it is so attractive that it often is a better financial option than staying home. How do these people manage to afford their cruise? Many smuggle their own alcohol onboard to avoid paying a bar bill; many take a bus or taxi to the pier in their home town to avoid paying for air tickets; many take a guarantee or a lower priced inside cabin to avoid paying a higher passage fare. And for the past 10 years or so, about 30% of these cruisers (on average) saved a bundle by not tipping the staff during the cruise.

The fallout from this was devastating to the cruise lines. Many experienced ship service staff began to realize that working on a ship was no longer the financial opportunity it had once been. Many of my best service staff came to tell me that they were now able to make the same amount of money at home, staying home with their families, and not working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, taking abuse from ungrateful passengers, for many months at a time. The cruise industry lost many of it's best service staff over this issue. (Next time somebody complains about the declining service levels on cruise ships, you will have a good answer for them.)

The cruise lines realized that they needed to do something quickly to save their remaining star employees and reduce staff turnover due to shrinking salaries. So they introduced auto-tipping. In most cases, one still has the option to reduce or eliminate the auto-tip, but in most cases it can be difficult or embarrasing to do so.

The results have been very encouraging. On most mass market ships today, less than 5% of the passengers reduce or cancel the auto-tip. This results in a substantial increase in salaries for tipped employees. And there is another bonus. Passengers still want to hand money directly to staff who have done a great job. So on top of the auto-tip, staff often receive additional tips for great service rendered. They still do not earn as much as they did a few decades ago, but the increase has been enough to stop most of the staff turnover due to decreasing salaries.

Does open dining on ships denigrate the relationship that passengers have always enjoyed with the service staff? It certainly does. Breaking that relationship makes the service appear to be less personal and friendly. Americans generally do not like that, as they frequently confuse and equate friendliness with excellent service.

Every public opinion poll done by the cruise lines tells us that about 65% of today's cruisers want an open dining option on their ship. That percentage of the cruising public cannot be ignored by cruise lines that want to stay in business and make a profit. Open dining is here to stay for a long time.

But at the end of the day, the auto-tip system keeps salaries up to an acceptable level - keeping the remaining experienced service staff working on the ships, rather than in hotels back home.

The open dining concepts keep a new and hopefully endless supply of new cruisers coming to cruise ships and keeping us profitable and in business.

Sincere thanks to those of you who contributed in a positive manner to answering my question about earnings and commenting on it in general. To the attackers and detractors, I can only say that I can not for the life of me fathom your objections to this inquiry. It is not prying into what a particular individual makes. I 'm sorry you persist in misperceiving it that way or attribute to me some evil motive.

I think this thread demonstrates the importance of all passengers fairly participating in the customary tipping guidelines (at a minimum). It's in our collective best interest to do so. After all, not only do I want to do right by the crew, but I don't want to suffer deteriorating service in the future because the level of the crew's remuneration doesn' t attract good workers.

Thanks especially to you fellow San Franciscan, BruceMuzz, for what appears to be an insider's point of view. Bruce, may I ask in what capacity you have worked on the ship? Also, if you know, does the auto tip allocation include managerial/supervisorial staff e.g. head waiters, maitre 'd and housekeeping supervisors?

I'll sign off here. Happy cruising to all.

I'm sorry, I have to agree with Piet Hein. Unless one is applying for a position, IMHO it is NObody's business how much someone else earns. I can't imagine asking someone I'm dealing with (waiter, salesclerk, dentist.... ) how much they get paid. :eek: It may be of interest, but not relevant to my cruise.

Two points.

First, I have grown very weary of the people whom are self-appointed judges of what questions are appropriate and what questions are not appropriate on this and other boards on CC. Although I have seen questions posted that make me wonder what the point or need of the question is, I certainly have no desire to demean or degrade the OP because I do not understand the motivation as to why the question was asked. When a post is made that asks the OP to justify the question, dismissive of the question, or says the question is invalid, they (the author) is being derogatory, dismissive and demeaning to the OP. It is also mean and rude. At best, these self-appointed judges of questions are narcissistic and bullies.

Second, since the validity of the OP’s question has been raised (inappropriately so, I think.) I will add my point of view on the topic. I think wages are a very reasonable valid and legitimate question to ask, if for NO OTHER REASON, for informed choice and yes morality. Although I am very much a free market capitalist and strongly believe that to have a vibrant local, national, world economy there most be a slope of high to low in wealth. (Yes it does suck being at the low end of that slope). The way I look at it, vibrant economies and the weather work exactly the same way. However, unlike the process of weather (the transfer of energy from high to low) economies have a moral characteristic to them because the transfer of energy (wealth) has a human aspect to it. So the question then becomes, without a general understanding of how a company treats its employees (i.e., wages for instance) how is one to determine if it is moral to do business with that company? Yes, there does come a point where if the company pays the employee such low wages regardless of the employee’s home country standard of living, it becomes immoral to do business with that company.

Just for the record, I agree with auto tipping and it should be very difficult to remove it from the final bill. I also tip extra and gladly so.

owl61

Just be prepared for the attackers and detractors to strike at any moment on any subject. Just ignore the comments and don't take them personally.