Breaking News !! RCCL to review Gratuities

[aussiepom]

Okay, first and foremost, I love the automatic tips, its easy and makes sure no one gets left out behind the scenes, for jobs well done and going above and beyond the call of duty, we like to tip a little extra on the spot, so we always carry cash with us.

My issues with it is this:

1) They soon begin to "pool" allk freehanded tips together, so joe schmo who did nothing, or was that rude waiter you talked to, gets a share of it.

2) I did NOT like the statement from RCI explaining how it affects their remuneration!!! Excuse me? WE are NOT responsible for paying their wages!!! WE do NOT pay their paychecks (in a literal sense) WE do NOT configure who gets paid what and how much etc.!!! They CANNOT count (and I mean RCI, NOT the staff) on their tips, as part of their wages!!!! If a UK cruiser or anyone else for that matter, does not tip, and upsets the balance of wages accepted, then they (RCI) needs to pay their staff more and stop relying on cruisers to do so!!!

Okay, off my soapbox now :rolleyes:

Am I the only one who feels this way? I haven't read many responses and will do so after this post, but I just had to vent a little.

Of course your right(check mine same page) cruiselines should have to pay their staff a fair wage not start saying it,s the pax fault for not paying enough tips causing unrest amongst the crew. RCI IT,S YOUR PROBLEM FIX IT....

[Traveler7531]

Did anyone have the chance to be on cruises of the same company once when tipping was practiced and another time when a compulsory tip was added? How was the service received in both cases? Did the staff make more effort when tips were voluntary?

[Goldryder]

Jane Archer makes a few interesting points about this tipping thing in her Travel Weekly blog...

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/blogs/cruise-lines/2009/10/has-royal-signalled-the-beginn.html

 

Such as why do we get charged the 15% service charge for drinks out of the minibar in the cabin, when it's us who are serving ourselves?

 

I'm going all inclusive with my Costa cruise next year, non alcoholic drinks package including service charge for the 33 days on the ship is 13 quid a day...outright bargain when you consider the drinks are in euro's and that currency is still stronger than the pound.

 

My biggest bugbear is that lines refuse to run the same rules regardless of where you come from.

 

If you are from the UK you pay the service charge at the end of the trip via the onboard account and no changes allowed (downwards, that is), whereas if you're from Australia you pay service charges with your final invoice upfront...for the same cruise on the same ship.

 

That is where alot of the resentment and confusion lies...when you are sat around the table at dinner and the subject of tipping comes up (and it invariably does), a couple from Australia says they have paid theirs already and you from the UK still have to pay yours...WHY is there a difference. Either add it to the cruise fare for everyone or add it to the account to be paid at the end of the trip for everyone...stop confusing people and building mistrust by making people think that one nationality is paying less than another purely by the method adopted by the cruise line for that country.

 

Level the playing field and take away the assumtions & accusations of being a cheapskate. The cruise lines brought this onto themselves, it is their responsibility to now get their corporate acts together and sort the mess out they made.

 

If RCI (or any line) wants to operate out of the UK (or any country) full time, they should adopt the pay scale of that country...which here is around $10 per hour mandatory minimum wage. Do that and no-one would be stiffing anyone and no-one would feel the need to subsidise crew wages by tipping over and above the average amount.

[m steve]

incl. a daily tip surcharge and we had no problems with it. We also tip our cabin steward at the start of the cruise and again at the end as well as dining servers and some bartenders. When we visited New Zealand a few years ago we we admonished by friends for tipping as they don't usually do it there. Since we don't sail on RC it hasn't been an issue for us but I see it as a solution for those passengers who think service is included. I know some cruise lines charge more for non US bookings so they could hide the charge in the fee.

[kimberley]

:mad:It's time to educate some folks. Stuffing money in an envelope on the last night is a fun and traditional way to say thank you to a wonderful crew.

Lets keep some enjoyment into cruising and shame to the people to cheap to tip the crew.

Very unpolite and rude You dont need to run us Brits down. Kimberley

[jester121]

I wonder if all the posters suggesting that the cruise lines "pay a fair wage to their staff" would be quite so content when the price of their next cruise goes up by 50%, and then service quality goes down?

 

And what's to say that this path isn't the start of a cycle -- first the prices go up to cover staff salary increases, then everyone finds that they have to slip their waiter and steward a little something extra to get any kind of decent service, and 10 years from now we're right back where we started.

[kimberley]

Jane Archer makes a few interesting points about this tipping thing in her Travel Weekly blog...

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/blogs/cruise-lines/2009/10/has-royal-signalled-the-beginn.html

 

Such as why do we get charged the 15% service charge for drinks out of the minibar in the cabin, when it's us who are serving ourselves?

 

I'm going all inclusive with my Costa cruise next year, non alcoholic drinks package including service charge for the 33 days on the ship is 13 quid a day...outright bargain when you consider the drinks are in euro's and that currency is still stronger than the pound.

 

My biggest bugbear is that lines refuse to run the same rules regardless of where you come from.

 

If you are from the UK you pay the service charge at the end of the trip via the onboard account and no changes allowed (downwards, that is), whereas if you're from Australia you pay service charges with your final invoice upfront...for the same cruise on the same ship.

 

That is where alot of the resentment and confusion lies...when you are sat around the table at dinner and the subject of tipping comes up (and it invariably does), a couple from Australia says they have paid theirs already and you from the UK still have to pay yours...WHY is there a difference. Either add it to the cruise fare for everyone or add it to the account to be paid at the end of the trip for everyone...stop confusing people and building mistrust by making people think that one nationality is paying less than another purely by the method adopted by the cruise line for that country.

 

Level the playing field and take away the assumtions & accusations of being a cheapskate. The cruise lines brought this onto themselves, it is their responsibility to now get their corporate acts together and sort the mess out they made.

 

If RCI (or any line) wants to operate out of the UK (or any country) full time, they should adopt the pay scale of that country...which here is around $10 per hour mandatory minimum wage. Do that and no-one would be stiffing anyone and no-one would feel the need to subsidise crew wages by tipping over and above the average amount.

I think you will find that the min wage for an over 21 is just over £5.60 an hour not $10. The cruise line should pay a proper wage that is their problem and not mine. Kimberley

[TravelerThom]

Sorry - but I think RCI has the most stupid system you ever can have...

 

I do not mind to give the service charge. I do not mind to tip extra for those walk extra miles or maybe even a marathon.

....

By the way: it's always a question of good communication if the system works or not.

 

If the explanations what's behind the service charge is not well communicated it's no wonder that non-US-cruisers might not see a need to deal it like US-cruisers.

Well said. There are a LOT of different opinions about the RCI stem, but virtually ALL of these opinions are that it is a system that needs to be fixed. I THINK I understand RCI's system, and make it work to my satisfaction, but sometimes I feel like I am a chump supporting people who either don't understand, or don't want to understand, the system [and certainly RCI does an exceedingly poor job of helping people understand].

 

Every restaurant I've been in in France has automatically added Service as a separate item to the bill. Do people feel that French restarants should pay their employees and not add Service to the bill? Do you demand to have Service removed from the bill even though you had good service? When I go into a restuarant in Germany and look at the prices, it is my understanding that Service and tax is included [i hope I have that right]. When I go into a restaurant in the US I know that Service [well, at least half the cost of the Service] and tax is NOT included in the price. Would it be easier for there to be one worldwide system? Of Course! But our lives would be blander if everyone did everything the same.

 

IMO we would all be better off if people who actively fight learning about other cultures and how they operate would just stay home.

 

Thom

[oncruisecontrol]

Let me start by saying that I am a tipper. I have always tipped the minimum recommended amount and usually more. I don't do it because I feel sorry for the staff and their low wages, I do it because someone has done a service for me and I want to reward them for it.

 

Now let me say that I think they should just do away with tipping all together. This would eliminate the confusion within different cultures where some tip and some don't. Pay the employees a reasonable wage so that they do not have to rely on tips to supplement their income. Of course this means that the price of the cruise will go up but if they are expecting us to pay (for instance) $100 in tips, why not just add that $100 to the fare and eliminate the tips? Tips used to be voluntary. If you wanted to tip, you did. They are now becoming almost mandatory. In the case of My Time Dining, they are. So, charge us a little more and do away with the tips.

 

This would eliminate the need to tip. But, if a staff member went above and beyond and you felt they deserved something extra, you could tip them on a case by case basis.

 

My wife and I stayed at a Sandals resort several years ago and the employees were not allowed to take tips. Any employee caught accepting a tip was fired. I don't know if they need to go that far but eliminating the mandatory tips would solve some of the problems.

 

 

I have stayed at one of those all-inclusives like Sandals where the employees were not allowed to accept even tips that are offered. This has always bothered me because I am left wondering if the resort is paying the staff a liveable wage. I work for tips, and if my employer prohibited me from accepting them, my income would be only $4 per hour!

[yarlenna]

I think you will find that the min wage for an over 21 is just over £5.60 an hour not $10. The cruise line should pay a proper wage that is their problem and not mine. Kimberley

 

Most cruise lines do not pay a proper wage. The problem is what happens when people fail to recognize this and the workers get nothing. Until we fix this problem, we must tip as a matter of justice.

[oncruisecontrol]

Before my DD became a server for Cracker Barrel, I was one of those who preferred to tip myself as opposed to it automatically being added to my bill. In theory tipping gives incentive for good service. If a tip is automatically added, the server can give poor service and not care because he will get his money anyway.

 

My opinion changed as I found out through my DD that for various reasons people don't tip no matter the level of service. There have been many nights she has come home upset that she worked really hard for 8 hours only to receive the equivanent of $4-5/hr. My dd is one of the best servers at CB and so I know it isn't because of poor service.

 

Now I would be more in favor of an auto gratuity that would be enough so servers could make some money, but also small enough so we could add to it for excellent service. I still see a lot of problems even with this solution - it leaves room for both servers and pax to abuse it.

 

 

I agree completely. I work as a server for a somewhat upscale restaurant in a touristy area of southeast Florida. Certain times of the year we get an influx of predominately British and Mainland European vacationers. With few exceptions, no matter if their check is $20 or $150, they will leave $2 or $3 as a tip. Serving a table of, say, 5 persons whose bill is over $100 is a lot of work. And to receive a tip of just $3 is an insult. Not to mention the fact that I have to "tip out" to the bartender, the busperson, and the foodrunner--it actually ends up costing me money to serve people who tip poorly! In some European countries the gratuity is included on restaurant checks. So, it is conceivable that some of them think that that is the case when they are in the US or on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship......but I doubt it. I think they know that they should tip more; I think that they just try to act like they don't know. But, then again, there are those people who will tip only a dollar or two or not at all regardless of the quality of the service---these are probably the persons whom your DD has had the misfortune of having to serve at CB.

[luckyprincess]

I agree completely. I work as a server for a somewhat upscale restaurant in a touristy area of southeast Florida. Certain times of the year we get an influx of predominately British and Mainland European vacationers. With few exceptions, no matter if their check is $20 or $150, they will leave $2 or $3 as a tip. Serving a table of, say, 5 persons whose bill is over $100 is a lot of work. And to receive a tip of just $3 is an insult. Not to mention the fact that I have to "tip out" to the bartender, the busperson, and the foodrunner--it actually ends up costing me money to serve people who tip poorly! In some European countries the gratuity is included on restaurant checks. So, it is conceivable that some of them think that that is the case when they are in the US or on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship......but I doubt it. I think they know that they should tip more; I think that they just try to act like they don't know. But, then again, there are those people who will tip only a dollar or two or not at all regardless of the quality of the service---these are probably the persons whom your DD has had the misfortune of having to serve at CB.

Having served in the past I feel your pain! But at least we know that most people do the right thing...It's a terrible feeling knowing that you just paid money out of your own pocket so that people could eat and have you serve them. Ridiculous. I had a friend that had just finished law school and was on her last serving shift ever and got a table like what you just described. She followed them out of the restaurant, handed them the $2 on a $100 check and said 'here, you obviously need this more than me.'.:p (FYI this wasn't a case of bad service or people that didn't know what to do - American tipping structure was printed on the bottom of the bill)

I also happen to know that people are instructed many times on how to tip when the visit the U.S. It should not come as a suprise to any of them...Although I guess there are those that didn't hear it but it is surely even said on airplanes...

[dbowe5]

I also happen to know that people are instructed many times on how to tip when the visit the U.S. It should not come as a suprise to any of them...Although I guess there are those that didn't hear it but it is surely even said on airplanes...

 

We are too busy filling out the visa waiver cards to listen to that!:)

[oncruisecontrol]

2) I did NOT like the statement from RCI explaining how it affects their remuneration!!! Excuse me? WE are NOT responsible for paying their wages!!! WE do NOT pay their paychecks (in a literal sense) WE do NOT configure who gets paid what and how much etc.!!! They CANNOT count (and I mean RCI, NOT the staff) on their tips, as part of their wages!!!! If a UK cruiser or anyone else for that matter, does not tip, and upsets the balance of wages accepted, then they (RCI) needs to pay their staff more and stop relying on cruisers to do so!!!

 

 

I see where you are coming from. If the restaurant that I work for had to pay us a wage equal to what we earn in tips, they would be out of business. I am not defending RCI, and I do not know what their overhead is. I just know that when you go to a full-service restaurant, the price you pay for your meals covers the cost of the 'tangibles' (the cost of food, the rent, insurance, etc.). The service relationship between a guest and their server is a very personal one indeed. Thus, the actual execution of the service is intangible; it cannot be commodified. The very word 'tips' itself is an acronym meaning: To Insure Proper Service. If a restaurant or cruiseline included the service charge in the price of the cruise, I am almost certain that the level of service would go down ( if you do not think that it is very high now, could you imagine it even lower?). When you receive good service from a server or a room steward, it is not the cruiseline who gave you that good service, it is THAT INDIVIDUAL PERSON who gave good service. If an individual has given poor service, then the guest should lower or remove the auto tip from the S&S account. Just my opinion.

[WeLuvVacation]

Generally I would agree with you, but there was an exception. On a Costa cruise the Maitre D' actually went to all tables every few days and asked if there were any complaints or requests. My wife asked if eggplant parmigiana was on the menu. He said that it was not, but he would see what he could do when we got to port. That evening our table had the best eggplant I have ever eaten (Usually I don't like it). Needless to say we were happy to tip him very well.

 

Bob

 

I agree our head waiter on out RCL Explorer of 11/07 12 day got us a table for 2 after we asked him the first day and was always around asking us how we were and making food suggestions. He got a nice tip at the end of the cruise.

 

Quite honestly either my wife and I are real easy to please or we are just blessed when it comes to getting top notch staff on our cruises!

 

Maybe it's cause we try to get to know them as the week goes on and treat them as more than just the help that is serving you/us.

 

Lest we all forget that these people are away from their loved ones for months at a time and sometimes we as the pax can make their day as much as they can make ours.

 

And as far as the pre tipping on the cards is concerned if the problem of "stiffing" the staff is that much of a problem or if different countries customs are causing problems then tack it on to the bill. Call it a service charge or a mandatory tip or a "those of you who cruise all the time and know the policies by heart but still choose to stiff the staff of their hard earned tips charge." But do it and be done with it. And let those who don't like the policy find other vacation options to do if they choose the give RCL the boot. Cause RCL and all the other cruise lines will survive.

 

Cause if service goes down in the short term it will rise up again as the staff sees no additional tips being given.

[WeLuvVacation]

Jane Archer makes a few interesting points about this tipping thing in her Travel Weekly blog...

 

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/blogs/cruise-lines/2009/10/has-royal-signalled-the-beginn.html

 

Such as why do we get charged the 15% service charge for drinks out of the minibar in the cabin, when it's us who are serving ourselves?

 

I'm going all inclusive with my Costa cruise next year, non alcoholic drinks package including service charge for the 33 days on the ship is 13 quid a day...outright bargain when you consider the drinks are in euro's and that currency is still stronger than the pound.

 

My biggest bugbear is that lines refuse to run the same rules regardless of where you come from.

 

If you are from the UK you pay the service charge at the end of the trip via the onboard account and no changes allowed (downwards, that is), whereas if you're from Australia you pay service charges with your final invoice upfront...for the same cruise on the same ship.

 

That is where alot of the resentment and confusion lies...when you are sat around the table at dinner and the subject of tipping comes up (and it invariably does), a couple from Australia says they have paid theirs already and you from the UK still have to pay yours...WHY is there a difference. Either add it to the cruise fare for everyone or add it to the account to be paid at the end of the trip for everyone...stop confusing people and building mistrust by making people think that one nationality is paying less than another purely by the method adopted by the cruise line for that country.

 

Level the playing field and take away the assumtions & accusations of being a cheapskate. The cruise lines brought this onto themselves, it is their responsibility to now get their corporate acts together and sort the mess out they made.

 

If RCI (or any line) wants to operate out of the UK (or any country) full time, they should adopt the pay scale of that country...which here is around $10 per hour mandatory minimum wage. Do that and no-one would be stiffing anyone and no-one would feel the need to subsidise crew wages by tipping over and above the average amount.

 

So you want to create a nightmare for RCL's accounting and payroll departments?

 

A ship departs Southampton for Bayonne and has to pay Great Britan Min Wage on the return trip thay have to pay US/New Jersey Min Wage.

 

And whos to say that they shouldn't be paid the minimum wage of each port of call cause in the US of A income is considered as earned in the state you earn it. As is our pro athletes for one have to pay state taxes to each of the states that they play in during the season, of course they get a credit for those taxes paid on their home state's income tax return.

 

On top of the fact that no RCL ships for one fly the flag of Great Britan or the USA so why should they follow our wage laws.

[norriemike]

Im going on my first cruise in two weeks and thankfully our tips are prepaid. The very idea of trying to figure out who to tip and by how much would be a headache I can do without on holliday. This I know is a personal thing but there is also a little bit of me that thinks its demeaning to people doing their job to be running around with tips. They are doing their job and should be paid well by their employers for doing that job. I do my job, do it well and get paid well to do it and I dont want to be in a possition where I have to be overly sweet to anyone to impress them enough that they hand me a few euro. I dont want or expect to get to know my waiter or my taxi driver or my dentist or have them bending over backwards to please me. I just want them to do the service they are supposed to do, tell me how much it cost and thanks very much. Job done!

[budmeister]

I am for pre-pd tips for everyone, however a person can go to the desk and opt out if they feel they recieved bad service unworthy of the appropriate tip.

[iamwhatiamnot]

I take great issue with some of the rude posters on this thread. In the UK we have been tipping good service for years whether we are at home in a restaurant or abroad on holiday. One poster even referred to the tightwadds in the UK. How very rude!! (I just hope he is not on my cruise and on my dinning table).

 

Yes we personally do pay our gratuties which are added to our final account and yes we do give extra for good service but I for one will not be made to feel guilty about not giving a tip to anyone who has not provided good service and yes if that includes my room attendant or waiting staff then so be it.

 

As far as I can see most of the americans are being led to pay gratuties by emotional blackmail on the part of RCCL's lack of a good wage structure. Well if you want to go down that route then good for you but I think us Brits have more common sense and can see this fact very clearly. We are obviously more discerning and astute with our money having paid a heck of a lot more and not getting any discount that you over the pond do.

[luckyprincess]

I take great issue with some of the rude posters on this thread. In the UK we have been tipping good service for years whether we are at home in a restaurant or abroad on holiday. One poster even referred to the tightwadds in the UK. How very rude!! (I just hope he is not on my cruise and on my dinning table).

 

Yes we personally do pay our gratuties which are added to our final account and yes we do give extra for good service but I for one will not be made to feel guilty about not giving a tip to anyone who has not provided good service and yes if that includes my room attendant or waiting staff then so be it.

 

As far as I can see most of the americans are being led to pay gratuties by emotional blackmail on the part of RCCL's lack of a good wage structure. Well if you want to go down that route then good for you but I think us Brits have more common sense and can see this fact very clearly. We are obviously more discerning and astute with our money having paid a heck of a lot more and not getting any discount that you over the pond do.

I'm just not understanding the huge animosity towards Americans in this post. Yes, the people making disparaging comments about you and your countrymen are wrong, I agree. That's uncalled for. However, you are doing the same thing. I get the feeling you are calling us naive - but I think it's the other way around. Meaning, you are not being asked to give money not expected or 'extra fees'. The gratuities are part of your vacation. If you can't afford to give the gratuities (or service charge, or whatever you want to call it) you really can't afford to cruise, imho. I don't mean that in a rude or snarky way - just a very matter of fact way. This is the very clearly written structure on board a cruise ship. Please stop looking at this as a hidden fee or something - it's no more hidden than a service charge at a restaurant in your country. Or do you eat, get service and then tell the manager to take the service charge and tax off because gosh darnit, you shouldn't be made to pay these people's salaries - it's the same thing! And yes, they will most likely add them on as mandatory from now on due to attitudes like this. Just because you want to save some money that you spent on your cruise doesn't mean you should do it at another PERSONS expense. It's not emotional blackmail by RCCL - it's their pay structure and I'm sure they do very well by it - when people have enough respect to abide by it.

[dbowe5]

I'm just not understanding the huge animosity towards Americans in this post. Yes, the people making disparaging comments about you and your countrymen are wrong, I agree. That's uncalled for. However, you are doing the same thing. I get the feeling you are calling us naive - but I think it's the other way around. Meaning, you are not being asked to give money not expected or 'extra fees'. The gratuities are part of your vacation. If you can't afford to give the gratuities (or service charge, or whatever you want to call it) you really can't afford to cruise, imho. I don't mean that in a rude or snarky way - just a very matter of fact way. This is the very clearly written structure on board a cruise ship. Please stop looking at this as a hidden fee or something - it's no more hidden than a service charge at a restaurant in your country. Or do you eat, get service and then tell the manager to take the service charge and tax off because gosh darnit, you shouldn't be made to pay these people's salaries - it's the same thing! And yes, they will most likely add them on as mandatory from now on due to attitudes like this. Just because you want to save some money that you spent on your cruise doesn't mean you should do it at another PERSONS expense. It's not emotional blackmail by RCCL - it's their pay structure and I'm sure they do very well by it - when people have enough respect to abide by it.

 

I think people just need to chill a bit regarding this one!

 

Some of the posts from both sides of the pond have been a little OTT - hey, it's an emotive subject and everyone will have their own 10 pence/cents worth to say about it. Nobody wants to be told how to spend their hard earned money.

 

I know that gratuities are standard practice on a cruise and I don't know 1 person from the UK I've met who hasn't tipped - well at least I've seen them give the envelopes to the MDR staff on the last night, so it is factored into the cost of the cruise (which incidentally we do pay more for here in the UK).

 

On my last cruise which was a B2B I would say that I probably gave out at least $150 plus my pre-paid gratuities - simply because the service merited it.

 

Besides, as I say to my wife - everything on holiday is subject to special discount anyways - it's all free on holiday - until the credit card bill lands on the doorstep!!:D

[luckyprincess]

I think people just need to chill a bit regarding this one!

 

 

 

 

 

Besides, as I say to my wife - everything on holiday is subject to special discount anyways - it's all free on holiday - until the credit card bill lands on the doorstep!!:D

 

Lol - I always try to pay for EVERYTHING before hand so I don't feel so bad when I spend ON the ship! My bf constantly reminds me that I'm not really saving that way...:p

[Ladylouwho]

I'm just not understanding the huge animosity towards Americans in this post. Yes, the people making disparaging comments about you and your countrymen are wrong, I agree. That's uncalled for. However, you are doing the same thing. I get the feeling you are calling us naive - but I think it's the other way around. Meaning, you are not being asked to give money not expected or 'extra fees'. The gratuities are part of your vacation. If you can't afford to give the gratuities (or service charge, or whatever you want to call it) you really can't afford to cruise, imho. I don't mean that in a rude or snarky way - just a very matter of fact way. This is the very clearly written structure on board a cruise ship. Please stop looking at this as a hidden fee or something - it's no more hidden than a service charge at a restaurant in your country. Or do you eat, get service and then tell the manager to take the service charge and tax off because gosh darnit, you shouldn't be made to pay these people's salaries - it's the same thing! And yes, they will most likely add them on as mandatory from now on due to attitudes like this. Just because you want to save some money that you spent on your cruise doesn't mean you should do it at another PERSONS expense. It's not emotional blackmail by RCCL - it's their pay structure and I'm sure they do very well by it - when people have enough respect to abide by it.

 

Wow, do I agree with that! I think it is totally wrong to lump people together by Nationality and make disparaging comments about them. Why is it ok to complain about that and turn around and dump on us Americans? Most of us are not making those types of comments about those from the U.K., Europe or Canada. Some are and I am embarrassed by them and I do not support such remarks. But it seems that there is a lot of pent up animosity about Americans that is slipping out here on the Boards. That really is a shame.

 

To all posters, please think twice before hitting the submit button if your post contains remarks disparaging an entire group of people based on their Nationality.

 

Colleen

[iamwhatiamnot]

I'm just not understanding the huge animosity towards Americans in this post. Yes, the people making disparaging comments about you and your countrymen are wrong, I agree. That's uncalled for. However, you are doing the same thing. I get the feeling you are calling us naive - but I think it's the other way around. Meaning, you are not being asked to give money not expected or 'extra fees'. The gratuities are part of your vacation. If you can't afford to give the gratuities (or service charge, or whatever you want to call it) you really can't afford to cruise, imho. I don't mean that in a rude or snarky way - just a very matter of fact way. This is the very clearly written structure on board a cruise ship. Please stop looking at this as a hidden fee or something - it's no more hidden than a service charge at a restaurant in your country. Or do you eat, get service and then tell the manager to take the service charge and tax off because gosh darnit, you shouldn't be made to pay these people's salaries - it's the same thing! And yes, they will most likely add them on as mandatory from now on due to attitudes like this. Just because you want to save some money that you spent on your cruise doesn't mean you should do it at another PERSONS expense. It's not emotional blackmail by RCCL - it's their pay structure and I'm sure they do very well by it - when people have enough respect to abide by it.

 

If you read my post properly you will see that I made it quite clear that I pay my gratuties at the end of my cruise under the pre pay system that RCCL offer.

 

I am glad you agree that the people making offensive/rude comments about British people is wrong and if you read the whole of this thread you will see that most of them are from America so I feel justified in redressing their comments.

 

Gratuties are not part of the vacation (as you call it) holiday to us. Check out the RCCL website and you will see that they state and I quote

 

"On all our ships it is customery, to offer tips to staff members for their good service and personal attention".

 

Customery does not mean compulsory - thereby if a person feels that someone has not earnt a tip then it is their decision not to tip them.

 

I also think you are being rather hipocritical with your statement - Just because you want to save some money that you spent on your cruise doesn't mean you should do it at another PERSONS expense. Having agreed that some of the comments made towards the British were disparaging.

 

Yes it is emotional blackmail on the part of RCCL if they paid their staff a fair wage then people would not feel that they were duty bound to pay a tip for poor service just because they know that the staff member relies on them to make their wages up to a liveable rate.

 

You Americans have your way and the British/European's have their way - no way is correct or incorrect just different so to all those poster who have made rude/offensive comments regarding the British/European way should please take note of this fact.

[luckyprincess]

If you read my post properly you will see that I made it quite clear that I pay my gratuties at the end of my cruise under the pre pay system that RCCL offer.

 

I am glad you agree that the people making offensive/rude comments about British people is wrong and if you read the whole of this thread you will see that most of them are from America so I feel justified in redressing their comments.

 

Gratuties are not part of the vacation (as you call it) holiday to us. Check out the RCCL website and you will see that they state and I quote

 

"On all our ships it is customery, to offer tips to staff members for their good service and personal attention".

 

Customery does not mean compulsory - thereby if a person feels that someone has not earnt a tip then it is their decision not to tip them.

 

I also think you are being rather hipocritical with your statement - Just because you want to save some money that you spent on your cruise doesn't mean you should do it at another PERSONS expense. Having agreed that some of the comments made towards the British were disparaging.

 

Yes it is emotional blackmail on the part of RCCL if they paid their staff a fair wage then people would not feel that they were duty bound to pay a tip for poor service just because they know that the staff member relies on them to make their wages up to a liveable rate.

 

You Americans have your way and the British/European's have their way - no way is correct or incorrect just different so to all those poster who have made rude/offensive comments regarding the British/European way should please take note of this fact.

 

Your last paragraph is spot on. They are all different ways and you should use the one that is custom where you are - and a cruise ship has it's own customs for tipping - you even quoted 'customary tipping' so by your own statement you should adhere to their customary suggestions. And I think people get confused about 'customary'. No it doesn't mean cumpulsory, but it also doesn't mean to do what you want. It actually means this:

1.according to or depending on custom; usual; habitual.2.of or established by custom rather than law.

Law. defined by long-continued practices: the customary service due from land in a manor

 

 

I don't think I was being hypocritical at all. I didn't say anything about you being British and not tipping:confused:. You said you are smarter with your money and don't see why you should have to give gratuity to make up for the servers/attendents salaries. I stand by my response to that. If you are 'taking out' the fact that you paid more on the people giving you service by saying you shouldn't have to pay gratuity (which is what the tips are) then you are indeed saving money at another persons expense. How does that have anything to do with disparaging other nationalities? Everyone keeps lamenting that RCCL doesn't pay a fair wage when they clearly do - they pay a low base and then it is completed with gratiuties. Whether you hand that money to RCCL as included in the cruise or directly to your server the money still comes from YOU.:confused: