How does the automatic tip thing work??

[tbtma]

Okay, okay alittle "old school" here, but just wondering ..We will be on the Valor in August , how does the automatic tip thing work?? Is it automatically charged to your sign and sail account, if so, when at the begining of your trip or like on the last night , as if you were handing out evvelopes??

 

Thanks,

Bonnie

[GoinCruisin]

It will be on your S&S card as soon as you get on the ship... first charge :D $10 per day per person...

[pholter]

If you choose to do automatic tipping vs. prepaid tipping, then the charge is the first thing you'll see on your S&S Account at $70pp per week. I preferred to have the recommended tips out of the way, so I prepaid them as part of my cruise so my S&S account would be only our incidentals.... We also tipped our Steward, Assistant Steward, Waiter, Assistant Waiter, favorite bartender, pastry shop girl, and Maitre'D extra on our last cruise. They all treated us great and helped make our trip a memorable one. They will leave 1-2 envelopes in your room on the last day so you can tip the Maitre'D- his tips aren't included in your automatic tips. You can use those envelopes for anyone you choose though and more are available at the Purser's Desk.

[tbtma]

Okay, so you can still do the envelope thing??? Sorry just a bit confused.

Bonnie

[GoinCruisin]

Bonnie, you can... but understand how it works. If you take the tips off your S&S card, any cash you give to stewards, dining staff, etc. have to be turned in to be pooled (staff doesn't like this....), if you keep the tips on the account, anything additional you give them, they are free to keep.

 

I like the auto tips personally... there is no way I would know everyone to tip. With auto tips, most of the people that help to make your vacation great are included... including some of the "behind the scenes" people you normally would not see.

[CRUZFOOLS]

Bonnie: Keep It Simple. Don't Do Anything. Carnival Will Automatically Charge Your Sign And Sail Card The Required Amount. $70 Per Person -- So If You Are Two People Traveling You Will See $140 Already Charged To Your Card.

 

If You Want To Give Any Additional Money To Someone, Just Hand It To Them At The End Of The Cruise.

[Cotton]

Bonnie, good general advice so far.

 

What the $10 per person per day auto tips include:

 

Per day:

$3.50 - Cabin steward

$5.50 - Dining room waitstaff team

$1.00 - Alternative dining - (Lido staff)

 

As mentioned above, the total amount will be the first item listed on your Sail & Sign account. If you choose to remove all tips and hand everybody their tips, you may do so, and the purser's desk will give you envelopes. BUT, it's better to leave them, as is. At the end of the cruise, if you feel you should tip anyone more, that's up to you.

 

About the envelope that will be in your cabin on the last evening for the Maitre 'd - IF you should choose to tip him. It's not mandatory, by any means. (I have tipped some and not others, for various reasons.)

 

Add'l tipping:

1. Be sure and tip the room service delivery person $1 or $2 each time they make a delivery to your cabin.

2. Be aware that when you order drinks on deck or at a bar, there is an automatic 15% added to the cost, so you don't need to tip more.

3. I believe folks who use Camp Carnival also tip the counselors.

 

Hope this helps in your tipping confusion.:)

[Cotton]

Bonnie: Keep It Simple. Don't Do Anything. Carnival Will Automatically Charge Your Sign And Sail Card The Required Amount. $70 Per Person -- So If You Are Two People Traveling You Will See $140 Already Charged To Your Card.

 

If You Want To Give Any Additional Money To Someone, Just Hand It To Them At The End Of The Cruise.

 

Hi. Please don't take this as criticism, but I'm just curious as to why you capitalize the first letter of each word? :)

[leslie751]

Bonnie, you can... but understand how it works. If you take the tips off your S&S card, any cash you give to stewards, dining staff, etc. have to be turned in to be pooled (staff doesn't like this....), if you keep the tips on the account, anything additional you give them, they are free to keep.

 

I like the auto tips personally... there is no way I would know everyone to tip. With auto tips, most of the people that help to make your vacation great are included... including some of the "behind the scenes" people you normally would not see.

Hi, I am really new at this, so when we get on the ship we can then choose to auto tip, or do we do that now?

also, can you recommend where to shop for excursions?

thanks

[Cotton]

Leslie, if you didn't pre-pay your tips when you paid for your cruise, the tips will automatically be in place on your S&S card, as explained above.:)

[GoinCruisin]

Hi. Please don't take this as criticism, but I'm just curious as to why you capitalize the first letter of each word? :)

 

Cotton, I noticed that too!!!! Seems time consuming! LOL!!!!! :D

 

Leslie, for excursions, you can visit the ports of call board and get some ideas.... also look on Carnivals site to see what they have to offer... just do your research. For certain ships, Carnival is offering booking excursions online... and should be fleetwide soon! Have a great time!

[CrazyMums]

If you take the tips off your S&S card, any cash you give to stewards, dining staff, etc. have to be turned in to be pooled (staff doesn't like this....), if you keep the tips on the account, anything additional you give them, they are free to keep.

 

This came up on another thread (that I started) and someone stated they knew personally that the tips were not pooled if they were taken off the S&S and given personally to the staff. We have cruised before the automatic tipping started and since and found the service to be much better BEFORE the automatic tipping. It seems the staff had more incentive to do a better job. I know the amounts can be adjusted at the purser's desk (up or down), but how many people would bother. Most of the staff go above and beyond what is expected, but not all. I still prefer the cash method over the automatic but will check when I get onboard to find out definitely about the pooling. I certainly wouldn't want the money pooled.

[GoinCruisin]

The money is pooled... there was a thread here a while back where the cruiseline actually stated the policy. We have since asked 3 stewards and 2 dining staff, and all of them stated the same thing. I know many others hear have gotten the same confirmation. It really is the "fair" way to do it with the auto tip policy in place... Since the steward is not the only person that gets the tip (he has an asst as well as other helpers), it would not be very fair if they were not pooled, so Carnival is just ensuring that everyone that takes care of you is taken care of.... Everyone is free to do what they want, but there have also been many people lately that took the tips off upfront and received poor service.... not sure if there is a connection or not, I don't take my chances :D

[MyImagination]

This came up on another thread (that I started) and someone stated they knew personally that the tips were not pooled if they were taken off the S&S and given personally to the staff. We have cruised before the automatic tipping started and since and found the service to be much better BEFORE the automatic tipping. It seems the staff had more incentive to do a better job. I know the amounts can be adjusted at the purser's desk (up or down), but how many people would bother. Most of the staff go above and beyond what is expected, but not all. I still prefer the cash method over the automatic but will check when I get onboard to find out definitely about the pooling. I certainly wouldn't want the money pooled.

 

I have asked several of the staff on different ships about this. Here is how it works. If you remove the tips, the purser desk doesnt always know why. Is it because of poor service or because you want to tip each person on your own?? Since some that remove tips do so to stiff the crew, they started pooling tips. This way it covers the workers that didnt get tips. If you leave the auto tips in place and then hand out extra to each worker they are allowed to keep it.

Now Im sure some staff may decide to buck the system and keep the money regardless. But, in the end it should all balance out.

When you get onboard feel free to confirm this information.

 

The crew has a printout of who removed tips and who has pre-paid tips.

[CrazyMums]

The first time we removed the tips from the S&S, we did it the first day and told them at the purser's desk that we felt automatic tipping would result in poorer service. Our service was excellent that year and we did tip over the recommended - but tipped in cash using the envelopes. I knew nothing about the pooling and the purser's desk didn't mention it to us. Last year, we did not remove the tips from the S&S and our cabin service and dining room team service were terrible. The assistant head waiter (I think that's what he was called - in charge of one part of the dining room) spent many nights "assisting" our waiter team. We were told that our waiter and assistant hadn't been working together as a team for very long and that was part of the problem. Everyone is new at some point so we accepted the explanation. I will leave them on the S&S since many of you have first hand knowledge. Most of the staff work extremely hard to please and the last thing I want is for someone else to get money that they have worked hard for. If I get another cabin steward who trips my 80 year old Mom with the vacuum and then glares at her for the rest of the cruise, refuses to make up the couch, and just doesn't show up for 3 of the 7 days, HER tips will be removed and she'll get nothing!

[tarbashchaputi]

This is an interesting thread. I sailed on NCL when the whole automatic tipping thing started and did not notice a reduction in service. We just sailed Carnival Conquest at Christmas and noted exceptional service, in fact we tipped the room steward and the head and assistant waiters significantly more than the auto tips. Needless to say, I am horrified to find out that the additional monies I gave them would have to go into a "general pot". I find this absolutely unacceptable if this is truly the case. Those fellows worked very hard to ensure we had a great experience and went above and beyond daily. I'm a little bit bent right now. Sorry for the rampage.:mad:

[GoinCruisin]

This is an interesting thread. I sailed on NCL when the whole automatic tipping thing started and did not notice a reduction in service. We just sailed Carnival Conquest at Christmas and noted exceptional service, in fact we tipped the room steward and the head and assistant waiters significantly more than the auto tips. Needless to say, I am horrified to find out that the additional monies I gave them would have to go into a "general pot". I find this absolutely unacceptable if this is truly the case. Those fellows worked very hard to ensure we had a great experience and went above and beyond daily. I'm a little bit bent right now. Sorry for the rampage.:mad:

 

It ONLY goes to the "general pot" if you remove the S&S tips... if you don't remove them, anything you give them in addition is theirs to keep.

[tarbashchaputi]

Okay, now I am really confused about this. How does the wait staff or anyone you slip a 20 to know that you would have removed your tips at the purser's station?!!?!??!???!??!??!???????:confused: :eek: :mad: :mad:

[GoinCruisin]

From what I understand, the stewards receive a list of the people that have removed tips, have only heard that hear and do not have first hand knowledge. From what I understand though, at the end of the cruise they are informed about the tips on the S&S and if the tips are removed they have to turn over their cash tips. Sure, some might hold on to some, but if they DON'T turn it over, our steward told us they could lose their jobs... their tips are an indication of how good they do their job... if they are turning in low tips, their contract will not be renewed. Our last steward said that he averages about 1 cabin per cruise that take the tips off (and many times none) he generally has between 12-16 cabins per cruise...

[tarbashchaputi]

Thats interesting. Not that I would remove the tips, I just think the whole thing is deplorable. And to base someone's job on tip removals deeply sadden's me. I only say this as I saw multiple people one time I was in line at the Purser's desk removing tips. I don't think they were unhappy or anything, but I just feel this who thing to be very wrong. I guess I learned something very valuable today. Do not give more money to anyone on the ship for doing a good job.:( Tow the line and give the recommended amount, nothing more, nothing less.

[GoinCruisin]

You CAN give more money to people, you may have misunderstood. If you do not remove the tips, anything additional you give to the individual helping you they CAN keep.... Many cruiselines are doing it this way now, so it is just easier to leave the tips on... if one of your staff does not do a great job, you can individually reduce their tips, and tip extra in person to those that do a great job and all is good...

[CRUZFOOLS]

Cotton: I Have A Bad Habit Of Writing In All Caps. I Have A Computer Program At Work That Only Accepts Caps So I'm Programed That Way. It's Not Shouting, But A Habit.

[tarbashchaputi]

okay, that make more sense. Sorry for the rampage. I don't really believe that the auto tipping has helped matters. I have always tipped well for good service. I don't believe that the service has degenerated so to speak as stated by someone previously. Those kids work really hard. It is almost disheartening to see how hard they work. People who do not tip need to understand that the income supplementation is huge and is based almost entirely on the tips we provide.

[GoinCruisin]

Cruz, LOL... All caps is shouting, but I don't think your posts are considering shouting since only the first letter in each word is capitalized.... I have just never seen that!!!! But I don't think it's shouting, maybe loud talking? LOL!!! :D

[MyImagination]

Thats interesting. Not that I would remove the tips, I just think the whole thing is deplorable. And to base someone's job on tip removals deeply sadden's me. I only say this as I saw multiple people one time I was in line at the Purser's desk removing tips. I don't think they were unhappy or anything, but I just feel this who thing to be very wrong. I guess I learned something very valuable today. Do not give more money to anyone on the ship for doing a good job.:( Tow the line and give the recommended amount, nothing more, nothing less.

 

Yes, if you are pleased with the staff, tip more AND make a notation with the stewards or wait teams name on your comment card. Thats another way they can earn time off.

 

Pooling tips is not just done on cruises, it also happens in some casino's. It the companies way of looking out for the workers. Some people either never tip or get mad at carnival for some reason and take it out on the crew by removing tips.

 

Something else I found out, if a crew member is sick, they dont get paid for that day.Those that cover for them arent paid anything extra. If they are sick for longer than a week and cant perform their duties the cruiseline sends them home.