Gratuties

[Colorado Babe]

Does anyone know what the breakdown is for the dining room, cabin steward, etc these days? I am especially curious as to how much you pay for a room steward in a suite. Thank you!

Edited October 4, 2013 by Colorado Babe

[Clarea]

Does anyone know what the breakdown is for the dining room, cabin steward, etc these days? I am especially curious as to how much you pay for a room steward in a suite. Thank you!

Got this from a cruise on Monarch this past March:

 

Dining Services: $6.80

Stateroom Attendant: $3.85

Other Housekeeping Personnel: $1.35

[Mark_K]

They'll charge the proper amount to your SeaPass card every day, there's no longer any need for you to worry about it.

 

 

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[looking4info]

From tpkeller great info thanks

 

http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

[Colorado Babe]

Thanks for the info. On our last cruise, we didn't prepay our gratuities (no FLAMING Please) because we had a bad experience the first night in the Dining Room so chose to eat only in the Speciality Restaurants and CL. We tipped $20.00 each evening in the Speciality Restaurants and $5.00 each day in the CL for lunch and $10.00 each evening during the cocktail parties. We don't eat breakfast so that wasn't an issue. We also tipped the Concierge who helped us book our Speciality Restaurants. My husband and I went down to the guest services to figure out how much to pay our room steward. The Front desk told us $7.00 per day each for our room steward since we were in the GS. We gave her $10.00 per day each. I wonder why their estimate is much higher than what is posted here? Now we know why she was so happy after we tipped her. She was awesome and deserved every penny of what we gave her. We were worried that we didn't give her enough.

 

Am I the only person who thinks the tips are very minimal? I am so glad that we decided to tip as we go. Maybe that's the reason why we received such wonderful service in the Speciality Restaurants and CL. I truly believe that the prepaid tips are way to low and that they deserve so much more if they provide a good service! :)

[Colorado Babe]

From tpkeller great info thanks

 

http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

 

Thanks for sharing this. I will use it for our next B2B in January. If the Liberty is anything like the Allure, we will only eat in the Speciality Restaurants and CL. We are not fans of the new menu in the Dining Room.

[LMaxwell]

If you think $55 per day tip is appropriate go ahead. Keep in mind the fee for restaurants includes the tip, but if you feel the service justifies a large extra tip then go ahead . Rci suggests $14 per person per say is sufficient for suite level.

[Barb Nahoumi]

We had to prepay our tips, because we chose My Time Dining. I wonder why RCI wants this. We would have paid the tips, as they would have been added to our account daily.

 

It doesn't bother us. One less charge to worry about at cruise-end.

 

NCL has Freestyle, in which everyone is on My Time Dining. No one is asked to prepay tips unless they choose to do so. We pay up at the end.

[dplusd]

My vote is to call it a non-discretionary "Resort Fee", charged to your sea pass account.

 

Maybe that would eliminate the heated threads on the subject and protect the hard working staff from getting stiffed by cheap-stakes or those from other cultures who do not understand the US compensation structure for service workers.

[Colorado Babe]

My vote is to call it a non-discretionary "Resort Fee", charged to your sea pass account.

 

Maybe that would eliminate the heated threads on the subject and protect the hard working staff from getting stiffed by cheap-stakes or those from other cultures who do not understand the US compensation structure for service workers.

 

That definitely makes sense to me. :)

[tserface]

I wonder if there aren't some tax implications by calling it that. Like would they have to charge us tax on the "fee"? They seem reticent to change it and it's either to protect us or them.

 

Tom

 

My vote is to call it a non-discretionary "Resort Fee", charged to your sea pass account.

 

Maybe that would eliminate the heated threads on the subject and protect the hard working staff from getting stiffed by cheap-stakes or those from other cultures who do not understand the US compensation structure for service workers.

[Clarea]

I wonder if there aren't some tax implications by calling it that. Like would they have to charge us tax on the "fee"? They seem reticent to change it and it's either to protect us or them.

 

Tom

Not a tax implication, but a published price implication. When the fee becomes mandatory, Royal would likely have to include the price in their published fare, which would put them at a disadvantage compared to other lines that would not include it in the published fare.

[Mark_K]

My vote is to call it a non-discretionary "Resort Fee", charged to your sea pass account.

 

Maybe that would eliminate the heated threads on the subject and protect the hard working staff from getting stiffed by cheap-stakes or those from other cultures who do not understand the US compensation structure for service workers.

If they changed the wording to resort fee, they would be under no obligation to give it to the crew.

 

 

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[dplusd]

If they changed the wording to resort fee, they would be under no obligation to give it to the crew.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Do you really think RCI would stiff their own employees by doing that? I don't think they would do that.

[tiessa]

Thanks for the info. On our last cruise, we didn't prepay our gratuities (no FLAMING Please) because we had a bad experience the first night in the Dining Room so chose to eat only in the Speciality Restaurants and CL. We tipped $20.00 each evening in the Speciality Restaurants and $5.00 each day in the CL for lunch and $10.00 each evening during the cocktail parties. We don't eat breakfast so that wasn't an issue. We also tipped the Concierge who helped us book our Speciality Restaurants. My husband and I went down to the guest services to figure out how much to pay our room steward. The Front desk told us $7.00 per day each for our room steward since we were in the GS. We gave her $10.00 per day each. I wonder why their estimate is much higher than what is posted here? Now we know why she was so happy after we tipped her. She was awesome and deserved every penny of what we gave her. We were worried that we didn't give her enough.

 

Am I the only person who thinks the tips are very minimal? I am so glad that we decided to tip as we go. Maybe that's the reason why we received such wonderful service in the Speciality Restaurants and CL. I truly believe that the prepaid tips are way to low and that they deserve so much more if they provide a good service! :)

 

 

 

I do think the tips are minimal. We always pay extra at the end of the cruise.

[Merion_Mom]

If you think $55 per day tip is appropriate go ahead. Keep in mind the fee for restaurants includes the tip, but if you feel the service justifies a large extra tip then go ahead . Rci suggests $14 per person per say is sufficient for suite level.

 

RC's suggested gratuities, which they now charge either before your cruise or daily on your cruise, are $12 pp/pd in any cabin JS or below, and $14.25 pp/pd in a GS or above.

[cruisenfever]

RC's suggested gratuities, which they now charge either before your cruise or daily on your cruise, are $12 pp/pd in any cabin JS or below, and $14.25 pp/pd in a GS or above.

And to add to what MM has said, the breakdown is.........

 

$6.80 Dining Service

$3.85 Stateroom Attendant ($6.10 for GS and Above)

$1.35 Other Housekeeping Personnel

$12.00 or $14.25 for GS and above. This is per person per day

Edited October 5, 2013 by cruisenfever

[LMaxwell]

Do you really think RCI would stiff their own employees by doing that? I don't think they would do that.

 

The main reason for not flagging ships in the US is to avoid US labor laws. So do I think RCI would stiff its crew? Absolutely and without a doubt. RCI is just a management company. Each ship is its own foreign flagged business. Mandatory gratuities is a way to avoid inflating advertised fare price while passing the cost to the consumer. Cost of labor is a major reason NCL Pride of America is so expensive.

[Merion_Mom]

The main reason for not flagging ships in the US is to avoid US labor laws. So do I think RCI would stiff its crew? Absolutely and without a doubt. RCI is just a management company. Each ship is its own foreign flagged business. Mandatory gratuities is a way to avoid inflating advertised fare price while passing the cost to the consumer. Cost of labor is a major reason NCL Pride of America is so expensive.

 

Where do you get THAT information?????

[LMaxwell]

Devils on the Deep Blue Sea was the book that explained it. If you go to look up RCCL corp structure you will see RCI is the US based management company, while each ship is foreign flagged and incorporated as its own company. This is done primarily for wage reasons. If there is verifiable information to dispute this I'd be eager to learn it.

 

Btw, excellent book dealing from the lates 1960s - early 2000s with the birth and rise of Carnival and Royal, and some early info on Norwegian. Fascinating.

[Merion_Mom]

Devils on the Deep Blue Sea was the book that explained it. If you go to look up RCCL corp structure you will see RCI is the US based management company, while each ship is foreign flagged and incorporated as its own company. This is done primarily for wage reasons. If there is verifiable information to dispute this I'd be eager to learn it.

 

Btw, excellent book dealing from the lates 1960s - early 2000s with the birth and rise of Carnival and Royal, and some early info on Norwegian. Fascinating.

 

There is nothing in any RC documents that I have been able to find, any financial statements, that speak of individually incorporated ships.

 

The Brilliance has always been operated separately, by a British corporation, but I do not believe that your statement is correct or true.

 

I would be interested in knowing the page(s) and passage(s) in the book you mentioned that support your statement.

[FLACRUISER99]

There is nothing in any RC documents that I have been able to find, any financial statements, that speak of individually incorporated ships.

 

The Brilliance has always been operated separately, by a British corporation, but I do not believe that your statement is correct or true.

 

I would be interested in knowing the page(s) and passage(s) in the book you mentioned that support your statement.

Note the owner of Mariner of the Seas:

Edited October 5, 2013 by FLACRUISER99

[Mark_K]

Do you really think RCI would stiff their own employees by doing that? I don't think they would do that.

They would not get any employees if all they gave them was room/board and $50/month, but if the wording were changed to "resort fee", they could certainly give them some figure less than the total of current gratuities. And they are a public corporation with a primary responsibility to their stockholders not their employees.

 

 

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[LMaxwell]

There is nothing in any RC documents that I have been able to find, any financial statements, that speak of individually incorporated ships.

 

The Brilliance has always been operated separately, by a British corporation, but I do not believe that your statement is correct or true.

 

I would be interested in knowing the page(s) and passage(s) in the book you mentioned that support your statement.

 

I loaned the book out, aka, never will see it again. Worth the read though, very entertaining. You can look up online ship registries. Every royal ship is name of ship inc. for owner. Operator is listed separate w US address. This protects them from liability to a major extent

[Colorado Babe]

And to add to what MM has said, the breakdown is.........

 

$6.80 Dining Service

$3.85 Stateroom Attendant ($6.10 for GS and Above)

$1.35 Other Housekeeping Personnel

$12.00 or $14.25 for GS and above. This is per person per day

 

 

Thanks for sharing. Very much appreciated.