Opting out of the auto tip

[Alaskalovr]

Actually, back in the day when pre-labeled envelopes were handed out on the last night of the cruise, there was one for the Headwaiter AND the Maitre D'. If you hadn't met either of them before the 6th night of the cruise, you were guaranteed to have them introduce themselves on tip night.

 

 

 

On our recent Liberty cruise, the Headwaiter was very visible and very involved with the dining room operations. She stopped by our table 3 of the 4 nights to ask how things were going.

 

On a New England cruise we took, the Headwaiter was AMAZING!!! We had people who had booked the mystery dinner and then were upset to find out it was scheduled for lobster night. No problem!! Our head waiter had them stop by the dining room first and had lobsters ready for them to eat before they headed to the mystery dinner. He and and the rest of the staff were awesome!!!. Oh and by the way we tipped them VERY WELL!!!

[clean1owner]

How do the people who don't auto tip keep track of everyone they tip and when?

 

 

 

Very simple. I tip the Waiter, the Assistant Waiter / Bus Boy, The Headwaiter, provided they are visible and involved, The Maitre D' if I require their services, and the Room Steward.

 

They are tipped on the customary last night of the cruise.

[Barb Nahoumi]

NCL does call it a service charge and not a gratuity. I agree that RCCL should probably do the same thing.

 

"A rose by any other name." It's still the same thing, no matter what we cal it.

[Sitzmark]

"A rose by any other name." It's still the same thing, no matter what we cal it.

 

I think what it's called is a big deal and definitely not the same thing. A gratuity is by definition voluntary or beyond obligation for service. It is clear that some do not feel that these fees should fit that meaning. A service fee would be a better name. Best would as others have suggested to simply build it into the cost of the cruise and boost pay by the same amount.

[LMaxwell]

I meant to say anyone not anything. People who remove auto grats don't want others to know they are cheapskates. The names of people who remove auto grats should be listed in the daily paper.

 

You have no way of knowing if people who remove automatic charges tip less than, equal to, or more than the recommended amount.

 

And you want the cruise line to print peoples names that opt out? I can't tell if you are serious or just trolling this board with that nonsense. Why should anyone have their name published? Why is what anyone does anyone elses business at all? I wasn't going to response but it is so bizarre of a suggestion that I have to believe you are pulling our leg or would otherwise want a more detailed explanation.

 

Maybe we can just make people who remove auto-grats wear Scarlet letters and then hold them under the pool for 5 minutes. If they are alive after that they are surely witches and we must throw them overboard.

 

:rolleyes:

 

I just can not believe the things people think and then think are a good idea to post...

[BekkaW]

I think what it's called is a big deal and definitely not the same thing. A gratuity is by definition voluntary or beyond obligation for service. It is clear that some do not feel that these fees should fit that meaning. A service fee would be a better name. Best would as others have suggested to simply build it into the cost of the cruise and boost pay by the same amount.

 

One reason I think Royal doesn't do this is that it would make their prices look higher in comparison to other lines. Say the price is currently $350 and $150 gratuities. If Royal rolled the grats in and advertised it is $500 they would likely lose business if you saw another cruise advertised at $400, not thinking to figure in the additional cost of gratuities.

[LMaxwell]

One reason I think Royal doesn't do this is that it would make their prices look higher in comparison to other lines. Say the price is currently $350 and $150 gratuities. If Royal rolled the grats in and advertised it is $500 they would likely lose business if you saw another cruise advertised at $400, not thinking to figure in the additional cost of gratuities.

 

You are absolutely right. Also, if everyone would stop to think about this, what about in the event of receiving truly lousy service? Shouldn't the customer have recourse....just like they do in most other service industries?

 

I think a lot of people feel guilty on cruises that they are living the luxury lifestyle and such nice people work like indentured servants to provide it. Therefore anyone that does not give as much, or more, than them is a cheapskate, slimeball, blah blah. They like to project that inner guilt as nastiness towards others.

 

I just want to be charged after service, not before it. Why is this so difficult to understand.

[Sitzmark]

You are absolutely right. Also, if everyone would stop to think about this, what about in the event of receiving truly lousy service? Shouldn't the customer have recourse....just like they do in most other service industries?

 

I think a lot of people feel guilty on cruises that they are living the luxury lifestyle and such nice people work like indentured servants to provide it. Therefore anyone that does not give as much, or more, than them is a cheapskate, slimeball, blah blah. They like to project that inner guilt as nastiness towards others.

 

I just want to be charged after service, not before it. Why is this so difficult to understand.

 

The cruise wouldn't feel more expensive once you calculate the tips for others. In other places where tipping has been done away with people have reported higher customer satisfaction and improved service. It gets rid of the angst and there isn't this strained relationship with the servers. It is a better way of doing business. The whole tipping as a primary source of pay is an outdated unfair and in many cases racist system that highlights class separation and promotes poor service.

[LMaxwell]

The cruise wouldn't feel more expensive once you calculate the tips for others. In other places where tipping has been done away with people have reported higher customer satisfaction and improved service. It gets rid of the angst and there isn't this strained relationship with the servers. It is a better way of doing business. The whole tipping as a primary source of pay is an outdated unfair and in many cases racist system that highlights class separation and promotes poor service.

 

I can't fully address your statement about improved service levels with higher costs / no tipping, because I don't live in those areas and it is not the norm to me, but I agree with your second part. I think a tip culture sets up an angst/guilt sort of system amongst people.

 

I remember 10% was a normal tip and 15% quite good. Then 15% became the norm, 18% was good. Now a lot of servers at US land based places seem to expect 20%...because they are breathing. Service is the last thing on some servers minds, but man do they feel entitled to 20% because you walked in the door.

 

There are those customers who will leave 20% no matter how awful it is, I think this mat be attributable to guest guilt. That promotes this entitlement mentality by the service staff.

 

Don't let this come across as stingy; today I encountered phenomenal personalized service from someone. I thanked them for their attention and showed my appreciation with a 50% cash tip. I felt it really was warranted in that case. It's not normal, but it felt right.

 

I do feel that in certain settings with limited wait staff vying for all customers that seeing someone tip heavily can impact others to tip less. If some guy goes up to a bartender and throws down a $20 tip just to start with, I don't really know if he gets better service, or worse service than mine, but I do feel that if I then threw down a $10 to start with, well, the bartenders services may have been "auctioned off" to the high bidder and my $10 is no more useful than $0 in terms of gaining attentive service.

[BekkaW]

You are absolutely right. Also, if everyone would stop to think about this, what about in the event of receiving truly lousy service? Shouldn't the customer have recourse....just like they do in most other service industries?

 

I think a lot of people feel guilty on cruises that they are living the luxury lifestyle and such nice people work like indentured servants to provide it. Therefore anyone that does not give as much, or more, than them is a cheapskate, slimeball, blah blah. They like to project that inner guilt as nastiness towards others.

 

I just want to be charged after service, not before it. Why is this so difficult to understand.

 

Oh I agree with you that you shouldn't have to pay in advance. I get why that was originally the case with MTD (given you may have different servers different nights and it gets complicated with cash tipping) but now that it is added to each guest's sea pass account there is no reason to single out MTD.

[Spanieleyes]

How do the people who don't auto tip keep track of everyone they tip and when?[/

 

How do you pay your gratuities when in a hotel? We tip the porter when he delivers the bags to the room, the room service waiter when he brings the food to the room, or at the end of a meal in the restaurant, the concierge when he provides a service etc. NEVER have we pre-paid tips at the beginning or the end.

 

Have you ever been to Portugal? We've been going for the last 6 years. The service staff have told us that they are keen for CASH tips because recently, the government have started to tax their gratuities.

 

In England, we always pay tips in CASH when eating out, even though we pay for the meal by card. The reason being, we have been told by people in the service industry, that some restaurants don't pass on the tips when they are paid on a card.

 

We've always been advised (by American friends and colleagues) that in the US the waiting staff are paid very little and the tips make up a large part of their money. But more importantly, the tips go to the specific server, certainly not pooled like the cruise. Have we been misinformed?

 

When visiting a different country, I always try to find out about local customs, including tipping protocol. I posted on this forum, because we've been told such conflicting things from seasoned cruisers!! We thought paying the staff directly, with cash, was better.

 

In the UK, a tip/gratuity is normally something paid for good service, not an obligatory payment to make up the wages. Our daughter has been waitressing for 2 years, so we can see it from both sides, which is why we wanted to do the best thing for the staff.

 

Thanks to everyone who game me constructive and we'll informed information :D.

[tomatosauce]

Have you ever been to Portugal? We've been going for the last 6 years. The service staff have told us that they are keen for CASH tips because recently, the government have started to tax their gratuities.

 

Supporting tax evasion is an excellent reason to not pay with cash.

[Lilyrosemum]

All I can say is I have been on over 20 Royal caribbean cruises, all 7nights except one 5 night and one 12 night. All in balcony cabins except two in Royal Family Suites and 4 in Junior Suites. Obviously we are Diamond Plus. Have the silly pins and useless glass blocks.

Now getting done with that info..........TIP your servers,

 

That is the way they are paid...don't get some delusions in your mind that it is ok to tip them less because you think that is ok....IT IS NOT OKAY!!!!!!!!

[marci22]

I have asked a couple of waiters if they prefer auto tips or cash. One said either way and the other said auto tip because he knew it was in his account. Another time I told a waiter that I wouldn't be there on the last night but I had auto tipped. He said they got/saw a printout so they knew who had tipped already.

 

ymmv

[Spanieleyes]

Supporting tax evasion is an excellent reason to not pay with cash.

 

Really!! Did u even go there lol!! For goodness sake, I was giving an example of the differing requests in the gratuity world. (I never realised tips could be taxed). We have always paid our bills in cash when eating out in Portugal, before & after their tax laws changed. And for LEGAL reasons like excessive credit card charges, fluctuating exchange rates etc.

 

This was never an exercise in avoiding paying tips, and to those who jumped to that conclusion, then shame on you, not us. It was how best to pay them, due to our own personal experiences (and cultural differences) with tipping ie. cash tipping is normal. And it was alien to pay tips upfront and directly to the huge employer. Now some helpful people have pointed out that it all goes into one pot anyway and it actually makes up their wages to a liveable standard, the gratuities will be paid up front and hassle free. Once you think of it as just a cost of the cruise and not a tip, it changes things. We will take extra $$ for tips for service above and beyond :)

[jpurdy]

You are absolutely right. Also, if everyone would stop to think about this, what about in the event of receiving truly lousy service? Shouldn't the customer have recourse....just like they do in most other service industries?

 

I think a lot of people feel guilty on cruises that they are living the luxury lifestyle and such nice people work like indentured servants to provide it. Therefore anyone that does not give as much, or more, than them is a cheapskate, slimeball, blah blah. They like to project that inner guilt as nastiness towards others.

 

I just want to be charged after service, not before it. Why is this so difficult to understand.

 

Thank you, this is what I've been trying to say too. Some will say just pay it and be done with it, stop worrying about it, is pre-paying going to break the bank then you shouldn't be cruising, blah blah. It's the principle. Now, if the cruise lines paid the staff my pre paid gratuities ahead of time, wouldn't that be something!

[Ocean Boy]

I meant to say anyone not anything. People who remove auto grats don't want others to know they are cheapskates. The names of people who remove auto grats should be listed in the daily paper.

 

 

Any thoughts on people who are judgmental and make assumptions?

 

 

How do the people who don't auto tip keep track of everyone they tip and when?

 

 

How did the cruise world survive before auto tipping was "invented"?

Edited May 3, 2014 by Ocean Boy

[clean1owner]

How did the cruise world survive before auto tipping was "invented"?

 

 

 

 

EXACTLY!!

[yogimax]

How did the cruise world survive before auto tipping was "invented"?

 

Not well!

 

The dining room would have multitudes of empty tables on the final night as those who were stiffing the staff (i.e. not tipping) ate in the Windjammer.:mad:

[LMaxwell]

Not well!

 

The dining room would have multitudes of empty tables on the final night as those who were stiffing the staff (i.e. not tipping) ate in the Windjammer.:mad:

 

The Windjammer is a fairly new concept in cruising overall, RCI existed for a long time, almost 2 decades, and with many ships, before they had a nightly dinner buffet. It was MDR or bust.

 

I think the question really meant, what happened when people tipped directly to staff that served them and the behind the scenes people who reportedly get their share of auto-tips were never seen or heard from at all? DId staff tip them out? DId the cruise line pay them more? We don't know. It's kind of immaterial at this point.

[WestfieldTraveler]

I have asked a couple of waiters if they prefer auto tips or cash. One said either way and the other said auto tip because he knew it was in his account. Another time I told a waiter that I wouldn't be there on the last night but I had auto tipped. He said they got/saw a printout so they knew who had tipped already.

 

ymmv

 

First and foremost, this is a religious issue, with some people holier than thou, and more then a few non-believers...but anyway

 

I have been racing through this thread looking for something like the above quote to confirm my suspicions - once the cruise lines found it easier to track everything, they decided to use the tip/no auto tip info to their advantage.

 

Lets speculate:

- Cruise lines want to call it tipping not really for the passengers but for the crew, so they will still focus on service as we have seen in many posts, variable service will still result in changes in the way people tip. I would not be surprised if parts of this thread did not make it to employee communications in some way to remind them of the importance.

- I'm no psychologist, but I would guess that there is a greater esprit de corps amount the service personnel for EVERYONE to deliver better service for the benefit of all, or perhaps pressure imposed on those that seem to not do their best.

- I'm sure if the cruise lines wanted to (and maybe they do) have a computer indicator that shows up whenever your card gets scanned if you are an auto-tipper or not, and perhaps staff could treat you differently based upon that - either way!

- As much as computers can do, I really doubt there is a way staff (aside from maybe your room attendant) can keep the "excess" from a cash tipper - are they supposed to login to a computer to input each tip after finding out the account of the person they just got the tip from?

 

As my TA gives me "free gratuities" as part of my deal, I just hope it does get credited correctly (so the above is mostly irrelevant to me)

 

And I would love to see the difference in average tip on those $399/week cruises vs the full-priced ones, as I suspect there are more than the average number of cheapskates non-tippers (not YOU - please!) on the cheapest cruises.

[Harooni]

i oped out ,but i did it the last day so that i wouldnt get poor service during the week ,some thinking i would stiff them, i handed out cash envelopes that last night. now im wondering because they got that print out that i auto tipped did they think i double tipped?

[Alaskalovr]

As I have said multiple times on this board, I previously worked with Royal in several positions including onboard and shoreside at multiple levels. So yes, I know this as an absolute fact.

 

Since you have such intimate knowledge of the internal workings regarding tips, etc, I have a question because I can't figure out how this is supposed to work. So let's say I leave my auto-gratuity as it is and then I want to give a particular server an additional tip. Suppose I just put some money in an envelope and on the final night at dinner I hand it to him/her along with the other 9 people at my table. You stated before that they could keep the tip amount above the auto tip, correct. So how do they know which tips were from which person and whether they auto tipped or not? So what if one of the other people at the table opted out of auto-gratuity and also handed them an envelope? I just don't see how they would be expected to keep track of who gave them what. I am sure they have to report all of their tips for tax purposes and for RC bookkeeping regarding an employee tip credit but not a rundown of what room gave them what.

Edited May 3, 2014 by Alaskalovr

[setsail]

The Windjammer is a fairly new concept in cruising overall, RCI existed for a long time, almost 2 decades, and with many ships, before they had a nightly dinner buffet. It was MDR or bust.

 

.

 

LMAO, you can't be serious:rolleyes::eek:

[WestfieldTraveler]

Since you have such intimate knowledge of the internal workings regarding tips, etc, I have a question because I can't figure out how this is supposed to work. So let's say I leave my auto-gratuity as it is and then I want to give a particular server an additional tip. Suppose I just put some money in an envelope and on the final night at dinner I hand it to him/her along with the other 9 people at my table. You stated before that they could keep the tip amount above the auto tip, correct. So how do they know which tips were from which person and whether they auto tipped or not? So what if one of the other people at the table opted out of auto-gratuity and also handed them an envelope? I just don't see how they would be expected to keep track of who gave them what. I am sure they have to report all of their tips for tax purposes and for RC bookkeeping regarding an employee tip credit but not a rundown of what room gave them what.

 

For this to really work there would have to be some pretty sophisticated tip allocation methods at work - I can't imagine any cruise line would go so far with it. Probably the bottom line is - if you get tips, report it, and if you get a lot of them, you'll get some back to keep.

 

The cruise lines probably have "undercover tippers" dropping $20's or $100's around just to see what happens...if anyone has seen those folks around, please let us know!