UK Gratuities

[glenboy]

Just to clear something up.

 

Cruising on IOTS in July.

 

Am I correct to say -

 

$12 per day per person will be added my onboard bill, to be paid at the end of holidays for tips /gratuities

 

ie 3 of us, for 14 days = $500 or £295

 

 

When I initially booked I paid 3x£84 for taxes and fees. Is this nothing to do with tips / gratuities

 

 

Many Thanks

[Clarea]

Yes, the tips will cost $504, and added daily to your onboard account.

 

Taxes are different than gratuities.

[Barnum42]

Correct - Taxes and Fees are not tips.

 

You can pay your tips (gratuities as our American cousins call them) up front as part of your booking. One less thing to fuss about when you are on your holiday.

[glenboy]

Cheers for the Info

[glenboy]

Regarding the gratuities. Do you have to pay them when added to the bill at the end of the holiday.

 

As someone else said , where would you go on a family holiday and leave tips for £300-£350

 

Can you go to the reception and say you do not wish to pay this much ???

 

Not a greedy person but I think automatically adding so much to someones bill is wrong. It should be up to the individuals how much they wish to give.

 

 

Thanks

[Clarea]

Regarding the gratuities. Do you have to pay them when added to the bill at the end of the holiday.

 

As someone else said , where would you go on a family holiday and leave tips for £300-£350

 

Can you go to the reception and say you do not wish to pay this much ???

 

Not a greedy person but I think automatically adding so much to someones bill is wrong. It should be up to the individuals how much they wish to give.

 

 

Thanks

You can go to Guest Services and have them remove the automatic gratuities.

[yolanda1]

Regarding the gratuities. Do you have to pay them when added to the bill at the end of the holiday.

 

As someone else said , where would you go on a family holiday and leave tips for £300-£350

 

Can you go to the reception and say you do not wish to pay this much ???

 

Not a greedy person but I think automatically adding so much to someones bill is wrong. It should be up to the individuals how much they wish to give.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

It's definitely a cultural thing, and it causes a great deal of heated discussion on these forums.

 

My own personal view, as a Brit who does not come from a tipping culture such as they have in the US, is that it IS part of cruising culture, so if I want to have cruising holidays, I accept tipping as part of that, even if I don't entirely agree with the concept. Just my humble opinion though. Many others don't agree :)

[glenboy]

I don't have a problem tipping but maybe not so much and not added automatically

[sassmofi]

Regarding the gratuities. Do you have to pay them when added to the bill at the end of the holiday.

 

As someone else said , where would you go on a family holiday and leave tips for £300-£350

 

Can you go to the reception and say you do not wish to pay this much ???

 

Not a greedy person but I think automatically adding so much to someones bill is wrong. It should be up to the individuals how much they wish to give.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

The taxes and fees in the original purchase are government taxes (aka VAT) and (port) fees. It does not include the service fee.

 

The tips/gratuities/service fee is a separate item. How much do you pay for a service fee in restaurants or hotels? Typically in restaurants in the UK, I am charged 12%. Every hotel I have stayed in regardless of country generally has a hidden line item for service fee. The cruise ship service staff are not paid at a living wage as in the UK. They rely on gratuities for their income.

[Yorkshire Voyagers]

Honestly, the service we've received and the way we are looked after every time we cruise, the daily tip amount is cheap at the price

[yogimax]

It's definitely a cultural thing, and it causes a great deal of heated discussion on these forums.

 

My own personal view, as a Brit who does not come from a tipping culture such as they have in the US, is that it IS part of cruising culture, so if I want to have cruising holidays, I accept tipping as part of that, even if I don't entirely agree with the concept. Just my humble opinion though. Many others don't agree :)

 

 

 

Thank you for an excellent comment! You have nailed it. It IS part of the cruising culture. There's an inherent issue of fairness when some of us read the comments that folks don't want to pay because they believe the tips are expensive. Whether they are or not is a matter of debate, but they are the same for everyone and to have some pay while others remove them for no good reason is inherently unfair.

[little britain]

I don't have a problem tipping but maybe not so much and not added automatically

 

 

The tips are the staff's wages. Give it a couple if days and see how hard they work for $12pd and then decide if you are paying "too much".

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gerif]

If you consider the automatic amount to be too expensive, then please consider another form of vacation. Unlike in your culture where servers are paid a living wage and gratuities are optional, workers on a cruise ship are paid almost nothing and rely on these gratuities for their living. Yes, you can stiff them if you want but I find that very sad that you would accept their hard work and then remove their source of income. You might want to be honest and tell them upfront that you plan to do this.

[glenboy]

Gerif,

 

I think I'm as much entitled to a RC cruise as anyone else.

 

When booking RC should let people know this is the case with gratuities.

 

The level of tipping is the same for children or adults.

 

Is it fair that 2x10 year olds should have $300 dollars added for gratuities as well as their parents ?

[kernow]

You cannot think the same way on the ship as you do in the UK. Here staff are paid a minimum wage and a tip is a bit extra for good service, on the ship the standard gratuities ($12 day tip) are the staff's wages. If you remove them the staff are working for nothing. I know its not what we are used to in the UK but RCL are a US based company and that's the way they do it. If the passengers don't pay, it's the extremely hard working staff that lose out.

 

We always do the prepaid tips and count that as part of the price of the holiday. I wish RCL would make this mandatory and then everyone would know where they stand.

 

Julie

[setsail]

Gerif,

 

 

 

Is it fair that 2x10 year olds should have $300 dollars added for gratuities as well as their parents ?

 

NO, no one 10 and under has to pay tips , you must be the first or someone made a huge mistake. Call your Ta or rci and demand they be removed right away

[Grandma Dazzles]

Gerif,

 

I think I'm as much entitled to a RC cruise as anyone else.

 

When booking RC should let people know this is the case with gratuities.

 

The level of tipping is the same for children or adults.

 

Is it fair that 2x10 year olds should have $300 dollars added for gratuities as well as their parents ?

 

Yes, it is fair. Children are treated wonderfully on a cruise - the staff go out of their way to cater to them everywhere on the ship. Also, kids are more work to clean up after and still use the same number of dishes, towels, beds, etc. Many people actually tip extra if they have kids as they realize how messy they are.

 

Don't want to start another tipping war thread, but please accept what everyone is saying.

 

In addition, the daily $12 per person does not include tips for room service (you should tip $1-$5 depending on the size of the order). There is also an automatic 15% added to drink orders as a tip. It is also customary to tip in the Diamond/Concierge lounge if you use it and also the kid's programs, as these workers are not included in the daily charge. The daily charge includes your room steward and dining room staff throughout the ship, regardless of where you eat.

 

Hope that helps - enjoy your cruise!

[Grandma Dazzles]

NO, no one 10 and under has to pay tips , you must be the first or someone made a huge mistake. Call your Ta or rci and demand they be removed right away

 

Everyone, including children, pays tips This is not a mistake.

[Ken076]

NO, no one 10 and under has to pay tips ......

 

That's not true with Royal Caribbean. It's something like 6 months and under. ken

[Life is Good Cruising]

NO, no one 10 and under has to pay tips , you must be the first or someone made a huge mistake. Call your Ta or rci and demand they be removed right away

 

You are totally incorrect! Who told you no one under should pay the tips and why should he demand to have them remove? Do you know the mess little ones make?

 

I guess your 10 year old sleeps in bed with you so the stateroom attendant doesn't have to make his bed, change his sheets, make towel animals, give him bath towels and the other extra things they do

 

If you and others feel that $12 a day pp for tipping is too much, as someone else said, find anther vacation and don't cruise. The crew gets paid very little and depend on tips. They work darn hard for all of us to have a very enjoyable and memorable vacation as you want to stiff them, so sad.

[caribbean sailor]

The tips are the staff's wages. Give it a couple if days and see how hard they work for $12pd and then decide if you are paying "too much".

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

No the tips should not pay their wages,and they don't call it a service charge.They call them gratuities.Tips are given not taken.Again have the guts to raise the price to pay your employees.Again i will never auto tip Royal Caribbean,I WILL USE MY TIP MONEY TO TIP THE PEOPLE I WANT.This so call tipping culture is insane,only in the States.All i can say is do what you think is best.If you want to tip $50 Dollars a day go for it.:)

[yogimax]

No the tips should not pay their wages

 

Fact is - THEY DO!

[DEEDIA]

These type of Threads make me Chuckle, in the US everyone TIPS or so we are informed. If you read and read you will find a lot of our American friends do hold $$s back, and chastise others. Whilst in St Petersburg TIPPING our Van Driver an American gave a great BIG wedge only to inform us after he saved $1 Bills, Cheap Skate. I know its not our culture and Alien to us but we do not Preach one thing and do the other.

[Ourusualbeach]

Gerif,

 

I think I'm as much entitled to a RC cruise as anyone else.

 

When booking RC should let people know this is the case with gratuities.

 

The level of tipping is the same for children or adults.

 

Is it fair that 2x10 year olds should have $300 dollars added for gratuities as well as their parents ?

 

As someone who has always cruised with my 2 children ages 10 and 12 I can tell you that the cabin stewards and the waiters spend more time paying attention to, cleaning up after or doing extra things for my 2 kids than they do for us.

 

Absolutely worth the money for the service they provide.

 

Yes RCI should pay them more but they don't. The staff makes their wages from the tips on RCI and most of the other cruise lines are the same. If they paid them higher wages then you would be paying more for the cruise so in the end it all works out the same.

 

Not telling you what to do just providing information so you can make an educated decision and at the end of the day the decision to tip and how much is entirely yours.

[Retired LEO]

Regarding the gratuities. Do you have to pay them when added to the bill at the end of the holiday.

 

As someone else said , where would you go on a family holiday and leave tips for £300-£350

 

Can you go to the reception and say you do not wish to pay this much ???

 

Not a greedy person but I think automatically adding so much to someones bill is wrong. It should be up to the individuals how much they wish to give.

 

 

Thanks

 

Do the staff a favor and stay home...:rolleyes: