RC Gratuities - yes or no?

[138east]

It went up in the beginning of the summer (I'm thinking as of July 1) for cruises booked after a certain date (I'm thinking June 1). If you had prepaid your gratuities for a future cruise, your rate was grandfathered. There was a small window if opportunity to prepay and lock in the $12 rate.

[caribbean sailor]

Tip as you want don't listen to the royal cheer leaders.The crew makes no MONEY because ROYAL would Rather you pay the crew and they pay nothing.Ad the so called tips to the price of the cruise,that will be the real price of the cruise.Flame on could care less.:)

[Ourusualbeach]

Did it go up? I just booked on the Anthem about a week ago and my confirmation, towards the bottom says:

 

"A $12.95 per person per day gratuity will be automatically added to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis to be shared by Dining & Culinary Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants and Other Housekeeping Services Personnel as well as staff from other departments who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience. Suite guests will see a $15.95 daily gratuity."

 

Harriet

 

Yes, it went up several months ago.

[Ourusualbeach]

I have cruised in both the USA and Australia. It has been my experience that as Aussies we pay a heck of a lot more for our cruises than our counterparts from the USA. We did Oasis of the Seas at a cost of around $3700 pp for a 7 night Caribbean cruise in a Park View cabin. Our fellow US cruisers on the exact same cruise in balcony cabins paid $750pp for balcony cabins. (2 years ago now) Our fare did not include airfares. I believe that RCL already charges Aussies for gratuities in their pricier fares. We were however still charged the extra gratuity per day charge. I don't know, I can see why Americans don't mind paying tips when their cruising is so much cheaper to start with.

 

 

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You'll see huge differences even among Americans on the same ship, depending on when each one purchased their cruise. Prices are in a state of constant flux based on supply and demand. Someone who purchases when supply is high and demand is low is going to pay a lot less than someone who purchases when supply is low and demand is high.

 

 

Brillohead, I believe that the poster that you quoted was referring to the fact that at the exact same point in time, for the same cruise quite often you will see a lot higher prices paid by the Australian market, even factoring in currency exchange. This also happen with many other countries including the UK.

 

Royal actually sets specific sales targets for each cruise for each country and they try to maximize the revenue from each country based on what they feel the local population will pay.

 

For example a sailing on the Allure may have 80% of its sales expected to come from US cruisers, 10% from Canadian, 5% UK and 5% other countries. Each countries marketing division then sets the prices in order to maximize the revenue.

 

If Australia was possibly only expected to sell 10 cabins on a particular sailing it is quite reasonable for them to charge a very high price compared to the US which would be selling thousands of cabins.

[ScubaCruiser54]

Before the Cruise lines decided to take tipping out of the customers discretion by auto-tipping on your bill, They used to have suggested tipping amounts for the Waiter, Assistant waiter, head waiter [or who ever is in charge of your area], and cabin attendant.

 

I am trying to get this information as it pertains to RCI and Junior Suites. Does anyone know what the suggested amounts were? I am not talking about the 12.50 or 14.50 per day, but the actual breakdown of what the individual amounts would be.

 

thank you in advance if you respond.

[Clarea]

Before the Cruise lines decided to take tipping out of the customers discretion by auto-tipping on your bill, They used to have suggested tipping amounts for the Waiter, Assistant waiter, head waiter [or who ever is in charge of your area], and cabin attendant.

 

I am trying to get this information as it pertains to RCI and Junior Suites. Does anyone know what the suggested amounts were? I am not talking about the 12.50 or 14.50 per day, but the actual breakdown of what the individual amounts would be.

 

thank you in advance if you respond.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5523

[Submariner]

Any cruise booked or taken after July 1 has the new 12.95 daily tip. Any cruise booked before then would have had to have the gratuities prepaid before July 1 at the old 12 rate to keep that rate.

 

Biker, who seems nothing different in this tipping thread that hasn't been said in previous ones.

 

I always find it weird that an entity, in this case RCL, dictates to us how much they will expect you to tip. How rude. Surely, it should be up to us - and be discretionary, not auto-charged....

Edited November 18, 2015 by Submariner

[Clarea]

I always find it weird that an entity, in this case RCL, dictates to us how much they will expect you to tip. How rude. Surely, it should be up to us - and be discretionary, not auto-charged....

Gratuities are still discretionary. You are able to remove auto-tips by visiting Guest Services.

[John&LaLa]

I always find it weird that an entity, in this case RCL, dictates to us how much they will expect you to tip. How rude. Surely, it should be up to us - and be discretionary, not auto-charged....

 

Kind of that way in Restaurants. They show the amount suggested (15-18-20) on the bill. They also tack on 18% or so for parties larger than 6

[hpecorari]

Kind of that way in Restaurants. They show the amount suggested (15-18-20) on the bill. They also tack on 18% or so for parties larger than 6

 

A lot of restaurants in Philadelphia stopped with the automatic 18% on parties of 6 or more on January 1, 2014.

 

Here's why:

 

http://taxfoundation.org/blog/irs-crackdown-automatic-gratuities-takes-effect-january-1

 

I think this law is actually for all restaurants......not sure how many who still do this are actually 'following the law', however. Also, not sure how many servers actually are aware of this - or customers.

 

Harriet

[John&LaLa]

A lot of restaurants in Philadelphia stopped with the automatic 18% on parties of 6 or more on January 1, 2014.

 

Here's why:

 

http://taxfoundation.org/blog/irs-crackdown-automatic-gratuities-takes-effect-january-1

 

I think this law is actually for all restaurants......not sure how many who still do this are actually 'following the law', however. Also, not sure how many servers actually are aware of this - or customers.

 

Harriet

 

Thanks, can't say that I've noticed it recently. I did see the 15-18-20 reccomended tip on my Longhorn bill last night

[ewenix]

I always find it weird that an entity, in this case RCL, dictates to us how much they will expect you to tip. How rude. Surely, it should be up to us - and be discretionary, not auto-charged....

 

I agree that telling you how much to tip is rude. I think it would go a long way towards eliminating the problems and confusion by calling it the 'daily service charge' instead of a gratuity.

[John&LaLa]

I agree that telling you how much to tip is rude. I think it would go a long way towards eliminating the problems and confusion by calling it the 'daily service charge' instead of a gratuity.

 

Does it really matter what they call it? Like you said, just consider it a service charge or resort fee and move on

[springaussie]

If you take the tips off at Guests Services and pay yourself how are you suppose to pay this one?

•Other Housekeeping Services: USD 1.35 OR Housekeeping and Suite Services: USD 2.10

[legaljen1969]

Does it really matter what they call it? Like you said, just consider it a service charge or resort fee and move on

 

I completely agree. I just consider it a cost of the cruise. They are going to add it whether you pre-pay it or they put it on there day by day. It's not going away, so they may as well just call it a service charge so everyone will just simmer down about "gratuities" and "tipping."

[John&LaLa]

If you take the tips off at Guests Services and pay yourself how are you suppose to pay this one?

•Other Housekeeping Services: USD 1.35 OR Housekeeping and Suite Services: USD 2.10

Spend the $150 to go on the all access tour and drop $10 in the tip jar in the laundry [emoji6]

 

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[springaussie]

Spend the $150 to go on the all access tour and drop $10 in the tip jar in the laundry [emoji6]

 

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Love it!

[ScubaCruiser54]

Thank you.

[yogimax]

Gratuities are still discretionary. You are able to remove auto-tips by visiting Guest Services.

 

I find this to be a distressing comment. While true, it gives justification to those who are looking to walk away from the cruise without paying any tips.

 

Yes, by definition, gratuities are "discretionary" but in the context of a cruise, they are certainly expected. The waiters, assistant waiters and stateroom attendants depend on tips, not their salaries, for their livelihood and to suggest that one can stiff the staff by a simple visit to Guest Services may be true but does not give justice to the reality of crew compensation.

[tingyyy]

So I keep reading on CC but the experience here in Australia is radically different, see here the Celebrity ships that are based here include grats in the fare, RCCL ships (that only come for the season) don't, yet both still attract plenty of business.

 

Just thought this worth mentioning as a point of interest.

 

My next RCCL cruise, which is a round trip to the South Pacific sailing out of Sydney, was booked while I was onboard my previous cruise. So I liked the price quoted to me at the NextCruise desk, booked on the spot, selected my cabin, paid the deposit, etc etc then came the pleasant surprise when I was told that my cruise fare already included prepaid gratuities. I just logged in to check my reservation and yes - it does show that gratuities have already been prepaid. :D

 

Is this an indication that RCCL is now moving towards including gratuities in the quoted fare? (which I would very much prefer) Or is this something that they do only for onboard bookings or Australia sailings?

[WaveSplasher]

Just thought this worth mentioning as a point of interest.

 

Is this an indication that RCCL is now moving towards including gratuities in the quoted fare? (which I would very much prefer) Or is this something that they do only for onboard bookings or Australia sailings?

 

If it is included in the total fare, let's hope we won't get another thread asking why the cruise prices have jumped up a notch.

[Clarea]

I find this to be a distressing comment. While true, it gives justification to those who are looking to walk away from the cruise without paying any tips.

 

Yes, by definition, gratuities are "discretionary" but in the context of a cruise, they are certainly expected. The waiters, assistant waiters and stateroom attendants depend on tips, not their salaries, for their livelihood and to suggest that one can stiff the staff by a simple visit to Guest Services may be true but does not give justice to the reality of crew compensation.

I characterize my post as a fact, not a comment. It's not meant to justify anything, but only to provide truthful information.

[ewenix]

Does it really matter what they call it? Like you said, just consider it a service charge or resort fee and move on

 

In the context that most of us just consider it to be part of the cruise cost, then yes it doesn't matter. We're good guys here, right? So we pay it and move on.

 

In the context where folks from non-tipping cultures get involved, and people who want to remove (or lower) them to make the cruise cheaper I think it does matter.

 

I'd prefer the cost to be included in the fare, but would be okay with it listed as a daily service charge. That way everyone pays "their share" and the people doing the work get paid what they're expecting.

 

Now personally I have some issues with all the auto-tipping that occurs because I think it has slowed bar service, and to a lesser extent reduced MDR service quality.

[ryano]

 

Now personally I have some issues with all the auto-tipping that occurs because I think it has slowed bar service, and to a lesser extent reduced MDR service quality.

 

I see your point but personally, I think that has way more to do with cutbacks in staff than it does auto tips. Paying attention to our waiters in the MDR on this last cruise, they seem to have way people to take care of now than in the past. Some are just able to handle it better than others

[ewenix]

I see your point but personally, I think that has way more to do with cutbacks in staff than it does auto tips. Paying attention to our waiters in the MDR on this last cruise, they seem to have way people to take care of now than in the past. Some are just able to handle it better than others

 

I probably shouldn't have mentioned it. I agree with you, that cutbacks are probably more to blame.