Prepaid gratuities/service charge

[thebooler]

I have no problem with the US tipping system because it works, and restaurant wait staff does get paid adequately by a sum of the salary and tips. It only fails when some self-righteous know-it-all decides the tipping system is wrong because it's not done that way in their country. Next time I'm in the UK if I happen to dine in a restaurant that adds a service charge, I'll refuse to pay it based on your advice. After all since you say it's wrong, it must be wrong.

 

There was a great line spoken by Chief Kinyanjui in the movie "Out of Africa" upon finally agreeing to allow children who were taller than he to be taught to read. He said "British can read. What good has it done them?"

There's a few good quotes from the North American Indians too down the years.................

 

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[MagicCat7]

You're apparently unable to comprehend that if service staff were paid more it would be you who would pay for it, not the company. When restaurants eliminate tipping and pay their wait staff a higher wage they raise the menu prices to pay for the higher wage. A cruise line that eliminates tipping would do the same. In fact for a variety of reasons including tax considerations that you've either chosen to ignore or don't understand, raising the base pay will cause prices to increase more than the wage increase.

 

Maybe you can comprehend this. We won't be cruising anymore because my husband was taxed on retirement money as income for taking money out of his retirement to cruise & pay off medical expenses. We were eligible for affordable health care but the money he took out put us over the amount so we had to pay 12000+ in taxes to pay it all back. A year ago he was recovering from a large blood clot across his lungs, heart and a blood clot in his legs. He almost died. So I am glad we were able to cruise when we did. Between all these companies and their sense of entitlements such as tipping and outrageous medical costs, its getting to expensive to live in America and go on vacation.

[fshagan]

Maybe you can comprehend this. We won't be cruising anymore because my husband was taxed on retirement money as income for taking money out of his retirement to cruise & pay off medical expenses. We were eligible for affordable health care but the money he took out put us over the amount so we had to pay 12000+ in taxes to pay it all back. A year ago he was recovering from a large blood clot across his lungs, heart and a blood clot in his legs. He almost died. So I am glad we were able to cruise when we did. Between all these companies and their sense of entitlements such as tipping and outrageous medical costs, its getting to expensive to live in America and go on vacation.

 

Sorry to hear that. The income tax trap on money you have saved for retirement has bitten quite a few people early in their retirement. When I was in the tax business I used to tell people they had to withdraw 140% of what they wanted to allow for taxes. There are ways to minimize it, but you usually don't even think about it until it's too late. You withdraw some cash to take a cruise and it kicks you into a bracket that causes 1/2 your social security to be taxed as well. This doesn't help now, but if you find yourself in that situation again, talk to an Enrolled Agent about minimizing the tax bite. The guys at the brokerage houses don't have any idea how it works and they think the recommended withholding of 20% is fine. There are a couple of techniques for mitigating the impact; if one of you is young enough to still fund an IRA that reduction in income on your 1040 can save on the Obamacare penalties, as well as lower your taxable income. You can split the withdrawal across a calendar year ($10,000 in December, then another $10,000 in January) and sometimes that will prevent you hitting the breakpoint on having your Social Security taxed.

[grapau27]

Maybe you can comprehend this. We won't be cruising anymore because my husband was taxed on retirement money as income for taking money out of his retirement to cruise & pay off medical expenses. We were eligible for affordable health care but the money he took out put us over the amount so we had to pay 12000+ in taxes to pay it all back. A year ago he was recovering from a large blood clot across his lungs, heart and a blood clot in his legs. He almost died. So I am glad we were able to cruise when we did. Between all these companies and their sense of entitlements such as tipping and outrageous medical costs, its getting to expensive to live in America and go on vacation.

Sorry to hear about your husband's bad health and hope he is getting better now.

It makes us realise living in the UK with our free NHS and fairer tax system how lucky we are.

We took my mother in law on 6 cruises in her 80s her last being on her 90th birthday and she had multiple ailments so never give up and hopefully you might get on a ship again.

Best Regards.

Graham&Pauline.

 

43 cruises and counting.

[thebooler]

Sorry to hear about your husband's bad health and hope he is getting better now.

It makes us realise living in the UK with our free NHS and fairer tax system how lucky we are.

We took my mother in law on 6 cruises in her 80s her last being on her 90th birthday and she had multiple ailments so never give up and hopefully you might get on a ship again.

Best Regards.

Graham&Pauline.

 

43 cruises and counting.

Doesn't part of our NI go towards NHS?

 

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[grapau27]

Doesn't part of our NI go towards NHS?

 

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Yes it does for us who work but people on benefits don't pay it but still get all the free treatment.

 

43 cruises and counting.

[Ergates The Ant]

Doesn't part of our NI go towards NHS?

 

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Yes, another reason why it's important that pay for service staff in the UK comes via the employer, rather than through tips. Not only does the employee pay National Insurance contributions based on their earnings, but so does their employer. And the cost of the employers contributions is factored into the cost of the meal.

 

I went out for a meal yesterday, in a chain restaurant I haven't eaten in for a while. Very cheekily, the bill ( check) had a pre printed note at the bottom saying service not included! This is rubbish! The staff are all getting paid at least minimum wage, and getting paid that for all the hours they are at work, whether the restaurant is busy or sitting empty. To do otherwise is illegal in the UK.

 

I paid in cash, and gave a small tip, around 8%, as the staff had been particularly helpful. But I didn't feel obligated to do so. Had I paid by card, I would have paid only the amount on the bill, and left the tip in cash.

I had already paid what might be regarded as a tip in the US, as it was factored into the cost of the meal. In the UK, the tip is not part of the staff wages.

[thebooler]

Yes it does for us who work but people on benefits don't pay it but still get all the free treatment.

 

43 cruises and counting.

Well, I worked for 40 years before ending up in a wheelchair, so I'm now enjoying my benefits.

Everyone's circumstances differ, but no way is our NHS free.

 

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[sanger727]

Maybe you can comprehend this. We won't be cruising anymore because my husband was taxed on retirement money as income for taking money out of his retirement to cruise & pay off medical expenses. We were eligible for affordable health care but the money he took out put us over the amount so we had to pay 12000+ in taxes to pay it all back. A year ago he was recovering from a large blood clot across his lungs, heart and a blood clot in his legs. He almost died. So I am glad we were able to cruise when we did. Between all these companies and their sense of entitlements such as tipping and outrageous medical costs, its getting to expensive to live in America and go on vacation.

 

 

Well, if your take away is to stop cruising that's up to you. The person was simply pointing out that if the US service industry decides to step up the pay to reduce/remove tipping, that cost will be passed onto the consumer, not the executives.

 

Yes, living in America is expensive and our health care and tax systems are ridiculous; but that's unrelated to a tipping discussion.

 

 

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[grapau27]

Well, I worked for 40 years before ending up in a wheelchair, so I'm now enjoying my benefits.

Everyone's circumstances differ, but no way is our NHS free.

 

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Try telling that to all the tourists who get free treatment and never pay anything.

You have paid in through NI contributions so deserve your benefits.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[jaxw17]

Try telling that to all the tourists who get free treatment and never pay anything.

You have paid in through NI contributions so deserve your benefits.

 

44 cruises and counting.

One of the biggest reasons that the NHS is under so much pressure

[grapau27]

One of the biggest reasons that the NHS is under so much pressure

Exactly anywhere else you have to pay but health tourists can get totally free treatment without paying anything.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[newmexicoNita]

Please can someone clear up an argument (discussion) for me. We are going on a cruise with friends in May. We have prepaid our gratuities but they insist they will go to reception and have them removed so that they can decide who to tip. I think I have read that this can't be done, that they are added to your on board account and you have to request a form to fill in and request a refund when your cruise is over. Who is correct?

you are correct. You used to be able to do like your friends seem to want to do, but not anymore. Most of the lines have added the daily service charge and do not allow refunds until after the cruise.

I am a little surprised this subject came up again so soon. It seems like once a week someone asks about gratities or service charge, whichever you want to call it.

[LMaxwell]

you are correct. You used to be able to do like your friends seem to want to do, but not anymore. Most of the lines have added the daily service charge and do not allow refunds until after the cruise.

I am a little surprised this subject came up again so soon. It seems like once a week someone asks about gratities or service charge, whichever you want to call it.

 

If you want to be factually accurate neither you or OP is correct. The friends can still choose to handle business their chosen way.

 

We can debate over the merits of this, whether one should or should not, and the down the line ramifications of it. But that is besides the point of the question. It is not whether one "should". It is whether one is "allowed", and the answer to that is yes, the friends can remove autos and choose to give cash to those they want to. There is a form to fill out but they no longer make you wait until after the cruise.

[grapau27]

There are many crew members in different venues who make your cruise special and your gratuitys are their pay so please don't remove your gratuitys which will harm them they don't deserve you doing that.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[thebooler]

There are many crew members in different venues who make your cruise special and your gratuitys are their pay so please don't remove your gratuitys which will harm them they don't deserve you doing that.

 

44 cruises and counting.

Their gratuities should not be their pay. It's up to the cruise line to pay them a proper wage. If the don't, then that's someone else's problem.

 

I work on minimum wage, so tips are a lot to me.

 

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[thebooler]

Try telling that to all the tourists who get free treatment and never pay anything.

You have paid in through NI contributions so deserve your benefits.

 

44 cruises and counting.

Tourists do pay, either through insurance, European Health Card, or cash.

 

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[grapau27]

The NHS dont put the request in to other countries to get payment but the other countries do to the UK and we pay them.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[jaxw17]

Tourists do pay, either through insurance, European Health Card, or cash.

 

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they dont end up paying most of the time. The EEC card covers them here but you try using it from the UK in the rest of Europe you will end up with a bill. This happened to us in France. The NHS don't collect the money we have people arriving from other countries to have twins and triplets at a huge cost to the NHS and it never recoups the money.

We have immigrants move here and have never paid into thew system and they claim benefits, health care and housing. No wonder we are the go to destination for freebies

[grapau27]

they dont end up paying most of the time. The EEC card covers them here but you try using it from the UK in the rest of Europe you will end up with a bill. This happened to us in France. The NHS don't collect the money we have people arriving from other countries to have twins and triplets at a huge cost to the NHS and it never recoups the money.

We have immigrants move here and have never paid into thew system and they claim benefits, health care and housing. No wonder we are the go to destination for freebies

Exactly right.Then we borrow to send £10 billion in overseas aid crazy.

 

44 cruises and counting.

[thebooler]

they dont end up paying most of the time. The EEC card covers them here but you try using it from the UK in the rest of Europe you will end up with a bill. This happened to us in France. The NHS don't collect the money we have people arriving from other countries to have twins and triplets at a huge cost to the NHS and it never recoups the money.

We have immigrants move here and have never paid into thew system and they claim benefits, health care and housing. No wonder we are the go to destination for freebies

I know where you're coming from, but it's an EU regulation, and works both ways. I've had benefits in another country myself when I became unemployed out of season.

 

 

 

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