Pre-pay tips

[sloopsailor]

Do the " extra tips" that are given to specific staff go into the "tip pool" too?

 

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On most cruise lines, no. If the gratuities are left in place, anything over is kept by the person who is being rewarded. They may have to turn it in when they receive the extra tip, but it will be deposited into their account after the cruise is over and all passenger accounts are reconciled. It is done this way because many people wait until the end of the cruise to remove their tips, so it isn't know until after the cruise who has or has not removed the tips.

[NMLady]

Is there some advantage to pre-paying the $13.50/day tips? I don't understand why anyone would do that. What if you're not pleased with the service?

 

 

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The tips cover several individuals so we cannot imagine being displeased by the service from ALL of them.

 

We prepay the tips to make our final bill easier to read.

Since our cruises are 14 days or longer and the tips are charged per person per day, on a 14 day cruise pre-paying eliminates 28 lines of printing.

 

It also helps with budgeting since pre-paying puts the charge on different billing cycle than onboard charges.

[NMLady]

They're not really​ "tips" anymore, now called service charges. I don't pre-pay as I want any non-refundable OBC to cover them once onboard.

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Not all cruise lines let you use non-refundable obc for the tips. For example, NCL doesn't.

[trouble1964]

We usually book deals that come with perks such as pre-paid, dining packages, OBC. We prefer to charge as little as possible on our card, as we pay it off each month. If it were up to me, we wouldn't even HAVE a credit card----I have gone without them for 14 years now (thank you Dave Ramsey). DH and I have been married for 8 years and he has them in his name. I have a card with my name on it under his account, but it's always at home in the drawer unless we go on a trip and think we might need one in case we get separated.

 

We also always leave cash for the room steward and our wait staff. On two different ships, we had the same server. We just happened to ask if she might be on the ship, and she was! It was a welcome surprise. She remembered us, took good care of us, and we rewarded her for it. We hope we will run into her again.

 

This poor lady worked mornings in the buffet, cleaned up, then went and got a nap and got ready to set up and serve dinner. After dinner, she had to help clean the dining room and set it up for breakfast, then go sleep a few hours and get ready for the morning buffet. Sometimes she also worked the lunch buffet.

[zencruisers]

Exactly! We almost always pre-pay at final payment. That way, at the end of the cruise, when all we want to do is savor the past few day's experiences, we have several hundred dollars less on our on-board account shocking us into the reality of how much we actually spent during the cruise - which always seems a heck of a lot more than we expected. ;p

 

Having said that, we didn't pre-pay on our last cruise as we had almost $1,000 in on-board credit which we also used for the auto tips accrued each day. Without so much OBC, we prefer to pay for as much as possible ahead of time so we have less to pay for at the end of the cruise.

 

As for what would we do if the service was unsatisfactory, I can only say two things about that:

 

1) We have NEVER had unsatisfactory service on any cruise, EVER. To expect that to happen is being unrealistic since it just doesn't happen very often.

 

2) If it ever did happen, we would speak to the appropriate supervisory personnel at the time the poor service was happening, and get it resolved immediately. Why anyone would put up with poor service for the entire cruise, only to punish the crew member at the end of the cruise by removing the tips, is beyond me. You would be punishing yourself more than the crew member by willingly accepting poor service during the cruise just to complain about it at the end when it is too late to correct the problem. That would be pretty dumb.

 

 

 

Well said.

 

 

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[Harry and Lucille]

We always pre pay everything that we can. Using a charge card, paying full when the bill comes and we enjoy the air miles gained for the next cruise.

[swedish weave]

According to posts on these boards by a former ships officer, the service charge is handled as a revenue stream for the cruise lines.

 

Also, posts indicate the crew members are contracted for a minimum amount and are guaranteed that amount. Any compensation over that is determined by management and the service charge pool money is distributed fleetwide.

 

It seems that removing the service charge and tipping in cash would be better for those who provide service to you.

[bUU]

Sometimes I get the impression that people just make things up and post it over and over hoping either that their doing so will make it become true, or that their doing so will dupe others into believe it.

[Shmoo here]

According to posts on these boards by a former ships officer, the service charge is handled as a revenue stream for the cruise lines.

 

Also, posts indicate the crew members are contracted for a minimum amount and are guaranteed that amount. Any compensation over that is determined by management and the service charge pool money is distributed fleetwide.

 

It seems that removing the service charge and tipping in cash would be better for those who provide service to you.

On many cruiselines, if you remove the HSC, any cash tips you hand out must be handed in. Once the determination is made whether you have left the HSC in place or removed it, that cash will either go into the pool (if you removed the HSC) to be divided up, or returned to the person you gave it to (did not remove HSC). Removing the HSC/gratuity, in those cases, will only penalize the person you intended the tip for.

[swedish weave]

On many cruiselines, if you remove the HSC, any cash tips you hand out must be handed in. Once the determination is made whether you have left the HSC in place or removed it, that cash will either go into the pool (if you removed the HSC) to be divided up, or returned to the person you gave it to (did not remove HSC). Removing the HSC/gratuity, in those cases, will only penalize the person you intended the tip for.

 

Two problems with that idea.

 

First. The cruise lines have no way to track or enforce.the cash tip rules.

 

Second. The officer who posts here says crew are contracted for a certain minimum, so removing the service charge has little if any impact on their income.

[sloopsailor]

According to posts on these boards by a former ships officer, the service charge is handled as a revenue stream for the cruise lines

 

Please show us those posts. What I have read here, and what I know as a business owner, is 100% contrary to your claim because all revenue streams are fully taxable, while gratuities are not. I know of no smart businessman who would voluntarily include any monetary source they don't have to if they are going to be taxed on it. Rather, they look for every loophole possible to minimize those taxes, not maximize them.

 

Also, posts indicate the crew members are contracted for a minimum amount and are guaranteed that amount. Any compensation over that is determined by management and the service charge pool money is distributed fleetwide.

 

Again, a claim that has no proof to support it.

 

It seems that removing the service charge and tipping in cash would be better for those who provide service to you.

 

Not even close. Virtually all cruise line contracts state that if auto grats are removed, anyone receiving cash tips MUST submit them to their management for reconciliation after the cruise. Those cash amounts will be distributed among the appropriate crew as would the auto grats. This is such a well know fact that it is surprising that you would dare to make your claims. Posters such as BruceMuzz and Chenkp75 have reported on many of these threads how this all works.

Edited August 25, 2017 by sloopsailor

[NLH Arizona]

Please show us those posts. What I have read here, and what I know as a business owner, is 100% contrary to your claim because all revenue streams are fully taxable, while gratuities are not.

Sloopsailor, you are totally correct. If you want the facts, instead of someone's opinion, find posts by Chengkp75 who is and was a cruise line officer and who knows the facts.

[swedish weave]

Sloopsailor, you are totally correct. If you want the facts, instead of someone's opinion, find posts by Chengkp75 who is and was a cruise line officer and who knows the facts.

 

Finally, you have posted something I can agree with.

[NLH Arizona]

Sloopsailor, you are totally correct. If you want the facts, instead of someone's opinion, find posts by Chengkp75 who is and was a cruise line officer and who knows the facts.

Sloopsailor, here is a portion of a post by Chengkp75 in answer to a video that was posted: Note that the undercover waiter had the companyadd money to his basic wage and tips to "make up his minimum wage".This is required whenever the "tips" or "DSC" received doesnot bring the wages up to the minimum required by the Maritime Labor Convention(MLC 2006), which sets a minimum wage for all mariners, not just cruise shipcrew.

Another post: No, as noted, their compensation is acombination of wages and "incentive" program, which is the DSC. The reason that all cruise lines use the"service charge" method is two fold: it tries to engender a"team concept" for the hospitality staff, so that failure of oneperson, resulting in reduction of DSC, affects everyone (to a small extent) inthe "team". It also allows the cruise line to shift the onus forreducing a crew member's compensation from the cruise line to the passengers.

 

No where in these facts does it elude to anything that one would take as the DSC being a revenue stream.

[swedish weave]

Sloopsailor, here is a portion of a post by Chengkp75 in answer to a video that was posted: Note that the undercover waiter had the companyadd money to his basic wage and tips to "make up his minimum wage".This is required whenever the "tips" or "DSC" received doesnot bring the wages up to the minimum required by the Maritime Labor Convention(MLC 2006), which sets a minimum wage for all mariners, not just cruise shipcrew.

Another post: No, as noted, their compensation is acombination of wages and "incentive" program, which is the DSC. The reason that all cruise lines use the"service charge" method is two fold: it tries to engender a"team concept" for the hospitality staff, so that failure of oneperson, resulting in reduction of DSC, affects everyone (to a small extent) inthe "team". It also allows the cruise line to shift the onus forreducing a crew member's compensation from the cruise line to the passengers.

 

No where in these facts does it elude to anything that one would take as the DSC being a revenue stream.

 

You are on a hot trail. Keep looking.

[CPT Trips]

You are on a hot trail. Keep looking.

 

Simply post the link(s) from the "experts" that you claim support your position.

[Mcdonaldbam]

Will someone explain how my assistant waiter whom I give a cash tip to on day 3 will know to turn-in the tip because I may or may not have removed my auto grats on the last night of a 12 night cruise.

Edited August 28, 2017 by Mcdonaldbam

[SantaFeFan]

Will someone explain how my assistant waiter whom I give a cash tip to on day 3 will know to turn-in the tip because I may or may not have removed my auto grats on the last night of a 12 night cruise.

 

On many cruise line, all cash tips are required to be turned in and held until the end of the cruise so the bookkeeping department can reconcile all passenger AND employee accounts after the cruise. If you retained the auto gratuities, they will have those cash funds deposited into their account. If you remove the tips, the cash funds are distributed to the pool. They are required to turn ALL cash tips as a condition of their contract. Not doing so can result in reprimand or termination. And, since these employees live in close quarters, it is difficult to keep secrets. They will be discovered if they are cheating their workmates out of their share of the tips.

 

Over the years, this has been clearly detailed by Chenkp75 and BruceMuzz on CC, as well as other posters with insider knowledge. However, there will be people who troll these threads and either refuse to remember reading these explanations, or chose to not believe them, and will challenge the facts with endless arguments to the contrary. ;p

[swedish weave]

Simply post the link(s) from the "experts" that you claim support your position.

 

Post 146 8/21/2017 140pm. The same thread that was referenced by another poster on this thread.

 

It s how's that my post is accurate and the dispute is all incorrect.

[swedish weave]

On many cruise line, all cash tips are required to be turned in and held until the end of the cruise so the bookkeeping department can reconcile all passenger AND employee accounts after the cruise. If you retained the auto gratuities, they will have those cash funds deposited into their account. If you remove the tips, the cash funds are distributed to the pool. They are required to turn ALL cash tips as a condition of their contract. Not doing so can result in reprimand or termination. And, since these employees live in close quarters, it is difficult to keep secrets. They will be discovered if they are cheating their workmates out of their share of the tips.

 

Over the years, this has been clearly detailed by Chenkp75 and BruceMuzz on CC, as well as other posters with insider knowledge. However, there will be people who troll these threads and either refuse to remember reading these explanations, or chose to not believe them, and will challenge the facts with endless arguments to the contrary. ;p

 

The officers you mention have posted info that conflicts with the info in your post.

 

Since NCL doesn't divulge how the fund 8s managed, it leaves many unanswered questions. Do you have info from NCL to support your post

[swedish weave]

Sloopsailor, here is a portion of a post by Chengkp75 in answer to a video that was posted: Note that the undercover waiter had the companyadd money to his basic wage and tips to "make up his minimum wage".This is required whenever the "tips" or "DSC" received doesnot bring the wages up to the minimum required by the Maritime Labor Convention(MLC 2006), which sets a minimum wage for all mariners, not just cruise shipcrew.

Another post: No, as noted, their compensation is acombination of wages and "incentive" program, which is the DSC. The reason that all cruise lines use the"service charge" method is two fold: it tries to engender a"team concept" for the hospitality staff, so that failure of oneperson, resulting in reduction of DSC, affects everyone (to a small extent) inthe "team". It also allows the cruise line to shift the onus forreducing a crew member's compensation from the cruise line to the passengers.

 

No where in these facts does it elude to anything that one would take as the DSC being a revenue stream.

 

Strange, but when I furnish the info to support my post, it disappears. I have tried to furnish the post info you couldn't find, and will try again. Post 146. 140pm 8/21 by the officer you named,

If

[SantaFeFan]

The officers you mention have posted info that conflicts with the info in your post.

 

Since NCL doesn't divulge how the fund 8s managed, it leaves many unanswered questions. Do you have info from NCL to support your post

 

I see you are a purveyor of "fake news". The people I have referenced have posted exactly what I described. And that is a fact.

 

Besides, I never claimed any specific cruise line, but simply said "on many cruise lines". That you chose NCL to challenge my statement, as if I had named them as my example, indicates a feeble attempt to grasp at straws to try to save your tattered reputation. How many people have rebutted your claims so far on this thread alone - four, five, more?

 

So, no, I do not have "info from NCL to support my post". I never claimed that I did. However, I did post what people in the cruise industry have posted on the subject, preferring to defer to those established experts instead of to what you would have us believe.

 

Do YOU have info from NCL to support YOUR claims?

 

 

 

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”

― Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Edited August 28, 2017 by SantaFeFan

[swedish weave]

I see you are a purveyor of "fake news". The people I have referenced have posted exactly what I described. And that is a fact.

 

Besides, I never claimed any specific cruise line, but simply said "on many cruise lines". That you chose NCL to challenge my statement, as if I had named them as my example, indicates a feeble attempt to grasp at straws to try to save your tattered reputation. How many people have rebutted your claims so far on this thread alone - four, five, more?

 

So, no, I do not have "info from NCL to support my post". I never claimed that I did. However, I did post what people in the cruise industry have posted on the subject, preferring to defer to those established experts instead of to what you would have us believe.

 

Do YOU have info from NCL to support YOUR claims?

 

 

 

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”

― Daniel Patrick Moynihan

 

I was asked for facts and details. I furnished that which supports what I posted. What more can I do to eliminate thesee disputes?

[navybankerteacher]

I see you are a purveyor of "fake news". The people I have referenced have posted exactly what I described. And that is a fact.

 

Besides, I never claimed any specific cruise line, but simply said "on many cruise lines". That you chose NCL to challenge my statement, as if I had named them as my example, indicates a feeble attempt to grasp at straws to try to save your tattered reputation. How many people have rebutted your claims so far on this thread alone - four, five, more?

 

So, no, I do not have "info from NCL to support my post". I never claimed that I did. However, I did post what people in the cruise industry have posted on the subject, preferring to defer to those established experts instead of to what you would have us believe.

 

Do YOU have info from NCL to support YOUR claims?

 

 

 

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”

― Daniel Patrick Moynihan

 

Are you sure you want to engage in prolonged discussion on this point? Each back and forth with this poster seems

to bring one further down Alice's rabbit hole.

[SantaFeFan]

Are you sure you want to engage in prolonged discussion on this point? Each back and forth with this poster seems

to bring one further down Alice's rabbit hole.

 

You are probably correct. Some people can never be reasoned with. Instead of imagining my own interpretation of what the experts have said as that poster has done, I'll stick to the facts on the matter and will leave it at that. My only concern is that people who aren't familiar with these experts will assume that the poster is correct about what they have told us. When incorrect information is posted, it is a disservice to people reading such nonsense.

 

Thanks for being a voice of reason first thing in the morning.

Edited August 28, 2017 by SantaFeFan