Paid Tips Query

[BNBR]

Yes, I have to say I think service was better before the prepaid gratuity was instituted. Not that the service is bad, per se, but it was a higher level.

 

Seriously, why would staff "hate" passengers who choose to tip in cash? This makes no sense, because if you are on the "list" the entire cruise, and you go the next to the last day and remove the tips, now the staff will only possibly know on the day of disembarktion or later that night, so they will hate you then? The staff will never know if you are going to remove it or not. The whole notion of a "list" and giving it to the staff is stupid because you never know when a passenger is going to make a decision to change it, or not.

 

Let's face it, if you are going to not tip, you're not going to, regardless of whether it was the older way with the envelopes or you take it off auto-pay.

 

Do I tip my waitress or waiter BEFORE I eat my meal at a restaurant or BEFORE I get my hair cut or BEFORE I get my nails done? NO. Why do people get so upset for tipping AFTER the service has been performed, as it is with every other industry where a tip is applicable? The whole point of a TIP is additional monies for performance of a service. There is no other industry where you tip before the service is performed. Why should you be shamed or forced to do so on a cruise? This is ridiculous.

 

My husband and I tip all the time and tip very generously when the service is warranted. I have done both, I have left the prepaid tips and I have removed them and tip in cash.

 

Regardless, my finances, my business, not anyone else's, no one on this board and not Royal Caribbean.

 

Because every other industry is not a cruise ship? What is wrong with cruising having their own customs? And if you are unhappy with your service, you can remove the tips. Big deal. So you still have control over your tips if you are not satisfied. Let's face it, people that remove tips and "tip later" do it because they'll end up tipping less. It has nothing to do with service, it's an attempt at justification of cheap and socially unacceptable behavior. You aren't convincing anyone here otherwise.

 

 

And while you may not pay your bill at a restaurant and decide on a tip until the end - it's also very common for a service charge to be added to larger groups. You would have to request it be removed just like on a cruise ship... And that service charge is standard for groups of all sizes in some areas that are tourist heavy. So you know up front what the tip would be, just like, a cruise ship.... And you have to request to be removed after the fact, just like, a cruise ship. So while you think cruises are totally unique in that respect, you couldn't be more wrong.

 

 

If you want to be tacky and remove it, that's fine. You can do that. But it's tacky and not customary in any sense.

[BNBR]

It is a cost of the desired service. If you don't want to pay them, and have the cruise line pay their people better directly, there are a number of luxury cruise lines that do that. Cruise on them.

 

But... but... if we sail on that other line then we can't save a few bucks at the expense of disadvantaged, low paid foreign workers.

[Pstreet12]

This link goes to an article based on an interview with a 6 year cruise line employee; it says a lot about tipping:

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/working-on-a-cruise-ship-what-its-like

[grapau27]

Yes, I have to say I think service was better before the prepaid gratuity was instituted. Not that the service is bad, per se, but it was a higher level.

 

Seriously, why would staff "hate" passengers who choose to tip in cash? This makes no sense, because if you are on the "list" the entire cruise, and you go the next to the last day and remove the tips, now the staff will only possibly know on the day of disembarktion or later that night, so they will hate you then? The staff will never know if you are going to remove it or not. The whole notion of a "list" and giving it to the staff is stupid because you never know when a passenger is going to make a decision to change it, or not.

 

Let's face it, if you are going to not tip, you're not going to, regardless of whether it was the older way with the envelopes or you take it off auto-pay.

 

Do I tip my waitress or waiter BEFORE I eat my meal at a restaurant or BEFORE I get my hair cut or BEFORE I get my nails done? NO. Why do people get so upset for tipping AFTER the service has been performed, as it is with every other industry where a tip is applicable? The whole point of a TIP is additional monies for performance of a service. There is no other industry where you tip before the service is performed. Why should you be shamed or forced to do so on a cruise? This is ridiculous.

 

My husband and I tip all the time and tip very generously when the service is warranted. I have done both, I have left the prepaid tips and I have removed them and tip in cash.

 

Regardless, my finances, my business, not anyone else's, no one on this board and not Royal Caribbean.

Everyone​ is entitled to do whatever they want but the service is that good you have to be a mean person not to tip well.

 

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[grapau27]

Because every other industry is not a cruise ship? What is wrong with cruising having their own customs? And if you are unhappy with your service, you can remove the tips. Big deal. So you still have control over your tips if you are not satisfied. Let's face it, people that remove tips and "tip later" do it because they'll end up tipping less. It has nothing to do with service, it's an attempt at justification of cheap and socially unacceptable behavior. You aren't convincing anyone here otherwise.

 

 

And while you may not pay your bill at a restaurant and decide on a tip until the end - it's also very common for a service charge to be added to larger groups. You would have to request it be removed just like on a cruise ship... And that service charge is standard for groups of all sizes in some areas that are tourist heavy. So you know up front what the tip would be, just like, a cruise ship.... And you have to request to be removed after the fact, just like, a cruise ship. So while you think cruises are totally unique in that respect, you couldn't be more wrong.

 

 

If you want to be tacky and remove it, that's fine. You can do that. But it's tacky and not customary in any sense.

My sentiments exactly.

 

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[Ned11]

This link goes to an article based on an interview with a 6 year cruise line employee; it says a lot about tipping:

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/working-on-a-cruise-ship-what-its-like

 

 

 

You just don't work for the cruise company. Simple as that. It's not the customers fault that the staff are not paid. Why would you sign a contract?

 

 

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[Scarlett Cruises]

Everyone​ is entitled to do whatever they want but the service is that good you have to be a mean person not to tip well.

 

Sent from my Kestrel using Forums mobile app

 

 

Did I say anything about not tipping well?

[Pstreet12]

At the end of the article, he talks about that: no jobs in home countries, no way to support a family. For them, it's better than what they have at home. Obviously, the reality is that the crew depends on tips. We don't have to approve of the policies of the lines that employee them; we don't have to cruise with them--why would we?

The fact is not tipping hurts the employees.

[SRF]

A lot of people have little choice for a reasonable paying job.

 

Otherwise why would they be gone from their family for 4 - 9 months at a time, in a job that works 7 days a week?

 

Of course, YOU would not do it, that is why they are few Americans working on board. And virtually NONE in the service side.

[barbarossa_hoosier]

WRONG! their base salary agreement includes tips.

 

Many years ago I worked as a waitress. My salary was below the minimum wage. The law allowed it to be that way because it would be augmented by tips. It is customary in the US to tip.

 

You cruise on a line ran by an American Company and that is the way it is.

 

There are reasons that cruise ships fly Bahamian flags instead of Old Glory - one of which is that being registered outside of the US allows the cruise ship to avoid the implications of US labor laws. So, the labor laws that protected you as a waitress do not protect the service workers on cruise ships.

 

If gratuities are called gratuities, then they are not and cannot be mandatory.

 

gratuity

 

[gruh-too-i-tee, -tyoo-]

 

• noun, plural gratuities.
  

1.a gift of money, over and above payment due for service, as to awaiter or bellhop; tip.

 

2.something given without claim or demand.

It is wrong to force someone to pay a gratuity, or to attempt to guilt-trip or shame someone for not paying gratuities.

 

That said, the practice is terrible, and as others have said, merely allows cruise lines to manipulate cruise fares at the expense of their crew, by putting the burden on passengers. Personally, I would prefer the standard gratuities simply be rolled into the cruise fare. Don't call it a "service charge"; just include it in the base fare, and indicate that the base fare includes standard gratuities.

 

In our limited experience, we simply pre-pay them anyway, so we don't have an added expense at the end of the cruise. We've more or less already rolled it into our fare. That then frees us up to focus ACTUAL gratuities on above-and-beyond service, which we are happy to do.

 

But as long as cruise lines continue to call them "gratuities", I refuse to castigate someone for treating them as gratuities.

[Super-Luke88]

I used to leave them on when I first started cruising but not anymore. After hearing so many people saying they have removed them it was enough for me to do likewise. Why u should I subsidise wages if of others don't?

I tip as I see fit in cash at the end of the cruise.

If everyone removed the auto grats maybe it would make the cruise lines act. They need to deploy a system that ensures the staff get a fair wage and also that it is a level playing field for the passengers. Tips should be discretionary.

 

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Exactly. If nothing changes, then nothing will change!

[Dennis#1]

I like the automatic gratuity system. Much easier. In all of our years of cruising, we have never met a crew member (stateroom attendant, waiter, assistant waiter, bar tender, etc., etc.) who was lacking in performing their job. In fact, most of them were outstanding and went out of their way to make our cruise memorable. And when they did, we gave then an additional cash tip.