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Gratuity Removal Too Easy?

spj8705

By spj8705,
in Royal Caribbean International

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

Posted
Posted
2 people in the Tip (Bonus) pool

Hit your target, you get 100% of your share.

Miss your target, get 80%.

Pool is $800.

Person A hits the target. They get 100% of their share, or $400.

Person B misses, gets 80%, or $320.

 

There is $80 left over. I don't think the corp is gonna go to Person A and give them an extra $80 because Person B performed poorly.

 

If a program allows for <100% of the pool to be paid, there is going to be a surplus and the corp is not gonna bend over backwards looking to shower that money just to get the balance down the zero. Unless they are contractually obligated to. Who knows, maybe they are. Does it say anywhere publicly available to us that 100% of all Service Charge / Gratuity fees collected that week will be distributed to the staff that week?

 

And yeah, the level of sanctimony is this thread is hitting some all time highs (not referring to you John). Godwin's Law coming into play is certainly a possibility at this rate.

No worries, I was just relaying something I thought I read and relating it to something I know.

 

In Laura's office, the top performers definitely got extra at the expense of the poor performers. Money had to come from somewhere. 😉

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
No worries, I was just relaying something I thought I read and relating it to something I know.

 

In Laura's office, the top performers definitely got extra at the expense of the poor performers. Money had to come from somewhere. 😉

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

I'll go out on a limb here and guess when your wife over-performed it was to the company benefit ultimately and that she held a professional position? I can smash my targets and I will be compensated to no end. But that is because when I break targets I'm creating a lot of additional revenue for my company. If someone else misses targets they could theoretically be paid nothing. My additional pay is a measure of my performance, it is not rewarding me for someones elses under-performance.

 

A scenario in which I could see a staff member being able to earn additional amounts would be those that walk around selling specialty dining; they may get a flat rate for each booking made. That's really separate from measured performance and in my company selling something ancillary would be paid under a different bucket, like a spiff.

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
2 people in the Tip (Bonus) pool

Hit your target, you get 100% of your share.

Miss your target, get 80%.

Pool is $800.

Person A hits the target. They get 100% of their share, or $400.

Person B misses, gets 80%, or $320.

 

There is $80 left over. I don't think the corp is gonna go to Person A and give them an extra $80 because Person B performed poorly.

 

 

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

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vnyislesv

vnyislesv

Posted
Posted
I don't care how they distribute the money. I will NEVER take off the DSC.

 

and thats your right but for all you know, you're just paying the cruiseline whatever they charge as a DSC on top of what you already paid for hte cruise itself. the stewards for all you know get none of it!! atleast i know where my money goes. directly in their pocket.

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John&LaLa "Live from...." Rare

John&LaLa

Posted
Posted
I'll go out on a limb here and guess when your wife over-performed it was to the company benefit ultimately and that she held a professional position? I can smash my targets and I will be compensated to no end. But that is because when I break targets I'm creating a lot of additional revenue for my company. If someone else misses targets they could theoretically be paid nothing. My additional pay is a measure of my performance, it is not rewarding me for someones elses under-performance.

 

A scenario in which I could see a staff member being able to earn additional amounts would be those that walk around selling specialty dining; they may get a flat rate for each booking made. That's really separate from measured performance and in my company selling something ancillary would be paid under a different bucket, like a spiff.

Former government employee.

 

Upper management.

 

Coincidentally, they referred to the top performers as the Tip.

 

My point is that if you have a fixed amount of money to share, people at the top get the most to the detriment of the bottom. ALL the money is distributed.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
Former government employee.

 

Upper management.

 

Coincidentally, they referred to the top performers as the Tip.

 

My point is that if you have a fixed amount of money to share, people at the top get the most to the detriment of the bottom. ALL the money is distributed.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

Sounds like a professional to me. Not quite the same for service industry workers on a foreign flagged cruise ship. You cruise frequently enough and know enough staff, I am sure, just ask next time you are onboard. I don't tend to open my mouth, let alone dig in, unless I have good reason to believe the data I have is accurate. Just broke the NCL 120 day payment thing; was questioned about it and then the NCL verified account posted corroborating my info.

 

Port Canaveral is too far from these company main offices, come south a bit, neighbor :D

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cruzsnooze

cruzsnooze

Posted
Posted
Just off the Freedom (AMAZING week/cruise) and on the last day we were in line at GS to settle our cash account. They had a very friendly crew member going through the line to help speed it up and get people out of line quicker. The people in front of us told her they wanted grats. removed, she made a quick call on her portable phone, gave whoever answered the stateroom # and said remove grats. for all passengers. That was it, no signing anything, asking if there was a problem, nothing.

 

Of course it's nice that you can have an issue handled with ease, but it just kind of stuck with me all weekend that people can remove them so easily. It also seemed to be a very common need in the line we were in, as multiple were up there just for that purpose. Here's to hoping they had other plans with cash or something?

why do you hope for anything, it's their business. Why do so many people stick their nose in other peoples decisions and business. Maybe they think those that leave their full gratuity intact are suckers because only half that money actually goes to the crew.
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ThirstyCruiser

ThirstyCruiser

Posted
Posted

ALL the money is distributed.

On that, we can all agree. Exactly to who, well that's the fun of a good ol' tipping thread. The only ones that know for sure are the accountants, and they ain't talking to us. Even if they did, we'd probably only learn the numbers from one of the first 2 books. One to show the government, one to show the wife, and the real one only the boss sees.

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juju2454

juju2454

Posted
Posted
why do you hope for anything, it's their business. Why do so many people stick their nose in other peoples decisions and business. Maybe they think those that leave their full gratuity intact are suckers because only half that money actually goes to the crew.

 

EXACTLY!!!!!

a post about an overheard conversation that was no ones business and yet a thread was started, and people all thought they should rehash the same thing over a post on an eavesdropped conversation. and the OP has yet to come back and comment but is watching his thread explode.

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LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
This is what we think: (No response required)

 

Removing the Daily Service Gratuities at the beginning or at the end of a cruise is an undeserved slap in the faces of the crew.

 

Period!

 

Can't imagine your thoughts of the company that pays them a couple hundred bucks a month...

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juju2454

juju2454

Posted
Posted
This is what we think: (No response required)

 

Removing the Daily Service Gratuities at the beginning or at the end of a cruise is an undeserved slap in the faces of the crew.

 

Period!

that is your opinion, but to others it is not, to each their own, why is that so hard?? Period.

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pink845

pink845

Posted
Posted

15 pages of replies to the OP's original post. Wow! I suspect that the person in line removed the gratuities at the end of the cruise because if he or she had done so at the beginning of the cruise, they would not have received "service with a smile" from their room steward because the room steward receives notification that the tips have been removed if this activity takes place at the beginning of the cruise. So, these people wait until the end so they can still get the great service that the room steward provides to them. We noticed this happen to a fellow couple we were cruising with a few years back. They removed the gratuities for their two teenagers from one of the cabins as well as their own and found a deterioration in the level of service expended by the room steward. We had the same room steward who always greeted us with a friendly smile and offers of assistance, whilst they noticed "he made an attempt to ask them if there was anything amiss with his service on a number of occasions, and after getting a response that all was fine, there were No More Smiles from him, no more greetings of have a nice day type of thing". This leads me to believe that he was informed that they had removed all the tips on the second day of the cruise for the next 12 days.

 

The other reason I am thinking people wait to the end to remove the tips is their gigantic bar bill. Gotta pay for that somehow, and there go the tips. Just my thoughts. Myself, I believe the gratuities are just part and parcel of cruising. I normally let any OBC eat up part of the tips and would really prefer if the price of the cruise were increased somewhat so we would not notice these gratuities added by the day. I do not prepay gratuities as if I had to cancel my cruise my credit card insurance would not cover the tips, it only the cruise and taxes. I know, because we had to claim previously and we did not get tips repaid to us.

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mechcc

mechcc

Posted
Posted (edited)

First point, I didn't read the whole thread. My bad.

 

Second point, leave the auto tips in place so no one gets the shaft that doesn't deserve it. Instead use that annoying cruise survey to express bad service by one crew member. Well not until you have expressed the problems before the end of the cruise.

 

Couldn't believe the room steward that we complained about several times that wanted us to mention him by name on the survey. We obliged him. Others got extra tips.

Edited by mechcc
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Milwaukee Eight

Milwaukee Eight

Posted
Posted
I'll go out on a limb here and guess when your wife over-performed it was to the company benefit ultimately and that she held a professional position? I can smash my targets and I will be compensated to no end. But that is because when I break targets I'm creating a lot of additional revenue for my company. If someone else misses targets they could theoretically be paid nothing. My additional pay is a measure of my performance, it is not rewarding me for someones elses under-performance.

 

 

 

A scenario in which I could see a staff member being able to earn additional amounts would be those that walk around selling specialty dining; they may get a flat rate for each booking made. That's really separate from measured performance and in my company selling something ancillary would be paid under a different bucket, like a spiff.

 

 

 

Do you shoot clay targets?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Thorben-Hendrik

Thorben-Hendrik

Posted
Posted
2 people in the Tip (Bonus) pool

Hit your target, you get 100% of your share.

Miss your target, get 80%.

Pool is $800.

Person A hits the target. They get 100% of their share, or $400.

Person B misses, gets 80%, or $320.

 

There is $80 left over. I don't think the corp is gonna go to Person A and give them an extra $80 because Person B performed poorly.

 

If a program allows for <100% of the pool to be paid, there is going to be a surplus and the corp is not gonna bend over backwards looking to shower that money just to get the balance down the zero. Unless they are contractually obligated to. Who knows, maybe they are. Does it say anywhere publicly available to us that 100% of all Service Charge / Gratuity fees collected that week will be distributed to the staff that week?

 

And yeah, the level of sanctimony is this thread is hitting some all time highs (not referring to you John). Godwin's Law coming into play is certainly a possibility at this rate.

Somewhere in the FAQ it does say they take a charge to distribute the auto-tips....

Auto tips are just there to enhance the bottom line of RCI they guarantee their workers a minimum tip - they most likely hold some money back to make sure they have enough in the bank in case they need to keep their guarantee.

There is most likely also an "insurance fee" for the guarantee;)

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