Gratuity Removal Too Easy?

[katiel53]

My last cruise on Allure, we never ate in the MDR. We had dinner nightly in a specialty restaurant where we tipped $10 per person extra nightly. We ate breakfast at Johnny Rockets, left a tip for the waiter. We did not eat lunch as we normally eat 2 meals a day.

 

We wanted to remove the dining room tips on day 2 because we felt as though we had tipped the dining staff as above and would continue to do so. We wanted to leave all other tips in place. Royal Caribbean told us that we had to remove all or none. I felt this was not fair to the steward and those behind the scenes.

 

We ended up leaving the tips in place and still tipped extra in the specialty restaurants. We will be sailing again on Allure in June and I am going to re-think the tip policy as I think that Royal should allow parts of the tips to be removed and not penalize some because of their policies.

 

I know we won't be eating in the MDR again at dinner and if, for some reason, we decide to have lunch there one day, if the decision is to remove our tips, I will leave a tip at my seat when I am done with the meal.

 

Up until my last cruise, I never thought about removing any tips and felt they should be made into a non-removable service charge, even though we had 1 or 2 dinners in a specialty restaurant. I now feel differently as according to the website, the "service charge" is already included in the price of the specialty restaurant package and we do tip the extra amount.

 

Im sure there are many who disagree with me and that's fine.

[LMaxwell]

Royal Caribbean told us that we had to remove all or none.

 

You can lower or increase any amount.

[toyman55]

Maybe they remove them because they tip individuals in cash?

 

All my kids worked their way through high school and college as servers. They prefer cash because it is non-declarable and the reporting by the companies they work for is less when they see cash being paid. For example you may leave a 20% tip by the company will only report 15% for income reporting.

 

We always lineout the automatic tip amount and write 'cash' or write 'cash' where it shows a gratuity amount. It also keeps the dishonest servers from changing the amount you had written.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[poffles]

Here of a few thoughts I have.

 

1) the definition is according to merriam webster

"something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service" key word voluntarily

 

2) people are saying that people are lowlives for not tipping. How about the cruiselines? Are they lowlives for not paying more?

 

3) I know servers that make over $100,000 a year. I also know alot of people in these industries are happy to mislead you that they make a lot less than they actually do.

 

4) they have free room and board. So they can go without spending a dime.

 

AGREE.

 

I also hate hearing people suggest they should make it mandatory. It is no longer a tip at that point and why should this be the case on a cruise vacation vs any other service industry. I certainly would not want all restaurants to make tipping mandatory and for a specific percentage that is totally up to their discretion as this contradicts tipping based on service.

 

And for the record, I tip and would not remove my tips and I actually prefer to prepay but it does not represent my practice everywhere I go, I tip based on service. The cruising industry is smart to have made tipping more like a required fee, but it is becomes less like a way of saying thank you for good service as it happens and I have rarely tipped extra.

[toyman55]

My last cruise on Allure, we never ate in the MDR. We had dinner nightly in a specialty restaurant where we tipped $10 per person extra nightly. We ate breakfast at Johnny Rockets, left a tip for the waiter. We did not eat lunch as we normally eat 2 meals a day.

 

We wanted to remove the dining room tips on day 2 because we felt as though we had tipped the dining staff as above and would continue to do so. We wanted to leave all other tips in place. Royal Caribbean told us that we had to remove all or none. I felt this was not fair to the steward and those behind the scenes.

 

We ended up leaving the tips in place and still tipped extra in the specialty restaurants. We will be sailing again on Allure in June and I am going to re-think the tip policy as I think that Royal should allow parts of the tips to be removed and not penalize some because of their policies.

 

I know we won't be eating in the MDR again at dinner and if, for some reason, we decide to have lunch there one day, if the decision is to remove our tips, I will leave a tip at my seat when I am done with the meal.

 

Up until my last cruise, I never thought about removing any tips and felt they should be made into a non-removable service charge, even though we had 1 or 2 dinners in a specialty restaurant. I now feel differently as according to the website, the "service charge" is already included in the price of the specialty restaurant package and we do tip the extra amount.

 

Im sure there are many who disagree with me and that's fine.

 

I usually get the gratuity perk and then tip those who are exceptional a little more.

 

BTW, how much does everyone get with the gratuity included packages anyway? I've always wondered that, but hated trying to fiqure out who to pay and how much.

[Beachammo]

Waiting to remove all gratuities at the end of a cruise is a slap in the faces of the crew.

 

Before removing the gratuities, why not address the problem right away with Guest Services?

 

When the respective issues are not addressed and rectified, may we suggest removing gratuities only for that one or two particular day(s) but not for the entire cruise?

 

Fair?

Let's be honest....

 

90% of the paxs removing gratuities are just being Cheap and trying to save a few bucks. There was no "issue" to resolve.

 

On my last cruise my seapass wouldn't open the cabin door and I went to CS. Most of the paxs in line were removing grats before the cruise even started.

 

 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[rukkian]

Let's be honest....

 

90% of the paxs removing gratuities are just being Cheap and trying to save a few bucks. There was no "issue" to resolve.

 

On my last cruise my seapass wouldn't open the cabin door and I went to CS. Most of the paxs in line were removing grats before the cruise even started.

 

 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

You can assume that they were doing it because of being cheap, but you don't really know about most of them. Plenty of people claim they tip in cash.

[deliver42]

Those people are trolls in my opinion. I hope I never have to sit with one in the MDR, because if the subject came up, there would be an argument. All these crew members work very hard, and it's non of my business how much they make, or how much of the DSC they get. If they were unhappy with it, they wouldn't keep signing new contracts.

[Grandma Dazzles]

My last cruise on Allure, we never ate in the MDR. We had dinner nightly in a specialty restaurant where we tipped $10 per person extra nightly. We ate breakfast at Johnny Rockets, left a tip for the waiter. We did not eat lunch as we normally eat 2 meals a day.

 

We wanted to remove the dining room tips on day 2 because we felt as though we had tipped the dining staff as above and would continue to do so. We wanted to leave all other tips in place. Royal Caribbean told us that we had to remove all or none. I felt this was not fair to the steward and those behind the scenes.

 

We ended up leaving the tips in place and still tipped extra in the specialty restaurants. We will be sailing again on Allure in June and I am going to re-think the tip policy as I think that Royal should allow parts of the tips to be removed and not penalize some because of their policies.

 

I know we won't be eating in the MDR again at dinner and if, for some reason, we decide to have lunch there one day, if the decision is to remove our tips, I will leave a tip at my seat when I am done with the meal.

 

Up until my last cruise, I never thought about removing any tips and felt they should be made into a non-removable service charge, even though we had 1 or 2 dinners in a specialty restaurant. I now feel differently as according to the website, the "service charge" is already included in the price of the specialty restaurant package and we do tip the extra amount.

 

Im sure there are many who disagree with me and that's fine.

 

The dining gratuities billed to your account do not apply just to the MDR. They cover all dining venues, like the Windjammer, cafe, pizza, etc., any food location. It's much simpler just to leave in place and not worry about carrying cash, trying to tip appropriately, etc.every time you grab a bite to eat.

[LMaxwell]

. Most of the paxs in line were removing grats before the cruise even started.

 

 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

Fake News

[Beachammo]

Fake News

Wish it was.....

 

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[LMaxwell]

Wish it was.....

 

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

 

I thought nothing could be done day one before sailing; no charges have been applied to your account, so nothing to "remove". In some cases OBC isn't even loaded to the account day one :o

[Clarea]

I thought nothing could be done day one before sailing; no charges have been applied to your account, so nothing to "remove". In some cases OBC isn't even loaded to the account day one :o

You can direct Guest Services to discontinue automatic gratuities before they even start.

[gerelmx]

It is not as easy as many people think, we just wanted to remove the tip for the main server and they told us that this was not possible, if you want to eliminate them, you punish them all, not just one for their bad service.

[Beachammo]

I thought nothing could be done day one before sailing; no charges have been applied to your account, so nothing to "remove". In some cases OBC isn't even loaded to the account day one :o

Not sure if they were able to accomplish it.....but the passengers on my left and right were asking about removing the gratuities.

 

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[gerif]

It is not as easy as many people think, we just wanted to remove the tip for the main server and they told us that this was not possible, if you want to eliminate them, you punish them all, not just one for their bad service.

Why did you even tolerate bad service in the first place? A word to the head waiter should be sufficient to either improve service or be assigned a different server. Only had it happen twice in many cruises but it works. I just cannot understand why anyone would tolerate bad service for the duration of a cruise and then, when it’s too late to do anything about it, try to remove tips.

[gerelmx]

Why did you even tolerate bad service in the first place? A word to the head waiter should be sufficient to either improve service or be assigned a different server. Only had it happen twice in many cruises but it works. I just cannot understand why anyone would tolerate bad service for the duration of a cruise and then, when it’s too late to do anything about it, try to remove tips.

 

All cruise we have a good service but exactly last night was the problem he forgot one of the main dishes

[SamTimeDining]

All cruise we have a good service but exactly last night was the problem he forgot one of the main dishes

 

That one little error warrants him losing out on gratuities from you for your entire cruise? Wow.

[gerif]

All cruise we have a good service but exactly last night was the problem he forgot one of the main dishes

He was human. Did he cheerfully go get it or become nasty and argumentative? How much did you want refunded? Like $2 (after all, he did provide service other than forgetting one entree)? For that you seriously stood in line at guest services? Certainly not worth my vacation time.

[gerelmx]

The one little error warrants him losing out on gratuities from you for your entire cruise? Wow.

 

How will you feel when all in your table are eating and they ask you what happen with you dish? He forgot it

[gerelmx]

He was human. Did he cheerfully go get it or become nasty and argumentative? How much did you want refunded? Like $2 (after all, he did provide service other than forgetting one entree)? For that you seriously stood in line at guest services? Certainly not worth my vacation time.

 

I understand they have to attend to many tables an people, an he write down the items ordered from everyone

there is no excuse he forgot my dish.

[twinmommy08]

I remove auto grats after lunch on the first day. [emoji16]

 

 

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[SamTimeDining]

How will you feel when all in your table are eating and they ask you what happen with you dish? He forgot it

 

I'd understand it was a simple mistake and laugh it off. I certainty wouldn't try and remove his earned gratuities for a job well done at all other meals.

[Hoopster95]

Yet another 24+ page thread on RCL "tipping" coupled with the ignorance that the automatic "gratuities" are not gratuities at all.... RCL calls them that, but they are not gratuities as defined in the dictionary. They form a massive chunk (70%? 80%? 90%?) of their wages. I feel that RCL, and all the lines, should be mandated by law to incorporate all of their set costs (especially wages) into the base cruise fare.

[gerif]

I remove auto grats after lunch on the first day. [emoji16]

 

 

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And for that you are proud of yourself? Sad.