Tips going Up

[rukkian]

Crew does NOT get all the money, the cruise lines takes out an administration fee and also takes out things for employess of the month and incentives

 

 

 

If there is some proof or evidence to show that Royal takes some of the gratuity money for ADMINISTRATION costs that cruisers pay, SHOW IT, or for that matter for things like Employee of the Month and other incentives....IF there is NO proof, then the person saying it is just 'speculating' .

Even if it goes to employee of the month, that is just a way to give more to better workers, which is perfectly fine imo.

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Forums mobile app

[Paulette3028]

If there is some proof or evidence to show that Royal takes some of the gratuity money for ADMINISTRATION costs that cruisers pay, SHOW IT, or for that matter for things like Employee of the Month and other incentives....IF there is NO proof, then the person saying it is just 'speculating' .

Even if it goes to employee of the month, that is just a way to give more to better workers, which is perfectly fine imo.

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Forums mobile app

 

But no one can confirm this....so it is speculation and nothing more.

 

If I can't afford to pay the extra in tips with the new rate, perhaps I should not cruise.

 

What is sadder to me, is that this is probably necessary, because more and more cruisers 'are opting out of tipping' and the rest of us have to make up the short fall. Many cruisers will say they tip the 'old fashioned way' giving waiters and cabin stewards cash, but many probably don't tip at all.

[Biker19]

What is sadder to me, is that this is probably necessary, because more and more cruisers 'are opting out of tipping' and the rest of us have to make up the short fall.

Or it is a convenient way for RCI to give the folks who depend on the grats a raise with the customers' money.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Or it is a convenient way for RCI to give the folks who depend on the grats a raise with the customers' money.

But wouldn't any raise come from "the customers' money"? Where else would raises come from? And before you answer "RCI", where does RCI get it's money? From the customers.:p

[Saab4444]

Even if it goes to employee of the month, that is just a way to give more to better workers, which is perfectly fine imo.

 

 

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

But no one can confirm this....so it is speculation and nothing more.

 

 

 

If I can't afford to pay the extra in tips with the new rate, perhaps I should not cruise.

 

 

 

What is sadder to me, is that this is probably necessary, because more and more cruisers 'are opting out of tipping' and the rest of us have to make up the short fall. Many cruisers will say they tip the 'old fashioned way' giving waiters and cabin stewards cash, but many probably don't tip at all.

 

 

 

If the daily amount would remain in a reasonable range and service quality would also not decline significantly not many people would think about opting out of auto tipping.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Saab4444]

But wouldn't any raise come from "the customers' money"? Where else would raises come from? And before you answer "RCI", where does RCI get it's money? From the customers.:p

 

 

 

A raise or bonus usually comes from the profit of the company but not from extra charges in addition to an already increased profit due to higher pricing and cost cutting.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[MandyGirl]

Why, of the 52 weeks out of the year, would the RCCL blog announce this increase *this* week of all weeks, and to take effect January 2? Many people choose to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, have children out of school for holidays, and maybe even participate in New Years festivities during this time of year. The RCCL system is such that we can't pre-pay gratuities like we can with the NCL system on our own when using an agent, so must work with TA over the holidays who probably prefer time with family as well this specific week of the year. Is RCCL even open today? Other increases seem to have been at non-peak holiday weeks of the year and a longer turnaround time / heads-up.

 

I'm totally NOT against the increase and am almost always tipping extra in cash. Just a short turnaround from the date the blog was posted until taking effect has very few business days and is usually a very heavy travel time of the year for many families. It seems RCCL was not very considerate of passengers or agents with the timing of this announcement or increase IMHO (yes, I realize we now live in a society where some expect people to work or be available 24/7, but Christmas of all times??). Yep - I'm up super early as my airline husband showers and we can wake our elementary kiddos to see that Santa came at about 3:45am before daddy leaves for work.

 

We will now be prepaying our 23-night Explorer of the Seas transpacific gratuities that the cruise was already paid in full just to be on the safe side - and our Liberty cruise for late May. For a family of four and cruising 30 nights the first half of the year, we budget every dollar to make sure our trips can happen. I just wish RCCL would have not chosen this specific week of the year to inconvenience passengers and agents, or maybe they were strategic in slipping it in for other reasons. Regardless, Merry Christmas to those here on CruiseCritic! Over 17 years on these boards and always a wealth of information :)

[MandyGirl]

(And I meant to say RCCL increasing - definitely appreciate the blog making us aware and when calling yesterday to inquire noticed RCCL had an option specifically for questions with the gratuity increase- just such poor timing IMHO)

[Ocean Boy]

What is sadder to me, is that this is probably necessary, because more and more cruisers 'are opting out of tipping' and the rest of us have to make up the short fall. Many cruisers will say they tip the 'old fashioned way' giving waiters and cabin stewards cash, but many probably don't tip at all.

Seems to me that you are he one that is speculating now.

[Ocean Boy]

Why, of the 52 weeks out of the year, would the RCCL blog announce this increase *this* week of all weeks, and to take effect January 2? Many people choose to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, have children out of school for holidays, and maybe even participate in New Years festivities during this time of year. The RCCL system is such that we can't pre-pay gratuities like we can with the NCL system on our own when using an agent, so must work with TA over the holidays who probably prefer time with family as well this specific week of the year. Is RCCL even open today? Other increases seem to have been at non-peak holiday weeks of the year and a longer turnaround time / heads-up.

 

What about people who don' follow any blog? I have not received any messages from RCI about any change in gratuities for the cruises I have booked for next year.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

A raise or bonus usually comes from the profit of the company but not from extra charges in addition to an already increased profit due to higher pricing and cost cutting.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

And where does the profit come from? The customers. Therefore, it's still going to be the customer's money. It's the same in any business.

[Biker19]

We will now be prepaying our 23-night Explorer of the Seas transpacific gratuities that the cruise was already paid in full just to be on the safe side -

You could accomplish the same thing by going to GS during the cruise and ask them to remove $46 from grats.

[MandyGirl]

What about people who don' follow any blog? I have not received any messages from RCI about any change in gratuities for the cruises I have booked for next year.

 

 

Correct / that's what I was trying to say is that I am thankful for the blog and seeing it here - have received zilch from RCCL regarding this. It's like they are just trying to slip it through.

 

Asking people to go to GS to have it removed takes away time onboard their vacation and those lines aren't short usually :(

[Paulette3028]

Seems to me that you are he one that is speculating now.

 

This is based on conversations with too many cruisers who have stopped paying tips or significantly reduced tipping.

 

With the advent of specialty restaurants and other eating venues besides the MDR lots of people seem to think that they don't need to tip. There have been lots of people who have told me they don't use the MDR so they see no reason to have those tips paid. Well gee, those same staff members are serving them at other venues around the ship...unless they are just not eating ANYWHERE.

 

Yes, specialty dining does add on tips, and that is OK with me as well.

[MandyGirl]

You could accomplish the same thing by going to GS during the cruise and ask them to remove $46 from grats.

 

 

Takes time out of vacation and lines usually aren't short. $1 x 23 nights x 4 people in our stateroom, plus another cruise in late May is another time standing in line for that 7 nights. It's more of the principle of the matter to me that it seems like RCCL is trying to slip it through when the bold section of page 1 of our PDF confirmations stated differently regarding gratuities . RCCL could have announced this a different week other than the biggest holiday week of the year, had a longer turnaround time, or maybe sent an email to passengers as a heads-up. Or add it in CruisePlanner to prepay gratuities. Agents with hundreds of bookings on RCCL definitely have work over the holidays now unexpectedly. We usually tip extra anyway but it just seems uncool how RCCL is timing this change compared to other gratuity changes that have happened in the past IMHO

[Biker19]

Asking people to go to GS to have it removed takes away time onboard their vacation and those lines aren't short usually :(

If I was to remove the $1 increase, I would rather take 10 min of a 23 day TP at GS, than take a chance RCI screws up the invoice when you call to pre pay the grats.

[mek]

This is based on conversations with too many cruisers who have stopped paying tips or significantly reduced tipping.

 

With the advent of specialty restaurants and other eating venues besides the MDR lots of people seem to think that they don't need to tip. There have been lots of people who have told me they don't use the MDR so they see no reason to have those tips paid. Well gee, those same staff members are serving them at other venues around the ship...unless they are just not eating ANYWHERE.

 

Yes, specialty dining does add on tips, and that is OK with me as well.

 

There are those people who just will find any excuse they can to get out of tipping and justify it. I have to laugh when one of the major complaints on these boards is about the nickel and diming on the ships when it's apparent that the reverse its true of many passengers.

[Husky1987]

Seems to me that you are he one that is speculating now.

 

I’m sure you remember the old days of tipping cash in envelopes on the last night in the MDR....and the noticeably fewer people in the MDR that night. The fact that quite a few people don’t tip if given the option is far from speculation.

 

I’m sure many people who remove auto-grats tip something, many of those even more than the standard. But to think that there isn’t a sizeable chunk of folks who use it as a reason to not tip at all is ridiculous.

[robtulipe]

What about people who don' follow any blog? I have not received any messages from RCI about any change in gratuities for the cruises I have booked for next year.

Same here for the 2 cruises we have booked which are in the next 4 months. In fact I was just checking pricing on another cruise for early next year and RCI's website is still showing gratuities of $13.50 per day if you wish to prepay these.

[Paulette3028]

There are those people who just will find any excuse they can to get out of tipping and justify it. I have to laugh when one of the major complaints on these boards is about the nickel and diming on the ships when it's apparent that the reverse its true of many passengers.

 

Interesting way to make the point about 'the nickel and diming' passengers....but how true.

 

I often find it comical when cruisers mix the tipping issue with changes Royal has made to service offerings, as if the staff they are choosing to either remove their tip from altogether or reduce it, has any control over the decisions the corporation makes.

[born-to-cruise]

It Gratuity $1 a day increase goes to the crew, I don't mind but if it goes to managements I will be furious. I rather hand extra tip to the crew that wow me.

[MandyGirl]

If I was to remove the $1 increase, I would rather take 10 min of a 23 day TP at GS, than take a chance RCI screws up the invoice when you call to pre pay the grats.

 

 

Valid point about how many posts we have seen here over the years of a simple change being made and invoices getting messed up with promos from booking date being dropped. I had misread and understood all changes had to be taken care of by Jan 2. Have a 3 night Celebrity cruise in January, RCCL TP in April and RCCL LOS in late May - three cruises for them to potentially mess up. Still just baffles me why the cruiselines would make a change like this during this week of all weeks, yet have corporate closed to field questions... and still no email communication of the change with two already paid in full and one due soon. Definitely a communication glitch or potential improvement somewhere. I just happened to be doing more reading when hubby left for his Christmas shift and the house was quiet. Much rather do the additional tip in cash like we have for years.

[soremekun]

I just received an email from Royal Caribbean regarding the increase that will take place on January 2.

 

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

[molly361]

Just got email notification of the increase

 

Sent from my BG2-W09 using Forums mobile app

[rafinmd]

I got the email and it said i can prepay at the current rate through the cruise planner but I don't see where to do it in there. What is it under?

 

Thanks

 

Roy