Gratuities on RCCL

[SRF]

On 12/31/2018 at 11:45 AM, invision said:

Well this is all I found for breakout. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

 

I paid the room steward $200, the Waiter $150, Concierge $150, plus another $200 to folks that helped.  I think that was much more that the pre-paid, but who knows since I have not seen any official breakdown...

 

M

 

 

 

How much did you tip the bus boys?  How about those in the laundry?  The pool towel person?

[Bee Guy]

3 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

How much did you tip the bus boys?  How about those in the laundry?  The pool towel person?

 Who do you tip when you eat at a restaurant ashore?

[papaflamingo]

20 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

He is correct. Costa and MSC called it a non-removable service charge for a while in Europe, they lost at court and removed it. If it is not optional it must be part of the published base fare. Royal does not want to publish a higher price that simply includes gratuities = higher wages. They want to increase the base fare and add all kind of extra payments at the same time. This all comes in combination with decreasing quality of service and adding more people to the ships.

I was unaware of that.  Thanks for the info. 

[papaflamingo]

10 minutes ago, Bee Guy said:

 Who do you tip when you eat at a restaurant ashore?

Many people tip via the credit card....it's added on.  That is like auto-tips.  You are putting your tip on the bill then the management decides how to divide it.   Auto-tips on the ship simply  puts the tip on the credit card.  

In all honesty, is it really up to us to always question the pay agreement between the cruise line and the employees?   They know what they've signed on for, what the expected pay is, what the pay rules are when they take the job.  Most crew that I have talked to over 34 cruises have been doing this job for a number of years. So it would seem they are happy with the pay schedule.   How many of you want the customers of your company decide that your pay is unfair so they're going to deduct it from the price of the product and decide for themselves how to compensate YOU?  Pretty sure y'all would tell them that the compensation agreement between you and your employer is none of their concern.  Do you REALLY know if that restaurant tip gets to the people who deserve it?  NO. You just trust that the employees wouldn't work for a company that scams their money. Why not make that same assumption about the cruise industry and just enjoy the cruise instead of trying to figure a way around the gratuities? 

[invision]

11 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

How much did you tip the bus boys?  How about those in the laundry?  The pool towel person?

 

We tip the Asst Waiter $75 on the last trip.  Not sure of bus boy but the asst waiter & waiter clear and clean our table.  Head waiter got $25 and never seen or met the Maitre D. 

 

Don't tip no laundry folks (except when we are in the cabin and clothes are brought to the door), or other crew such as dock line tenders, crane operators, etc...   I can honestly say at home we don't tip grocery stock boys, go into laundries and look for folders, trash men, movie ticket sellers, county workers changing light bulbs...etc.   I think you are confused on tip .vs. subsidizing salaries.  Hence again, why RCCL really needs breakout completely the gratuity charge.

 

M

[invision]

3 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Why not make that same assumption about the cruise industry and just enjoy the cruise instead of trying to figure a way around the gratuities? 

 

Wrong !!  Not figuring a way around, but getting money to the folks I want to tip.  That why I like to hand the member I wish to tip the tip in person.

 

Bottom line is the Cruise Line should pay the crew proper salaries and tipping should be left to guest receiving good service.

 

M

[nelblu]

19 hours ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Not necessarily! 🤔👍

 

How so.  If RCL rolls grats into the basic fare, you are ultimately paying.  Nothing is in life is free, unless you're on welfare.

[papaflamingo]

14 minutes ago, invision said:

 

Wrong !!  Not figuring a way around, but getting money to the folks I want to tip.  That why I like to hand the member I wish to tip the tip in person.

 

Bottom line is the Cruise Line should pay the crew proper salaries and tipping should be left to guest receiving good service.

 

M

You are always free to tip as you please.  I leave the auto gratuity on as it pays those who are scheduled to share in it.  Then I give cash to those who have directly affected me, those whom I want.  I appreciate all the crew who work so hard.  Even those who serve me in the windjammer, Sorrentos, etc.   As for "proper salaries," just accept that your auto gratuity makes up the "proper salary" and anything you add above that is a tip.   Then you can be happy that the compensation agreement between the cruise line and employee is being fulfilled and you can still reward your favorite crew members without punishing those behind the scenes who add so much to your cruise.  

If the auto gratuities were simply added into the cost of the cruise, causing your cruise price to increase appropriately, would that make you happy?  Because I'm pretty sure that people would complain that they had bad service and no option to remove gratuities.  Like restaurants that automatically add a tip in for parties of 6 or more.  If the service is not up to par, you have no recourse to remove the tip.  Is that what you really want?  

By the way, I just finished a cruise on a line that is all inclusive.  I much preferred that.  No concerns about tips, etc.  The only additional cost was laundry.    So I'm all in when it comes to rolling gratuities into the cruise price.  It just isn't the way that main stream cruise lines choose to do it. 

Edited January 2, 2019 by papaflamingo

[invision]

I guess you're saying you are comfortable with where your gratuities go even thou you don't have a clue where they go.  My bet  is there is 20% or more going to overhead in RCCL (probably just counting beans).

 

I am saying charge me for the cruise with crew getting proper salaries and let me choose who gets my money tip for great service and they get to keep it.

 

M

[Thechamp555]

Goof point Invision !

Edited January 2, 2019 by Thechamp555

[Thorben-Hendrik]

20 minutes ago, nelblu said:

 

How so.  If RCL rolls grats into the basic fare, you are ultimately paying.  Nothing is in life is free, unless you're on welfare.

When the grats were included the fares did NOT change ....grats are a scam 🙄👍

I like the current system so! 👍 🙃

 

[nelblu]

1 minute ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

When the grats were included the fares did NOT change ....grats are a scam 🙄👍

I like the current system so! 👍 🙃

 

 

Grats included--how long ago.  You must be really old.

[nelblu]

Where's Biker and hid dead horse!

[Thorben-Hendrik]

3 minutes ago, nelblu said:

 

Grats included--how long ago.  You must be really old.

Australia and some European markets quite recent....

There is a whole world out there! 😁

[Ourusualbeach]

47 minutes ago, invision said:

I guess you're saying you are comfortable with where your gratuities go even thou you don't have a clue where they go.  My bet  is there is 20% or more going to overhead in RCCL (probably just counting beans).

 

I am saying charge me for the cruise with crew getting proper salaries and let me choose who gets my money tip for great service and they get to keep it.

 

M

 

You could also look at it this way.

 

Leave the autograts in place and call that part of the basic cruise cost. 

Then assume that the crew are getting paid a proper salary.  What is proper is not for you or I to decide as the cost of living for most of those working on the ship is completely different that what we would expect.  The crew sign a contract and know how much they can expect to make based on people leaving the auto grats in place.  If they didn’t like that they wouldn’t sign the contract and in many, many cases return year after year for multiple contracts.

 

Then tip above and beyond that as a true tip to those that provide excellent service.

 

If Royal were to eliminate the autograts and pay the staff a fair wage the price of the cruise would go up anyway and you would not save a thing. In fact I would bet that you would spend more on gratuities than you are currently as you would not see the daily service charge on your account so you would be more inclined to tip.

 

 

[invision]

Simply questions -

 

Why call them gratuities?

 

Why not give detailed breakout of whom gets what?

 

I am pretty sure the answer to the 2nd question is confidential for a reason.  WAY TOO MUCH OVERHEAD !!  But prove me wrong RCCL.  Kind of reminds me of old mafia movies :-)

 

M

[springfire]

1 hour ago, invision said:

I guess you're saying you are comfortable with where your gratuities go even thou you don't have a clue where they go.  My bet  is there is 20% or more going to overhead in RCCL (probably just counting beans).

 

I am saying charge me for the cruise with crew getting proper salaries and let me choose who gets my money tip for great service and they get to keep it.

 

M

Great point!  RCCL does give you the option to remove the automatic gratuities and hand out cash to those who provide great service to you, the choice is yours.

[gatour]

On 12/31/2018 at 10:50 AM, ONECRUISER said:

Well said. Was a Manager of Rest/Bar 35yrs ago and my Wait Staff were making those low wages plus their tips. This all while putting themselves threw college, doing so while living on own...

If you were managing in Florida, I was one of  those staff memebers.  I put my self through college without help from the parents or college loans working in the restaurant industry.

 

To the Gov't tips are considered part of the restaurant staff's wages.  Wish all people would understand this.

[invision]

I get your point.  But what if the wait staff or stewards was only getting $1-2 out of the room gratuities $17.50 they are charging.  Should be an open book so "we" passengers can gauge if certain staff performing incredible service needed additional "WoW $$".

 

m

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, invision said:

I get your point.  But what if the wait staff or stewards was only getting $1-2 out of the room gratuities $17.50 they are charging.  Should be an open book so "we" passengers can gauge if certain staff performing incredible service needed additional "WoW $$".

 

m

If that is all they were getting they would not return, contract after contract.  They willingly agree to work on board at the wages Royal has set out for them.

 

You can either waste a whole lot of time and energy trying to figure out a system that you think will better serve those working on board and in the process probably shortchange many who are behind the scenes that you don’t see or you can accept that the staff are paid and tip extra for great service.

[ONECRUISER]

22 minutes ago, gatour said:

If you were managing in Florida, I was one of  those staff memebers.  I put my self through college without help from the parents or college loans working in the restaurant industry.

 

To the Gov't tips are considered part of the restaurant staff's wages.  Wish all people would understand this.

Agree 100%

[invision]

I guess I can't explain myself well.  I want to know where our $35.00 a day is going and be sure it is not mostly overhead bean counting...  Would you pay $17.50 a day if the bean counters were getting $12.00 of that for "overhead".  These are not gratuities by definition.

 

M

[LMaxwell]

4 hours ago, FriscoTxMom said:

So if you tip strictly in cash do the behind the scenes folks get any money? I'm talking about the people washing the bedding, the busboys, etc. I am all for going around the corporate process but I don't want to punish people because I didn't see them face to face. Someone said earlier that if you take your gratuities off and pay in cash that those still get reported and split but if you give them cash over and above that they don't have to split those but my question is how do they know the difference when you are just handing someone cash? I will have 3 staterooms/6 people cruising in my party in June and I would love to have a plan going in. I'm tempted to leave them on and just give extra to the room steward and wait person. 

Any cash that you give to anyone, under, equal, above, doesn't matter; ANY cash that you give is theirs to keep.  Bars may have a pool jar going on, but the company doesn't require anyone report or turn in.  Asked a HD on Navigator and Asst GS Manager on Mariner, both in 2018.   There is NO staff shakedown after each shift.  If you want to give someone cash directly be assured it is theirs.  If me, random internet stranger, does not assure you; ask at guest services on your next cruise and hear for yourself directly.  There are many old maids tales floating around CC but onboard management will tell you otherwise 

Edited January 2, 2019 by LMaxwell

[Ourusualbeach]

5 minutes ago, invision said:

I guess I can't explain myself well.  I want to know where our $35.00 a day is going and be sure it is not mostly overhead bean counting...  Would you pay $17.50 a day if the bean counters were getting $12.00 of that for "overhead".  These are not gratuities by definition.

 

M

While I can’t tell you for sure that Royal is not taking some of that money I can confidently say they are not taking $12 of the $17.50.  Do the math.  With that little left to split among so many people staff would not return contract after contract.  If the staff thought that Royal was taking large amounts of the gratuities they would not return.

 

Royal wants and needs qualified workers who are happy.  If they treated them like crap these people would not return time and time again.

 

At the end of the day it’s none of my business where the money goes.  Royal has provided a suggested amount.  I can agree with that amount, leave it in place and not have to spend another second thinking about it or I can have it removed and do as I please.

Edited January 2, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[invision]

 

Oh so you have first hand knowledge.?   Boats have 2500-6000 folks onboard.  Don't take much to add up to big money.

 

LMaxwell  TY for that info.  So if I give my waiter $100 cash he keeps cash?  Or has to turn it in if I don't prepay gratuities.