Tips

[Ocean Boy]

7 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

In the UK if you cancel over 91 days ahead you lose your deposit.

Cancellation charges then

You lose

90-57 days 50%

56-42 days 60%

41-16 days 75%

15-6 days 90%

Less than 6 days 100%

They can resell your cabin too.

 

 

 

So isn't it better not to have tips rolled into the fare and put at risk? At least that way if you pre-paid they would be refunded and if charged to your on board account then you have lost nothing.

[grapau27]

7 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Yes, and after I posted I thought what I wrote sounded a bit snarky and I didn't mean to come off that way toward you but it was too late to edit.

No problem my DS friend.

[kag19]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 8:56 PM, clean1owner said:

 

 

On Frontier you are just about asked to bring your own toilet paper.

 

No, that is Spirit.  LOL!

[Ocean Boy]

5 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

No problem my DS friend.

😊

[grapau27]

5 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

So isn't it better not to have tips rolled into the fare and put at risk? At least that way if you pre-paid they would be refunded and if charged to your on board account then you have lost nothing.

A few cruise companies catering to British cruisers (P&O, Marella,NCL)have included tips in the fare because a large proportion of Brit's were stopping their autogratuities.

In the case of P&O autotips until May are only £6pppd approx $8pppd regardless if you are in a suite or an inside cabin.

[clean1owner]

On 2/12/2019 at 8:28 AM, SRF said:

 

Then how do you tip the people you don't see, that are part of the auto tipping??????

 

 

Who might that be?

 

[clean1owner]

On 2/12/2019 at 6:09 PM, katiel53 said:

I want to preface what I am about to post with I DO NOT REMOVE GRATUITIES.  I am just going to play devil's advocate and will welcome comments.  I am posting my own experiences.

 

We book the UDP which includes lunches and dinners all week.  We tip $10 per person for dinner and $5 per person for lunch.  On these days we do not eat breakfast as we can't eat a large lunch and a huge dinner.  (Booking online states gratuities are included, but who knows how much?)

 

On port days we either eat off the ship or in the WJ for breakfast.

 

Our requests of our cabin steward are ice twice daily and 3 large towels when towels are changed.  We do not have children to mess up the cabin and we pick up after ourselves.

 

Ok, now to my  ??????????

These are things I might consider/do.  I am interested in opinions.  Thanks.

 

If we removed tips:

 

We could/do eat in the WJ on port days for breakfast , so I could leave a tip at my table just as I do when/if I go to a buffet on land.

 

We do could/do tip the steward extra because he/she is usually friendly and does some things that I consider extra, ie taking laundry to be washed.  We could give the steward the regular amount plus extra because we usually get great service.

 

When we stay on a hotel we don't tip the laundry people, the guest services, the entertainment etc. (I don't know all that fit into the extra category.)

 

I guess I am thinking that there are those who are part of the tip pool that I feel should not be.  I think a while ago some cruise line decided that laundry etc, should be a tipped position.  I DO NOT BEGRUDGE THESE PEOPLE EARNING MONEY, but I do begrudge the company for charging us for something that was/should be part of the cruise fare.  In the "old days" they were paid without tips and I guess I don't understand why now they are part of the tipping.   I have asked Royal Caribbean again, who is part of the "other" and haven't received an answer.  I have also asked if I removed tips, and tipped cash, does that person have to turn in the tips to the pool.  I sent this email a week ago and have not received an answer.

 

So, if for my next cruise I decide I want to remove my gratuities, tip my cabin steward, specialty restaurants and for the occasional meal in the WJ or even if I went to the MDR tip for that meal by leaving a couple of bucks on the table, what's the problem?

 

 

By the way, I do get the alcohol package and tip at least $1 a drink extra, so not tipping is not my thing, but I am starting to wonder about where my money goes.  I know some will just disagree and tell me basically to shut up, but I do have my opinion.

 

 

 

Ok, I am ready for those to slam me about how hard people on the ship work etc, etc, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nobody but the Royal Caribbean execs knows exactly were your auto-tips $$$ goes. It isn't published anywhere, and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a response to your email.

[SRF]

17 hours ago, clean1owner said:

Who might that be?

 

 

Busboys.  Workers in the buffet.

 

Laundry for all your towels and sheets.

 

The list of tips and how much used to be on the RCCL site, and has been reposted here many times.

[Ocean Boy]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

 

Busboys.  Workers in the buffet.

 

Laundry for all your towels and sheets.

 

The list of tips and how much used to be on the RCCL site, and has been reposted here many times.

The list used to be Cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter. And back in the pre-auto grats era those were the only envelopes left in the cabin that were directed to anyone.  I never saw any mention about the ship's laundry. Some posters around here are notorious for making up their own facts. That may be how the "list" has grown.

[DfDinLA]

I strongly agree with Colorado Babe in post #7.

 

Tipping is such an American thing.  If you eat dinner at a famous restaurant in Paris the check arrives with "service compris" noted at the bottom.  The price is the price and you do not add a tip even though you have been treated as if you were royalty.  To me there is something civilized about that.

[ONECRUISER]

On 2/7/2019 at 5:46 AM, Colorado Babe said:

So many folks remove them on the last sea day.  It is sad. I think they should just build the tips into the cruise fare.  This is the only way to ensure that the staff get paid.  

Years ago before the deductions everyone paid tips last nite. Was sad seeing many empty tables on last nite as some skipped out paying anything

Edited February 14, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[time4u2go]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

The list used to be Cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter. And back in the pre-auto grats era those were the only envelopes left in the cabin that were directed to anyone.  I never saw any mention about the ship's laundry. Some posters around here are notorious for making up their own facts. That may be how the "list" has grown.

Good point.  If it includes the laundry workers, does it then include the people that fix the laundry machines when they break?  Does it include the people that cook the food that the laundry workers eat?  Where does it end?  What's the cutoff point?

[mafig]

I remember one poster who cruised mostly on Celebrity bragging about how he didn't tip.  Said he was Australian, but was really from Texas.

Anyway, he said that he used to stuff the envelopes with paper.  He bragged about it, too.  He doesn't post on CC anymore that I know of (at least with his former name).

 

 

[katiel53]

21 hours ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

Nobody but the Royal Caribbean execs knows exactly were your auto-tips $$$ goes. It isn't published anywhere, and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a response to your email.

Last night I had a chat on Royal Caribbean's FB page and spoke with Gwen.  I kept pushing to know who was tipped and who were the "others."  

 

This is a direct quote from our conversation:

 

The daily gratuity is shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams. If you chose to pay the stewards in cash they don't have to turn in any of those gratuities.  I then pushed to ask who the other hotel service teams are.  She didn't answer and I continued asking. 

 

Below is what she advised me.

 

I understand that you want to know where it goes. It goes to just about everyone but the Officers and Entertainers. -Gwen

[ktex1968]

Tips are for service personnel- stewards, waiters, etc., not cooks, laundry folks, etc.  PAY YOUR OWN DAMN EMPLOYEES RCCL.  That being said, I pay automatically but I think it's a total crock of crap. 

[clean1owner]

5 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Busboys.  Workers in the buffet.

 

Laundry for all your towels and sheets.

 

The list of tips and how much used to be on the RCCL site, and has been reposted here many times.

 

 

You have a link to this list?

[clean1owner]

2 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Years ago before the deductions everyone paid tips last nite. Was sad seeing many empty tables on last nite as some skipped out paying anything

 

 

How do you know they skipped paying? They could have missed dinner for any number of reasons and still dropped off the envelopes with the Maitre D'. 

[clean1owner]

1 hour ago, katiel53 said:

Last night I had a chat on Royal Caribbean's FB page and spoke with Gwen.  I kept pushing to know who was tipped and who were the "others."  

 

This is a direct quote from our conversation:

 

The daily gratuity is shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams. If you chose to pay the stewards in cash they don't have to turn in any of those gratuities.  I then pushed to ask who the other hotel service teams are.  She didn't answer and I continued asking. 

 

Below is what she advised me.

 

I understand that you want to know where it goes. It goes to just about everyone but the Officers and Entertainers. -Gwen

 

 

In other words, if "Gwen" is legitimately in the know, RCCL is trying to get passengers to subsidize wages they should, and refuse to pay. 

 

So if you check in to a hotel, and they have a tip jar on the counter to subsidize all of the hotel workers, you should probably be obligated to drop some $$$ in there too. 

[zdad59]

1 hour ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

How do you know they skipped paying? They could have missed dinner for any number of reasons and still dropped off the envelopes with the Maitre D'. 

 

Agreed.    We eat in the MDR 6 of 7 nights each cruise, with dinner in a specialty restaurant on the last night.    We hand out our tip envelopes to the waiter, asst. waiter, bar server, and restaurant mgr on the last night we are in the MDR.

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

How do you know they skipped paying? They could have missed dinner for any number of reasons and still dropped off the envelopes with the Maitre D'. 

I Said Some... They do it now, sure were doing it then. Not like there was anywhere else to eat, no choices like today...

Edited February 15, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[clean1owner]

Just now, fyree39 said:

I didn't realize there were so many cheapskates on Royal. I thought the cruisers on Royal were a bit classier than that, but apparently not.  I really hope all the mass market lines build the gratuities into the fare so cheapskates can't take the money out of the crew's pockets and put it back into their own.

 

 

Do you really hope that Royal would just pay the crew a decent wage and stop the charade?

[time4u2go]

1 minute ago, fyree39 said:

I didn't realize there were so many cheapskates on Royal. I thought the cruisers on Royal were a bit classier than that, but apparently not.  I really hope all the mass market lines build the gratuities into the fare so cheapskates can't take the money out of the crew's pockets and put it back into their own.

They've been doing it the current way for years.  It would seem unlikely they will change.

[clean1owner]

Just now, fyree39 said:

No. I really hope the cheapskates out there would quite stealing money from the crew.

 

 

Why would not want Royal to pay the crew a decent wage?

 

[Expat Cruise]

7 minutes ago, fyree39 said:

No. I really hope the cheapskates out there would quite stealing money from the crew.

Sorry but guests are not stealing.  Posters should understand the meaning of words before posting them.

 

steal stealing: take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it.

 

Since guests have the legal right to remove or adjust as they see fit, it cannot be stealing..... But the best part of this whole discussion is that no matter what people post say or want done with tipping, no one can stop guests from doing anything they want.  It is completely a optional choice.  

[John&LaLa]

On 2/13/2019 at 1:05 PM, Ocean Boy said:

😊

 

You're one of them. 😱