Onboard ROTS - Need help with tips- bad internet

[fredflint]

There was nothing stopping you from handing those people some cash.

 

There were several people that were working that is why I say you should be able to do it by department.  Such as lifeguard, windjammer staff, teen activities and let them pool those tips among themselves.

 

I think it would be a good way to reward the team.   

 

People can work for a small or really large company it does not mean they are well taken care of.  The largest American companies such as Walmart and Amazon do not have the best record of taking are of employees.

 

[Sam Ting]

5 minutes ago, fredflint said:

There was nothing stopping you from handing those people some cash.

 

There were several people that were working that is why I say you should be able to do it by department.  Such as lifeguard, windjammer staff, teen activities and let them pool those tips among themselves.

 

I think it would be a good way to reward the team.   

 

People can work for a small or really large company it does not mean they are well taken care of.  The largest American companies such as Walmart and Amazon do not have the best record of taking are of employees.

 

So us one supposed to write a check to Walmart or amazon in the hopes it somehow trickles down to their employees?

[not-enough-cruising]

27 minutes ago, Sam Ting said:

So us one supposed to write a check to Walmart or amazon in the hopes it somehow trickles down to their employees?

EXCELLENT point and perhaps some will see how ridiculous it is to give RCI $14.50 per day and hope that they get it to the people that you feel deserve it

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, Sam Ting said:

Why people voluntarily donate to a billion dollar company to pay their staff is beyond me.   

Every customer uses their money to pay the staff of any company they patronize.  That's how companies work.  

[Merion_Mom]

3 hours ago, Sam Ting said:

Why people voluntarily donate to a billion dollar company to pay their staff is beyond me.   

 

50 minutes ago, brillohead said:

Every customer uses their money to pay the staff of any company they patronize.  That's how companies work.  

 

Yes, every penny you give to Royal Caribbean, @Sam Ting, goes to cover the expenses of running the cruise ships.  That includes the staff. 

[Balsam12]

This would be so much easier if RC did the same in the US as they do in Australia... there is no "gratuity" charge here. You pay a bit more for your cruise in the first place, then only tip staff if you want to.

 

There are no "gratuities" to remove, and this thread never existed...

[voyager70]

4 hours ago, Sam Ting said:

Why people voluntarily donate to a billion dollar company to pay their staff is beyond me.   

 

Because it's the right thing to do.  Your attitude is beyond me.

 

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, brillohead said:

Every customer uses their money to pay the staff of any company they patronize.  That's how companies work.  

Exactly. I paid my cruise fare.

[brillohead]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Exactly. I paid my cruise fare.

You paid your cruise fare with the understanding that it is normal and customary to pay the daily service charge for every passenger.  This is a traditional way of paying for service on a cruise ship, going back decades and decades and decades.  

If you book a cruise knowing that it is expected that you will pay X amount additional fees per person per day to those who are making your vacation the great time that it is, but then you don't pay that amount because you "legally don't have to according to the letter of the law" -- you're a cheap arse and a meanie-butt.  

 

[brillohead]

54 minutes ago, Balsam12 said:

This would be so much easier if RC did the same in the US as they do in Australia... there is no "gratuity" charge here. You pay a bit more for your cruise in the first place, then only tip staff if you want to.

 

There are no "gratuities" to remove, and this thread never existed...

I wish this would happen, too.  Unfortunately, until ALL the mainstream lines do it, there's no incentive for RC to do it -- it makes their fares look higher compared to the competition.  Maybe a law in the USA like you have in Oz will be introduced some day....

 

[tinkr2]

13 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Exactly. I paid my cruise fare.

You are worse than worse. You took a cruise with the full understanding of the gratuities but then did not leave them. I hope you announced to your cabin steward and all the servers UP FRONT, that you do not believe in paying any part of their wages. No towel animals for you as "cheap are and a meaniebutt"

[tinkr2]

On 5/10/2019 at 6:52 AM, grinningimm said:

This is the last day of the TA. We have not eaten in the MDR but once in 14 days.  We want to be fair to the Windjammer staff, so for the first time ever, we are cancelling the autogratuities and distributing money manually.  Somewhere I saw the formula that RC uses to divide our $14.50 pp per day into 3 buckets: cabin steward, MDR team, and "other".  Can someone give me those numbers? I need them on a per person per day basis.

 

@Host Clarea perhaps you can help?  Your answers are succinct, and I don't want to start a tipping thread.  I just need numbers, and need them quickly.

Just leave tips on bc it is the right thing to do and there is no reasonable way to allocate to the breakfast and lunch staff unless you tipped on every table the entire 2 weeks.

[not-enough-cruising]

22 minutes ago, tinkr2 said:

You are worse than worse. You took a cruise with the full understanding of the gratuities but then did not leave them. I hope you announced to your cabin steward and all the servers UP FRONT, that you do not believe in paying any part of their wages. No towel animals for you as "cheap are and a meaniebutt"

NEVER said I wasn’t paying gratuities, I just refuse to allow RCI to be the middle man. 

[not-enough-cruising]

34 minutes ago, brillohead said:

You paid your cruise fare with the understanding that it is normal and customary to pay the daily service charge for every passenger.  This is a traditional way of paying for service on a cruise ship, going back decades and decades and decades.  

If you book a cruise knowing that it is expected that you will pay X amount additional fees per person per day to those who are making your vacation the great time that it is, but then you don't pay that amount because you "legally don't have to according to the letter of the law" -- you're a cheap arse and a meanie-butt.  

 

Wow, meanie-butt? Haven’t heard that one since the second grade. 

[Cru1s1ng2009]

44 minutes ago, brillohead said:

You paid your cruise fare with the understanding that it is normal and customary to pay the daily service charge for every passenger.  This is a traditional way of paying for service on a cruise ship, going back decades and decades and decades.  

If you book a cruise knowing that it is expected that you will pay X amount additional fees per person per day to those who are making your vacation the great time that it is, but then you don't pay that amount because you "legally don't have to according to the letter of the law" -- you're a cheap arse and a meanie-butt.  

 

I don't even know why we try to reason with these people. They can afford a cruise but don't tip. That $15 a day is almost nothing to us but everything to them. It makes me wish everyone worked for tips at least once in their lives. What they are doing is darn near stealing. 

And I get preferring to do it the old way with envelopes and handing them out but why add them then unadd them?

 

 

[PhoenixCruiser]

Exactly! I really hope that cruise ship employees keep and share notes on passengers.

Those non-tippers better carry their toothbrushes with them.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[tinkr2]

I know people who can remember non tippers years later from just dining. Surely a steward or server that had you for 2 weeks on a ta would remember you well forever. And tell their friends the second they saw you on board. Because that is exactly how it works in restaurants. They run up and say, oh bad tipper or oh they're a great tipper. It baffles me when regulars are bad tippers. 

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

NEVER said I wasn’t paying gratuities, I just refuse to allow RCI to be the middle man. 

But in this case, the system is designed for RCI to be the middle man so that everyone gets their fair share.  

There are people behind the scenes, that you never see, who receive a portion of your tips.  It's not fair to them when you remove your daily service charge from your account, because you will never see them to hand them an envelope.  

How do you tip the person who cleans the public toilets?  Do you hang out in the restroom until they come by on their scheduled cleaning run?  

Just leave the charge on your account, and tip extra to people if you feel the need.

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Wow, meanie-butt? Haven’t heard that one since the second grade. 

Well, the TOS of this site wouldn't allow me to use the actual words that you deserve, so I had to improvise. 

[Bobal]

5 hours ago, brillohead said:

How do you tip the person who cleans the public toilets?  Do you hang out in the restroom until they come by on their scheduled cleaning run?  
 

 

I'll tell you how - by finding out their name and leaving a comment on the feedback questionnaire. I did this for a lovely young woman who worked as a restroom attendant on a RC ship. She handed over towels, opened the doors, always had a smile and a friendly word. I saw her a year or so later on the same ship and she'd been promoted because others had done the same. Sometimes a cash tip isn't the only way of showing appreciation.

[shopaholic6]

55 minutes ago, Bobal said:

 

I'll tell you how - by finding out their name and leaving a comment on the feedback questionnaire. I did this for a lovely young woman who worked as a restroom attendant on a RC ship. She handed over towels, opened the doors, always had a smile and a friendly word. I saw her a year or so later on the same ship and she'd been promoted because others had done the same. Sometimes a cash tip isn't the only way of showing appreciation.

I agree. Apparently if you compliment staff by name in the feedback questionnaire they get all sorts of perks on the ship.

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, Bobal said:

 

I'll tell you how - by finding out their name and leaving a comment on the feedback questionnaire. I did this for a lovely young woman who worked as a restroom attendant on a RC ship. She handed over towels, opened the doors, always had a smile and a friendly word. I saw her a year or so later on the same ship and she'd been promoted because others had done the same. Sometimes a cash tip isn't the only way of showing appreciation.

My point was, there isn't always an attendant in the restroom every time you enter, and there isn't just one single attendant servicing every single restroom. 

So do you hang around for an hour until they show up again to hand them a cash tip?  Or do you just leave your auto-grats in place so they receive their portion?

[papaflamingo]

All you conspiracy theorists are hilarious!  You really think that Royal Caribbean, or any cruise line, is collecting auto gratuities and skimming off the top?  Seriously?  You don't think that the crew members know how much everyone pays in tips and how much they are scheduled to receive per passenger on board?  Seriously?  Then please, tell me, since RCCL is so "devious" as to steal the tip money, why do crew members sign contract after contract for years?  Please, tell us, inquiring minds want to know.  And answer this question...if you are so distrustful of Royal Caribbean that you don't want to "donate" to the tip fund, why in God's name do you plomp down thousands of your hard earned dollars to cruise on them?  And why, if you hate the "billion dollar industry" so much, do you not only pay to cruise on them, but decide the way to get "even" is to withhold funds from the lowest paid and hardest working employees on the ship?  Brilliant.  

[brillohead]

17 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Then please, tell me, since RCCL is so "devious" as to steal the tip money, why do crew members sign contract after contract for years?  Please, tell us, inquiring minds want to know.  

I had a waiter on Navigator who had been with Royal for TWENTY YEARS, he enjoyed it so much.  He was Jamaican and was able to send all of his children to school, thanks to his job with RCI.  He certainly wouldn't have stayed with them that long if they were screwing him over on his wages!

 

17 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

And why, if you hate the "billion dollar industry" so much, do you not only pay to cruise on them, but decide the way to get "even" is to withhold funds from the lowest paid and hardest working employees on the ship?  Brilliant.  

 

People who withhold auto-grats "on principle" are just evil, IMO.  My waiter on Navigator wouldn't have been able to send his kids to school without the tips he earned with RCI -- anyone who removes their tiny-fraction-of-the-cruise-cost auto-grats is potentially denying someone's child of an education.  Cheap and evil.  

Edited May 12, 2019 by brillohead

[grinningimm]

Oh cool, another tipping thread!!! Just what I said I wanted in my OP!!  Not.

 

This is the first time I've checked the thread since @Host Clarea was kind enough to provide me with what I asked for. Thank you, kind sir, for the info.  If the internet had been remotely consistent on the boat, I would have asked for the thread to be closed immediately after his reply.  Instead, I had to read the post he linked to, and then start asking questions to see if what I was attempting was actually achievable and fair. Getting enough info to make that determination took several hours, as every officer I checked with gave me a different answer.  More on that below.

 

For those folks that don't want to learn anything, here is the short version of what we did: we left the autotips on AND tipped additional to those we felt went above and beyond. 

 

For those of you who responded with comments about me being cheap, I will take the high road here, and just say you are so very wrong. I have worked in hospitality since retiring, because I enjoy bartending.  I know first hand how tough the work is so I tip very well when I am out. But I thank you for your judgmental attitude, because clearly you have not been thanked enough in your daily lives.

 

For those still reading, here is the rest of the story.  Remember that this all started because we only ate in the MDR once. I was concerned that the MDR staff would be disproportionally compensated over the Windjammer staff (who by the way were magnificent).  So I went to guest services, and explained, in detail, my desire to avoid that very situation, and asked how to proceed.  Did the rep say "just leave it alone, we have a formula that accounts for where you ate"? No he gave me an envelope preprinted with "Additional Gratuity". Hmm, not what I needed.

 

So, I went to the Windjammer, spoke to my favorite server, explaining my dilemma.  She understood my desire to be fair, but pointed out that whether you get a share of tips is specified by your contract.  Her example was that the folks running fresh food from the WJ galley to the serving stations did not share in tips. At that point I suspected there were many aspects of the situation that were going to complicate things, so I asked to speak to a supervisor in the WJ.

 

I explained to the supervisor what my concern was.  Did she say "just leave the tips in place, we have a formula that makes everything fair, based on how many times you ate in the MDR"? No, she said I should bring whatever tips I wanted the WJ staff to have to her, and she would put it in the pool for the WJ.  So I thought, OK, that might be an option.

 

Then I went back to my cabin to see if Cruise Critic had come through for me. I read the material that Bob linked to, where RCI gave the daily breakdown of who gets what. It was helpful, as it pointed out an immediate problem with my plan - it would have stiffed the folks that fell into the "other" category.  Those are the folks (I assume) that are cleaning windows, sweeping and mopping and vacuuming the common areas, emptying trash, etc. There is a LOT of that on a ship, and in the end there was no way to factor them into the resolution of my concerns about dining staff.  

 

The RCI language also suggested that dining staff portion of my daily tip would be spread fairly among anyone involved in the MDR or WJ service.  Perhaps that is why, when walking up to the Front-of-House for our My Time Dining experience, they wanted my cabin number.  I hope that is why they ask.

 

But I am a scientist by training, and I didn't feel comfortable with the "data" I had been given, so I went back to the WJ, and spoke with an officer in the food and beverage department.  (I say officer because this guy had stripes on his sleeves, while the previous "supervisor" had not.)  I once again explained my dilemma.  Did he say "just leave the tips in place, we have a formula that is fair, and takes into account where you eat"? No, he did not, nor did he give me any other ideas on how to proceed.

 

So in the end, I spent a lot of time trying to solve a "problem" that, if it exists, is not really solvable.  If I had cancelled the autotips, I had no way to pay the "other" guys (which was as important to me as not stiffing the WJ staff relative to the MDR folks). So we left them on, and I gave a few folks extra (including the woman that was perpetually at the Park Cafe in the Solarium.  I don't know when she slept.) I did find it very interesting that everyone I spoke with (that was in a position to know) either did not have a deep enough understanding of what goes on to assuage my concerns, or chose not to enlighten me.  I just have to trust that RCI does what it says it does.

 

Which is not comforting given that they say they have the fastest internet at sea.  But that is another issue...

Edited May 12, 2019 by grinningimm
for additional clarity.