Regent clarifies (no) tipping policy

[flossie009]

On 1/10/2020 at 12:30 PM, Anchorbuoy said:

On Regent's US website FAQ section, the tipping guidelines have been replaced.  https://www.rssc.com/frequently-asked-questions/onboard

The new policy states that tips are included and not accepted.  The new policy also aligns itself with the Marketing language that tips are not expected. The old policy made suggestions to use the Crew Welfare program. 

I see that the relevant FAQ has changed again. It now reads: “All gratuities are included in your cruise fare except for services from Serene Spa & Wellness”

[Anchorbuoy]

3 hours ago, flossie009 said:

I see that the relevant FAQ has changed again. It now reads: “All gratuities are included in your cruise fare except for services from Serene Spa & Wellness”

 

Wow.  Thanks Susan for pointing out the change.  It makes me wonder if Regent is following this discussion, or if the wrong wording was published last week.  This is another big change without prior notice from management.

[CruisetheCs]

 

Another new tip-on-a-trip declaration from Regent!  

 

So we’ve had a somewhat ambiguous tipping policy at Regent for a long time at least as witnessed by threads on CC where opinions ranged from tipping being forbidden to tipping being okay.  Finally in 2019 a Regent exec stated on CC that tips are included but it is still okay to tip.  

 

Then, of course. we have the continued barrage of Regent advertising hype where tips are free and pre-paid.  So apparently the staff gets tips—at least if tips are pre-paid and free, someone presumably gets tips.  But a management official on Explorer told me in October of 2019 that the crew doesn’t receive tips from Regent—the staff are allegedly paid more than some competitors who encourage tipping or add tips to bills.  Well,  if crew aren’t paid tips then how can tips be free and/or pre-paid as Regent advertises?  

 

Then suddenly we are surprised when Regent tells us via its website that tips are not accepted on board.  Oh, oh, what does that mean?  Then on CC we have a post of the new spa menu that says that a service charge will be added to the bill.  Presumably the charge is for a tip, but who really knows?  But if the spa accepts tips how can it be that tips are not accepted onboard?  And if the tips are added to the spa bill, seems like maybe they aren’t really pre-paid nor free as advertised.  (Just wondering.)  And now a CC poster notes that we have an even newer declaration on the Regent website that says that tips are included on Regent except in the spa.  So are we back to the old policy except that tips are now expected in the spa?  Is there still a policy that tips are not accepted somewhere lurking in the shadows?  

 

I’m kind of wondering if these tipping policies were made while the Regent execs were tippling.  

 

Maybe Regent management could comment on on this chain of strange history to update many of the frequent Regent cruisers who monitor this board? 

 

[GOARMY]

Feel like parroting a line from Godfather III:  " Just when I thought I was out (of the Mafia), they drag me back in!"

 

Against my better judgment,  just-one clarification as to matter of adding a Spa "service charge" to the Bill.  Please consider Spa staff are NOT Regent employees.  These folks come and go, as Regent contracts with a third party company to provide Spa personnel and services.  

 

So, apples and oranges as to comparing Spa personnel to, say, Suite Attendants.  

 

With that on the table, I am backing out of getting dragged back into a tipping back-and-forth dialogue.  

 

GOARMY!

 

[fizzy]

Why is the Crew fund cash only? If one has a large amount of non refundable OBC, it would be easy enough to use it up in the gift shop and then donate to the Crew Fund for party raffles and grab bags that they supposedly have. The items certainly have a cash value. I think I am understanding that a donation can not be charged to a credit card? How is all this cash being accounted for? I'm thinking it has to be a pretty substantial bonus cruise after cruise.

[JMARINER]

38 minutes ago, fizzy said:

Why is the Crew fund cash only? If one has a large amount of non refundable OBC, it would be easy enough to use it up in the gift shop and then donate to the Crew Fund for party raffles and grab bags that they supposedly have. The items certainly have a cash value. I think I am understanding that a donation can not be charged to a credit card? How is all this cash being accounted for? I'm thinking it has to be a pretty substantial bonus cruise after cruise.

Part answer: Because not all OBC are created equal. Most (many) of those OBC tht are generated by your travel agent were paid for in cash, and thus can be redeemed for cash. However the OBC that are given by Regent are not redeemable because they want you to use them on "profit marked-up" merchandise or services. In that way a dollar is more like 60 cent is cost to Regent.  This practice in an industry standard which adds to their bottom line.

 

J

[DaveFr]

52 minutes ago, fizzy said:

Why is the Crew fund cash only? If one has a large amount of non refundable OBC, it would be easy enough to use it up in the gift shop and then donate to the Crew Fund for party raffles and grab bags that they supposedly have. The items certainly have a cash value. I think I am understanding that a donation can not be charged to a credit card? How is all this cash being accounted for? I'm thinking it has to be a pretty substantial bonus cruise after cruise.

The crew fund is administered by a committee of the crew who decide how to allocate the funds. Contrary to your information, past posters have reported that they used nonrefundable OBC to purchase items in the boutique which they then donated to the crew for use as raffle prizes etc. Technically, such donations are not part of the crew fund.

 

You are correct that donations to the crew fund must be in cash. However there are two ways I’ve used to charge such donations to a credit card. First, every passenger is entitled to get $400 per cruise, without any fees, from the purser. This charge, which cannot be offset by nonrefundable OBC, is added to your account like any purchase in the boutique. It is then charged to your credit card at the end of the cruise. It is not charged as a cash advance. Second, even when I’ve already taken out my $400 per person advance, I was still able to get cash from the purser without any fees by immediately putting the cash in an envelope for the crew fund and handing it back to the purser. Again, the donation was charged to my credit card as a purchase.

 

Dave

Edited January 16, 2020 by DaveFr

[fizzy]

Thank you for your detailed info.

[SedonaJoel]

On 1/15/2020 at 6:20 PM, GOARMY said:

Feel like parroting a line from Godfather III:  " Just when I thought I was out (of the Mafia), they drag me back in!"

 

Against my better judgment,  just-one clarification as to matter of adding a Spa "service charge" to the Bill.  Please consider Spa staff are NOT Regent employees.  These folks come and go, as Regent contracts with a third party company to provide Spa personnel and services.  

 

So, apples and oranges as to comparing Spa personnel to, say, Suite Attendants.  

 

With that on the table, I am backing out of getting dragged back into a tipping back-and-forth dialogue.  

 

GOARMY!

 

On 1/15/2020 at 6:20 PM, GOARMY said:

 

The Regent Spa is now staffed by Regent employees and the service charge is on the spa invoices.

[ronrick1943]

6 hours ago, SedonaJoel said:

 

The Regent Spa is now staffed by Regent employees and the service charge is on the spa invoices.

So if the Spa is staffed by Regent employees, does that mean Regent now runs the Spa?

[Pcardad]

That's interesting news. Usually the spa, casino, shops, IT and a few other areas are subcontractors. I will ask.

[ronrick1943]

16 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

That's interesting news. Usually the spa, casino, shops, IT and a few other areas are subcontractors. I will ask.

Me too!   I guess Regent hasn't cleared up the Tipping rule yet.

[Pcardad]

I never understood the big discussion over tipping. Some people will, some people won't. I know that Regent employees are supposed to disclose tips over a certain amount to their managers and I suppose if you looked long enough you might find someone who does. My tipping, or lack thereof, will not be based on Regent policies but on my personal feelings. No one will know what I do besides the employee and myself...certainly not their managers and definitely not a message board. I did ask about the "jobs are at risk" and they are not...although Apollo (the company who staffs and provisions the ships) seems to have some interesting rules.

 

[SedonaJoel]

9 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

So if the Spa is staffed by Regent employees, does that mean Regent now runs the Spa?

Yes for Regent and Oceania.

[flossie009]

15 hours ago, SedonaJoel said:

The Regent Spa is now staffed by Regent employees and the service charge is on the spa invoices.

 

9 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

So if the Spa is staffed by Regent employees, does that mean Regent now runs the Spa?

 

27 minutes ago, SedonaJoel said:

Yes for Regent and Oceania.

 

Very surprised at that. I had understood that the spas on Regent & Oceania ships were now being run & staffed by One Spa World (Steiner).

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, flossie009 said:

 

 

 

Very surprised at that. I had understood that the spas on Regent & Oceania ships were now being run & staffed by One Spa World (Steiner).

That was my understanding, too.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

17 hours ago, SedonaJoel said:

 

The Regent Spa is now staffed by Regent employees and the service charge is on the spa invoices.

 

How do you know that?  The spas have always been staffed by an independent contractor.

[wcsdkqh]

There would appear to be misinformation being provided in this thread.  Appointments have already made for Splendor Voyage in March thru Steiner.

[SedonaJoel]

We just disembarked Explorer on Saturday and I had my hair cut on Friday -  let me assure you that Steiner is not contracted with Regent.  Regent like Oceania used Canyon Ranch for the past several years.

[SedonaJoel]

I stand corrected.  I was told by the Spa that the new operator was One Spa World.  I assumed it was part of Norwegian cruises.  I just looked at One Spa World's website and it says that they run the Spa's on Regent and Oceania (and most other cruise line).  BTW Oceania is now giving 2 $150 spa vouchers to Platinum level club members.

[Socky Sunshine]

When I wanted to make an appointment for an upcoming cruise for a manicure I called Regent.  They said they just negotiated a new contract with a new vendor and gave me the date when I could call the vendor for an appointment.  I called that number on that date and made the appointment with the new vendor. 

 

I have found that outside vendors do it on several cruise lines and they do expect tips

 

Sharon

[Caroldoll]

On 1/15/2020 at 3:43 PM, CruisetheCs said:

 

Another new tip-on-a-trip declaration from Regent!  

 

So we’ve had a somewhat ambiguous tipping policy at Regent for a long time at least as witnessed by threads on CC where opinions ranged from tipping being forbidden to tipping being okay.  Finally in 2019 a Regent exec stated on CC that tips are included but it is still okay to tip.  

 

Then, of course. we have the continued barrage of Regent advertising hype where tips are free and pre-paid.  So apparently the staff gets tips—at least if tips are pre-paid and free, someone presumably gets tips.  But a management official on Explorer told me in October of 2019 that the crew doesn’t receive tips from Regent—the staff are allegedly paid more than some competitors who encourage tipping or add tips to bills.  Well,  if crew aren’t paid tips then how can tips be free and/or pre-paid as Regent advertises?  

 

Then suddenly we are surprised when Regent tells us via its website that tips are not accepted on board.  Oh, oh, what does that mean?  Then on CC we have a post of the new spa menu that says that a service charge will be added to the bill.  Presumably the charge is for a tip, but who really knows?  But if the spa accepts tips how can it be that tips are not accepted onboard?  And if the tips are added to the spa bill, seems like maybe they aren’t really pre-paid nor free as advertised.  (Just wondering.)  And now a CC poster notes that we have an even newer declaration on the Regent website that says that tips are included on Regent except in the spa.  So are we back to the old policy except that tips are now expected in the spa?  Is there still a policy that tips are not accepted somewhere lurking in the shadows?  

 

I’m kind of wondering if these tipping policies were made while the Regent execs were tippling.  

 

Maybe Regent management could comment on on this chain of strange history to update many of the frequent Regent cruisers who monitor this board? 

 

The Spa is an outside contractor.  Not ships employees.

[CruisetheCs]

12 hours ago, Caroldoll said:

The Spa is an outside contractor.  Not ships employees.

 

I'm aware of that.  But so was the prior Spa contractor that according to others included a tip in the listed price.  Regent signs the contracts and so could require pricing to include tips. (And we still don't know why this add-on is labelled as a service charge rather than a tip, nor do we know who gets the money, but that isn't the point of this post.)

 

My point is wondering why Regent would muddy up the marketing message that it has pushed for years of being "all-inclusive" and that gratuities are included.  Now the message has to change to say that gratuities are included except in the spa.  So if Regent is to be truthful in its advertising (of "free pre-paid" gratuities), Regent would have to drop the word "free" and add an asterisk that says gratuities are not included in the spa.

[nyce]

Just returned from Voyager cruise.   I knew that tipping is included in the price but once on board things were different.   A lot of tipping going on everywhere and no staff member ever declined.  After watching this go one I tipped too.      I was not aware of the new rules on the web site that others have mentioned in this conversation.   The price seems to include tips though.

 

I had one experience that seemed like tipping may have made a difference. Went to the Italian restaurant one night.   It is one of two restaurants that has a no reservations policy, first come first served.  One window table for two was open and not much else.    We were told that they were holding it for someone.    I mentioned this restaurant was advertised as a no reservation restaurant.  The person in charge told me that it wasn't a reservation, it was just on hold while the couple went to the bar for a drink.   He walked away to take care of something else and we simply sat at the table.       Service was fine.  

 

In the Spa there is new management.   Canyon Ranch is out.     They automatically charge a significant extra charge that everyone (staff and customers) considers a tip.   I don't recall exactly but maybe it is 18%.  Massage cost for 50 minuets is $175 so the 18% seemed generous.    There was another line on the receipt for "additional tip".  So in the spa tips are required and extra tips encouraged.

 

Tours were not great, too much time sitting on busses.    In Melbourne the bus guide closed with saying the she hoped we enjoyed the tour.   A few clapped.  So she repeated it again and added I really hope that you appreciate my tour.   The driver got on the mic and said And me too, I hope you appreciate my driving.      

Edited January 27, 2020 by nyce

[forgap]

So, what exactly are we paying for?  Is a tip for special treatment? ....for service? ....to show appreciation? .....to bring a salary to a living wage?   Do you palm the cash?  ....flash the cash? .....leave the cash? .....include it in an envelope with a note?  We sail Regent because tips are INCLUDED and it takes the awkwardness out of the interaction.