What our cabin attendant did. . . and it's not good

[Até]

What are Service Gratuities?

It is customary for our guests to extend gratuities to the shipboard staff in appreciation for their hard work and exceptional service. 100% of your gratuities are distributed to the crew who you interact with, such as your stateroom attendants, dining and culinary services staff, as well as others who work behind the scenes to enhance your overall cruise experience. Applying this charge automatically streamlines the recognition process and ensures our crew will share in your generosity. To help you plan, we have provided the recommended guidelines:

 

Standard Staterooms: $13.99 USD per person, per day

Suite Staterooms: $15.99 USD per person, per day

 

https://www.carnival.com/help/1123

 

Q

What is Royal Caribbean's service gratuities (tips) price and policy?

A

The automatic service gratuity is $14.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Junior Suites and below, or $17.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Grand Suites and above, applied to each guest’s SeaPass account on a daily basis. The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories. As a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience.

In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services onboard and will be able to do so until the morning of their departure. Guests who have pre-paid their gratuity will not see a daily charge during their cruise.

The automatic daily gratuity is based on customary industry standards. Applying this charge automatically helps streamline the recognition process for the crew members that work to enhance your cruise. We hope you find the gratuity to be an accurate reflection of your satisfaction and thank you for your generous recognition of our staff.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

 

It seems pretty clear to me the cruise lines are claiming the DSC goes to the crew members.  I've not seen nor heard from enough credible crew to believe otherwise.

[Drinal01]

In prep for any trip I watch allot of YouTube on one of the vlogs a RRC crew said/showed the earned $1250 every two weeks.

 

in the vlog he showed his pay stub and nothing showed X salary plus Y tips it was just a flat salery.   The guy was an assistant in the casino.

 

Not sure how that compares to Waite staff and room attendants.   Just an FYI for what it is worth.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Ate’ you are correct.  In my last conversation with an MSC Hotel Director it was confirmed...the DSC goes to the crew.  To do otherwise would create a financial scandal that would ruin the company.

[BermudaBound2014]

3 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Ate’ you are correct.  In my last conversation with an MSC Hotel Director it was confirmed...the DSC goes to the crew.  To do otherwise would create a financial scandal that would ruin the company.

 

Anything in writing? My point is that hearsay is useless and only perpetuates they myth. If 100% went back to the crew, MSC would put in writing a policy like Carnival. There is a reason they are being clandestine with the language of the policy.

 

@Até Thank you for the information about Carnival! I don't sail them so I had not read their policy. That is excellent to know. RCL and NCL are too vague for me to draw any specific conclusions, but Carnival (and I believe Disney) are clear enough for me to draw the conclusion that on those lines 100% of the DSC is returned to the staff. 

 

That still leaves us with less than specific wording for MSC. If you follow the link you posted to the actual service charge policy, you find the clip below (which is what I typed out yesterday). "The Hotel Service charge serves to ensure we maintain the highest quality standards of service to our guests". It is not enough for me to same draw the same conclusions as you, but I hope we can agree to disagree.

 

 

[jkgourmet]

14 hours ago, Drinal01 said:

In prep for any trip I watch allot of YouTube on one of the vlogs a RRC crew said/showed the earned $1250 every two weeks.

 

in the vlog he showed his pay stub and nothing showed X salary plus Y tips it was just a flat salery.   The guy was an assistant in the casino.

 

Not sure how that compares to Waite staff and room attendants.   Just an FYI for what it is worth.

 

With some (all?) cruise lines, the casino workers are NOT employees of the cruise company.  The same is true of those who work in the shops.  NOT cruise line employees.  So what his vlog or paycheck shows is irrelevant to this issue.

 

(and if one believes everything that people say/show/document on the internet, I've got this program to sell you that will teach you how to make $100,000 a week. . .  I'll show you my ebay account history to prove it!)

 

This entire issue of what happens to the DSC is factually unknown to ALL of us.  It's like saying there's no God - how do you know for sure?  

Edited March 2, 2020 by jkgourmet

[sfaaa]

2 hours ago, jkgourmet said:

 

 

 

This entire issue of what happens to the DSC is factually unknown to ALL of us.  It's like saying there's no God - how do you know for sure?  

Unless you work for the cruise line and  are a stakeholder, is there a reason we need to know?

[BermudaBound2014]

45 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

Unless you work for the cruise line and  are a stakeholder, is there a reason we need to know?

 

Not really. Like I've said many times, the DSC makes life easier.

 

My point was  that anyone who claims they know (via he  said/she said, blah blah blah) is doing nothing more than 
perpetuating the myth. How often have I read, "don't remove the dsc because you are short changing the laundry person?", when, in fact, we really don't know how much, if any, of the DSC makes it into the laundry room persons pocket. 

 

I don't participate in tipping threads other than to point out that  those that claim they do know how DSC is divided can rarely supply any evidence. My chatter has nothing to do with whether or not to tip. I say, tip what you want and live with the karma.

 

PS: I am a stakeholder in RCL, NCL, and CCL and they don't tell me squat. :)

[jkgourmet]

19 hours ago, sfaaa said:

Unless you work for the cruise line and  are a stakeholder, is there a reason we need to know?

BINGO.  👍👍👍