Another gratuity question - sorry!

[cruisin from florida]

Since it's been made clear that all auto-added gratuities are pooled, we plan to provide additional cash tips throughout the cruise to folks who go above and beyond. (Our stateroom attendant last cruise was amazing, and we tipped her very generously during and at the end of the cruise.)

 

Are the cash tips pooled, or does the recipient keep them?

[GTO-Girl]

4 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

Since it's been made clear that all auto-added gratuities are pooled, we plan to provide additional cash tips throughout the cruise to folks who go above and beyond. (Our stateroom attendant last cruise was amazing, and we tipped her very generously during and at the end of the cruise.)

 

Are the cash tips pooled, or does the recipient keep them?

any cash they are free to keep….

[cruisetorelax44]

cash tips are kept by the person receiving them. and if you add a tip to a bar receipt, the bartender receives that as well. we usually try to tip cash to everyone. it just makes it easier.

[yogimax]

Let's hope this thread doesn't descend into another "boast and brag" site.

[cruisin from florida]

7 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Let's hope this thread doesn't descend into another "boast and brag" site.

That's why I didn't say how much we tipped her😉. But I was recovering from knee surgery, and she kept providing ice bags, so let your imagination run wild. Glad to hear that she got to keep the $$.

Edited January 19, 2022 by cruisin from florida
Addition

[cruisetorelax44]

7 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Let's hope this thread doesn't descend into another "boast and brag" site.

certainly not my intention. 

 

[Husky1987]

9 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Let's hope this thread doesn't descend into another "boast and brag" site.

I don't know about the rest of you cheapskates, but I give at least $10 per drink, $20 if it's really strong.😉

[DCPIV]

Just so you know, it's not unheard of for teams to pool cash tips.  For example, the bartender and bar waiters at a certain bar may choose to pool their cash tips, even if they don't pool them with the entire bar staff throughout the ship. As far as I know, that's purely their choice.

 

I don't know how much that happens, but I know that it happens.

[SRF]

On 1/19/2022 at 10:14 AM, cruisetorelax44 said:

cash tips are kept by the person receiving them. and if you add a tip to a bar receipt, the bartender receives that as well. we usually try to tip cash to everyone. it just makes it easier.

 

That depends on the ship and the bar.

 

Some bars pool tips, some do not.

 

And, it has been stated several times, if you remove auto grats, the worker does not get to keep any individual tips and they must be turned into the pool

[jndsilver31]

besides paying the auto gratuities, my wife and i always give a cash tip to our room steward, the main dining room servers. of course if we use room service, we give a cash tip to whoever delivers our food.

 

i won’t tip any bar tenders, they already get 18%.

[not-enough-cruising]

On 1/19/2022 at 9:09 AM, cruisin from florida said:

Since it's been made clear that all auto-added gratuities are pooled, we plan to provide additional cash tips throughout the cruise to folks who go above and beyond. (Our stateroom attendant last cruise was amazing, and we tipped her very generously during and at the end of the cruise.)

 

Are the cash tips pooled, or does the recipient keep them?

 

On 1/19/2022 at 9:13 AM, GTO-Girl said:

any cash they are free to keep….

 

On 1/19/2022 at 9:14 AM, cruisetorelax44 said:

cash tips are kept by the person receiving them. and if you add a tip to a bar receipt, the bartender receives that as well. we usually try to tip cash to everyone. it just makes it easier.

NO ONE knows, it is all supposition and rumor

[cruisetorelax44]

29 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

 

 

NO ONE knows, it is all supposition and rumor

no.. i've asked many times. if you hand someone cash, they keep it. if you add it to the tip line on a slip, there's a good chance they can keep it, but sometimes it's pooled. that's why we tip in cash. 

[Ozark_Kid]

1 hour ago, jndsilver31 said:

i won’t tip any bar tenders, they already get 18%

Unless you are using your daily free drinks that were added to your card.

[island lady]

On 1/19/2022 at 12:39 PM, DCPIV said:

Just so you know, it's not unheard of for teams to pool cash tips.  For example, the bartender and bar waiters at a certain bar may choose to pool their cash tips, even if they don't pool them with the entire bar staff throughout the ship. As far as I know, that's purely their choice.

 

I don't know how much that happens, but I know that it happens.

 

The bartenders on last four Harmony cruises in the SL all stashed their cash tips in the "kitty can" on the counter near the register.  😉 

[Tree_skier]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

 

 

NO ONE knows, it is all supposition and rumor

I specifically asked our MDR waiters on Adventure just before the shutdown.  I posited various scenario's for CC's edification.  The short answer was if your auto-grats are on they keep all you give.  If they are off they are expected to turn in what you give. I would assume the same holds true for your cabin steward.  Whether they always do or whether they lied about their answer I can not say.  I do know that they know if you have removed your auto-grats because, over the course of the conversation I discovered they knew we had not. 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Tree_skier

[vacationlover_mn]

On 1/19/2022 at 9:26 AM, Husky1987 said:

I don't know about the rest of you cheapskates, but I give at least $10 per drink, $20 if it's really strong.😉

That is it?  Wow, you are cheap!!! 😉

[vacationlover_mn]

5 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

 

As a former waitress, I have always tipped good service well. When I was in college that meant the Denny's waitress was tipped well. 

 

On our last cruise we barely got off the ship, didn't drink beyond our C&A freebies, and didn't spend big on board. We DID (and will again in a heartbeat) tip the servers for our free drinks, and showed our appreciation in $$ to the stateroom attendant who made sure I could ice my knee. 

 

When we first let our youngest son roam free at Epcot with a friend, he was so excited to tell us about eating lunch at the Moroccan restaurant, where they could afford the three course lunch menu PLUS tip. Total was about 8 bucks. Tipping was something we taught our kids.

 

I don't think talking about tipping is pretentious or flaunting, but if folks aren't used to doing a lot of things that others tip for, they may feel uncomfortable with these discussions.

 

If you do nothing but auto gratuities, that's fine!!!!

If threads like this open up the possibility of budgeting a little extra to show extra appreciation for outstanding service, I don't think that's a bad thing.

I come from a “low tip” family.  As I’ve aged, I learned to tip “ok”.  The current world situation taught me to tip “very well”. These people work so hard, and deserve the extra.  I applaud you teaching your kids the importance of tipping!!!  I wish I would have known this when I was younger! (Like on our honeymoon, when we undertipped pretty much everyone on our cruise. DH and I were young and cheap :()

[Eddie Wilson]

1 hour ago, cruisin from florida said:

As a former waitress, I have always tipped good service well. When I was in college that meant the Denny's waitress was tipped well. 

 

Best tippers in the world are current or former BARE (Bar and Restaurant Employees).

 

Great tippers on average get great service.  I can tell you while behind a bar in a former life, I would have difficulty seeing that guy at the crowded bar looking  for his next drink, if on his first drink he left the change after paying $5 for a $4.85 drink   

 

Someone leaves a nice nice tip on their first drink, easy to see them at the bar, and darn, maybe that pour was heavy. 

 

Eddie, an excellent tipper....

Edited January 21, 2022 by Eddie Wilson

[Tree_skier]

47 minutes ago, Eddie Wilson said:

 

Best tippers in the world are current or former BARE (Bar and Restaurant Employees).

 

Great tippers on average get great service.  I can tell you while behind a bar in a former life, I would have difficulty seeing that guy at the crowded bar looking  for his next drink, if on his first drink he left the change after paying $5 for a $4.85 drink   

 

Someone leaves a nice nice tip on their first drink, easy to see them at the bar, and darn, maybe that pour was heavy. 

 

Eddie, an excellent tipper....

Many moons ago I drove a limo.  Tips were critical to my income.  Every one of my customers got great service.  Repeat customers, of whom I had many, that had tipped extra generous previously received above and beyond what was required. I was fortunate too have had many many great and generous customers.  

 

I'm on the other side now. I intend to reciprocate for the generosity that has been shown to me.  I have found the vast majority of people I have contact with on a cruise ship go above and beyond my expectations.  I tip accordingly.

[John&LaLa]

Casino staff pool

[John&LaLa]

In the 'Before Times' DL servers on Oasis pooled all their tips. Many other ships do this as well, BTW. Anyway Laura wanted to give our favorite server something extra. So she asked Beatrice if this was possible.  She told Laura to seek her out on her non DL assignment and give it to her there, as she was required to share any money received in DL.

 

We met her at Trellis Bar and gave her an envelope with a nice note. She was very grateful

 

I hope that wasn't bragging

 

[brillohead]

It's also worth noting that in situations where staff at a certain bar pool their tips, it's because they have decided and agreed amongst themselves to do so. 

 

So if you say, "I want to give this tip to Joe, because he provided such great service to me, but I don't want any of my money to go to Fred because Fred didn't wait on me" you need to realize that if Joe entered into an agreement to share tips with Fred, that's between Joe and Fred, and it is, quite frankly, none of your business.  A tip is a gift, and once given, it is up to the recipient to spend it how they wish.

Typically when employees are pooling their tips, it's because they have a good TEAMWORK approach to getting the job done.  Maybe the only reason that Joe was able to give you such great service is because Fred was busy making sure that the ice wells were refilled and the clean glasses were brought out to the bar and the other various supplies were properly stocked. 

 

When pooling cash tips, it doesn't matter which employee leaves the bar to perform these thankless (tipless) chores, because they won't be "missing out" on serving a customer (and therefore getting a tip) because they are working as a team to serve all the customers and working as a team to share all the tips from those customers.  

 

In a previous life when I waited tables, we tipped our busboys at the end of the night, a percentage of our sales for the shift.  If my tables didn't get cleared and reset quickly, I couldn't get as many customers per shift -- new customers would be seated in a section that had a clean/reset table instead.  And the staff that tipped the busboys a little bit extra tended to have their tables cleared off first on busy nights.  Go figure.

As I say on all these endless tipping threads, the staff knew the terms of their employment when they signed the contract.  If they have a problem with the auto-grats, they don't need to sign the contract and take the job.  And yet I keep coming across employee after employee who has signed contract after contract after contract with Royal Caribbean. (I've met several who have been with Royal for over 20 years.) Employees I've spoken with who have also worked on other cruise lines have told me that they prefer working for Royal versus MSC or Carnival, etc.  Just tonight at dinner my waiter was praising how well Royal treated them when COVID first hit and the industry shut down -- he was on his first contract at that time, and he was chomping at the bit to come back when they started cruising again.

These are not indentured servants we're talking about.  These are grown adults who are capable of making their own employment decisions.  What they choose to do with their cash tips is up to them.