When did the gratituites increase?

[nelblu]

Come on ladies and gentlemen, let's switch to another of our favorite topics--chair and seat hogs.🐖

[The Scurvy Pirate]

59 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Come on ladies and gentlemen, let's switch to another of our favorite topics--chair and seat hogs.🐖

I was really hoping for smoking in the casino being next...  I think shorts in the dining room has run its course though....

[Ocean Boy]

5 hours ago, nelblu said:

Come on ladies and gentlemen, let's switch to another of our favorite topics--chair and seat hogs.🐖

 

4 hours ago, The Scurvy Pirate said:

I was really hoping for smoking in the casino being next...  I think shorts in the dining room has run its course though....

Kid in diapers going in the pools is due to come around soon. You know, I want my 1 year old to gave really good memories of his/her cruise vacation.

[catergirl]

On 7/29/2022 at 3:11 PM, megs193 said:

I need more info on this. Does the crew not receive all of the gratuity?  If this is the case I would rather remove them and bring more cash to give the gratuity that way but I would worry about the “behind the scenes” people not getting their full

tip. 

i agree... if you take off the set charge to give where and to whom you want... then tehres going to be a lot of behind the scenes people getting nothing!! leave that amount set.. and give above and beyond if you so feel.

guarantee those that take it off never give that same amount and to those that clear in the windjammer, pick up after you and serve in anytime dining etc etc. thought the crew that gets tips that are from people that have removed have to put back in the kitty anyway...

LEAVE IT ON...

[catergirl]

On 7/30/2022 at 5:04 PM, ALKID said:

I’ve been told'

great proof there!!

[critterchick]

On 7/31/2022 at 4:43 AM, Biker19 said:

Again, if anyone has edocs reissued for any sailing after about 7/26, it may list the new rate, including the 8/21 Voyager sailing.

 

This says nothing of what will actually happen on the ship - the whole thing could be an IT screw up and RCI hit the submit button on all the revised edocs too early.

Our August 22 cruise's e-doc have the old rate. We booked that in March. My August 8 cruise that I booked last week has the higher rate.  I can't fathom what it will be like at Guest Services if those who didn't pre-pay see a higher charge without notification.

 

My theory is that they might have been planning to announce the increase (as they have always done in my years of sailing on them) but the new Covid-related protocols distracted them. But somebody forgot to tell the programmers. I expect it to happen in the fall, but I also expect that they will give fair warning. 

 

I did a mock booking for next year and the current gratuity rate was included on the confirmation. 

1 hour ago, catergirl said:

i agree... if you take off the set charge to give where and to whom you want... then tehres going to be a lot of behind the scenes people getting nothing!! leave that amount set.. and give above and beyond if you so feel.

guarantee those that take it off never give that same amount and to those that clear in the windjammer, pick up after you and serve in anytime dining etc etc. thought the crew that gets tips that are from people that have removed have to put back in the kitty anyway...

LEAVE IT ON...

 

That is a false blanket statement. You have no idea what people who remove the auto gratuity do. Sure, many are cheapskates or from countries where a living wage is the norm and don't know the consequences of removing the tips without substituting cash. But many of us are also remember the days when it was recommended that we tip four people - our stateroom attendant and our headwaiter. Cash or room charge. Cash is king to those who receive it - I always give my stateroom attendant a choice it's always the answer. I've been told by attendants, waiters, bar servers and Concierges that any cash given to an individual is theirs to keep, whether or not the autotip is removed. On Princess, they have to turn in the cash if the autotip is removed, so doing so screws everybody, even the person you think you're rewarding.

[jimvern1966]

On 7/30/2022 at 9:25 PM, coaster said:

Seems to of increased for those of us sailing the last week of August and beyond. What is your sailing date?

I sail on Thursday 8/4 .... I sail again in September,  I'll have to check those docs, thanks

[bren61]

I just called my TA and they called and talked to RCCL directly and they said there is no increase of gratuity going to happen. Was this actually confirmed somewhere?  I pulled out reward points from my travel agency to be applied to OBC to be specifically applied to the gratuity & I had them call to see if I can have it grandfathered in to pay the gratuity as it is now and they said the gratuity isn't going up so I don't know who heard of this increase. I'm not sure, maybe my TA or who they talked to through RCCL was mistaken, but I can't find it anywhere on line by googling the increase. Someone please enlighten me.

 

[latebuyer]

Can someone confirm that the old cost off the gratuities is 135.5 canadian for 7 day cruise? The invoice won’t email to me for some reason and thats all they’ll confirm to me on the phone.

[njkruzer]

10 minutes ago, bren61 said:

I just called my TA and they called and talked to RCCL directly and they said there is no increase of gratuity going to happen. Was this actually confirmed somewhere?  I pulled out reward points from my travel agency to be applied to OBC to be specifically applied to the gratuity & I had them call to see if I can have it grandfathered in to pay the gratuity as it is now and they said the gratuity isn't going up so I don't know who heard of this increase. I'm not sure, maybe my TA or who they talked to through RCCL was mistaken, but I can't find it anywhere on line by googling the increase. Someone please enlighten me.

 

The problem started when some of us started getting edocs for cruises starting the last weekend in August which mentioned the higher rate.  As indicated I called C&A and they were also confused as they knew nothing about an increase in gratuities.  The person I talked with spoke with her supervisor and confirmed no increase. They were going to note my reservation.   I think we need written confirmation. 

[Biker19]

22 minutes ago, bren61 said:

Was this actually confirmed somewhere? 

No one has reported it from a ship, but the earliest sailing anyone would have seen this in their edocs would have been next week - this may be a slow moving train wreck.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Biker19

[wallyj]

33 minutes ago, bren61 said:

I just called my TA and they called and talked to RCCL directly and they said there is no increase of gratuity going to happen. Was this actually confirmed somewhere?  I pulled out reward points from my travel agency to be applied to OBC to be specifically applied to the gratuity & I had them call to see if I can have it grandfathered in to pay the gratuity as it is now and they said the gratuity isn't going up so I don't know who heard of this increase. I'm not sure, maybe my TA or who they talked to through RCCL was mistaken, but I can't find it anywhere on line by googling the increase. Someone please enlighten me.

 

I finally received my eDocs for my upcoming Navigator sailings. For my Aug 26-29 2022 sailing, the eDocs say the gratuities are $16/day with the verbiage if booked by July 15, 2022 you can pre pay at the old $14.50 rate which has been previously reported by others who have received eDocs with the ‘new’ rate. What was strange to me was the eDocs for my B2B sailing for Aug 29-Sept 2 say the daily Grants are $14.50/day. 
 

I checked the date the eDocs were generated and the Aug 26 sailing is dated July 27, 2022 and the Aug 29 sailing is dated 4 days earlier at July 23, 2022.

 

I called C&A this morning and was told, sorry yes we know about this, it is an ‘error’, gratuities are ‘NOT’ increasing, which will be true until RCL officially announces otherwise.

[njkruzer]

People with edocs said old rate is in 8/20 sailing but they appear in the next weekend sailings

[Ocean Boy]

5 minutes ago, wallyj said:

I finally received my eDocs for my upcoming Navigator sailings. For my Aug 26-29 2022 sailing, the eDocs say the gratuities are $16/day with the verbiage if booked by July 15, 2022 you can pre pay at the old $14.50 rate which has been previously reported by others who have received eDocs with the ‘new’ rate. What was strange to me was the eDocs for my B2B sailing for Aug 29-Sept 2 say the daily Grants are $14.50/day. 
 

I checked the date the eDocs were generated and the Aug 26 sailing is dated July 27, 2022 and the Aug 29 sailing is dated 4 days earlier at July 23, 2022.

 

I called C&A this morning and was told, sorry yes we know about this, it is an ‘error’, gratuities are ‘NOT’ increasing, which will be true until RCL officially announces otherwise.

Sounds like someone in RCI's IT might have flipped a switch too soon.

[cruisegirl1]

I don't mind the increase in gratuities, but I do mind that so for no one appears to have been told.    I don't  read the cruise docs so if a new gratuity rate in in there, I would never see it.  The gratuity rate is written on the bottom of all the cruise booking documents from RCCL.  All of mine, even going out as far as December 2023 say $14.50 per day ( $17.5 for suite) per day for each guest.  Seems strange that they can simply change it.

 

I just received one today for a cruise later in the year and the $14.5 rate is written there. 

 

I KNOW RCCL  can send me an email regarding any new rates  as I get emsail daily trying to sell/upsell me something. 

 

M

 

 

[yogimax]

The simplest and cleanest solution to me is to make the new policy effective with new bookings only.  All existing bookings should keep the old rates.

[MandyMooToo]

On 7/30/2022 at 5:26 PM, livingonthebeach said:

 

I have to believe that when I go to any restaurant and tip my waiter/waitress it goes directly to them and not to the owner to be divided by some unknown formula to contribute to the busboys' and dishwashers' salaries. 

Ahh, but this is exactly what happens in many restaurants.  I waited tables for years in college and my mother managed restaurants for more than 30 years.  Many, many establishments make servers tip a percentage to the house to be distributed to the bussers, hostesses and bar tenders.  So really you have no way of knowing where your restaurant tips go either. 

 

Once I worked as a server in a Japanese steakhouse.  We were forced to tip out 15% to the chef/cook and a smaller portion to the hostess.  Funny thing about it is the chef/cook was the owner of the restaurant so not only did he get all the money from food sales he also got 15% of his server's pay.  Tipping of the chef/cook by servers in Japanese steakhouses is or was common then but the owner?!  Total jerk. I was young and dumb, ha ha. 

[Biker19]

19 minutes ago, yogimax said:

The simplest and cleanest solution to me is to make the new policy effective with new bookings only.  All existing bookings should keep the old rates.

Except they have not done that with previous increases, so.......

[not-enough-cruising]

34 minutes ago, yogimax said:

The simplest and cleanest solution to me is to make the new policy effective with new bookings only.  All existing bookings should keep the old rates.

For once we agree completely

[coaster]

The recent edocs with the higher price is still a mystery. Royal's website continues to show the lower rate. Guest services onboard will need to sort it out as there has been no official response  from Royal corporate. Putting the front line workers onboard and the call centers in a tough place. Might be a mistake or not. Royal corporate just needs to clarify and come clean on this.

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by coaster

[CHECKER148]

On 7/29/2022 at 7:25 AM, LEMJMcC said:

There is no such thing as gratuities within RCI; they are service fees and are at the mercy of RCI's whim.  Unless of course you request that automatic "gratuities" are removed from your account once onboard and truly tip those whose service deserves it out of pocket.
 

That's the way we have always done it,, and the most money goes to the room steward!  And a special bartender maybe.

[coaster]

Just want to know if service fees have gone up or not for those of us sailing in late August. Why such a mystery?

Edited August 4, 2022 by coaster

[njkruzer]

40 minutes ago, coaster said:

Just want to know if service fees have gone up or not for those of us sailing in late August. Why such a mystery?

My docs says but C&A told me no.  Your guess is as good as anyone here.

[coaster]

m

59 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

My docs says but C&A told me no.  Your guess is as good as anyone here.

Mystery continues.... Edocs showing higher price. Calling C&A will just tell you they have no information about the increased price even when it shows in your Edocs. They look at your service fee when you booked and see no change. Will dispute it onboard at guest services as website still shows lower amount. Why can't Royal corporate clarify this before many have to dispute the higher charge onboard late this month?

Edited August 4, 2022 by coaster

[wallyj]

59 minutes ago, coaster said:

m

Mystery continues.... Edocs showing higher price. Calling C&A will just tell you they have no information about the increased price even when it shows in your Edocs. They look at your service fee when you booked and see no change. Will dispute it onboard at guest services as website still shows lower amount. Why can't Royal corporate clarify this before many have to dispute the higher charge onboard late this month?

I called C&A this morning regarding another issue, making dining reservations and because one party booked in Canada, no can do, because currencies are different, even though there is no charge for my time dining reservations.
 

I asked about my eDoc for a late August cruise showing the higher ‘tips’ amount. The agent said Royal Corporate sent an email ‘blast’ on Monday to hopefully all cust service agents, they are to share the notification of increased ‘tips’ is a mistake, no change ‘yet’.

 

C&A agent said they will notate your booking, so there should be no issue on board. Guess we will find out, once passengers are on board these sailings where eDocs showed an increase.

 

Someone did not get the email?