Gratuity breakdown?

[ninjacat123]

16 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Just like in land establishments they received a portion of the tips from the frontline folks. I was pressed into service as a busboy one night at the hotel I worked at as a teenager, from my normal position as bellhop. I was miffed because I was counting on my tips for the night to fill my gas tank the following day. At the end of the night all of the waitresses came up to me and gave me a share of their tips (I think 10% of what they received for the night, maybe 15%), something that up until that time I didn't know happened. I got my tank of gas.

Yes, that was typical of most restaurants I worked in.  "Tipping out" was expected and I found the more money you made as a waiter, the more people you tipped out to. I knew it took a team to make my customers happy. 👍

Edited February 8, 2023 by ninjacat123

[Elaine5715]

1 minute ago, audcc77 said:

Wow, Elaine.  I didn’t realize how much I don’t do on my cruises until you’ve listed them here.    😳.  
Although I do eat in the lido.  
 

No worries for now.  I left my tips in place, but the jury is still out on whether I will in the future.  
 

It still has not been answered: Who paid the mystery people behind the scenes when people cruised in the 1980s and you only tipped 2 people, the dining room & cabin and let THEM pass out tips to their helpers?   

The crew then tipped out their coworkers.  Same as the crew tips out their housekeeping.  On land, bar servers tip out bar tenders, bar tenders tip out bar back, etc.

[jimbo5544]

13 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Anti-tippers never run out of excuses. It doesn't matter that Carnival is following (not leading) the industry on tipping and is less than some.

They call it justification (as in their own minds) 

[Elaine5715]

7 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I don't withhold anything. I just don't agree with automatic gratuities. Especially after Carnival hiked the rate and cut the service we get.

 

Everyone gets all holier-than-thou when gratuities and tipping is discussed and everybody wants to argue. It's their way or the highway. Well I'm sorry but I don't see it that way. Some people go way overboard on gratuities and have all these speeches planned out when they hand over their pack of oreos, good for them, that's not me. I take the automatic tips off and pay cash the amount I think is fair to the people I think earned it. It works for me. What works for you, do it. Life goes on.

So, those who earned it, don't get it.  And no, crew doesn't appreciate trinkets or cookies, but they are trained to enthusiastically and graciously accept anything offered by guests.    

[mz-s]

3 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

So, those who earned it, don't get it.  And no, crew doesn't appreciate trinkets or cookies, but they are trained to enthusiastically and graciously accept anything offered by guests.    

 

I'm confused I thought those who get cash are supposed to tip out all the behind the scenes people?? So who exactly "don't get it" ??? Please cite chapter and verse!

[sparks1093]

19 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I don't withhold anything. I just don't agree with automatic gratuities. Especially after Carnival hiked the rate and cut the service we get.

 

Everyone gets all holier-than-thou when gratuities and tipping is discussed and everybody wants to argue. It's their way or the highway. Well I'm sorry but I don't see it that way. Some people go way overboard on gratuities and have all these speeches planned out when they hand over their pack of oreos, good for them, that's not me. I take the automatic tips off and pay cash the amount I think is fair to the people I think earned it. It works for me. What works for you, do it. Life goes on.

I agree, at the end of the day everyone has to do what works for them. If you want to carry around gobs of cash to carry this out, only to have that cash turned in anyway and then distributed the way it would have been distributed anyway go for it. The crew gets the amount they are supposed to get in either case.

[Elaine5715]

13 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I'm confused I thought those who get cash are supposed to tip out all the behind the scenes people?? So who exactly "don't get it" ??? Please cite chapter and verse!

If the auto grats are in place, the behind the scenes crew get tipped from the auto grats.  If the auto grats are removed, no one gets the cash.  When guests decide to remove the auuto grat and "just tip who they think deserve it" , that money is turned in, it is not pocketed.  The crew only gets to keep tips over the auto grat.  

[mz-s]

5 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

If the auto grats are in place, the behind the scenes crew get tipped from the auto grats.  If the auto grats are removed, no one gets the cash.  When guests decide to remove the auuto grat and "just tip who they think deserve it" , that money is turned in, it is not pocketed.  The crew only gets to keep tips over the auto grat.  

 

Chapter and verse please, or you're just spreading FUD. Where is this detailed in Carnival's policy, especially since there is no way to correlate a cash tip with removed auto gratuities. What you're saying makes no sense.

[13cheermom]

16 hours ago, rellersi said:

you can usually order a mixed drink of your choice from the waiters, or if there is a bar in the venue, just go up to the bar

Yes on other ships, however this was specific to Mardi Gras, and their only options were beer, wine, and rum punch.

[BoozinCroozin]

3 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

The waitstaff are serving in other dining venues at other times. I have routinely seen my waitstaff on Lido. Since the tips are pooled what you pay isn't paid directly to "your waitstaff" anyway. I suspect that they no longer provide a breakdown because folks do what you just outlined, which skews the distribution of the tip pool which is based on the agreements the cruise line has for each class of employee.

I get that, but those positions are not tipped positions. If I am paying for everything everyone does at every step of the cruise, remove it as gratuities then and put it on the fare. Tips, in US terms, are funds given for direct service you receive. Those people may have to pool and cover others. But why would I tip wait staff I never see? This is like saying, I will get billed $5 from every restaurant I drive past in my car because people work their and I had the potential benefit of seeing them as I drove by.

[BlerkOne]

47 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

I'm confused I thought those who get cash are supposed to tip out all the behind the scenes people?? So who exactly "don't get it" ??? Please cite chapter and verse!

What perfect world is that?

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, mz-s said:

 

I don't withhold anything. I just don't agree with automatic gratuities. Especially after Carnival hiked the rate and cut the service we get.

 

Everyone gets all holier-than-thou when gratuities and tipping is discussed and everybody wants to argue. It's their way or the highway. Well I'm sorry but I don't see it that way. Some people go way overboard on gratuities and have all these speeches planned out when they hand over their pack of oreos, good for them, that's not me. I take the automatic tips off and pay cash the amount I think is fair to the people I think earned it. It works for me. What works for you, do it. Life goes on.

And not only do they have to turn in the tips you gave them after removing the auto gratuities, but they also may be asked by their supervisor what they did so wrong that you removed those auto gratuities.

[mz-s]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

And not only do they have to turn in the tips you gave them after removing the auto gratuities, but they also may be asked by their supervisor what they did so wrong that you removed those auto gratuities.

 

Absolutely false. Please stop spreading FUD. JH has gone on record and said that Carnival never holds crew responsible for removed gratuities. You should apologize immediately for spreading this misinformation.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by mz-s

[mz-s]

5 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

What perfect world is that?

 

That's what people are saying on this thread, cash tips are surrendered and put in the pool like nothing ever happened.

 

Regardless, it's not my responsibility to tip people I never come into contact with. If they are tipped out of the pool, fine, but I don't tip the dishwasher at Chili's so I don't feel like I need to tip the dishwasher on Carnival.

[BlerkOne]

The cruise industry is not a standard service industry and never has been. Too many anti-tippers get hung up on semantics and use it as an excuse to not participate, or to substitute their own variation. Whether tips/gratuities/largesse/whatever, the extra money has always been part of the hard working crew member's compensation packages. It is not based on the price of the cruise, meal, or anything else. It is an optional (unfortunately) cost per person.

 

Why tip someone you don't see? Because it is always a team effort. Without the team, you have no service.

 

NCL has even changed the name to service charge, and some people still don't get it.

 

On some short cruises (some of the 3 day?), I believe Carnival has even required gratuities to be prepaid and some still try to weasel out.

 

 

[mz-s]

5 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

The cruise industry is not a standard service industry and never has been. Too many anti-tippers get hung up on semantics and use it as an excuse to not participate, or to substitute their own variation. Whether tips/gratuities/largesse/whatever, the extra money has always been part of the hard working crew member's compensation packages. It is not based on the price of the cruise, meal, or anything else. It is an optional (unfortunately) cost per person.

 

Why tip someone you don't see? Because it is always a team effort. Without the team, you have no service.

 

NCL has even changed the name to service charge, and some people still don't get it.

 

On some short cruises (some of the 3 day?), I believe Carnival has even required gratuities to be prepaid and some still try to weasel out.

 

 

 

There's nothing special about a cruise line using gratuities to subsidize their substandard wages. It's the same thing that restaurants on land do. Cruise lines didn't invent this business model. Don't kid yourself, Blerk.

[sparks1093]

15 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

That's what people are saying on this thread, cash tips are surrendered and put in the pool like nothing ever happened.

 

Regardless, it's not my responsibility to tip people I never come into contact with. If they are tipped out of the pool, fine, but I don't tip the dishwasher at Chili's so I don't feel like I need to tip the dishwasher on Carnival.

You are right, it's not your responsibility. You leave the tip and the company and employees take care of getting it where it needs to go. 

[ObstructedView2]

Wrong post. So sorry 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by ObstructedView2

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

There's nothing special about a cruise line using gratuities to subsidize their substandard wages. It's the same thing that restaurants on land do. Cruise lines didn't invent this business model. Don't kid yourself, Blerk.

In what other industry do customers break down tips by staff members and stuff dirty money into envelopes and hand them to the staff members individually. That is how cruising used to be and what they invented. It has evolved to try to make it easier on customers, but there will always be some who make excuses.

 

Restaurant tipping is a percentage of the bill and not at all the same.

[Elaine5715]

52 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Chapter and verse please, or you're just spreading FUD. Where is this detailed in Carnival's policy, especially since there is no way to correlate a cash tip with removed auto gratuities. What you're saying makes no sense.

I don't know what FUD is but is sounds rude.  It was been published many times.  Crew are informed when the auto tips are removed.  They are then required to turn in cash tips to go back into the auto tip pool since they will receive their full allocation per their contract.  

[Elaine5715]

[Elaine5715]

[sparks1093]

17 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

I don't know what FUD is but is sounds rude.  It was been published many times.  Crew are informed when the auto tips are removed.  They are then required to turn in cash tips to go back into the auto tip pool since they will receive their full allocation per their contract.  

The only way pooled tips will work is if all of the employees turn in those tips that they receive that they are required to turn in. Allowing employees to keep cash tips given when the autograts are removed is a huge loophole that shortchanges everyone. The two screenshots you posted are very consistent with what I've read over the years. On most cruise lines if an employee receives a cash tip over and above the autograts they are allowed to keep that, but it is still possible they are tipping out on that amount as well.

[rellersi]

so basically what I have read here is that even if I leave the prepaid/auto gratuities in place, and I like my room steward so much that I tip him extra, he needs to turn that in top be shared?? whats the point to the extra tip? and how do we let him know that he did a wonderful job?

[mz-s]

4 minutes ago, rellersi said:

so basically what I have read here is that even if I leave the prepaid/auto gratuities in place, and I like my room steward so much that I tip him extra, he needs to turn that in top be shared?? whats the point to the extra tip? and how do we let him know that he did a wonderful job?

 

There's so much doublespeak and gaslighting on this thread and people quoting policies of other cruise lines (nothing to do with Carnival) it's impossible to know. I don't believe anything being reported here as gospel. All we can do is what makes sense to us because nobody here truly knows how the tips are distributed no matter how matter of factly the speak, that much is certain.

 

Leaving a good review and mentioning a crew member by name on your comment card is very helpful to them, I know that. And that costs you nothing but a moment of your time when you get home and receive a comment card email from Carnival.