Question about gratuities...

[BamaVol]

22 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

IDK why you would be looking to tip the MD (now DRO) who is quite removed generally from your dinner service.  I'd be more inclined to reward the two waiters.  If a HW does something extra for you, then I would consider that.  Even a DR Mgr is up the chain for tips.  Example:  On a ship last Fall, he made extra effort to get us setup for same table each night and moved us on request.  He refused any money I wanted to give him.  In this case, he got complimented for providing the TD experience that Princess promises but must be asked for.  

 

As for cabin steward, how much do we suppose of the $16 is allocated to the hotel staff versus DR staff, etc?  I don't have any guidance there other than what you are comfortable with and based on services provided.  Did you ask for a lot of extra things?  Is the cabin often messy for them to clean up?  Not applicable to your situation I gather, but is it a cabin where the sofa bed or bunks are used, so there is extra work?  

In my case, the DR Mgr managed my dietary peculiarities.  I thought that was worthy of recognition.  The hostess at the door was the one who arranged for us to sit at the same premium table 5 out of 7 nights last week.  That was worthy as well.  And there was a cocktail server in the Wheelhouse who made a beeline for us every time we came through the door. If we’d been consistent, I’m sure she’d have brought our drinks without having ordered. That merited daily tips and a larger one on the last night. She got a mention as well.
 

our cabin steward screwed up in a couple small ways. He was quite young and I felt like he might be new and still on a learning curve.  I did leave him a small tip to compensate for him having seen me naked when he burst into the bathroom unannounced. He did not get a mention in my survey.

[SargassoPirate]

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

IDK why you would be looking to tip the MD (now DRO) who is quite removed generally from your dinner service.  I'd be more inclined to reward the two waiters.  If a HW does something extra for you, then I would consider that.  Even a DR Mgr is up the chain for tips.  Example:  On a ship last Fall, he made extra effort to get us setup for same table each night and moved us on request.  He refused any money I wanted to give him.  In this case, he got complimented for providing the TD experience that Princess promises but must be asked for.  

 

As for cabin steward, how much do we suppose of the $16 is allocated to the hotel staff versus DR staff, etc?  I don't have any guidance there other than what you are comfortable with and based on services provided.  Did you ask for a lot of extra things?  Is the cabin often messy for them to clean up?  Not applicable to your situation I gather, but is it a cabin where the sofa bed or bunks are used, so there is extra work?  

I'm on the OCD spectrum, although I consider it a lifestyle and not a disorder, so I'm sure my steward can do a quick tightening of my sheets and a quick whip around and be out of my cabin in five minutes.  They should share some of the tip pool with me.

[Steelers36]

16 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

I'm on the OCD spectrum, although I consider it a lifestyle and not a disorder, so I'm sure my steward can do a quick tightening of my sheets and a quick whip around and be out of my cabin in five minutes.  They should share some of the tip pool with me.

Actually, your post reminds me.  My wife (I guess me too) doesn't like them tucking everything in military style.  We make our own bed and then tell him at the outset he doesn't need - or shouldn't bother - to tuck it all in tight.  

[Greytgrey]

6 hours ago, skynight said:

If you run the numbers for the plus fare you will find that if you drink 2, maybe 3 alcoholic beverages per day you break even. It all depends on how many non-alcoholic beverages you consume.

Yeah... it's just going to be me and a kid, and we both mostly drink water. Years ago, I always got a soda package because it's all I drank, but GERD nipped that in the bud! 

[Greytgrey]

6 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

Here we go….. The thread is officially “hot”

Sorry 😐 I wasn't trying to be controversial but am enjoying the input a lot.

[Greytgrey]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I'm just curious, which specific cruise lines have you sailed with in the last 8 years or so have allowed you the option of paying their "suggested" gratuity?

LONG ago, did a Disney cruise (probably 2009?). Then Royal Caribbean in 2010 and 2019. And I never messed with the gratuities but understood at the time that they were removable if you went to guest services.

[Greytgrey]

2 hours ago, BamaVol said:

I did leave him a small tip to compensate for him having seen me naked when he burst into the bathroom unannounced.

My niece's boyfriend was lying butt-up naked on the bed when their room attendant walked in, and she (the attendant) screamed at first, then died laughing. She made a big deal all week about how excited she was about the possibility that she might "accidentally" see this very attractive young man again, but, of course, she'd try not to.

[sunviking90]

27 minutes ago, Greytgrey said:

Sorry 😐 I wasn't trying to be controversial but am enjoying the input a lot.

No worries. My comment wasn’t directed at you personally, but at the directions this topic always goes. Keeps me amused. 

[jwattle]

 

4 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Not really since looking at the prices of sailing from those countries is similar and frequently less.

You realize that when you look at a sailing in those countries, you are seeing U.S. prices, which do NOT have crew appreciation baked in? 

[cruzsnooze]

51 minutes ago, jwattle said:

 

You realize that when you look at a sailing in those countries, you are seeing U.S. prices, which do NOT have crew appreciation baked in? 

Of Course. I do the conversion using a currency converter on Bankrate.  Many times their fare is less then ours. 

Edited September 17, 2023 by cruzsnooze

[jwattle]

1 minute ago, cruzsnooze said:

Of course I see it's their currency and I do the conversion using a currency converter on Bankrate. 

But you're still seeing OUR prices, not theirs.

[Waynetor]

The thing that bothers me about the current system is the expansion of who is included in the pool.  For many years is was standard that wait staff and room stewards were paid low wage and made up for that with tips.  Bar staff and servers got share of the bar charges tips to top up their low wage.  Other staff were paid enough of a wage without tips that many would come back for additional contract periods.

Now over the last few years as the crew appreciation charge has gone up Entertainment, Guest Services, Galley and Onboard Revenue areas.have been added to those getting  a cut of the pool.

That brings up 2 questions to me 1 - did those people now new to the pool take a base pay cut or is this a new bonus pay that they did not get before so that they are ahead of where they used to be and 2 - with so many people now in the pool with inflation and smaller cuts of the pool, are the wait staff and stewards better off now than they were back around 2010 when the $10 daily was split 3 ways? 

[RD64]

Why does it see that every cruise line has a new tipping thread every week?

[Cruise till you drop]

11 hours ago, 10cruise said:

My wife and I will continue to pay the suggested tips along with extra tips for good dining room servers and assistants along with our room steward.  We even tipped a casino worker since she was always so nice during our last cruise.  We appreciate their hard work.  I feel that some people just don't like to tip but this is part of cruising.  Some people are probably just cheap.

So this begs the question if you give someone in particular (ie room steward) a little extra tip at the end, are they keeping for themselves or turning it in as part of the larger tip pool to be split ?

[cruzsnooze]

32 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

So this begs the question if you give someone in particular (ie room steward) a little extra tip at the end, are they keeping for themselves or turning it in as part of the larger tip pool to be split ?

The old contract stated they must turn it in to the pool. Who knows about the new contracts post covid. Princess chooses not to let us tip those we want who served us and they don't tell us how the pool is divided except it goes fleet wide and too many people are in the pool. Transparency is not their strong point and that's why I choose to reduce my daily gratuity to $10 PP PD. I specifically don't care to tip the entertainment or revenue staff amongst others who are now added to the pool.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

The old contract stated they must turn it in to the pool. Who knows about the new contracts post covid. Princess chooses not to let us tip those we want who served us and they don't tell us how the pool is divided except it goes fleet wide and too many people are in the pool. Transparency is not their strong point and that's why I choose to reduce my daily gratuity to $10 PP PD. I specifically don't care to tip the entertainment or revenue staff amongst others who are now added to the pool.

But your reduction doesn't mean the groups you intend get nothing and it all goes to those you favor it to go to.  It all goes into pool funds and your $10 will still be shared like my $16.

[startedwithamouse]

11 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Princess keeps a percentage of the grats for administrative purposes.

Where is this in writing?

[Steelers36]

5 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Where is this in writing?

The information provided about CA states that PCL deducts a fee to cover credit card charges.  Nothing further is stated concerning administration of the pool funds.

[Guest Snaxmuppet]

3 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

The old contract stated they must turn it in to the pool. Who knows about the new contracts post covid. Princess chooses not to let us tip those we want who served us and they don't tell us how the pool is divided except it goes fleet wide and too many people are in the pool. Transparency is not their strong point and that's why I choose to reduce my daily gratuity to $10 PP PD. I specifically don't care to tip the entertainment or revenue staff amongst others who are now added to the pool.

What makes you say that (highlighted)?

 

AFAIK You can tip anyone who served you. Just give them the cash or if you prefer put it into an envelope and give them that. If they are meant to hand it into the pool I bet they don't... or not all of it!

Edited September 18, 2023 by Snaxmuppet

[Pickels]

22 hours ago, Greytgrey said:

I've never cruised Princess before, but on other cruise lines have consistently paid the "suggested" gratuity, and then also tipped as compelled beyond that. Someone over on the Princess subreddit said that they'd talked to Princess crew and been told that the gratuities that are paid through guest services (pre-paid/suggested/mandatory whatever you want to call it) are all factored into their salary and they don't get more if you leave the tips on or less if you don't. So this person worked out a system in which they took off the suggested gratuities and instead paid the individual people they had face-to-face interactions with a certain amount per day, which they said worked out to be a lot less than the suggested gratuities, and plus it made sure that the crew member actually got the cash. 

 

From what I've read, the suggested gratuities are pooled and distributed among crew that includes folks like kitchen and laundry crew, who never or rarely see the public but who also contribute to the positive cruise experience. This person with "the system" said it's not their job to make sure that cruise lines pay people a reasonable wage (which is the same thing people who don't want to tip at restaurants say, and while it's true that corporations should pay their employees a living wage that's neither here nor there when you're actively participating in the business as it presently operates). 

 

So.

 

What say you, experienced Princess cruisers? How do you handle taking care of the people who take care of you when you're on vacation?

Here is my opinion on the issue of automatic gratuities, (or crew appreciation, whatever)--- We consider the automatic gratuities a starting point and never remove them.  If a crew member, doesn't do his/her job, or has an attitude; that now becomes the ending point.  If a crew member, does an outstanding job, makes our cruise very memorable, [which has always happen on Princess], we provide an extra gratuity in a little white envelope at the end of the cruise. IMHO!

[MissP22]

20 hours ago, 10cruise said:

For those of you who like to present a baggie of gifts to your cabin steward along with cash, stop doing that.  Give them extra cash instead. 

They did say that the "gifts" were in addition to cash. 

[Pine Man]

My cruise history so far has been with P&O and, enjoyable though it has been, nobody ever provided me with service that I considered warranted additional tipping of any sort. It used to be charged on a daily basis but now it is included in the price.

 

My first Princess cruise is early next year and, reading this post, tipping appears to be something of an obsession, certainly from those 'across the pond'. So it will be interesting to see if the service I get from Princess exceeds that which I got from P&O and, in the event that it is, I might, just might, consider some sort of reward.

[david63]

55 minutes ago, Pine Man said:

So it will be interesting to see if the service I get from Princess exceeds that which I got from P&O

My overall experience of both lines is that the service is pretty much the same between the two brands - there are, obviously, some exceptions to that on both lines but they are few and far between.

[DrSea]

On 9/17/2023 at 7:07 AM, skynight said:

If you run the numbers for the plus fare you will find that if you drink 2, maybe 3 alcoholic beverages per day you break even. It all depends on how many non-alcoholic beverages you consume. Almost all non-alcoholic beverages are included and unlimited, including specialty coffees and espresso drinks, fountain sodas, juices, bottled water and so on. Coffee & tea is free all day in the buffet and in the DRs. Juice is free during breakfast hours. You will also receive 2 casual dining meals per cruise, unlimited wifi/internet and some other things. The plus fare also covers the new one month old fees, the one time $15 Ocean Now app access and the new room service fee of $5/call. The plus fare is $60/day extra.

For information I have always let the auto-tip in place and provided extra cash to the cabin steward at the end of the voyage. That's me. Makes me feel good and I'm certain the cabin steward feels good also.  

So room service now is $5 per call? When was that change made? Fleet wide? 

[memoak]

1 minute ago, DrSea said:

So room service now is $5 per call? When was that change made? Fleet wide? 

This fee has been in effect for over a month. If you have a plus or premier package that you bought this year it is waived