Gratuities Are Going Up Again, Effective 11.11.2023

[grandgeezer]

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

My property taxes go up every year, no one is telling me why. 

We just got our tax bill in September. For some reason, here in AZ, the payments are due in October and April. The bill shows line item by line item, what we paid last year and what we will pay this year along with the percentage change plus or minus. 
Ours went up 3%, inflation and all.

[tottenhamfc]

5 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I refuse to accept any of that responsibility. If you allow yourself to be manipulated, that’s on you 

It isn’t really. If the grats are a part of the employees compensation, it is a line item of how they are paid. The issue is more the optics of segregating the grats as optional. If it was in the cruise fare your only responsibility would be to rate the service

[ReneeFLL]

13 hours ago, Mark_UK said:

Have sailed them a few times now and loved it. They have upcharge activities but for genuine value (e.g. free drinks) rather than paying for a level of service you'd expect for the fare you've already paid. The onboard restaurants are all fantastic and no upcharge. 

Are you booking a suite for the free drinks? I’ve read some reviews and they were paying for drinks.

[tottenhamfc]

Just now, Ocean Boy said:

I am inferring no such thing. You are the one that said bearing the burden of the cost of the cruise should be equitable. So we should all pay the same fare, tip the same, and maybe even buy the same number of drinks for that matter.

Once again you are segregating the grats because they have been made optional for legal reasons. I do believe that ALL should pay the same tips. ALL or none at your discretion

[UNCFanatik]

21 minutes ago, tottenhamfc said:

That makes no sense because many are cruising and paying a different price than others due to grats removal. 

 

Yes and they are away from their families 10 months a year and work 15 hour days 7 days a week. They are not slaves they are employees and should be rewarded as such. Once again the debate is primarily about value for deteriorating service and people not paying their share for the cruise. If we all remove tips prices go up. Its just sleight of hand for marketing purposes.

 

Paying my share? Are you serious? I pay the advertised price of the cruise. I pay my share. Gratuity is optional. As I said before, cruise lines should raise their rates and stop playing games with asking consumers to subsidize employee wages with gratuities. 

 

I am all for higher prices. Royal is free at any time to change their model and raise fares and let the market decide. 

[tottenhamfc]

Just now, UNCFanatik said:

 

Paying my share? Are you serious? I pay the advertised price of the cruise. I pay my share. Gratuity is optional. As I said before, cruise lines should raise their rates and stop playing games with asking consumers to subsidize employee wages with gratuities. 

 

I am all for higher prices. Royal is free at any time to change their model and raise fares and let the market decide. 

Agree with that model but they are afraid of market share.

[not-enough-cruising]

23 minutes ago, footzz said:

Interesting. And yet RCL increases gratuities in spite of that fact.

THEY ARE NOT GRATUITIES 

Edited November 1, 2023 by not-enough-cruising

[UNCFanatik]

4 minutes ago, tottenhamfc said:

It isn’t really. If the grats are a part of the employees compensation, it is a line item of how they are paid. The issue is more the optics of segregating the grats as optional. If it was in the cruise fare your only responsibility would be to rate the service

 

and the employees agreed with their compensation model. I am under no obligation to supplement their income. That should be up to the employer. 

[not-enough-cruising]

5 minutes ago, tottenhamfc said:

Once again you are segregating the grats because they have been made optional for legal reasons. I do believe that ALL should pay the same tips. ALL or none at your discretion

Gratuities are ALWAYS optional, no matter what. Legality as no bearing in the discussion. 

[pcur]

27 minutes ago, RoyalC said:

This is not the reason because people have opted out of tips since the beginning of cruising. If they think raising the tip price is going to compensate they are mistaken. You already see numerous people on social media saying they are removing tips now. 

Interesting.  I did the exact opposite:  I notified my travel agent to prepay all my (15) booked cruises' tips.  I see tipping as part of the price of cruising, and have always, and will always, support the crew.

 

If that's the RCCL business model in-place, then that's the way I roll, too. If they include it in the price, than I'll roll that way, too.  It's ALWAYS been part of MY budget model to include tips as part of the price of a cruise.

[UNCFanatik]

1 minute ago, tottenhamfc said:

Agree with that model but they are afraid of market share.

 

If you agree with the model then you should also be fine with people removing gratuities because the onus should be on Royal and not on the consumer. You should not be using terms like "paying a fair share"

 

Imagine if all the cruisers who remove their gratuities just stopped sailing with Royal. Wouldnt that affect their market share. Wouldnt that affect crew employment levels and result in crew members losing their jobs and stifle job creation and opportunities for employment? Tip or not, every passenger contributes 

[not-enough-cruising]

3 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

 

and the employees agreed with their compensation model. I am under no obligation to supplement their income. That should be up to the employer. 

And Royal makes sure the crew gets paid for exactly what their contract says. If one isn’t OK with the guts red minimum wage, they should not have signed the contract 

[RedIguana]

Pretty soon cruise prices will be based on gratuities paid per day, with cruise fare, taxes, and port fees extra.

[tottenhamfc]

Just now, not-enough-cruising said:

Gratuities are ALWAYS optional, no matter what. Legality as no bearing in the discussion. 

According to Brits they said that their laws dictate the compulsory grats. Have no clue about U S laws. Why woukd they use the currwnt model then if they are asking you to remove only for poor service?

[Scottdalfonso]

5 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

And Royal makes sure the crew gets paid for exactly what their contract says. If one isn’t OK with the guts red minimum wage, they should not have signed the contract 

If they are told you get paid this PLUS gratuities, then they should be upset when they don't get them. A bartender on land takes a job knowing they are guaranteed a VERY VERY low pay, but knowing a good amount (if not most) of the pay will be coming from tips. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Scottdalfonso

[UNCFanatik]

5 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

And Royal makes sure the crew gets paid for exactly what their contract says. If one isn’t OK with the guts red minimum wage, they should not have signed the contract 

I fully agree. 

 

And its a fallacy that increased tipping increases level of service

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

You don't know how your town is spending your tax money?

Not exactly. I know different departments have different budgets, the schools, and then our county takes a big cut, $4000 when we bought the house, $13,000+ now. Many here wonder what the heck is their money going towards.

[tottenhamfc]

2 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

 

If you agree with the model then you should also be fine with people removing gratuities because the onus should be on Royal and not on the consumer. You should not be using terms like "paying a fair share"

 

Imagine if all the cruisers who remove their gratuities just stopped sailing with Royal. Wouldnt that affect their market share. Wouldnt that affect crew employment levels and result in crew members losing their jobs and stifle job creation and opportunities for employment? Tip or not, every passenger contributes 

It is the only line item that creates inequality for customers. All other line items are non negotiable. So I would say that by not paying grats some are subsidizing others plain and simple. 

[UNCFanatik]

2 minutes ago, Scottdalfonso said:

If they are told you get paid this PLUS gratuities, then they should be upset when they don't get them. A bartender on land takes a job knowing they are guaranteed a VERY VERY low pay, but knowing a good amount (if not most) of the pay will be coming from tips. 

yup, but they also assume the risk of people not tipping. Thats on them

[footzz]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

THEU ARE NOT GRATUITIES 

Yes, I agree. Employees willingly sign a contract and accept that part of their compensation comes from potential 'gratuities'. It's solely the cruise industry that decides how and what they pay their employees.

 

It's ludicrous that people get mad at the consumer who opts remove the auto-gratuities when it's a stated policy that is allowed by cruise lines. 

 

 

[joeyancho]

6 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

MSC is high on my radar. I wonder if it could turn out that different is better. RCI keeps giving me reasons to find out.

On my upcoming cruise I originally booked a standard balcony room.  I was invited to bid for a better room.  I bid on a Yacht Club  inside room.  My bid was accepted.  When I checked out the room assigned to me,  it was a deluxe balcony suite!  Not really a suite but a large room.  The bid amounted to about one half of the price had I booked the room directly.   Check out the Yacht Club experience,   it is beyond amazing.   No mass market  cruise line offers anything close to it. 

[iscruisingdunzo]

15 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Gratuities are ALWAYS optional, no matter what. Legality as no bearing in the discussion. 

Lol, yet I would bet and guess over 75% of their paying customers have NO IDEA gratuities are optional since RCI is shady and doesn't communicate this information clearly. 

[ReneeFLL]

14 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Was on 16n Radiance PC Cruise 3 weeks ago. While sitting near front on night one there was a Royal Worker working the line and heard over 2 Dozen Cabins removing Tips just in that 20min. She just added the names to an already long list

What good does that list do? Are the cabin attendants going to give worse service? How do they know if they’re going to get cash tip or just get stiffed? I don’t think the lists if they do make them do any good for anything.

[cruiselvr04]

11 minutes ago, pcur said:

Interesting.  I did the exact opposite:  I notified my travel agent to prepay all my (15) booked cruises' tips.  I see tipping as part of the price of cruising, and have always, and will always, support the crew.

 

If that's the RCCL business model in-place, then that's the way I roll, too. If they include it in the price, than I'll roll that way, too.  It's ALWAYS been part of MY budget model to include tips as part of the price of a cruise.

No one knows the exact model Royal uses but it’s assumed they get a small base salary and that tips are the basis for their pay.  They all work hard. 
 

Because of that, we too have decided to continue to tip as it’s part of the price of cruising.  It’s not fair to hurt the staff who work to make your cruise more enjoyable. It doesn’t feel quite right though when cabin service has decreased and yet in 13 months the gratuity has increased by $7 a day for a couple.  
 

If Royal is having trouble with people removing them, they should made it a part of the fare. It might be easier to swallow.  

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, footzz said:

You got me to thinking; Did the bean counters crunch the numbers to include the additional cost of envelops when they initiated this gratuity increase? 

Many aren't even aware of the envelopes or as they used to be called WOW envelopes for rewarding excellent performance.  Only time that I get an envelope presented to me is the cabin steward leaving the envelope on my bed a day/night prior.  I basically have to go to GS for any add'l envelopes.