Gratuities Are Going Up Again, Effective 11.11.2023

[Ocean Boy]

6 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

 Well said. 

 

Of course we live in an upside down world when a company DECREASES service and INCREASES auto-gratuities at the same time. 

And customers justify the action.

[travelberlin]

24 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

My daughter is a bartender in Boston, she bartends to pay rent while she’s in grad school (and tuition alone is $60,000 a year). She works brutal shifts because of the tips, her salary is very small, walks home alone at 3 am. No one would do this work without tips.

I appreciate the effort of your daughter. I am sorry and I wish her a successful ending of her studies.

Many of us had to work hard to continue with our education and to reach our goals. Some got a scholarship, some move to a country in which tuitions are not extremely high and others have studied and worked at the same time. To expect that with our tips we are responsible for the education or livelihoods of others is somehow naive. People need well paid jobs and not to be begging for tips. 
Ivi

[icsys]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

My daughter is a bartender in Boston, she bartends to pay rent while she’s in grad school (and tuition alone is $60,000 a year). She works brutal shifts because of the tips, her salary is very small, walks home alone at 3 am. No one would do this work without tips.

 

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

I appreciate the effort of your daughter. I am sorry and I wish her a successful ending of her studies.

Many of us had to work hard to continue with our education and to reach our goals. Some got a scholarship, some move to a country in which tuitions are not extremely high and others have studied and worked at the same time. To expect that with our tips we are responsible for the education or livelihoods of others is somehow naive. People need well paid jobs and not to be begging for tips. 
Ivi

 

I also appreciate the efforts of your daughter, but people seem quite happy to take these 'low pay - tip dependent' jobs. They must be lucrative or why else would they take them?

 

Perhaps if no one took those low paid jobs then the employers would reconsider their renumeration packages and pay a decent wage for the work done!

[UNCFanatik]

3 minutes ago, icsys said:

 

 

I also appreciate the efforts of your daughter, but people seem quite happy to take these 'low pay - tip dependent' jobs. They must be lucrative or why else would they take them?

 

Perhaps if no one took those low paid jobs then the employers would reconsider their renumeration packages and pay a decent wage for the work done!

 

But its so baked in the American Tipping Culture that it will never happen. It is only getting worse with everywhere you go now there is a tip jar or prompt on the Point of Sale to leave tip at places where tipping never was the norm before

[Morecruisesplz]

9 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

 

But its so baked in the American Tipping Culture that it will never happen. It is only getting worse with everywhere you go now there is a tip jar or prompt on the Point of Sale to leave tip at places where tipping never was the norm before

Do you think it got worse after Covid?

[mjkacmom]

2 hours ago, travelberlin said:

I appreciate the effort of your daughter. I am sorry and I wish her a successful ending of her studies.

Many of us had to work hard to continue with our education and to reach our goals. Some got a scholarship, some move to a country in which tuitions are not extremely high and others have studied and worked at the same time. To expect that with our tips we are responsible for the education or livelihoods of others is somehow naive. People need well paid jobs and not to be begging for tips. 
Ivi

But it’s preferable to some to have a hard but lucrative job than working for minimum wage as a cashier somewhere, especially if you are a full time student (her program is 5 days a week, she’s at BU all day). My daughters (who’ve been employed since 14) got entry restaurant jobs (cashier, hostess) to get their foot in the door, moving up to server, this is my daughters second bartending job which she moved up to after being a server for a couple of years. Bartenders are not well paid and rely on tips just like servers. Who the heck would work their tail off until 3 am for minimum wage?

[not-enough-cruising]

4 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

People removing gratuities are literally taking money out of crew member’s pockets. Whether people like it or not, a significant portion of many crew members depend heavily on gratuities. Removing gratuities is directly lowering their paycheck, therefore they are not helping them have a better life. 

I put cash directly into the pockets of those that interact with me face to face, and make a difference.

[not-enough-cruising]

4 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Sit a bar and watch all the voucher users walk away w/o tipping and you will see you are wrong.

the cruise line covers the tip for the bartender on a C&A voucher drink

[nalatrixie74]

we pre-paid our gratuities, we are going to bid on royal up, will our gratuities go up or do they just transfers from what we have already paid if our bid is accepted? we aren't bidding on suites, they aren't available. 

[icsys]

1 hour ago, icsys said:

Perhaps if no one took those low paid jobs then the employers would reconsider their renumeration packages and pay a decent wage for the work done!

 

1 hour ago, UNCFanatik said:

 

But its so baked in the American Tipping Culture that it will never happen. It is only getting worse with everywhere you go now there is a tip jar or prompt on the Point of Sale to leave tip at places where tipping never was the norm before

 

You are right.

 

Although the UK does not have a tipping culture, it is now becoming the norm to tip, usually up to 10% of the check at restaurants. We find ourselves doing this every time we frequent a restaurant where there is table service. 

 

There has been something of a quiet push in recent years by restaurants towards adding an optional "service charge" automatically to bills, this can be anywhere from 10% to 20%, it is far more prevalent in and around London though it is creeping outwards.

 

The tipping culture is spreading like a virus.

 

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

the cruise line covers the tip for the bartender on a C&A voucher drink

Absolutely not!

[travelberlin]

55 minutes ago, icsys said:

 

 

The tipping culture is spreading like a virus.

 

Let’s hope not. 😤
 

I have read an article about a young waitress so disappointed that Europeans were not tipping enough in USA, that in her naivety, she DEMANDED that USA does not allow Europeans to visit USA. Go figure…why people in those type of jobs do not DEMAND a fair payment from their employers?

[not-enough-cruising]

28 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Absolutely not!

Absolutely yes, has been documented on these boards several times. Confirmed at Schooners 

Edited November 7, 2023 by not-enough-cruising

[Ocean Boy]

2 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

the cruise line covers the tip for the bartender on a C&A voucher drink

I couldn't tell you who uses vouchers, pays for drinks, has a package, etc. They all hand over a seapass. I also have no idea who tips or not. I have better ways to spend my vacation than paying attention to what is none of my business.

[not-enough-cruising]

Just now, Ocean Boy said:

I couldn't tell you who uses vouchers, pays for drinks, has a package, etc. They all hand over a seapass. I also have no idea who tips or not. I have better ways to spend my vacation than paying attention to what is none of my business.

Thank You my good man. 

Well said 

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I put cash directly into the pockets of those that interact with me face to face, and make a difference.

And screw over the hard working employees behind the scenes who depend on gratuities. 

[Ocean Boy]

4 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

And screw over the hard working employees behind the scenes who depend on gratuities. 

RCI seems to be moving more groups of people off of payroll and into the tipping pool while sky rocketing the cruise fares that they charge yet you say the passengers are doing the screwing.🤔

[not-enough-cruising]

13 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

And screw over the hard working employees behind the scenes who depend on gratuities. 

No sir, those folks get their very generous GUARANTEED salary. Clean laundry and dishes are included as part of my fare. If one day I get a towel that is extra clean, I will track down the responsible party and tip him; short of that, I am just fine focusing on those I interact with directly. 

[yogimax]

20 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

No sir, those folks get their very generous GUARANTEED salary. Clean laundry and dishes are included as part of my fare. If one day I get a towel that is extra clean, I will track down the responsible party and tip him; short of that, I am just fine focusing on those I interact with directly. 

Ah, you say the folks who work behind the scenes, like laundry workers, receive a very generous salary.  This means you know how much they receive for working double digit daily hours, seven days a week.  Please inform us of your definition of “very generous.”

[not-enough-cruising]

12 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Ah, you say the folks who work behind the scenes, like laundry workers, receive a very generous salary.  This means you know how much they receive for working double digit daily hours, seven days a week.  Please inform us of your definition of “very generous.”

As has been stated in this particular thread on a number of occasions the last day or so, one can read the salary standards on the website of the Maritime Labour Convention. 
 

The MINIMUM is many times more than the average salary in their home countries. 
 

BTW lots of people aroumd the world, including the USA work 60-70 hours a week just to make ends meet; this is nothing unique to cruise ship workers. 

[yogimax]

41 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

 

The MINIMUM is many times more than the average salary in their home countries. 

As has been stated numerous times, this is a false comparison.  They are not working in their home countries.  They are working on cruise ships which generate billions of dollars of revenue, largely on the backs of individuals who work 7 days a week for seven months or more and who depend, in part, on folks paying their fair share of tips.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

No sir, those folks get their very generous GUARANTEED salary. Clean laundry and dishes are included as part of my fare. If one day I get a towel that is extra clean, I will track down the responsible party and tip him; short of that, I am just fine focusing on those I interact with directly. 

I don’t know where you are getting your information, but I cruise on RCI twice a month and I have gotten to know a lot of crew members well over the past several years (I only cruise out of Florida ports so I see the same crew members on a frequent basis). Every one of them (cabin stewards, drink servers, MDR servers, etc.) with out exception has stated the biggest part of their paycheck comes from gratuities and without gratuities, the minimum wage provided by RCI is not enough to justify them working away from home. Fortunately, and this is directly from crew members, the over whelming majority of passengers do not remove gratuities. So yes there are cheap people who screw over crew members by removing gratuities, but fortunately these cheap passengers are the exception, not the norm. 

[iscruisingdunzo]

Wow. It should not be any customers care or concern what RCL pays their staff! We are just the cash paying customer that is supposed to be enjoying the vacation we are paying for. 

 

And again, RCL just recorded profits in the BILLIONS. If their staff is unhappy about their pay, and I would assume that they are not because they seem to be fully staffed, their frustration should be with their employer and not the paying customers. If they choose to provide service that is exemplary, I am sure the same customers will reward them for their service as well via tips. 

 

Now, it there is indeed a problem that we are not aware of regarding the ship staff's pay, they should be taking action with their employer who is walking away with BILLIONS! Tomorrow, if every passenger decided to not prepay their "gratuities'' for the services they have yet to receive the staff's problem should not be with the customers, but with RCL for their policies and procedures. 

 

Why so many on this board have such a vested interest in their well being is quite scary. This really should not be of our concern and is not our fight. If you choose to subsidize RCL and give them an interest earning loan to further line their pockets then so be it, but that does not make those of us with a little common sense bad people by any means. LOL

[not-enough-cruising]

25 minutes ago, yogimax said:

As has been stated numerous times, this is a false comparison.  They are not working in their home countries.  They are working on cruise ships which generate billions of dollars of revenue, largely on the backs of individuals who work 7 days a week for seven months or more and who depend, in part, on folks paying their fair share of tips.

Doesn’t matter where they work, what matters is where the money is spent. If you don’t like that fact take it up with the world’s economists. 
 

If it was so bad there wouldn’t be crew spending decades on the ships. 
 

Edited November 8, 2023 by not-enough-cruising

[not-enough-cruising]

12 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I don’t know where you are getting your information, but I cruise on RCI twice a month and I have gotten to know a lot of crew members well over the past several years (I only cruise out of Florida ports so I see the same crew members on a frequent basis). Every one of them (cabin stewards, drink servers, MDR servers, etc.) with out exception has stated the biggest part of their paycheck comes from gratuities and without gratuities, the minimum wage provided by RCI is not enough to justify them working away from home. Fortunately, and this is directly from crew members, the over whelming majority of passengers do not remove gratuities. So yes there are cheap people who screw over crew members by removing gratuities, but fortunately these cheap passengers are the exception, not the norm. 

You are being lied to