Are you still adding cash gratuity on top of the automatic gratuities?

[BirdTravels]

On 11/23/2023 at 5:01 AM, sgmn said:

Hubby still talks about when he was waiting patiently in line at a bar to be served and the barman served the guy at the back of the queue,  presumably because he tipped well (bribed).

Doesn't sit well with our sense of fairness 

 

Totally fair. The bartenders are providing preferential treatment to "good" customers. We are creatures of habit and don't rotate through all of the foo foo drinks on the menu. We tip our bartenders (well). If we are waiting in line and our favorite bartenders are working the bar, eye contact and a nod of the head,,,, and our drinks are are waiting for us when we get to the bar,,, for another good tip. 

 

Kinda like an airline, "good" customers are given preferential treatment. We always board the plane first. We are allowed 3 checked bags at 70 lbs each for free. We are upgraded to first class for free (space available). If we're in main cabin, we still eat and drink for free. A lot more than our Diamond status on NCL or Royal has ever got us.  

[travelberlin]

Interesting article about tipping:

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/03/why-you-may-be-guilt-tipping.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Intl&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR20C_GKZ9UKW8vAsEbDxYdfjZLcZ6X4x4PTvEfC_h86cBslFtq9VrrBmsI#Echobox=1701252215

[PhillyFan33579]

On 11/23/2023 at 4:44 AM, sgmn said:

If raising grats twice in two years and cutting service on top of sky high prices leads to more people refusing to pay the (optional) grats, then the rises seem self defeating. There will come a tipping point (no pun intended), when the rises are unsustainable because of more and more opting out.

I am currently on Liberty and talked to the Hotel Director about auto gratuities the other day. He said it is something they track very closely because it directly impacts the pay of a lot of crew members. He said across the fleet a little over 2 percent of passengers remove gratuities. I was surprised because I thought it would be higher. Just my opinion, but based on those numbers it appears most passengers understand the importance of auto gratuities. 

[BND]

4 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am currently on Liberty and talked to the Hotel Director about auto gratuities the other day. He said it is something they track very closely because it directly impacts the pay of a lot of crew members. He said across the fleet a little over 2 percent of passengers remove gratuities. I was surprised because I thought it would be higher. Just my opinion, but based on those numbers it appears most passengers understand the importance of auto gratuities. 

That is surprising based on those that post on here that they remove them.  We always give a little more to those that do more for us or give great service.  We had the best steward on our b2b on Jewel last month so we tipped her extra on each leg.  She is probably the best we've ever had and we noted it and mentioned her in our survey.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

1 hour ago, BND said:

That is surprising based on those that post on here that they remove them.  We always give a little more to those that do more for us or give great service.  We had the best steward on our b2b on Jewel last month so we tipped her extra on each leg.  She is probably the best we've ever had and we noted it and mentioned her in our survey.

I am not surprised tbh. I would imagine the figure is much higher on Non-Us based cruises tbh. Cruises with predominantly more US passengers will pay the Graturites and tip above and beyond. 

It would be interesting to see the basic wages before Graturites of royal staff and those staff whos company add the Graturites to the cruise fare, ie P&O etc. 

Edited November 30, 2023 by FamilyCruiserUK

[PhillyFan33579]

4 hours ago, BND said:

That is surprising based on those that post on here that they remove them.  We always give a little more to those that do more for us or give great service.  We had the best steward on our b2b on Jewel last month so we tipped her extra on each leg.  She is probably the best we've ever had and we noted it and mentioned her in our survey.

This morning a friend I am crushing with talked a little more about this topic over a very good Bloody Mary about 3O minutes ago. Yesterday we thought 2 percent was a pretty low number. But thinking about it more this morning, that would still be well over 100 passengers removing gratuities on bigger ships every cruise, which we both think is pretty high. This might fall into the category that you can use the same statistic multiple ways (i.e. 98 percent sounds good but over 100 passengers doesn’t sound too good). 

[iscruisingdunzo]

We just sailed a few weeks ago and this subject came up in conversation with two other families, both of which had no idea how and why gratuities should be removed. They were then educated on the reasons. Hopefully the 2% number indicated above increases. 

[Another_Critic]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

This morning a friend I am crushing with talked a little more about this topic over a very good Bloody Mary about 3O minutes ago.

Is your spouse/partner aware that you have a friend you are crushing with?  😄

[SilkySal]

42 minutes ago, iscruisingdunzo said:

We just sailed a few weeks ago and this subject came up in conversation with two other families, both of which had no idea how and why gratuities should be removed. They were then educated on the reasons. Hopefully the 2% number indicated above increases. 

Something tells me that their "education" was based on hearsay and not actual facts. Let's hope they could distinguish one from the other. (probably stirring the pot, my apologies but had to say something)

[iscruisingdunzo]

11 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

Something tells me that their "education" was based on hearsay and not actual facts. Let's hope they could distinguish one from the other. (probably stirring the pot, my apologies but had to say something)

 

Huh.

 

The education consisted of a question. Do you tip prior to receiving any service in your everyday life? No, then why would you be expected to tip X amount prior to on a cruise ship? Cruise ships are using their customers to subsidize staff salaries. If you feel you received great service, you should then choose who and how much you want to tip. That made total sense to both parties. 

[vjmatty]

7 hours ago, BND said:

That is surprising based on those that post on here that they remove them.  We always give a little more to those that do more for us or give great service.  We had the best steward on our b2b on Jewel last month so we tipped her extra on each leg.  She is probably the best we've ever had and we noted it and mentioned her in our survey.

I was surprised at first to read that, then I remembered that Cruise Critic only represents a few percent of the cruising population, so I guess it makes sense. 

[SilkySal]

3 minutes ago, iscruisingdunzo said:

 

Huh.

 

The education consisted of a question. Do you tip prior to receiving any service in your everyday life? No, then why would you be expected to tip X amount prior to on a cruise ship? Cruise ships are using their customers to subsidize staff salaries. If you feel you received great service, you should then choose who and how much you want to tip. That made total sense to both parties. 

I'll only say this once and I'm not here to argue. There are staff members "behind the scenes" that you will never see or meet that depend on those gratuities and you are denying them well-deserved money. Why not keep the gratuities in place and tip a little extra to those you see, who go over and above expectations? Don't answer that; just think about it. However, your mind is probably made up, as is mine. I bet you have never paid it forward either, cause that person would not be specifically doing something for you. I really hope you change your way of thinking some day.

[Badatz2]

20 minutes ago, iscruisingdunzo said:

 

Huh.

 

The education consisted of a question. Do you tip prior to receiving any service in your everyday life? No, then why would you be expected to tip X amount prior to on a cruise ship? Cruise ships are using their customers to subsidize staff salaries. If you feel you received great service, you should then choose who and how much you want to tip. That made total sense to both parties. 

I have been cruising for a number of years and never understood one aspect of this debate on gratuities.

Assuming that you are not going to cancel the gratuities, what difference does it make if you pay them in advance or have them added daily to your account.  In the end it's the same amount.  You are not expected "to pay in advance" you are given the option.  You don't want to, then pay at the end of the cruise.

I don't think that "cruise ships are using their customers to subsidize staff salaries".  The are just breaking a cost out of the total price which if they were not COLLECTING gratuities for the staff and had to pay them out of pocket there is no doubt in anybody's mind that they would increase the cruise fare accordingly for everyone. Then you would lose any benefit that you have now of choosing how much and when to tip.  

 

There is always this discussion about paying in advance or auto gratuities.  It makes no sense to me.

But if you want to give a different amount or all in cash directly to the crew, they allow you to do it also.  So what's the problem? You have total control.

 

I am open to a logical explanation

[SilkySal]

9 minutes ago, Badatz2 said:

I have been cruising for a number of years and never understood one aspect of this debate on gratuities.

Assuming that you are not going to cancel the gratuities, what difference does it make if you pay them in advance or have them added daily to your account.  In the end it's the same amount.  You are not expected "to pay in advance" you are given the option.  You don't want to, then pay at the end of the cruise.

I don't think that "cruise ships are using their customers to subsidize staff salaries".  The are just breaking a cost out of the total price which if they were not COLLECTING gratuities for the staff and had to pay them out of pocket there is no doubt in anybody's mind that they would increase the cruise fare accordingly for everyone. Then you would lose any benefit that you have now of choosing how much and when to tip.  

 

There is always this discussion about paying in advance or auto gratuities.  It makes no sense to me.

But if you want to give a different amount or all in cash directly to the crew, they allow you to do it also.  So what's the problem? You have total control.

 

I am open to a logical explanation

He/she is talking about removing ALL gratuities from his cruise and just paying those individuals who he decides deserves tips, not having any prepaid or daily gratuities added to his cruise. That is what the disagreement is about here. You may have misunderstood his/her meaning of the post.

Edited November 30, 2023 by SilkySal

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

Is your spouse/partner aware that you have a friend you are crushing with?  😄

 

LOL…and that was after only one Bloody Mary this morning.