Allocation of gratuity daily

[colesc15]

We've always just left the gratuities as is that royal auto charges each day, and then tip Cash throughout. After thinking about it, we haven't stepped foot in the main dining room in probably 2 years.. Is it possible for guest services to remove that portion of our daily charge and either they allocate it where I want, or I just tip more in cash? 

 

Is this something many people do, or? I don't mind the tipping because the crew works their butt's off, but having roughly 40% of the daily gratuity go towards a venue that we don't step foot in feels silly when it could be going to someone we interact with daily. 

 

Maybe get your popcorn ready lol 

[smokeybandit]

Something to think about. Most of those MDR crew are working in the Windjammer during the day.

 

 

[little britain]

The same staff who work in the MdR at night also work other shifts in the WJ. Leave the tips in place so all get their fair share 

[Biker19]

8 hours ago, colesc15 said:

Is it possible for guest services to remove that portion of our daily charge and either they allocate it where I want, or I just tip more in cash? 

Most reporting indicates that you need to remove all of the grats and then add in however much you want.

[leaveitallbehind]

9 hours ago, colesc15 said:

...we haven't stepped foot in the main dining room in probably 2 years.. Is it possible for guest services to remove that portion of our daily charge and either they allocate it where I want, or I just tip more in cash? 

We, too, rarely if ever dine in the MDR.  But I am not aware of any way to apportion the gratuities. As others have said the waitstaff also spends time in other venues, primarily the WJ. Their services to you may just not be as direct but are there nonetheless.  To my knowledge with gratuities Its all or nothing, and as I see it is just a part of the cost of cruising.

 

My understanding also is that regardless of the allocation, gratuities are pooled and evenly distributed, in part because of the shared venues workload. If you remove them altogether that pool is diminished by that amount, and all of the staff who participate will be affected.  And there will also be an awareness that they have been removed. You would just have to be sure that those you wish to compensate outside the MDR receive your determined amount.  IMO its just easier to add additional if desired at the end to those you feel deserving and just leave the auto-gratuities in place.  Again, JMO.

Edited June 22 by leaveitallbehind

[colesc15]

49 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

We, too, rarely if ever dine in the MDR.  But I am not aware of any way to apportion the gratuities. As others have said the waitstaff also spends time in other venues, primarily the WJ. Their services to you may just not be as direct but are there nonetheless.  To my knowledge with gratuities Its all or nothing, and as I see it is just a part of the cost of cruising.

 

My understanding also is that regardless of the allocation, gratuities are pooled and evenly distributed, in part because of the shared venues workload. If you remove them altogether that pool is diminished by that amount, and all of the staff who participate will be affected.  And there will also be an awareness that they have been removed. You would just have to be sure that those you wish to compensate outside the MDR receive your determined amount.  IMO its just easier to add additional if desired at the end to those you feel deserving and just leave the auto-gratuities in place.  Again, JMO.

Got it. Yeah I'd never in a million years remove them all because of the insane work they do. I'll just continue as is leaving the automatic amount and tipping with cash throughout. 

[leaveitallbehind]

31 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

Got it. Yeah I'd never in a million years remove them all because of the insane work they do. I'll just continue as is leaving the automatic amount and tipping with cash throughout. 

When I indicated that we rarely dine in the MDR, depending on the ship we also are not frequent visitors to the WJ other than the occasional breakfast or lunch.  We have most of our dinners in the specialty restaurants, and breakfast and lunch at other venues when not in the WJ. 

 

With the specialty restaurants, there is a separate waitstaff and there is a separate gratuity included in restaurant fee.  (Even with that, we occasionally find ourselves adding an additional amount at the end of the meal if the service was particularly good).

 

As mentioned before, for us its simpler to leave everything in tact and add more when and if we want to.

 

Enjoy your cruising!

Edited June 22 by leaveitallbehind

[bjlbbk]

On our last cruise at the end of the week we realized we had not eaten anywhere but specialty dining so we went to Guest Services and asked for our prepaid gratuities be credited back to us so we could redirect them where we wanted them applied. They provided us a form to fill out and specify how much and to whom we wanted gratuities paid. We still followed the suggested tip amount (based on their suggested gratuity guidelines below) for our room steward and hotel services but we adjusted dining services since we had the unlimited dining package and had also paid gratuities on that. We always tip extra to those who serve us direct and wanted the flexibility to do so even more. Not sure if it is always that simple but for what it is worth Guest services was very accommodating and the process was pretty easy.

[3yorkies]

On about 75% of my cruises I only do specialty dining, so I remove the autotips and tip more in the specialty dining rooms because I don't think the 18% on the UDP is adequate.   I never eat breakfast and never eat in the MDR those trips.  I never go to the buffet on ANY cruise.    So it makes no sense at all to leave the dining tips in place since I don't use those servers.   I also give room steward more directly, part first or second day and rest at the end.    

[ONECRUISER]

16 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Something to think about. Most of those MDR crew are working in the Windjammer during the day.

 

 

Agree, Decades ago when I started Cruising all 3 Meals were ate in Main Dining, back then if Waiter/Asst wasnt performing (getting 10s) they'd be demoted to WindJammer, snacks, tea time, Midnite Buffet and no Tip's. Now they rotate and work in both regularly 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

It's been a decade ago, but on our first cruise, we ran into our MDR waiter bussing tables at Cafe Promenade during the day.  So I wouldn't assume they only do WJ or MDR.  

[Tree_skier]

It is too much effort to worry about how my tips are distributed.  Royal says that $18 covers it so I believe them.  They add 18% to my specialty dining bookings so I believe them that that covers it.

 

 I tip extra where I feel it is warranted.  I'm not wasting 20 - 30 minutes of my vacation to reallocate my daily $6.25 to other people.  Royal says it's fair... The employee, by their continued service, says it's fair... Who am I to question it.  

[cruiseboy89130]

8 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

And there will also be an awareness that they have been removed.

No just NO! They don't know and they will not know - that story is just made up by people on CC to push their agenda! Royal does NOT want their crew to know who did and who did not opt out!

Edited Saturday at 08:39 PM by cruiseboy89130

[cruisegus]

28 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

No just NO! They don't know and they will not know - that story is just made up by people on CC to push their agenda! Royal does NOT want their crew to know who did and who did not opt out!

Absolutely wrong info. 

 

Not sure about others but the cabin steward has that info on their work sheet, I've seen.  It states if you I have pre-paid. Also if you remove gratuities and then give cabin steward cash, they are required to turn that in (extra above gratuity not turned in).  For those that want to say how would Royal know, since it is a fixable offense not to turn in cash from someone that removed gratuities, No steward is going to risk their job.

 

It would be much better for All if Royal would just make it mandatory, so we wouldn't have to listen to this BS all the time.

[leaveitallbehind]

39 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

No just NO! They don't know and they will not know - that story is just made up by people on CC....

I beg to differ.  But that's ok.

[cruiseboy89130]

1 minute ago, cruisegus said:

It states if you I have pre-paid.

That is a totally different animal! We are talking about removing - not pre-paid!

 

2 minutes ago, cruisegus said:

Also if you remove gratuities and then give cabin steward cash, they are required to turn that in (extra above gratuity not turned in).  For those that want to say how would Royal know, since it is a fixable offense not to turn in cash from someone that removed gratuities, No steward is going to risk their job.

 

Not true! You can remove literally just 5 minutes before you leave the ship...on your way to the door!

[cruiseboy89130]

Just now, leaveitallbehind said:

I beg to differ.  But that's ok.

You can remove literally just 5 minutes before you leave the ship...on your way to the door!

[leaveitallbehind]

10 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

You can remove literally just 5 minutes before you leave the ship...on your way to the door!

Never said you can't remove them.  Only said the staff will know.  But to me it's a moot point as I would never remove them as after 32 years of cruising, I recognize and respect the work the staff does and am happy to contribute to their income through my gratuities.

[cruiseboy89130]

22 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Only said the staff will know.

How? And why would you care?

[Billy Baltic]

34 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

How? And why would you care?

Don’t bring logic into this. It’s not the thread for that. 

[cruisegus]

1 hour ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

That is a totally different animal! We are talking about removing - not pre-paid!

 

Not true! You can remove literally just 5 minutes before you leave the ship...on your way to the door!

You can and that notification will be made to the cabin steward after the fact.

 

Again none of them wants to lose what to them is a very lucrative job for failing to turn in cash tip after being notified that one of there cabins removed tips.

 

Again my opinion, but Royal should just make them mandatory or better yet add to cruise fare as a mandatory service fee.  California has already started the move in that direction.

[leaveitallbehind]

48 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

How? And why would you care?

This is not worth discussing.  I care because I respect their work and would not want to deny them their gratuities.

 

End of my discussion. 

Edited Saturday at 10:44 PM by leaveitallbehind

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

No just NO! They don't know and they will not know - that story is just made up by people on CC to push their agenda! Royal does NOT want their crew to know who did and who did not opt out!

Sorry to tell you but I actually saw a printed list

[Vibe]

3 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

It is too much effort to worry about how my tips are distributed.  Royal says that $18 covers it so I believe them.  They add 18% to my specialty dining bookings so I believe them that that covers it.

 

 I tip extra where I feel it is warranted.  I'm not wasting 20 - 30 minutes of my vacation to reallocate my daily $6.25 to other people.  Royal says it's fair... The employee, by their continued service, says it's fair... Who am I to question it.  

Exactly how I feel.

 

When the crew members sign on they accept their compensation based on the tipping model that is in place. I don’t give it much thought, it’s not my business and not worth my time thinking about it, I pay the suggested gratuity and give extra cash if someone goes over and above. 

 

We are all fortunate that we have the time and money to cruise, Giving $18.00 per person per day that goes to crew members that come from less fortunate parts of the world and have to work long hours every day for months shouldn’t be something to obsess about.

 

 

Edited Saturday at 11:30 PM by Vibe

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, cruisegus said:

Absolutely wrong info. 

 

Not sure about others but the cabin steward has that info on their work sheet, I've seen.  It states if you I have pre-paid. Also if you remove gratuities and then give cabin steward cash, they are required to turn that in (extra above gratuity not turned in).  For those that want to say how would Royal know, since it is a fixable offense not to turn in cash from someone that removed gratuities, No steward is going to risk their job.

 

It would be much better for All if Royal would just make it mandatory, so we wouldn't have to listen to this BS all the time.

Nope 

False information all around.