Holland America Tippings - Answers to questions

[saltydog28]

jazzsea...In regards to your questions about tipping, I find Joe Potts answers insulting.

How many times have you heard of the manager of a land based restaurant confronting patrons as they were leaving because of the tip that was left? I have heard of it two - three times, because it made the news.

If there is a problem or a concern I have, I'll go to the front desk, or write it on the comment card.

In answer #4 Mr. Potts writes..So we feel pretty good about the way the process is working, and in the long run, the hard working people out on the front lines, will come to expect and count on this income.

I paid for my cruise before I got on the ship. I assumed that part of that payment went to the staff and crew on that ship. If HAL wants to increase their employee wage scale, they should talk to Carnival corp.

I do not have a problem paying a service charge. just or unjust, to me it's paying another tax. But they don't call it a service charge.

I do have a problem being told whom to tip and how much.

If HAL has a problem with their tipping policy it is because their advertising department created it.

OK...I got this off my chest, and it was a heavy load because there are ALOT of threads about tipping.

Take care,

Pat.

[staufj22]

Exactly! I can't believe this individuals would be left out of the mix, let alone the Maitre d'. So it still doesn't pan out to me. Thanks, Ruth, for sharing this, however.

 

I don't believe they're being left out of the mix. Again, I don't know how its exactly distributed on HAL, but on Princess, $1 /p/d goes to the Maitre d', and some amount goes to the assistent waiter.

 

Also, as with the first post of this thread, the Pinnacle Grill staffs are in the mix of the tip pool.

[Jacqueline]

Taking off autotipping is one way to acknowledge bad service but I cant imagine that I would wait till the end of the cruise should the service be THAT unsatisfactory. I would try and get the situation rectified rather than wait By then my vacations over and its not going to help me. Its a way to send a message but not the most satisfying.

On Celebrity you can modify the amount for each person (ie steward, waiter, chief housekeeper, etc)on the autip form either up or down or off.

[Suite 16]

We had an excellent Room Steward on the Rotterdam's recent Irish Sea Cruise, but a few days before the cruise ended, he was reported by a Cabin near us, and they refused to tip. Not only was this completely unfair - surely he cleaned all the rooms as well as ours - but it put his job in jeopardy by blemishing his reputation. A few bad reports will put him at the mercy of people wishing to avoid the $10 pp/day.

 

On the other hand, the tip money will be shared by employees giving less than good service, and who we witnessed being rude.

 

How does HAL propose to protect their employees from cheap persons? We heard one man, after 17 days, complaining that "it wasn't anything big enough to complain about - just a lot of little things." Not fair.

 

We think the new system, on the Rotterdam, has led to an unhappy situation. We have used this system on other ships, have added tips to the deserving staff, with no problem. Once we were assured no one would lose his job, we added money to our waiters and stewards and others on the Rotterdam. The staff is the best thing left on the Rotterdam - but how long will they all stay?