It this new: An increase in Auto-tips

[seacuracao]

You are correct. Many of the employees that come from European countries are complaining that they are getting paid in US dollars rather than Euros. This minimal increase is not really going to show much of a wage increase once they convert their wages from US dollars to Euros.

I heard that complaint also in Sabatini's one night.

My cruise book for our sailing on the 28 oOct says $10.00 p.p.

Dforeigner, you are on that cruise with us, what does your docs say??

Jeff

[spongerob]

Something to do with the devaluation of the US$, I wonder? If so, they should have increased it even more.

I wonder if this comes from demands from the crew, or if Princess is losing people to other lines. Maybe it's a means of employee retention. 50 cents doesn't sound like much, but it still is a 5% increase.

 

It makes me wonder, too, about things like the charge for brewed coffee - I wonder if things like this go towards crew compensation in some way or another. There's no way a big corporation earning millions per voyage wants to screw around with invoices for $1. Oops, I forgot, bean counters would. Silly me. :o

 

Still, those annoying little charges might be more for the service, than the product itself.

[dforeigner]

I heard that complaint also in Sabatini's one night.

My cruise book for our sailing on the 28 oOct says $10.00 p.p.

Dforeigner, you are on that cruise with us, what does your docs say??

Jeff

 

 

Sorry, no cruises scheduled for us until possibly 2009.

[seawyllow]

Here's a little tip for all of you- You can prepay for Sabatinis and the Crown Grill ahead of time. Just call your TA or Princess and say you want to prepay for a special service. The TA can pull it up in the system immediately and put in payment and you are all set then. Sabatinis is $20 and the Grill is $25 currently if you pay ahead.

[wards04]

Just checked Page 20 of my cruise answer book. We are going on the October 21st cruise to the Panama Canal on the Coral. According to my book, the auto tip is $10 per day per person. We are in a mini-suite and it doesn't say we would be paying more than the regular cabins. It also states that this book was in effect as of January, 2007.

[windango]

We're leaving November 10th on the Grand and my book (just received it Friday) says $11 for mini-suites and suties and $10.50 for all other staterooms. I thought I had read somewhere else on here that the new tipping prices would go into effect in 2008, but guess they started early!!

[windango]

Also, the date on my Cruise Answer Book is 9/07.

[ArizonaRalphie]

Just received my cruise docs today and it states very clearly that the auto tip is $10.50 per day per person for all cabins and Mini's and suites is $11.00 per day per person.

 

I thought it was $10.00 per per person per day.

Well, if that's the case, I'll just have to curb my cruising for awhile while I save up the additional $7.00 for a week long cruise.

[wards04]

Correct me if you think I'm wrong. It's not the additional money but the principal. Shouldn't you pay the amount that it states in your cruise book? It's not anyone's fault if they quote you the wrong amount. It the price did go up, shouldn't you still pay what your book states? I look at it as the same as when you go to a department store. If the sales tag says one price but the register doesn't recognize that and charges you a higher price, you usually pay what the sales tag had (not the register price).

[DrivesLikeMario]

I posted this on August 29th on the 'other' board:

 

Effective March 1, 2008:

For anyone booked in a mini-suite or full suite, the new rates for automatic tips will be $11.00 per person, per day.

 

For those in regular balcony cabins and below, the new tip rate will be $10.50 per person, per day.

 

This is the insider information given to Princess Commodore TAs. I knew the tips were going up, but it sounds like they've gone up BEFORE the above date.

[seacuracao]

Sorry, no cruises scheduled for us until possibly 2009.

 

Sorry, mixed you up with the equally eloquent "DRPack". I'll have a drink or two for you on sailaway!!:cool:

[dforeigner]

Sorry, mixed you up with the equally eloquent "DRPack". I'll have a drink or two for you on sailaway!!:cool:

 

[BruceMuzz]

All the major cruise lines pay their tipped employees just about the same salary; somewhere between $0.70 and $1.20 per day - plus tips. After the employees pay their mandatory union dues, their net pay ends up being something under $1 per day - plus tips. You can like it or not like it. That's the way it has been for the past 100 years. It will probably work that way 100 years from now.

 

30 years ago when I worked on Royal Viking Ships, the average passenger paid $20 per person per day in tips. Today the average tip is half that amount. So the ship service employees have already taken a 50% salary cut over that period - not even considering the substantial inflation during that time.

 

Most ship employees do not live in America, but are paid in US Dollars. Over the past 10 years, the US Dollar has fallen an average of about 20% against the Asian and European currencies that we must convert to. Another 20% salary cut.

 

Does anyone really wonder why service levels on ships have fallen over the years? How many times can you cut the salaries of your best employees before they just give up and go to work for another industry?

 

So now some of the cruise lines want to give their tipped staff a 5% net pay increase. Anyone find that unfair?

[arabrab]

I'm actually surprised that they didn't go to $12/day given the hit that the dollar has taken in the past few years.

 

The increase in the auto-tip won't affect our cruising decision.

 

The increase in the specialty dining price will definitely reduce the chance that I'll dine there. They're now up at the price I pay at our excellent local chop house, and it doesn't seem that they credit any of what they'd otherwise be spending to feed folks in the dining room.

[Ula]

I had heard there was a small increase in Auto tip. Not enough to make or break a cruise. But also I do not think anyone on these boards really knows what these people make.

Princess will only raise as market allows. You can always remove Auto tip. So if it goes to 20.00 a day, many will remove it and that defeats the purpose.

[dazee8]

All the major cruise lines pay their tipped employees just about the same salary; somewhere between $0.70 and $1.20 per day - plus tips. After the employees pay their mandatory union dues, their net pay ends up being something under $1 per day - plus tips. You can like it or not like it. That's the way it has been for the past 100 years. It will probably work that way 100 years from now.

 

30 years ago when I worked on Royal Viking Ships, the average passenger paid $20 per person per day in tips. Today the average tip is half that amount. So the ship service employees have already taken a 50% salary cut over that period - not even considering the substantial inflation during that time.

 

Most ship employees do not live in America, but are paid in US Dollars. Over the past 10 years, the US Dollar has fallen an average of about 20% against the Asian and European currencies that we must convert to. Another 20% salary cut.

 

Does anyone really wonder why service levels on ships have fallen over the years? How many times can you cut the salaries of your best employees before they just give up and go to work for another industry?

 

So now some of the cruise lines want to give their tipped staff a 5% net pay increase. Anyone find that unfair?

 

BruceMuzz,

 

Good to see people still remember the Royal Viking Cruise Line. We sailed on most of the ships in the RV fleet and yes, tipping was costly at the end of the cruise. Cruising has certainly changed in the last 30 years, and we don't begrudge the 5% increase that is being applied now. Hope to see you on a future cruise to skol with some aquavit.

 

"As we sail away on this happy day..."

 

:)

[Cruzin2paradise09]

Correct me if you think I'm wrong. It's not the additional money but the principal. Shouldn't you pay the amount that it states in your cruise book? It's not anyone's fault if they quote you the wrong amount. It the price did go up, shouldn't you still pay what your book states? I look at it as the same as when you go to a department store. If the sales tag says one price but the register doesn't recognize that and charges you a higher price, you usually pay what the sales tag had (not the register price).

 

Actually, it would make more sense to be paying what it says in the actual contract rather than an "answer book." You don't sign the answer book, it's for reference only. Your contract also states that charges can change as well as ports.

[m steve]

I'm sure it will cause 100s of passengers to cancell their cruise! I personally add at least $20 extra for cabin steward and waiter on my 7-10 day cruises and more on longer ones. They get slave wages and need a little extra.

[star gazer]

Your math is incorrect. The Captain, Officers and entertainers are not given tips nor are they part of the tipping pool. The same for the maintenance staff and the engine room/mechanical staff. The entertainers are actually paid by a Rep firm, not by Princess, as they are contracted by a 3rd party. Those participating in the tipping pool include the cabin stewards, their helpers and the dining staff (including the Maitre D and table Captains), including the Anytime and the buffet dining (not all buffet dining staff also work in the dining room). This is not their entire pay: they're paid a base plus tips. Also, they do not agree on a fixed amount for their tips in their contract. Not sure where you got that from.

 

Estimators call this a SWAG (sweet wild a-- guess) estimate and is an opinion only. No need to be critical of the numbers and being an estimator, I see the OP logic.

[funship freddy]

Help me out ! Seems like we (the passengers/customers) are paying the crew.... more of a payroll fee than a "tip." The cruise line pays them peanuts and the "tips" keep them happy ???????

 

:confused:

 

 

[Globaliser]

Seems like we (the passengers/customers) are paying the crew.... more of a payroll fee than a "tip."

This is exactly what it is. It's nothing to do with true tipping, except that that's what it's called on board the ship. The shipboard tipping system is simply the way that we passengers pay the crew's wages, instead of doing it through the fare that we pay.

 

Most tipping debates here have a sizeable faction of people who simply don't, or won't, understand this.

[LARGIN]

Call it what you want just don't remove it.. :rolleyes:

We all know that it is not a perfect world and that salaries should be increased, however if that happens, the cost of cruising will increase proportionally.. Maybe that is a good thing as it will give new fodder to post.

[ArizonaRalphie]

Estimators call this a SWAG (sweet wild a-- guess) estimate and is an opinion only. No need to be critical of the numbers and being an estimator, I see the OP logic.

Having been a roofing and construction estimator, for 42 years, I must correct the SWAG comment. It's "scientific wild a** guess." The scientific part comes from knowing exactly how much area is involved and from that calculating exactly how much material is required. The "wild a**" part comes with the labor involved to handle and install said materials. (Hang-overs, domestic quarrels, bill collectors, law enforcement and other unanticipated factors all take their toll)

[spongerob]

Most tipping debates here have a sizeable faction of people who simply don't, or won't, understand this.

I think most people understand it perfectly, and that's why the subject of removing tips becomes such a hot topic.

[star gazer]

Having been a roofing and construction estimator, for 42 years, I must correct the SWAG comment. It's "scientific wild a** guess." The scientific part comes from knowing exactly how much area is involved and from that calculating exactly how much material is required. The "wild a**" part comes with the labor involved to handle and install said materials. (Hang-overs, domestic quarrels, bill collectors, law enforcement and other unanticipated factors all take their toll)

 

No correction required, I am familiar with scientific and sweet. In the

roofing and construction business, scientific is fine.

In the aerospace world, sweet is the word used.