Removing gratiuities - when to do it

As I posted on an earlier thread (which was soon 'removed'?) if everyone on a ship carrying 2000 passengers spends $20 per day on beverages over a 7 day cruise, this would amount to $280,000 of beverages sold, add on the 15% service charge - hey presto in a week $42,000 profit made just on beverage service charge, to be split, as Cunard tell us in their brochures "just amongst the beverage staff" - I don't think so somehow........:rolleyes:

 

P.S. Over a year that amounts to $2,184,000!! Makes your eyes water!

Lol not a bad top-up of your basic wage - but as you say, "I don't think so".

Lol not a bad top-up of your basic wage - but as you say, "I don't think so".

If that was the case there would be a backlog of applicants waiting to join the beverage crew.

Sorry, but this means nothing. Is that amount per week, per month, per year? How many cabins do they get paid to cover? If we are including gratuities as wages then we must not forget the value of free accommodation, free food/soft drinks/tea/coffee, free uniforms, free health care and the chance to travel the world for free. Yes, there are negatives about the job, as there are in most jobs. But we must recognise that the remuneration package is not just based on the basic pay. Tips are clearly an important element, but they are not guaranteed or a right.

So if you think the $30 million a year Cunard collects in service charges isn't used to pay wages, what is it for?

So if you think the $30 million a year Cunard collects in service charges isn't used to pay wages, what is it for?

Increasing the Carnival share divi.

David

Sorry, but gratuities are not "staff wages". They may form part of the crews earnings but the cruise fare that we pay already incudes the cost of staff. While I am sure that we all recognise excellent service and reward it accordingly, threads like this tend to argue that we must pay our "auto gratuities" and then tip excellent service on top of that. Indeed, we then need to pay a further 15% service charge on top of all of that if we want a drink. While I agree that staff work hard, but so do I to earn all this money - and get no tips.

No one says you have to tip over & above the auto gratuity. I'm in the industry & I DO tip over & above. We like to take care of our "own" you might say. Other than that it's your choice to tip over the standard or not.

So if you think the $30 million a year Cunard collects in service charges isn't used to pay wages, what is it for?

Well if it is a true tip it should not be used by Cunard to pay anything - it should go to the crew on top of their wages.

No one says you have to tip over & above the auto gratuity. I'm in the industry & I DO tip over & above. We like to take care of our "own" you might say. Other than that it's your choice to tip over the standard or not.

The whole issue with "auto gratuities" on drinks is that you have no choice but to tip even when there has been no real service provided. In addition, it is doubtful that all of the service charge generated by the "auto gratuities" on drinks goes to the crew. As I have said before, I do not mind tipping excellent service or paying a service charge when I have received some form of service above the minimum needed to provide me with the product they are selling. But charging me 15% to open a bottle of beer is simply wrong. That said, it is what it is, and I enjoy sailing with Cunard - but lets see this for what it is, the cruise company's way of charging more for drinks.

The whole issue with "auto gratuities" on drinks is that you have no choice but to tip even when there has been no real service provided. In addition, it is doubtful that all of the service charge generated by the "auto gratuities" on drinks goes to the crew. As I have said before, I do not mind tipping excellent service or paying a service charge when I have received some form of service above the minimum needed to provide me with the product they are selling. But charging me 15% to open a bottle of beer is simply wrong. That said, it is what it is, and I enjoy sailing with Cunard - but lets see this for what it is, the cruise company's way of charging more for drinks.

If the gratuities didn't go to the crew they would strike or quit. Drink gratuities go into a pool for the entire beverage staff as they are not in the general gratuity pool.

If the gratuities didn't go to the crew they would strike or quit. Drink gratuities go into a pool for the entire beverage staff as they are not in the general gratuity pool.

Are you saying the whole of circa $42,000 per week the 15% per beverage generates is shared between only by the beverage staff? If there were 200 beverage staff (think this is probably more than actual) that would be $210 per week each over and above any official 'wages'? It would be $280 per week if there were 150 staff and if there were 100 it would be $420!!

There's about 1000 crew on the QV. I'd doubt 200 (1 in 5) are beverage staff. When you go into a bar, I reckon there's only 5 or so waiters in each one, plus bar staff. I'd say less than 100 (including wine waiters).

I can't remember if Cunard do this, but many cruise lines have an extra space on the drinks receipt for you to leave an additional tip. :confused:

I can't remember if Cunard do this, but many cruise lines have an extra space on the drinks receipt for you to leave an additional tip. :confused:

Yes, there is space on the receipt to add an extra tip.

It's not really a tip is it ? We all know that. It's just a way to make the initial price look less.

I mean, yesterday I was in a pub.

The cost of a pint outside Euston Station was £4.00.

It was not £3.50 + 15%. It was £4.00. It really is that simple.

The cost of a pint outside Euston Station was £4.00.

A pint in London for under a fiver, that's a celebration.

A pint in London for under a fiver, that's a celebration.

I was taken aback as well !

Compared with the £6.50 for a 330ml bottle of cider I'd just paid in a restaurant on Regent Street !

11 pages of utter failure to agree as a result of deeply embedded cultural norms across both sides of the pond.

Please make it stop.

WIll someone kindly bring the failed Austrian painter who invaded Poland into the discussion. It's guaranteed to get a thread closed anywhere on the internet, but I fear that if I do it again myself the blokes with the short cropped hair will be kicking my door in.

p.s. Anyone paying north of £5 for a pint of something masquerading as beer in London needs their head examined. Up our way it's cheaper, tastes better and actually has a head on the top.

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p.s. Anyone paying north of £5 for a pint of something masquerading as beer in London needs their head examined. Up our way it's cheaper, tastes better and actually has a head on the top.

 

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Agreed! Transplanted Londoner now living in Nottingham... off to a Beer Festival this weekend where everything is £3 a pint...

It's not really a tip is it ? We all know that. It's just a way to make the initial price look less.

 

I mean, yesterday I was in a pub.

 

The cost of a pint outside Euston Station was £4.00.

 

It was not £3.50 + 15%. It was £4.00. It really is that simple.

Doesn't your point prove the case that gratuities are not the problem that many of my fellow Brits make them out to be i.e. 3.50 + 15% is 4.02, compared to a straight 4.00....virtually identical, so pay the grats and support the cruiseline business model......it really is that simple!;)

At current exchange rates its something like £4.85 + 15% for a pint of draught beer on Cunard so £5.57. Even in London that would be extortionate. £4.85 is bad but more than £5 a pint is a mental barrier not many British people want to cross.

At current exchange rates its something like £4.85 + 15% for a pint of draught beer on Cunard so £5.57. Even in London that would be extortionate. £4.85 is bad but more than £5 a pint is a mental barrier not many British people want to cross.

Don't come visit Manhattan then. $8 for 16oz is not unusual. And you still need to tip on top of that.

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Don't come visit Manhattan then. $8 for 16oz is not unusual. And you still need to tip on top of that.

I've visited two years ago. The fx rates were a little better then. I haven't booked any more US trips since Brexit because it's become so much more expensive. I booked my last trip over a year ago well before the pound tanked and Cunard decided to put up drinks prices - I could afford the trip I wanted when I booked, now I might have to pay a bit more attention to what kind of bills we rack up on board.

I'm not going to be removing my autotips but I can see why others would. I'll have to rein in the drinks instead which - if other British passengers do similar - will also have an effect on staff albeit the bar staff rather than the hotel and restaurant staff.

Doesn't your point prove the case that gratuities are not the problem that many of my fellow Brits make them out to be i.e. 3.50 + 15% is 4.02, compared to a straight 4.00....virtually identical, so pay the grats and support the cruiseline business model......it really is that simple!;)

I think you have missed my point.

It's not the 2p I'm on about (I just used £3.50 + 15% as it's a simple number).

My point was that I was charged £4.00. The price was not £3.50 + 15% (ok, £3.48 + 15%). It was £4.00.

So why can't companies like Cunard just charge you a price, instead of adding of x, y and z on to a published price ?

It really is that simple.

.......So why can't companies like Cunard just charge you a price, instead of adding of x, y and z on to a published price ?

 

It really is that simple.

For reasons of tax, and shareholder profit. It is the business model virtually all cruiselines use, and for the standard onboard gratuities it makes so much sense to me. With regard to gratuities on drinks and spa treatments, I think it is fair that those are paid by those using such services. Locally, and when we go south to visit family, I would always add 10% to a restaurant bill (unless the bill is already service charged) and round up. Similar for taxis.

As an aside, we spent a lovely day in Chester while down South last week.....a really interesting city, and we had lunch outdoors in beautiful sunshine in the Boathouse Restaurant on the river.

I think you have missed my point.

 

It's not the 2p I'm on about (I just used £3.50 + 15% as it's a simple number).

 

My point was that I was charged £4.00. The price was not £3.50 + 15% (ok, £3.48 + 15%). It was £4.00.

 

So why can't companies like Cunard just charge you a price, instead of adding of x, y and z on to a published price ?

 

It really is that simple.

I took a cruise to Norway on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas 2 years ago, out of Copenhagen. Compared to pricing out of US ports at the time, all the drink prices were raised 18% and rounded up, and no additional service charge was added.

Locally, and when we go south to visit family, I would always add 10% to a restaurant bill (unless the bill is already service charged) and round up. Similar for taxis.

 

As an aside, we spent a lovely day in Chester while down South last week.....a really interesting city, and we had lunch outdoors in beautiful sunshine in the Boathouse Restaurant on the river.

I too generally add 10% myself to restaurant bills. But I think that's the point that everyone (especially those from the UK) is that they choose to add it. Where as on the ship (or indeed the US in general), there's no option.

So when you do add a tip in a restaurant , they do seem genuinely grateful for it. But on the ship it's just there. For example, a few weeks ago on the QVm every drinks waiter was first rate. Apart from one who worked in the Pub. He had zero customer facing skills - none. He clearly hated every second of his job. But because of the system, he got 15% regardless. And that's the problem for me.

In Chester, The Boathouse used to have an ivy covered beer garden, but I've not been for a while now.

The Coach House in the city centre is the best pub in Chester I'd say. It's right next to the Town Hall, just across the the cathedral. The food there is very good. You can sit outside in the pedestrian area which is quite nice as well.