I saw BA in another thread apparently has milk vodka as a choice (Black Cow). I bought a bottle of that in Southampton last year. Never again. OTOH, I really liked the Philippine Rum.
All checked in. Tomorrow we fly (hopefully). Cattle class. Food in First and Business class naven't been up to Carnival standards this year, so I'm really not expected much tomorrow. We bought snacks.
Not sure about that. Gross income isn't what is taxed. Expenses etc are subtracted before you arrive at net income.
A different situation, but in many states it is illegal for employers to keep any employee gratuities so they would have to be kept separate from other funds.
IMO, the topic is about the traditional cruise line gratuities and not restaurant or bar gratuities. The amounts are per person per day and not related to the cost of the cruise. They are gratuities according to the definition, but nothing like restaurant tips.
Not going to happen for most cruise lines for a number of reasons, including it is tradition and always has been. Even on "no tipping" cruise lines, tipping happens.
You destroy any incentive for workers to go above and beyond. Granted, people pulling tips has the opposite effect.
A number of people choose cruises based on price alone - if a cruise line raises base fares for any reason, it puts them at a competitive disadvantage. It doesn't matter what is built into the cruise fare.
We know nothing, but speculate endlessly. Carnival used to provide a breakdown, but then pulled it, probably because of pulled tips. You can be sure that there isn't much difference between how traditional cruise lines deal with gratuities. These are not tips like you might leave in a restaurant, based on a percentage of the bill.
With all the talk of luggage trackers, I see Tile has introduced a cat tracker. Our luggage has both Tile and AirTags. I've used them for a while and give the edge to AirTag, but whatever works for you.