bjlaac

I'm late to this party but after reading the 6 pages of discussion, thought I'd add my two cents. We've been cruising for decades and the issue of tipping, additional tipping or even not tipping has been around for as long a I can remember. In the beginning it was relatively simple, "suggested" tips were to be made to the Room Steward, Waiter (Bus Boy taken care of by waiter) and anyone who interacted with you that made your vacation special. Although there were no chat boards or internet back then, you could see the main dining a lot less crowded on the last night by those who obviously didn't want to tip. Eventually the cruise lines allowed you to charge your tips to your account and provided envelopes with vouchers to hand to the Waiters and room stewards. If this had continued it would have been fine, but what was once optional became an automatic daily service charge all under the guise of "tips" and no longer just for the waiter and room steward but for almost every conceivable worker on the ship making the daily service charge seem small to the point lots of us tip "extra". Additionally, the cruise lines are very secretive to exactly how this service charge is distributed. I've heard everything from all of it goes to the crew as additional salary to it pays for some amenities in the crew quarters with a portion paid out in cash based on performance. This pooling of tips that I have no accountability as to how its distributed does not sit well with me. I don't believe in tipping the laundry saff or janitor sweeping the floors or anyone else behind the scenes as I don't do it in hotels or restaurents or anyplace else. I might feel different if I knew how the $16 was split but the Cruise industry does not provide that info which in itself tells me a lot. Even after having said all that we leave the daily service charge intact and often tip extra to the room steward, waiter and busboy. That doesnt mean we wouldn'y remove the daily service charge for repeated bad performance if we felt it necessary on a rare occassion. That's just us, there's no right or wrong and if you want to leave extra that's great but it does not mean those that don't are bad or should be shamed because they don't.

how soon can you apply for the shareholder benefit. Their web site currently says 3 weeks but can you do it sooner. I have cruises booked in Oct, early Jan and late Jan. When can I ask for the benefit for each of those cruises?

What onboard credit is non-refundable?

Now that we are approaching the September 5th testing protocols I've not seen any info on specifically what RCCL wants as proof of self tests. For the tests I have at home there's no web site for results, no printouts and no apps for results as specified for proof of the self administered test. The only remaining option is a photo of the test results...but a photo of what exactly? The lines on the test, a photo of me holding the lines showing the test result, a serial number of the test, etc. or any combination? I realize this is going to generate lots of "this is the reason its a stupid policy" comments but before we go there, this is a serious question especially anyone saling on a 10 day cruise in the next few days. Anyone have insight or already asked RCCL for what they want?

I'm only relaying my experience our first cruise in 1979 was on the Stataendam to Berumda...it was strictly NO TIPPING POLICY, our next was in 1980 on the Niew Amsterdam to Bermuda and the Carribenn also with a NO TIPPING POLICY. In 1982 and for the next few years we sailed the Thanksgiving cruise on Home Lines where the cruise director named Stanley Kaine talked about the $2.50 per person per day as I outlined in my original post or $5 as you put it. there were no others that expected an envelope based on a daily charge. Were there others we did, yes, like the Maetre'd for a special service or the deck steward who reserved your lounge chair for the entire cruise (ah the good old days) Sometime after that the money grab started for "our convenience of course". So I'm not sure what ships you were sailing but that was our experience. Each cruise line was probably different in the day so each person's experience is certainly different...but we wind up in the same place today.

As a long time cruiser I can tell everyone for certain the "gratuities" issue has evolved many times over the years (for the worse IMHO), something many of you already know.......Anyway. On our first few cruises in the late 70's and early 80's the cruise director would have a talk on tipping and it usually went along the lines of this. The recommended tip was around $2,50 per person each day for both the Cabin Steward and Waiter. The waiters tip was split with the bus boy as per their own agreement. The CD would also say if the Maitre'd did something special consider giving he a one time flat fee of you own choosing. All of the cruise lines operated the same except for Holland America who had a published no tipping policy and although they didn't discourage tipping they didn't promote it either. Everything except the initial fare was in cash on those ships as well. Then when the ships became more modern and computerized there as a push to remove cash from the daily activities with all expenses charged to onboard accounts backed by credit cards and cash as we see it today. The last cash remnants besides the casino's was the gratuities which most cruise lines adopted but it was merely a swap of cash to vouchers for the Waiter and Steward gratuities. Whatever the equivilant of the $2.50 charged daily was printed on the vouchers you would hand to the waiter and steward on the last night. If I recall correctly, the implementation of my time dining and specialty venues also made this a much more practical solution since a large percentage of passengers never had the same waiter and had no one to hand the vouchers to on the last day...not that it really mattered. There was always debate among cruisers as to the amount of the "suggested tips" even back when it was $2.50 cash being handed to the stewards and waiters. I guess there will always be cheap passengers and big tippers but overall the system worked and you could always remove the gratuities and tip in cash or not at all if you so chose. Then what many of us who have seen this evolution and started to object too was what became an apparent cruise line money grab from the cruise lines. Instead of the actual tips going directly to the waiters and stewards it became a pool of money that also went to multiple behind the scenes staff like laundry workers. They also removed the specialty waiters from the pool and double charged for tips by charging the service fee on top of the bill in those specialties. Although the cruise lines won't detail where every dollar goes, if you do enough research you will see references to amounts paid based on performance and things like recreation facilities paid for the benefit of the crew....all things the cruise lines should be paying for and not part of the tipping pool. It leaves you to believe all of those monies are not directly paid to the crew. Finally the amount of the daily charge has also gone up disproportionately from the $2.50. The average household income in 1980 was around $21k compared to approximately $100K today (last published number is $97,000for 2021). That's a 4.76 increase and if applied to the $2.50 should be in the $12.00 range not the current $15.50 ( i believe that's the current rate). Everything points to the cruise lines making out on these charges to the detriment of the staff, even Holland America ditched the no tipping policy decades ago. So the bottom line is do what you feel is right for you and while we almost always tip in addition to the prepaid charges, we won't feel one bit of concern in removing them either if there's an unsolved issue because it hurts the cruise lines a lot more than the staff especially if you tip in cash if you do remove the daily service charge

Tipping/gratuity charges and fees are such a touchy area and the cruise lines have made it worse with their never ending increases and secrecy as to where the money actually goes. We for the most part leave the daily charge and provide additional tips for extra ordinary service. We will adjust the prepaid amounts if there's an issue that is not resolved by management which is rare, and if we do, make sure the people who actually serve us get extra. The problem I have with the prepaid fees is this BS about money going to the "behind the scenes" worker which to me is a load of crap. No where in the world do you tip the laundry workers or dishwashers or anyone else that do not directly serve you. Over the years, what was once just an easier way to pre-pay the waiter and cabin steward evolved into this convoluted money grab by the cruise industry with made up people you have to tip. In the end, everyone should do what they feel is best for them and their families. Gratuities are what they are and should be treated accordingly be individuals. If you feel like paying the service charge and tip on top of that fine. If you choose to remove them and pay your actual cabin stewards, bar tenders and waiters separately fine, and even if you choose to tip nothing its your choice as long as the cruise lines give you that opportunity. Either way its not for us to be the shame police or critics if someone chooses to be a big spender and double tip.

Thought I'd jump into the conversation now that Carnival is doing something different than RCL. Having said that it looks like they are moving towards some sort of Booster requirement and I'm beginning to believe all the lines are gong to require boosters in the future. What that means and what it evolves into no one knows for sure but i don't believe it will be to our liking. My family is vaccinated but we have opted out of any boosters. I won't debate the merits or pitfalls of that decision as there's plenty of info out there to make your own decision. The only info I'll pass along is the attached link which shows there's basically no difference in death rates for vaccinated people with booster vs those opting out of the booster shots. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status?country=~All+ages We've been on 4 cruises with RCL the past year and have three more booked in the next six months however any requirement for boosters (if ever implemented) will drive us from the cruise industry.