Dave994

Glad to see you at least pay them. I like to get as much out of the way ahead of time as possible. That's why I always add the tip for my pizza on the computer. Just hand me my pies and be on your way! :p

 

 

 

But just so you know, if there is an issue that you feel removing tips is necessary and you have prepaid, you can still go to GS and have them refunded. But unless someone seriously ticked me off, I wouldn't. I would, however, make sure that ALL the appropriate people were made aware while still on the ship. They can't fix problems if they don't know about them.

I get that and if I had horrible service I would remove them. So far, it hasn't been bad enough for me to go to that length. But I am Canadian and complaining is not something we are good at :)

I believe in rewarding those who provide exceptional service. Our last cabin steward was amazing and he was given a good tip. Our waiters were not great at all and although I left the auto tip, I didn't provide extra like I have in the past.

Gratuities aren't even close to 15% of your cruise fare, but OK. What about people who buy Cheers or Bottomless Bubbles? They ARE charged 15% on the package cost upfront before they ever get a drink.

 

 

 

That's what I have a hard time understanding. It's OK for Carnival to automatically add gratuities to bar bills even if you get sucky service (which I would say happens a LOT more often than in the MDR or from your room steward). But when it's added to your account for the people who take care of you night and day, some people freak out and demand not to pay it. It shouldn't be an option just like it's not when you order a drink. Why is there not a million threads on this and people demanding to have them removed every time they sign a bar receipt?

Agree 100% I don't think the drinks should come with an auto 15% pre done. And I have a 4 day cruise coming up in August where I want cheers and really struggle with this because I don't agree with it.

that's the thing, the price of the cruise isn't being raised, the money is just being collected in a different way. but instead of putting it in the base fare, collecting it like port charges would be better. if someone must cancel a cruise say 5 days out, they would lose the gratuities as well if included in the base cruise price but they would get them back like port charges and tax if the cruise had to be cancelled. but either way, the actual cruise price doesn't increase unless someone is already planning to remove them which couldn't be done if they changed how the money was collected.

You don't understand at all what I am saying and that's ok. Eliminate gratuities period. No service charge, no port like fees charge, just raise the price of every cruise and use that money to pay their staff a decent wage. And yes, they will be taxed on it (which is why they do it the way they do) but treat it like every other company does. I know when I go to a hotel the cost of the wages is included in my nightly rate, but I still get a choice to tip the bell hop if he takes my bags or whoever else I see fit.

I want to eliminate the word "gratuities" or "service charge" from my cruise experience period.

Because once again it's not a tip, it's a service charge. It's no different to me than taxes and port fees. I don't sweat the small stuff and to me worrying that I might get "cheated" out of anything but excellent service is one of the last things on my mind. Again, if that were to happen I have other more effective avenues of getting this handled. A couple bucks isn't that big of a deal to

me.

 

And yes, I have pre tipped. Ever order pizza online and add the gratuity to your credit card when you check out? I do it all the time. I just have to trust that my pizza will arrive as ordered. If not, I will leave it in place and call the store.

Ummm no. When I order pizza online I tip the driver when he shows up with it.

And again, I have never removed my tips in 4 cruises. I just don't prepay them.

do you pay for a meal before you get to a restaurant :confused: no, yet you pay for a cruise months before you take it. so what's the difference if it makes someone happy to not have to worry about owing anything when the leave the boat by prepaying tips.

 

 

 

then again, land-based restaurants and cruises are two entirely different animals but you diced to compare them so let's compare them completely and not just one aspect of them. ;)

Ok. Let's. I don't have a choice ahead of time for a cruise. I either pay for the whole thing or I don't.

If there was a restaurant that charged me to book it and I thought it was worth it....food was great, ect...I have no problem with that.

But I have never eaten at a restaurant that auto adds a 15% gratuity and never will. And I worked in that industry for 8 years. I tip based on service at the end of said service.

If the gratuity is not 20 to 25% of the cruise price, why do you feel they would be required to raise the price that much to cover gratuities?

Just a number to point out many here claim to holier than thou folks about gratuities and yet suggest they raise the price of a cruise and they freak out.

If they raised it by the exact amount of gratuities now and paid that increase to staff and then let me tip based on who serves me, I would be happy. Many here would not

I agree. If service is that bad then it needs to be addressed right then and there with a supervisor - mandatory service charge or not. I don't think service will suffer at all as a cash tip could still be an option and no one wants to lose their job for slacking off.

 

I prepay gratuities and I always get excellent service. They know that I have done so from the time I step foot on the ship and not once did I ever need to address any shortcomings in regards to service. There are other more effective avenues for weeding out poor performers besides withholding funds such as a talk with their boss and a dishonorable mention on the survey.

Do you call ahead to a restaurant and provide a tip to the waiter?

Prepaying gratuities makes no sense to me at all. I have never pulled my gratuities, but I sure as heck won't provide it before I have been given any service. And if I got poor service, I would pull the gratuities from those whose service did not meet my expectations.

Why I am tipping the dishwasher, cruise director and the musicians, ect....still escapes me but I will tackle that one another time.

seems we do. my reasoning is that i'm tired of watching the cheapskates lie through their teeth the last night of the cruise coming up with any bs reason to pull their tips at gs. also makes the line at gs extremely long for those of us who want to do something other than pull their tips. maybe carnival should have a 'remove tip' only line for those people so they can stand there until midnight to save a few bucks that they were obligated to pay.

Just curious....if your cruise fare went up by say 20-25% and carnival removed gratuities and paid their staff a better wage. Any issues?

We'd love to see where you got this information. Can you please provide. Thanks.

Here you go :

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2016/03/carnival-ups-arnold-donald-s-bonus-by-18.html

Oh! I didnt expect that to happen! hehe

 

 

 

Is that you, or is it shared by others in Canada do you think? I know the majority of Brits will agree with me

 

 

 

And before anyone asked - I have already prepaid gratuities.... so no - not an option for me to remove. All paid in full. :D

This Canadian agrees 100%.

All these people here get outraged if someone dare suggest removing gratuities and tipping in cash. They call them cheap....yet how many times have I read here they are not willing to see their cruise fare increase for these hard working crew to be paid a fair wage? So who is cheap?

Your anger should not be directed at the person who didn't tip, but rather Carnival for not paying their staff a good salary.

Then you can Tip for the service you receive because it went above and beyond, not because they showed up.

not's not carnival's policy but pretty much the entire mass market cruise policy. to get one to change they would all have to change.

I have no problem with that. They all should. I would gladly pay more knowing those hard working staff are making enough to provide a better life for their family.

 

 

 

Someone else in this thread called for Carnival to pay their employees a fair wage so we as guests could reduce or eliminate gratuities. The cruise industry would see a overnight price hike of 30% or more. It's a publicly held, stock ownership and dividend business.

 

 

 

.

Since I said this, let's get it right. What I said was that I would be willing to pay more in my cruise fare so workers could earn a higher base salary. Then I could tip based on the service I received. I am not going to brag about being the best tipper in the world, but I do tip, I just don't like doing it before I get served.

I have always left auto gratuities in place but it does bother me. And I find it funny that people here call out others as being cheap if they choose a different method of tipping than auto grats and yet hold carnival not the least bit responsible for this. A billion dollar company is not paying their employees a decent wage and then when real cheapskates do skip out on tips the workers are screwed, but to me that is carnivals fault.

Tipping has and always will be for services given.

I would like to see them pay a decent wage to the staff and increase my cruise price so I can tip for service and not to pay a wage Carnival is too cheap to pay.

Seems like this info is bad then...

Galveston Carnival Cruisers

1 hr · Wichita Falls, TX ·

Bestie is on the Liberty right now... Supposed to of left Progreso an hour ago... Mexican military is all around the boat, and the captain just said it's unsafe to leave! Geezus!!

Saw a posting on "another site" that the Liberty was still in Progresso (late leaving) wondering if anything up? I can't seem to find if she left yet?

Surrounded by Mexican Military so says the source on the ship.

I have a great hotel. BEST WESTERN PLUS BWI Airport Hotel - Arundel Mills. Around $150 a night, they have a shuttle to the port. Pretty decent breakfast in the morning. Can park car for free (safe well lit parking lot). And when you get back you just call them and they come pick you up at the port and take you back to your car. Have stayed there 4 times, and next weekend for a 5th. Very clean newly remodeled. Love leaving out of Baltimore and love the Pride. Easiest port ever as far as getting on board. We normally take the 10 or 10:30 shuttle to the port. The port is about 20 minutes away. Then when you get back it is very easy to get on the highway to head home.

I concur! We stayed here for our first cruise out of Baltimore and it was amazing. Very friendly, clean rooms and shuttle was easy.

What bothers me is the way they setup the adult show as to prime the audience that, for the next 1/2 hour to 45 minutes, you're going to hear bathroom humor.

Great comedians can take that swearing /bathroom humor and make it great. Think Louis CK. The comedian on our last cruise was amazing! Mark Hawking was his name and I really enjoyed his adult shows.

You may be entitled to comps for an upcoming cruise based on your points/play from previous cruise(s). Usually cash, but sometimes if you played a lot, the Drinks On Us card or a comped meal at the specialty restaurant.

Doesn't that show up on special offers? I have never thought of calling, perhaps I should. Can't hurt right? [emoji4]

Why would you email the casino? I only play there a bit every cruise. Mostly slots. Think I Walked away with $200 last cruise. But i am curious why you would email them?

Don't "not try" Princess just because you have kids; my pre-teen likes Princess more than Carnival. He is an active kid and I think they do a better job than Carnival at having a more energetic program. My teenage son, of course, prefers the Carnival bikinis, but also really liked Princess. They are more similar than different - like going to Target vs. Walmart. You can get what you need at either, the former is just going to be a slightly more "upscale" experience with less of the herd, me-first pushing and shoving mentality. We will sail Princess again, with or without the kids when the price and destination are right!

Hmmm , thanks for the suggestions. I will check them out. Booked on a 4 day with my DD in August, but perhaps I will check what Princess has to offer, didn't even look at them. I have only sailed Carnival and Celebrity which is like night and day. Prefer Celebrity by far, but like the value of carnival.

Wait staff in MDR was beyond slow, on Lido, we sat next to table with dirty dishes for 40 minutes. Bartenders, couldn't get a drink on Lido within an hour. Inside was better but still a too long wait. Room steward was great. If we had removed, we would have still taken care of him. We actually did give him an additional, in his hand, before we left. I asked him for a couple of things out of the norm and he took care of it promptly. Many of the staff we encountered were just rude. Not sure if it's a tired ship, bad crew or bad management. We listened to a Lido buffet supervisor yelling in his phone, at someone, telling he didn't care, they do what he tells them to do. Bottom line is Carnival has just cut to the bone on the poor workers. How else is a person to voice their concerns? Do you think Carnival really cares about our opinions??

We had issues on our cruise as well on Conquest in March with service and rude staff. Service was very slow everywhere. At one point on the lido deck there was a very attractive woman in a bikini waiting for a drink at the red Frog bar for like 10 minutes...I figured I had no hope in ever getting a drink :)

Food wasn't as good as our 2 trips on the Pride as well, but I have 3 more trips coming up to see if that was just a one off.

What does a long time cruiser have to do with this? Op said he voted against cruising Carnival but it was a group decision. That speaks volumes to me. So I stand by what I said. Moving on' date=' I hope Princess gives him more of what he's looking for.[/quote']

 

 

It means he is not simply a troll coming in to bash Carnival. He has experience to draw on in terms of expectations. Yes, he didn't want to cruise Carnival, but I have read enough from the OP to know that he would not be biased going into the cruise and would give the ship a fair chance.

I think the Conquest has real issues. I was on in January. It was a cruise that I actually considered invoking Carnival's Vacation Guarantee.

We sailed her in March and although the trip was good overall, there were a few issues. Not enough for me to hate the trip or not sail Carnival again, but it was enough to realize that once the kids are older I would look at different cruise lines. For now, it's affordable.

Sorry it didn't work out for you' date=' but I'll continue to "waste" my money since our Conquest FTTF experience, along with other ships was flawless. Also I have a feeling your list of issues were probably written before you stepped foot on the boat.[/quote']

 

 

The OP is a long time cruiser and I trust that what he says is the truth. I doubt he spent the time going on a cruise to just post a fake report. We all have our own expectations and this one didn't meet his.

 

How does your flawless experience with FTTF have any bearing on what Golf went through? It amazes me sometimes here how everyone has to defend carnival as if a bad trip couldn't possibly happen because they had the cruise of a lifetime. We all see the world differently and I for one appreciate that in others.

 

Golf...sorry about your trip and happy sailing on Princess. I will have to try that line one day when kids get older [emoji4]

Sorry to hear this. No word from Carnival yet? I don't understand how they can not get this back to you unless someone on the staff stole it. I know they say they have a warehouse of stuff like this, but it should be easy to tag it in a bag with the ship/ room # and sailing date. Heck they should have all that info to get in touch with you.

It's not like a bus or something where people after you can take it.

I find it suspicious they can't return property like this..