Tipping Policy

We just returned from FOS and had a great time. We cruised last February, so this was our first experience with the $12 automatic tipping. This may have been discussed in detail here, but folks need to know that they can choose to opt out. We did. We enjoy the old-fashioned envelope tipping so that we tip our helpers face-to-face. Do not know if there would be a difference in service, but we want to make sure our money goes directly to the people intended. According to the help, when RCL gathers money like that for the "whole" it does not always reach them at the level contributed. I do not like the idea of taking away individual drive to provide good service to make that tip.

We just returned from FOS and had a great time. We cruised last February, so this was our first experience with the $12 automatic tipping. This may have been discussed in detail here, but folks need to know that they can choose to opt out. We did. We enjoy the old-fashioned envelope tipping so that we tip our helpers face-to-face. Do not know if there would be a difference in service, but we want to make sure our money goes directly to the people intended. According to the help, when RCL gathers money like that for the "whole" it does not always reach them at the level contributed. I do not like the idea of taking away individual drive to provide good service to make that tip.

I say leave the tip in place & leave extra to those that you feel deserve it.

I say tip what you want.

I say tip what you want.

The auto-tip does go to those who serve you. You cannot ask tipped employees if they are tipped enough...the answer will always be "NO!" But, you can do it any way you want.

I say leave the tip in place & leave extra to those that you feel deserve it.

Best response. I think they still need to pool everything up to the recommended amount. Best thing is to leave the autotip in place and add extra to that amount on your card for specific people. This way, the cruiseline is aware of superior workers and will reward them accordingly, so they win twice.

I sooooo love the prepaid tipping. One less thing to worry about. Hated the envelopes. We did tip our cabin steward a little extra because she was fantastic, but that was just a quick handing over cash on the last night when we were going to dinner. We didn't plan on doing any extra tipping - that's the beauty of the pre-paid tips: no need to even give it a thought.

I'll be cruising w/ the new system in place. I'm using a TA and I have three cabins booked and they all got pre-paid tips. I turned in a "somewhat free companion w/ my rccl visa rewards" so TA took my prepaid tips away :( so, do I pay rccl before my cruise for the tips. TA said I could pay once onboard, which would be great b/c I have obc, but "it says PRE-PAY". Is it also 12.00 pp for 7 or 8 days, do you count the day you get off the ship? It's a 7 day cruise?

I'll be cruising w/ the new system in place. I'm using a TA and I have three cabins booked and they all got pre-paid tips. I turned in a "somewhat free companion w/ my rccl visa rewards" so TA took my prepaid tips away :( so, do I pay rccl before my cruise for the tips. TA said I could pay once onboard, which would be great b/c I have obc, but "it says PRE-PAY". Is it also 12.00 pp for 7 or 8 days, do you count the day you get off the ship? It's a 7 day cruise?

You pay per night. Therefore, you pay 7 X $12 per person for your cruise.

Did you lose TA-paid gratuities for 6 people, or just two? $84 X 6 is a big chunk of change, and represents WAY more than the commission your TA lost from one fare out of six.

If you have not pre-paid before the cruise, $12 per person will be automatically added to your SeaPass account each day.

:)

You pay per night. Therefore, you pay 7 X $12 per person for your cruise.

 

Did you lose TA-paid gratuities for 6 people, or just two? $84 X 6 is a big chunk of change, and represents WAY more than the commission your TA lost from one fare out of six.

 

If you have not pre-paid before the cruise, $12 per person will be automatically added to your SeaPass account each day.

 

:)

Thanks, it will be for only one cabin w/ two people. Thank goodness I didn't put the free companion on my "FB cabin w/ three people in it". So then, I can use my obc for the tips. Also, I used a "next cruise" so, that 100.00 obc, will automaticly be there when I show up on the ship, TA can't take that away correct - thanks for helping :)

We just returned from FOS and had a great time. We cruised last February, so this was our first experience with the $12 automatic tipping. This may have been discussed in detail here, but folks need to know that they can choose to opt out. We did. We enjoy the old-fashioned envelope tipping so that we tip our helpers face-to-face. Do not know if there would be a difference in service, but we want to make sure our money goes directly to the people intended. According to the help, when RCL gathers money like that for the "whole" it does not always reach them at the level contribted. I do not like the idea of taking away individual drive to provide good service to make that tip.

I agree with you,but are next cruise in January 2014.We plan to leave the service charge on and not worry about tipping.I also do not like them taking my money and call it a tip.Have a great next cruise. :mad: :)

the tips are nice in my opinion because as someone else stated its just one less thing to worry about. if someone specific goes above and beyond they get something directly from me.

I'm just curious about one thing regarding the automatic grat program. Prior to RCI implementing this program we were handing cash directly over to our stateroom attendants and our dining room staff. How were all other people getting their fair piece of the pie then prior to the auto grat program?

From Cruise Critisc Cruise Line Tipping Policies. How could you tip other housekeeping personnel without autotip?

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=266

"Royal Caribbean International

The Process: Royal Caribbean automatically adds tips of $12 a day per person ($14.25 for suite passengers) to each passenger's onboard bill. The tips, which can also be prepaid, are shared by dining services staff, cabin attendants and other housekeeping personnel. Passengers who opt for RCI's flexible "My Time Dining" must pre-pay gratuities.

Guidelines are the same for all passengers regardless of age.

Alternatives: passengers who believe they've received poor service may ask Guest Services to reduce or remove the automatic tips while on the ship.

Extra Charges: A 15 percent gratuity is automatically added to all bar bills."

I'm just curious about one thing regarding the automatic grat program. Prior to RCI implementing this program we were handing cash directly over to our stateroom attendants and our dining room staff. How were all other people getting their fair piece of the pie then prior to the auto grat program?

We leave the auto tip in place in order to cover ALL those who should receive the gratuity, not just those we come in contact with. For those we do interact a lot with, we often tip them additional in cash for excellent service during the cruise. Seems to me that by removing the tips you would be leaving out some service personnel who depend on gratuities for their living.

As someone else mentioned, I am afraid many of those who "remove the auto-tips so they can tip in cash", don't follow through and stiff the hard working staff. We know their are cultural differences when it comes to tipping and then some people...are just cheap. My vote is for non-discretionary gratuities that can not be removed...it is just part of the cost of a cruise vacation, no different that port fees and taxes.

Personally, I love the pre-paid gratuities as I always felt awkward tracking down the stateroom attendant, waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter, just to deliver an envelope on the last night. Last night of the cruise is much nicer for me with that out of the way!

As far as I know when all folks tipped in cash (before MTD) The stateroom attendants & dinning room staff would tip the the folks that helped them out. Feel free to correct me if this was not the case.

Ok, so assuming that is true why is it frowned upon to give out cash now instead of using the Pre-paid & auto grat programs? If we give out cash, isn't it the responsibilty of the stateroom attendants and dining room staff to divide it up the way they were doing prior to these tipping programs? If they are not doing what they are suppose to be doing, is it really the cruisers problem? As long as we are giving the suggested tip, or more, do we really need to micro manage it? Just food for thought.

(Apologies if this has already been answered in the thread.) As the OP stated it's nice to directly reward those who serve you. In my limited cruising experience the cabin steward is the one who serves you most. (Not a fan of the MDR.) Does that person know you have already paid should they not receive his/her envelope at the last port?

(Apologies if this has already been answered in the thread.) As the OP stated it's nice to directly reward those who serve you. In my limited cruising experience the cabin steward is the one who serves you most. (Not a fan of the MDR.) Does that person know you have already paid should they not receive his/her envelope at the last port?

Yes, they receive a list.

I don't know about what other people do, but I just got off FOS and removed my auto tips for our party of four and paid cash at the end. There was absolutely no hassle doing this and they did not even question why.

 

I feel that tipping is a personal thing between me and the server(s) and quite frankly none of RCI's business (the same as it is none of my business what they pay their employee's as it is between them). I appreciate the guidelines and follow them up with a little extra and in some cases a lot extra. This includes the $240 for our suite attendant which I found to be on the high side as I would never leave that much when staying at a hotel (I think the recommended came out to $203 for 4 in a suite), though we found the recommended amounts for the wait staff rather low. We also never left the windjammer or any other eating or drinking venue without at least leaving $5-$10 on the table for the servers (habit from living in the US).

 

I know for a fact that they are now including some supervisors and other staff in the tipping pool (at least in the case for housekeeping, not sure about dining room services) and I don't feel any responsibility to tip those people. If they want to include it as a mandatory service charge and add it to the cruise fare so be it, but as long as it is called a gratuity I will continue to go along as I always have (where I am from, cash is always king).

 

I know some people enjoy the convenience of the auto-tips which is fine, but don't assume just because some still choose to do it the other way that we are stiffing the staff. Bottom line is that there are two ways to pay now and the choice is ours as customers to decide how we want to take care of the tips.

Exactly, same here, totally agree with you. We handle our tipping the same.

The OP said that she prefers to pay them face to face with cash. We will just have to believe that she gave them an adequate amount.

One problem is that the OP doesn't know who cleaned their cabin on turn around day. The help that does that is in addition to the assigned steward or instead of if the steward has port time off. The way the ship distributes gratuities is more fair than it ever has been. Crews like it and lone rangers trying to make their own rules just mess things up for some deserving crew. The gratuities are what they work for.

After gratuities are paid then if tips are deserved for "above and beyond" that is at the discretion of then guest.

Thanks for coming to my rescue, Merion_Mom! Yes, if it's anybody's business, we tipped WAY more than the $12 a day. I talked to a crew member that we have gotten to know over many cruises and asked that person about it. They told us that the "socialist" (my words, not theirs!) way of distribution is never divided equitably. Again that is that person's opinion. That concerns me. I do not want their supervisor getting their tips. They get a higher salary, probably. Another concern I have with this automatically put on your SeaPass card is that they should make it clear up front. We are taking our entire family on a cruise and there will be four young children in an adjoining room. That $12 a day comes out to almost $350 more for that cabin. If you feel like you are getting a good deal, by the time they add port charges, tax, insurance and gratuities, it's not a good deal afterall. I am glad we had a choice to opt out. If that changes, they need to just add it to the price of the cabin.

We left the pre-paid gratuities in place and tipped extra for our Cabin Attendant, Assistant Waiter, Waiter and Head Waiter, as they deserved it.

To each their own.

I thought that the definition of a tip was "reward for good service." When the tip is guaranteed to the workers, why is it not a salary?

We leave the auto tip in place in order to cover ALL those who should receive the gratuity, not just those we come in contact with. For those we do interact a lot with, we often tip them additional in cash for excellent service during the cruise. Seems to me that by removing the tips you would be leaving out some service personnel who depend on gratuities for their living.

 

As someone else mentioned, I am afraid many of those who "remove the auto-tips so they can tip in cash", don't follow through and stiff the hard working staff. We know their are cultural differences when it comes to tipping and then some people...are just cheap. My vote is for non-discretionary gratuities that can not be removed...it is just part of the cost of a cruise vacation, no different that port fees and taxes.

 

Personally, I love the pre-paid gratuities as I always felt awkward tracking down the stateroom attendant, waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter, just to deliver an envelope on the last night. Last night of the cruise is much nicer for me with that out of the way!

OK, this is what happened to us on Freedom this year, and it left a sour taste in the mouth.

We had prepaid tips, as we always do, for MTD. We had the same table and waiting staff every night. Service was great!!.

Wehad wine every night in the dining room and paid the price plus 15% gratuity, and then left another 15% as EXTRA gratuity. Got this, 30% so far on top of the pre-paid. On the next to last night (when we would give the WOWs) the head table waiter came over and politely whispered in my ear, that the assistant waiter had told him we had been leaving extras every night BUT they did not get all of this and that we could leave WOW's the following evening (which we did). My question is.........how much tipping do these guys expect and solicit from the passengers?

I thought this guy was out of order, but he and the asst waiter had been great all cruise. Should I have gone to Guest Services and made them aware of this blatant soliciting for tips, or is this now the way of the world. :eek: