Yet another Gratuities Query

DW and I have always pre-paid tips because frankly, we don't want the hassle

However, on our last cruise we had a dining package so didn't use the dining room at all and only used the Windjammer twice in the evening

It sparked a conversation relating to the breakdown of tips.

I know roughly a third goes to each of the Cabin attendant, dining room staff and general housekeeping, but as we are likely to use the main dining room less and less as it continues to worsen (a debate for a another time), we were considering the merits of retrieving a third of our tips and using it to tip wait staff directly

So, my question is this, how deep do these breakdowns work - does, for example, a portion of the dining room tips go to the spud peelers, or is it literally as addressed in the official breakdown? Ditto, room attendant, do the sheet washers get a part of his/her tips, or are they on a wage?

We hate the American tipping culture, but completely appreciate the reasons for it and have never had a problem with abiding to your/their ways, but we really do want the right people to get our gratuities.

The simplest way is to leave your automatic gratuities in place and not worry about the distribution.

Waiters, assistant waiters and food service staff work in numerous locations throughout the ship; not just MDR and Windjammer.

If you feel anyone goes above and beyond and want to tip extra you can always do so.

The simplest way is to leave your automatic gratuities in place and not worry about the distribution.

 

Waiters, assistant waiters and food service staff work in numerous locations throughout the ship; not just MDR and Windjammer.

 

If you feel anyone goes above and beyond and want to tip extra you can always do so.

That is literally the conversation we were having. I favour doing just that, but before DW commits an opinion she wants to know who is salaried, because she doesn't see why she should tip people she doesn't use when that money can go to people she does

I should add, the only people we tip extra to are our free drink servers and the lounge staff - we think the tips are more than enough already

That is literally the conversation we were having. I favour doing just that, but before DW commits an opinion she wants to know who is salaried, because she doesn't see why she should tip people she doesn't use when that money can go to people she does

 

I should add, the only people we tip extra to are our free drink servers and the lounge staff - we think the tips are more than enough already

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OP, I completely understand your question. However, the amount of money we are talking about isn't enough to be concerned about in my opinion.

Plus, the wait staff at the specialty restaurants that you are visiting get paid tips automatically as a portion of the price you paid to dine there, so it's not like they are missing out in your situation.

Dan

Maybe you should go back and read this thread that you posted on multiple times

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2640559

We were told that they know where you are eating when you have reservations and tips will get distributed accordingly. Of course, I’m sure there are 100 different responses for that one.

I have thought on this matter also quite a bit and have decided to leave all my tips on the prepaid gratuities. We call them tips, but frankly they are distributed more like salaries now and I can have no clue on who I am shorting if I decide to tip manually. Best in my opinion to just let the cruise line sort it out. I just hope they do not keep any.

I do give a little extra when I see above and beyond.

I don't think the tips are just for the MDR waitstaff - depending on class of ship you have Solarium Bistro, Cafe Promenade, Park Cafe, hot dog stand. The MDR waitstaff work breakfast and lunch in the MDR and windjammer as well.

I have no problem paying these tips - the staff works super hard. Just got off of 28 days on a cruise - dinner in the MDR 27 nights, Chops one night, 4 lunches in the windjammer, 15 breakfasts.

Figure if I can afford to cruise I can afford the gratuities. Only disagreement in our household is about extra tips - I always want to give more!! But do what your conscience tells you.

Royal Caribbean states on their website, "As a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience"

My feeling on tipping is that there are soooooo many behind the scenes folks that I TIP all. I trust that RCCI does what it publishes, and leave it to that. How they break it down is agreed to by the staff and RCCI contracts. So I am not going to get involved with that.

If someone serves my wife and I in a special way, we will decide together if there is more we wish to do on a personal level. But I also feel no special obligation for that, because I have already paid my tips.

Bottom line, don't over think it. You're on vacation. Do what YOU FEEL you need to do in this regards.

We were on the Vision of the Seas in August. On more than one evening we saw people in the MDR with Izumi jackets on helping out as they seemed to be short staffed in the MDR. The problem with removing or reducing the gratuities is that you are always going to miss someone. As mentioned before, don't you eat breakfast or lunch somewhere on the ship? The staff work in many food venues, not just the MDR.

As for the tipping as an American thing, don't be deceived. We did a Mediterranean cruise, every excursion we did the tour guides and drives gladly accepted any tips. I was led to believe that it would not be looked upon very well but that was not the case at all.

I really don't know how tips are distributed and I really don't care how they are. I give the amounts recommended since 30 years ago, and now they make it easy with prepaying the same tips. All the fees, including the specialty restaurants include tips. Therefore, it's a done deal for me. It is part of the cruise.

On a side note, you can always give extra, but that's the same for any restaurant on land or sea.

I look at the big picture. This is just a quick estimate based on standard cabin.

6000 guests oasis class almost full capacity

$101.50 weekly at $14.50

$609,000 total gratuity

Using the 80/20 rule. I'm subtracting 20% for those who delete the gratuity. $487,200 divided by 2000 employees equals $243.60 in tips for each employee per week.

I understand both sides of the coin. I leave the gratuity in place and normally I don't tip extra. I haven't received any over the top going beyond the call of duty service. Just normal service.

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I look at the big picture. This is just a quick estimate based on standard cabin.

 

6000 guests oasis class almost full capacity

$101.50 weekly at $14.50

$609,000 total gratuity

 

Using the 80/20 rule. I'm subtracting 20% for those who delete the gratuity. $487,200 divided by 2000 employees equals $243.60 in tips for each employee per week.

 

I understand both sides of the coin. I leave the gratuity in place and normally I don't tip extra. I haven't received any over the top going beyond the call of duty service. Just normal service.

 

 

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Your assumption that nearly all the staff share in the tip pool is way off.

Well, you only mentioned dinner. Surely you ate breakfast and lunch somewhere. So 2 out of your 3 meals a day (or more if you snack!) were also in venues covered by the gratuity. Out of 21 meals on a 7 day cruise you only ate 5 in specialty, the vast majority were not.

 

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I have only eaten in the CL for breakfast and ended up eating so many hors d’oeuvres in the evening, I didn’t eat dinner.

Didn’t eat lunch. Never stepped in the Windjammer or MDR and no snacks the whole cruise.

I’ve done this on 3, 4, and 5 night cruises. Don’t plan it, just happens sometimes.

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Your assumption that nearly all the staff share in the tip pool is way off.

Maybe 1/2 the ship staff are in the hotel operations and are parts of grats pool?

Maybe 1/2 the ship staff are in the hotel operations and are parts of grats pool?

I would guess that you answer is a lot closer to your number although it’s hard to tell. Even amongst the hotel operations there are a lot of positions that are not part of the tip pool.

The simplest way is to leave your automatic gratuities in place and not worry about the distribution.

 

Waiters, assistant waiters and food service staff work in numerous locations throughout the ship; not just MDR and Windjammer.

 

If you feel anyone goes above and beyond and want to tip extra you can always do so.

I really don’t understand why people spend any time at all thinking about gratuities. There is a gratuity system in place so why people feel the need to step in the middle of it is beyond me.

We are talking about $100 for the week which boils down to about the cost of one drink a day.

Agree with Grandma Dazzles. Give a bit extra to those that go above and beyond and call it a day.

We like the prepaid gratuities. If our cabin steward or the wait staff in the main dinning room are exceptional or go out of their way for us they get something extra at the end of the cruise. It's up to you. We did the BOGO at Chops and Wonderland and tips are added on. Wonderland waiter was great so we left him a little extra. Chops waiter was not. Whatever you want to do is just fine.

We were on the Vision of the Seas in August. On more than one evening we saw people in the MDR with Izumi jackets on helping out as they seemed to be short staffed in the MDR. The problem with removing or reducing the gratuities is that you are always going to miss someone. As mentioned before, don't you eat breakfast or lunch somewhere on the ship? The staff work in many food venues, not just the MDR.

 

 

 

As for the tipping as an American thing, don't be deceived. We did a Mediterranean cruise, every excursion we did the tour guides and drives gladly accepted any tips. I was led to believe that it would not be looked upon very well but that was not the case at all.

10% is appreciated in Europe.

Almost everyone buys the drink package which is several hundreds of dollars per person...but the auto gratuities are too much and they would like to be selective about who they tip? It's about a hundred per person for the entire cruise and it takes care of all the servers in every venue and your cabin steward, for crying out loud. I never understand why this is the big debate and requires you to get a calculator out or have a list of which members of the crew are included in the pool.

Almost everyone buys the drink package which is several hundreds of dollars per person...but the auto gratuities are too much and they would like to be selective about who they tip? It's about a hundred per person for the entire cruise and it takes care of all the servers in every venue and your cabin steward, for crying out loud. I never understand why this is the big debate and requires you to get a calculator out or have a list of which members of the crew are included in the pool.

I know! The last thing I want to think about or worry about while on vacation is someone else’s compensation plan. It has already been figured out. The staff are hired with that understanding and each passenger is charged a small amount each day. It’s all set.

Almost everyone buys the drink package which is several hundreds of dollars per person...but the auto gratuities are too much and they would like to be selective about who they tip? It's about a hundred per person for the entire cruise and it takes care of all the servers in every venue and your cabin steward, for crying out loud. I never understand why this is the big debate and requires you to get a calculator out or have a list of which members of the crew are included in the pool.

We prepay our tips in £ when booking then I only need $200 per week for additional tips mainly in the DL and Speciality Restaurants.

I look at the big picture. This is just a quick estimate based on standard cabin.

 

6000 guests oasis class almost full capacity

$101.50 weekly at $14.50

$609,000 total gratuity

 

Using the 80/20 rule. I'm subtracting 20% for those who delete the gratuity. $487,200 divided by 2000 employees equals $243.60 in tips for each employee per week.

 

I understand both sides of the coin. I leave the gratuity in place and normally I don't tip extra. I haven't received any over the top going beyond the call of duty service. Just normal service.

 

 

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Never have we had gratuities removed and usually tip extra, but after 50 cruises (not all rci and mostly from Florida), my feeling is a lot more than 20% do remove them. I'd love to know the figures.

Never have we had gratuities removed and usually tip extra, but after 50 cruises (not all rci and mostly from Florida), my feeling is a lot more than 20% do remove them. I'd love to know the figures.

It's unfortunate that no-one can answer my question, but we are inclined to just leave them and not worry about it. It is an interesting debate though

Our next trip is 14 days in a JS, so $17.50 per person each day - a lot more than the hundred bucks per person mentioned earlier

P&O have just announced they are stopping gratuities next year and as cruising becomes more global, I think this is how it will go. It will mean the cruise price going up, but I think most would prefer this system. Especially the staff, who would know how much they are earning each week, but also because that 20% don't pay tips thing is a fantasy - there are queues in Australia to get tip money back ;)