Star Princess - Exceptional apart from....

[luvseadays]

Thanks "shogun" for the reply.

 

OP, I agree with you that tipping should always be up to the discretion of the individual 100%. Ever since the policy of "auto tipping" began, we have felt uncomfortable with the idea that we are being told what to "tip" before the service has even been rendered. But I also agree with others here who have stated that Princess needs to change their wording on the description to something like a "hotel charge" or service charge, it would just be so much simpler. The majority of these folks work very hard on each and every cruise and we always appreciate their efforts, as I'm sure that you do. My personal belief here is that this is something that Princess should look into.

[cruisefreaks]

Let me start by saying I never remove or reduce my auto tip. EVER

However let's say you do reduce your tip, then in the privacy of your cabin you slip your steward a $20.00 for doing an extra favor. how would anyone know ....... does someone search his pockets after every shift?

[Pam in CA]

So, let me see if I understand this correctly.

 

If we choose to reduce the auto tip, then any money that we would personally tip someone, would automatically go into the pool. If we leave the auto on, then we can give our room steward and anyone else that we choose a personal tip and they can keep it?

Yes. You have it right. Actually, what happens is that they still have to turn in the extra to their supervisor who checks the list. If you've kept the tip on, they get to keep it.

 

People who feel they need to tip individually are deluding themselves. The waitstaff at dinner work as a team, the staff in the buffet work as a team, the waitstaff in the dining room at breakfast and lunch work as a team, even your cabin steward works as a team because (s)he has others who assist even though you don't see much of them. Who do you pick out from the team to tip individually? The one who is most personable or the one who carries the most plates? In the buffet, the one who cleans the most tables the fastest or the one who asks if you want coffee? They've all served you. What a pain it must be to carry cash around with you constantly, from early morning until late at night. After all, they all serve you and influence how you perceive the service during your cruise.

[Dodger Blue]

No, what it shows is that people need to take responsibility for understanding the product they've just purchased -- if I were to buy a vacation on P&O or another unfamiliar line, I would take a minute to look up and read their information on policies and procedures. And seems to me I've read a considerable number of posts from those in the UK complaining fares are already higher over there -- now you want them increased to make up not only for the missing passenger tips but also to include the extra payroll taxes that come with increased compensation paid to their employees? Okay . . .

 

 

I think your premise is flawed: you say that it's a bad system but that's because you think it's meant to be used to punish, when it isn't at all. As anyone who's ever worked for tips would know, shorting the tip because you're unhappy with the service is counterproductive. Reducing the autotip amount at the end of the cruise doesn't do anything to educate the mal-performing staff as to what your complaint is. If you have bad service, I'm sure that everyone at Princess would far prefer you to speak up onboard, when they still have a chance to rectify the situation -- that way, you're happy because service has improved and the crewmember who's presumably been corrected will be happy because you will, naturally, be so pleased with the turnaround in service that you will leave your autotips in place.

 

You need to read my post again. I never said that the system was MEANT to punish. It is a by-product of the system. I simply said that modifying your auto-tip makes it impossible to reward someone that you felt gave you exceptional service. A gratuity, by definition, is "...an amount of money given to someone for service rendered beyond what is paid for." The Princess system does not allow you to do this unless you keep the auto-tip in place which, in effect, is rewarding people you feel don't deserve "extra". That's a fact, not a debate!

[ibethenanya]

So, let me see if I understand this correctly.

 

If we choose to reduce the auto tip, then any money that we would personally tip someone, would automatically go into the pool. If we leave the auto on, then we can give our room steward and anyone else that we choose a personal tip and they can keep it?

 

Yes, and if they get caught taking it and not turning it in they get fired on the spot and have to find their own way home from the current port. Have personally seen it happen over a $20 tip.

 

I don't think I will have any more to say on the subject.:D:D:D:D

 

Good.

 

Let me start by saying I never remove or reduce my auto tip. EVER

 

However let's say you do reduce your tip, then in the privacy of your cabin you slip your steward a $20.00 for doing an extra favor. how would anyone know ....... does someone search his pockets after every shift?

 

See above please.

[Dodger Blue]

Why don't you start with most restuarants in the United States,

and when you get that changed to your system, move on to cruise lines?

 

I love it when people who don't have an adequate response to a comment take it to the extreme. Last time I looked, this site was called "Cruise Critic" not "Restaurant Critic".

[pablo222]

I love it when people who don't have an adequate response to a comment take it to the extreme. Last time I looked, this site was called "Cruise Critic" not "Restaurant Critic".

 

I have an adaquate response, it seems to be you who is lacking.

 

As your info says you're in california, tipping in resturants should

not be at all unusual to you.

 

Why do you wonder why cruiselines don't skip tipping, and simply

pay their help more ... with out asking the same question at nearly

any (non-fast-food) resturant in the US?

[englishbird]

I know I said I wasn't going to make any more comments on this subject, but I have just one more to make:D.

 

Any tip given to a member of staff in any of the bars is kept by that crew member and is not shared. This applies whether you have kept the auto tips on your account or not.

 

:D:D

[WVBill]

On Cruise Critic, we can't share valuable information about specific Travel Agent recommendations - - but we can have long, inane arguments about auto-tipping... over, and over again....

 

Ya gotta love it.... :D

[Shogun]

Hi WVbill

 

TV must be poor tonight

 

 

yours Shogun

[ONT-CA]

...Any tip given to a member of staff in any of the bars is kept by that crew member and is not shared. This applies whether you have kept the auto tips on your account or not. :D:D

 

Quite true. That is simply because they are not part of the pool distribution. Therefore we always tip cash per round of drinks, as venturing to say "And have one yourself" would, I'm affraid, be foreign to him/her...:rolleyes:

[englishbird]

Quite true. That is simply because they are not part of the pool distribution. Therefore we always tip cash per round of drinks, as venturing to say "And have one yourself" would, I'm affraid, be foreign to him/her...:rolleyes:

 

Having socialised with many of the bar staff. They have plenty when their shift is finished!!!:eek::eek::eek:.

[ldubs]

My two cents. There will always be the few (hopefully) rotten apples that inappropriately stiff service people on tips. I have three children who work in restuarants to subsidize their college education. They accept that there will always be a small few who will stiff them on the tips. They also all freely admit that they put out more hustle and bend over backwards to make customers happy because of the tips. They also say that the restaurant host/hostess as well as the people who bus the tables have an impact on the tips. If they don't do a good job, they hear about it real fast and are under pressure to do better.

 

I believe that the same incentive pay motivation exists for cruise staff. Because of that I would be opposed to making the auto-tip mandatory. An overwhelming number of posts on this thread and others talks about how hard the cruise staff work and how well we are treated. I agree 100% and have yet to experience poor service on a cruise. I want that experience to continue. I wonder if staff would be as motivated to work so hard to please us (and put up with all of our nonsense:)) if they knew the auto-tips were mandatory. I doubt I would if I were in their shoes. The incentive pay system may not be perfect but let's not spoil it because of a few rotten apples..

 

I also strongly favor the auto-tip system over the old days of handing out envelopes. It is so much easier. I recall having to make sure that we had the proper dollar combinations for each envelope, and then make the rounds on the last evening. I'm happy not to have to do that any more.

 

Compensation for many people in service industries is largely based on tips. My vote would be to not change the term to "hotel charge" or something similar. I think it should be clearly called a gratuity as intended as an incentive for good service.

 

To the OP. Please do not think I am referring to you as a "rotten apple", because I do not think that is what you were doing. Reading your feedback I understand you reduced the auto-tip because of the poor service in HC. While I personally might not have taken that approach, it would have been good if you have made sure cruise staff were made aware of that specific reason. I pretty sure the HC management would hear about it.

 

Adios.

[Pam in CA]

Among the incentives for service staff are advancement and promotions. Comment cards, not removing the tip, etc. have a big impact on whether someone gets a promotion or not. By removing the tip, the message to Princess is that it was done because the service was sub-standard and that can be very detrimental to the staff's promotion hopes. Yes, they want, need and like the tip money but promotion is very important as well. It's not really the same as a land resort or restaurant because the opportunities for promotion are so much greater on a cruise ship.

[arpster]

personally I much prefered the personal touch of divvying out the envelopes to the staff who'd served us during the cruise...used to be a very pleasant ritual on the last night...the envelope, a photo and a big thankyou was always a very happy way to end a good holiday....

[Toto2Kansas]

personally I much prefered the personal touch of divvying out the envelopes to the staff who'd served us during the cruise...used to be a very pleasant ritual on the last night...the envelope, a photo and a big thankyou was always a very happy way to end a good holiday....

 

I agree, I also liked it the way it was. But it's another one of those things were some ruined that practice for everyone when they would avoid the dining room and their room stewards that final night so they didn't have to tip. Now with all of the dining options that are available, it would be impossible (unless you dined at traditional dining each and every night, afternoon and morning, in the same servers section for all three meals).

Heck, I can remember when there was no buffet, and if you wanted breakfast, you had to go to the dining room, and if you had early diner seating, your breakfast seating was also very early (around 7:00 AM). If you missed it, there were no alternate venues to dine. All these different dining venues that passengers seemed to have demanded over the years, made traditional tipping a thing of the past, and I totally understand why. ;)

[Dodger Blue]

I have an adaquate response, it seems to be you who is lacking.

 

As your info says you're in california, tipping in resturants should

not be at all unusual to you.

 

Why do you wonder why cruiselines don't skip tipping, and simply

pay their help more ... with out asking the same question at nearly

any (non-fast-food) resturant in the US?

 

What has tipping in restaurants got to do with tipping on a cruise ship. You really need to go back and read my post. This is about the ability to tip more or less without penalizing someone else. This has nothing to do with restaurant tipping!

[Pam in CA]

personally I much prefered the personal touch of divvying out the envelopes to the staff who'd served us during the cruise...used to be a very pleasant ritual on the last night...the envelope, a photo and a big thankyou was always a very happy way to end a good holiday....

That's going way back... over 10 years. Cruising in general has changed a LOT since then, not just the tipping.

[Astro Flyer]

personally I much prefered the personal touch of divvying out the envelopes to the staff who'd served us during the cruise...used to be a very pleasant ritual on the last night...the envelope, a photo and a big thankyou was always a very happy way to end a good holiday....

 

I prefer the old envelope tips system but it's gone & will never return due to those who stiff the workers...mostly because they're cheap & not because of poor service. In addition to the auto tips, I'll give my servers & steward envelopes with a little extra along with a 'you made a difference' card when appropriate.

 

There are better ways to deal with unhappiness about anything onboard instead of reducing or eliminating tips & to complain post-cruise. That gives any cruise line the chance to make things right while onboard. But for those seeking a reason to change the auto tip, they don't want a solution but an excuse to be cheap. :rolleyes:

 

My comments are not directed at anyone in particulary but to those who seek an excuse to change the tips & then rationalize it because of 'poor service'.

[moniquet]

I prefered the old system of envelopes but also noticed many didn't actually turn up for dinner the last night. So, not suprised things have changed. I think it is just bunkum that people state they didn't know. Some of these posts make me ashamed to be British! If you don't want to pay the tips go with someone like Thomson a British line that is sub-standard in every way.

[pablo222]

You really need to go back and read my post.

 

No thanks.

[Toto2Kansas]

I think it is just bunkum that people state they didn't know. .

 

I love it! I don't claim to know exactly what bunkum means, but I think I have a good guess. ;)

[lovetoholiday]

We went first visited the US 10 years ago it took us a bit to get used to the habit of tipping everyone, but we did and we travel there almost every year (we just love you guys) and do it as a matter of course.(I mean it took us a few days not the whole 10 years ;) ) At the chance of upsetting lots of UK readers - the service in the US is way much better than in the UK!

 

When we booked our 1st cruise we were told about the daily charge from the outset, and accepted it. If we hadn't wanted to pay it we could have gone with a cruise line that doesn't charge - our choice. Like wise this time it's clearly stated what the charge will be and no doubt like on our last cruise we will still give the steward and the friendly barman extra - they deserve it!

[Anne Funnell]

Bumkum just means something is 'rubbish.'

 

bun·kum also bun·combe (b ng k m). n. Empty or insincere talk; claptrap.

 

I am British, I have always tipped and get really fedup when people insinuate that all Brits are mean. I tip all people who do me a service just as a thankyou whether it's my hairdresser, the waitor in a restaurant, a taxi driver or the chap who empties my dustbin. I have always done so and my parents always did - in fact I don't know anyone in my circle of friends who don't tip.

 

I cannot understand why Princess don't charge more for their cruises, so their staff get paid a decent living wage so any gratuities we want to give are given as a gratuity to those who deserve it!

 

I have been informed that if people want the tips removed, they do so as soon as they get on the ship. If this is so how can the message to Princess be that it was done because the service was sub-standard...at this point they haven't had any service!

 

I wouldn't have the tips/hotel charges removed because it seems to make everything so simple to keep it on and I just look upon it as part of the cost of the cruise. However, we always give our cabin steward a substantial tip on top of that on the last day and if I thought it was warranted - I'd tip elsewhere too.

 

It's the cruise companies who are 'stiffing' their staff by not paying them a decent wage.

[Cruzin-K]

I was on the same cruise and I agree that the service in anytime dining was terrible. However, it wasn't so bad that I would have wanted any of the waitstaff to be penalized. I left the auto tips in place, and gave a little extra to our cabin steward the last morning - he had to do extra work because requests submitted prior to the cruise were not communicated to him (egg crate, robes, etc.) and he did everything I ever asked, with a smile (extra Princess Patters, extra towels, etc.).