Tips??? why dont they include them in fare...

[John Bull]

Nearly every cruise line pays it's seagoing employees in cash.

The amount of cash paid as salary is reported to the crewmembers' hiring agency, who then reports it to their government.

The amount of cash paid as tips - most of many crewmembers' earnings - is usually not reported, and is usually not taxable.

 

 

Oh dear, no, no, no, Bruce.

This would make the cruise line and/or the agency complicit in fraud.

 

If the cruise line distributes the money - call it wages or service charge or tips or pool or what-you-will - they must provide the details in with the wages & perks.

 

The cash handed direct by passengers to crew? Well that's a different matter since the cruise line has no way of knowing if/what has been paid.

 

Taxation is not a reason for adding "tips" to the passenger's account.

It's to keep the advertised cruise ticket price low. Plain & simple

 

JB :)

[navybankerteacher]

Unless we know how staff is paid salary and auto-tips-- all we are accomplishing is blind speculation. If the staff is paid in cash,(as their additional tips certainly are) they can transfer it "home" in many ways: say, by Western Union, or any of a number of the informal, essentially unregulated, services utilized by "informally documented" workers in the US. Many lower tier workers, documented or not, have no bank accounts anywhere. Their home countries welcome the incoming cash shipments without asking too many questions -- the taxes they might collect from such low paid expats would be small potatos compared with the massive cumulative inflow which would be jeopardized by too much government oversight.