It appears the tide is turning

[Can'tstopcruising]

Ma Bell: Have you ever seen such a screaming jerk? I haven't.

 

Navyrotorhead (what is that?): I guess you are right. It is fun. Otherwise, why would I bother with these threads? Personally, I can't get too excited about how others dress, although it is nice to see people well-dressed in whichever category they choose.

 

Bridge: You are right. A person could look sloppy in any dress category. And vice versa.

[Ma Bell]

Actually, I have...it's not a pretty sight.

[swedish weave]

I also think Celebrity does a good job with the revenue they have but style and service as well as food have changed greatly since the change in dress codes as well as the advent of Select Dining. It's just not the special experience it used to be. I think it's a combination of all these things, not just revenue. The waiters and assistants have too many people to serve now and cannot give the kind of individual attention they used to. They have built a lot of ships that need to be filled and they won't all be filled by people willing to pay luxury ship rates for better food and service.

 

In some ways I like the product better, but in many of the personal ways I miss the way things used to be.

 

 

I question the reason for the waiters having too many people to serve. Since the guests pay the major portion of the waiters wages in tips, the cruise line must have other reasons for reducing the level of service.

 

This excerpt describes a little of the way the cruise line handles employees.

 

On ships where tipping is expected, waiters, busboys and room stewards can earn salaries as low as US$50 a month. In any case, almost two-thirds of those receiving tips earn monthly incomes of $1,000 or more. And then there are fees that some workers are forced to pay.

Celebrity Cruises deducts $7 a week from waiters' and busboys' salaries for breakage, for instance, whether or not they break anything. “If I break something I am punished by having to go to the storeroom in the lower decks to get replacements,” an Indian waiter on Celebrity Cruises' Meridian told me. “Even if I am in the middle of serving, I must run down and get the supplies, which means my service may suffer and my tips will be lower.”

[Ma Bell]

I question the reason for the waiters having too many people to serve. Since the guests pay the major portion of the waiters wages in tips, the cruise line must have other reasons for reducing the level of service.

 

This excerpt describes a little of the way the cruise line handles employees.

 

On ships where tipping is expected, waiters, busboys and room stewards can earn salaries as low as US$50 a month. In any case, almost two-thirds of those receiving tips earn monthly incomes of $1,000 or more. And then there are fees that some workers are forced to pay.

Celebrity Cruises deducts $7 a week from waiters' and busboys' salaries for breakage, for instance, whether or not they break anything. “If I break something I am punished by having to go to the storeroom in the lower decks to get replacements,” an Indian waiter on Celebrity Cruises' Meridian told me. “Even if I am in the middle of serving, I must run down and get the supplies, which means my service may suffer and my tips will be lower.”

 

The Meridian? She hasn't been part of Celebrity's fleet for about 15 years. In fact I believe she sunk a couple of years later.

 

They completely changed the style of service in the MDR to match the less formal atmosphere. The same is true for the specialty restaurants.

[Denny01]

Edit: Decided not to respond to a poster who just made a statment that made no sense. Sorry if you read it before I removed it. Trying not to get into back-forths which usually close down threads.

 

Den

[swedish weave]

The Meridian? She hasn't been part of Celebrity's fleet for about 15 years. In fact I believe she sunk a couple of years later.

 

They completely changed the style of service in the MDR to match the less formal atmosphere. The same is true for the specialty restaurants.

 

You mentioned the waiters having too many tables to serve properly. Has Celebrity increased the workload since 2002. That is the date on the article I found.

 

Regardless of the ship mentioned, if the cruise line is reducing the level of service, there must be a reason for it, and it should not be attributed to the wages because the guests still pay the major portion of the income of the waitstaff in tips.

[Oville]

 

Regardless of the ship mentioned, if the cruise line is reducing the level of service, there must be a reason for it, and it should not be attributed to the wages because the guests still pay the major portion of the income of the waitstaff in tips.

 

Guests actually for all the income through fares and tips. It costs the cruiseline much more than the $50 wage you mentioned. There is also room and board, medical and dental coverages, clothing needs and travel costs to be considered. My guess is the decreased staff in the dining rooms is revenue generated.

[C 2 C]

You mentioned the waiters having too many tables to serve properly. Has Celebrity increased the workload since 2002. That is the date on the article I found.

 

The number of waiters and stateroom attendants have been reduced by 10 to 15% over the last two years.

The effect for passengers is more hurried service and less TLC from wait staff, longer waits for cabin service but perhaps a larger paycheck based on tips (each employee gets rewarded by more passengers.)

[Denny01]

OK, realizing this is completely off subect because someone brought up a a reference that was 15+ years old, yes, the waitstaff have more tables, but I really haven't seen it adversely impact the point of the waitstaff which is to take our orders, serve our food and set a good atmosphere. Yes, less time to stand and chat a bit, but I never really got a lot out of that. A few times, I've found it interesting, but most of the time, it is very light and something they go through with the hundreds they servce.

 

I haven't seen it slow down getting my order or the professional level the waitstaff provides.

 

And this is the case for all the mainline Line's I've been on....the waitstaff teams serve more tables. One of the best was on a Princess Hawaiian cruise, they really clicked and were excellent. One the worst was on a Princess Around the UK cruise where they assigned one waitstaff to our entire traveling group of four tables. It took way too long, and we ended up switching to the Anytime dining and leaving our group. 2+hrs every night for the late dining seating was too much.

 

And these are examples that didn't occur over 15 years ago....the Meridian left Celebrity service in 1997.

 

Den

[BKFlowerMound]

The number of waiters and stateroom attendants have been reduced by 10 to 15% over the last two years.

The effect for passengers is more hurried service and less TLC from wait staff, longer waits for cabin service but perhaps a larger paycheck based on tips (each employee gets rewarded by more passengers.)

 

When was the last time that suggested tipping amounts went up on X. I've been on X yearly since 2008 and I don't remember an increase. Any long time X'ers know when it was last increased?

[Bridge Maven]

When was the last time that suggested tipping amounts went up on X. I've been on X yearly since 2008 and I don't remember an increase. Any long time X'ers know when it was last increased?

 

BK - He didn't say each passenger is giving a larger tip. What he said is since each waiter is serving more passengers, then each waiter is receiving tips from more passengers, resulting in a larger total amount.

[BKFlowerMound]

BK - He didn't say passengers are now paying larger tips. What he said is if a waiter is serving more people, then more people are giving him tips, resulting in a larger total amount.

 

I know what he said. That's not my question. My question is when was the last time that tips were raised? I've been cruising X since 2008. If tips haven't increased since then, and I don't think that they have, serving more passengers is a back-door wage increase.

[m*u*g*]

I got back from Allure last week and expected a total dress down on formal nights. While only a few had tuxes like myself, most had a jacket and or tie and ladies were in dresses for the most part. A big departure from Liberty a couple years ago. That was a total mix from shorts to tuxes.

 

I don't know if this is a new trend, but liked what I saw. Was nice to have a dress up night and not be the only one. Plus it makes for some nice photos.