Gratuities to be added to sea pass account daily.

[NorbertsNiece]

Let me first say after 35+ cruises I have never stiffed 1 person on a cruise. But after reading this thread I do think for the first time....Why do you have to tip room steward for 4 people who stay in a room rather than 2. This is "1"room and bath. How much more messy can "1"room get with 4 rather than 2 people. If it were a 2 bedroom suite I get it. BTW I've only traveled with 2 in a room but recently traveled with my son and his family (4) and although children can get messy the room still needs vacuuming, bath cleaning etc with 2 people and same for 4 people. I think the room steward should be given a standard tip regardless of 2 or 4 people. Other than that definitely the dining room staff caters to the children so they need to be tipped. Just my 2 cents lol.

 

And the bedding that has to be made / changed...... twice the mess..... etc..... it's so obvious really......

[John Bull]

The charges for gratuities are not hidden. Anyone who misses them is not looking very hard.

 

Sorry, I can't agree.

You post as a veteran cruiser.

You already know about grats. If you want to specifically check out the level of grats on a cruise line's website you'll find them.

Some cruise lines are more up-front than others on their websites, but whereas bargain cruise ticket prices are easy to find, grats are always on some obscure secondary or tertiary page.

 

I don't know about the USA, Canada, Aus, etc but in the UK grats don't get a mention on TV ads, TV vacation channels, or newspaper ads.

They rarely get a mention in the bumph that drops onto my doormat or pops up on my PC.

Many travel agents fail to mention them, I've even had one T/A lie to me.

 

While they're discretionary, far too many in the cruise sales business camouflage them - but nobody's breaking the law.

 

Hence plenty of newbie cruisers (and some who've only sailed tips-inclusive ships) are still finding out about these charges after they've booked/paid their deposits, some don't find out about them until they see the charges on their on-board account.

Should they have read the small-print ?

Yep.;)

But do you look through the small-print every time you buy something on the 'net, rent a car, travel on a train, accept a parcel, etc ad infinitum?

No, you don't. :p Nobody does. Life's too short.

 

 

 

I believe eventually the language will be changed to calling them "service charges" and there will be no option to have them removed.

 

Which is pretty-well what most of us Brits would like to see. :)

Consumer-protection law in the EU obliges everyone who sells cruises to be up-front about mandatory charges.

Hence taxes & port fees are included in the ticket-price.

Roll on the day when wages .... sorry, gratuities :rolleyes:..... are included in the up-front price. Just one reason why they'd be called a service charge & not a cheese danish ;)

 

Just MHO as always

 

JB :)

[fishtaco]

I do not think they want us on US site and vice versa. It will not allow me in either. Even tried AU site but still sends me to co.uk.

 

Welcome to RCI,s "ISP" hijacking methods:D

 

I have been very very vocal over this in other threads.

 

You need a Personal VPN to trick RCCL into thinking you are from USA lol

 

You will always be redirected back to your internet server location which is UK I will always be redirected back to Australia without a Personal "Virtual Private Network";)

 

RCI does not want you in the UK knowing what US RCI customers are getting and It Doesn't want me in Australia knowing either!

 

But with a Personal VPN you will discover the cruise you purchased through RCI would more than likely have been 2/3rds of the price you paid through RCI UK or RCI AU and 1/3 cheaper in USA:rolleyes:

 

Legal internet fraud:D FOR NOW

[postmeome]

I like your idea !!!

a daily gratuity charge is per day,it is not charged every day it is charged last day of your cruise plus gratuities cannot be forced on people to pay

[villauk]

One is that if you have booked direct with RCI UK, final payment is only 57 days out from sailing whereas I believe in the US it's sooner than that, I think 75 days out. The deposit amounts when booking are different in the US

 

$100pp for 3-5 nights

$250pp for 6-9 nights

$450pp for 10+ nights

 

And I believe the above amounts are double for GS and above.

 

Whereas for us in the UK it's only £75 for cruises of 1-5 nights and £150 for other durations.

 

Pete,

 

I know this is a total different argument, however I was trying to point out that ours aren't really any benefits in the whole picture of things.

 

There's not much difference between the £150 and $250 when converted, however the biggest difference is they can claim their deposit back whereas we lose ours. So, I wouldn't mind paying the few extra pounds if I knew it was refundable.

 

Also, purchasing the next cruise certificate, the US are able to purchase at a lower rate than us, is it $75 or $100, whereas we have to pay the full deposit rate.

 

I'll get off my high horse now (oh no, not another mention of horses :D).

 

Going back to the gratuities, as I previously stated, we're not bothered either way as we usually use the OBC towards ours and have them on our account (and that includes the kids).

[Ocean Boy]

The main dining room staff excuse ("If I don't go, why should I have to tip them?") is also ridiculously lame. Um, they need to be there because they have to assume you're coming, they don't know what your plans are. How would you feel if you showed up for main dining and they didn't have enough staff?

 

The Windjammer staff has to be there also as they, too, don't know whether you are coming or not. They don't know what your plans are. They do know my plans though. Every evening when I leave I tell them that I'll see them tomorrow night. In fact, one year on Adventure the waiter who we had every night even reserved the table that we liked! And he was well taken care of at the end of the week.

[caddie1]

Welcome to RCI,s "ISP" hijacking methods:D

 

I have been very very vocal over this in other threads.

 

You need a Personal VPN to trick RCCL into thinking you are from USA lol

 

You will always be redirected back to your internet server location which is UK I will always be redirected back to Australia without a Personal "Virtual Private Network";)

 

RCI does not want you in the UK knowing what US RCI customers are getting and It Doesn't want me in Australia knowing either!

 

But with a Personal VPN you will discover the cruise you purchased through RCI would more than likely have been 2/3rds of the price you paid through RCI UK or RCI AU and 1/3 cheaper in USA:rolleyes:

 

Legal internet fraud:D FOR NOW

 

 

 

Thanks for that explanation. Oh and by the way well done on giving up the ciggies.

[ctcruiser1721]

Welcome to RCI,s "ISP" hijacking methods:D

 

I have been very very vocal over this in other threads.

 

You need a Personal VPN to trick RCCL into thinking you are from USA lol

 

You will always be redirected back to your internet server location which is UK I will always be redirected back to Australia without a Personal "Virtual Private Network";)

 

RCI does not want you in the UK knowing what US RCI customers are getting and It Doesn't want me in Australia knowing either!

 

But with a Personal VPN you will discover the cruise you purchased through RCI would more than likely have been 2/3rds of the price you paid through RCI UK or RCI AU and 1/3 cheaper in USA:rolleyes:

 

Legal internet fraud:D FOR NOW

 

I just Googled "Royal Caribbean UK", clicked on the link, and got in no problem.

[Ocean Boy]

a daily gratuity charge is per day,it is not charged every day it is charged last day of your cruise plus gratuities cannot be forced on people to pay

 

I believe that they post the charge each day to your account.

[phish tales]

Yes and Daily "Auto tips" are usually put on your bill when you are fast asleep:D

 

If you had bad service then call GS the next morning and remove the tip portion from that days bad service:)

 

It is all so simple!

 

If you always pay tips on a cruise equivalent to or above that recommended by the cruise line why shun this system:confused:

 

It is well known by most CC members and other cruisers that staff on board do a good enough job to receive a tip for the entire cruise, Bad service is a rare occurrence in cruise staff service so why now are so many quoting a wikki explanation of "Tip" as if it were for a first ever seating at a new restaurant:confused:

 

Are you really expecting service not worthy of tipping?

 

why call ??? go to GS and face to face tell the person why you want to sneak out of paying tips. don,t hide behind your phone, face up like a man. (or woman)

[Doug S]

I posted a version of the following in a similar thread in another forum, but it applies here too:

 

I wouldn't mind if they also forced folks who wanted to remove or reduce the daily gratuity charge to do it on a daily basis. If there are no problems on day 1, day 2, etc. the full daily gratuity charge is charged to the account on those days. If someone is having an issue on a certain day - say day 4 - they can go down and reduce or remove the amount for that day only. They can't touch past days that have already been charged to their account, and they can't touch future days because they can't predict future problems with service, etc.

 

I agree... One thing I would add, is you should not be able to 'remove' all the tips for a day just because your food was cold, or your bed wasn't made right. If you have a problem with the wait staff, only that portion of the daily tip should be in play. Why should a room steward lose their tip for bad food service. The shirkers would have to go down to GS with a daily list of real or imagined complaints against all parties to get the tips totally credited back to them. At the end of such a Cruise, If I were RCI I would deliver a letter to their cabin stating that since they obviously do not enjoy the RCI offering, that perhaps they should look elsewhere for their cruise vacations.

[molole]

The RCL IT department is now meeting in Miami to figure out how to translate this from english. Their estimate is they should be able to figure it out in 2-3 days as long as they work non-stop. Word is they're having Sorrento's pizza shipped in, and expect it to be a long night:rolleyes:

 

Curious mind begs to know: How are they going to tip the pizza delivery boy? :D

[dory123]

We're leaving on the Liberty in March and i just got my email yesterday

[sdouglas]

Quick question as I've looked at the entire thread and may have missed it, which is easy to do at my age:

 

I have no issue with Royal's new policy, works for me. I've seen too many skip out on the last night to avoid tipping and it will definately cut down on the long lines at Guest Relations for those seeking to change $20, $50, $100 bills into smaller amounts. We have never skipped out on tipping the crew members.

 

Since we tend to over tip for outstanding service, countless times with Royal, will Royal still be providing envelopes to put the extra "Thank you for your wonderful service" money in or will it be slip them the cash and hopefully nobody will see?

[purescottish]

sdouglas.on the UK site, it states that you can ask at guest services for envelopes if you wish to "tip" extra

 

wendy

[fishtaco]

I posted a version of the following in a similar thread in another forum, but it applies here too:

 

I wouldn't mind if they also forced folks who wanted to remove or reduce the daily gratuity charge to do it on a daily basis. If there are no problems on day 1, day 2, etc. the full daily gratuity charge is charged to the account on those days. If someone is having an issue on a certain day - say day 4 - they can go down and reduce or remove the amount for that day only. They can't touch past days that have already been charged to their account, and they can't touch future days because they can't predict future problems with service, etc.

 

 

This is what has been introduced:D

 

Although you cannot force anyone to pay anything that is not compulsory so really anyone can remove them at any time pre or post paid days!

 

Look back at RCI,s explanation of the new system!

 

So many people profess to tip over and above the recommended amount when in actual fact they are tipping less,this has no barring on the amount I tip or you tip and who really cares? Its a Tip!

 

Faced with a cruise "Tip bill" for an average family of 2 adults 2 teen children on a 7 night cruise looking at the combined Tip bill on last day (if not pre paid) of $336,who wouldnt think that a $100 tip to table wait staff and $100 tip to cabin steward/assistant wasnt ample? Its more than most have ever tipped in one lump before in their life!

 

Cruise is over money has been spent,oh dear we have a life to carry on with! That $336 could pay the mortgage:eek: Katut? Mortgage? Katut? Mortgage?

 

Mortgage:cool:

 

Human nature, American English Scottish Australian Canadian German french..........

[phish tales]

From the RCI website describing the Automatic Gratuity Program..........

 

To simplify the service recognition process, Royal Caribbean automatically adds a $12.00 USD gratuity ($14.25 USD for Suite Guests) to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis. This gratuity is shared by Dining Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants other Housekeeping Services Personnel that work to enhance your cruise. The daily automatic gratuity amounts are recommended and are based on customary industry standards.

 

In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services during their cruise.

 

great, it says by Visiting Guest Services.. not call on the phone and hide in your room..

[cruisenfever]

a daily gratuity charge is per day,it is not charged every day it is charged last day of your cruise plus gratuities cannot be forced on people to pay

From the RCI website describing the Automatic Gratuity Program..........

 

To simplify the service recognition process, Royal Caribbean automatically adds a $12.00 USD gratuity ($14.25 USD for Suite Guests) to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis. This gratuity is shared by Dining Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants other Housekeeping Services Personnel that work to enhance your cruise. The daily automatic gratuity amounts are recommended and are based on customary industry standards.

 

In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services during their cruise.

[fishtaco]

a daily gratuity charge is per day,it is not charged every day it is charged last day of your cruise plus gratuities cannot be forced on people to pay

 

Not true for all cruise lines!

 

The ones I have dealt with add the daily charge "every day" and it shows up on your account and on board spend print out! Usually done late at night or early morning depending on the Pursers shift change:)

[pepsicruiser]

And the bedding that has to be made / changed...... twice the mess..... etc..... it's so obvious really......

 

 

Oh really...do you believe they change the sheets daily lol...I don't think so..just how messy can ONE get. I'm not saying don't tip just make it one price per room and that is JMO obviously yours and we are all entitled to it.

[Charles4515]

Oh really...do you believe they change the sheets daily lol...I don't think so..just how messy can ONE get. I'm not saying don't tip just make it one price per room and that is JMO obviously yours and we are all entitled to it.

 

No, they don't change the sheets every day. And they shouldn't.

[pepsicruiser]

We were recently on Disney Dream (wonderful cruiseline btw) and I found it interesting that on the last night of the cruise the buffet was closed. Maybe that is there way of getting everyone into diningroom to tip staff and not stiff staff.

[pepsicruiser]

No, they don't change the sheets every day. And they shouldn't.

 

I agree as I don't change them everyday at home lol

[Bobbie John]

Wrong thread

[fishtaco]

I just Googled "Royal Caribbean UK", clicked on the link, and got in no problem.

 

Because you are american lol!

 

We cant get into RCI.com

 

I can only access RCI.com.au.

 

First visit allowed me to enter RCI.com I see a cruise price held it and when I paid deposit it was $400 PP more for the privilege of being Australian with access to only RCI.com.au forever lol long story short:mad: