Gratuities to be added to sea pass account daily.

[beachnative]

Charging tips to my Seapass account daily is fine with me. We have been using the Pre-pay form that they give us on board. The end result is the same.

 

This is a wonderful program as it will provide the crew receive tips that some passengers would have not given.

 

I will continue to give additional tips to certain crew members who provide excellent service.

[marci22]

Below is a copy of post #167. It basically says you can get the tips increased/decreased/removed on the ship with Should you wish to. RCI really need to get their act together and give an across the board response. Responses like this just muddy the waters...what's the point of adding them if they can be taken off so easily??

 

This was a response from guest support Uk received by e-mail this morning.

 

 

 

Thank you for your email.

 

I am sorry that you have not received our latest communication on our

gratuity programme. We are in the process of sending this out to guests who

have a future booking and who we have an email address for. Nevertheless I

have attached it in this email for you.

 

Just to summarise, if the gratuities are not pre paid then they will now

automatically be added to your onboard account. If you are unhappy with the

amount that has been added then it can either be increased, decreased or

removed. However this will need to be done once onboard the ship, we can

not do this in advance of the sailing.

 

Yeah that's a canned response, and I'm sure they have to work out the details, like everything else they revise. I am sure that this policy will also vary between ships, like everything else.

[Debde]

I do understand, and there are plenty of people of all nationalities who follow the guidelines, but apparently there are a good number who don't. And this new system is because of them.

 

Yup

and probably the same people that have made the drink packages be purchased by all in the room!!:eek:

As Donny Osmond would say.......A few bad apples do spoil the whole bunch!:)

[setsail]

I hope the line at GS for removing the daily charge is really, really long;)

[molly361]

Thanks Patti- Does that mean that if you have a booking with prepaid gratuities on it already if you want the current amount you should pay it in full before 2/28? That is how I am reding it

[sparks1093]

I am one that appreciates convenience and having the tips added is definitely more convenient than having to carry cash to stuff envelopes with.

[galavant3]

Maybe it makes it harder for someone to say "take off X amount for the head waiter, cause we never saw him". People will have to have a legitimate reason for removing tips for that day. And since it is a daily amount, I am guessing you have to have a complaint for each day.

 

Excellent point!

[bigeck]

Ah yes, chasing down crew members to hand them cash. That's how I want to spend my vacation. Not. Thanks Royal for simplifying the process and make it more difficult for the cheapskates.

 

It's as easy as you just explained. No need to debate anymore. Pay up and smile

 

Alex

 

Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2

[akcruz]

Thanks Patti- Does that mean that if you have a booking with prepaid gratuities on it already if you want the current amount you should pay it in full before 2/28? That is how I am reding it

 

In the FAQs it says if you already have the pre-paid (those that get paid at final) applied prior to the first of March you will pay the old amount. You do not need to pay it, just have it on your reservation. If you change it to remove pre-paid after the first the new charge would be applied.

 

At least that's what I read.

 

eta - and for the record I am in the "it's about time" category!

[phish tales]

I'm going to try this on my next cruise and see what happens. I'm sorry-if it is a tip-I want to hand it directly to the staff in cash if I can.

 

Some of you can wash this any way you want but do not tell me that the staff prefers pre-paid over cash. If you are trying to sell that, I've got many bridges in my area to sell!!!:D

 

this is fine, as long as you at least tip the suggested amount ($12 p/p per day) in cash and that way each crew member that took care of you gets his or her fair amount. only you and the person you tip can answer this...after speaking to many crew members about tipping,they love the idea of guaranteed tips because they very very often get stiffed and they work very hard and are away from families to make the kind of money they can't make in their countries. Americans can go on welfare rather than work this way,lets make sure they get what they deserve.

[vickiw0318]

Let's hope that employees who do provide good service will not be hurt by someone trying to avoid tips by saying that they did not receive said good service.

[lochivan]

While I understand that this may simplify tipping for many people, I personnally find it disappointing.

 

I enjoy tipping for excellent service. If I have had a great time, and the service was superb, the people responsible are tipped quite well. However if the service is adequate or sub par, I do not believe anyone should be forced to pay a specific amount of tip.

 

As an example if the service was subpar, I will typically only tip 10% of the bill. I don't think I have ever tipped less than that. If the service is fantastic and the occasion is special ( christmas time ) I have tipped several times the entire bill. Having the server come back and ask if it was a mistake, and being able to tell them that the service and food was excellent, and that it was no mistake makes me feel good. Knowing that I may had improved their day, (if nothing else a big smile) is a great feeling.

 

By RCI automating the tipping it takes away my enjoyment of those times to a degree. It also makes me appear whiny if I want to visit guest services to lower any of the mandatory tips. I am a big believer in paying for performance, and it bothers me when a restaurant or hotel, ship decide to dictate what performance costs.

 

I also sympathize with low income people and families that may not be able to tip the per person amounts. Large families can be impacted greatly by this, which actually affects their vacation. The tips for the stateroom attendant, MDR, wait staff, bartenders all add up and for some families they may not be able to afford the full tip. Perhaps they can only afford to tip based on the adults in the room. I would rather the families have good memories of the cruise rather than feel inferior for tipping.

 

Specifically to my family, we do not eat in the MDR except one night during a cruise. I wonder why I should be responsible for tipping staff for receiving no service the other nights. Regardless of whether we attend, the server is working. We prefer the WJ due to not having to maintain a schedule for dining or even knowing where all the family members are. It appears to be based on tradition and someone's opinion as to why I should tip the MDR staff for all the nights. However it is our decision and choice to make and if we are tipping WJ or specialty restaurant staff for the meal we are having, why am I tipping MDR staff for the same meal that they didn't serve...

 

Again I prefer paying for use and performance. If I am not using their service it makes no real sense to tip for it.

 

Depending on the situation I may have to address the mandatory tips with RCI. However we have had great service in the past and I hope our next trip on the Allure this Sunday goes as well.

[shaggyofwv]

Well this ridiculous change of policy won't affect us as we are taking our business elsewhere.

 

Buh bye, Royal.

[bigeagle12]

Well this ridiculous change of policy won't affect us as we are taking our business elsewhere.

 

Buh bye, Royal.

 

LOL .. and where might that be .. I know Princess and HAL already do the same thing :eek::D:rolleyes:

[bvocruise]

What is the current rate for a non suite cabin? I thought my TA said it was $11.65 during the booking process but I could be wrong. We already factor it in the total vacation cost.

[cruisin07family]

We haven't sailed RC yet only NCL and CCL so far and I didn't realize RC didn't have the daily service charge until last week when I really began to investigate the differences. Personally I'm all for it since it's what I'm used to, budget for and I really don't like the idea of trying to track down every crew member I want to tip on my last night onboard. Maybe if they didn't call it auto-tipping and called it a service charge, there would be less cruisers upset. Tipping does sort of imply a choice in the matter.

[setsail]

Well this ridiculous change of policy won't affect us as we are taking our business elsewhere.

 

Buh bye, Royal.

 

I fully expect that RCI knew they would loose some business over this new policy, but in the end they also know that it would weed out the non-tippers in the process;)

[cruisenfever]

What is the current rate for a non suite cabin? I thought my TA said it was $11.65 during the booking process but I could be wrong. We already factor it in the total vacation cost.

Here is the current breakdown of how the gratuities are split.....

 

Pre-Paid Gratuities Effective July 1, 2011

$5.00pp per day for Housekeeping Staff ($7.25 if in a GS or above)

$3.75pp per day for Waiter

$2.15pp per day for Assistant Waiter

$0.75pp per day for Head Waiter

$11.65pp per day ($13.90pp per day if booked in a GS or above)

[akcruz]

Well this ridiculous change of policy won't affect us as we are taking our business elsewhere.

 

Buh bye, Royal.

 

Enjoy your land based vacations as most cruise lines already do this :eek:.

[cruzincurt]

LOL .. and where might that be .. I know Princess and HAL already do the same thing :eek::D:rolleyes:

Yep, HAL calls it a "Service charge".

 

On our last cruise we had "pre-paid" gratuities. Doesn't show up anywhere once on board. So twice through the week I checked with the purser to make sure the TA actually paid them.

[Clarea]

What is the current rate for a non suite cabin? I thought my TA said it was $11.65 during the booking process but I could be wrong. We already factor it in the total vacation cost.

$11.65 is the current rate until March 1, when it will be $12.00 per guest per day.

[deedeetoo]

I'm glad they did this. I can't imagine going around and handing envelopes of cash to people - so glad we don't have to hassle with that. We sailed Princess last year and this is how it worked there and it was very easy. I have to admit I was getting confused about what to do on RCI because I wanted to pay tips with OBC and it sounded like you had to do something special on ship in order to do that, and I read one post where even though the person signed up for it, the tips weren't actually charged to the account and they didn't realize it until after leaving the ship resulting in the staff being inadvertently stiffed.. This will now make everything seamless and easy for us.:)

[CruiseKeeper]

I'm also glad they did this. I have already been used to it since MTD came out. Speaking of MTD, since it's all sort of mandatory now, why not remove the pre-paid aspect of MTD tips and just go with the daily charge? Simplify. Give everyone a daily charge.

[bvocruise]

I did the math and it is about $5 for the two of us (7 days). We were thinking of switching to MTD and will have to prepay them. We don't leave until 5/19 and currently have early dining for NOS. I guess it makes sense to make up our mind on MTD before 28 Feb.

[crusinpeg]

I'm also glad they did this. I have already been used to it since MTD came out. Speaking of MTD, since it's all sort of mandatory now, why not remove the pre-paid aspect of MTD tips and just go with the daily charge? Simplify. Give everyone a daily charge.

 

I assume thats how it will be for cruises booked after 3/1...Traditional as well as MTD.

 

I think its a great policy...no more stiffing