RCI Gratuity changes as of 28th Feb

[fishtaco]

Yes Bazza, A lot of Australians have never experienced the tipping situation which applies to international ships as well as the the USA "service " sector. Maybe we should help explain..

 

There are jobs where people predominantly work for wages, and others that predominantly work for tips. Two different systems. The "tipped" staff on the ship are those affected badly when the ship arrives into "hostile waters"

 

As a reference, any-one who dosn't now understand the "tipped" system may be enlightened somewhat if they read the info on this link.. It applies to minimum wages in USA states, and the differences.. International cruise lines work on similar models.

 

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped2012.htm

 

Hope this helps some with other Aussies understanding the basic situation.

 

S and P

 

What a load of old Bullderdash lol

 

The Situation is cruise service staff earn a basic wage much higher in general than they would working from "home" which is not "USA" did I say "Not USA"?

 

I have spent many years travelling Asia and you can in no way convince me that they would even earn close to a USA basic wages in their own country!

This includes the high percentage of eastern Europeans who have "no" work to earn anything at home!

 

When are some people going to stop putting themselves on a guilt trip with cruise staff? If they didnt earn enough they wouldnt do it same as the people who work in the sweat shops so we can buy cheap goods from reputable companies!

 

Is it right? No am I going to boycott? No Am I going to give extra money? No.

I will tip the same as I do always $5 for a haircut no matter what country I am in!

[AussieVisi2r]

I usually do pre paid tipping as well as giving cash tips to those that earned it. On a few trips this year I have not included tips for the first time.

 

So can we get on the ship and go to guest relations (or concierge) and ask to have automatic tips removed from our card each day. When they say why - we say we want to tip with cash????

R

[Goodysj]

(1)As an Australian resident and consumer I am used to paying an amount that includes all services I am paying for. There can be no extra costs on top under Australian consumer law.

(2)People who booked through RCCL Australia or Australian travel agents generally paid more than people booking through the US (significantly more in some cases). Also there are better price conditions in the US where if the price of the cruise goes down, even after the final payment they match it. Not so In Australia

(3)Pre paid gratuities are often included when booking through a US travel agent.

 

A lot of US people people on this forum say the staff on the ships are "stiffed" if they are not tipped, Frankly I think for RCCL Australian cruises operating out of Australia this summer, it is the Australian Consumer that has been "stiffed".

 

We will be tipping, but are sick of RCCL's tactics in the Australian market place. Even the way you do not have access the the RCCL US website and are redirected to the Australian website.

 

It leaves a sour taste in the mouth :mad:

Yep I agree, and our dollar is stronger than the US and we still pay more, when I was on the VOS to NZ, in the duty free shop another US cruiser said that the duty free prices for the grog are dearer here on the Aus/NZ trip than at home.

So yes we are getting stiffed.

[The_Big_M]

What a load of old Bullderdash lol

 

The Situation is cruise service staff earn a basic wage much higher in general than they would working from "home" which is not "USA" did I say "Not USA"?

 

I have spent many years travelling Asia and you can in no way convince me that they would even earn close to a USA basic wages in their own country!

Their basic wage is negligible. You can't generalise about which place is higher, obviously if you don't have work $1 is higher! But compared to any decent job the basic wage is lower.

 

This is the same in the US system as well. The basic wage service workers there get is also very low. Both groups live off tips.

 

Yes, if you include tips it then does make it more appealing which is why they take the jobs instead of not. The key difference is their payment system is based on tips, not the basic wage.