Tipping being outlawed!

[pepperrn]

But what about your experience ,not the BBC. You are on board enjoying the services. not the BBC.:mad:

:confused: :confused: :confused: .

 

Do please explain your point, I'm sorry to say that it passed me by, my fault I am sure.

Thank you in advance.

[turquoise 6]

:confused: :confused: :confused: .

 

Do please explain your point, I'm sorry to say that it passed me by, my fault I am sure.

Thank you in advance.

Hello. Tipping is an individual thing between you and your service provider. It's your option. A BBC report analyzing the art of tipping should not influence anyone on why or how to tip. :). Or reinforce the idea

Of Not to tip, get free service .

[Austcruiser84]

I wonder whether handsomely tipping the baggage handlers at the cruise terminal means your bags get better treatment and are given priority?

 

Also, wasnt really sure how much to tip per bag - especially as they were heavy! That's one thing I was unsure about at Redhook last December.

[pepperrn]

Hello. Tipping is an individual thing between you and your service provider. It's your option. A BBC report analyzing the art of tipping should not influence anyone on why or how to tip. Or reinforce the idea Of Not to tip, get free service .

Hi turquoise 6,

Thank you for your reply.

 

I do not believe that I said that anyone should be influenced by reading the BBC report...

"The BBC report makes interesting reading, thank you salad muncher for posting the link"

Any news report may be "interesting" whether one agrees with the content :) , or not :mad: .

So in the first part of my sentence I am being as neutral as I can.

Judging by your last sentence above, and many of your previous posts, I would guess that English is not your first language and therefore the nuances and idioms of the language; using "interesting" in this context for example, may have escaped you. Which is fine, I only speak one language (badly :o ) and am therefore full of admiration for those who have more than one spoken/written tongue. Well done :) .

In the second part of my sentence I am being polite and thanking salad muncher for bringing the report to my attention, otherwise I may have missed it. So I thanked a fellow CC member.

As regards tipping... I stand by what I said...

"Sadly there are many staff in restaurants and bars around the world who do expect a huge tip for the good service they didn't provide, and for the poor service they did".

 

If you call making a note of what I've chosen from a menu, and then placing a plate with that selection in front of me a few minutes later "service" then we have wildly different ideas of "service".

I fail to see that the ability to carry a note-pad in one direction, and a plate in the other, is "service" deserving of reward from my pocket. Well-trained Chimps could do the same or better, in most restaurants, if health regulations permitted.

As has been mentioned before, unless I have the option of serving myself directly from the kitchens then "service" is compulsory. If it is compulsory then it should be included in the cost of the meal (along with all the other overheads). I am then free to tip directly on the (very) odd occasion on land that I receive true "service".

(on a Cunard ship I have always (99.9% of the time) received good to outstanding service and so always tip via the auto-tip, topped up directly on occasions via cash to individual stewards).

 

I hope this helps.

All best wishes to you, and happy cruising for the future.

[Whitemarsh]

I think a tiny tip in an envelope would be thought insulting by the recipient.

 

As with the guy I once saw giving his room steward a small bag of sweets saying "hope you like jelly babies"

 

David.

 

I find the concept of food as tips to be extremely peculiar - particularly on a cruise ship where food is not hard to come by.

 

I am sure the crew could care less about jelly babies, shortbread biscuits or chocolate.

 

Yes I agree with you and I have a feeling that

Salad Muncher would LOVE to arrest the tippers for tipping for service:)

 

LOL...yes, you're probably right. The tippers would be sniffed out and denounced!

 

[Austcruiser84]

I find the concept of food as tips to be extremely peculiar - particularly on a cruise ship where food is not hard to come by.

 

I am sure the crew could care less about jelly babies, shortbread biscuits or chocolate.

 

in addition to an envelope of money, I also left my steward a bottle of alcohol. And no, it wasn't the Pol Acker, although I admit I left that in the fridge the entire voyage, not game enough to even open it after the countless negative reviews :)

 

I didn't want the bottle (unopened of course) and figured he could have it on top of the extra tip.

[pepperrn]

And no, it wasn't the Pol Acker, although I admit I left that in the fridge the entire voyage, not game enough to even open it after the countless negative reviews

Hi Austcruiser84,

 

Very wise, and it means you're with us still, to carry on posting :) .

(I sometimes wonder, when regulars suddenly vanish from this board, never to post again, if they finally thought "well, a little taste won't harm, see what all the fuss is about... " :eek: )

 

Best wishes.

[turquoise 6]

Hi turquoise 6,

Thank you for your reply.

 

I do not believe that I said that anyone should be influenced by reading the BBC report...

"The BBC report makes interesting reading, thank you salad muncher for posting the link"

Any news report may be "interesting" whether one agrees with the content :) , or not :mad: .

So in the first part of my sentence I am being as neutral as I can.

Judging by your last sentence above, and many of your previous posts, I would guess that English is not your first language and therefore the nuances and idioms of the language; using "interesting" in this context for example, may have escaped you. Which is fine, I only speak one language (badly :o ) and am therefore full of admiration for those who have more than one spoken/written tongue. Well done :) .

In the second part of my sentence I am being polite and thanking salad muncher for bringing the report to my attention, otherwise I may have missed it. So I thanked a fellow CC member.

As regards tipping... I stand by what I said...

"Sadly there are many staff in restaurants and bars around the world who do expect a huge tip for the good service they didn't provide, and for the poor service they did".

 

If you call making a note of what I've chosen from a menu, and then placing a plate with that selection in front of me a few minutes later "service" then we have wildly different ideas of "service".

I fail to see that the ability to carry a note-pad in one direction, and a plate in the other, is "service" deserving of reward from my pocket. Well-trained Chimps could do the same or better, in most restaurants, if health regulations permitted.

As has been mentioned before, unless I have the option of serving myself directly from the kitchens then "service" is compulsory. If it is compulsory then it should be included in the cost of the meal (along with all the other overheads). I am then free to tip directly on the (very) odd occasion on land that I receive true "service".

(on a Cunard ship I have always (99.9% of the time) received good to outstanding service and so always tip via the auto-tip, topped up directly on occasions via cash to individual stewards).

 

I hope this helps.

All best wishes to you, and happy cruising for the future.

hello Peppern: well thank you for your reply. I understand what you are saying. We all have our opinions;sometimes we learn,get angry,agree from

them. This makes it interesting:)

cheers

T

[PenGwyn10]

I do not believe that most (or even a quarter) of those who remove the auto-tips, and use the envelope system, are tipping more than the auto-tips.

 

There is no reason to remove the auto-tips if one wishes to tip extra. Just leave them on and then tip extra to whomever you choose.

 

I will say that even a tiny tip in an envelope is better than no tips at all.

 

Gratuities asked for by Cunard are more expensive than requested by Fred Olsen. So yes, for good service on FOCL the tips in envelopes are often more generous. The few who are sullen or unhelpful are tipped accordingly!

[Dianacm]

Discounting for a moment that the few dollars/per hour that cruise line wait staff earn may still represent a good living in many servers' home countries, and also acknowleging that it is a legitimate argument to bash the cruise lines for shifting the payment of their employees to us through tipping, I hope everyone understands the difference between choosing not to tip a sullen waiter in Sydney who earns ~$20/hr before tips and doing the same for an awkward/language challenged waiter on a ship.

 

Sure, bad service is bad service, and we have the right to adjust tipping for same, but I hope everyone is giving a bit of reflection before choosing to withhold what amounts to a significant portion of your server's earnings. So, go for it, but understand the stick you wield at sea is far heavier than the one you would brandish on shore.

[turquoise 6]

yes, it is.

 

Btw, $11.50 is approximately the cost of one glass of house wine (with the 15% surcharge added).:eek: I would sooner drink tap water than remove the h&d charge. Not that i'm likely to do either :d -s.

touche salacia!!!!:):)

[sunnybrian]

Hi turquoise 6,

Thank you for your reply.

 

I do not believe that I said that anyone should be influenced by reading the BBC report...

"The BBC report makes interesting reading, thank you salad muncher for posting the link"

Any news report may be "interesting" whether one agrees with the content :) , or not :mad: .

So in the first part of my sentence I am being as neutral as I can.

Judging by your last sentence above, and many of your previous posts, I would guess that English is not your first language and therefore the nuances and idioms of the language; using "interesting" in this context for example, may have escaped you. Which is fine, I only speak one language (badly :o ) and am therefore full of admiration for those who have more than one spoken/written tongue. Well done :) .

In the second part of my sentence I am being polite and thanking salad muncher for bringing the report to my attention, otherwise I may have missed it. So I thanked a fellow CC member.

As regards tipping... I stand by what I said...

"Sadly there are many staff in restaurants and bars around the world who do expect a huge tip for the good service they didn't provide, and for the poor service they did".

 

If you call making a note of what I've chosen from a menu, and then placing a plate with that selection in front of me a few minutes later "service" then we have wildly different ideas of "service".

I fail to see that the ability to carry a note-pad in one direction, and a plate in the other, is "service" deserving of reward from my pocket. Well-trained Chimps could do the same or better, in most restaurants, if health regulations permitted.

As has been mentioned before, unless I have the option of serving myself directly from the kitchens then "service" is compulsory. If it is compulsory then it should be included in the cost of the meal (along with all the other overheads). I am then free to tip directly on the (very) odd occasion on land that I receive true "service".

(on a Cunard ship I have always (99.9% of the time) received good to outstanding service and so always tip via the auto-tip, topped up directly on occasions via cash to individual stewards).

 

I hope this helps.

All best wishes to you, and happy cruising for the future.

Very well put sir!

[balf]

Gratuities asked for by Cunard are more expensive than requested by Fred Olsen. So yes, for good service on FOCL the tips in envelopes are often more generous. The few who are sullen or unhelpful are tipped accordingly!

 

And with Saga no one is expected to tip, though some do of course.

 

David

[Whitemarsh]

You may not notice what a good waiter does, but you will definitely notice what a bad waiter does or doesn't do.

[sullaRaffaello]

Because it the same work to pour a $20 or a $200 wine

Say you're celebrating an VERY special occasion and order a $500 champagne. Do you really think it's fair to tip the waiter a $100 bill?

 

I ALWAYS tip accordingly to the local habits' date=' but even so I still think this is an irrational habit.[/quote']

 

What's the difference in the work to bring a plate with an $8 hamburger to a table and a plate with a $50 porterhouse? Same tip?

 

If you can afford the $500 Champagne, you can afford the $100 tip.

[fantasy51]

You may not notice what a good waiter does, but you will definitely notice what a bad waiter does or doesn't do.

 

I read that a good waiter does his job in such a way that he is not noticed. I often think of this when the Cunard waiters interrupt a flowing conversation to ask us if all is going well! I remind myself that they have us for only a short time and that part of their job description is no doubt to ask us that question, which means interruptions are mandatory.

[pmb1]

I read that a good waiter does his job in such a way that he is not noticed. I often think of this when the Cunard waiters interrupt a flowing conversation to ask us if all is going well! I remind myself that they have us for only a short time and that part of their job description is no doubt to ask us that question, which means interruptions are mandatory.

I don't mind the occasional solicitous interruption, but what really annoys me is that waiters wait until I've just put a morsel of food in my mouth before they ask me something.

[paulista1950]

What's the difference in the work to bring a plate with an $8 hamburger to a table and a plate with a $50 porterhouse? Same tip?

 

If you can afford the $500 Champagne, you can afford the $100 tip.

 

Can you point me ANY other line of job where one worker gets 10 times more for the same task?

Don't get me wrong I always tip well. I'm 100% in favor of following the rules of the game I'm playing, but what I'm trying to say is that this whole tipping business is surreal.

 

Why do we tip waiters and not flight attendants? Why tour guides and not bus drivers? It's completely arbitrary and makes no sense whatsoever

[Dianacm]

Can you point me ANY other line of job where one worker gets 10 times more for the same task?

 

It's completely arbitrary and makes no sense whatsoever

 

 

 

The list of jobs where one worker gets several times more than another for the same task is greater than for those who don't: an excellent first year teacher for example, earns multiples less than an awful teacher with 30 years experience. Name your professional star athlete during a bad year-same thing.

 

Does serving a $500 or $5000 bottle of wine require more effort than serving a $10 bottle? On the face of it, no. but to do it well requires more skill. Waiters who have positioned themselves to serve such a bottle have often-not always-paid their dues and earned the right.

 

Tipping will always be arbitrary. One can always choose to over or under, or not tip. What Cunard is telling us is that they feel the automatic tipping amounts are fair for the service we are likely to receive. It is part of their business plan, b/c it requires them to pay their staff less. Passengers have the right to ignore their recommendations, but I think that is a harsh punishment, if the standard is "they didn't go out of their way to make my trip special."

[Whitemarsh]

Can you point me ANY other line of job where one worker gets 10 times more for the same task?

 

It's completely arbitrary and makes no sense whatsoever

 

 

 

The list of jobs where one worker gets several times more than another for the same task is greater than for those who don't: an excellent first year teacher for example, earns multiples less than an awful teacher with 30 years experience. Name your professional star athlete during a bad year-same thing.

 

Does serving a $500 or $5000 bottle of wine require more effort than serving a $10 bottle? On the face of it, no. but to do it well requires more skill. Waiters who have positioned themselves to serve such a bottle have often-not always-paid their dues and earned the right.

 

Tipping will always be arbitrary. One can always choose to over or under, or not tip. What Cunard is telling us is that they feel the automatic tipping amounts are fair for the service we are likely to receive. It is part of their business plan, b/c it requires them to pay their staff less. Passengers have the right to ignore their recommendations, but I think that is a harsh punishment, if the standard is "they didn't go out of their way to make my trip special."

 

Which could be another way of saying "I'm insecure, and nothing less than the complete subjugation of the crew will allay my insecurities".

[balf]

You may not notice what a good waiter does, but you will definitely notice what a bad waiter does or doesn't do.

 

I think the food is more important than the waiter.

 

David.

[balf]

Does serving a $500 or $5000 bottle of wine require more effort than serving a $10 bottle? On the face of it, no. but to do it well requires more skill. l."

 

Serving wine requires skill? Surgeons require skill, and engineers and airline pilots and jewellers etc. To correctly serve wine at table requires a little training and the ability to work neatly and carefully. Most of the wine waiters with Cunard have this, but are generally lacking in much knowledge of the product they are pouring.

 

The really skilful part of the dining is in the galley, where chefs and particularly the head (executive) chef work wonders with what must be a somewhat restricted meals budget.

 

David.

[Dianacm]

Serving wine requires skill? Surgeons require skill, and engineers and airline pilots and jewellers etc. To correctly serve wine at table requires a little training and the ability to work neatly and carefully. Most of the wine waiters with Cunard have this, but are generally lacking in much knowledge of the product they are pouring.

 

The really skilful part of the dining is in the galley, where chefs and particularly the head (executive) chef work wonders with what must be a somewhat restricted meals budget.

 

David.

 

Well, yes. I'd venture a guess that sommeliers feel their chosen profession does require skill. As you note, many wine stewards lack skill and expertise, just as there is a wide range in competency in the other occupations you mention, including those who prepare our food.

[Whitemarsh]

I think the food is more important than the waiter.

 

David.

 

They're equally important. Neither of the below options works.

1. Good food - bad service.
   
2. Bad food - good service.
   

[paulista1950]

They're equally important. Neither of the below options works.

1. Good food - bad service.
   
2. Bad food - good service.
   

 

Can anyone give me a reason for tipping (salary?) not being included in the prices of a restaurant like EVERYTHING else?