WOW ! Up To 400 People Remove Gratuities

[storm1of4]

Exactly like ...............Cheers and Mazel tov!

[postmeome]

Exactly like ...............Cheers and Mazel tov!

smashin thanks.

[storm1of4]

smashin thanks.

 

brilliant!

[DirtyDawg]

WOW ! Up To 400 People Remove Gratuities

 

DOUBLE WOW! Almost 400 responses in this thread.:rolleyes:

 

If you like the new system, use it.

 

If you like the old one, cancel the auto and tip cash.

 

If you want to selectively tip for great service, do it.

 

If you want to tip zero, your choice.

 

We all have free will - use it!:eek:

[Sharon I]

I would like to know if you've prepaid your tips and you were waitlisted for first seating dinner and you voiced that if you had to do anything but first seating dinner and your mate states that he would rather eat early at the Windjammer than eat at the late seating time in the MDR, is that something that would warrant you requesting to have your tips removed. Not our room stewart's tips but the dining staff tips. Or do the tips now include the Windjammer staff?

 

Sharon

[aquanaut1]

More like a den of the opinionated. :D

 

Like

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[storm1of4]

I would like to know if you've prepaid your tips and you were waitlisted for first seating dinner and you voiced that if you had to do anything but first seating dinner and your mate states that he would rather eat early at the Windjammer than eat at the late seating time in the MDR, is that something that would warrant you requesting to have your tips removed. Not our room stewart's tips but the dining staff tips. Or do the tips now include the Windjammer staff?

 

Sharon

 

Oh my........... appears you haven't even read this thread!

[setsail]

Do you have first hand knowledge of this information?

 

 

"Cabin Stewards and the Ethics of Proper Pay

Officers, staff, and crew were required to avail of the cabin steward service. The service seemed like a kind of proving ground for those stewards who wished to serve the passengers. I got to know our cabin steward pretty well. He explained the way they got paid once they moved up to the passenger decks.

 

Each cabin steward was paid a base salary of $50 US a month and was in charge of the cleanliness of 16 cabins. At the end of every voyage, their hope is that the passengers are generous with their tips, or, at the very least abide by the general tipping suggestion of RCCL of $5 per day per person.

 

First of all, is it ethical to rely on the generosity of passengers for the livelihood of the cabin stewards? Secondly, is it right for the company to simply pay a menial base salary to its workers? Finally, incentive pay is essentially tied to steward performance. Are there other, more ethical models available? RCCL can take advantage of workers because there is a plethora of available labour from around the world. If any of these cabin stewards figured that this job was too much or if the company’s labour practices were unfair, they could simply resign from the company, pay for their own flight home, and the company would replace them with someone else. This was one of the advantages of flying a ship flag of convenience from a country other than the United States.

 

Most cabin stewards, and indeed most crew, remitted their earnings back to their home countries where the exchange rate was quite favorable. Many were supporting families, many were putting their children through school, and many earned much more than they would have earned if they had remained in their home countries. As I had mentioned before, there was a significant social cost: the loneliness of ship life, the monotony of the work, the enclosed ship environment, and the availability of other lonely people and a lot of inexpensive alcohol. And, of course, for those who were supporting families, children were growing up without at least one parent around the house."

 

 

From an rci employee. One can google any of this stuff they want to know. Its common knowledge that these jobs have a low base and the majority of their salary is paid out of a shared pool collected from passengers. Even rci's own web site states the tips are shared, the link in one of my post above

Edited July 3, 2013 by setsail

[MikeBayAreaCa]

I use OBC for tips and then we always add a little cash for extra special service, which has been all the time.

 

We have never had anything but the best service on the three cruises we have taken. If we ever have a poor experience then we would adjust the amount we tip.

 

Mike in California

[awhcruiser]

Oh dear.

I would like to know if you've prepaid your tips and you were waitlisted for first seating dinner and you voiced that if you had to do anything but first seating dinner and your mate states that he would rather eat early at the Windjammer than eat at the late seating time in the MDR, is that something that would warrant you requesting to have your tips removed. Not our room stewart's tips but the dining staff tips. Or do the tips now include the Windjammer staff?

 

Sharon

Edited July 3, 2013 by awhcruiser

[awhcruiser]

Very interesting! Thanks for posting this.

"Cabin Stewards and the Ethics of Proper Pay

Officers, staff, and crew were required to avail of the cabin steward service. The service seemed like a kind of proving ground for those stewards who wished to serve the passengers. I got to know our cabin steward pretty well. He explained the way they got paid once they moved up to the passenger decks.

 

Each cabin steward was paid a base salary of $50 US a month and was in charge of the cleanliness of 16 cabins. At the end of every voyage, their hope is that the passengers are generous with their tips, or, at the very least abide by the general tipping suggestion of RCCL of $5 per day per person.

 

First of all, is it ethical to rely on the generosity of passengers for the livelihood of the cabin stewards? Secondly, is it right for the company to simply pay a menial base salary to its workers? Finally, incentive pay is essentially tied to steward performance. Are there other, more ethical models available? RCCL can take advantage of workers because there is a plethora of available labour from around the world. If any of these cabin stewards figured that this job was too much or if the company’s labour practices were unfair, they could simply resign from the company, pay for their own flight home, and the company would replace them with someone else. This was one of the advantages of flying a ship flag of convenience from a country other than the United States.

 

Most cabin stewards, and indeed most crew, remitted their earnings back to their home countries where the exchange rate was quite favorable. Many were supporting families, many were putting their children through school, and many earned much more than they would have earned if they had remained in their home countries. As I had mentioned before, there was a significant social cost: the loneliness of ship life, the monotony of the work, the enclosed ship environment, and the availability of other lonely people and a lot of inexpensive alcohol. And, of course, for those who were supporting families, children were growing up without at least one parent around the house."

 

 

From an rci employee

[storm1of4]

Oh dear.

 

Oh yes.............

I think I am done here lol

[Travel R]

Here's a bit of interesting reading on a website for a firm that represents cruise ship personell on where the pre-paid gratuities may allegedly be going -- http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2013/02/articles/crew-member-rights-1/royal-caribbeans-new-tipping-policy-a-money-grab-to-increase-profits/

Edited July 3, 2013 by Travel R

[Sharon I]

Seriously You think I should sit down and read 20 pages of comments to get a simple answer. Seriously!! A simple answer was all that I was looking for not sarcastic remarks from someone who has already been on this particular subject from the very start. Thanks for the info!!!

 

Sharon

[Ocean Boy]

1) it has nothing to do with trust. when people remove tips supervisors want to know why. for example, lets say room stweward has 4 cabins remove tips. the head steward will want to make sure the steward is doing his job the way he should. also, wouldn't you want to know who removed tips and possibly ask them if there is a problem with service?

 

Pretty simply. When I have the tips removed from my account I will tell the CS rep that I am doing so and will be tipping my staff myself. On the infamous "list" they can put next to my name.... doing things the old fashioned way. Now, no one has to wonder why the tips were removed and no head steward has to track me down to find out what the issue is. And if the service is really bad it will be clearly explained on my comment card leaving no question about what was wrong. Life just isn't as complicated as some folks like to make it out to be.

[ticktoneer]

Seriously You think I should sit down and read 20 pages of comments to get a simple answer. Seriously!! A simple answer was all that I was looking for not sarcastic remarks from someone who has already been on this particular subject from the very start. Thanks for the info!!!

 

Sharon

Hi Sharon. I'll give you a civil answer without judgement or you being patronised. Some people on here are just plain horrible.

 

Yes the gratuities do include all waiting staff - for example you will still eat breakfast and lunch in the WJ and these staff are all waiting staff.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Kind regards & Happy Cruising :-)

[MisterBill99]

If you like the new system, use it.

 

If you like the old one, cancel the auto and tip cash.

 

We all have free will - use it!:eek:

Except you can't if you use anytime dining (or whatever RC calls it, It's Select Dining on Celebrity) as they enforce pre-paid gratuities. And it's not just pre-paid for the dining room staff, it's prepaid for the room stewards as well, so you lose your flexibility there as well.

 

And as they allocate more of the dining room for the anytime dining, more people will be forced into pre-paying gratuities and lose their choice of whether to tip the full amount or not, and I guess that method is having the tips added to your bill.

 

I personally have no problem with the full amount, with the exception of the assistant maitre'd, who I am fairly sure is salaried and rarely does anything worthy of his tip (at least for me). And as someone else said, people like to use their OBC for tips, which works well when they add it to your bill but not when you have to prepay.

 

And to Sharon, no, it would not "warrant you requesting to have your tips removed." I'd be very surprised if you can have pre-paid tips refunded while on the cruise. If you are in that situation (where you cannot get first seating but second is available), take second and waitlist first, or try to get it changed while on the ship. That way you will not have to pre-pay gratuities and can try to get first seating when you board. Of course, you should still somehow provide a tip for the dining staff if you are eating at the WJ.

Edited July 3, 2013 by MisterBill99

[boo214]

I would like to know if you've prepaid your tips and you were waitlisted for first seating dinner and you voiced that if you had to do anything but first seating dinner and your mate states that he would rather eat early at the Windjammer than eat at the late seating time in the MDR, is that something that would warrant you requesting to have your tips removed. Not our room stewart's tips but the dining staff tips. Or do the tips now include the Windjammer staff?

 

Sharon

as was said earlier in this thread (i believe) if you are not going to eat any dinners in the mdr then i suggest you switch to my time dining. under my time dining if you never have dinner in the mdr (not even once) then your dining gratuties will be allocated to the wj and specialty servers.

[Langley Cruisers]

Seriously You think I should sit down and read 20 pages of comments to get a simple answer. Seriously!! A simple answer was all that I was looking for not sarcastic remarks from someone who has already been on this particular subject from the very start. Thanks for the info!!!

 

Umm. Yes. :D

 

 

Oh yes.............

I think I am done here lol

 

LOL - I think we're all done here!

.

[suzyed]

what a load of rubbish,

 

Rubbish? As in, you don't believe it?

or you think the system is not fair?

[ticktoneer]

Seriously You think I should sit down and read 20 pages of comments to get a simple answer. Seriously!! A simple answer was all that I was looking for not sarcastic remarks from someone who has already been on this particular subject from the very start. Thanks for the info!!!

 

Sharon

Ummmm.. . . . No !

 

Hopefully ask the question on here and a polite person might reply rather than a flamer shooting you and your question down.

[Sharon I]

Thank you Ticktoner that's all I wanted to know. I don't want to do my time dining because that starts at six and am used to eating at five so even early seating is a little hard to do.

I appreciate your civil response and my worry was that the tips I paid would go to people other than wait staff. Again I thank you.

 

Sharon

[ticktoneer]

Thank you Ticktoner that's all I wanted to know. I don't want to do my time dining because that starts at six and am used to eating at five so even early seating is a little hard to do.

I appreciate your civil response and my worry was that the tips I paid would go to people other than wait staff. Again I thank you.

 

Sharon

No problem. Happy cruising. Let me know I can be if any further help :-)

[Debde]

I would like to know if you've prepaid your tips and you were waitlisted for first seating dinner and you voiced that if you had to do anything but first seating dinner and your mate states that he would rather eat early at the Windjammer than eat at the late seating time in the MDR, is that something that would warrant you requesting to have your tips removed. Not our room stewart's tips but the dining staff tips. Or do the tips now include the Windjammer staff?

 

Sharon

 

I would. if all your meals are going to be eaten in the WJ, I'd tip those folks. you get to know those folks as well as you do your MDR servers.

Keep in mind-I am the person who has the auto tips removed to tip in cash anyways so of course I'd agree to do that.;) others will lecture me shortly............:eek::)

[Cuizer2]

just salary

 

If you are asking about just salary for a position that receives tips, it is possible that that is correct (it is not correct for positions that do not receive tips) ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=261

 

http://www.cruiselinesjobs.com/wages/

 

Tipping personnel are the staff with direct contact with the guests who pay them "tips". There are specified amounts of tips per particular positions which are advised to guests prior to embarkation and which vary from one cruise line to another. Such personnel are waiters, busboys /assistant waiters, bar waiters/waitresses, bartenders, cocktail waitresses, etc. Tipping personnel have a small base salary. Most of their earnings are tips.

 

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/ot.html

 

In addition to long hours, remuneration is low, by North American standards. According to the ITF, wages for salaried workers who receive no tips “can be as low as US$400 a month, rising to US$700 a month for skilled cooks and security guards.” Those who receive tips have salaries that are even lower. Holland America Line, which employs primarily Filipinos and Indonesians in its hotel department, pays US$300 a month. This salary is higher than the industry norm, given the line's policy of “tipping not required.” 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.

 

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15717

 

Carnival Cruise staff on UK ships are paid $1.20 (75p) an hour or $400 a month in basic wages, according to new documents seen by the Guardian newspaper. These workers lose their tips, which work out to roughly 15 percent of wages, unless they get at least a 92 percent favorable rating from customers.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/apr/29/cruise-firm-performance-bonuses-tips

 

At the bottom end of the scale, a junior waiter on a ship sailing out of Southampton now earns a basic salary of £250 a month, for shifts lasting a minimum of 11 hours, seven days a week, with a possible £150 extra in bonuses. According to documents seen by the Guardian, this is "a significantly increased basic salary".