WOW ! Up To 400 People Remove Gratuities

[Debde]

But what happens in a case where you give cash directly to someone at WJ? Are they supposed to put it in a pool for the other employees? What about when the server gets a tip, either in cash or when it gets automatically added to the bill? Aren't they supposed to share part of it with the other staff?

 

BTW, if you end up with a seating at a normal dining and do not ever eat there, you end up hurting the server whose table you've been assigned to, because those are seats they're not going to get the tips from. But if you choose to switch to anytime dining, you have to pre-pay the tips, which means that anything you give to WJ employees is extra.

 

There is No pool. You get to know your WJ server the same as you do your MDR server if you eat each night in the WJ. I tip that person the same I would my MDR server. This covers any other meal I eat in the jammer too!

 

If you are not eating in the MDR, proper thing to do is release the table for those who are on the wait-list. Royal has the chance to fill it then. I should not have to tip in a place I don't eat and worry about a system that is outdated. If a table is empty in a specialty restaurant, do you feel the need to run in and give that person money because they are not working at the time???

Royal needs to put a place to check off that says No MDR eating at all!! For those of us who do not want a spot in the MDR at all. I don't like it for dinner, breakfast or lunch so let me opt out of the place.

[Ocean Boy]

But what happens in a case where you give cash directly to someone at WJ? Are they supposed to put it in a pool for the other employees? What about when the server gets a tip, either in cash or when it gets automatically added to the bill? Aren't they supposed to share part of it with the other staff?

 

BTW, if you end up with a seating at a normal dining and do not ever eat there, you end up hurting the server whose table you've been assigned to, because those are seats they're not going to get the tips from. But if you choose to switch to anytime dining, you have to pre-pay the tips, which means that anything you give to WJ employees is extra.

 

As to you first paragraph I don't see where any of that is any of my business. That is between the employee and the employer. As to your second paragraph....

 

In the real world, with the exception of people who punch a clock and are paid by the hour, in many cases if there is no work then there is no income. It doesn't matter if we are talking a restaurant with empty tables, an electrician with no calls, a plumber with no leaking pipe to fix, or a TV repaiman waiting for my TV to break so that he can fix it. Do you sent these people a payment because they made themselves available just in case you had a problem? With options for where to eat on the ships there is a risk that a waiter may have empty seats for that particular week. It also means that some other waiter is going to have a full seat for that same week.

 

If you walk into a restaurant and sit at the bar and have a drink and a sandwich do you then on your way out walk through the dining room and find some server who you never set eyes on before and give them a tip because you didn't sit at his/her table? In many circumstances there is no guarantee of work or income. It is a risk that you take when you take certain positions. This doesn't seem like such a foreign concept to me.

[MisterBill99]

If you walk into a restaurant and sit at the bar and have a drink and a sandwich do you then on your way out walk through the dining room and find some server who you never set eyes on before and give them a tip because you didn't sit at his/her table? In many circumstances there is no guarantee of work or income. It is a risk that you take when you take certain positions. This doesn't seem like such a foreign concept to me.

Poor analogy. If I had a reservation for a busy restaurants and didn't show up, and the restaurant held the table all night (or all week, in this case if I was assigned to a table and never showed up) and they didn't have someone else sit there, then that server would be missing out on tips for those seats.

 

Now, if the seats would be empty otherwise, then it doesn't make much difference. But if the seating is wait-listed, then it's wrong to not show up.

[MisterBill99]

There is No pool. You get to know your WJ server the same as you do your MDR server if you eat each night in the WJ. I tip that person the same I would my MDR server. This covers any other meal I eat in the jammer too!

 

Royal needs to put a place to check off that says No MDR eating at all!! For those of us who do not want a spot in the MDR at all. I don't like it for dinner, breakfast or lunch so let me opt out of the place.

There has to be some sort of a pool, since I thought that part of the pre-paid or automatically charged gratuities were for other dining room staff and clearly if you're in anytime dining there is a pool (or do they figure out who your server was each night and allocate your tip for that day to them?).

 

Personally, I can't imagine eating at the WJ for all of my meals and not going to the MDR (or some specialty place) for dinner, but that's just me.

Edited July 4, 2013 by MisterBill99

[Ocean Boy]

There has to be some sort of a pool, since I thought that part of the pre-paid or automatically charged gratuities were for other dining room staff and clearly if you're in anytime dining there is a pool (or do they figure out who your server was each night and allocate your tip for that day to them?).

 

Personally, I can't imagine eating at the WJ for all of my meals and not going to the MDR (or some specialty place) for dinner, but that's just me.

 

Right, it is just you. Some of us do exactly that.

[Ocean Boy]

Poor analogy. If I had a reservation for a busy restaurants and didn't show up, and the restaurant held the table all night (or all week, in this case if I was assigned to a table and never showed up) and they didn't have someone else sit there, then that server would be missing out on tips for those seats.

 

Now, if the seats would be empty otherwise, then it doesn't make much difference. But if the seating is wait-listed, then it's wrong to not show up.

 

Everyone on the ship gets a seat in the MDR for dinner. Is anyone turned away from the MDR because it is full? I've never heard of it. Maybe they don't get the seating of their choice but everyone gets a seat.

[Charles4515]

There is No pool.

 

There is a pool. Royal Caribbean says the gratuities are shared. Your repeated saying that there is not one does not change the reality. The following is on their web site and I have the link below it. Note that it says shared......

 

 

"Gratuities

 

 

Q: How does my gratuity help the crew and who does it go to?

 

A: Our guests' complete satisfaction is the goal of every crew and staff member onboard. The gratuity is shared between the crew members who serve guests throughout their vacation.

 

Guest gratuities go to the following crew and staff members:

 

Dining Services

Stateroom Attendant

Other Housekeeping Personnel"

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5523&faqSubjectId=415&faqType=faq

Edited July 4, 2013 by Charles4515

[mommabean]

There is a pool. Royal Caribbean says the gratuities are shared. Your repeated saying that there is not one does not change the reality. The following is on their web site and I have the link below it. Note that it says shared......

 

 

"Gratuities

 

 

Q: How does my gratuity help the crew and who does it go to?

 

A: Our guests' complete satisfaction is the goal of every crew and staff member onboard. The gratuity is shared between the crew members who serve guests throughout their vacation.

 

Guest gratuities go to the following crew and staff members:

 

Dining Services

Stateroom Attendant

Other Housekeeping Personnel"

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5523&faqSubjectId=415&faqType=faq

 

You don't understand the meaning of shared. YOUR gratuity is shared among the people who direct serve you and they state exactly how it will be divided or "shared". That is not a pool.

[Charles4515]

You don't understand the meaning of shared. YOUR gratuity is shared among the people who direct serve you and they state exactly how it will be divided or "shared". That is not a pool.

 

You are the one who does not understand the meaning of shared. It says it is divided among crew who serve guests. It does not say divided among people who serve me. You are in denial..... but what is described is pooled gratuities.

[awhcruiser]

Like..Sounds like kids who won't play because they don't get their way....

Everyone on the ship gets a seat in the MDR for dinner. Is anyone turned away from the MDR because it is full? I've never heard of it. Maybe they don't get the seating of their choice but everyone gets a seat.

[setsail]

"How are the tips divvied up?

 

The tips generally go to these crew members: Your main dining room waiter and assistant waiter, as well as your cabin steward and/or his or her assistant. Typically a smaller amount is also suggested for the head waiter and sometimes a token for the maître'd of the main dining room if you received extra assistance in some way. The captain and other professional officers do not get tips. That'd be like tipping your doctor.

If you go along with the automatic tipping scheme, the $10- to $12-per-day fee will be added to your onboard account and then distributed to the tip pools for waitstaff and cabin stewards. This pooling system works well, for instance, if you did not eat in the main dining room often or at all and didn't have the same waiters night after night. In lieu of knowing which waiters to tip, your tips will go to all of the waitstaff."

Edited July 5, 2013 by setsail

[boo214]

There is No pool. You get to know your WJ server the same as you do your MDR server if you eat each night in the WJ. I tip that person the same I would my MDR server. This covers any other meal I eat in the jammer too!

 

If you are not eating in the MDR, proper thing to do is release the table for those who are on the wait-list. Royal has the chance to fill it then. I should not have to tip in a place I don't eat and worry about a system that is outdated. If a table is empty in a specialty restaurant, do you feel the need to run in and give that person money because they are not working at the time???

Royal needs to put a place to check off that says No MDR eating at all!! For those of us who do not want a spot in the MDR at all. I don't like it for dinner, breakfast or lunch so let me opt out of the place.

 

there is kind of an opt out option. my time dining. if you choose my time dining and do not eat any dinners in the mdr (not even one) then the dining portion of your gratuties will be allocated to the wj and specialty servers.

[Debde]

[/color]

 

there is kind of an opt out option. my time dining. if you choose my time dining and do not eat any dinners in the mdr (not even one) then the dining portion of your gratuties will be allocated to the wj and specialty servers.

 

MTD is in the MDR. It is not an opt out from the MDR. I dislike the MDR. I don't want part of my tips going to the Jammer if I'm eating all my meals in the Jammer!!

[mommabean]

You are the one who does not understand the meaning of shared. It says it is divided among crew who serve guests. It does not say divided among people who serve me. You are in denial..... but what is described is pooled gratuities.

 

The meaning of pool here if you read all the posts - people think everyone shares equally even if you gives te to your own. Some claim cash has to be turned in. It does NOT! They keep exactly what you give them based on their service to YOU. RCI tells you exactly how much of the auto gratuities goes to each person and that is what they are getting. Because crew has expressed that this is how it is happening, I am confident that what I pay is going to my own service personnel. And yes a portion goes to "others" as RCI says and they say exactly how much, it isn't pooled then divided equally among all based on how many tip. My tips go to MY own people.

[setsail]

""Three Tipping Tips:

1) Every drink you buy already has a service charge added to the price. There will be a space for you to leave an "optional gratuity" on the ticket. Why tip twice?

2) All money given to any staff member is supposed to be pooled. So if you really want to tip a specific person, you should hand them cash, and do it very discretely. There are cameras all over the ship, except in your stateroom.

3) Be careful of crewmembers who try to play on your emotions. I have heard stories of people "adopting" their room stewardess because she misses her family but she must stay on the ship to send money home."

[Makaylee]

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.

 

If you chose MTD you can not adjust your tips? What if you happen to have really poor service? I know that's few and far between, but what if? And before anyone flames me I have been on 5 cruises and I have never tipped under the recommended. I have always liked knowing that I had that option though.

[steveru621]

The way I understand it shared gratuities are pooled among employees that don't directly receive gratuities . I don't know what the percentage is, but a cabin attendant contributes say 25% of what you give them to this pool. They keep the remainder. A suite attendant should make more in gratuities, than an inside attendant.

 

Cabin attendants do not put all of their gratuities into one bucket and then split the bucket evenly. The same process applies to waiters. Pools are for non-gratuity employees. The way some posters have described the process is not completely correct. If one cabin attendant gets $1,000 in gratuities and another gets only $500, they are not added together and split at $750!

 

Am I missing something?:confused:

 

Enjoy your future cruises.

[PLEIKU68]

After 22 pages of replies I think this horse is dead. Let's move on to another subject. How about hats in the MDR and the reason that people wear them backwards.:eek::eek:

[MisterBill99]

Everyone on the ship gets a seat in the MDR for dinner. Is anyone turned away from the MDR because it is full? I've never heard of it. Maybe they don't get the seating of their choice but everyone gets a seat.

How about people who get bumped to My Time Dining because both early and late seatings are full? And then of course they have to pre-pay their gratuities.

 

And people wear their hats backwards in the MDR to show that they're cooler than you are. But I've learned from this thread that the really cool people don't even eat in the MDR.

Edited July 5, 2013 by MisterBill99

[Doug R.]

How about people who get bumped to My Time Dining because both early and late seatings are full? And then of course they have to pre-pay their gratuities.

 

And people wear their hats backwards in the MDR to show that they're cooler than you are. But I've learned from this thread that the really cool people don't even eat in the MDR.

 

People over 25 who wear their ball caps backwards and are not playing catcher in a baseball or softball game are fashion victims who have not realized that wearing the hat like that is so last decade. :D Now apparently the cool way to wear a ball cap is to leave the labels and hologram stickers on and not bend the brim. :rolleyes: Each generation comes up with a new fashion abomination in addition to recycling some past fashion horrors! :D

[PLEIKU68]

People over 25 who wear their ball caps backwards and are not playing catcher in a baseball or softball game are fashion victims who have not realized that wearing the hat like that is so last decade. :D Now apparently the cool way to wear a ball cap is to leave the labels and hologram stickers on and not bend the brim. :rolleyes: Each generation comes up with a new fashion abomination in addition to recycling some past fashion horrors! :D

 

 

People who wear ball caps to the MDR, plain and simple have no manners or respect for themselves or others. Oh, I forgot ....the Entitled Generation.:rolleyes:

[aquanaut1]

I hate those baseball hats as much as women wearing women beenies on a baking hot summer day ..

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[aquanaut1]

I hate those baseball hats as much as women wearing women beenies on a baking hot summer day ..

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Woollen beanies that should read !!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[awhcruiser]

I agree..This should have been closed after the first post!

After 22 pages of replies I think this horse is dead. Let's move on to another subject. How about hats in the MDR and the reason that people wear them backwards.:eek::eek:

[awhcruiser]

Yup..They should know better..Same as people who insist on wearing shorts and t-shirts to dinner.

People who wear ball caps to the MDR, plain and simple have no manners or respect for themselves or others. Oh, I forgot ....the Entitled Generation.:rolleyes: