Sorry ! Tipping Query....

[Ifoundmydream]

If the cruise lines collect it, it goes thru their books. Problem is that cruise lines do not pay US taxes but, according to statements made today in US Senate, that may soon be changing. Paying in advance actually hurts the staff, since the tip now ends up in salary which is taxed.

 

Good point.

[Giorgi-one]

No, No blame.............I am just following the customs and expectations of the cruise industry. Not going to waste any of my precious vacation...I will tip what is asked and life goes on.......without my thinking about tips...because they are paid...:)

 

Then why are you tipping less if you were not just looking for an excuse to tip less. It would not take any more of your precious vacation to put some money in an envelope than it did before tips were added. In fact, it will take less time, since you will be putting less in each envelope. The Cruise Line has actually reduced the amount of your precious vacation to be used to worrying about tips so why penalize the cruise staff.

[Ifoundmydream]

Omg, I haven't even gone on RCCI yet. At present I have tips removed. But that could change 1000 times before next month.

[Giorgi-one]

No. He's following the guidelines set by the cruise line. I do business with the cruise line and I pay what they tell me to pay. I don't take my car into the shop and then spend time wondering if they are paying the person who cleans the garage enough. I don't fret over how much the mechanic who does the work is getting paid. I do business with the shop. The management (owner, whomever) sets the fee for the work, and if I am amenable to it, we do business. How he pays his staff is up to him. I would imagine if they didn't find it acceptable, they would make it their own issue, not mine.

 

RCI has said "here's how much to tip, and we will automatically charge it". And I say "Great! I'm going to enjoy my cruise!". How hard is that to understand????

 

The question remains - Why did you decide to tip less and penalize the staff because the cruise line added tips to reduce the number of people who used to stiff the cruise staff. You have now, in a way, joined the stuffers!

 

Make that Stiffers!

[pfm18]

On my recent cruise I had the auto gratuities removed, and then paid, in cash, my stateroom attendant, waiters etc

 

 

I paid the recommended values plus a bit extra for Roland who was our fantastic room attendant.

 

 

Any idea what effect this move will have?

[JohnSnowGOT]

Then why are you tipping less if you were not just looking for an excuse to tip less. It would not take any more of your precious vacation to put some money in an envelope than it did before tips were added. In fact, it will take less time, since you will be putting less in each envelope. The Cruise Line has actually reduced the amount of your precious vacation to be used to worrying about tips so why penalize the cruise staff.

 

 

 

Whoa!!

WOW! Now I know how those others feel when they are being brow beat on this thread.....What I tip and why is my business and the business of the person who is in receipt of my tips. If you have any right for concern...and it is debatable that you do...Please be satisfied that I am following RCI tipping policy.

Have yourself a great day my friend:)

[Giorgi-one]

Whoa!!

WOW! Now I know how those others feel when they are being brow beat on this thread.....What I tip and why is my business and the business of the person who is in receipt of my tips. If you have any right for concern...and it is debatable that you do...Please be satisfied that I am following RCI tipping policy.

Have yourself a great day my friend:)

 

Just asking a simple question. Why would anyone decide to tip less because the cruise lines now treat minimum tips as a service charge the way they do in many other countries in this world? Not trying to brow beat but no one has answered the question other than to give some mumbo jumbo about their precious vacation time. If you previously used envelopes and tipped more than the minimum suggested by RCI, then why would you not use the envelopes to tip the difference. If you really want to punish RCI, you should cruise with another cruise line. Oh, I forgot, they all add tips to your account. Note that they don't add tips on most land vacations which might be a better choice to avoid tips being added to your bill. But then, of course, one would have to spend more of their precious vacation deciding on who and how much to tip. Maybe it's just better to stay home?

[Giorgi-one]

On my recent cruise I had the auto gratuities removed, and then paid, in cash, my stateroom attendant, waiters etc

 

 

I paid the recommended values plus a bit extra for Roland who was our fantastic room attendant.

 

 

Any idea what effect this move will have?

 

If appears that this might be advantageous from the staff standpoint. However, I remember reading somewhere where the staff was not allowed to keep tips from passengers who had them removed. Not sure how they could enforce this. Maybe someone else on the boards knows more about this policy or maybe a staff member can comment on this.

[awhcruiser]

Like. Can afford the cruise but want to stiff the staff. Amazing..

It is quite simplistic; those, who use their culture as a reason for not tipping are just looking for an excuse to stiff the staff. By the way, the culture in the U.S.A., is to drive on the right side of the road.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I bet the original poster never thought they'd see over 200 responses on this topic. :D

[Paul65]

Thanks.

Have to say that leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I'm naive but just seems like they're enforcing a wages lottery on their employees and withholding this information from the guests.

I will know for next time, although what's to say, they actually distribute the statutory tips as they say they do? As by that logic the 15% service charge added on in the bars would be going to the barman and not the house.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by a "wages lottery." They have long published guidelines of appropriate gratuities, but some people didn't feel compelled to pay those, so they instituted an automatic charge. Still, some people either think they know better how to distribute the gratuities or just still insist on not paying them, so they remove the daily charge and do something different.

 

I understand not liking the model that the cruise line uses, but I don't really understand why some are so adamant about refusing to follow it.

 

It's not a lottery. It's a system that works just fine, as long as there aren't too many people trying to work around it. The staff is paid adequately from the $12/day automatic charge, and you can still reward staff with extra, if you want to recognize outstanding service. It's easy, if you don't over-think it.

[Paul65]

I bet the original poster never thought they'd see over 200 responses on this topic. :D

 

Since he mentioned in his opening post that this question came after "Having now read various threads" on the topic, I suspect he is not at all surprised at the number of responses. ;)

[Thetrail]

:)

First time anyone called me eloquent. Can't wait to tell my wife!

He He....;):)....That's funny!

[pfm18]

If appears that this might be advantageous from the staff standpoint. However, I remember reading somewhere where the staff was not allowed to keep tips from passengers who had them removed. Not sure how they could enforce this. Maybe someone else on the boards knows more about this policy or maybe a staff member can comment on this.

 

It was probably a rookie mistake to be honest(First time cruising as an adult), next time I'm probably just going to prepay the tips and maybe tip an extra 20 bucks if the room attendant is really good again.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Since he mentioned in his opening post that this question came after "Having now read various threads" on the topic, I suspect he is not at all surprised at the number of responses. ;)

I respectfully disagree.

 

People either choose to tip or they don't. Most of the posts reflect one of those personal preferences...as well as debate to justify one of those positions.

 

It comes down to one view or the other. So the original poster likely doesn't need 200 posts to make up their mind one way or the other.

[Thetrail]

Minimum amount ? No. surely the minimum amount is 0?

 

I'm afraid I agree with macruisefan. Its a sad day when cruise lines get to dictate how much we tip. tipping is such a personal thing in my opinion and something that should be given AFTER good service, not in advance of good service.

"0" would be stiffing the crew, not the minimum amount. As I see it just another poor excuse not to tip. If the minimum amount that RCL sets forth annoys someone sounds like cheap to me and another poor excuse to NOT tip. Not trying to offend anyone it's how I interpret those type of comments.:rolleyes:

[Thetrail]

Royal Caribbean states that gratuities go to Dining Staff, Stateroom Attendants and Other Housekeeping personnel. Just wonder how one would tip the Other Housekeeping Personnel and people who work in the buffet.

Bingo!

[Cruising89143]

Just so you and others know, you need to notify the moderators for them to close a thread. They do not and cannot read every single thread here, as there are thousands. Click on the red triangle of the offending post and make your concern known to them. This sends an e-mail to them and they read the offensive comment and make their decision from that.

 

.

 

But you can bet that they're reading this one! :D it's a tipping thread!:)

[Paul65]

I respectfully disagree.

 

People either choose to tip or they don't. Most of the posts reflect one of those personal preferences...as well as debate to justify one of those positions.

 

It comes down to one view or the other. So the original poster likely doesn't need 200 posts to make up their mind one way or the other.

 

I didn't say anything about needing 200 posts. I said that if he's read several threads about tipping already, he probably wasn't surprised at the number of posts.

[macruisefan]

The question remains - Why did you decide to tip less and penalize the staff because the cruise line added tips to reduce the number of people who used to stiff the cruise staff. You have now, in a way, joined the stuffers!

 

Make that Stiffers!

 

It's clear that you're just looking for an angle to make trouble.

 

I could care less HOW the staff is paid. I could care less WHAT the staff is paid. I'm not interested in making friends with them, and I don't really care what they do in their free time. I know this might sound cold to some people. But in my defense, I don't give a lot of thought to how random employees of random companies I interact with land side are treated either.

 

BEFORE they automatically included tips, there was a suggested amount (so many dollars and cents per day for this person, so many dollars and cents per day for that person, etc...) Then you stuff the envelopes and hand these envelopes out. Some people enjoy this, and I say more power to them. Me personally, I could care less. Do your job, get paid, call it a day.

 

When that was the case, I would want to make sure I wasn't stiffing them, so the easiest thing to do was estimate and then round up. As such, I overpaid. I didn't do it out of some sense of obligation. Nor did I do it to feel superior and to other cruisers as I suspect you must based on the tone you take here. I did it because it was fast, easy, and basically balanced out how little I cared about the process, while still respecting the suggested standard. I figured, "hey, nobody's going to fault me for leaving a little more!".

 

Now, I don't have to deal with any of that. I just let them charge what they say is appropriate and I go on my merry way.

 

Now, you can make snarky comments, as you did in the 150 CP thread about stuffing envelopes taking "all day" if you want. Or you can continue to put up points of argument about tipping in a specialty restaurant somehow meaning I think they deserve it more than the MDR staff, but that's all nonsense. I will tip extra when I'm presented with a chit to sign. Why? Because that requires no extra effort on my part.

 

It's not that I'm trying to be cheap or cut corners. It's simply that you can hold a gun to my head and scream all you want. But you still can't make me care one bit how much these staffers earn, or how they get their money. As long as they do their job, and I do what is expected, everyone is good.

 

Everyone except you of course, because you just can't seem to let this go.

[NeoVega]

It's not a bad attitude. It's accepting what the cruise line has established. Once they said they would automatically add gratuities (or even have them prepaid), I washed my hands of it. They have declared what the acceptable amount is, great! If they want me to tip more, just charge me more and I'll do it. But, if they have legislated a said amount, I'm going to enjoy the fact that I don't need to waste time thinking about it.

 

I totally agree with this. If I were responsible for tipping directly, I might round up and pay a bit more. But that amount might look like an insult if offered separately.

 

I might be willing to pay a total of $13 or $14 per day if I were tipping directly, but if I were to take that incremental $1 or $2 per day and divide it up among the staff, it would be a such small amount, I would be afraid to offer it because it would seem like an insult.

 

So I wash my hands of paying other than the $12 per day required as well. Incidentally, when I first booked my cruise, last fall the amount was only $11 per day.

[Newtoncruise]

I've decided too!

 

I'm with macruisefan. He seems to have summed it up brilliantly.....$12 a day it is then........what is required and requested.........Not a penny less.......

 

Unless I get crappy service from some quarter...........

[mm1251]

However, if someone WANTS to tip more, I certainly have no problem with that. But like I said, they have broken me. All this nonsense has gotten me to the point I just can't care. I'll pay the automatic tips and wash my hands of it.

 

Me too. And you know what? I kind of feel liberated at this point. Just charge me what you think is right and move on. No guilt here. No worries.

[Jetdriver787]

I bet the original poster never thought they'd see over 200 responses on this topic.

 

Oh, I think they did! :rolleyes: hahaha! The arsonist is often found in the crowd that gathers to watch the flames rise. You don't have to wander far into this thread to see evidence of that.;)