Why Are There No Threads On Tipping?

[Leo Jay]

Heh. Seriously though, I haven't seen an answer to this particular question. I posed it in a reply on one of the 25,247 other tipping threads, but I don't think it was ever answered, and the question is this:

 

Does anyone know for sure whether tips (particularly the ones posted to the Sign and Sail account) are paid specifically to the staff member(s) assigned to each cabin? Or does Carnival perhaps pool all of this money into a general account which is then distributed among the staff according to some formula (x% to stewards, y% to dining staff, or whatever)?

 

I wonder because I've heard people mention, for example, that they hated their headwaiter and loved their assistant waiter, and that they tipped accordingly but suspected that the assistant ended up splitting his tip with the headwaiter. It makes me wonder whether it is Carnival's policy/expectation that employees share tips according to some established guideline.

[mc'smom]

I really do not have an answer for your except that I assumed the tips went to your servers

 

And you know what happens when you assume something..

 

Hope someone comes along and answers this for your.

[4yanx]

Not sure if this answers your question, but this from the Carnival site (since they have your cabin number and seating, I can only assume that they give the steward tip to the appropriate steward and wait staff):

 

 

 

Guests can pay their shipboard gratuities in one of two ways:

 

1. Reverse Gratuity Policy - For our guests' convenience, we automatically add the recommended gratuities to the onboard Sail & Sign account on embarkation day.

 

Guests will have the discretion to adjust these gratuities based upon the level of service received during the cruise. This includes the option to adjust gratuities (up or down) for any individual on the Dining or Housekeeping staff. In order to do so, the guest will need to visit the Information Desk on board.

 

2. Pre-Paid Gratuity Policy - Gratuities are pre-arranged and paid at the time of booking or any time up to two weeks prior to the sail date.

 

All guests on each booking must prepay the gratuities, with the exception of children under two. The pre-paid gratuities can not be removed once the booking has been ticketed. The guest will not have the option to adjust the gratuities (up or down) based on the level of service received during the cruise.

 

The dollar amount of the gratuities will appear in the Miscellaneous Charge field on the booking. The guest copy on the cruise ticket will indicate if gratuities have been paid.

 

The total amount will be $10 per guest, per day, which breaks down as follows:

 

 

 

• $5.50 pp/pd for Dining Team Service (Headwaiter and Waiter)
  
• $1 pp/pd for Bistro Service (Waiter/Cooks)
  
• $3.50 pp/pd for Cabin Services (Cabin Steward)
  

Tipping the Maitre D' is strictly at guest's discretion, based upon services rendered. For guests who wish to extend this gratuity in cash, an envelope will be available on the last evening of the cruise.

 

Tipping still applies regardless of the dining options selected, such as eating at the casual dining restaurant or utilizing room service.

 

Bar Waiters, Deck Stewards and Bell Boys - Certain personnel, as noted above, may be tipped as service is rendered. A 15% gratuity is automatically added to beverage purchases which the guest may adjust appropriate to the service received.

[4yanx]

In our case (this will be the first time we've gone Carnival), we'll let the pre-paid gratuities stand and personally give particular staff of merit, extra.

[lukegr]

Does anyone know for sure whether tips (particularly the ones posted to the Sign and Sail account) are paid specifically to the staff member(s) assigned to each cabin? Or does Carnival perhaps pool all of this money into a general account which is then distributed among the staff according to some formula (x% to stewards, y% to dining staff, or whatever)?

 

I actually have heard someone say that Carnival does do this.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I actually have heard someone say that Carnival does do this.

 

I know for a fact that this is the method used in the Casino - and, not being sure of the other method, always tip directly w/cash to those that are extra friendly/helpful in addition to the standard tips...

 

Tom

[Leo Jay]

I actually have heard someone say that Carnival does do this.

 

If they do, some might consider that reason enough to remove the auto-tip from the S&S and give a cash tip to whomever waits on you specifically. Maybe I'll email Carnival and see what they say.

[lukegr]

If they do, some might consider that reason enough to remove the auto-tip from the S&S and give a cash tip to whomever waits on you specifically. Maybe I'll email Carnival and see what they say.

 

Good idea, I'm curious as to what they're going to say :o

[BigMember]

I like to think of the cruise as a whole package. The TIPs get billed to my Sign & sail card and I don't have to think about it any further. How the TIPs get disbursed is a Carnival issue.

 

I do know this. If you TIP via your Sign & Sail card, anything you tip extra to a person, that person gets to keep the whole extra TIP.

 

If you don't TIP via your Sign & Sail card (like insisting on TIPing in cash), anything you tip extra to a person gets split amongst the staff.

[BigMember]

I like to think of the cruise as a whole package. The TIPs get billed to my Sign & sail card and I don't have to think about it any further. How the TIPs get disbursed is a Carnival issue.

 

I do know this. If your TIP via your Sign & Sail card, anything you tip extra in cash to a person stays with that person. That is, that person gets to keep the whole extra cash TIP.

 

If you don't TIP via your Sign & Sail card (like insisting on TIPing in cash), anything you tip extra to a person gets split amongst the staff.

[atlcple2]

Last year on the Spirit, we had such a wonderful room steward that we not only gave her the tip that is automatically charged to our sign and sale card, but also left her an additional $40 in the room when we left. We never had to ask for anything. She even picked up and neatly folded our dirty clothes! There is a lengthy thread on the "Princess" cruise critic board about tipping and worth reading. When someone goes above and beyond in service, they deserve more than the automatic tip. Apparently it is done on a regular basis by a lot of people.

[ronrythm]

According to my steward on the Pride last January and confirmed with the pursers' desk later, the only part that is pooled is the bistro (lido deck and grill) staff part of the automatic gratuity on Sign & Sail. The rest of them are designated to the people who actually serve you. That information is part of your folio in the database.

[VentureMan_2000]

That information is part of your folio in the database.

 

????? :confused: :confused:

 

What information is part of your folio in the database? How well you tipped? :eek:

 

No worry on my part. I tip well above the S&S card.

[Leo Jay]

I like to think of the cruise as a whole package. The TIPs get billed to my Sign & sail card and I don't have to think about it any further. How the TIPs get disbursed is a Carnival issue.

 

I do know this. If you TIP via your Sign & Sail card, anything you tip extra to a person, that person gets to keep the whole extra TIP.

 

If you don't TIP via your Sign & Sail card (like insisting on TIPing in cash), anything you tip extra to a person gets split amongst the staff.

 

You mean if I give a $20 to my waiter, he checks with the purser to see if I have auto-tipping on my S&S, and if so, he keeps the $20, and if I don't he divvies it up among the other waiters? Hard to imagine.

[silentbob007]

I think what is meant is that cash is divided up, but tipping on the card goes directly to the person serving you. I have heard this from a server, as well.

[BigMember]

You mean if I give a $20 to my waiter, he checks with the purser to see if I have auto-tipping on my S&S, and if so, he keeps the $20, and if I don't he divvies it up among the other waiters? Hard to imagine.

 

No. What I meant is nearly what Leo Jay paraphrased me as saying.

 

Say I go to the purser and insist that he take my tipping off the S&S card, so that I can tip each person in cash. And I tip everyone. And I tip my waiter an extra $20. Each of these people has to turn in ALL of the tips they received from me in cash... including the extra $20... and it will be divided among all the folks they work with.

 

Leave the recommended tip on your S&S card, and the waiter will get to keep the whole extra $20 cash to himself.

 

Same for your room steward, etc.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

No. What I meant is nearly what Leo Jay paraphrased me as saying.

 

Say I go to the purser and insist that he take my tipping off the S&S card, so that I can tip each person in cash. And I tip everyone. And I tip my waiter an extra $20. Each of these people has to turn in ALL of the tips they received from me in cash... including the extra $20... and it will be divided among all the folks they work with.

 

Leave the recommended tip on your S&S card, and the waiter will get to keep the whole extra $20 cash to himself.

 

Same for your room steward, etc.

 

I would bet that many (most?) CASH tips are not reported... regardless of the S&S tips issue. Though I am sure CCL does have some of the crew scared to death if they don't (big brother = CCL...lol)

 

If I take the S&S tips off, that is because I do not wish to tip that individual. If I am going to tip extra - then that is above and beyond S&S tips...

 

Tom

[BigMember]

I would bet that many (most?) CASH tips are not reported... regardless of the S&S tips issue. Though I am sure CCL does have some of the crew scared to death if they don't (big brother = CCL...lol)

 

If I take the S&S tips off, that is because I do not wish to tip that individual. If I am going to tip extra - then that is above and beyond S&S tips...

 

Tom

 

I heard from a Dickenson interview that only 1%-2% insist that the S&S tip be taken off so that they can tip in cash. Only half of these folk will actually tip at all.

 

I'm not talking about being ticked at service and reducing your S&S tip, I'm talking plain old cheap scates here.

 

Best bet... just leave the TIP on your S&S card and have fun on your cruise. Don't worry about the tip after that, or if you should tip additional. Just have fun. Not a big deal.

 

Have a problem with service, see the purser, matre'd, captain, etc. I guarentee they will make you happy and rectify the poor service.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I heard from a Dickenson interview that only 1%-2% insist that the S&S tip be taken off so that they can tip in cash. Only half of these folk will actually tip at all.

 

I'm not talking about being ticked at service and reducing your S&S tip, I'm talking plain old cheap scates here.

 

Best bet... just leave the TIP on your S&S card and have fun on your cruise. Don't worry about the tip after that, or if you should tip additional. Just have fun. Not a big deal.

 

Have a problem with service, see the purser, matre'd, captain, etc. I guarentee they will make you happy and rectify the poor service.

 

at least they will TRY... (I hope!)... lol

 

Tom

[Leo Jay]

Ok, this thread is just about making sure that if I want to give Jimmy $20, Jimmy gets his $20. Now if Carnival makes Jimmy give part of it to other people, it seems to me they ought to publish that prominently somewhere, or they're arguably defrauding their passengers... ok, maybe defrauding is a bit of a stretch. But I think it's reasonable to let a passenger know that money he thinks he's giving to one staffer is in fact being divided among others that the passenger may not want to reward. It's not reasonable to expect that passengers would know that's the way it's done -- I certainly have never heard of such a thing before.

 

And even if I CAN give Jimmy his $20 via S&S, that's pretty impersonal. Anyway, perhaps it doesn't make sense to discuss this further until I hear from Carnival.

[BigMember]

If you want to give Jimmy $20 and make sure only Jimmy gets it, just leave the suggested per person tip that Carnival places on your S&S card. Don't remove it. Don't add to it either.

 

Then just give Jimmy his $20 cash tip, in person. And anyone else you want to.

 

Don't forget, all drinks, cocktails, beers, etc. already have a 15% tip added to them. No need to tip further.

[taillon]

We just got back from the Elation...I loved our waitstaff!! Although both were great, the assistant was really wonderful! I tried to ask him about if they have to pool cash tips but we hit a language barrier! LOL So I went to the purser and asked about increasing the tip for dining room people and he informed me that whatever I increased it to would be distributed between the head waiter and the assistant 60/40 or if I wanted I could just grab an envelope and put our cabin number on it and the assistant waiters name. We did so and handed it to him. I surely hope he gets to keep all of it.:confused:

[Leo Jay]

OK, I got a Carnival rep on the phone who called Carnival's Customer Service office and was told that the official policy is that staff are not permitted to accept cash tips directly from the passengers, and that if a passenger wishes to tip a particular staffer, he/she is to leave the cash at the purser's desk in an envelope with the staffer's name...

 

Now, just as she's finished telling me this, the rep says "wait, my supervisor's asking me where I heard this..." [consulation, followed by] "oh well, my supervisor's telling me that on HER last cruise, she tipped everyone cash, and they all accepted it [duh, of COURSE they did], so that must not be the policy [sure, people bring alcohol on board, so obviously, there's no rule against that either]. She said I should forget what customer service told me...

 

I think I'll give 'em the cash and hope for the best.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I think I'll give 'em the cash and hope for the best.

 

ahhhh C A S H the UNIVERSAL "currency"...lol :D

 

Tom

[Lori777]

I ask the purser's desk to take my tips off my S&S card, I would rather hand the tips to the workers myself.