Diamond Drink Vouchers-Tipping

[orville99]

So we all agree (Well, almost all agree) that we still tip when using the vouchers regardless if the cruise line is kicking in or not. :D

 

 

Always have, always will. First job was tending bar and always tip those who used to be me :) People who only see the front of the house have no idea how hard bartenders work in the back of the house.

 

 

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[cruzincurt]

On our Freedom cruise two weeks ago, I took a sleeve of 50 $1 bills.

 

Either in the CL, the DL or any other bar, we slipped or left $1 per "complementary" drink; soda or booze. I saw many others doing the same in the bars around the ship during Diamond cocktail time.

 

I think the vouchers are great, now we can get drinks in the casino or elsewhere. Also, there was no restriction on taking drinks out of the DL.

[lud016]

Fortunately, I really don't care what everyone else believes - or doesn't. I have no reason to believe that a bartender would tell me that they were getting the tips, if in fact they were not. On what planet would it be in the bartender's best interest to lie to a customer in order to avoid getting a tip?:confused:

 

Yes, I agree - I believe there are tips included in vouchers.

 

Recently I was on a celebrity cruise and vouchers were provided for free drinks due to overflow in the Captains Club Lounge. We could use the vouchers in many lounges during irestricted hours. One of the bartenders told us how the bartenders all liked to serve the elite members with these free drink vouchers - it seems they received $1 for every voucher they collected.

So yes, tips are included and if a passenger chooses to not give extra they should not be looked upon as being mean crown and anchor members!

[orville99]

Oh yes, noted and agreed. Just confused at this point. ;) Merion_Mom is a few points away from Pinnacle and I believe she, if anyone, would know "the system" and how things work. So I remain, truly yours and still confused.. :D

 

 

 

.

 

 

The voucher system just went fleetwide in September, so I sincerely doubt someone at Pinnacle has any more insight on how it works than anyone else. In your other post you posited why someone would even ask the bartender. Simple, as a former bartender, I am always concerned when I her about people stiffing the staff,and wanted to make sure that the barenders were being kept whole. I only asked the question after I had to convince the bartender to give me the receipt so I could add the $1 I always tip/drink. He was honestly surprised that I asked and that's when he told me they were getting the normal tip even though I wasn't charged.

 

As for what happens in the DL or CL, don't know...we never went in. Much better being out and about than cooped up in a tiny little room.

 

 

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[Big_G]

I'm not sure if they get tipped off the vouchers or not but it seemed odd to me that almost every bar we went into we were almost recruited to come back to use our vouchers. Believe me, it's not my charming personality or stellar good looks :rolleyes: and it's not far fetched that they could get something for every swipe. We've been told by other bartenders that they are tipped off the beverage package by the number of swipes. Who knows for sure? We tip on the vouchers anyway.

[Merion_Mom]

Yes, I agree - I believe there are tips included in vouchers.

 

Recently I was on a celebrity cruise and vouchers were provided for free drinks due to overflow in the Captains Club Lounge. We could use the vouchers in many lounges during irestricted hours. One of the bartenders told us how the bartenders all liked to serve the elite members with these free drink vouchers - it seems they received $1 for every voucher they collected.

So yes, tips are included and if a passenger chooses to not give extra they should not be looked upon as being mean crown and anchor members!

 

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are not twins. Many policies and practices differ. I do not believe that it is even slightly valid to infer that one line's tipping situation is equal to the other's.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Merion_Mom

[Merion_Mom]

I'm not sure if they get tipped off the vouchers or not but it seemed odd to me that almost every bar we went into we were almost recruited to come back to use our vouchers. Believe me, it's not my charming personality or stellar good looks :rolleyes: and it's not far fetched that they could get something for every swipe. We've been told by other bartenders that they are tipped off the beverage package by the number of swipes. Who knows for sure? We tip on the vouchers anyway.

 

Royal Caribbean collects the gratuity on the packages from the customer at the time of purchase.

 

No such collection occurs on the vouchers.

 

Does anyone REALLY believe that RC has suddenly grown a heart in this regard, and is picking up the gratuities in lieu of the passengers doing so?!?!??!?!? :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Merion_Mom]

The voucher system just went fleetwide in September, so I sincerely doubt someone at Pinnacle has any more insight on how it works than anyone else. In your other post you posited why someone would even ask the bartender. Simple, as a former bartender, I am always concerned when I her about people stiffing the staff,and wanted to make sure that the barenders were being kept whole. I only asked the question after I had to convince the bartender to give me the receipt so I could add the $1 I always tip/drink. He was honestly surprised that I asked and that's when he told me they were getting the normal tip even though I wasn't charged.

 

As for what happens in the DL or CL, don't know...we never went in. Much better being out and about than cooped up in a tiny little room.

 

 

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I appreciate Karen coming to my "defense", as it were, trying to explain the strength of my opinion or experience.

 

You are right about the vouchers being new. (mostly since this spring). But I have been on more than a dozen cruises since they were introduced. :)

[LoveyHowell]

 

No such collection occurs on the vouchers.

 

 

It sounds like you have a lot of experience with these vouchers; what is the source of your information? A credit per swipe system makes a lot of sense to me actually. I'm now curious which is fact and which is fiction.

[critterchick]

We are just off Serenade and did not have to sign anything for the voucher drinks, although the bartender did swipe our Seapasses. We didn't ask the bartender whether he got anything from RCI - we tipped a dollar a drink the same as we do in the CL or DL and that seemed to make him very happy. We were happy, too, so it was all good.

[GUT2407]

Boy oh Boy just what we need another tipping thread and this one what's 15% of 0.

[Merion_Mom]

Royal Caribbean collects the gratuity on the packages from the customer at the time of purchase.

 

No such collection occurs on the vouchers.

 

Does anyone REALLY believe that RC has suddenly grown a heart in this regard, and is picking up the gratuities in lieu of the passengers doing so?!?!??!?!? :eek: :eek: :eek:

 

It sounds like you have a lot of experience with these vouchers; what is the source of your information? A credit per swipe system makes a lot of sense to me actually. I'm now curious which is fact and which is fiction.

 

You have deliberately or accidentally quoted me out of context. The sentence that you quoted was the follow-on of the sentence before.

 

"Royal Caribbean collects the gratuity on the packages from the customer at the time of purchase. No such collection occurs on the vouchers."

 

When you buy a beverage package for, say, $49 per day, Royal Caribbean will charge you $56.35 per day, which is 49 + 15%.

 

You are paying the gratuity when you purchase the package.

 

Since you are not paying anything for your free voucher drinks, you are not paying any gratuities.

 

If it were true that the bartenders/bar servers were receiving gratuities for each voucher drink served, then RC would be the one paying that gratuity.

 

Do you REALLY think that RC is doing that?!?!??!?!

[BekkaW]

You have deliberately or accidentally quoted me out of context. The sentence that you quoted was the follow-on of the sentence before.

 

"Royal Caribbean collects the gratuity on the packages from the customer at the time of purchase. No such collection occurs on the vouchers."

 

When you buy a beverage package for, say, $49 per day, Royal Caribbean will charge you $56.35 per day, which is 49 + 15%.

 

You are paying the gratuity when you purchase the package.

 

Since you are not paying anything for your free voucher drinks, you are not paying any gratuities.

 

If it were true that the bartenders/bar servers were receiving gratuities for each voucher drink served, then RC would be the one paying that gratuity.

 

Do you REALLY think that RC is doing that?!?!??!?!

 

I completely agree with tour logic and would be very surprised is RC is doing that! It would be coming straight out of RC profits

[Cruzaholic41]

I'm not sure if they get tipped off the vouchers or not but it seemed odd to me that almost every bar we went into we were almost recruited to come back to use our vouchers. Believe me, it's not my charming personality or stellar good looks :rolleyes: and it's not far fetched that they could get something for every swipe. We've been told by other bartenders that they are tipped off the beverage package by the number of swipes. Who knows for sure? We tip on the vouchers anyway.

 

And that, right there, is why you get invited back to those bars. You tip!!! Some Ds are too cheap to tip on their free drinks.

[LMaxwell]

 

Since you are not paying anything for your free voucher drinks, you are not paying any gratuities.

 

If it were true that the bartenders/bar servers were receiving gratuities for each voucher drink served, then RC would be the one paying that gratuity.

 

Do you REALLY think that RC is doing that?!?!??!?!

 

I also agree that your rationale appears logical, but it still isn't an answer to the question asked. I'm also curious if RCI remunerates the crew properly on voucher drinks. I'd be inclined to think they would do so otherwise the crew have less reason to provide good service to "voucher drinkers". You kind of make it sound like the crew go from serving to rowing the ship, so to speak, and that RCI would never, ever do anything to the crew benefit, which I don't believe.

 

A dozen cruises in the past 6 months is pretty enviable:D so if anyone would have the answer I'd think it would be you. If you don't know for certain there is no harm in saying that. It feels like people on CC cover up any time RCI does something positive for the crew so that we'd all think they are treated awfully by their employer so that we all tip more in cash. In this case we simply don't know which is correct.

 

BTW - when we tip extra for drinks it is always directly in cash to the server and never on a slip. The servers seem to prefer that.

[Aquahound]

Is the tip included when using the Diamond Drink Vouchers at a bar or at a show?

 

I can't think of any feasable way bartenders would receive tips from free vouchers. Even when you use the BOGO drink voucher, you are only charged a tip for 1 drink. And considering the fact the cruise line is only required to reimburse bartenders if their contracted income is not met through tips, I have no reason to believe RCI is going to pony up these tips out of their own profits, especially when the reimbursement would go into the pool, not to the individual. It just doesn't make sense, so my common sense says I'm inclined to agree with Carol.

[LMaxwell]

Even when you use the BOGO drink voucher, you are only charged a tip for 1 drink.

 

That's an interesting point and not sure something I've ever realized; U.S. tipping basically states to tip on pre-discount price, so I assumed that's how it was. I will have to look next time. Like I said, interesting.

 

I can't think of any feasable way bartenders would receive tips from free vouchers.

 

The onboard system certainly knows who is swiping/serving and to which guest and what the price point of that drink was. I don't think RCI is so anti-crew that they would not tip them out on these drinks. I suspect that there are clauses in the crew contract that protect RCI, but when accepted by the crew agencies also looks to fairly protect crew, meaning it's not so one sides.

 

For instance someone posted there are 1K Diamonds on Oasis this week. I forget the number of D+ and P, but that's 1K people x 3 vouchers per night. Not saying they all redeem them in bars; but it's not logical to me for RCI to create a situation in which the crew is potentially shorted on 3K pours in a 4 hour window. It just sound so far fetched to me.

 

And, finally, what has applying sound, adult, rational logic that appears agreeable to many got to do with RCI policies? They are often inconsistent, lack clarity into particulars, and sometimes seem to defy basic logic.

[orville99]

...and scratching my head why so many on this thread are frenetically arguing against the cruise line actually taking a pragmatic, logical, and sound business approach to ensure that their bar staff engage (and not ignore) loyal guests.

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

Y'all figure it out on your own, I only know what I know, and that is what came directly from the proper end of the horse in question.

 

Bye:rolleyes:

[Life is Good Cruising]

Don't care if the bartenders are tipped by Royal or not on the free vouchers, it's none of my business. We do tip the bartenders in cash with the free drinks vouchers, we tip if we ask for a glass of water at the bars and I tip on the free drinks I get in the casino by being a Club Royale member. If we can afford to cruise, we could afford to tip, it's all part of the vacation.

[LMaxwell]

 

Y'all figure it out on your own, I only know what I know, and that is what came directly from the proper end of the horse in question.

 

 

For what it is worth to you, I am inclined to believe you as what you have relayed of your experience makes the most sense to me.

[Aquahound]

The onboard system certainly knows who is swiping/serving and to which guest and what the price point of that drink was. I don't think RCI is so anti-crew that they would not tip them out on these drinks. I suspect that there are clauses in the crew contract that protect RCI, but when accepted by the crew agencies also looks to fairly protect crew, meaning it's not so one sides.

 

Here's another thing to consider. Your card is only swiped when using the vouchers at public bars. Your card is not swiped when drinking in the CL or DL, even when the event is held in a larger lounge using more bartenders. Why would tips be added to the pool by RCI for drinking in public bars, but not in the event lounges? Both are using ship's bartenders who receive their money from the tipping pool.

 

I also have no reason whatsoever to think RCI should be considered "anti-crew" if they don't add tips to the bartender pool from vouchers. Alot, if not most, people using the vouchers give cash tips. And, typically cash tips are higher than auto tips. When I used my vouchers on the Vision last month, I handed the bartender a $5 bill for every drink order my wife and I made. So, it's not like bartenders are losing money because of these vouchers.

 

To think 1k people on the Oasis this week would be using vouchers and not a single one of them would tip in ludicrous.

[Aquahound]

Y'all figure it out on your own, I only know what I know, and that is what came directly from the proper end of the horse in question.

 

Come on, Orville. Every single one of us had been told one thing or another by crew members and for everything we're told, someone else has been told something different by a different crewmember. You've been around here long enough to know that.

[LMaxwell]

 

To think 1k people on the Oasis this week would be using vouchers and not a single one of them would tip in ludicrous.

 

I'm just saying, I don't think RCI created a system that is going to deprive service staff of tips by not remunerating them on these vouchers from within the system and not solely relying on a cash transaction to make the staff whole. If it were true that RCI were not looking after their servers it COULD mean up to 3K drinks per night that the staff would not earn money off of UNLESS tipped additionally. Those are extremes but they are based on the actual metrics.

 

It only makes sense to remunerate for a voucher swipe otherwise those with vouchers would probably see a lower level of service than a la carte or package drinkers who all have a built in gratuity.

 

This really has nothing to do with tipping a bit extra in cash. I think most people do that anyways. I'm just saying that I don't think RCI has made the staff totally dependent on that in regards to vouchers. One person here has relayed information they got supposedly first hand and it sounds pretty logical to me.

[ttown]

Last week on the Navigator we had drinks most nights at the Boleros bar before dinner. By the second night the bartenders recognized me and knew that I would tip per drink. I always received prompt service and a generous glass of wine. Never thought RCCL would auto-tip on free drinks and I will not assume that on future cruise. I really like the convenience of not having to go to the DL to get a pre-dinner drink. :)

[LMaxwell]

Come on, Orville. Every single one of us had been told one thing or another by crew members and for everything we're told, someone else has been told something different by a different crewmember. You've been around here long enough to know that.

 

Sure, but why is that to Orvilles discredit? He (or she) has been the only one so far to relate what crew has told them. Everyone else is making good points and using logic, but no one else claims to have asked and been told how it operates. I accept Orvilles relation in good faith.