Royal to raise gratuities

[TheMiz]

Link does not work-- that doesn't seem like a good sign!

 

 

Works for me.

[Cruisin'4Us]

I'm seeing "that page is no longer available"

I pulled it up again, and it still works for me too. But, try this link instead:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/onboardExtrasFaq.do

 

If this link works, scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page to "I booked my cruise prior to June 1, 2015. How does this impact my cruise?"

Edited May 17, 2015 by Cruisin'4Us

[denatravels]

That works-- thanks.

[Vitality08]

... and can we prepay gratuities now to avoid the increase???

 

Yes. I got an email since I'm currently booked. It said if I want to pay the current rate for gratuities, I need to call and do it before May 31.

[ColoradoGurl]

I just saw this on the Royal website:

 

"I booked my cruise prior to June 1' date=' 2015. How does this impact my cruise?[/b']

The adjusted automatic daily gratuity is effective for all Royal Caribbean and Celebrity sailings that depart on or after July 1, 2015. It replaces our previous recommended gratuity guidelines. However, if you select prepaid gratuities for your reservation before June 1, 2015, you will be charged the previously recommended gratuity rates."

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/onboardExtrasFaq.do#11

 

Well that clears up the confusion for me. Thank you :) It makes little difference for me since my final payment is due in 2 days, so just adding it to my reservation still means I have to pay it right away, lol. I guess I may as well, but the difference in price is so negligible it doesn't matter much if I forget to do it.

[grand isle joe]

Jethro Bodine could not be reached for comment...........

[steveru621]

If a drink was six, and now it is 9, thats a 50% increase. half of six is 3.

 

Whoops! Thanks for correcting my math. I got one wrong and one right. :)

[steveru621]

Just a couple of observations.

 

If you give your waitstaff and cabin attendant cash do you trust them to pass along some part of it to their support staff? Example: Everyday you will see laundry services picking up those red bags and dropping off clean laundry.

 

It is not uncommon in the U.S. for businesses that collect tips for employees to pass along service fees. The cruise line may charge you $12.95, but they receive less than that on a credit card charge. Every credit card charge a merchant enters is charged a merchant interchange fee and processing charges. That would account for the service charge that some posters have heard about.

[ColoradoGurl]

Whoops! Thanks for correcting my math. I got one wrong and one right. :)

 

Easy mistake. 3 is 1/3 of 9.

[Cuizer2]

I seem to have stumbled into a math class.

 

So, for all the math geniuses out there, if ten woodchucks can chuck ten logs in ten days, how long will it take five woodchucks to chuck five logs?

[Cruisin'4Us]

I seem to have stumbled into a math class.

 

So, for all the math geniuses out there, if ten woodchucks can chuck ten logs in ten days, how long will it take five woodchucks to chuck five logs?

I'll bite (pun intended.) 10 days? That is, if a woodchuck could chuck wood. Edited May 18, 2015 by Cruisin'4Us

[FOAD]

Tipping is something I decide to do when warranted and when warranted, I do tip well.

 

When legislated by the cruise line it's a surcharge, not a tip. Given how almost every Cruise Line I've used legislates it, I'm sort of ok with that knowing that I can always have the amount adjusted or cancelled depending upon that level of service I feel I've received, and tip those directly who truly deserve it.

 

But the last straw is receiving notice this week that Celebrity is increasing their daily rate effective June 1, 2015 and that a cruise we booked with them last February for next December will attract the increased rate unless we prepay the gratuities now.

 

They've got to be kidding? For a measly additional $26, they couldn't grandfather the old rate for a booking made prior to June 1. So much for booking early and customer loyalty.

 

A very minor amount but one that has clearly tainted our regard for Celebrity for future bookings with them going forward.

[Cuizer2]

I'll bite (pun intended.) 10 days? That is' date=' if a woodchuck could chuck wood.[/quote']

 

Yes, you got it right. :)

[rjrice1]

Got my email as well...

Guess it is going up for those who are taking them off. So we have to pay their tips.

[SilkySal]

Just added prepaid grats to my upcoming cruises. Note that payment is not due until final payment, so it's worth the phone call if you have multiple cruises booked!;)

[ummgood]

I guess the question in my mind is if I pay the 12.95/day/person does that money all go to the staff or not? I have only cruised Disney thus far and they honor the prices when you booked in my experience. I also know when you book Disney and pay your tips they print you coupons to give to the staff and it says the amount they are getting which matches what I paid. Then I slip on some extra money into those envelopes. I assume that they get the amount that is on the slip. If Royal doesn't get the servers the amount I am paying I will be upset. It is gratuities and I expect 100% of the cash I have earmarked for them to go to them. As far as other support staff I spoke to some people on Disney in the past and usually the support staff gets paid a higher wage because they don't get tips. So I thought that the servers and stateroom hosts don't have to share those tips.

 

I usually tip extra so I am not too worried about this but I am annoyed that I booked my cruise over a year ago and now since I am cruising July 5th I am getting extra charges. It is the way it is handled by the cruise line that makes me upset. The cost of the cruise (minus extras like fine dining) should stay constant from the time I entered contract unless I change something.

 

With that said I usually tip based on awesome service above the prepaid gratuity. That usually comes as cash in the envelop.

[Cuizer2]

I usually tip extra so I am not too worried about this but I am annoyed that I booked my cruise over a year ago and now since I am cruising July 5th I am getting extra charges. It is the way it is handled by the cruise line that makes me upset. The cost of the cruise (minus extras like fine dining) should stay constant from the time I entered contract unless I change something.

 

With that said I usually tip based on awesome service above the prepaid gratuity. That usually comes as cash in the envelop.

 

Yes, the cruise lines should honor the contract. However, the cruise lines know that the amount involved is too small to sue over, and the contract that they don't want to honor they will argue that you have to honor if you try to file a class action lawsuit.

[RocketMan275]

I guess the question in my mind is if I pay the 12.95/day/person does that money all go to the staff or not?

I usually tip extra so I am not too worried about this but I am annoyed that I booked my cruise over a year ago and now since I am cruising July 5th I am getting extra charges. It is the way it is handled by the cruise line that makes me upset.

 

The cost of the cruise (minus extras like fine dining) should stay constant from the time I entered contract unless I change something.

 

With that said I usually tip based on awesome service above the prepaid gratuity. That usually comes as cash in the envelop.

 

Gratuities are between you and those receiving the gratuities. They are not covered by the contract between you and the cruise line.

[John&LaLa]

This may have been mentioned, and if so I apologize. Problem with a really big thread.

 

It seems to me that in order to lock in the $12 grats you only have to agree to adding tips to invoice and pay them at final payment. That being said, this just seems like a way to prevent passengers from using OBC to pay for tips

[ColoradoGurl]

This may have been mentioned, and if so I apologize. Problem with a really big thread.

 

It seems to me that in order to lock in the $12 grats you only have to agree to adding tips to invoice and pay them at final payment. That being said, this just seems like a way to prevent passengers from using OBC to pay for tips

 

This appears to be true, however, for people like myself, who found out a week ago about this option, but have a final payment date of today, it really makes no difference because "just adding the prepaid option" still requires an immediate payment. And I wonder about people whose final payment date already passed, what was their option? Like the person above who sails July 5th, what was their option for avoiding the increase when adding prepaid tips is no longer an option?

[ummgood]

This appears to be true, however, for people like myself, who found out a week ago about this option, but have a final payment date of today, it really makes no difference because "just adding the prepaid option" still requires an immediate payment. And I wonder about people whose final payment date already passed, what was their option? Like the person above who sails July 5th, what was their option for avoiding the increase when adding prepaid tips is no longer an option?

 

I will call my TA today and find out if I can add them. If I can I'll do so but I am not sure since I paid in full 2 months ago.

[susancruzs]

My final is due in August for my Med and TA cruise. I decided to prepay the tips, and I guess I don't understand what all the fuss is. Big picture, considering what I pay as a single, do I care? Not really.

[ummgood]

Gratuities are between you and those receiving the gratuities. They are not covered by the contract between you and the cruise line.

 

I don't agree. This was a published cost of the cruise by the cruise line. They will automatically charge this to my stateroom without my interaction so to me it is an arranged cost between me and the cruiseline at the time of booking. It was also mentioned in my documentation when I booked the cruise with my TA. So far I have yet to get any email from my TA or RC that this is changing so if I didn't know I would be charged the extra above what is disclosed in my booking.

 

Now if my booking agreement stated that it is recommended that you give tips to employees of the ship in a certain amount but RC wasn't planning on doing this for me then that would be between me and the employees. But since RC is going to charge me either way unless I go down to guest services and reverse it PLUS my name gets put on the naughty list in the crew passage ways then I think my hand is being forced. They should have to honor that agreement.

 

I would think that the better way to approach this is if they sent a message stating that we are raising the standard suggested gratuity levels for employees. Since you booked before this change we will still be charging you the old rate but if you would like to have the new gratuity level added to your stateroom please come to guest services and we will adjust the amount for you.

 

This appears to be true, however, for people like myself, who found out a week ago about this option, but have a final payment date of today, it really makes no difference because "just adding the prepaid option" still requires an immediate payment. And I wonder about people whose final payment date already passed, what was their option? Like the person above who sails July 5th, what was their option for avoiding the increase when adding prepaid tips is no longer an option?

 

I was able to prepay my gratuities through my TA just now at the old $12/day/person rate. I was going to use my onboard credit but I'm sure we'll buy some souvenirs for the kids with that anyway so no biggie. I will now pay any extra tips I deem appropriate with cash.

[Illyria]

This may have been mentioned, and if so I apologize. Problem with a really big thread.

 

It seems to me that in order to lock in the $12 grats you only have to agree to adding tips to invoice and pay them at final payment. That being said, this just seems like a way to prevent passengers from using OBC to pay for tips

Even disregarding any increase - I thought in the past couple of years this popped up a few times when people booked RCCL cruises well in advance and were told that there are no slots for traditional dining, so they can go on a waitlist...and in the meantime, they automatically get assigned ATD and prepaid gratuities. And there were quite a few comments that there never was a problem getting off the waitlist, sometimes as quickly as the next day, so it seemed like RCCL was just trying to lock as many people into prepaid grats as possible. I noticed that myself on my last booking.

[LuCruise]

Just added prepaid grats to my upcoming cruises. Note that payment is not due until final payment, so it's worth the phone call if you have multiple cruises booked!;)

 

Agreed. All it took was a phone call and the $12 rate is locked in with my other booking charges. Payment not required until final payment date, which is next Jan for me.