New gratuities by May 1st, 2016

[Overtyme]

Q: How do you tip various people: Wait Staff, Adventure Ocean Staff, Housekeeping Staff, over and above what's put on your account?

Is the only way by bringing cash, or can you put it on your card and get vouchers to put in envelopes for each person?

Edited March 31, 2016 by Overtyme

[Paulette3028]

Q: How do you tip various people: Wait Staff, Adventure Ocean Staff, Housekeeping Staff, over and above what's put on your account?

Is the only way by bringing cash, or can you put it on your card and get vouchers to put in envelopes for each person?

 

For most additional tips for wait staff and housekeeping we just use cash and their are envelops available. However if it is someone such as a special person fromAdventure Ocean Staff or someone else see what we did below:

 

We had a very special reason to give an additional tip, and wanted it to go to them so we went to Guest Services and there is a form to complete by you (with any note that you would like to include) and it will be given to the individual(s) listed and you can put the amount of money for the tip on your sea pass card/account and not have to worry about cash.

[tserface]

I'd guess that most of the cruisers (aside from the maybe few 100 on this forum) don't even know you can remove the gratuities. They don't make it super apparent.

 

I bet most people will just pay the difference and/or may not even notice. Or, if they got the email like we did they may choose to pay in advance.

 

Tom

 

For us it is what it is.

 

But, cannot wait to cruise to see if the lines at customer service increases with passengers removing their tips.

 

[CI66774]

Auto gratuities are stealing from the passengers plain and simple. If others want to let the company steal money from them fine but don't tell me and others we must allow this. I do not believe alcohol belongs on cruise ships, just based upon safety issues. But I do not impose my believes about this on others, if you want to drink drink.

 

So please don't tell me how much or how I should be tipping employees of the cruise lines. Tipping is one American invention that is a failure. SO I always remove the auto gratuities from my on ship account and will continue to do so. Nothing anyone posts here will ever get my to change my values.

 

Post away about how I'm uncaring, should not cruise whatever..... all it does is confirm even more that I am right.

 

I don't think you're uncaring, etc. - just misguided. You are cruising on a line that automatically charges gratuities. You know this in advance. It doesn't matter whether tipping is just an American "thing" (you are misinformed on this). It's part of the package. If you don't want to tip, fine. Book on an all-inclusive where tips are part of the overall price (and you can't deduct). It's really irrelevant what you think - it's part of the cruise line cost - period. If you're too cheap, or too bull-headed, or whatever - just book another type of vacation - period.

[Overtyme]

We did not pre-pay our gratuities, not because we're against it, but because we have about $350 in OBC for our cabin (2 ppl) and we were not allowed to use it to pre-pay gratuities.

It is my understanding that gratuities will be charged to our account nightly.

If that's true, I figure that new gratuity structure will eat $243 over the course of our 9 night cruise.

Can someone share what the breakdown of the daily gratuities are (new structure and/or old structure)?

I'm guessing the remaining $100 will be used fairly quickly by food and drink gratuities @ 20% every time we eat at a specialty restaurant or drink something.

[Ocean Boy]

For us it is what it is.

 

We already pre-paid.

 

But, cannot wait to cruise to see if the lines at customer service increases with passengers removing their tips.

 

Only time will tell.

 

Thanks

 

Watching the lines at Guest Services has never been one of my anticipated activities. And what those people might be doing there has never been a concern to me at all.

[Miryam1234]

Can the prepaid tips also be removed onboard? I mean, with MTD you are required to pay before you cruise. Can it also be removed and what happens to that amount then? Will it be credited as OBC or back to my credit card?

 

Do not worry, I am happily paying the tip, even adding cash to the staff who actually have done more than just their normal work to us, but I was just wondering...

[Clarea]

Can the prepaid tips also be removed onboard? I mean, with MTD you are required to pay before you cruise. Can it also be removed and what happens to that amount then? Will it be credited as OBC or back to my credit card?

 

Do not worry, I am happily paying the tip, even adding cash to the staff who actually have done more than just their normal work to us, but I was just wondering...

Royal no longer requires MTD bookings to have prepaid gratuities. You can call whoever booked your cruise and remove prepaid grats now.

[cjdixon4]

.

 

Unless of course they plan not to tip at all. :(

 

...and sadly, that happens a lot. I've heard a lot of people skip out on the "tipping" altogether.

[Lionesss]

Watching the lines at Guest Services has never been one of my anticipated activities. And what those people might be doing there has never been a concern to me at all.

 

 

 

 

Wow,

 

Just something to stare at as you stroll down the promenade thats all.

 

Sea Ya

[foxgoodrich]

I wonder how the restaurants that have repriced menus and are following a no tipping policy are doing now. Seems like Joe's Crab Shack was the one I read about in Nov - they said they were increasing the waiter pay from $2.14/hour to $12-14/hour and that menu prices would increase by 12-15%. I haven't been to Joe's, or any of the others in the Ignite group, in a long time so I have no first hand experience with it. Anyone know if they're still trying no tips and how it's working?

 

Maybe that's the answer for the cruise industry - reprice fares to fully cover labor costs and stop the gratuity model that they are following now. It probably would be less complicated for everyone, and any tipping would be truly voluntary.

 

The increase in grats starts in April and we have a Liberty cruise on May 8. I briefly thought about calling and prepaying our gratuities. Then I did the math...it would save $7.70 for the two of us over 7 days. Meh...not worth the hassle.

Judy

[oldguysandgalls]

Good Lord !!

Quit with your whining about the Service Charge and/or Gratuities.

If it bothers you that much keep it to yourself and/or stay home and don't bother the rest of us with your whining.:mad::rolleyes::(

[foxgoodrich]

Good Lord !!

Quit with your whining about the Service Charge and/or Gratuities.

If it bothers you that much keep it to yourself and/or stay home and don't bother the rest of us with your whining.:mad::rolleyes::(

 

Wow!:eek: I need to work on my communication skills! I wasn't whining or complaining about the gratuities. Quite the opposite - I thought the increase was tiny.

Judy

[Kmcspoon]

Wow!:eek: I need to work on my communication skills! I wasn't whining or complaining about the gratuities. Quite the opposite - I thought the increase was tiny.

Judy

 

You aren't whining or complaining.

 

I am firmly convinced those of us who are past the final payment date should not feel obligated to pay for services not yet rendered in advance.

You aren't paying 55 cents in advance, you are paying the entire gratuities amount for x number of days in advance for nothing in exchange.

 

 

For those before the final payment, they can back out if they don't like the terms, which is extreme, but at least they have that option. People who do it without even questioning it is why it will probably continue on an annual or semi-annual basis.

 

Great way for cruise lines to get no interest cash! But, we are supposed to just not whine about it.

[Artemus]

I just tried prepaying my gratuities by going into my cruise planner and couldn't figure out how. Can you prepay online?

[oldguysandgalls]

Wow!:eek: I need to work on my communication skills! I wasn't whining or complaining about the gratuities. Quite the opposite - I thought the increase was tiny.

Judy

 

Our post was not directed at you personally. Our post was directed at all of the whiners. (and there are many... ;)

Edited March 31, 2016 by oldguysandgalls

[Clarea]

I just tried prepaying my gratuities by going into my cruise planner and couldn't figure out how. Can you prepay online?

If you created the booking on the website, there should be a way to add gratuities. If you called to create the booking, then the website won't let you add gratuities. For me, I'd rather call than use the website.

[tserface]

i figured it's only less than $100 per person that I'm paying slightly ahead of time. I can't get any good interest on it and it's totally refundable if I cancel the cruise.

 

There may be some who don't want to pay ahead of time. In that case the cost of paying on board is around $3.85 ($.55/day) for a 7 day cruise per person (difference). We pay more for that every day for coffee on a cruise.

 

If you are someone who gives additional tips at the end of the cruise you could always deduct it from that and keep it just what you're doing now.

 

Tom

 

You aren't whining or complaining.

 

I am firmly convinced those of us who are past the final payment date should not feel obligated to pay for services not yet rendered in advance.

You aren't paying 55 cents in advance, you are paying the entire gratuities amount for x number of days in advance for nothing in exchange.

 

 

For those before the final payment, they can back out if they don't like the terms, which is extreme, but at least they have that option. People who do it without even questioning it is why it will probably continue on an annual or semi-annual basis.

 

Great way for cruise lines to get no interest cash! But, we are supposed to just not whine about it.

[Ocean Boy]

Good Lord !!

Quit with your whining about the Service Charge and/or Gratuities.

If it bothers you that much keep it to yourself and/or stay home and don't bother the rest of us with your whining.:mad::rolleyes::(

 

And if it bothers you that much you could always stop reading the thread, right?

Edited March 31, 2016 by Ocean Boy

[oldguysandgalls]

And if it bothers you that much you could always stop reading the thread, right?

 

And miss "Les Miserables" ? ? ?

HA HA

[Thoie]

For those before the final payment, they can back out if they don't like the terms, which is extreme, but at least they have that option. People who do it without even questioning it is why it will probably continue on an annual or semi-annual basis.

 

Don't forget that guests outside the US can't necessarily back out without penalty when RCI changes the terms and conditions at short notice like this, no matter what policy they're changing.

 

I'm firmly of the opinion that when they want to make sweeping changes like this, they should do it for sailings that have not yet gone on sale, so that people have all the information when they're booking. Yes, 55 cents is nothing in the grand scheme of things, but what if they'd suddenly decided to double or triple it? What if they introduced a new policy saying that from April 15th, all beds must remain permanently in the double bed configuration, and would be bolted to the floor? Or that water in the bathrooms would be metered and guests would be charged for anything over 1 flush and 1 x 3 minute shower a day?

[Big_G]

...and sadly, that happens a lot. I've heard a lot of people skip out on the "tipping" altogether.

 

I've heard that before but some times I wonder how prevalent it really is and if it's a bit of pandering.

[FUN33]

Good Lord !!

Quit with your whining about the Service Charge and/or Gratuities.

If it bothers you that much keep it to yourself and/or stay home and don't bother the rest of us with your whining.:mad::rolleyes::(

 

100% in agreement

[LMaxwell]

Good Lord !!

Quit with your whining about the Service Charge and/or Gratuities.

If it bothers you that much keep it to yourself and/or stay home and don't bother the rest of us with your whining.:mad::rolleyes::(

 

I am seeing a thread with discussions on all facets of the issue here and it is only these type of responses that are quoted that would be labeled as whining. We are all free to discuss anything we want related to a particular topic; you as well. What you aren't free to do is tell others not to have a discussion. feel free to join in if you wish to do so.

[Artemus]

Thank you, Bob.