Celebrity Cruise Gratuity Increase from 14th June 2016

[Wine-O]

If you're concerned what people make, don't ever buy anything that is Made in China, including Apple products. :eek:

[BosoxI]

If you're concerned what people make, don't ever buy anything that is Made in China, including Apple products. :eek:

 

I try not to, but it's difficult.

 

BTW it's not just cruise lines. My golf club in Florida adds 21% ot the tab on food and wine AND tax

[TeeRick]

Does anyone know for sure which "extra" tips are pooled? We have been told that the cash tips we give to a crew member in Blu, Select dining, Luminae, and the bars are required to be turned in and pooled among the crew in that venue. Fact or myth?

 

On our most recent cruise there were 4 bartenders regularly working the Martini bar: 2 were very good, 1 was useless and the 4th was the picture of exceptional, over & above service. We gave Mr Exceptional a nice tip at the end of the cruise but am still wondering if Mr Useless got a share of the $$:rolleyes:

 

I specifically asked and was told directly by the Maitre D' in Luminae on Infinity a couple of weeks ago that all tips are pooled and distributed equally amongst his staff at the end of the cruise. This was confirmed by the concierge in Michael's Club. We just gave the Maitre D' one combined tip in an envelope marked "Luminae staff" on the last night of the cruise. Others who did not inquire had multiple envelopes - there are a lot of staff serving you as a team in Luminae. I think they also get a share of your pre-paid gratuities as they are dining staff. I think the bar staff share the pooled 18% tips on every drink. I'm not sure about whether they share any extra cash in a pool.

[JEDIKNIGHT]

Oh goodie - this should be a fun thread.

 

I hereby congratulate Celebrity on a nice change, and double congratulate our European friends who just love to tip!

 

Awesome. Next cruise, I'll praise this on my online survey.

[Wine-O]

I specifically asked and was told directly by the Maitre D' in Luminae on Infinity a couple of weeks ago that all tips are pooled and distributed equally amongst his staff at the end of the cruise. This was confirmed by the concierge in Michael's Club. We just gave the Maitre D' one combined tip in an envelope marked "Luminae staff" on the last night of the cruise. Others who did not inquire had multiple envelopes - there are a lot of staff serving you as a team in Luminae. I think they also get a share of your pre-paid gratuities as they are dining staff. I think the bar staff share the pooled 18% tips on every drink. I'm not sure about whether they share any extra cash in a pool.

 

I think if you had a particular waiter that did a great job, you could give him an extra tip at the end of the cruise that he wouldn't have to share/pool with the others -- at least that's my understanding. They all share in the normal automatic gratuities, but if you want to single out any one individual, that should be theirs only to keep.

[hcat]

Confused...if we have included pre pay tips on our res (not a perk) will we pay rate at time of booking or new rate at time of final payment? Could we add tip incl to get the current rate?

 

We have been told that extra cash tips are not pooled..now unsure....????

 

If they are shared, we like the idea of one envelope for staff of BLU...would that include sommelier?

Edited May 28, 2016 by hcat

[Wine-O]

Confused...if we have included pre pay tips on our res (not a perk) will we pay rate at time of booking or new rate at time of final payment? Could we add tip incl to get the current rate?

 

We have been told that extra cash tips are not pooled..now unsure....????

 

If they are shared, we like the idea of one envelope for staff of BLU...would that include sommelier?

 

I always tip the sommelier cash to the hand on the last night. I hope they don't share, because the other one in Blu did a terrible job, in my opinion. Same for the waiters in Blu. There are some good ones, and there are some bad ones. I wouldn't want my "extra" tip go to the bad ones.

[hcat]

I always tip the sommelier cash to the hand on the last night. I hope they don't share, because the other one in Blu did a terrible job, in my opinion. Same for the waiters in Blu. There are some good ones, and there are some bad ones. I wouldn't want my "extra" tip go to the bad ones.

 

That,s why i,d like to know...we have had great wine service in BLU ...and tip extra accordingly..not sure if they are part of dining or bar staff

[Tom Baker]

Just a statistical thought,

 

Lets take the Eclipse as an example, for arguments sake lets assume that everyone pays their tips at an average of £13pppd. Lets also assume that there are 600 crew members who receive tips.

 

Each should get $432 per week; that's $1800 per month tax free including free accommodation, medical care, food and drink.

 

In Jamaica minimum wage for a 40 hr week is $45 or $200 a month (I use Jamaica because wages are even less in the Philippines and India)

 

Working on the Eclipse would give you $1600 more a month than if you worked at home (with no taxes to pay)

 

Even if half the passengers didn't pay ANY tips, the tips are 4 TIMES MORE than the average wage at home and even if they work 80 hours per week (which under European law they cannot do) they are still earning double the going rate at home.

 

If the crew members were hard done by they wouldn't want to work on the cruise lines but they are queuing around the block trying to work on these vessels.

 

Personally I don't understand why cruise price, taxes, fuel, port fees, tips et-al can't be added into the headline price, guaranteeing that every worker gets a fixed pay packet and doesn't have to reply on the generosity of others or the nationality and customs of various passengers.

 

Just a thought (and yes I do pay ALL my tips and more when cruising)

[riclop]

Everyone is raising.

[mcrcruiser]

LOL it will come a day when the cruise industry prices vacations out of the reach of the average family disposable income . What with interest rates being held low for 89 months by the US Federal reserve . Bad for income seeking seniors & lowering wages in the US for workers in general , the goose that laid the golden egg could be in trouble .Add to this TSA problems at all airports & reportedly through all the summer months & increased air fares ,you have the forming of a perfect storm against the cruise industry ,

 

Celebrity with it's Big Better Best promotion (pricing included in your cruise prices ) will soon be a promotion that will pass ;because when you add air fares & gratuities ,the word is WOW .Perhaps a all inclusive in Mexico would be a better deal . Just thoughts :eek:

[knittinggirl]

The increase in the past year is 12%- I don't know of any one that has gotten a 12% raise in the last year.

 

Yes, the vast majority of the crew work very hard and we normally tip extra I think it is time for the cruises lines to build gratuities into the cost of the cruise.

I went 5 years w/o a raise.

 

At least they no longer hand out envelopes for more. I want to decide when to tip extra!

 

We wrote in an extra tip on Royal Caribbean ($1) and our Asst Waiter told us that he gets only 5 cents of it. If we hand him the dollar bill, he gets to keep all of it. He actually crossed out the handwritten tip!

Edited May 29, 2016 by knittinggirl

[Flamencacha]

I went 5 years w/o a raise.

 

At least they no longer hand out envelopes for more. I want to decide when to tip extra!

 

We wrote in an extra tip on Royal Caribbean ($1) and our Asst Waiter told us that he gets only 5 cents of it. If we hand him the dollar bill, he gets to keep all of it. He actually crossed out the handwritten tip!

 

 

 

You know I always suspected foul play there. I heard a conversation, with a staff member on NCL, about the prepaid package gratuities.

 

They were told they would receive more pay this way. It was not the case.

 

I am getting a free drink package on my next X cruise, I will be tipping my barmaids and bartenders in cash.

Yes, I know it's not really free, but it's not the staff's fault.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the write ins.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oneputt18]

Confused...if we have included pre pay tips on our res (not a perk) will we pay rate at time of booking or new rate at time of final payment? Could we add tip incl to get the current rate?

 

We have been told that extra cash tips are not pooled..now unsure....????

 

If they are shared, we like the idea of one envelope for staff of BLU...would that include sommelier?

 

If you have prepaid your gratuities they will be at the rate in effect at the time of booking.

[deliver42]

If you are booked without prepaids, and would like to prepay at the current rate, you have until June14, unless you are past final payment.This was on the notice about the increase.

[Beanb41]

Downunder in Australia and NZ where there are ships from P&O. Carnival and Princess permanently based there are no compulsory gratuities added to the fare but everything is inclusive because that is how we operate here. The cost plus tip phenomenon is a USA culture thing thus for USA based ships irrespective where in the world they are operating is the way their cruises are costed. The option of a prepaid gratuity perk is really a discount off the price but makes the USA cruisers feel comfortable because that is how they operate. On one of our recent cruises we were chatting with a waiter as we had time to kill and he informed us that he gets paid $US1500 per month plus keep which doesn't change. Any tips he gets direct from passengers he keeps. When he goes home at the end of the contract he gets paid nothing until his next contract starts.

Putting up the gratuities is just another way of a cruise line putting up costs just as they do when charging differing costs of a 10 day cruise with another 10 day cruise going to similar ports a couple of months later. If passengers rebel then the charges will be addressed but until they do they wont. I noted that when Istanbul got taken off the port list and passengers started cancelling the price of the cruises that had to visit Istanbul dropped considerably. Supply and demand

[hcat]

If you are booked without prepaids, and would like to prepay at the current rate, you have until June14, unless you are past final payment.This was on the notice about the increase.

 

Thank you and oneputt for your replies..we will add the prepaid grats...have always done so...and might as well this time.,more control to determine who gets extra and the amount

[RDC1]

I am a capitalist to the core, but greed is greed. I just heard of a professional golfer who has made $80 million in prize money over his very successful career. It is estimated that he has made twice that in endorsements. If accurate, that $240 million.

 

He is now caught up in an insider trading scandal which, if true, got him $1,000,000 Sick.

 

$32 million sounds like it should be NCL's profit for the year, not it's CEO salary

 

32 million is not the CEO's salary, it his total compensation. Most of it is in the form of stock options and grants. Usually those come with a lockup of several years. Also it appears that a lot of that is from one time awards that covered most of NCL upper management.

 

For that 32 million to become real the company and the stock has to perform. If it drops, most of that drops very quickly, especially when it comes to the options.

[RDC1]

I am a capitalist to the core, but greed is greed. I just heard of a professional golfer who has made $80 million in prize money over his very successful career. It is estimated that he has made twice that in endorsements. If accurate, that $240 million.

 

He is now caught up in an insider trading scandal which, if true, got him $1,000,000 Sick.

 

$32 million sounds like it should be NCL's profit for the year, not it's CEO salary

 

To put it into perspective NCL holdings total revenue for the fiscal year ending in 2015 was $4.345 Billion dollars. On which they had a net profit of 427 million. So even if you include the value of the options in the total compensation the 32 million is about 7.4% of net profit. Of course 28 million of that was stock and option awards. His actual cash compensation was a little over 3.7 million or about .9% of net profit. Remove all of the one time awards and his compensation is up about a million over last year with a salary of 1.8 million and a bonus of 1.9 million.

Edited May 30, 2016 by RDC1

[Aldeya]

Just a statistical thought,

 

Lets take the Eclipse as an example, for arguments sake lets assume that everyone pays their tips at an average of £13pppd. Lets also assume that there are 600 crew members who receive tips.

 

Each should get $432 per week; that's $1800 per month tax free including free accommodation, medical care, food and drink.

 

In Jamaica minimum wage for a 40 hr week is $45 or $200 a month (I use Jamaica because wages are even less in the Philippines and India)

 

Working on the Eclipse would give you $1600 more a month than if you worked at home (with no taxes to pay)

 

Even if half the passengers didn't pay ANY tips, the tips are 4 TIMES MORE than the average wage at home and even if they work 80 hours per week (which under European law they cannot do) they are still earning double the going rate at home.

 

If the crew members were hard done by they wouldn't want to work on the cruise lines but they are queuing around the block trying to work on these vessels.

 

Personally I don't understand why cruise price, taxes, fuel, port fees, tips et-al can't be added into the headline price, guaranteeing that every worker gets a fixed pay packet and doesn't have to reply on the generosity of others or the nationality and customs of various passengers.

 

Just a thought (and yes I do pay ALL my tips and more when cruising)

 

Thank you! Finally someone expressed the same thoughts regarding crew members as I do. Usually I get flamed just for mentioning that cruise staff has it pretty good considering tax-free payments and all the work stuff we have to pay for and get taxed for in our working lives.

 

I remember saying to one of our waiters that it's hard to work long hours and be away from their families. He said that it's easier for him to wait tables than doing hard manual work at home. He supports his family completely with his cruise earning and makes their lives in his home country quite comfortable.

 

It's their JOB, the job they CHOSE to do. We don't have to feel sorry for crew members for doing their job.

 

And yes I ALWAYS pay gratuities and ALWAYS tip extra at the end of the cruise.

Edited May 30, 2016 by Aldeya

[Karynanne]

Crew do choose their positions. Recently we had a wonderful Butler in Equinox. He loves his work. He comes from a wealthy family in India. His father owns and operates multiple factories. He was expected to follow in the family business. But instead chose to follow his passion and became a Butler.

So not all are from improvised situations.

[aloha43]

That's 8$ for you + 8$ for the other person in your cabin X staterooms. That make for a big increase. If you read RCCI annual report (100 pages +), you will see gratuity mentioned 0 time. The gratuity you pay is included in the general revenue.

 

I still don't see the big deal here. It's only $16.00 to you......but for some crew members, that could mean the luxury of food for their family. Compared to what one pays for the cruise itself, what is $16.00 on a 14 day cruise? $1.25 per day, split between many people....it's a pittance.

 

Big increase? I don't think so.

[Flamencacha]

I still don't see the big deal here. It's only $16.00 to you......but for some crew members, that could mean the luxury of food for their family. Compared to what one pays for the cruise itself, what is $16.00 on a 14 day cruise? $1.25 per day, split between many people....it's a pittance.

 

 

 

Big increase? I don't think so.

 

 

 

I thought about it too, I only pay for one and usually tip additional. It's not a big deal. I just hope it's really going to the crew[emoji857]

 

 

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[hrhdhd]

When he goes home at the end of the contract he gets paid nothing until his next contract starts.

 

This sentence just strikes me as odd--do you think people who aren't on an employment contract should be paid? I am a 10-month employee, which means each year I get paid for 10 months and not for the other two. I am not sure that's a problem (as long as it's clear to both parties, of course). :confused:

[bEwAbG]

We wrote in an extra tip on Royal Caribbean ($1) and our Asst Waiter told us that he gets only 5 cents of it. If we hand him the dollar bill, he gets to keep all of it. He actually crossed out the handwritten tip!

 

That could have easily been a ploy by the waiter to get out of pooling tips, though. Easier to pocket and hide cash. Anything charged through the account has a paper trail.