Auto Gratuity Deadline Removal

[Cruizen Susan]

Perfect comment. There's nothing that riles me up more than people who feel the need to have the ability to cheat others under the guise of "well it's their system." It's the whole concept of doing what's right even when no one is looking. In the same way it's the excuse that "we will never see these people again." Alas, they ARE looking.

 

And your comment is perfect as well! I just love it! Their behavior falls into the "lack of integrity" category.

[cheeseheads4ever]

Agree totally with lack of integrity. Some people as in this cas just feel the need to cheat others. If you get horrible service then talk to guest services about it. Dont cheat the staff on the whole out of it...like i said prior if you werent going to cheat the staff you wouldnt ask what the latest day is to remove tips.. all i can say is ..if you feel good about it...

[Charles4515]

And your comment is perfect as well! I just love it! Their behavior falls into the "lack of integrity" category.

 

I would call their behavior something else but the moderators would delete it. All I can say is there are some sad people in the world.

[Orator]

I would call their behavior something else but the moderators would delete it. All I can say is there are some sad people in the world.

 

I can think of a few descriptive words as well. People often post a question or comment on this subject and then disappear. Perhaps they just want to provoke. Perhaps they are angry. Perhaps they are just mean spirited. Some actually support their view, but fortunately the vast majority see the value of the crew and are appalled by their justifications for stiffing those who serve them so well.. My guess is that their attitude is not limited to stiffing hard working crew members, but can be seen in other circumstances. Interestingly, I've never heard anyone on a ship ask how they might eliminate the tips, or openly discuss how they were going to avoid tipping. I know that some do, but I've never heard it. Guess it's easier to hide behind a screen name when you know that what you are planning to do is inappropriate.

[smtcan]

I have worked as a Barman and also managed F&B operations - not that this makes me more or less qualified to comment on tipping.

 

I stand by my opinion that the remuneration of staff is no concern to customers and simply a matter between staff and their employer. No doubt the tipping culture us encouraged by the employer and the staff to avoid taxation issues. I have happily paid income tax since I was 16 and have no sympathy with tax evasion or avoidance , legal or otherwise.i

 

If Celebrity allow me to remove the AutoGrats then I will continue to do so.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I note that you are from the UK. In my young days I worked as a waitress in a small cake shop / restaurant in Wales. While the pay was not high, wait staff received the same pay as the shop assistants. The small tips we received were a bonus.

 

Compare this with US and Canada. The minimum wage for wait staff and bar tenders is lower than for any other workers, because they are expected to receive tips. This means that the tips are part of their remuneration, not extra. Tips are taxable, at least in Ontario.

 

This is why there is a 'tipping culture' in North America, which many British people look down on. Having lived on both sides of the Atlantic I can see where the difference lies. When I hear British people say "I do my job and do not expect to be tipped" they are being paid an appropriate rate for their job. They are not being paid less with the expectation of receiving tips to make up a living wage.

 

The remuneration for workers on ships is probably far higher than they would earn in their home country, but how many people would choose to work long hours away from their families if there was not a financial benefit for them.

 

Personally I leave auto gratuities in place but rarely tip extra. When a cabin steward helped us to change cabins on a B2B we gave him an extra tip, and when a bar tender had our drinks waiting for us before dinner each night we gave him extra on the last night. I never give extra up front, because to me it seems like bribery.

 

Sheila

[Rufferto]

OP, if your reason for tipping cash has to do with not receiving exchange rate charges on a foreign credit card, note that you can pay off your entire cruise balance with cash at guest services on the last day of the cruise. We have done this several times.

[dkjretired]

I can think of a few descriptive words as well. People often post a question or comment on this subject and then disappear. Perhaps they just want to provoke. Perhaps they are angry. Perhaps they are just mean spirited. Some actually support their view, but fortunately the vast majority see the value of the crew and are appalled by their justifications for stiffing those who serve them so well.. My guess is that their attitude is not limited to stiffing hard working crew members, but can be seen in other circumstances. Interestingly, I've never heard anyone on a ship ask how they might eliminate the tips, or openly discuss how they were going to avoid tipping. I know that some do, but I've never heard it. Guess it's easier to hide behind a screen name when you know that what you are planning to do is inappropriate.

 

And some don't have the guts to do what they say they do, only say it because they are on an anonymous internet board. Not only applies to tipping.

[Orator]

And some don't have the guts to do what they say they do, only say it because they are on an anonymous internet board. Not only applies to tipping.

 

Agree!

[Celebrity Cruises]

Will be gong on a 14 night cruise shortly. I was wondering what is the latest the auto gratuities on my onboard account can be removed. Can it be removed the last night of the cruise or does it have to be by a certain day? Thanks for your input.

 

Any modifications or adjustments to guests' gratuities are required to be requested before you depart your cruise.

[montrealroyalc]

Thank you Celebrity for answering the question! Rest assured I will make sure the staff is compensated above and beyond the minimum requirements. I think a lot of individuals on this this forum need to stop making assumptions and unnecessary accusations.

[CELTICGIRLCRUISER]

Thank you Celebrity for answering the question! Rest assured I will make sure the staff is compensated above and beyond the minimum requirements. I think a lot of individuals on this this forum need to stop making assumptions and unnecessary accusations.

 

So if that is the case, out of curiosity more than anything, why not leave the auto gratuities on and then give "above and beyond the minimum requirements" on top?

Edited November 1, 2016 by CELTICGIRLCRUISER

[johnritt]

Thank you Celebrity for answering the question! Rest assured I will make sure the staff is compensated above and beyond the minimum requirements. I think a lot of individuals on this this forum need to stop making assumptions and unnecessary accusations.

 

Agreed.

 

And I think that if you reread your post from the perspective of your readers, rather than you, you could see and understand their reactions.

[StolidCruiser]

deleted

Edited November 1, 2016 by StolidCruiser

[Charles4515]

Thank you Celebrity for answering the question! Rest assured I will make sure the staff is compensated above and beyond the minimum requirements. I think a lot of individuals on this this forum need to stop making assumptions and unnecessary accusations.

 

 

 

It would be a logical assumption that waiting until the end is so that the crew does not know until then that they are going to be stiffed. That is not an accusation. It is using logic. And no I don't believe the crew is going to be compensated above and beyond the minimum requirements by anyone who removes gratuities at the end.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[FLOURTOWN]

We had heard on a past cruise that the cruise line takes a portion of the Auto Gratuity for

administrative purposes. Does anyone know if this is true?

[markeb]

We had heard on a past cruise that the cruise line takes a portion of the Auto Gratuity for

administrative purposes. Does anyone know if this is true?

 

I'm pretty sure nobody "knows" for sure. What's stated is:

 

"This gratuity is shared by your Dining & Culinary Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants, Other Housekeeping Services Personnel, as well as staff from other departments who work behind the scenes to enhance your cruise experience."

 

which doesn't include any language for overhead or admin purposes. It is entirely possible they deduct the credit card processing fees, but again, that would be an internal business practice that only someone on their internal business side would know.

[happy 2 b cruising]

So if that is the case, out of curiosity more than anything, why not leave the auto gratuities on and then give "above and beyond the minimum requirements" on top?

 

Bottom line is Celebrity needs to change their policy of allowing people to remove auto gratuities. It is really sad how some people feel stiffing, or short changing the hard working crew of their tips is perfectly ok. Most people use those little white envelope to give additional tips above the auto gratuities.

Celebrity the time has come to change your policies and stop allowing this practice of allowing certain people to stiff your crew by removing gratuities.

[dkjretired]

I'm pretty sure nobody "knows" for sure. What's stated is:

 

"This gratuity is shared by your Dining & Culinary Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants, Other Housekeeping Services Personnel, as well as staff from other departments who work behind the scenes to enhance your cruise experience."

 

which doesn't include any language for overhead or admin purposes. It is entirely possible they deduct the credit card processing fees, but again, that would be an internal business practice that only someone on their internal business side would know.

 

Perhaps we can get some guidance from how the tips used to be distributed until several years ago. Prior to auto tipping it was quite simple, you received envelopes and gave the money to the following people.

 

Steward, Assistant Steward, Head Housekeeper

 

Waiter, Assistant Waiter and assistant Maitre'd for your area.

 

That was it however it was not confused by Select dining, specialties, Blu, Luminae and whatever. Basically the people I mentioned got their tips and kept them. What they do now, who knows.

[neverbeenhere]

In the olden days, you tipped the listed people and then they passed money to a variety of other crew members.

[Fish Lover]

I have worked as a Barman and also managed F&B operations - not that this makes me more or less qualified to comment on tipping.

 

I stand by my opinion that the remuneration of staff is no concern to customers and simply a matter between staff and their employer. No doubt the tipping culture us encouraged by the employer and the staff to avoid taxation issues. I have happily paid income tax since I was 16 and have no sympathy with tax evasion or avoidance , legal or otherwise.

 

If Celebrity allow me to remove the AutoGrats then I will continue to do so.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Since you have no appreciation or respect for other cultures, we can only hope that you do not travel outside your own locality.

[markeb]

Perhaps we can get some guidance from how the tips used to be distributed until several years ago. Prior to auto tipping it was quite simple, you received envelopes and gave the money to the following people.

 

Steward, Assistant Steward, Head Housekeeper

 

Waiter, Assistant Waiter and assistant Maitre'd for your area.

 

That was it however it was not confused by Select dining, specialties, Blu, Luminae and whatever. Basically the people I mentioned got their tips and kept them. What they do now, who knows.

 

December will be my first Celebrity cruise, but this is a common discussion (argument) on the RCI board. I don't know that it was really that simple back in the day. I suspect there was some pooling, or that the tipped staff "retipped" some of their helpers. Which I largely consider to be none of my business. Others feel differently.

 

I think you'd need an international tax attorney to really break down the pros and cons of gratuities versus higher wages for both the cruise line and the employees. I understand the thoughts of Brits and Aussies in particular where tipping is really unusual, and of the US where it's common. There clearly are advantages to the cruiseline and the employees of working compensation the way they do, or they'd change the system.

[Team Alpha]

Interesting thread with plenty of comments that make for entertaining reading. As an Australian, the concept of tipping is somewhat foreign to us although it is becoming a little more prevalent in hospitality.

 

The first cruise we did was on Carnival Spirit which is an Australian based ship and there is no auto tipping. That said, we did tip our cabin attendant, 3 wait staff and 1 barman. In each instance we had enjoyed their high level of service and felt that engagement with them had enhanced our cruise experience. Did we tip too much or not enough? I've got absolutely no idea because we had no 'benchmark'.

 

Our second cruise had auto gratuities which we happily left in place ... for no other reason than that made it simple, easy and hassle free for us. Even so, we did tip our two stateroom attendants a bit extra because they did a wonderful job and nothing was too much trouble for them. Big shout out to Peter and Aktar our stateroom attendants from Celebrity Solstice

 

For all you happy cruisers from North America, please have a little understanding for those of us for whom tipping is out of the norm. The OP's name/signature doesn't indicate where they are from so maybe they (like me/us) are unfamiliar with tipping. Believe me when you're not used to it it can be daunting/confusing as to who to tip, when to tip and how much to tip.

 

So cut the OP a little slack, maybe there wasn't any malice in their question and maybe they have not intention to rip any of the crew off.

 

Happy cruising everybody.

[florisdekort]

So if that is the case, out of curiosity more than anything, why not leave the auto gratuities on and then give "above and beyond the minimum requirements" on top?

 

 

Precisely this!

 

 

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[bEwAbG]

From personal experience working within the US, I've been both a tipped employee and an hourly worker (assistant manager at higher wage but no tips). I always made way more as a tipped employee, and it was cash in my pocket every night. The hourly jobs paid the flat rate and that was it. I'd be lucky to get 25 or 50 cent raises every so often. My main criticism of working as a tipped employee is that if you have an off night (like a group of poor- or no-tippers), it could mess significantly with your weekly finances. Luckily these were just high school and college jobs for me, so I was working mainly for spending money.

 

These were the days before widespread use of credit cards. With the point of sale systems in place now, it's much more difficult for tipped workers to under-report their income because so much of it is auditable, and the IRS has put the onus on restaurant owners to enforce compliance through various reporting requirements. There's been a concerted effort to shore this up by the IRS in recent years. In other words, the idea that tipping employees is aiding and abetting tax evasion on any widespread level is no longer a valid criticism.

Edited November 2, 2016 by bEwAbG

[bEwAbG]

For all you happy cruisers from North America, please have a little understanding for those of us for whom tipping is out of the norm. The OP's name/signature doesn't indicate where they are from so maybe they (like me/us) are unfamiliar with tipping. Believe me when you're not used to it it can be daunting/confusing as to who to tip, when to tip and how much to tip.

 

Well, Celebrity takes the guesswork out of it with the auto-gratuities. That's why people have such a strong negative reaction to the suggestion that tips are going to be withheld. And stopping the auto-gratuity just makes it harder on the crew to sort it all out. I don't understand the rationale, personally. The tips go to people the OP may never meet face-to-face but who are providing service. Seems very arbitrary to hope the tipped staff contributes the correct amount to the pool so that those behind-the-scenes people aren't stiffed.