Gratuities question

[fshagan]

It is more likely that the crew members w better ratings get the better positions on the ship or the positions where they might get higher add-on tips. I really doubt )although I do not know it) that they get fired if they have 1 bad rating as there are some people who give bad ratings for a minor issue as well as others who feel positive about everything.

 

Now if a crew member gets consistently bad ratings, that might be a different issue.

 

We have heard on several different cruises that NCL has a "three strikes" policy, where three unsolicited complaints about a server resulted in their contract being terminated and being sent home at the next port with a major airport. I hope they take into account the people who complain about everything and will blame the server for their "tone" when they said no .... we've all heard it: "It's not that she told me 'no', it was the way she told me!" (which is total BS, by the way, because it's always that they were told 'no').

 

These are great jobs for them and they don't want to lose them!

[penrosepair]

Hi does anyone know if Celebrity give you the option to remove the tips from your onboard account? We've always done this in the past with both RC & Princess as we prefer to hand the cash over to the individual side who have served us during our cruise. Also that way we are sure it has gone to the right people. We generally give a small amount at the time of room service but as someone said they certainly don't seem to expect it.

[jody75]

Hi does anyone know if Celebrity give you the option to remove the tips from your onboard account?

Yes you can adjust the auto-tips at Guest Relations either up or down to zero, its your decision. There are no questions asked or any forms to complete.

[cruisestitch]

The problem with removing tips is that you don't know who the right people are -- and even if you do, finding them all is difficult. Don't limit yourself to just thinking about those who serve your table at dinner. Think about the whole day -- the people in the buffet, the people at the Aqua Spa, and so on. How would you ever find them? How would you decide what to tip them? And then there's housekeeping. You have your stateroom attendant, of course, but housekeeping is so much more than that -- all the people who are there for you all the time. The restroom attendants. The pool butlers. You couldn't possibly find them all and tip them. It is far better to leave the auto tips in place.

 

Another problem with removing them is that it is seen as a black mark against the staff.

While you don't mean it to be a problem for them, it is.

 

And, if you don't leave the auto tips in place, on Celebrity, the staff are supposed to turn over any cash tip they receive to put back into the tip pool. So it ends up that you aren't actually giving the tip to the person you hand it to. Your idea to make sure that it gets to the right person isn't how it works at all. Whereas, if you leave the auto tip in place, and then you give extra cash to someone who has gone the extra mile for you, that person does get to keep that cash tip.

 

Just a few things to think about before you remove the auto tips.

[dkjretired]

Is there a list of exactly who isn't in the "tipping structure" someplace?

 

I thought the pooled tips were for those type people...like the laundry staff for example.

They used to have a list and room service was never included. Also, not everything is pooled. Quite frankly we do our auto tips and tip someone extra who gives excellent service. IMHO people think too much into tipping, it's not rocket science.

Edited May 31, 2017 by dkjretired

[mickey89]

Today a very high percentage of cruise passengers remove the auto gratuities, that includes many North Americans. I personal don't blame them when they have risen by over 25% in the last 3 years way beyond any measure of inflation. A cabin steward if you believe the distribution rates quoted by Celebrity would have a take-home salary of $3000/month tax-free also with free board and lodge.

[penrosepair]

In the days past, the staff has oftentimes been known to guilt passengers into giving them more money by the end of the cruise. I have even seen some so blatant as to state they don't get any of the tips via the autotips and always the more subtle tactics of all their children that are starving at home, having to pay for their own flights back home, stating this is their last cruise of the contract and they don't know how they will survive for the few months without a job. On Princess, quite some time ago we would hear the cruise director begging for tips above and beyond the standard auto tips for the crew if you liked your cruise. Gone are those days ... I never see that anymore but I suspect that is exactly what just happened if one of the wait staff stated they received no tips unless they got scores of 10 on the post cruise survey.

 

Long ago ... maybe 20 years back, we were on a B2B cruise, but our waiter didn't know it. He stated he had small children and his wife was pregnant again and he was going home right after the first leg of our B2B. Not suspecting he was fibbing to us, I asked his children's names ... I don't think he expected that question and he struggled with the answer. Finding that odd but still didn't really think he was lying to us, I asked if he had any pictures of his children. He said he would bring them the next night. Well, he did so and they were pictures from a magazine and their names mysteriously changed from the previous night. OMG ... what a little con artist but we didn't let him know we were on to him. He kept on about how he still needed to raise money for his flight home in a few days ... just out and out begging for extra tips. Well, you should have seen the look on his face when he saw us show up for dinner on the second sailing of our B2B. And yes, we overheard him trying to scam the next set of passengers, too. Him and his coworkers just sat back and laughed about it. As mentioned, I never ever see that kind of behavior anymore....and certainly not on Celebrity! They do however, seem very concerned about getting that perfect score, which I honestly gave for my most recent sailing on Celebrity! My goodness, there is nothing more I could have asked for ... it was a well deserved 10!!

 

 

We've also heard stories like this in the past. One room steward actually told us they don't get wages only tips. That's why we got into the habit of removing the auto tips & handing out separate envelopes at the end.

[penrosepair]

Yes you can adjust the auto-tips at Guest Relations either up or down to zero, its your decision. There are no questions asked or any forms to complete.

 

Thank you. That's useful to know.

[Wine-O]

Yes you can adjust the auto-tips at Guest Relations either up or down to zero, its your decision. There are no questions asked or any forms to complete.

 

I'm not sure that's correct. I know you can remove automatic tips, and I know you can go to guest relations and fill out a form to add additional tips from your OBC to a particular person, i.e. stateroom attendant/waiter, but I'm pretty sure you can't lower them, for example from the $14 per day to $10 per day.

[WestLakeGirl]

Assuming that your heart is in the right place and you are trying to reward staff with your gratuities, consider that removing the automatic gratuities does just the opposite. Management sees this as the result of your dissatisfaction, so instead of creating a reward, you have placed a demerit on your server's record.

 

Without the automatic gratuity, your steward and waiter must hand over the cash they receive from you so again, your intention to reward them isn't fulfilled.

 

You may not agree with the system but that is how it works.

[penrosepair]

Assuming that your heart is in the right place and you are trying to reward staff with your gratuities, consider that removing the automatic gratuities does just the opposite. Management sees this as the result of your dissatisfaction, so instead of creating a reward, you have placed a demerit on your server's record.

 

Without the automatic gratuity, your steward and waiter must hand over the cash they receive from you so again, your intention to reward them isn't fulfilled.

 

You may not agree with the system but that is how it works.

 

Not sure I understand this answer fully as someone else has just said it's not possible to remove them anyway.

[dkjretired]

I'm not sure that's correct. I know you can remove automatic tips, and I know you can go to guest relations and fill out a form to add additional tips from your OBC to a particular person, i.e. stateroom attendant/waiter, but I'm pretty sure you can't lower them, for example from the $14 per day to $10 per day.

 

That has always been the policy, you can remove the auto tips but you can't lower them for individuals or all. Its either all eliminated or not.

[Alakegirl]

You CAN remove them completely but you CANNOT lower the amount designated. But if you remove them completely there are all sorts of unintended negative outcomes.

[dodger1964]

I wish Celebrity would be more transparent as to who gets what in the way of tip allocations.

[MrsNorman]

I wish Celebrity would be more transparent as to who gets what in the way of tip allocations.

 

I agree, and what happens if I opted for "free gratuities" as part of the deal when I booked? We have done so on three out of 4 of the cruises we have been on (or booked for next year). We have chosen to receive this perk rather than OBC but feel a bit uneasy about whether the staff are actually getting the tips.

[markeb]

I wish Celebrity would be more transparent as to who gets what in the way of tip allocations.

 

This seems to be a fairly common sentiment on the Celebrity and RCI boards, and I always find myself wondering if people have the same concerns about their local Outback Steakhouse or favorite pizza place at home? My wife and I are eating out this weekend at a Michelin 3-star restaurant in New York. We'll probably have a waiter, one or two assistants, a sommelier, and at least a busser. I have no idea, nor any expectation to know, how my gratuity will be split among staff. I do know that it will be split among "front of house" employees as that is the law in the U.S., which doesn't apply on a cruise ship, but, otherwise the division of gratuity is a compensation process between an employer and employee and I'm neither.

 

I'm not fond of the current vagueness of whether room service, as a prime example, is included in one of the broad categories, but the cruise line already tells me far more about the division of gratuities than any restaurant I've ever seen.

[CEOofVacation]

I agree, and what happens if I opted for "free gratuities" as part of the deal when I booked? We have done so on three out of 4 of the cruises we have been on (or booked for next year). We have chosen to receive this perk rather than OBC but feel a bit uneasy about whether the staff are actually getting the tips.

Opting for free gratuities from Celebrity is the same as your auto paying gratuities each day while on the ship. They get the same auto tips.

[mickey89]

I agree, and what happens if I opted for "free gratuities" as part of the deal when I booked? We have done so on three out of 4 of the cruises we have been on (or booked for next year). We have chosen to receive this perk rather than OBC but feel a bit uneasy about whether the staff are actually getting the tips.

Totally agree with you, no one really knows whether the cruise line pocket some of this extra cash or whether it all goes to the crew. We only know that when talking to the cabin steward about gratuities he had been told not to discuss with the passengers, we could see the fear in his eyes the worry for his job security.

[MrsNorman]

Give the tip to your attendant. Don't just leave it in the cabin.

 

Is that because the attendant would not know if it was for him/her, or whether the guest had just left money behind and it would seem as if the attendant had stolen it if they just took it? Or do you have another reason for saying that. On our last cruise we did leave an extra tip in the cabin, but put it in envelopes with the attendants' names on them and a thank-you for their help. I don't like the idea of passing money from hand to hand in a tipping scenario. It seems kind of patronising - or maybe I am just hypersensitive.

[MrsNorman]

Totally agree with you, no one really knows whether the cruise line pocket some of this extra cash or whether it all goes to the crew. We only know that when talking to the cabin steward about gratuities he had been told not to discuss with the passengers, we could see the fear in his eyes the worry for his job security.

 

That's interesting. On the last night of our cruise last year the waiter on the table we had most used (he and his assistant had done a brilliant job anyway) asked us that if we filled in the feedback form to please, please give them a 10 because it was very important. We did, of course. I love cruising but this is one reservation about it, how the crew are treated and whether they would lose their job if someone gave them a lower mark. It would be good if Celebrity clarified this to customers, but I have not seen anything to properly reassure us about it.

[NLH Arizona]

... we could see the fear in his eyes the worry for his job security.

And he should be worried if he tells passengers about company business, as it is between the employee and their company.

[MrsNorman]

Opting for free gratuities from Celebrity is the same as your auto paying gratuities each day while on the ship. They get the same auto tips.

 

Many thanks for your reply but it seems that while some people are reassured, like yourself, that the tips are going to the right hands, many other people still doubt and I think it is time that cruise liners like Celebrity are transparent and open about who gets what - and whether the crew will lose their jobs if they don't get a 10 on the feedback form - so that we all know.

[MrsNorman]

And he should be worried if he tells passengers about company business, as it is between the employee and their company.

 

OK but customers would want to know, and quite rightly too, about the working conditions of the people who are providing a service. There should not have to be any secrecy about it.

[NLH Arizona]

OK but customers would want to know, and quite rightly too, about the working conditions of the people who are providing a service. There should not have to be any secrecy about it.

How much do you get paid and how does your company come up with your salary? I don't really want to know, but think about how rude it would be if I really asked you this question. Do you go in to your local grocery store and ask them how they get paid or how about your hair stylist? I think it is rude to ask anyone about their salary or how their salary is derived at, etc. and I think Celebrity is totally correct with their policy of crew not talking about it and if a crew member brought it up in conversation, I would wonder why.

[Fouremco]

How much do you get paid and how does your company come up with your salary? I don't really want to know, but think about how rude it would be if I really asked you this question. Do you go in to your local grocery store and ask them how they get paid or how about your hair stylist? I think it is rude to ask anyone about their salary or how their salary is derived at, etc. and I think Celebrity is totally correct with their policy of crew not talking about it and if a crew member brought it up in conversation, I would wonder why.

I couldn't agree more. It never fails to amaze me how some cruise passengers take an inordinate interest in matters that they wouldn't think of prying into elsewhere. I can't imagine them staying at a hotel and trying to find out how the restaurant staff or chambermaids are compensated.