Tips going Up

[Biker19]

We've been cruising RC for years and saw a noticeable difference in service when the crew "knew" they were getting gratuities regardless (most people don't know you can opt out).

Right, now the staff beg for 10s on the after cruise survey so they can keep their jobs.

[Ocean Boy]

So, then, are they going to a business model like with printers, where the printer is virtually given away but they make their money on the print cartridges? So, have some basic fare and then charge a huge chunk for staff (and then every time RCI feels like giving a raise, they just up that charge)? They already include some folks who you never see in the grats.

I doubt it as there is a difference between the two. Printer companies can afford to do that because after you buy the printer they have you on the hook for years buying ribbons. Cruise lines have a very finite amount of time to get everything out of you that they can so they will always try to find the sweet spot where the cruise price maximizes profit. But I suspect from RCI point of view the more things they can unbundle from the cruise fare the better. Then they get to play around with the fare to find the sweet price point and they can also play the same game with the add on pricing. It isn't much different from taking Johnny Rocket's and room service out of the fare. They did not remove those things and then lower fares, they just started charging extra on top of the fares and they are continually adjusting pricing both.

[Biker19]

Printer companies can afford to do that because after you buy the printer they have you on the hook for years buying ribbons.

Once RCI does away with opting out of grats, they have you on the hook for a charge that does not show up in the basic fare (and which they can and do change at will).

[AlohaPride]

I don't mean to be rude, but can we have proof? I'm on a 1/14/18 sailing and I have not received anything from Royal on this subject. I booked directly with Royal.

 

I saw the announcement on a booking I was making yesterday on the RCCL website.

[Ocean Boy]

Once RCI does away with opting out of grats, they have you on the hook for a charge that does not show up in the basic fare (and which they can and do change at will).

I certainly am not going to argue against that point. All I said was I doubt they will start practically giving away cruises just to get you on board so that you can pay all of their other charges.

 

If they did move away from allowing an opt out that would certainly make the charge less of a gratuity and more like a service charge. I wonder if that has any tax implications or if the Feds would make a move, like they did with the airlines, and require all mandatory charges to be included in the advertised fare?

[CruisingNole]

To those of you who opt out of the auto grat and "divy up" on your own, how do you tip the behind the scenes folks who you don't see face to face but get paid via gratuities?

[Saab4444]

Once RCI does away with opting out of grats, they have you on the hook for a charge that does not show up in the basic fare (and which they can and do change at will).

 

 

 

At least according to European law they must offer the option of opting out. If the guest is not free to decide they have to make it part of the base fare. Costa has been sued some years ago because they called it a mandatory service fee in addition to the published fare. They had to change it back to an optional charge. By the way: it was 5 Euro per day and not 14,50 USD.

 

We have been ok with paying a reasonable amount of auto tip but now they overdue it. Royal charges more than most other lines who offer a more upscale product and better service like Cunard.

 

 

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[Biker19]

All I said was I doubt they will start practically giving away cruises just to get you on board so that you can pay all of their other charges.

I meant giving away in the same way printer companies make next to nothing on the printer itself (they may even sell it at a loss). We are fairly close to that point already, the majority of RCCL profits come from on board spending - they make little on the the basic cruise fare (especially in lesser cabin categories).

[Ocean Boy]

To those of you who opt out of the auto grat and "divy up" on your own, how do you tip the behind the scenes folks who you don't see face to face but get paid via gratuities?

How do you suppose they were compensated in the days before auto gratuities were invented?

[Biker19]

How do you suppose they were compensated in the days before auto gratuities were invented?

Weren't they added fairly recently (the catch all "Other" category)? I thought when auto grats were first introduced, they only covered the folks you normally tipped in cash.

[Ocean Boy]

Weren't they added fairly recently (the catch all "Other" category)? I thought when auto grats were first introduced, they only covered the folks you normally tipped in cash.

Maybe, so RCI has managed to move more and more of the payroll squarely on us? If that is the case maybe the stewards and servers have not received as much of a raise as we thought. Maybe there are just more people with their hands in the pot.

 

Actually, I think maybe those other people were always included in the tip pool but RCI may feel it makes auto grats more palatable by now letting people know that there are many other people involved with the tip pool that they never bothered to tell us about before.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Ocean Boy

[CruzinSouth]

I don't disagree with the increase, however, I normally do have them remove the gratuities from my account; not to get out of paying, but I prefer to pay the gratuities in person and make sure the workers I have been in contact with are the ones that are getting the money. We have always paid the suggested amount, and many times more. We have also spoken to a few of the waiters on previous cruises and they also prefer getting paid in cash, because by paying the gratuities on your account, they have to wait sometimes a couple of weeks before they get paid.

[AlohaPride]

I don't disagree with the increase, however, I normally do have them remove the gratuities from my account; not to get out of paying, but I prefer to pay the gratuities in person and make sure the workers I have been in contact with are the ones that are getting the money. We have always paid the suggested amount, and many times more. We have also spoken to a few of the waiters on previous cruises and they also prefer getting paid in cash, because by paying the gratuities on your account, they have to wait sometimes a couple of weeks before they get paid.

 

This is our first trip with RCCL. On our usual line, HAL, if you remove the auto gratuity and pay crew members cash, they have to turn that tip in. If you leave the auto gratuity and tip cash, then they get to keep it. Is RCCL different? If you remove the auto and tip cash, they get to keep that tip?

[haply]

I much prefer the "olden days" when we paid the tips directly to the staff (both tipping individually and those envelopes that they would leave in the stateroom). Hotels and all-inclusives do not add automatic gratuities and seem to be working just fine. I also don't believe for a minute that the auto-gratuities go to the staff (at least a significant portion of it or as any significant, extra benefit as compared to direct tips).

[Clarea]

Weren't they added fairly recently (the catch all "Other" category)? I thought when auto grats were first introduced, they only covered the folks you normally tipped in cash.

In the case of stateroom helpers, the stateroom attendant would pay the helpers.

[dreadpirate3]

I much prefer the "olden days" when we paid the tips directly to the staff (both tipping individually and those envelopes that they would leave in the stateroom). Hotels and all-inclusives do not add automatic gratuities and seem to be working just fine. I also don't believe for a minute that the auto-gratuities go to the staff (at least a significant portion of it or as any significant, extra benefit as compared to direct tips).

 

They call them "resort fees" and they are anywhere from $20 - $50 per day, per room.

 

I have no issue with the automatic gratuity charges, as I remember the old days where people would not come to the dining room on the last night, and stiff their service team.

 

Now, the passengers have to make an effort to not pay gratuities to their service staff, and I have zero issues with that.

[CruisingNole]

I much prefer the "olden days" when we paid the tips directly to the staff (both tipping individually and those envelopes that they would leave in the stateroom). Hotels and all-inclusives do not add automatic gratuities and seem to be working just fine. I also don't believe for a minute that the auto-gratuities go to the staff (at least a significant portion of it or as any significant, extra benefit as compared to direct tips).

 

I've worked at over a half dozen resorts in Florida in said "olden" days. Everything was auto-gratted. It was to protect us from foreigners who don't tip and of course, cheap people. We were also tipped in cash on top by generous customers. Yes, there is a tip pool and some of the money goes to people you can't tip face to face like the setup folks.

[Vegcurry]

So if every single person on a cruise removes the auto gratuities do the crew still get paid?

 

Do Royal pay their full wages?

[Thorben-Hendrik]

They will get their guaranteed wage as per their contract !

And RCI will double the auto-tips for the next cruise;p

[Vegcurry]

So by removing auto gratuities yr not stiffing the crew you’re forcing RCI to pay them their contracted wage.

[soremekun]

My thinking is that Royal Caribbean pays them a small contracted amount and tips supplement that. So less tips means smaller take home pay. Correct?

 

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

[vacationlover_mn]

Tempted to prepay, but we have a ton of OBC that I was hoping to use it on :(. (I realize that some OBC shows up early in your planner, but we have a bunch that won’t appear until approx a month before our cruises :()

 

 

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[CruisingNole]

If they do in fact have a "guaranteed wage," it's peanuts. There's a few reasons RC is based in Liberia and one is to avoid those pesky American laws like minimum wage, health insurance, workers comp, ya know, the basics. If the workers had no incentive to actually work for their tips because there was a guaranteed wage, RC would simply do away with tips altogether, pay an hourly rate, and charge more for cruise fares.

 

It's $14.50 a DAY for crying out loud, you'd spend more than that on a tip for one meal at a nice restaurant. Pay the auto grat and tip on top like the rest of us, bunch of stingy bastards.

[Biker19]

Tempted to prepay, but we have a ton of OBC that I was hoping to use it on :(

You still can - you can simply remove the extra $1 per day at GS (financially it does the same thing).

[Vegcurry]

Guaranteed wage = contracted wage. Whichever way you do the maths Royal Caribbean is taking a hefty chunk of our tips!