Gratuities on RCCL

[flacplnj]

On 12/31/2018 at 7:22 PM, cruisefan0110 said:

The tips collected by RCCL go far beyond the people you see every day.  They also go to some behind the scenes people such as laundry and others who serve the customer facing crew.  If you remove the auto-gratuity and tip cash, these tips must be reported to RCCL and pooled also.  If you leave the daily gratuity in place and tip extra to those who serve you, they will get all of that.  

 

If you remove tips and feel only tipping the people who serve you is the way to go, you are doing a dis-service to laundry help, dish washers, etc.  All of the people who make the customer facing staff look good.

 

And if you feel this way about cruise line tipping, do you advocate for honest wages to be paid for service people in the U.S.?  Just raise the prices of the food and beverages.

 

I will continue to pre-pay gratuities and add extra where deserved.

They also go to some behind the scenes people such as laundry and others who serve the customer facing crew. 

And you know this how?

[zdad59]

3 minutes ago, flacplnj said:

They also go to some behind the scenes people such as laundry and others who serve the customer facing crew. 

And you know this how?

 

From the Royal Caribbean FAQ page......

As a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

[FrankNBrew]

3 hours ago, zdad59 said:

 

You are tipping back of the house at any restaurant you go to whether you think you are or not.   It is not an optional activity for the wait staff or bartender.   It is a job requirement.

Not true. I've worked in restaurants. It's not a normal practice. My step daughter worked at a pizza joint where she brought out the food for the servers. In that position she would get a very small portion of the tips at the server's discretion. Some of the servers never tipped them. That's fine, because her hourly wage was not discounted to accommodate for tips. 

 

If the cruise lines are adjusting the pay for their back of house employees, expecting them to make it up in tips, that's terrible on their part. Tips are for the people who are directly dealing with the customers. 

 

Also, for the record, when I booked this upcoming trip nowhere was I told about the auto gratuities. That was revealed to me when I asked a question about OBC. $29/day may not be a big deal for some, but we booked this trip thinking it would be an affordable vacation. I wasn't expecting to be gouged to supplement the cruise line's payroll. 

 

Odds are good I will leave the auto gratuity in place, but the whole concept is a load of feces. If the employees deserve more, pay them more, and tack it on to the price of the cabin. Don't blame the "cheap customers" if your ship is unable to keep good help.

[zdad59]

6 minutes ago, FrankNBrew said:

Not true. I've worked in restaurants. It's not a normal practice. My step daughter worked at a pizza joint where she brought out the food for the servers. In that position she would get a very small portion of the tips at the server's discretion. Some of the servers never tipped them. That's fine, because her hourly wage was not discounted to accommodate for tips. 

 

We'll agree to disagree.   I too worked in a restaurant as a bus boy in my youth, and I did, even way back then in the stone age, get a cut of the servers tips.   So too did the folks in the kitchen.   One of my sons is currently the manager of a bar/restaurant, and there too the back of the house get a cut.    I have never seen a situation where they didn't.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Edited January 3, 2019 by zdad59

[chalky2012]

6 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

I'm not sure what you mean by all-inclusive?  You have to pay for your bar drinks and 18% is added automatically.

 

If you buy the Deluxe Drink Package, which is as close to all inclusive as you can get on a ship, the 18% is added automatically to the package price. Either way, the 18& can not be removed. Feel free to tip extra.

 

From what I understand, the bar tab tip goes to the bar staff, not the general tip pool shared among room attendants, waitstaff, etc,

 

 

Thanks for the reply HB to make it clear there is an offer on in UK just now where drinks package  is included in the initial cruise price, I was just asking should we be tipping bar staff as a matter of course or would the 18% tip already have been charged through the cruise price? RCCL  try to make out the drinks package is thrown in for free but we both know its built into the overall price.

Edited January 3, 2019 by chalky2012

[GUT2407]

3 hours ago, chalky2012 said:

Thanks for the reply HB to make it clear there is an offer on in UK just now where drinks package  is included in the initial cruise price, I was just asking should we be tipping bar staff as a matter of course or would the 18% tip already have been charged through the cruise price? RCCL  try to make out the drinks package is thrown in for free but we both know its built into the overall price.

Tip extra if you want.

 

but

 

You don’t need to.

[clean1owner]

On 1/2/2019 at 5:32 AM, SRF said:

 

How much did you tip the bus boys?  How about those in the laundry?  The pool towel person?

 

 

When you eat at a land based restaurant how much do you tip the Busboy? The Dishwasher? The Cook? The Hostess?

[clean1owner]

On 1/2/2019 at 7:26 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

 

 

 

If Royal were to eliminate the autograts and pay the staff a fair wage the price of the cruise would go up anyway and you would not save a thing. In fact I would bet that you would spend more on gratuities than you are currently as you would not see the daily service charge on your account so you would be more inclined to tip.

 

 

 

 

Who said anything about saving $$$$?  

[Thorben-Hendrik]

5 minutes ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

Who said anything about saving $$$$?  

Not tipping sure saves a lot of $! 👍 🙃

[clean1owner]

On 1/2/2019 at 1:20 PM, not-enough-cruising said:

Has anyone ever had a head waiter do anything deserving of a tip?

 

I know i haven't.

 

 

Or the Maitre D'!

 

Of all the cruises I have taken, there has been only 1 that the Maitre D' did something to deserve a tip. He moved my brother and I twice so we could have more suitable dining companions. And he was well rewarded for it.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

2 minutes ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

Or the Maitre D'!

 

Of all the cruises I have taken, there has been only 1 that the Maitre D' did something to deserve a tip. He moved my brother and I twice so we could have more suitable dining companions. And he was well rewarded for it.

What he did is the main purpose of his job! 🙄

[GarlicBread]

13 hours ago, Bee Guy said:

 

Perhaps it not that they are cheap.  Perhaps it's that they object to attempts to guilt them into conformity.

 

Nah! I'm talking about the cheap ones. Stop trying to cover up for them 😂

[clean1owner]

9 hours ago, zdad59 said:

 

I am not trying to flame with this question, but I must ask...   Other than being suspicious, why do you think the house takes a cut of the auto gratuity?   Do you have evidence of such?   If so, I would go to an all cash tip method as well.

 

One of the most common reasons people use to chastise those who don't want to auto-tip is that the workers on cruise ships are basically indentured servants working for slave wages, and the tips make up for that. 

 

These same people are more than willing to believe that the evil corporation keeping those slaves in bondage will most certainly make sure that every penny of auto-tips will go to the deserving slave, thereby raising them to at least upper poverty status.

 

Remarkable. Simply Remarkable.

[clean1owner]

10 hours ago, springfire said:

As a former Norwegian deckhand of both the Starward and Nordic Prince back in the 70's and 80's, I have a good understanding how tips use to work.  Today's cruise ships care only about profit as they are responsible to report profits back to their share holders.  Again, I respect your opinion and your right to tip as you see fit but I also don't agree with most of your views.  I will continue to tip the way I believe is right as I am sure you will do as well..

 

 

My first 2 cruises were on the Skyward. I loved that "mega" ship.   All 13,000 tons of her!

[clean1owner]

6 hours ago, zdad59 said:

 

From the Royal Caribbean FAQ page......

As a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

 

 

And there has NEVER been any inaccurate information on the RCCL website.

[springfire]

4 minutes ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

My first 2 cruises were on the Skyward. I loved that "mega" ship.   All 13,000 tons of her!

Hey now, those two sister ships were 16,000 tons.  They were big ships back when they were built in the late 60's.

[clean1owner]

35 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Not tipping sure saves a lot of $! 👍 🙃

 

 

But nobody is talking about NOT tipping. The discussion is about letting Royal distribute the money versus  giving the money directly to the people who earned the tip.

[clean1owner]

2 minutes ago, springfire said:

Hey now, those two sister ships were 16,000 tons.  They were big ships back when they were built in the late 60's.

  

 

Just like girls. You always remember your "first" with great fondness.

[clean1owner]

31 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

What he did is the main purpose of his job! 🙄

 

 

Exactly. But back in the days of tipping envelopes, there was always one for the Maitre D', whom you would likely never see until the 2nd last night of the cruise, so you had a face to put with the envelope they suggested you put $2 per day into.

[zdad59]

1 hour ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

When you eat at a land based restaurant how much do you tip the Busboy? The Dishwasher? The Cook? The Hostess?

 

In total, about 20%-30% of the tip you leave for your server.

[zdad59]

25 minutes ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

And there has NEVER been any inaccurate information on the RCCL website.

 

Are you saying the information is intentionally false ?

[marinewife67]

People are so obsessed with finding out how to stiff workers. 

[GUT2407]

Just now, marinewife67 said:

People are so obsessed with finding out how to stiff workers. 

And others totally obsessed with what others do, tipping wise.

[clean1owner]

11 minutes ago, springfire said:

Hey now, those two sister ships were 16,000 tons.  They were big ships back when they were built in the late 60's.

 

 

Since this horse has been thoroughly beaten to death, I'm going to go off topic.

 

On one of my Skyward cruises, we were in either St Thomas or St Maarten with the Starward.

 

My cabin mate and I got back to the pier with some time to spare, so we flashed our paper boarding pass, which was pretty much identical to the Starwards, except for the name on the top, and did a self guided tour of the ship. We got sidetracked and had we not heard the final "all aboard call", would have left the port on the wrong ship! They were just about to pull up the gangway and didn't want to let us off, until we showed them we were on Skyward. 

 

Let me tell you, they were not very amused!

[Thorben-Hendrik]

51 minutes ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

But nobody is talking about NOT tipping. The discussion is about letting Royal distribute the money versus  giving the money directly to the people who earned the tip.

Gratuities are optional.... so not tipping is an option! 👍