Prepay gratuities or not?!

[springfire]

10 hours ago, Mythbuster said:

Just be aware that what you propose will result in many behind the scenes support staff not receiving any tips from you.  The cabin stewards relies on many people to provide their excellent services such as their assistants (who you may never see), laundry and maintenance workers.  All these people share in the auto paid gratuities.

It is just wrong of Royal to expect passengers to tip crew behind the scene.  

[sellwingri]

20 hours ago, taymorel1 said:

Did not know this. We went on our first cruise on Royal last month and used the envelopes for extra tips.  Our room attendant was awesome. I will make sure to give the extra directly to the person next time. 

 

 

I had a stateroom attendant tell me this a couple of years ago and I confirmed it with another one who we became close to over 19 days in the same cabin.  Royal Caribbean should come clean and let everyone know.

[Mythbuster]

8 hours ago, springfire said:

It is just wrong of Royal to expect passengers to tip crew behind the scene.  

I disagree.  If they are not included then their salary is increased and your cruise price is increased proportionately so you will pay the same price anyway.   By including them in the tip pool they feel part of the team and incented to support the team.  I believe everyone's pay should be based on performance with very small guaranteed salary.

[Mythbuster]

On 7/20/2019 at 4:44 PM, springfire said:

I have heard people say this before but I have heard many people deny as well .  I really wish Royal (and other cruise lines) would come clean on who gets to keep the gratuities. 

They are very clear who gets the gratuities.  Here is an excerpt from their Tip Policy:

What is Royal Caribbean's service gratuities (tips) price and policy?

The automatic service gratuity is $14.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Junior Suites and below, or $17.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Grand Suites and above, applied to each guest’s SeaPass account on a daily basis. The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories. 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.

 

As for who gets to keep extra tips, there are policies and then are practices.  The policy may be to give to the pool but practice may be to keep the whole thing and not report.  Depending on how the individual you are tipping feels, he/she may tell you one thing or another. 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Mythbuster

[springfire]

1 minute ago, Mythbuster said:

They are very clear who gets the gratuities.  Here is an excerpt from their Tip Policy:

What is Royal Caribbean's service gratuities (tips) price and policy?

The automatic service gratuity is $14.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Junior Suites and below, or $17.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Grand Suites and above, applied to each guest’s SeaPass account on a daily basis. The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories. 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.

Sorry but nothing here is clear about this policy!  Royal use to make it clear on gratuities but now the won't.  I would never prepay gratuities but if you want to prepay your gratuities, go for it.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

18 minutes ago, Mythbuster said:

I believe everyone's pay should be based on performance with very small guaranteed salary.

Totally disagree!🙄😱

The problem starts with the definition of "performance".....🤮

[Mythbuster]

1 minute ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Totally disagree!🙄😱

The problem starts with the definition of "performance".....🤮

This subject is always a big debate.   In the case of tipping it is simply whether or not a service is delivered to the customer's expectations as defined by the customer.  100% fixed pay leads to mediocrity at best not meritocracy.

[Thorben-Hendrik]

4 minutes ago, Mythbuster said:

In the case of tipping it is simply whether or not a service is delivered to the customer's expectations as defined by the customer.

👍

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Totally disagree!🙄😱

The problem starts with the definition of "performance".....🤮

 

East Germany 🤔

[icsys]

2 hours ago, Mythbuster said:

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.

 

The bar staff get 18% from purchased packages and every drink ordered. They get a share of the daily grats as well?

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, icsys said:

 

The bar staff get 18% from purchased packages and every drink ordered.  ...

 

From what we have been told, if they are filling an order from someone with a drink package, there is no additional tip per drink.  They have a fixed pool they share from the tips on the drink packages.

[icsys]

32 minutes ago, icsys said:

 

The bar staff get 18% from purchased packages and every drink ordered. They get a share of the daily grats as well?

 

26 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

From what we have been told, if they are filling an order from someone with a drink package, there is no additional tip per drink.  They have a fixed pool they share from the tips on the drink packages.

 

To be honest, that's what I would expect to happen.

I should have been more clear and wrote '18% from every drink ordered that is charged to your onboard account'.

 

[actuarian]

I would never prepay if I have a non-refundable OBC, since the OBC can be applied to gratuities but only if one does not prepay.  Otherwise, it really does not make any difference either way since I would never ask to have gratuities removed.  I do not think that the automatic gratuities should be considered gratuities at all but simply a part of the crew salaries that get first deducted from the cruise fare so that an artificially low fare can be advertised and then get added back again.

[Mythbuster]

2 hours ago, icsys said:

 

The bar staff get 18% from purchased packages and every drink ordered. They get a share of the daily grats as well?

No not both, the way I understand it is that the direct bar staff (bar tenders, head bar tender and waiters) split the 18% on the tab as well as any extra tips given.  The auto-gratuities are shared with the behind the scenes staff such as those who deliver the bottles and stock the bars, clean the bars and tables, dishwashers, etc.

[ReneeFLL]

On 7/16/2019 at 8:18 AM, cruiselover19811981 said:

Last time we sailed with Royal, we had the old school "envelope" system. Our past few cruises on NCL were all the prepaid gratuity system. So what do most of you do? I am tempted to prepay and get it over with on one hand, but then don't want to give the cruise line my money ahead of time on the other hand. Thoughts?

 

I was always a big proponent of paying ahead of time. That was until I found out that since I had already pre-paid then I wasn't able to put my obc towards the gratuities. I thought I could get a refund and then pay with the obc. It was a no go. We hit the liquor store and bought a bunch of liquor which I really didn't want to, but there was no way I was going to loose it. The liquor will eventually get used. The last several trips I just let Royal charge my card at the end of the trip. I don't have to do anything or worry and they are taken care of.