Baggage handlers

[Trickie Dickie]

We were just on Explorer OTS November 19 via terminal G in Miami. Our shuttle dropped us and our luggage by the curb on the road. Baggage handler 1 yelled at us and told us to move our bags onto the curb, about 4 feet. My DH did this as I cannot lift, I moved to the side. Baggage handler 2 then moved our bags 3 feet onto a cart. DH gave him $5. While this was happening, Baggage handler 1 walked up to me and suggested that I should tip him. I told him his partner was tipped as he was the one that stacked our bags on the cart. This got me thinking. Why on earth are we tipping so much for so little service? Tip someone who yelled at me to bring him my bag. I’m reconsidering this whole bag drop off tipping thing. The porter coming off the ship does more of a service.

 

Opinions?

[snl2000]

We are currently on the Liberty of the Seas. The porter took our luggage directly from the back of our car. He was tipped. I would NEVER tip a porter who yelled at us. Instead I would have put him in his place. He works for US. He’s not there to direct us. Of course, after that, I may never have seen my luggage again. 

Edited December 10, 2019 by snl2000

[dogs4fun]

Wow - how rude - sorry you experienced this! I also would not tip such a rude baggage handler. Did they work for the cruise line? If so, did you report him (and the person who asked for the tip)? If the baggage handler worked for the cruise line, I would ask for their name and report them to RCL and inform the rude person that I intended to report. Probably wouldn't do much good but it would make me feel better for calling them on their unacceptable behavior.

[c-boy]

that's interesting, makes me wonder how often this happens.  Out right extortion with that approach. You have the option of not tipping at all. Most longshoremen do not verbally solicit  tips, It's the bulls/shot callers that run the dock and you met one. As to why your tipping so much for so little service is .... it's a toll.  In order for your personal belongings to cross over the bridge you have to pay the troll.  

[sanger727]

I absolutely wouldn't have tipped the one that yelled at me or one who requested a tip. I agree with a previous poster that usually when we get to the port the porters grab the bags out of the back, or the drivers grabs them and hands them off to the porter. 

[DarrenM]

46 minutes ago, Trickie Dickie said:

 

We were just on Explorer OTS November 19 via terminal G in Miami. Our shuttle dropped us and our luggage by the curb on the road. Baggage handler 1 yelled at us and told us to move our bags onto the curb, about 4 feet. My DH did this as I cannot lift, I moved to the side. Baggage handler 2 then moved our bags 3 feet onto a cart. DH gave him $5. While this was happening, Baggage handler 1 walked up to me and suggested that I should tip him. I told him his partner was tipped as he was the one that stacked our bags on the cart. This got me thinking. Why on earth are we tipping so much for so little service? Tip someone who yelled at me to bring him my bag. I’m reconsidering this whole bag drop off tipping thing. The porter coming off the ship does more of a service.

 

Opinions?

 

absolutely agree with you. Shocking attitude

[donaldsc]

We never tip baggage handlers in the US.  They are overpaid union members who extort or scare you by suggesting that if you do not pay them, your luggage will not get onto the ship.  All they do is carry your luggage 2 feet and put it on a cart.  The crewmen on the ship do most of the work in getting the luggage to your room.  

 

Figure it out. Suppose you tip them $5 for 2 minutes of work and they handle luggage for 30 passengers per hour.   That works out to an hourly wage rate of $150 per hour.  Do you get paid $150 per hour on your job?  Also, the transaction is a cash transaction so I wonder how much of the $150 gets reported to the IRS.  

 

DON

[c-boy]

 ^ 🤣 you think to much

Edited December 10, 2019 by c-boy

[SRF]

The baggage handlers that take you bags when you arrive at the terminal are longshoremen.  And as this is prime work, senior ones.  They make well into the 6 figures.

 

They are responsible for taking your bags, putting them in the cart, and getting the cart onto the ship.  The rest is handled by crew.

 

The porters, who take you bags from the luggage area to your car when you return, may be port employees, and paid less.

 

I do not tip the longshoremen.  They make more than me.  I do tip porters, if I use them.

[leaveitallbehind]

3 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Wow - how rude - sorry you experienced this! I also would not tip such a rude baggage handler. Did they work for the cruise line? If so, did you report him (and the person who asked for the tip)? If the baggage handler worked for the cruise line, I would ask for their name and report them to RCL and inform the rude person that I intended to report. Probably wouldn't do much good but it would make me feel better for calling them on their unacceptable behavior.

 

As mentioned by SRF, the baggage handlers at the port are not cruise line employees, but rather long longshoremen contracted by the Port Authority.  Complaining to the cruise line would have no impact other than they could perhaps pass your comments on to the responsible parties.

 

In fact none of the pier employees encountered prior to boarding, which include the check in staff, are cruise line employees - they are all 3rd party employees contracted through the port authority.  Additionally there are Government employees working as Immigration and Customs officers.

 

The first contact you have with cruise line employees is those you encounter on board.

Edited December 10, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

The baggage handlers that take you bags when you arrive at the terminal are longshoremen.  And as this is prime work, senior ones.  They make well into the 6 figures.

 

1 hour ago, SRF said:

The porters, who take you bags from the luggage area to your car when you return, may be port employees, and paid less.

 

Are you absolutely certain that there is a difference between who handles the luggage when arriving at the terminal and those who handle the luggage when we return?  

 

 

[leaveitallbehind]

8 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

 

Are you absolutely certain that there is a difference between who handles the luggage when arriving at the terminal and those who handle the luggage when we return?  

 

 

 

Not speaking for SRF, but I think they essentially are one and the same. To my understanding SRF is correct regarding seniority and a pecking order of jobs - and shift times. So those helping with your luggage off the ship may be at a different seniority than those checking it in upon arrival.  In either case they are not cruise line employees and are employed by the Port Authority,

Edited December 10, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[ldubs]

10 hours ago, donaldsc said:

They are overpaid union members who extort or scare you by suggesting that if you do not pay them, your luggage will not get onto the ship.  

 

 

I've heard this here on CC but never experienced anything remotely like a threat.  Have you actually experienced this?  

[dogs4fun]

15 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

As mentioned by SRF, the baggage handlers at the port are not cruise line employees, but rather long longshoremen contracted by the Port Authority.

 

In fact none of the pier employees encountered prior to boarding, which include the check in staff, are cruise line employees - they are all 3rd party employees contracted through the port authority.  Additionally there are Government employees working as Immigration and Customs officers.

 

The first contact you have with cruise line employees is those you encounter on board.

Interesting - had no idea that baggage handlers & check-in staff are not employed by the cruise lines. The baggage handlers we have encountered have all been on cruises that originated or culminated in European ports. We self disembarked on the handful of TA cruises that ended in Miami & Ft. Lauderdale.

Anyway, never had an experience remotely similar to that experienced by the OP.

[matamanoa]

My husband and I left on cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale for many years and we always experienced the same unfriendly attitude by the luggage handlers that took our bags from us and then waited with their hands out.  It wasn't until we started cruising in other places around the world, that we saw the more civilized way of greeting passengers and handling their luggage and never was a tip expected.    The American handlers do not make a good first impression.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, matamanoa said:

My husband and I left on cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale for many years and we always experienced the same unfriendly attitude by the luggage handlers that took our bags from us and then waited with their hands out.  It wasn't until we started cruising in other places around the world, that we saw the more civilized way of greeting passengers and handling their luggage and never was a tip expected.    The American handlers do not make a good first impression.

 

The concept of tipping is likely more relative to the US market and may be expected by those baggage handlers, but courtesy should be worldwide.  And BTW, we also have not encountered issues in the US as described by the OP.  Although some friendlier than others, they have always been courteous with us. Unfortunately, our least pleasant experience with less than courteous staff was in Vancouver, BC.  I guess people can have bad days wherever they are based.

Edited December 11, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[leaveitallbehind]

2 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Interesting - had no idea that baggage handlers & check-in staff are not employed by the cruise lines. The baggage handlers we have encountered have all been on cruises that originated or culminated in European ports. We self disembarked on the handful of TA cruises that ended in Miami & Ft. Lauderdale.

Anyway, never had an experience remotely similar to that experienced by the OP.

 

We have a friend who is employed as a check in person at one of the US ports and not only are they not affiliated with the cruise lines, they also can represent more than one cruise line depending on what ships are in port and where they are assigned. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[clo]

20 hours ago, SRF said:

I do not tip the longshoremen. 

This has been mentioned before. Are they in a particular uniform or such?

[leaveitallbehind]

10 minutes ago, clo said:

This has been mentioned before. Are they in a particular uniform or such?

They would be the only people handling your luggage at the passenger drop off as you board or disembark and as I recall typically would be wearing a yellow or orange safety vest.  They would also have an ID tag.

Edited December 11, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[Sweetnspicy]

On our January cruise out of Long Beach I waited in a long line to give my bag to a luggage handler, when I got to the front he said “I don’t do this job for free” and stuck his hand out! I thought it was so rude! He hadn’t even taken my bag yet and was waiting for his tip. I grabbed my stuff and walked away and he yelled” Good luck getting your bag on the ship Sweetheart!” 
 

I waked a few feet away and another luggage handler came out with another luggage trolley and he took my bag, told me to have a wonderful vacation and off he went! I would have given him a tip but he was gone in a flash! 

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, Sweetnspicy said:

On our January cruise out of Long Beach I waited in a long line to give my bag to a luggage handler, when I got to the front he said “I don’t do this job for free” and stuck his hand out! I thought it was so rude! He hadn’t even taken my bag yet and was waiting for his tip. I grabbed my stuff and walked away and he yelled” Good luck getting your bag on the ship Sweetheart!” 
 

I waked a few feet away and another luggage handler came out with another luggage trolley and he took my bag, told me to have a wonderful vacation and off he went! I would have given him a tip but he was gone in a flash! 

 

Yikes!  You just answered my question a few posts back to DonaldSC.    I generally don't have the patience or want to take the time to deal with people's nonsense, but might have become a little "testy" if I encountered this guy.   

[Toofarfromthesea]

2 hours ago, clo said:

This has been mentioned before. Are they in a particular uniform or such?

 

In the US, if they are handling baggage on the pier, and there are no longshoremen picketing the pier, you can be sure they are longshoremen.

[Heidi13]

On 12/10/2019 at 8:43 AM, dogs4fun said:

Did they work for the cruise line? If so, did you report him (and the person who asked for the tip)? If the baggage handler worked for the cruise line, I would ask for their name and report them to RCL and inform the rude person that I intended to report. Probably wouldn't do much good but it would make me feel better for calling them on their unacceptable behavior.

In most ports, the baggage handlers are Longshoremen and since their assignments are normally based on seniority, the senior ones take the easy cruise ship jobs. The chap requesting the tip probably make >$100K.

[davekathy]

4 hours ago, Sweetnspicy said:

On our January cruise out of Long Beach I waited in a long line to give my bag to a luggage handler, when I got to the front he said “I don’t do this job for free” and stuck his hand out! I thought it was so rude! He hadn’t even taken my bag yet and was waiting for his tip. I grabbed my stuff and walked away and he yelled” Good luck getting your bag on the ship Sweetheart!” 
 

I waked a few feet away and another luggage handler came out with another luggage trolley and he took my bag, told me to have a wonderful vacation and off he went! I would have given him a tip but he was gone in a flash! 

Man, I guess we have been lucky as we have never experienced an assholes like that. If I would have I would have told the *****, correct, you are over paid as it is. Right on that you walked way and another person was there to help you. That's always been our experiences. Friendly. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by davekathy

[donaldsc]

8 hours ago, matamanoa said:

My husband and I left on cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale for many years and we always experienced the same unfriendly attitude by the luggage handlers that took our bags from us and then waited with their hands out.  It wasn't until we started cruising in other places around the world, that we saw the more civilized way of greeting passengers and handling their luggage and never was a tip expected.    The American handlers do not make a good first impression.

 

+1 on that.

 

DON