Why Pre-pay Gratuities

[uktog]

I am reassured, sounds like we also will be able to just do as we do here - we have often found we end up with a favourite bar tender or wait staff and will often give them a small amount extra on the last night.  At least I don't have to worry about the butler who already has had a prepaid tip but always expects more for just doing their job nothing extra!!

[KBs mum]

4 minutes ago, uktog said:

  At least I don't have to worry about the butler who already has had a prepaid tip but always expects more for just doing their job nothing extra!!

We encountered a similarly aggravating individual, though not on a ship. To get rid of him on the way out, we channeled Tommy Cooper and gave him a sealed envelope. Containing a teabag and a note saying have a drink on us. 

[Mrs Miggins]

36 minutes ago, duquephart said:

I believe it's been established pretty clearly that "gratuities" do not go into a pile which is distributed based on some formula but rather deposited in the payroll account. Cruisers who think they are actually tipping the crew are mistaken. Just more marketing BS.

Where do you get this information?  Are you saying that the tips are not distributed amongst all the crew ?

 

[KBs mum]

The question is are tips part of salary or in addition to. We pay the suggested amount in case its part of salary, happy for it to be distributed to all crew, the engineers are vital for an enjoyable cruise. 

If we are certain tipping is in addition to salary as it is in the UK, we don't routinely tip anywhere. 

 

[duquephart]

37 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Where do you get this information?  Are you saying that the tips are not distributed amongst all the crew ?

 

 

This has been thoroughly worked over in other threads. People think that their "gratuities" are put in some sort of a pot which is divided up, according to some secret formula, upon completion of the cruise. That, essentially, everyone gets a "bonus" of sorts that is dependent on how much $$$ were added to the pot by the participants in the just ended cruise. Anecdotal evidence provided by crew members has apparently shown otherwise. Crew are paid at a set and contractually agreed upon level which in part anticipates how much money on average is contributed to the payroll by the line's customers by way of "gratuities", prepaid or otherwise. Viking knows how much they are asking their customers to contribute as well as typical compliance experience and is therefore able to determine how much of the given pay level they need to cover themselves. It would be much more honest and ethical for the cruise line to pay their employees a living wage and include that cost in the advertised fares.

[duquephart]

45 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

The question is are tips part of salary or in addition to. We pay the suggested amount in case its part of salary, happy for it to be distributed to all crew, the engineers are vital for an enjoyable cruise. 

If we are certain tipping is in addition to salary as it is in the UK, we don't routinely tip anywhere. 

 

 

The engineers are probably not among the "tipped" employees.

[uktog]

I have to disagree with what is written above based by what I am told by long term officers who are friends.  

 

Do not be taken in by the crew who present you with a story (worse still accompanied by showing you a photo of their children on their phone) - they know what they are doing, they are hoping to tug your heart for a personal extra based on misinformation.  Crew are given a monthly payment in addition to base salary based on the gratuities paid on board.

 

Viking have also been extremely kind to their crew during lockdown, rotating contracts to keep as many earning onboard as possible and paying for quarantine time.  Some of the other premium lines have also done this, the larger operators have not been as kind.

[Selion]

5 minutes ago, duquephart said:

It would be much more honest and ethical for the cruise line to pay their employees a living wage and include that cost in the advertised fares.

A living wage in southeast Asia is a fraction of a living wage in the US or Europe.  While cruise lines are all flying flags of convenience and exploiting cheap labor from less developed countries, we can't say for sure that cruise line jobs are low-paying jobs for those countries.

 

That said, I wish all cruise lines would include the so-called "gratuities" in the cruise fare for the US market.  In the end we all pay for it.

 

Back to the original topic.  I prepaid them using OBC for our March cruise.  On my other cruises, I'll prepay them if the cruise line announces the gratuities are increasing before the sailing date.

[Mrs Miggins]

41 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

The engineers are probably not among the "tipped" employees.

Would love to hear from someone who has more than 'anecdotal evidence'  It would be good to hear from Heidi13.

[duquephart]

I have no anecdotal evidence in this regard. I do know that highly trained and skilled professionals typically are not tipped employees.

[KBs mum]

@Heidi13 Sorry to bother you, there's a question come up you might be able to answer re. How gratuities are distributed on Viking ships.

Are gratuities on top of or part of salary, and do they go to engineering as well as the hotel crew. 

[Mrs Miggins]

39 minutes ago, duquephart said:

I have no anecdotal evidence in this regard. I do know that highly trained and skilled professionals typically are not tipped employees.

You used the term in your previous reply regarding your knowledge of distribution of tips .

[duquephart]

57 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

You used the term in your previous reply regarding your knowledge of distribution of tips .

 

I have no knowledge of how tips are distributed. I merely brought up what has been reported elsewhere.

[Mrs Miggins]

3 minutes ago, duquephart said:

I have no knowledge of how tips are distributed.

    Exactly.  Neither have I.  

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, KBs mum said:

@Heidi13 Sorry to bother you, there's a question come up you might be able to answer re. How gratuities are distributed on Viking ships.

Are gratuities on top of or part of salary, and do they go to engineering as well as the hotel crew. 

 

The distribution of the "Tips" is often a closely guarded secret. To put it into perspective, when our son was a Senior 2nd Officer with P&O/Princess, he was not privy to that information. They are not normally available to the Deck or Engineering Departments, only the Hotel, but exactly who and in what proportion is not normally published.

 

I didn't chat with the crew specifically regarding distribution of tips, as on World Cruises, they are included in the base fare. They did mention that they are well paid compared to other cruise lines.

 

With Princess, the tips were pooled across the entire fleet and were paid into bank accounts, I believe monthly.

 

Hours of work and the minimum remuneration are laid out in the Maritime Labour Convention (Manila) - 2006, as amended. I have no experience how Viking handle the tips, but with Princess they were required to bring crew up to the minimum required.

[duquephart]

21 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Would love to hear from someone who has more than 'anecdotal evidence'  It would be good to hear from Heidi13.

 

Now you have heard.

[duquephart]

21 hours ago, KBs mum said:

@Heidi13 Sorry to bother you, there's a question come up you might be able to answer re. How gratuities are distributed on Viking ships.

Are gratuities on top of or part of salary, and do they go to engineering as well as the hotel crew. 

 

And so have you.

[KBs mum]

35 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

And so have you.

Are you FlyerTalker in disguise?

 

Somebody suggested asking Heidi about gratuities , I asked him, he answered, I thanked him. Moving on. 

[CILCIANRQTS]

On 11/22/2021 at 1:45 PM, uktog said:

I have to disagree with what is written above based by what I am told by long term officers who are friends.  

 

Do not be taken in by the crew who present you with a story (worse still accompanied by showing you a photo of their children on their phone) - they know what they are doing, they are hoping to tug your heart for a personal extra based on misinformation.  Crew are given a monthly payment in addition to base salary based on the gratuities paid on board.

 

Viking have also been extremely kind to their crew during lockdown, rotating contracts to keep as many earning onboard as possible and paying for quarantine time.  Some of the other premium lines have also done this, the larger operators have not been as kind.

I have noted a pattern on every cruise we have been on.

It appears a small portion of the crew on each sailing might be designated to present the “I’m going home to see my new baby after this trip” AND they repeat it regularly to all their customers during the cruise. I suspect there may be an attempt to enhance their final day tips.

No, I have no proof this is happening, other than a very consistent pattern of behavior. I’m sure many will disagree. 

[Heidi13]

18 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

I have noted a pattern on every cruise we have been on.

It appears a small portion of the crew on each sailing might be designated to present the “I’m going home to see my new baby after this trip” AND they repeat it regularly to all their customers during the cruise. I suspect there may be an attempt to enhance their final day tips.

No, I have no proof this is happening, other than a very consistent pattern of behavior. I’m sure many will disagree. 

 

Might be my accent, but not something I have ever experienced. Only time I hear about crew family is when we initiate the conversation, as we try to know more about them.

[KBs mum]

26 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

I have noted a pattern on every cruise we have been on.

It appears a small portion of the crew on each sailing might be designated to present the “I’m going home to see my new baby after this trip” AND they repeat it regularly to all their customers during the cruise. I suspect there may be an attempt to enhance their final day tips.

No, I have no proof this is happening, other than a very consistent pattern of behavior. I’m sure many will disagree. 

I've not encountered it, either said to us or overheard to others. 

[uktog]

26 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

I have noted a pattern on every cruise we have been on.

It appears a small portion of the crew on each sailing might be designated to present the “I’m going home to see my new baby after this trip” AND they repeat it regularly to all their customers during the cruise. I suspect there may be an attempt to enhance their final day tips.

No, I have no proof this is happening, other than a very consistent pattern of behavior. I’m sure many will disagree. 

Interesting, we had exactly that on MSC on a round UK sailing out of Glasgow - not necessarily a good place to try it.  Fell flat not least because we knew that none of the crew were due to go home for a further four months!

[KBs mum]

18 minutes ago, uktog said:

Interesting, we had exactly that on MSC on a round UK sailing out of Glasgow - not necessarily a good place to try it.  Fell flat not least because we knew that none of the crew were due to go home for a further four months!

Bit of a steep learning curve for them. Wonder how long it took them to give up on it😁

[Blackduck59]

One of the most irritating things on Celebrity is the constant soliciting for perfect scores on the customer survey card. It was right in your face for days. I do hope there are no customer service surveys on Viking, they are irritating especially when anything less than a perfect score apparently has ramifications. 

The bottom line is was the service you received what you expect for the price of your cruise? Was it above and beyond? If so you may choose to leave a cash gratuity for those who stood out.

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

One of the most irritating things on Celebrity is the constant soliciting for perfect scores on the customer survey card. It was right in your face for days. I do hope there are no customer service surveys on Viking, they are irritating especially when anything less than a perfect score apparently has ramifications. 

The bottom line is was the service you received what you expect for the price of your cruise? Was it above and beyond? If so you may choose to leave a cash gratuity for those who stood out.

Oh don't remind me of the sob stories for the perfect 10.....