What is "Crew appreciation"

[janroatan]

One of the specials includes " crew appreciation" Is that the gratuities charge?Or do we still have to pay that?

[Jeter02]

It simply just means gratuities AKA your tips.

[janroatan]

so if we have that perk, we don,t pay the $15.50 per person per day gratuities?

[Jeter02]

Correct!

[DCThunder]

4 minutes ago, janroatan said:

so if we have that perk, we don,t pay the $15.50 per person per day gratuities?

Exactly.  You are free to tip individual crew members (bartenders/room stewards, etc.) if you wish.

[Bobbiegentry]

Marketing speak.

[MissP22]

This new term of "crew appreciation" has the connotation of making people think that if they don't tip, they don't appreciate the crew. 😄

 

[ontheweb]

13 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

This new term of "crew appreciation" has the connotation of making people think that if they don't tip, they don't appreciate the crew. 😄

 

And if you really, really want to show appreciation for a crew member, give them a write up as someone who made your cruise special. These contribute to promotions.

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

And if you really, really want to show appreciation for a crew member, give them a write up as someone who made your cruise special. These contribute to promotions.

On out last cruise I couldn't begin to count the requests I received from crew members asking for a good wright up.

It must mean more than ever since the return from Covid.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

On out last cruise I couldn't begin to count the requests I received from crew members asking for a good wright up.

It must mean more than ever since the return from Covid.

My write up story (Not actually a Princess cruise, but a HAL cruise)---In the buffet area there was one of the servers who seemed to be always aware that my lemonade glass needed a refill. I finally called her over and told her that I wanted to write her up as someone who made my cruise special, but I needed her name and thought it would be impolite to stare at her chest to learn her name. She told me her name and how to spell it.

 

And after that I could not take a drink of lemonade without more going into my glass. And even after I told her I had done the write up she would quiz me on the spelling of her name. It is now almost 4 years later, and I still remember her name, Honeyeyeo.

[Bobbiegentry]

Is everyone talking about “writing up” someone using one of the cruise line printed cards available at guest services that are turned back to guest services or using one of the 4 (or is it 5?) places provided in the post cruise survey that is emailed out after the cruise?

[Coral]

22 minutes ago, Bobbiegentry said:

Is everyone talking about “writing up” someone using one of the cruise line printed cards available at guest services that are turned back to guest services or using one of the 4 (or is it 5?) places provided in the post cruise survey that is emailed out after the cruise?

They don't have the cards anymore.

[NSWP]

15 hours ago, janroatan said:

One of the specials includes " crew appreciation" Is that the gratuities charge?Or do we still have to pay that?

Automatic Wage Subsidy, pax making up service crew wages.

[leck57]

15 hours ago, MissP22 said:

On out last cruise I couldn't begin to count the requests I received from crew members asking for a good wright up.

It must mean more than ever since the return from Covid.

 

Yes, our waiters in the DR even gave us a piece of paper with their full names on it so we made sure to get it right on our surveys. No problem for us though, both were excellent.

[sloopsailor]

On 7/11/2022 at 9:50 AM, MissP22 said:

This new term of "crew appreciation" has the connotation of making people think that if they don't tip, they don't appreciate the crew. 😄

 

 

And that would be an accurate connotation. 

[JimmyVWine]

On 7/11/2022 at 8:43 AM, janroatan said:

so if we have that perk, we don,t pay the $15.50 per person per day gratuities?

Well, you actually DID pay the gratuities.  It was just baked into your fare instead of an additional payment that you had to make later.  With most Princess "sales", there is a bit of a shell game of what you get and what you have to pay later.  But in the end, it usually comes out very close to the same price.  For example, if they throw in the Plus Beverage Package for "free" in a sale that starts today, odds are that the base fare will be higher than it was yesterday by almost the exact amount of the cost of the Plus Package if added separately.   

[GloriaF]

20 hours ago, Coral said:

They don't have the cards anymore.

True, no "you made aa difference" cards, but we did receive a page asking for our opinions of the cruise and I took this opportunity to give kudos to the excellent job our room steward, Vinton, did.

[Steelers36]

23 minutes ago, GloriaF said:

True, no "you made aa difference" cards, but we did receive a page asking for our opinions of the cruise and I took this opportunity to give kudos to the excellent job our room steward, Vinton, did.

IDC if they don't have the cards,  I can always write a note on a piece of paper and leave at the PSD addressed to the boss of that department.

 

PS - I was speaking to our MD (now DRO, but he was a MD then) on our last voyage in 2019, and I mentioned our assistant waiter.  As it turned out, we had also had him in Specialty Dining (the guy worked everywhere, including Sanctuary I think).  Nicola had just joined the ship the week before and he already new this fellow was an up-and-comer.  Yes, I told him he's a keeper for sure.  Wish I could remember his name and it would be special to run into him again.  So, the moral of the story is that a word to the top-dog can work as well.  But it is indicative in less than two weeks, the MD knew all about this assistant waiter.  I really doubt he was an assistant waiter for much longer.  But then C-19 hit, so who knows?

Edited July 12, 2022 by Steelers36

[Coral]

1 hour ago, GloriaF said:

True, no "you made aa difference" cards, but we did receive a page asking for our opinions of the cruise and I took this opportunity to give kudos to the excellent job our room steward, Vinton, did.

I did also. I mentioned several from my last cruise.

[Coral]

14 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

Yes, our waiters in the DR even gave us a piece of paper with their full names on it so we made sure to get it right on our surveys. No problem for us though, both were excellent.

I took a picture of it as I lose things between there and home.

[MissP22]

The only problem with eliminating the "you made the difference cards" is that any crew recommendations are now incorporated into the survey as I see it and I no longer wish to participate in filling out their 15 to 20 minute surveys. 

There isn't any quick way to just give a quick recommendation otherwise, is there?

[Steelers36]

The ink had hardly dried on the new name for Gratuities - Crew Incentive - before they changed it to Crew Appreciation.  I think they had it better with Crew Incentive, but perhaps they thought that was "too Corporate" sounding.  Whatever they call it, I just hope guests believe it is something earned and deserved and don't opt out.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

The only problem with eliminating the "you made the difference cards" is that any crew recommendations are now incorporated into the survey as I see it and I no longer wish to participate in filling out their 15 to 20 minute surveys. 

There isn't any quick way to just give a quick recommendation otherwise, is there?

I wonder if you can ask for a card to do so at the Purser's desk.

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

The ink had hardly dried on the new name for Gratuities - Crew Incentive - before they changed it to Crew Appreciation.  I think they had it better with Crew Incentive, but perhaps they thought that was "too Corporate" sounding.  Whatever they call it, I just hope guests believe it is something earned and deserved and don't opt out.

I always thought that the term "Crew Incentive" was horribly insulting.  Changing from "Incentive" to "Appreciation" flips the script in a good way.  "Incentive" makes it sound like the ONLY reason the crew is providing good/great service is because you are dangling $15 a day in front of their collective noses as if to get them to perform a circus trick, whereas "Appreciation" is payment on the back end as a way of saying "thank you" for a job well done.   Putting it out front and center that you are only getting good/great service because of the $15 incentive is insulting to all the hard working crew members who provide terrific service because they take pride in their work.   How the powers that be did not see this at the outset is rather astounding.    

[MissP22]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I always thought that the term "Crew Incentive" was horribly insulting.

You've go that right.

It's like saying that unless you pay them they'll have no incentive to perform their job.