When did the gratituites increase?

[livingonthebeach]

1 minute ago, vjmatty said:

 

This used to drive me nuts, back when I bartended and waited tables during law school and the tipping culture had kind of a creepy element to it.... the restaurant owner even told me I should take off my wedding ring at work to get more tips.  Back then, sexual harassment of female wait staff by customers was acceptable and expected, and you had to play along or you didn't get a decent tip.  The one waiting tables was the one dealing with this creepy interaction yet had to share tips with those who were shielded from it.  I am hoping the culture has changed since then, and if not, it is a good argument for just paying a reasonable wage and eliminating the tip system.

 

Wow -- thanks for sharing. I think things have changed a bit since then but then not by a whole lot. I agree that maybe this country needs to take cues from the European Model of having tipping included.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

25 minutes ago, karl_nj said:

I don’t feel it’s unreasonable to know what things will cost ahead of time. It’s nice to know how much I’ll be charged for parking. It’s good to know what drinks or specialty dining is going to cost. It would be nice to know what the service charge is going to be on my cruise in two weeks. 

The reason I started the thread because gratitudes were up to $16 in the edoc, which surprised me , 

Which was higher than on the website , like you I just like to know my cost 

I was wondering how I missing a thread about the increase, because no way this could be the first one 😱

I prefer automatic tipping because to me it feels weird to give someone a tip for doing their job 

[not-enough-cruising]

29 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

Most resorts fees are much higher than Royal charges. 

And are very clear on what they cover. 

[DirtyDawg]

21 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

The reason I started the thread because gratitudes were up to $16 in the edoc, which surprised me , 

Which was higher than on the website , like you I just like to know my cost 

I was wondering how I missing a thread about the increase, because no way this could be the first one 😱

I prefer automatic tipping because to me it feels weird to give someone a tip for doing their job 

9 pages in and  I bet you now know how Victor Frankenstein felt about his creation! 😁

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[Jarmo]

Figured as much.

[Seville2Cabo]

13 minutes ago, flamingos said:

 

Well, technically, they are indeed travel.  That is a weird hill to die on. 🙂

I guess I have a different definition.  Working in petrochemicals, I've has sales responsibilties (different times) in SE Asia, Japan, South America and Mexico and Europe .  Until you land in Jakarta, Manila or other cities and try to find customers, you have not traveled.  Sorry, but a med cruise is not real travel IMO.  BTW. I had 350,000 Pan Am miles going to Asia.  I bed not may others can say that.   

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I guess I have a different definition.  Working in petrochemicals, I've has sales responsibilties (different times) in SE Asia, Japan, South America and Mexico and Europe .  Until you land in Jakarta, Manila or other cities and try to find customers, you have not traveled.  Sorry, but a med cruise is not real travel IMO.  BTW. I had 350,000 Pan Am miles going to Asia.  I bed not may others can say that.   

We've reached the "my travel is better than your travel" part of the show

 

 

[livingonthebeach]

14 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I guess I have a different definition.  Working in petrochemicals, I've has sales responsibilties (different times) in SE Asia, Japan, South America and Mexico and Europe .  Until you land in Jakarta, Manila or other cities and try to find customers, you have not traveled.  Sorry, but a med cruise is not real travel IMO.  BTW. I had 350,000 Pan Am miles going to Asia.  I bed not may others can say that.   

 

Really? And you care to comment on my travel experiences which have probably been less exciting than yours?

[Seville2Cabo]

18 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

We've reached the "my travel is better than your travel" part of the show

 

 

Yes. I try to stay away from that, but when someone claims to be a world traveler because they went on a med cruise, it pisses me off. 

[bridedoll1026]

On 7/29/2022 at 12:44 PM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

Exactly what we do on every cruise. 

I never considered that until today. We usually have our "service fees" automatically deducted daily. We end up giving extra tips at the end of the cruise to waiters & stateroom attendant. We tip bartenders as we go. If we divided the daily gratuities by 3 the way we'd really like to "tip", the people who serve us best will be actually be getting more than they do now. RC should supplement the people behind the scenes.

[jimvern1966]

Confession..... I didn't read all of the NINE pages of comments, but I did check my docs, it shows the gratuities at $14.50........  what am I missing??

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, jimvern1966 said:

Confession..... I didn't read all of the NINE pages of comments, but I did check my docs, it shows the gratuities at $14.50........  what am I missing??

Maybe this thread should now morph into how RCI's IT dept. sucks.

[coaster]

4 minutes ago, jimvern1966 said:

Confession..... I didn't read all of the NINE pages of comments, but I did check my docs, it shows the gratuities at $14.50........  what am I missing??

Seems to of increased for those of us sailing the last week of August and beyond. What is your sailing date?

Edited July 31, 2022 by coaster

[Tlbecker1]

2 minutes ago, coaster said:

Seems to of increased for those of us sailing the last week if August and beyond. What is your sailing date?

Exactly.  Our 8-22 cruise docs shows $14.50 and our 8-29 shows $16.00.  I am more than happy to pay the increase.  So what if I didn’t know about the increase until I downloaded my 8-29 docs today….

[F27TW]

On 7/29/2022 at 8:25 AM, LEMJMcC said:

There is no such thing as gratuities within RCI; they are service fees and are at the mercy of RCI's whim.  Unless of course you request that automatic "gratuities" are removed from your account once onboard and truly tip those whose service deserves it out of pocket.
 

 

Wrong.   The word "gratuity" is mentioned exactly as such how many times in this communication the OP got from RC.   See it there? : 

 

 

[CruisingHogFan]

7 hours ago, karl_nj said:

 

In the future you may want to consider tipping a bit above the base service charge if your room steward or wait staff does a great job.  The base service charge is really just part of their salary, and not really an extra tip/bonus.

 

Since, as you know, it’s embarrassing as a society and if you really can’t afford to tip maybe you shouldn’t be going on a vacation to begin with and save your money.

 

Maybe reread what I posted a little slower since that is exactly what I said we do on every cruise.

 

And yes the gratuities should be mandatory and built in the cruise fare then people wouldn’t be able to remove.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Back to what we were talking about… Did you know that gratuities are being increased and that we were told we’re being charged one amount but we’re actually being charged more?  Now isn’t that nicer than arguing?  🙅🏻‍♀️

[bonsai3s]

33 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Back to what we were talking about… Did you know that gratuities are being increased and that we were told we’re being charged one amount but we’re actually being charged more?  Now isn’t that nicer than arguing?  🙅🏻‍♀️

Our next cruise, Aug 21st, Copenhagen...$203 gratuities pre-paid.. found out there was a price drop of $173...so, actual cost is only $30....happy.

 

* When you call RCCL, (or your TA), always ask if there's a price drop.

[brillohead]

15 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

The service fee for an up coming 21 day cruise for 2 is $860.00 CAD , doesnt appear so trivial amount 

They should just pay the staff a living wage to start with 

People can tip if they want to

But the INCREASE is like 10% of that, and that's what this thread is SUPPOSED to be about.  

As for "pay the staff a living wage to start with", that argument has been beaten to death like the proverbial old horse.  In case you don't understand BASIC ECONOMICS, you're paying the wages of the staff for EVERY SINGLE COMPANY you patronize.  Restaurants. Car dealerships.  Grocery stores.  Cable/Internet.  Gas stations.   If they didn't charge it as a separate charge, they'd just tack it onto your fare.  You'd be paying it either way. 

The "gratuity" or "daily service charge" or whatever the fluff you want to call it has been part of cruising for absolute ages.  It's handled as a separate charge likely for accounting/tax reasons -- it's not actually part of Royal's revenue, as they're just passing it along to the employees, so they don't have to include it in their taxes.  If they did have to include it as part of their revenue, they'd also have to raise the fare by an additional amount to cover the increase in taxes.  

When you go on a cruise, you know that the daily service charge is a part of your cruise cost.  If you don't want to tip beyond that, you are under no obligation to do so.  But yes, as long as you are on a cruise, you should tip the minimum daily service charge to compensate the employees who are there to make your cruise experience safe and enjoyable. 

[brillohead]

10 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

I have to believe that when I go to any restaurant and tip my waiter/waitress it goes directly to them and not to the owner to be divided by some unknown formula to contribute to the busboys' and dishwashers' salaries. 

As has been stated, some restaurants pool their tips.  Others involve the waitstaff "retipping" their bartenders and bussers a percentage of their sales.  I have a friend who has worked at a casino for over a year.  All their dealer tips get pooled every shift among all the dealers on that shift.  

Tips happen.  Deal with it.  If you don't want to tip people for their work, then go on a different type of vacation.

[brillohead]

15 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

OTHER hotel services is far from transparent. This is not a true breakdown. 

If I had to guess, based on comments that I often get see here on tipping threads, the exact breakdown is probably not provided because of people wanting to be nit-picky about every single line item. 

If one of the "other hotel services" is for the laundry people, some people would want to deduct/reduce that amount because "we told the room attendant not to change our sheets and we used the same towels all week". 

 

Same for if one of the line items was for the people who stock the items in the storage area for the room attendants or who remove the garbage each day, because "we brought our own toiletries / we didn't generate any trash in our room".  

I remember back in the 80s (heck, I'm pretty sure our early 2000s cruises were still this way), we would get a list of all the people we were expected to tip, and how much each person was to receive.  Back then, we were expected to tip the Maitre d', the Head Waiter, our waiter, our assistant waiter, the sommelier, the dining room cocktail server, our room attendant, and our room attendant's assistant.  It was a right PITA on the last night, doing the math and finding change to get the exact right amount in every individual's envelope.  

I *love* that the cruise line takes care of all that for me now!  I do still (usually) tip a little bit of extra cash at the end of the cruise for my MDR waiter, my MDR assistant waiter, and my room attendant, but that's because I have a couple special requests that they take care of for me, and I appreciate the effort they put forth to make my cruise the best possible experience.  
 

[brillohead]

Now, with all that being said, I *do* agree that Royal should have sent out an email to everyone who has already booked to let them know about the change in the daily service charge amount.  

It's not a large amount, and if $10.50 per person is going to break you financially, you probably shouldn't be taking a cruise in the first place.  

However, it's just good customer service to notify your passengers of this change.  I'd almost think that they intended to send out an email, but their less-than-stellar IT department dropped the ball yet again (which would also explain why the change is in the eDocs but not on the website yet).  

But anyone arguing about whether or not the crew DESERVE an extra few cents per day in their paycheck -- well, shame on you.  

[karl_nj]

4 hours ago, CruisingHogFan said:

Maybe reread what I posted a little slower since that is exactly what I said we do on every cruise.

 

And yes the gratuities should be mandatory and built in the cruise fare then people wouldn’t be able to remove.

 

Ah, sorry.  I guess I misunderstood your comment about not tipping "extra cash"—seems like you meant you never thought of doing the whole "remove the auto gratuity" and then tip using some "alternate formula."  I agree that seems like a lot of extra work for everyone (self, front desk, tipped employee), for no real benefit.  Much easier to leave the auto gratuity and then actually "tip" a bit more to anyone that goes above and beyond for any special requests.  

[nelblu]

10 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

I would never patronize those places. Sorry that you did. 

I grudgingly pay the $25 daily resort fee, even though I do not use the services covered, when I stay overnight in Atlantic City as I would lose an experience that I enjoy.

 

I believe the fee is exempt for those in tier level Diamond and above, for the casino that I visit,

[karena1]

Edocs for our August 19th cruise says:

 

Gratuities A $14.50 per guest, per day gratuity will be automatically added to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis to be shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who Things To Know 10 July 20, 2022 8:51 AM Things To Know Continued work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience. Suite guests will see a $17.50 daily gratuity