Carnival didn’t have option to add tips when booking from USA

[lasekeye]

My Australian & NZ cruises (booked with USA Carnival TA), didn’t give me the option to pre-pay tips (other cruise destinations can be pre-paid).  
Is it still “suggested” to tip approx. $13 pp per day, whether it’s cash or from onboard account..or is that not standard practice for these sailings?

[MicCanberra]

From Carnival's  FAQ, 

[By The Bay]

On Carnival ships sailing from Australia, there is no compulsory tipping. It is said that the tipping component is included in the fare we pay here in Oz.

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, By The Bay said:

On Carnival ships sailing from Australia, there is no compulsory tipping. It is said that the tipping component is included in the fare we pay here in Oz.

That is when buying from Carnival in Australia or from an Aussie TA, if the cruise is purchased from elsewhere they are added to the onboard account or can be prepaid additionally 

[Aus Traveller]

Pre-COVID, on cruises on ships in the Carnival group, anyone not from Aust/NZ were charged the auto-gratuity on their on-board account every day. As other said, it is included in the fares we pay.

 

I am not certain about the situation regarding Carnival cruise ships, but I do know what happens with other lines in the Carnival group - Princess and P&O. They are not part of the tips pool so the auto-gratuity that is put on your account does not go to the ship you are on. My suggestion - radical as it might sound - is for you to remove the auto-gratuity by going to the reception desk and giving the same amount of money to the staff who serve you. They are allowed to keep it.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Pre-COVID, on cruises on ships in the Carnival group, anyone not from Aust/NZ were charged the auto-gratuity on their on-board account every day. As other said, it is included in the fares we pay.

 

I am not certain about the situation regarding Carnival cruise ships, but I do know what happens with other lines in the Carnival group - Princess and P&O. They are not part of the tips pool so the auto-gratuity that is put on your account does not go to the ship you are on. My suggestion - radical as it might sound - is for you to remove the auto-gratuity by going to the reception desk and giving the same amount of money to the staff who serve you. They are allowed to keep it.

I don't agree 100%. They are allowed to keep anything that is over and above the auto gratuity amount. If the auto gratuity is removed, any cash paid needs to go back to the ship to replace what was removed first. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Pre-COVID, on cruises on ships in the Carnival group, anyone not from Aust/NZ were charged the auto-gratuity on their on-board account every day. As other said, it is included in the fares we pay.

 

I am not certain about the situation regarding Carnival cruise ships, but I do know what happens with other lines in the Carnival group - Princess and P&O. They are not part of the tips pool so the auto-gratuity that is put on your account does not go to the ship you are on. My suggestion - radical as it might sound - is for you to remove the auto-gratuity by going to the reception desk and giving the same amount of money to the staff who serve you. They are allowed to keep it.

Are you sure? I know on Princess ships operating in USD that if you removed the auto-grats then any cash tips given to crew had to be handed in. They were only allowed to keep them if you hadn't removed the auto-grats. 

[MicCanberra]

Tips are supposed to be pooled, even when auto tips are in place.

[Aus Traveller]

26 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I don't agree 100%. They are allowed to keep anything that is over and above the auto gratuity amount. If the auto gratuity is removed, any cash paid needs to go back to the ship to replace what was removed first. 

In Australia we can't remove the auto gratuity because it is part of the fare. Therefore this provision doesn't apply.

[Aus Traveller]

26 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Are you sure? I know on Princess ships operating in USD that if you removed the auto-grats then any cash tips given to crew had to be handed in. They were only allowed to keep them if you hadn't removed the auto-grats. 

I understand the system that operates on US ships that have the auto-gratuity, but the question was about an Aust/NZ cruise so it would be in AUD. The only people who have the auto gratuity added to their on-board account are those who book from somewhere else in the world. However, the tips go into the fleet-wide tips pool that the Australian ships aren't part of.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Aus Traveller

[arxcards]

12 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

In Australia we can't remove the auto gratuity because it is part of the fare. Therefore this provision doesn't apply.

Service staff are still paid gratuities from the tip pool, but that is generated from a portion of the cruise fare booking here. We don't see it as part of the booking, but they do. The less passengers, the smaller the pool, which also fits with many of the Coral crew having a bit of down time on this and the next cruise - the service staff are making less money on these trips, as the pool is half of what it usually is.

 

Any auto-gratuities from overseas passengers are still added to that pool, so to be paid gratuities from the pool, then to be paid cash in lieu of the pool is a double dip that goes against their contract.

[OzKiwiJJ]

18 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I understand the system that operates on US ships that have the auto-gratuity, but the question was about an Aust/NZ cruise so it would be in AUD. The only people who have the auto gratuity added to their on-board account are those who book from somewhere else in the world. However, the tips go into the fleet-wide tips pool that the Australian ships aren't part of.

But I suspect Princess would stick to the same rules as on USD ships for anyone who hadn't booked locally and thus had to pay the auto-grats. Illogical yes, but possible and hard to check actually what happens in that case.

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, arxcards said:

Service staff are still paid gratuities from the tip pool, but that is generated from a portion of the cruise fare booking here. We don't see it as part of the booking, but they do. The less passengers, the smaller the pool, which also fits with many of the Coral crew having a bit of down time on this and the next cruise - the service staff are making less money on these trips, as the pool is half of what it usually is.

 

Any auto-gratuities from overseas passengers are still added to that pool, so to be paid gratuities from the pool, then to be paid cash in lieu of the pool is a double dip that goes against their contract.

Sorry, I don't agree, unless the system has changed since cruising re-started this year.

[arxcards]

37 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Sorry, I don't agree, unless the system has changed since cruising re-started this year.

Nothing has changed for years. I think something is just lost in translation from an explanation aboard. There is no fleet wide gratuity pool. Some years back, they changed from being paid by the ship to being paid from head office. In days of computerised payrolls, you no longer need to dedicate a few staff to each ship to manually calculate and pay wages/gratuities, when it can be done centrally.

 

So yes, all monies from the ship go to head office now, but the gratuity pools aren't merged into a fleet wide one. Everything is accounted there, and crew are paid electronically in $US.

 

What I love her with our system on $AU cruises is that we don't have to play with gratuities, and with them hiding in our inclusive fare, any cash we give them is considered over and above. 

[Aus Traveller]

27 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Nothing has changed for years. I think something is just lost in translation from an explanation aboard. There is no fleet wide gratuity pool. Some years back, they changed from being paid by the ship to being paid from head office. In days of computerised payrolls, you no longer need to dedicate a few staff to each ship to manually calculate and pay wages/gratuities, when it can be done centrally.

 

So yes, all monies from the ship go to head office now, but the gratuity pools aren't merged into a fleet wide one. Everything is accounted there, and crew are paid electronically in $US.

 

What I love her with our system on $AU cruises is that we don't have to play with gratuities, and with them hiding in our inclusive fare, any cash we give them is considered over and above. 

Nope. There have been several statements by officials from Princess -

1. When the auto gratuity was removed on 1st May 2011, it was stated that the crew on Australian based ships would not receive the gratuities. Instead they would be paid at a higher flat rate.

2.  Since then, a couple of times I have read statements from someone at Princess that the Aussie ships aren't part of the tips pool.

3.  Several times I have read about the tips pool being shared fleet-wide. The reason given is that crew move from one ship to another. Another reason given for why the tips wouldn't relate to a particular cruise was that there could have been some negative impacts on a particular voyage and the crew shouldn't suffer. I presume they meant including weather-related events.

4.  Stewards have told us they love the Aussie ships. One reason is that they "don't have to jump through hoops to get tips".

 

Here is a cut and paste from a Princess website:

 

All of the Crew Appreciation and Service Charge payments made by all guests on all ships in our fleet are pooled, net of credit card transaction fees. The pooled funds are distributed throughout the year in the form of compensation, including bonuses, to crew members fleetwide who interact directly with guests and/or behind the scenes throughout every cruise, including those in the Bar, Dining, Entertainment, Housekeeping, Guest Services, Galley and Onboard Revenue areas.

[arxcards]

8 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Nope. There have been several statements by officials from Princess -

1. When the auto gratuity was removed on 1st May 2011, it was stated that the crew on Australian based ships would not receive the gratuities. Instead they would be paid at a higher flat rate.

2.  Since then, a couple of times I have read statements from someone at Princess that the Aussie ships aren't part of the tips pool.

3.  Several times I have read about the tips pool being shared fleet-wide. The reason given is that crew move from one ship to another. Another reason given for why the tips wouldn't relate to a particular cruise was that there could have been some negative impacts on a particular voyage and the crew shouldn't suffer. I presume they meant including weather-related events.

4.  Stewards have told us they love the Aussie ships. One reason is that they "don't have to jump through hoops to get tips".

 

Here is a cut and paste from a Princess website:

 

All of the Crew Appreciation and Service Charge payments made by all guests on all ships in our fleet are pooled, net of credit card transaction fees. The pooled funds are distributed throughout the year in the form of compensation, including bonuses, to crew members fleetwide who interact directly with guests and/or behind the scenes throughout every cruise, including those in the Bar, Dining, Entertainment, Housekeeping, Guest Services, Galley and Onboard Revenue areas.

Hmm, interesting.

Whichever, the auto gratuities collected from O/S passengers cruising in Australia are accounted to the pool to be "distributed throughout the year in the form of compensation, including bonuses, to crew members ...". If removed, any cash tips paid in lieu are required to be handed in and forwarded to the same pool it was removed from, and only additional cash can be kept. 

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

Hmm, interesting.

Whichever, the auto gratuities collected from O/S passengers cruising in Australia are accounted to the pool to be "distributed throughout the year in the form of compensation, including bonuses, to crew members ...". If removed, any cash tips paid in lieu are required to be handed in and forwarded to the same pool it was removed from, and only additional cash can be kept. 

I agree. Auto-gratuities collected from overseas passengers on Aust-based ships are paid into the fleet-wide pool. I have asked stewards (on Aussie ships) if they can keep tips given to them. Their response was always to smile broadly and say that they can. They don't have to account for them at all.

 

Maybe an overseas passenger could ask on the ship if the stewards can keep their tips if the auto-gratuity has been removed. The stewards would know how it works. I wouldn't ask at the reception desk as they will only have the official answer. I have heard some strange responses from them on other questions (e.g. not permitted to take any liquids onto Aust domestic flights in your hand luggage and not permitted to take any wooden souvenirs into Australia).

[MicCanberra]

Why does it matter, give them the money if you want to show that you value their service that way, it doesn't matter if they get to keep it or not.

[Aus Traveller]

53 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Why does it matter, give them the money if you want to show that you value their service that way, it doesn't matter if they get to keep it or not.

Where we came in is the situation regarding overseas passengers travelling on Aust based ships. These passengers are charged the auto-gratuity, but it goes into the fleet-wide pool. My suggestion to overseas passengers is that they remove the auto gratuity (that the crew on their ship don't get the benefit from) and give the cash to the stewards etc who serve them. They do get to keep it. Otherwise leave the auto-gratuity on, knowing that they get nothing in addition to their standard wages.

[MicCanberra]

My suggestion is let people tip or not tip, leave auto tips on or not, provide feedback on the service through the comment cards, or not,  as they please. 

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

My suggestion is let people tip or not tip, leave auto tips on or not, provide feedback on the service through the comment cards, or not,  as they please. 

I see where you are coming from. My suggestion was so some of the staff on the Aussie ships get the advantage of some extra cash, rather than it going into the overseas pool.