% of guests who remove gratuities

[kruzerci]

4 hours ago, Kbonner said:

On the many b2b cruises we made friends with 2 financial officers from 2 different ships (even ate dinner with them). Without further compromising them, both stated independently that Royal "takes" a certain percentage of auto gratuities for "handling". The amount was low 2-digit percentage of the auto gratuities. The crew will never see this portion in their pooled pockets.

I do not want to pay salaries for all the behind the curtain crew, this is Royals job and needs to be incorporated in the cruise fare. I want to tip those who serve me .

Since the financial officers confirmation, auto gratuity is not what I endorse.

That’s exactly what I was afraid of. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

OK, question here...was just discussing the autograt removal with DH and reading him some of the  responses here.  I explained how this is a hotly debated topic on CC as he has no time (or patience) for social media of any kind.

DH:  Don't you think it's really crappy to remove the autograts?

Me:  Of course I do but I can understand it if someone received bad stateroom service.  Problem is, removing grats for bad stateroom service impacts all the other areas where service was good.

DH:  So you can't just remove the portion that would go to the person who gave bad service?

Me:  I have no idea...

 

Question:  Can one remove only the portion of the gratuity that would go to the individual that gave poor service?  or is it all or none?

[A&L_Ont]

4 hours ago, Kbonner said:

On the many b2b cruises we made friends with 2 financial officers from 2 different ships (even ate dinner with them). Without further compromising them, both stated independently that Royal "takes" a certain percentage of auto gratuities for "handling". The amount was low 2-digit percentage of the auto gratuities. The crew will never see this portion in their pooled pockets.

I do not want to pay salaries for all the behind the curtain crew, this is Royals job and needs to be incorporated in the cruise fare. I want to tip those who serve me .

Since the financial officers confirmation, auto gratuity is not what I endorse.

I guess this solidifies that RC should just roll tips into the cruise cost. I’m sure they will still take a small % for a handling fee.  
 

Those that want to tip more can do so at their own discretion.

[HBE4]

19 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

I’m baffled by the fixation with gratuities. Why does it matter? I don’t care how much luggage other people bring, what sun factor they use, how much alcohol they drink etc, etc. Their handling of gratuities is similarly none of my business. 

 

People like to get preachy and tell others how they should live their life's and spend their own hard earned money? 

 

Just a guess. Others might join in for the entertainment factor of getting others riled up. 😉

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by HBE4

[yankprintster]

22 hours ago, kruzerci said:

Not a tipping debate thread. But curious to know if anybody had ever heard an approximation of what percentage of guests remove the automatic gratuities on Royal sailings. I overheard a number of requests on the last day of our most recent sailing. Please keep the debate and thoughts on why this should not be done out- that topic has been beat to death. 

 

Don't know for Royal, but about a year ago, there was a former Carnival guest services employee doing an AMA on another social media site, and they mentioned it was inversely proportional to the price of the cruise.  On cheap cruises ("most of guests onboard coming in straight from their trailer houses"), you would "expect 50%" would remove the gratituties.  On "higher end cruises" it was "less than 15-20%".

[kruzerci]

3 minutes ago, yankprintster said:

 

Don't know for Royal, but about a year ago, there was a former Carnival guest services employee doing an AMA on another social media site, and they mentioned it was inversely proportional to the price of the cruise.  On cheap cruises ("most of guests onboard coming in straight from their trailer houses"), you would "expect 50%" would remove the gratituties.  On "higher end cruises" it was "less than 15-20%".

That makes sense. Thanks for sharing. 

[graphicguy]

22 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

According to a cabin steward I am friendly with having cruised with him many times, on average about 1 in 10 cabins remove gratuities, which would be 10 percent. He also said he knows who removes gratuities because his boss will always say something similar to did anything happen in cabin xxx that caused them to remove gratuities? He also said RCI tracks people who don’t pay gratuities, but that is pretty well known on this board. 

I’d bet a dollar to a doughnut no crew (aside from some front office personnel) would have any idea who does or doesn’t remove tips.  They receive a lump sum when paid.  I can’t see ANY way they would have a listing or visibility of who does/doesn’t remove tips.

 

Now, if you’re saying they have an idea of those who leave additional gratuities in cash at the end of the cruise, maybe s/he might have more insight.

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, cello56 said:

If the cruise lines started including gratuities then we would be having a discussion on how cheap some folks are to not give the staff an 'extra' tip above and beyond the included gratuities? 

I wonder if they have those types of discussions on the Virgin boards?

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, Kiki and The Noush said:

That sounds great on paper, but in reality, aren't those of us who pay our grats having to cover for those who don't?  I prepay them, but I am somewhat annoyed that a "gratuity", something that is voluntary and given for recognition of outstanding service is treated as a fee.  

 

At what point, do I as a passenger who prepays grats, think to myself, "why am I subsidizing the wages of the workers for RC when RC is increasing my costs and reducing my benefits?" Or, and perhaps more importantly, "why am I paying a higher amount in grats to subsidize the cost of the cruise for those who are removing them?"

 

Am I the only one here that sees that as the percentage of people who remove them increases, so will the cost of the gratuities increase for those of us who pay them?

 

/rant

Then stop paying them; THIS is how the system gets fixed 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, TwoMisfits said:

You do get the service you pay for.

 

And just like at a land restaurant, if you remove the tip, you are leaving yourself open to having subpar service offered to you on future cruises, especially in your room and the main dining hall (where you are exactly identified).

 

Now that this is all digitized, I am sure that the cruise management is very aware in the aggregate of what percent of returning cruisers on their sailing have removed tips in the past, and they may even know that info person by person.

 

TL/DR - If I ever remove tips, I'm not going back on a cruise on that cruise line for a decade+.  

Paranoid much?

[PhillyFan33579]

Just now, graphicguy said:

I’d bet a dollar to a doughnut no crew (aside from some front office personnel) would have any idea who does or doesn’t remove tips.  They receive a lump sum when paid.  I can’t see ANY way they would have a listing or visibility of who does/doesn’t remove tips.

 

Now, if you’re saying they have an idea of those who leave additional gratuities in cash at the end of the cruise, maybe s/he might have more insight.

Crew members know who removes gratuities because when it happens, their boss will ask them if there was some issue with the passengers in cabin xxx. And if one cabin steward has several cabins that remove gratuities, that can be more detrimental than several lower scores on the end of the cruise. 

[not-enough-cruising]

Just now, PhillyFan33579 said:

Crew members know who removes gratuities because when it happens, their boss will ask them if there was some issue with the passengers in cabin xxx. And if one cabin steward has several cabins that remove gratuities, that can be more detrimental than several lower scores on the end of the cruise. 

Removal of the auto gratuity results in no detriment to the crew member 

[PhillyFan33579]

Just now, not-enough-cruising said:

Removal of the auto gratuity results in no detriment to the crew member 

So you think a cabin steward who works hard taking care of a cabin all week, assuming a 7 day cruise, and not getting paid one penny for that cabin is not detrimental? And on top of that he/she has to explain if there were any issues with the passengers in that cabin. We definitely have different definitions of detriment. 

[TwoMisfits]

12 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Paranoid much?

 

It's not paranoid.  It's reality.  The bean counters know all this data.  And I'm sure management asks them for the info. 

 

All the tipping data is there b/c it's all electronic.  It would be bad management on Royal's part if they didn't know, and bad representation on the employee negotiator side if they didn't know.  So, they all know.

 

But, if you're tipping, you truly have nothing to be worried or paranoid about.

Edited February 26, 2023 by TwoMisfits

[HBE4]

1 hour ago, A&L_Ont said:

I guess this solidifies that RC should just roll tips into the cruise cost. I’m sure they will still take a small % for a handling fee.  
 

Those that want to tip more can do so at their own discretion.

 

My thoughts: I don't think Royal sees a issue with the current tipping structure so it's unlikely to change.  I know in Australia  they roll it into the price but on this side of the world where there is a "tipping culture", people like to see & control how much they tip.

 

It's only an issue here on CC as I don't think I've ever had a tip discussion on board a ship. So based on what I've read here on CC, the majority of people leave auto-grats in place and will tip above that. This will offset those that under-tip or don't tip. For those that remove auto-grats & tip cash to the crew member directly, maybe it's pooled and shared with the "behind-the-scenes" people. Or maybe it isn't. Or maybe sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't.

 

  I'm sure the "over-tippers" more than offset the "under-tippers" so the employees are getting the compensation they deserve while the passengers can feel satisfied in whatever they decided to do. Choice is good!

 

As for the "handling fee" that Royal may or may not take, I don't have a problem with it. After all, the person(s) tracking, collecting and distributing the tip amounts need to be tipped as well. 🙂

Edited February 26, 2023 by HBE4

[not-enough-cruising]

2 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

So you think a cabin steward who works hard taking care of a cabin all week, assuming a 7 day cruise, and not getting paid one penny for that cabin is not detrimental? And on top of that he/she has to explain if there were any issues with the passengers in that cabin. We definitely have different definitions of detriment. 

No one ever said about not getting paid a penny, you can’t revise your post now. 
Your statement claimed detriment with one’s supervisors. Supervisors that are fully aware that a percentage of people remove the gratuity regardless-why would there be repercussions for that? 

There aren’t 

[HBE4]

21 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Workers who work behind the scenes who you never see are definitely screwed when you remove gratuities because you will never have the opportunity to give them cash.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you have a list of the "behind-the-scenes" workers that share in the tip pool? Things like: Job titles, job descriptions and % of tip they receive?

 

Royal doesn't provide this information but as you seem to have several direct sources, you might know. I'm sure it'll go a long way to answering some peoples concerns.

[not-enough-cruising]

9 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

It's not paranoid.  It's reality.  The bean counters know all this data.  And I'm sure management asks them for the info. 

 

All the tipping data is there b/c it's all electronic.  It would be bad management on Royal's part if they didn't know, and bad representation on the employee negotiator side if they didn't know.  So, they all know.

 

But, if you're tipping, you truly have nothing to be worried or paranoid about.

saying, you would not cruise a particular line for a decade if you remove the tips is indeed paranoid

[BennyandBo]

28 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

So you think a cabin steward who works hard taking care of a cabin all week, assuming a 7 day cruise, and not getting paid one penny for that cabin is not detrimental? And on top of that he/she has to explain if there were any issues with the passengers in that cabin. We definitely have different definitions of detriment. 

Not enough was talking about the removal of auto gratuity. That in and on itself doesn't mean or imply no tip at all. Cash tips are still tips. You took removing auto gratuity and went right to not getting paid one penny. 

[graphicguy]

36 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Crew members know who removes gratuities because when it happens, their boss will ask them if there was some issue with the passengers in cabin xxx. And if one cabin steward has several cabins that remove gratuities, that can be more detrimental than several lower scores on the end of the cruise. 

I can’t see that as something housekeeping supervisors would know.  Perhaps if someone in accounting tracked that, they might know.  But, that would be on the corporate level.  When you go to Customer Service to remove gratuities, they may ask if there was some sort of issue that they’ll try to resolve.  But, to just wholesale remove tips for no good reason other than you want to, I doubt they track that.

[Rusty_lock]

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

I guess this solidifies that RC should just roll tips into the cruise cost. I’m sure they will still take a small % for a handling fee.  
 

Those that want to tip more can do so at their own discretion.

Honestly I'd like them to do that just so we could end that debate here on CC

[Rusty_lock]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Crew members know who removes gratuities because when it happens, their boss will ask them if there was some issue with the passengers in cabin xxx. And if one cabin steward has several cabins that remove gratuities, that can be more detrimental than several lower scores on the end of the cruise. 

I believe that there is some info circulated amongst the crew about this because one time I had our waiter acknowledge we had prepaid our grats when I handed him some extra after the last night.  I confirmed by asking if staff were aware of who removed autograts or not and he said yes.  I didn't ask more since i didn't want to seem rude.

[rolloman]

41 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I can’t see that as something housekeeping supervisors would know.  Perhaps if someone in accounting tracked that, they might know.  But, that would be on the corporate level.  When you go to Customer Service to remove gratuities, they may ask if there was some sort of issue that they’ll try to resolve.  But, to just wholesale remove tips for no good reason other than you want to, I doubt they track that.

The crew are made aware if the auto gratuity has been removed. They are allowed to check this for themselves. I have been told this several times over the years from crew and recently John Heald Loyalty Ambassador for Carnival replied directly to this specific question by saying YES. In fact they know towards the end of the cruise how much they will receive in total and the first Tuesday after the voyage is completed they are paid the sum. I would therefore suggest if someone wants to remove the tips early on and just pay cash I would complete both steps sooner rather than later during the voyage. 

[bonsai3s]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

OK, question here...was just discussing the autograt removal with DH and reading him some of the  responses here.  I explained how this is a hotly debated topic on CC as he has no time (or patience) for social media of any kind.

DH:  Don't you think it's really crappy to remove the autograts?

Me:  Of course I do but I can understand it if someone received bad stateroom service.  Problem is, removing grats for bad stateroom service impacts all the other areas where service was good.

DH:  So you can't just remove the portion that would go to the person who gave bad service?

Me:  I have no idea...

 

Question:  Can one remove only the portion of the gratuity that would go to the individual that gave poor service?  or is it all or none?

Yes, you can remove (or add, for excellent service) the portion that would go to the individual that gave poor service. This can be done at Guest Services.

 

* On very rare occassions when we had received poor service...our "SOP" is to immediately contact the manager or supervisor and let them know about the poor service. We have been very happy with the responses and resolution. We haven't remove tips...not yet. 

[PatricF]

We recently booked a cruise on RC and have noticed there are significant expectations for tipping.  Most of the food and drink packages expect a tip of 18% over and above the cost of the package.  Also, we included the daily tip for our cabin crew and I hope we're not expected to tip them more.

 

All of our previous cruise experience is with Celebrity and we don't remember seeing anything like this.

 

Is there a major difference in tipping standards between cruise Lines?