% of guests who remove gratuities

[PatricF]

5 minutes ago, PatricF said:

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?

 

[firefly333]

24 minutes ago, PatricF said:

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?

I dont remember celebrity tips being included but I did celebrity before it become inclusive. 

 

If you choose not to tip over and above auto tips that's up to you. I do believe the 18% is automatically added to specialty dining or drinks and cannot be removed. 

 

[MommaBear55]

33 minutes ago, PatricF said:

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?

Yes, most mainstream cruise lines include a daily service charge, aka tips, as well as an automatic 18% on drink and dining packages. Celebrity used to do that as well before they bundled everything together. Price both lines out with the extras you want and see which one makes financial sense to you. The 18% that drives me foolish is the random snack I buy at the sundry store, as that also gets an 18% service charge out on it. 

[Mum2Mercury]

39 minutes ago, PatricF said:

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

Is it possible that they snuck it by you?  That you didn't read the receipts carefully?  'Cause -- no -- this isn't new, and I think adding the automatic tips is pretty standard across cruise lines.  

[PatricF]

4 minutes ago, MommaBear55 said:

Yes, most mainstream cruise lines include a daily service charge, aka tips, as well as an automatic 18% on drink and dining packages. Celebrity used to do that as well before they bundled everything together. Price both lines out with the extras you want and see which one makes financial sense to you. The 18% that drives me foolish is the random snack I buy at the sundry store, as that also gets an 18% service charge out on it. 

Thanks for your reply!

[Wheresthesalt]

40 minutes ago, PatricF said:

 Also, we included the daily tip for our cabin crew and I hope we're not expected to tip them more.

 

 

Hi PatricF,  tipping is a hot topic on message boards with more opinions than people, it is like asking if Liver and onions taste good. The daily prepaid tip is the standard tip on most cruiselines and has been the standard on RCL for quite awhile. To answer your question about expected to tip more? The answer is NO, however you have the option to tip more if you wish. 

[paulco]

I always tip the cabin steward a twenty or so.   They really appreciate it and compared to my overall spend it’s minimal 

[A&L_Ont]

3 hours ago, Rusty_lock said:

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

Half the members would never sign on again, as they’d miss the banter. LOL

[graphicguy]

So, this makes no sense.  If housekeeping, laundry services, cooks etc knew who removed their tips, there would be no impetus to offer them good service, clean linens, a clean bathroom, hot food served in a timely manner, etc.

 

 

[time4u2go]

15 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

So, this makes no sense.  If housekeeping, laundry services, cooks etc knew who removed their tips, there would be no impetus to offer them good service, clean linens, a clean bathroom, hot food served in a timely manner, etc.

 

 

There's still the customer surveys, which seem to be very important to the workers.  (I realize the surveys don't apply to all of the positions you mentioned.)

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by time4u2go

[graphicguy]

13 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

There's still the customer surveys, which seem to be very important to the workers.  (I realize the surveys don't apply to all of the positions you mentioned.)

 

Exactly!  That’s why it makes no sense to remove tips.  They have the surveys.  That’s why I don’t believe Waiters, Room Stewards, Cooks, Laundry Personnel know who removes tips.  I also don’t believe it’s 10%.  If it were that high, that would affect the cruise lines’ compensation analytics.

 

I have never had a problem that I reported to Customer Service go unresolved.

[Morecruisesplz]

5 hours 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.

It has been reported widely here that no one is asked why ever! They probably assume as would make sense that those removing auto grats are tipping cash. In most cases this leads to tipping more than those with only auto.

[Morecruisesplz]

4 hours ago, rolloman said:

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. 

This is Royal not C. Why would when matter?

[Morecruisesplz]

6 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

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

Probably. Staff will still expect direct tips included or not.

[rolloman]

1 hour ago, fredmdcruisers said:

This is Royal not C. Why would when matter?

It is the same on Royal...

[rolloman]

2 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Exactly!  That’s why it makes no sense to remove tips.  They have the surveys.  That’s why I don’t believe Waiters, Room Stewards, Cooks, Laundry Personnel know who removes tips.  I also don’t believe it’s 10%.  If it were that high, that would affect the cruise lines’ compensation analytics.

 

I have never had a problem that I reported to Customer Service go unresolved.

You are going way out there...Cooks, Laundry...are not in line for the auto gratuity. You can think what you want...but the fact is the room steward and your wait staff know if you removed the tips. They can log in and look it up for themselves. Next time you are on a cruise...ask your room steward.  I am not aware of the average removal rate but to dismiss 10% is naive. As I mentioned before...the removal rate will be on the rise...especially with inflation and the fact the cruise lines are now trying to squeeze more out of each passenger.

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, PatricF said:

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

There is no difference between major cruise lines. Most cruise lines add gratuities to food and beverage purchased. And almost all have a daily service charge which goes to forward facing (room steward, waiters, bar tenders, bar waiters, etc.) and back of the house crew members who work tirelessly to ensure you have a wonderful cruise experience. Other cruise lines are up to 20% grats on items. 

 

Most people will tip their cabin steward additional (we normally do $10/day). 

[Morecruisesplz]

37 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

I've been reading on here a long time and I don't think I've read a single post saying people SHOULD do auto grants and tip extra, much less INSIST.  

Maybe more implied than insisting. You caught me exaggerating. Sorry.

[rolloman]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

So, should we stiff our waiter at our local pancake house because the prices has gone up [a lot] and the pancake sizes are smaller now? I chose to eat at the pancake house fully knowing about their business decisions driven by the administration's inflation-driving policies. So, knowing that pancakes are more expensive and smaller, should I just get even by stiffing the waiter???

What a reach... anyway....sorry your pancake fetish has resulted in higher prices. Nobody is suggesting stiffing anyone...in reality what is being said is due to the economy and a recent rate hike in auto gratuities there is a perfect storm being created in which something has to give...and it would only make sense auto gratuities will suffer a higher percentage of passengers removing them. 

[BirdTravels]

2 minutes ago, rolloman said:

What a reach... anyway....sorry your pancake fetish has resulted in higher prices. Nobody is suggesting stiffing anyone...in reality what is being said is due to the economy and a recent rate hike in auto gratuities there is a perfect storm being created in which something has to give...and it would only make sense auto gratuities will suffer a higher percentage of passengers removing them. 

Let's be more specific,,,, so,,, because of a perfect storm, people should stiff the hard working crew that work tirelessly 7 days a week to make your cruise wonderful. Is that what you suggest?

[time4u2go]

2 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Let's be more specific,,,, so,,, because of a perfect storm, people should stiff the hard working crew that work tirelessly 7 days a week to make your cruise wonderful. Is that what you suggest?

You really are reaching. Nobody said that anyone should stiff the crew. They only said that more people might start to.

[latebuyer]

I think the 18% autogratuity is enough. However my concern is all that money really going to wait staff?

[Cruise5life]

15 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

How do you know this?

I always tip my RS extra.   And I don’t use them on a daily basis.  I actually don’t use them at all.   
but I do get ice every day.   And give a 5.00 tip every time.  So that’s an extra 25+ a week for him.   
And I always give my MDR waiter and assistant 25.00 on a 7 day.   
and I normally only go to the MDR 4 times in a 7 day.   
And I tip a bar server/tender 2.00 bills when I get a water or extra ice for my Yeti as I don’t drink.  
and if I get room service in the am it’s a 2.00 bill or maybe more depending on what I have in cash on the desk.     
 

[latebuyer]

Can you remove the auto tips for the specialty restaurants. Its not that i won’t tip but i dislike there is apparently an expectation that you tip on top of the auto gratuity in the restaurant. I’m canadian and we are cheaper than americans and there is no way i’d ever tip over 18% unless forced to.

[Cruising89143]

8 hours ago, PatricF said:

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?

Celebrity has the exact same policy. All specialty dining and drink packages have an automatic 18% gratuity added at checkout if you pre purchase or it will be added to your check if paid on the ship. Either way it’s not optional. This is totally separate from the standard gratuities.