% of guests who remove gratuities

[Ryder101]

4 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Please share your source? I gave a source who says they can (albiet a non-royal cruise line). 

Just remove on last night then.

[sealeggs]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:12 AM, ante2001 said:

I always do because i like to personally give cash to the people that help me throughout the cruise. This way, I know it’s going directly into their pocket and they don’t have to share it with anyone.

Same reason we do it also.

[cruising sister]

12 minutes ago, sealeggs said:

Same reason we do it also.

When you do that you miss a good portion of people from the auto tips as reported earlier in the thread. 

Stateroom attendants receive approximately 25% of cruise gratuities paid by guests. Dining room staff receive 43% and the remaining 32% is split between other hotel services.”

[Ryder101]

1 minute ago, cruising sister said:

When you do that you miss a good portion of people from the auto tips as reported earlier in the thread. 

Stateroom attendants receive approximately 25% of cruise gratuities paid by guests. Dining room staff receive 43% and the remaining 32% is split between other hotel services.”

It's not my problem or responsibility to take care of all staff. I can only focus on those that serve me directly.

[sealeggs]

3 minutes ago, Ryder101 said:

It's not my problem or responsibility to take care of all staff. I can only focus on those that serve me directly.

I have to agree with you Ryder. I see the Cabin Steward, The Waiter, Assistant Waiter and the Matri-De. I am sure i destroyed that spelling. Who else are we supposed to tip? Prior to the tips automatically being added daily to your cruise account we were given envelopes to hand to those 4 people. Who else do you think we should we be tipping. Also someone on this thread said they still pool the cash tips we hand out.

[paulco]

For heaven’s sake, pay the autograt and give a twenty here and there!  It’s a small price to pay!

[jencruzin]

1 hour ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

To be sure and safe just remove after 9pm on the last day and all is good 👍

Exactly - and agree with your previous points as well. No one wants their toothbrush to end up tasting like the toilet 😁

[Ryder101]

1 minute ago, sealeggs said:

I have to agree with you Ryder. I see the Cabin Steward, The Waiter, Assistant Waiter and the Matri-De. I am sure i destroyed that spelling. Who else are we supposed to tip? Prior to the tips automatically being added daily to your cruise account we were given envelopes to hand to those 4 people. Who else do you think we should we be tipping. Also someone on this thread said they still pool the cash tips we hand out.

I've asked when handing over cash if they were keeping all or pooling with others. And both times I have asked, I was told they were keeping it. I mean really think about it, who is going to know what they have been handed if they keep quiet.

[jencruzin]

1 minute ago, paulco said:

For heaven’s sake, pay the autograt and give a twenty here and there!  It’s a small price to pay!

Can you please come with us on our next cruise so that you can act as our "cash doling" agent?

[Ryder101]

4 minutes ago, paulco said:

For heaven’s sake, pay the autograt and give a twenty here and there!  It’s a small price to pay!

You do you. I'll do me. 

[kirtihk]

23 minutes ago, sealeggs said:

I have to agree with you Ryder. I see the Cabin Steward, The Waiter, Assistant Waiter and the Matri-De. I am sure i destroyed that spelling. Who else are we supposed to tip? Prior to the tips automatically being added daily to your cruise account we were given envelopes to hand to those 4 people. Who else do you think we should we be tipping. Also someone on this thread said they still pool the cash tips we hand out.

To pay a captain's salary would be nice ... then, perhaps, a cruise fare would be reduced.  It's only $0.25 per person per day ($0.25 x 3,000 passengers per ship = $750 per day or $273,757 for a year - sounds about right).  So, it's just an extra quarter per day, and the "whole" captain is at our discretion!

Edited February 27, 2023 by kirtihk

[dunrobbin]

On 2/25/2023 at 11:40 AM, easyqueasy said:

I heard bookings in Australia the tips are included (no option for pre-paid gratuities) so no way (or need) to remove. Are there bookings from other countries that gratuities are built into the fare that people know of? I don’t know the answer but I would say it depends on where the sailings are from.

G'day,

Australia has a general no tipping policy.   Across all industries. Lowest rate of pay in Australia is  $21.38  Unlike some countries, very few people are on minimum wage.   Employers are expected to pay their employees and not expect their customers to make up wages.

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Ryder101 said:

Just remove on last night then.

 

 So how would that work when they are charged to your account on a daily basis and two days before the end of your cruise you are charged for that day and the last day since they close billing the night before the last day (e.g. on day 6 we were charged for gratuities for day 6 and day 8, on day 7 we were charged for day 7 and on day 8 we were not charged for daily gratuties)?  Just cruious what you have gotten refunded back to your account when you remove them the last night?

 

[Ryder101]

24 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 So how would that work when they are charged to your account on a daily basis and two days before the end of your cruise you are charged for that day and the last day since they close billing the night before the last day (e.g. on day 6 we were charged for gratuities for day 6 and day 8, on day 7 we were charged for day 7 and on day 8 we were not charged for daily gratuties)?  Just cruious what you have gotten refunded back to your account when you remove them the last night?

 

If cruise ends on a Sunday morning, you can adjust/refund with guest services on Saturday evening. Billing is not closed at that point. You can run up a bar tab at 11pm on Saturday night and it still will make it to your card, even if paper bills have already gone out. Refunds can be made to your card at guest services till the morning of departure. Works out just fine. Always has.

[cruising sister]

1 hour ago, cruising sister said:

1 hour ago, Ryder101 said:

It's not my problem or responsibility to take care of all staff. I can only focus on those that serve me directly.

All I can say is Wow. If it was only so simple that only those who serve me directly were the only ones who made my cruise run smoothly. 

[Ryder101]

2 minutes ago, cruising sister said:

 

It is that simple. You want to worry about the entire crew, be my guest. I don't have the time or money to take care of everybody. And Royal is not guilting me into subsidizing salaries. 

[kirtihk]

24 minutes ago, cruising sister said:

 

We are ALL set - my entry (# 188) addresses and covers your "Wow" concern in full.  Feel free to drop a few more quarters for officers, engineers, a cruise director, a chef, hotel director, spa manager, a sailor, security, a nurse - the choice is yours!

Edited February 27, 2023 by kirtihk

[vjmatty]

On 2/25/2023 at 11:06 AM, 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. 

 

Approximately 20% of the passengers remove auto-tipping, about 45% of responses in this thread are generating the great tipping debate rather than answering your original question, and 72% prefer StoveTop stuffing.

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by vjmatty
#$&% wrong symbol

[vjmatty]

On 2/25/2023 at 11:53 AM, Starry Eyes said:

I’d also suspect variation by region.

 

When I looked at this quickly, I thought it said varied "by religion" and was about to be shocked and offended...sorry :(

 

[vjmatty]

On 2/25/2023 at 2:38 PM, jean87510 said:

It is a tipping debate question you raised.  You state you overheard a number of requests on your last cruise.  Then you say to keep the debate focused on why this shouldn't be done.  You try to sugar coat initially with what percentage of gratuities are removed.  That is really not your business or mine.  The employees salaries are between the employee and their employer.  

 

Actually, they said keep the debate focused, and why this shouldn't be done "out"...meaning keep it out of the thread. I will say I did have to read it a couple of times though before I got it ;)

[vjmatty]

On 2/25/2023 at 3:54 PM, molly361 said:

Kind of like those who always tip for their Diamond and above vouchers- just off the Indy and I guess all those folks tip at the end because more times than not when the bartender asked if they want to use a voucher and the person says yes no money changed hands when they got their drinks😇

 

I tip at the end for vouchers, and when I had the DBP before vouchers I did the same rather than adding to each and every drink.

[vjmatty]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:17 AM, 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? 

 

 

That kind of tip-shaming is already happening now.....many here think it is cheap not to go above the auto-tips if your service was anything more than adequate.

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

24 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

 

That kind of tip-shaming is already happening now.....many here think it is cheap not to go above the auto-tips if your service was anything more than adequate.

No shaming here, just saying that ANYONE that doesn't prepay gratitues AND tip atleast $50 a day to the room attendant and $20 a day each to the waitor, assistant waitor and headwaitor in the MDR is a cheapskate... 😉

[Tatka]

I really, really wish RCI includes autogratuities into their fare at this point.

I know it is a tax issue, but still...

All discussions about it will be gone.

[LittleJoefromKokomo]

1 minute ago, Tatka said:

I really, really wish RCI includes autogratuities into their fare at this point.

I know it is a tax issue, but still...

All discussions about it will be gone.

Atleast for us buying from Royals European website they are included, but specified and not able to deselect when booking a cruise. (Of course it is possible on ship to remove them but not when buying, need to be prepaid in full)