Gratuities Are Going Up Again, Effective 11.11.2023

[iscruisingdunzo]

4 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Doesn’t matter where they work, what matters is where the money is spent. If you don’t like that fact take it up with the world’s economists. 
 

If it was so bad there wouldn’t be crew spending decades on the ships. 
 

Exactly!!!!!!

 

I have had lengthy conversations with at least 10 people over the last 10 years who had jobs I would never choose to do, and have yet to meet an UNHAPPY staff member. I am very confident it is not because of the prepaid gratuities some people pay to subsidize the poverty level salary from RCL LOL. 

[mcsean]

I don't mind tipping . In fact I am one of those who also tips dining room waitstaff and cabin personal. The thing that bothers me the most  is the charge for room service. Cruising was famous for complementary room service. They  new  room service charge is  insane. I I was on a Celebrity Summit cruise a few months ago and they charged me $9,00   to which I was expected to add a tip. I don't think Carnival is charging as I have not been charged on the QM2.I am sure it is coming. I won't sail with any line that charges for room service Period 

 

[bretts173]

1 hour ago, iscruisingdunzo said:

 

I would 110% believe that the majority of cruise passengers don't remove their gratuities because RCL is a shady unethical company that doesn't communicate they are optional - ANYWHERE!

It's literally on their FAQ.

 

 

[icsys]

7 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

And screw over the hard working employees behind the scenes who depend on gratuities. 

 

No one behind the scenes should depend on gratuities.

Before autograts the behind the scenes staff were never tipped!, only the Cabin Steward, Main Waiter, Assistant waiter and the Head Waiter were tipped.

 

5 hours ago, yogimax said:

As has been stated numerous times, this is a false comparison.  They are not working in their home countries.  They are working on cruise ships which generate billions of dollars of revenue, largely on the backs of individuals who work 7 days a week for seven months or more and who depend, in part, on folks paying their fair share of tips.

 

And right there is the root of the problem!

I'd say its the cruise lines who are screwing or stiffing their hard working staff.

[travelberlin]

6 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by travelberlin

[A&L_Ont]

17 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Also, when RCI cut back cabin service and increased the number of cabins per steward they effectively cut back the number of stewards that they need to hire. Why is no one up in arms about those people who now don't need to be hired at all? All I keep reading is people saying they are fine with once a day service. Come on folks, you need to stick up for those unemployed people. We need twice a day service so RCI will need to hire more help. It's time for all you once a day service proponents to step up and do your part to help these now unemployed former, and wanna be, crew members.

If they are cleaning double the cabins are they now being paid double?  I doubt it for some reason, as they only clean them once a day. 
 

Bring back the staff. 

Edited November 8, 2023 by A&L_Ont

[Ocean Boy]

8 hours ago, yogimax said:

As has been stated numerous times, this is a false comparison.  They are not working in their home countries.  They are working on cruise ships which generate billions of dollars of revenue, largely on the backs of individuals who work 7 days a week for seven months or more and who depend, in part, on folks paying their fair share of tips.

Sounds to me like your issue is with the cruise industry, that generates billions if dollars in revenue on the backs of the hard working crew, all while exploiting their employees.

[not-enough-cruising]

7 hours ago, bretts173 said:

So we should pay all people a wage according to where they live or are from. 

 

Your right the Indonesians need to be paid less so the Americans can have more money.

 

Now you are just being silly. 
 

International  convention says everyone gets paid the same scale. The Indonesians do it because it’s a massive financial windfall. Americans don’t because they can do better at home. 
 

hypothetical, a corporation comes to you and says “we will pay you 2.5X of your last years salary, for 9 months work, and cover all your living expenses”; a fair percent of the world jumps at that offer, and then signs contract after contract after contract. 

[not-enough-cruising]

9 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

So crew members who tell me the vast majority of passengers don’t remove gratuities are lying? Or does that fact bother you because you are a one of the cheap passengers who removes gratuities? Keep in mind this is specifically about cruises out of Florida ports. I have no knowledge or experience about cruises outside the state of Florida and obviously outside the US.

Hospitality service providers, the world over, perfect the art of working a customers emotions and telling them the story they need to hear, on an effort to increase discretionary compensation. 
 

I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that, but I take everything a crew member tells me about their personal life with a grain of salt; and I never let it influence my gratuitous offerings. 

[cruiseorcamp]

On 10/31/2023 at 4:03 PM, Another_Critic said:

I gotta laugh at Royal suggesting to pre-pay gratuities.  Gratuities are supposed to be for exceptional service (not a salary supplement).  How do you rate service before boarding the ship??

 

2nd day of our cruise our wet wash clothes were still on the floor, bed still unmade around 10 am.

No steward had introduced themselves to us.  Very strange.

I marched down the hall and asked a gent and a supervisor if they knew who our room steward was.  Oh, it is me, you guys are out partying too much for me to meet you.

Not true!  We use the door magnet as needed.

From that point on our room was "eventually" cleaned of the morning as requested.

Mariner of The Seas

We still gave a cash tip.

[PhillyFan33579]

5 hours ago, icsys said:

 

No one behind the scenes should depend on gratuities.

Before autograts the behind the scenes staff were never tipped!, only the Cabin Steward, Main Waiter, Assistant waiter and the Head Waiter were tipped.

 

 

And right there is the root of the problem!

I'd say its the cruise lines who are screwing or stiffing their hard working staff.

No, the root of the problem still goes back to passengers directly impacting crew members’ income when they remove gratuities. Personally I would like to see cruise lines raise fares and eliminate gratuities. I think that is something we might agree on. But as long as the cruise lines use their current “system”, crew members will continue to lose income by passengers who remove gratuities. 

[Ocean Boy]

7 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

No, the root of the problem still goes back to passengers directly impacting crew members’ income when they remove gratuities. Personally I would like to see cruise lines raise fares and eliminate gratuities. I think that is something we might agree on. But as long as the cruise lines use their current “system”, crew members will continue to lose income by passengers who remove gratuities. 

Well, we have already seen the "cruise lines raise fares" part of your wish come true.

[Kbonner]

9 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

No, the root of the problem still goes back to passengers directly impacting crew members’ income when they remove gratuities. Personally I would like to see cruise lines raise fares and eliminate gratuities. I think that is something we might agree on. But as long as the cruise lines use their current “system”, crew members will continue to lose income by passengers who remove gratuities. 

You do not understand the concept at all. Its not gratuities anymore its hidden salaries. It is the companies greed for more revenue by cutting back the former salary scheme and let the customers finance their behind the curtain crews. Do you understand the difference between gratuities and salaries? Its the company that cuts crew income not the autograt removers. Autograt removers pay the crew directly in cash to circumvent the hidden salary scheme. This way the face-to-face crew receives more money than from autograt customers. 

[not-enough-cruising]

15 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

No, the root of the problem still goes back to passengers directly impacting crew members’ income when they remove gratuities. Personally I would like to see cruise lines raise fares and eliminate gratuities. I think that is something we might agree on. But as long as the cruise lines use their current “system”, crew members will continue to lose income by passengers who remove gratuities. 

The crew signed a contract for a guaranteed minimum.  If they weren’t happy with that sum, they should not have signed the contract.  
No one should sign a contract “hoping” for discretionary income. 
 

I am sorry, but no one is screwing anyone 

[Ocean Boy]

38 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 Personally I would like to see cruise lines raise fares and eliminate gratuities. I think that is something we might agree on. 

Gratuities will never be eliminated even if they are built into the cruise fare or taxes and fees. We have already seen this. Soon after auto grats were introduced the posts began from the protectors of the exploited and down trodden that we should be tipping extra on top of the autograts. RCI soon joined in by reinstating the envelopes being left in the cabins once again with a gentle reminder that you might want to consider a little extra "reward" for the hard working crew. RCI then came up with the bright idea to try to get people to pre-pay for service that had not even been received. I suppose by the time you get on the ship the memory of something that you paid for 90 days ago might have faded and you might be more inclined to fill those envelopes especially when your seapass account isn't showing several hundred dollars in gratuity charges.

 

The point being that no matter how they bundle those "gratuity" charges there will always be the clamoring from the self righteous that we should give more to the exploited hard workers and those envelopes that RCI supplies for our "convenience" will never disappear.

[Jetdriver787]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

No, the root of the problem still goes back to passengers directly impacting crew members’ income when they remove gratuities. Personally I would like to see cruise lines raise fares and eliminate gratuities. I think that is something we might agree on. But as long as the cruise lines use their current “system”, crew members will continue to lose income by passengers who remove gratuities. 

Sort of corporate extortion then?

[iscruisingdunzo]

11 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

You are being lied to 

Lol. Why do so many people on this board believe blatant lies. NOWHERE does Royal Caribbean state their gratuities are optional. 

 

This is what they state during the booking process:

Tip-tip hooray!

You can pre-pay gratuities now to show your appreciation for 24/7 service from your room attendants, culinary and service staff. Or assign gratuities once onboard through your SeaPass account.

 

Do they state gratuities are optional when booking? NO. 

 

On your FAQ: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

NOWHERE do they state they are optional. They tell you that the gratuity is automatic and can be "modified", but at no point do they tell you gratuities are optional. 

 

The word optional is universally understood in the English language and the word most used in response to gratuities. Don't you think if Royal Caribbean wanted you to know that gratuities are indeed optional, they would tell their customers just that??????

 

No, gratuities have never been "optional", nor does Royal Caribbean want you, the paying customer to think they are optional. Why is that? They are in the business of making BILLIONS. 

[not-enough-cruising]

2 minutes ago, iscruisingdunzo said:

Lol. Why do so many people on this board believe blatant lies. NOWHERE does Royal Caribbean state their gratuities are optional. 

 

This is what they state during the booking process:

Tip-tip hooray!

You can pre-pay gratuities now to show your appreciation for 24/7 service from your room attendants, culinary and service staff. Or assign gratuities once onboard through your SeaPass account.

 

Do they state gratuities are optional when booking? NO. 

 

On your FAQ: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

NOWHERE do they state they are optional. They tell you that the gratuity is automatic and can be "modified", but at no point do they tell you gratuities are optional. 

 

The word optional is universally understood in the English language and the word most used in response to gratuities. Don't you think if Royal Caribbean wanted you to know that gratuities are indeed optional, they would tell their customers just that??????

 

No, gratuities have never been "optional", nor does Royal Caribbean want you, the paying customer to think they are optional. Why is that? They are in the business of making BILLIONS. 

While I agree with most of your post, I must point out, gratuities, by definition are ALWAYS optional. 

[Husky1987]

30 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

RCI then came up with the bright idea to try to get people to pre-pay for service that had not even been received.

 

Purely a question out of curiosity...was Royal the first cruise line to do this or was it an industry standard at the time Royal adopted that policy?

[yogimax]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

 

hypothetical, a corporation comes to you and says “we will pay you 2.5X of your last years salary, for 9 months work,

So you really believe the crew are being paid for the time they are at home?  C’mon, the fact is they are only paid for the days they work and they have NO days off while they are on the ship.

 

 

[PhillyFan33579]

51 minutes ago, Kbonner said:

You do not understand the concept at all. Its not gratuities anymore its hidden salaries. It is the companies greed for more revenue by cutting back the former salary scheme and let the customers finance their behind the curtain crews. Do you understand the difference between gratuities and salaries? Its the company that cuts crew income not the autograt removers. Autograt removers pay the crew directly in cash to circumvent the hidden salary scheme. This way the face-to-face crew receives more money than from autograt customers. 

Cruise lines have been paying crew members thru gratuities for decades. It has become a bigger topic over the last decade or so as one cruise line after another implemented auto gratuities programs. Just an FYI, without trying to get too technical from my days working for the IRS, the reason cruise lines have been doing this for decades is because gratuities are not included as revenue for the cruise lines. 

[Ocean Boy]

4 minutes ago, Husky1987 said:

 

Purely a question out of curiosity...was Royal the first cruise line to do this or was it an industry standard at the time Royal adopted that policy?

I have no idea. However, I think the entire discussion is more indicative of the main stream cruise industry rather than RCI specifically.

[iscruisingdunzo]

7 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

While I agree with most of your post, I must point out, gratuities, by definition are ALWAYS optional. 

Clearly I am missing something. Please tell me how I can put my optional choice into action during the planning and booking process because I do not want to pre pay my "gratuities" because I have yet to receive the great service the ship staff can provide and would like to pay them cash to express my gratitude. I want to pay no gratuities and I do not want them to be automatic when I am sailing since I will be handing out cash tips for great service. 

[Biker19]

7 minutes ago, iscruisingdunzo said:

I want to pay no gratuities and I do not want them to be automatic when I am sailing since I will be handing out cash tips for great service. 

You don't have a choice - they are added automatically on the ship and you have to take action to remove them.

 

Biker, who wonders how many would remove them if the option was added to the app.

[not-enough-cruising]

16 minutes ago, yogimax said:

So you really believe the crew are being paid for the time they are at home?  C’mon, the fact is they are only paid for the days they work and they have NO days off while they are on the ship.

 

 

What’s so hard to understand? 
 

For 9 months work on the ship the guaranteed wage is 2X-3X what they could make at home in a full year. 
 

No one said anything about being paid to be at home.