Removing Gratuities Onboard at Guest Services

[GetToLivin]

In the grand scheme of the cost of a cruise, the tips are a small fraction of that. One excursion can trump a 7-day cruise worth of tips for one person. I guess I just don't get why paying the gratuities and then tipping on top (if the staff is going above and beyond) isn't more of the norm  🤷‍♀️

[Tree_skier]

12 minutes ago, GetToLivin said:

In the grand scheme of the cost of a cruise, the tips are a small fraction of that. One excursion can trump a 7-day cruise worth of tips for one person. I guess I just don't get why paying the gratuities and then tipping on top (if the staff is going above and beyond) isn't more of the norm  🤷‍♀️

Agree! 🙂 

 

Some people way overthink tipping.  

[Charles4515]

13 minutes ago, GetToLivin said:

In the grand scheme of the cost of a cruise, the tips are a small fraction of that. One excursion can trump a 7-day cruise worth of tips for one person. I guess I just don't get why paying the gratuities and then tipping on top (if the staff is going above and beyond) isn't more of the norm  🤷‍♀️

I agree. That is why I leave on the auto gratuity and add on for something above and beyond. It simplifies things. I have never had bad service that gave me a reason to take them off. 

[cruiseboy89130]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

There has been plenty of evidence that the crew gets a  list of those who remove auto gratuities including from crew members who posted lists online. But it should not matter to those who remove them if there are lists if they do as they claim…..tip cash. 

NO - there are just some people that claim they saw a list - nobody ever posted proof.....and it should not matter if you remove just before you leave the ship.....

[Charles4515]

25 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

NO - there are just some people that claim they saw a list - nobody ever posted proof.....and it should not matter if you remove just before you leave the ship.....

Lists were posted online by a crew member who was advocating for cash instead of auto pay. I saw them before they were removed because the lists were posted without redacting the passenger names and cabin number. I have also seen them posted when on a galley tour and saw the list on a cabin stewards cart. If you don’t believe me, well too bad for you. Believe what you want to believe. 

Edited August 18 by Charles4515

[cruiseboy89130]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

If you don’t believe me, well too bad for you. 

Not  a problem for me - and I don't belive you - you are just pushing an agenda....

If someone wants to make sure or belives you - they can remove the grats before they leave the ship - it just takes a 2 minute phone call from their cabin phone!

Edited August 18 by cruiseboy89130

[SilkySal]

24 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Not  a problem for me - and I don't belive you - you are just pushing an agenda....

If someone wants to make sure or belives you - they can remove the grats before they leave the ship - it just takes a 2 minute phone call from their cabin phone!

I'll probably get blasted for this but I have to say it. That just sounds pretty "sneaky" to me and makes the cruiser look guilty of bad form in my opinion (and we all have them). Ahhh, freedom of choice (for now)! Cheers!

[Seville2Cabo]

3 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

I'll probably get blasted for this but I have to say it. That just sounds pretty "sneaky" to me and makes the cruiser look guilty of bad form in my opinion (and we all have them). Ahhh, freedom of choice (for now)! Cheers!

I agree.  If you think it is the right thing to do, do it early in the cruise.  If you are waiting until the last day, you must feel guilty or like you are doing something wrong.

 

I've never removed auto tips, but we do UDP every cruise and between dinners and lunches leave about $30 per day for meals.  Plus, usually do room service for breakfast and tip them additional.  I do wonder if just removing and cash tipping our cabin steward is the right thing to do.  I wonder if the steward would rather have auto tips and $5 per day (for 2 of us) or $12 per day cash (I thought their share of auto tips was $3.5pppd)

[cruiseboy89130]

10 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

I'll probably get blasted for this but I have to say it. That just sounds pretty "sneaky" to me and makes the cruiser look guilty of bad form in my opinion (and we all have them). Ahhh, freedom of choice (for now)! Cheers!

Why would you care?

[cruiseboy89130]

2 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I agree.  If you think it is the right thing to do, do it early in the cruise.

Why?

[Charles4515]

38 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

Not  a problem for me - and I don't belive you - you are just pushing an agenda....

If someone wants to make sure or belives you - they can remove the grats before they leave the ship - it just takes a 2 minute phone call from their cabin phone!

LOL. 

 

Why would someone want to hide that they removed gratuities? I can only guess....

[TeeRick]

2 hours ago, GetToLivin said:

In the grand scheme of the cost of a cruise, the tips are a small fraction of that. One excursion can trump a 7-day cruise worth of tips for one person. I guess I just don't get why paying the gratuities and then tipping on top (if the staff is going above and beyond) isn't more of the norm  🤷‍♀️

What you say here I think is actually the norm.  

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

NO - there are just some people that claim they saw a list - nobody ever posted proof.....and it should not matter if you remove just before you leave the ship.....

 

I don't claim.  I have seen the list multiple times when doing a galley tour, back in the "olden days" before the pandemic when galley tours were common.

 

YOU don't have to believe me, but I think that I have more credibility on the website than you do.

[cruiseboy89130]

25 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

YOU don't have to believe me

Correct!

[shandryl]

On 8/16/2024 at 12:21 PM, The Sunset Glow said:

 

And you still have $1 bills too - which I'm actually happy about because we use them for tips on board☺️. Can't imagine carrying around a bunch of Loonies and Twoonies for tipping😜

True Story. 😄

[lovesthebeach2]

3 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I agree. That is why I leave on the auto gratuity and add on for something above and beyond. It simplifies things. I have never had bad service that gave me a reason to take them off. 

We did….once.  We still left the auto grats, but didn’t tip extra.  It was a cruise that had just comeback to Tampa from a TA and our cabin was pretty dirty and I asked the Room Steward more than once to please vacuum the carpet, it was clear it had not been cleaned after the previous cruise. He never did, was never around and his excuse was he had just come back from his vacation and needed to get back in the swing of things.  In retrospect, I probably should have marched down to guest services, but we didn’t, and I ended up taking a towel and swooshing the crap out into the hall while hubby held the door open.
He always smelled like he had a clipped cigarette in his pocket so I didn’t really want him to spend too much time in the cabin. That won’t ever happen again!!

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I agree.  If you think it is the right thing to do, do it early in the cruise.  If you are waiting until the last day, you must feel guilty or like you are doing something wrong.

 

I've never removed auto tips, but we do UDP every cruise and between dinners and lunches leave about $30 per day for meals.  Plus, usually do room service for breakfast and tip them additional.  I do wonder if just removing and cash tipping our cabin steward is the right thing to do.  I wonder if the steward would rather have auto tips and $5 per day (for 2 of us) or $12 per day cash (I thought their share of auto tips was $3.5pppd)

The Steward 100% wants cash!!!

[goldfish65]

They make it too easy to remove them.

"Requests to remove gratuities may be made in person at guest services on the final night of your cruise after 5 pm." 😅

[cruiseboy89130]

8 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

They make it too easy to remove them.

"Requests to remove gratuities may be made in person at guest services on the final night of your cruise after 5 pm." 😅

You can call GS from your cabin phone any time - up until you leave the ship - to remove!

[2wheelin]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

LOL. 

 

Why would someone want to hide that they removed gratuities? I can only guess....

From the comments on this topic it is obvious that it is less hiding and more protecting themselves from possible (probable?) lesser service.

[Charles4515]

34 minutes ago, cruiseboy89130 said:

You can call GS from your cabin phone any time - up until you leave the ship - to remove!

I believe you. Sounds like you are an expert on removing tips…..🙄

[Saab4444]

If you book in the EU you do not have to remove gratuities anymore as according to current EU law Royal is no longer permitted to charge a voluntary payment automatically to your account. So paying cash or going to guest services and request them to charge you something are yor only options. 

[cruiseboy89130]

3 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

If you book in the EU you do not have to remove gratuities anymore as according to current EU law Royal is no longer permitted to charge a voluntary payment automatically to your account. So paying cash or going to guest services and request them to charge you something are yor only options. 

They don't adhere to EU rules...not in this regard and the EU data protection rules either....

[Charles4515]

6 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

If you book in the EU you do not have to remove gratuities anymore as according to current EU law Royal is no longer permitted to charge a voluntary payment automatically to your account. So paying cash or going to guest services and request them to charge you something are yor only options. 

Can they add a mandatory service charge? 

[Saab4444]

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

I don't claim.  I have seen the list multiple times when doing a galley tour, back in the "olden days" before the pandemic when galley tours were common.

 

YOU don't have to believe me, but I think that I have more credibility on the website than you do.

For such a list published in public crew areas visible to all(!) crew and even to visitors like you everyone on it should sue Royal as it is totally against data privacy law.
 

And what would be the purpose of such a list? To request all crew not to serve those bad people properly and breach their employment contract duties?