Removing Gratuities Onboard at Guest Services

[FamilyCruiserUK]

I have never paid brouchure prices. In fact i havent seen a royal cruise broucher for a while.

I have a week booked in October 2025 on Allure, booked via royals website and got the "free child place promotion". These are not the broucher prices.

However that said in the UK with Royal you cannot re-price your cruise if the price lowers. Unless a specific promotion states you can. 

[Ocean Boy]

As far as I made it through this thread I'd have to say that I have not read so much as one new thought on this subject. 

[Jetdriver787]

I miss the days when after schlepping our 14 trunk steamers and 12 hatboxes up a mere 10 flights of stairs, we would tip our “cabin boy” a shiny sixpence! This, despite the fact the cheeky young whippersnapper would often have left entire puddles of perspiration on said luggage and still fail to show sufficient gratitude for our largesse! Oh! How many times I spoke the words “be off with you and be thankful I don’t summon the Sargent-at-arms to have you keel hauled at dawn!” 
 

For those of you in any doubt, a “sixpence” was a pre-decimal and shiny coin of the realm whose value was one Fortieth of a Pound Sterling or in colonial coinage something akin to your modern 3 cents! Our mothers would often hide one in a steamed pudding at Yuletide, frequently resulting in much excitement and merriment around the festive table, long before one Henry Heimlich decide to plagiarise this tradition for his own fame!

 

Pirates in those days would have blushed at the sums the youth of today now demand and with thinly disguised menace!

[LobsterStalker]

On 8/13/2024 at 10:22 AM, SilkySal said:

We have always prepaid our gratuities and will continue to do so to insure that those behind the scenes get their share. We then tip extra cash to those who we feel go over and above to make our vacation more enjoyable. Do what you think is best, I guess. However, a few cruises ago, we encountered one of the room stewards in our hallway, who was very, very upset. He told us that a couple of his rooms were crowded with families and lots of kids, who had removed the automatic gratuities and left him no tips whatsoever. He felt that he was doing an excellent service for all of them and got nothing in return. We felt very bad for him. Just sayin'. How would you feel?

Just Sayin , This seems VERY Unprofessional !

 

 

[d9704011]

14 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

Just Sayin , This seems VERY Unprofessional !

 

 

Agreed.  Additionally, I'd feel embarrassed to have been engaged in the conversation.

[not-enough-cruising]

13 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

Agreed.  Additionally, I'd feel embarrassed to have been engaged in the conversation.

I’d feel embarrassed to have been taken in by the theatrics 

[Engineroom Snipe]

Always amazing how just mentioning the word "tip" or "gratuity" generates responses.

 

281 posts in six days.

 

If you search for the key words of "tips" or "gratuities" on Cruise Critic, it would take more than one year of reading to even go through half of them.

 

I just added one more post to read.

 

🤣

[d9704011]

31 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

Always amazing how just mentioning the word "tip" or "gratuity" generates responses.

 

281 posts in six days.

 

If you search for the key words of "tips" or "gratuities" on Cruise Critic, it would take more than one year of reading to even go through half of them.

 

I just added one more post to read.

 

🤣

A gratuitous tip on the topic.

[Engineroom Snipe]

7 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

A gratuitous tip on the topic.

Excellent response!

 

Maybe you found my remark "superfluous".

 

😁

[HBE4]

On 8/13/2024 at 2:16 PM, Tree_skier said:

This post makes no sense and is contradictory!  If you did it before there shouldn't be an "unknown factor of doing so"

 

On 8/13/2024 at 2:17 PM, Tree_skier said:

You said you already did it!!

 

I think you should pick a lane and stick to it.

 

Thank you!

 

2 pages in & I already had trouble following along. I was wondering if I had lost my ability to comprehend the written word.

 

[artvlay]

On 8/13/2024 at 5:54 PM, yogimax said:

1.  It's my business if I'm paying more for a cruise to subsidize those who don't tip.

2.  RCCL tells you how the tip money is allocated.  You may disagree with it but it

     is simply wrong to say there's no way of knowing how it's allocated.

 

Before the auto tips came into place a number of years ago the cruise lines gave you a suggested amount to tip your waiter, assistant waiter and room steward. I was wondering, based on inflation what those numbers would be today. Meaning what would you put in the waiters envelope, asst. and room steward.

[ReneeFLL]

On 8/18/2024 at 1:32 PM, 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.

What would be the purpose of the galley having such a list?

[not-enough-cruising]

58 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

What would be the purpose of the galley having such a list?

Thank you 

[Ocean Boy]

On 8/18/2024 at 4:07 PM, Charles4515 said:

Someone has posted that Europeans pay brochure prices and don’t get discounts. Is that true? 

 

On 8/18/2024 at 4:22 PM, cruiseboy89130 said:

No!

 

On 8/18/2024 at 5:01 PM, seahorse001 said:

Yes 

 

Lol, how can that question have both answers?

[lovesthebeach2]

1 hour ago, Ocean Boy said:

 

 

Lol, how can that question have both answers?

It doesn’t.

[A&L_Ont]

On 8/19/2024 at 5:36 AM, Ocean Boy said:

As far as I made it through this thread I'd have to say that I have not read so much as one new thought on this subject. 

Just clicked the last page of this thread to see that the topic is exactly where I expected it to be. 😀

[Roybthered]

21 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

What would be the purpose of the galley having such a list?

There would be no purpose at all. Like someone said what they going to do with it? I call BS.

[neverbeenhere]

The galley knows when you send your steak back for the third time. 😈

[Charles4515]

5 hours ago, Roybthered said:

There would be no purpose at all. Like someone said what they going to do with it? I call BS.

The purpose has been explained a few times. It has to do with the pool and its distribution. Apparently those who don’t tip are not comfortable or in denial that their non tipping is exposed to the crew. It also exposes claims made by some tip removers are paying cash instead. If they really are paying cash they would not care that there are lists. 

Edited August 22 by Charles4515

[not-enough-cruising]

33 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

The purpose has been explained a few times. It has to do with the pool and its distribution. Apparently those who don’t tip are not comfortable or in denial that their non tipping is exposed to the crew. It also exposes claims made by some tip removers are paying cash instead. If they really are paying cash they would not care that there are lists. 

The last thing the cruise line wants is for the crew to have any insight regarding auto tip pooling and distribution.

Personally I could not care less if there were a list, but i just don't believe there is one hanging in the galley for the general public to see.

[Charles4515]

38 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The last thing the cruise line wants is for the crew to have any insight regarding auto tip pooling and distribution.

Personally I could not care less if there were a list, but i just don't believe there is one hanging in the galley for the general public to see.

Every passenger is counted toward the pool whether they auto pay or not. The cruise lines formula assumes that some of those who removed auto gratuities did tip in cash. I am not saying that everyone who says they cash tip is lying. Some like the personal touch. Some come from countries and cultures where tipping is not the norm and people don’t tip. Those countries and cultures actually have it right in my opinion but that is another discussion. In any case the cash tips are still being pooled whether the crew turns in the cash or not because the cruise line has a formula for applying an amount whether passengers actually tipped cash or not. As for the list in the galley on a gallery tour and one I saw on a cart both were not meant to be seen by passengers. It was sloppiness. Others have reported seeing lists and former crew members have reported the lists. You do care because you keep saying you could care less or that there are no such lists. 

Edited August 23 by Charles4515

[not-enough-cruising]

4 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Every passenger is counted toward the pool whether they auto pay or not. The cruise lines formula assumes that some of those who removed auto gratuities did tip in cash. I am not saying that everyone who says they cash tip is lying. Some like the personal touch. Some come from countries and cultures where tipping is not the norm and people don’t tip. Those countries and cultures actually have it right in my opinion but that is another discussion. In any case the cash tips are still being pooled whether the crew turns in the because the cruise line has a formula for applying an amount whether passengers actually tipped cash or not. As for the list in the galley on a gallery tour and one I saw on a cart both were not meant to be seen by passengers. It was sloppiness. Others have reported seeing lists and former crew members have reported the lists. You do care because you keep saying you could care less or that there are no such lists. 

Nope, I don't care. 
If the cruise line is indeed including unrealized gratuities in their distribution formula, then the program is even sketchier than I previously thought. 

Edited August 23 by not-enough-cruising

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Nope, I don’t care 

Anyone who does not believe this has not been paying attention.

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The last thing the cruise line wants is for the crew to have any insight regarding auto tip pooling and distribution.

Personally I could not care less if there were a list, but i just don't believe there is one hanging in the galley for the general public to see.

...Or for the staff to see

 

 

[not-enough-cruising]

7 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

...Or for the staff to see

 

 

Exactly