Gratuities increase effective Nov 1

[Hoopster95]

5 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Any bets on when service is [further] cut?

current stateroom Attendant says recently increased to 22 cabins… they were initially talking about 35!!! He didn’t know how he would do it

 

3 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

maybe they are being increased because of the growing amount of cruisers cancelling auto-grats onboard?

 

However I have my own retort to

that assumption, as NOS right now as we speak has only about 1450 C&A members on board… Out of 3871 cruisers!!!! Lots and lots of newbies. They don’t know about removing grats at GS I would think.

 

And all these newbies don’t know the history …. Just jack up the grats and it’s “just the way it is”

Edited October 8 by Hoopster95

[Mum2Mercury]

What we CANNOT FORGET is that this increase, which comes on the heels of a recent increase, come IN ADDITION TO having cabin service slashed in half.  I wouldn't mind paying more OR having reduced service, but I cannot let go of fact they've combined the two.  

[not-enough-cruising]

3 hours ago, yogimax said:

How do you determine the amount of the tip?

 

Will the total you tip on a cruise be more or less than $36 a day for a couple?

 

Asking for a friend.

The amount of the tip is determined by the service received.  The tip can equal $36 a day per couple, it could be more, it could be less.

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:
maybe they are being increased because of the growing amount of cruisers cancelling auto-grats onboard

No doubt this is one of the main reasons for another increase in gratuities. This was a topic of discussion at a recent lunch with officers. The HD talked to us about spreading the word on the importance of the gratuities. He said there had been an increase in the number of passengers who always removed gratuities. He also said surprisingly (was not a surprise to me) the overwhelming majority of passengers who remove gratuities are repeat cruisers. He didn’t say anything about a pending increase to gratuities, but pretty easy to put two and two together in my book. 

[not-enough-cruising]

3 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

No doubt this is one of the main reasons for another increase in gratuities. This was a topic of discussion at a recent lunch with officers. The HD talked to us about spreading the word on the importance of the gratuities. He said there had been an increase in the number of passengers who always removed gratuities. He also said surprisingly (was not a surprise to me) the overwhelming majority of passengers who remove gratuities are repeat cruisers. He didn’t say anything about a pending increase to gratuities, but pretty easy to put two and two together in my book. 

They better get ready for the number opting out to grow.  Two increases in one year, and reductions in service will push even more cruisers in to this camp.

[PhillyFan33579]

2 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

They better get ready for the number opting out to grow.  Two increases in one year, and reductions in service will push even more cruisers in to this camp.

I wouldn’t disagree with you. 

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

Wish we could use OBC to prepay tips

 

 Well, if you don't pre-pay then they will be taken out of you OBC day by day on the cruise, so same difference. 

 

[goldfish65]

Fifty cents! 😒

[Another_Critic]

26 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Well, if you don't pre-pay then they will be taken out of you OBC day by day on the cruise, so same difference. 

 

Not when there's an option to prepay at the old rate, but you can't prepay with OBC.

[Tatka]

5 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

Wish we could use OBC to prepay tips

OBC can be used to pay them on board.

[bestcee]

2 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

He also said surprisingly (was not a surprise to me) the overwhelming majority of passengers who remove gratuities are repeat cruisers

 

Not a surprise to me. On a current cruise with many higher members, including lots of platinum and diamond+. I went to guest services for an extra key on day 1. The other people in line were all removing gratuities, except 1. So, 8 rooms in the 20 min I was there, and I'm sure that wasn't an anomaly. 

[uvadover]

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The amount of the tip is determined by the service received.  The tip can equal $36 a day per couple, it could be more, it could be less.

In your case, less.

[ThirdGenCruiser]

13 hours ago, JT1962 said:

They should include the amount for gratuities as part of the total cruise price listed, like they recently did with taxes & port charges. It would make it much simpler for the cruise line and the passengers. Those that want to give extra for service above and beyond could still do so.

 

11 hours ago, chfenton said:

I bet it will continue to evolve and gratuities will be included in cruise fare at some point in the future.  It already is for Star Class cabins and I'm sure those employees are still getting their share so I'm betting they will do it for other/all the cabins at some point as well.

 

For what it is worth, this already happens for Australian bookings. For years there has been no separate daily gratuity or option to pre-pay gratuities because it is already built into the advertised cruise fare, for all cabin types. It helps that Australia requires displayed prices to include taxes, duties and any unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees.

[Realrunner]

I went on a B/B cruise in March and thought the service overall was well below standards expected for any type of vacation.

So I never rewarded anyone except this waitress in the coffee/ cake area who stood out and looked to want to provide a wonderful service, always smiling, polite and nothing too much trouble.  So we rewarded her handsomely at end of cruise for outstanding service.  Her face lit up with joy.

Thats what gratuities should be all about.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

2 hours ago, bestcee said:

 

Not a surprise to me. On a current cruise with many higher members, including lots of platinum and diamond+. I went to guest services for an extra key on day 1. The other people in line were all removing gratuities, except 1. So, 8 rooms in the 20 min I was there, and I'm sure that wasn't an anomaly. 

Im not surprised either.

Royal are spending billions on new mega ships, reducing the length of cruises to 3/4 day party cruises to their own private island. More and more bums on seats, filling those ships and selling plenty more additional extras such as drinks package, meals, bed spaces at high costs, reducing service and qualit,  yet they have a cheek to put up gratuities twice in a year and then remind people of the importance of graturities for the staff. As an outsider looking in their business model is fantastic......lol

[Billy Baltic]

7 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

This was a topic of discussion at a recent lunch with officers. The HD talked to us about spreading the word on the importance of the gratuities

Employee of a company, asks customers to give more money to that company. Are we to be surprised by that?

[Toddcan]

I have to admit- when I got the email yesterday informing me that the tips have increased again (twice in one year), AND coupled with the fact that cabin service is now reduced to once per day on most cabins...  For the first time, I actually considered in my head, the option of removing tips, and then tipping with cash.   But, I just can't bring myself to do it. Yes, it's only $0.50 - this time. 

 

On our last cruise, there were a ton of "casino-comped" cruisers - waaaay more than I remember ever meeting before. Adventure of the Seas (likely a more common class of ship for the "free" cruises"), and we chatted it up with several of them.  Most of them lived in Florida, so had the flexibility to cruise on the available dates.  But, almost like they had figured out something the rest of us hadn't, I was asked if I knew about the "tipping hack" - I was told you could go to CS and get the auto-gratuities removed from the bill.  This one couple claimed that these "free" casino cruises cost them only a few hundred dollars, including drinks, etc.  We only cruise 1-2 times per year, so I look at the total cost of the cruise differently than these folks, but if I lived within a half-day of Florida ports, and could cruise 5-6 times per year (or more), I could begin to understand their viewpoint.  For these cruisers, $18.50 x 2 x 7 days ($259) is likely the largest chunk of their cruise cost - if they paid it. 

[Ocean Boy]

18 hours ago, Wineaux007 said:

They just increased gratuities earlier this year, and I pre-paid them for my 10 Nov 2024 TA.  I wonder if this increase is being implemented to offset those who remove auto-grats???

Good lord. RCI is increasing them because they can. Pretty simple.

[Ocean Boy]

16 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Put it in the cruise fare so we don't have to care.

So you don't care what your cruise fare is? 

[Ocean Boy]

16 hours ago, chfenton said:

I bet it will continue to evolve and gratuities will be included in cruise fare at some point in the future.  It already is for Star Class cabins and I'm sure those employees are still getting their share so I'm betting they will do it for other/all the cabins at some point as well.

I'm sure you are correct. It is no different than how non-refundable deposits started with suites and found their way to all cabin categories. This will evolve into whatever RCI feels is in its best financial interest.

[Ocean Boy]

15 hours ago, catsmit said:

 

I have cruised on Royal Caribbean since 2003. I can assure you that based upon my interactions with various crew members, anything other than a 10 is not a positive mark on their performance.

So provide level 10 service and you won't have anything to worry about.

[Ken at the beach]

11 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

which comes on the heels of a recent increase,

It's a year later so pretty normal for those that get annual raises.  This one works out to about 3%

[RCTransatlanticLover]

7 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Well, if you don't pre-pay then they will be taken out of you OBC day by day on the cruise, so same difference. 

 

That’s why I think it’s better to prepay the gratuities upfront and then give extra in cash later if so desired. The fact that people are removing the gratuities is, in my opinion, snobbish, disrespectful, rude and low class. Seasoned cruisers really have no business removing the gratuities. They know better than that. 
 

The crew work their tails off every day to provide excellent service and they should be rewarded for their efforts. 

[Ocean Boy]

14 hours ago, yogimax said:

How do you determine the amount of the tip?

 

Will the total you tip on a cruise be more or less than $36 a day for a couple?

 

Asking for a friend.

How does RCI determine the amount of the tip? How do they know the level of service that was provided? Possibly they have a way to monitor all of their ships, employees, and guests and plug that data into some super secret algorithm every week? Yeah, that sounds about right for RCI's IT.

[Ocean Boy]

13 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

So if you think RCI is taking a cut of the gratuities and you reduce yours to $10 do you think that RCI is not taking a cut of that.  

 

All of my research and discussions with crew and officers tells me that you are wrong in your assumption. If you go to guest services they will show you the breakdown, which has also been published on CC many times, of where every penny of the gratuities go and believe me, not of it goes into RCIs profit.  It all goes back to the crew members. 

 

I've not wasted even one minute of my vacation time having such discussions with crew and officers.