Who comes up qith the minimum tip figures

[steveaaaa]

While reading the Hidden cost's of crusing atical on CCs home page I read a section on tipping.It stated that the amounts listed are the minimums.

Who set these amounts and why those figures?

Just include them in the rates.

Steve

[98Charlie]

For most mass market cruise lines the tip is the suggested minimum. Some of the luxury lines do include the tip. The suggested amount is determined by the cruise line.

 

Tips have always been an added on cost. IMHO the cruise lines keep it that way for several reasons.

1. The first cruise line to include tips would be showing an increased price of their cruise. Passengers shopping for a cruise may see the cruise as more expensive than on other lines with the same itinerary.
   
2. If it is in the cost of the cruise the passenger will be paying taxes on top of the tip. Again making the cruise (however slightly) more expensive
   

 

Charlie

[BruceMuzz]

98charlie makes some good points, but it is even more complicated than that.

 

If you add thew tips to the price of the cruise, the travel agent wants a cut for selling it. Then you have to add more tips to the price of the cruise to avoid losses to the crew.

 

Currently the tips are either "recommended" by the cruise line, or automatically charged "for your convenience" (with the option for you to remove, increase, or decrease them) by most cruise lines. There is much discussion on these boards about incentive for doing a good job being removed by these procedures. If you include them automatically, you have indeed removed all incentive for doing a good job and hoping to make a higher tip.

 

If you include the tips in the price of the cruise, they are no longer legally "tips", but a "service charge". This alters the status of that money when it comes to paying income taxes. Since cruise ship employees come from many different countries, with many different rules and regulations regarding their salaries and taxes, the administration, tracking, and reporting of this income from service charges would cost the cruise lines millions of additional dollars. Those costs would then be passed on to you.

 

Perhaps better to let sleeping dogs lie.

 

On a positive note (for cruisers at least), the average "suggested tip" amount has been dropping for many years. Thirty years ago, the average suggested tip in the cruise industry was just under US$20 per person, per day. Today it is just half that much - without factoring in inflation or the nearly worthless dollar. Cruise ship service staff have taken a huge pay cut over the past three decades, but onboard services remain pretty good in spite of it.

 

If your boss cut your net salary by 50%, you might not be quite so accommodating.

[Keith1010]

While reading the Hidden cost's of crusing atical on CCs home page I read a section on tipping.It stated that the amounts listed are the minimums.

Who set these amounts and why those figures?

Just include them in the rates.

Steve

 

Although I have not looked at this specific page, I suspect that they are using an average tipping cost.

 

For those cruise lines where tipping is recommended (some luxury lines already include the tips in the overall cruise fare), each cruise line will provide their recommendations on how much to tip per day for each person where a tip is recommended. Most of these amounts are fairly close to each other.

 

Keith

[steveaaaa]

Thanks for the replies and thanks for not turning it into a flame discussion.

I still question the actual amount.Why should the waiter get $4 per person per day.How and why the $4?It cannot be so he makes $XXX per week.

I have heard many times about the waiter having tables taken away and I have also had waiters with so many tables it was not funny.

If it was to provide a weekly pay then they all should have the same number of tables?

Why not $7 per day for the waiter or how about $2?

 

I think the FL AG will eventually end the tip thing and just like port charges,they will be in the price.

Steve

[Keith1010]

Steve, the cruise lines pay certain staff such as Waiters, Assistant Waiters, and Cabin Stewards, and Bar Staff very little base salary. So, they essentially work primarily on tips.

 

As is the case with other jobs, the cruise lines likely estimate that based on x cabins, or x tables and if each person tips the recommended amount (some tip the recommended amount, others more and other less) that it will equate to a certain salary level. They will adjust this overtime as necessary.

 

In terms of tables I suspect that it evens out over the course of time. Most staff work six month or more contracts so if on one cruise a waiter has fewer tables than another I'm sure over the course of the contract period that it balances out.

 

Keith

[Happy ks]

A few errors here.

 

The passenger would not be paying taxes on the tip amounts. If you price out cruises, you will notice that the port charge and tax is the same no matter what the price of your cabin, be it grand suite or inside guarantee.

 

Travel agents are paid commission on the cruise portion of the trip, not on the tax or port charge. If you pre-pay your tips, have them included on your sea pass account, or it is paid as a service charge instead of a tip, the TA sees nothing of that money.

 

I have no idea how they came up with the $ amount, probably just an average based on meal value at a land based restaurant (just my idea), but here is an article you might enjoy reading:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=261

 

I would suspect the tables are assigned according to seniority and customer comment cards. That some servers are not busy may indicate that some of their passengers did not show up for dinner.

[Magic City Cruiser]

I just don't get the whole tipping thing in general! (Though, I AM a "big" tipper:) ). I have worked jobs where tipping was customery but most of my life have been in salaried positions. I do work with the public and often wonder why I don't receive tips to motivate me to provide friendly and happy service! C'mon....I don't know what tipping is about but it ain't about motivation or reward! ALL employers should be forced to pay living, competitive wages! Leave me out of the loop of deciding if an employer's employee "deserves" no pay, low pay, average pay or high pay! I just want to have a meal for goodness sakes....not have to evaluate employees everytime I turn around! I would GLADLY pay extra to not have to "work" when I am trying to enjoy myself! Tipping shouldn't motiviate anyone.....fear of losing my JOB is my motivation!

Donna