I pre paid the tips

[Snobunnie]

Last week on the Adventure - we were given the sheet to fill out for putting our tips on our Seapass account on Tuesday and they were to be in by Midnight on Friday. If you missed that deadline you could not use your Seapass acct. for the tips. We went to the Pursers desk to take some of the money away from our room steward who left alot to be desired. You could not do this. The option was to pay them ALL in cash or the standard/reccomended amount on your Seapass. Cash is the only way to adjust your amounts. You could not single anyone out either... all or none basically.

[BobBeaSea]

Please explain . I'm a newb and would like to know...thanks.

 

Posted my thoughts on the Tips for the Headwaiter thread above.

[Alan51]

the meaning of tips has been entirely lost. they were meant for exceptional service above and beyound but now have come to be expected routine and for all essential purposes required

[cruisedaze1929]

Be careful for what you wish for.

 

I think prepaid tips are a horrible idea. I have spoken to a number of people who have been on cruises prior to all this pre pay tips and after this.

 

The level of service has declined dramaticly once a cruise line goes prepay all the time without any option not to prepay.

 

Yea fine you cant adjust your tips, But i would rather have the service and just pay the tips.

 

I mean part of cruising is great service, without that your losing a good portion of your cruise experience.

[BobBeaSea]

the meaning of tips has been entirely lost. they were meant for exceptional service above and beyound but now have come to be expected routine and for all essential purposes required

 

Not for certain crew members. Stewards, waiters, assisstant waiters (used to be called busboys, once upon a time :)) have always been dependant on passengers for the bulk of their income on most cruise lines. It's been this way forever. Personally, I wish the lines would just do away with the whole thing. Pay the crew and up the cruise fare accordingly. It would be one way to deal with the stiffers. Trouble is all lines would have to do it at the same time, otherwise the innovator would be at a severe competitive price disadvantage.

[Iluvboatrides]

Not for certain crew members. Stewards, waiters, assisstant waiters (used to be called busboys, once upon a time :)) have always been dependant on passengers for the bulk of their income on most cruise lines. It's been this way forever. Personally, I wish the lines would just do away with the whole thing. Pay the crew and up the cruise fare accordingly. It would be one way to deal with the stiffers. Trouble is all lines would have to do it at the same time, otherwise the innovator would be at a severe competitive price disadvantage.

 

This has been a good discussion about the cruise tips. There are some luxuary lines that do have all inclusive fares, some even including wine and spirits. I have at times checked their prices and they are sometimes close to double the cost of RCCL, NCL, HAL, Celebrity, Carnival, etc. for the same length of cruise. The ships are usually much smaller also, some in the 700 passenger range. I believe that if the cruise lines all went all inclusive, or just tips included, the fares would go up considerably higher, much more then the suggested amount for tips.

[Mrsg324]

How do you handle tipping for evening dining in the windjammer? We are not planning to have dinner at all in the main dinning rooms....I plan on informing the maitre-de of our plans on the day we board, but how should we tip and what is a good rule of thumb?....Thanks for your input.

 

The prepaid tips go to the same people as if you were dining in the DR every night. Your waiters also work in the other areas when it isn't dinner time.

[Mrsg324]

How do you handle tipping for evening dining in the windjammer? We are not planning to have dinner at all in the main dinning rooms....I plan on informing the maitre-de of our plans on the day we board, but how should we tip and what is a good rule of thumb?....Thanks for your input.

 

The prepaid tips go to the same people as if you were dining in the DR every night. Your waiters also work in the other areas when it isn't dinner time.

[Cloud9 Bob]

Posted my thoughts on the Tips for the Headwaiter thread above.

 

I went back and read the thread. Interesting insight. If I'm not out of line, could I ask if you were employed at one time in this or a similar position? You seem to speak from inside experience.

[katiel53]

Last week on the Adventure - we were given the sheet to fill out for putting our tips on our Seapass account on Tuesday and they were to be in by Midnight on Friday. If you missed that deadline you could not use your Seapass acct. for the tips. We went to the Pursers desk to take some of the money away from our room steward who left alot to be desired. You could not do this. The option was to pay them ALL in cash or the standard/reccomended amount on your Seapass. Cash is the only way to adjust your amounts. You could not single anyone out either... all or none basically.

 

I totally agree that this is how RCI handles the tips when you put them on the SeaPass. I don't believe that if you prepay your tips, you have the option to not pay some person all that he is entitled to based on the RCI tip amounts. Once you prepay, I am at least under the impression, there are NO REFUNDS. (Other lines do allow a reduction to their mandatory tips if you notify them of a problem and it's not corrected. NCL does that.)

 

I know many people feel the Head Waiter doesn't do anything to get his tip. I used to feel that way until I talked to one who explained how his job is to oversee the tables in his section. If all the work is well done, then he is the one who sees to it that this happens. So, even if you don't see him at your table every night, he's still working for you.

 

Katie

[BobBeaSea]

I went back and read the thread. Interesting insight. If I'm not out of line, could I ask if you were employed at one time in this or a similar position? You seem to speak from inside experience.

 

No, never worked in the hospitality business but got to talk with a few crewmembers on shore. I took what they told me and checked it out on the web. Bottom line is there is lots going on we passengers don't have a clue about. Their "stories" about strange things they have seen passengers say and/or do are truly priceless :). For the "oldtimers" the last 8 - 10 years have been quite different for them...they have seen a remarkable boom in cruising and all the subsequent things that follow. In their words, "passengers, they aren't what they used to be". I was LMAO.

 

A classic example of how things have changed is cabin stewards, at one time years ago, passengers were told at the welcome aboard show to not be surprised if you never see your steward, except to meet him on the first day and perhaps the last night...they were instructed to do their jobs while not getting in the passengers' way. These days many cruisers want a lot of interaction with their steward and are upset if they don't get it. Some long service stewards have difficulty with this.

 

The bad news...stiff rate is about 25% - 30% on the tips...pretty sad.

[vfin]

I found our service improved once our steward realized that we had prepaid our tips. We started getting "extras" and more personalized attention. I think he really appreciated it. The day of the "tipping" when he left our prepaid vouchers in the cabin, our service was definitely better from then on.:)

[Cloud9 Bob]

The bad news...stiff rate is about 25% - 30% on the tips...pretty sad.

 

That is truly a shame.

 

Even if service is excellent...some people are very stingy. My Dad is one of them. When he goes out to dinner he tips 10% before tax, and this is when the service is fine. It embarrasses me so much that I always throw money down after he walks away. I've tried to discuss it with him, but he'll never change. :rolleyes:

 

A classic example of how things have changed is cabin stewards, at one time years ago, passengers were told at the welcome aboard show to not be surprised if you never see your steward, except to meet him on the first day and perhaps the last night...they were instructed to do their jobs while not getting in the passengers' way.

 

You know, come to think of it, when I cruised in 1978 on HAL I don't remember any interaction with my room steward at all, unless I specifically called him for something. He did a terrific job from the sidelines so to speak.

[Lyncruiser]

We used pre-paid tips once. Our waiter and bus boy told us they much prefer cash as they get it immediately. Thus, I concluded that cash is much preferred to vouchers. Has anyone else heard that?

 

We always bring enough cash with us for tips.

 

Although tips were, perhaps, once an added gratuity for particularly good service, on ships I view them as mandatory and simply part of the cruise price.

 

Why? Because the tips are pretty much all these people are paid. And, they work around the clock -- the same waiters in the Windjammer at breakfast are serving the snacks at midnight. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't tip at least the requested minimum. In fact, after my first cruise, I thought I can't go on another one because I can't stand to see foreign people working so hard under difficult conditions with no labor laws to protect them. I got over it -- but only by promising myself I would always tip generously.