Some Information On the $10.00 per day gratutity/service charge

[longtimecruiser]

I was on the 34 day cruise on the Rotterdam from New York to New York. I arrived home on July 10th. This was my first time to sail under the new Hal ten dollars per day gratutity/ service charge. First let me say, there were many poeple on board who were NOT happy with this new policy. Some people had it removed and tipped on their own, others kept it because they wanted to tip extra and if they kept the ten dollars per day on, then the crew member could keep any extra tips. As far as I am concerned, this ten dollars per day is a SERVICE CHARGE and NOT a gratutity. You should be able to tip for excellent service and tip whatever amount you wish and NOT tip for poor service. Let me explain the situation. When I boarded I had an excellent cabin steward. Typical Hal great steward. He announced that he would be moving to a different deck in Amsterdam. I thought nothing of it. In Amsterdam I got the WORST cabin steward I have ever had in over 500 days of sailing with Hal. He did Not know how to make a bed, did not empty wastebaskets, didn't leave towels or else just laid them on the basin, never hung them. He was unfriendly and could NOT understand the the most simple English. EVERYONE on my corridor complained. We were told he had just come from Windstar where he had only worked for seven months. They had sent him to the Rotterdam. He had no training and was a total waste. I did not feel that he should be tipped extra. He was being paid (too much for what he was doing) and I felt that in this case that was enough. I went to the front office and asked if I could take off my cabin stewards tip from Amsterdam on. I was informed "NO". You can only increase but not decrease . I asked if my waiter, who was exceptional could get more and be given the amount that I would have given my cabin steward. Again I was told "NO". They told me that I had to either remove it totally or keep it the way it was, no adjustments. I didn't want to not tip my waiter son I kept the ten dollars per day. I felt this was unfair , as did everyone on my corridor that we could not take from one if he was so poor and give more to another. This cabin steward was NOT to Hal's standards and needed to get more training before being put on a ship such as the Rotterdam. Hal has too many ships and I don't think the crew is getting the training they should. Hal is too worried about staffing their new ships and just want to get the ships sailing as quickly as possible. I have rambled on about this long enough. I wrote a 4 page letter to the Hotel Manager telling him how poor this cabin steward was doing his job or in this case, not doing it. What are your thoughts on being able to adjust gratutities if warranted.

[peaches from georgia]

Excellent post, longtimecruiser. HAL just can't get it right. They go from a policy very few people understood and that most TA's explained incorrectly all these years. 'No Tipping Required'- most people thought it meant tips were included so they didn't tip or understood it but used it as an excuse not to tip.

 

Now HAL goes to a $10/day/person automatic charge onto pax ship accounts. Most people are finding out about this on the last day of their cruise and feel they are having something put over on them. Then HAL complicates the issue with a cockamamie policy of rules you have to follow if you want to actually hand a gratuity to your stewards and asking their crew to pool cash they are handed if the pax did or did not do such and such. This is nonsense and from everything we heard on the Maasdam they are not only confusing and alienating their pax, but losing crew, too. :mad:

 

For heaven's sake, HAL use some common sense and keep it simple- if you want to assure people will tip charge the $10/person/day in the cruise fare and publicize 'tips are included', so that every pax knows it when they book and don't have a surprise when they see their bill. Those that think they would like to tip more will do it. Or else don't charge the 'dam fee and say 'tips are NOT included but are appreciated' and make that clear. Those that want to tip will; those that don't want to tip won't tip, no matter what rules you create, unless you make it a mandatory fee in the cost of the cruise like the luxury lines do.

[elmorejj]

Very well said Peaches, I totally agree with you. When we were on the Zaandam, our cabin steward left a lot to be desired, we reduced his tip and gave extra to those who went above and beyond. Auto "tipping" hadn`t started on our cruise so we could still do this. I shall see in Dec. how its going on the Zaandam, and act accordingly....jean

[peaches from georgia]

The people on this board understand the new policy, jean, but the huge % of pax on any cruise don't have a clue. All they know is they are being charged $$$ they didn't know they would be charged and then HAL is telling them they can pay the crew more than the auto 'tip' or fee, but not less, and if they do choose to tip less than what HAL tells them to tip they can't tip only the people they want to tip, but their money will go to those that HAL says it will go to and to whom HAL wants it to go to, not to whom the pax wants.

 

And everybody is expected to go along with this? It works fine if you are happy with the service you received, but doesn't work at all if you're not.

[longtimecruiser]

Peaches, you are right about the crew not being happy. My first cabin steward who was excellent had been with Hal for ten years. He was not happy with the new tipping policy. His salary had been reduced two hundred dollars a month. He said he had to now pay for his uniforms and his flights home. He was not sure at all that he would come back after his contract was over. He was only making three hundred and fifty dollars a month to begin with. Out of that all but fifty dollars was sent home so he only had fifty dollars a month plus any tips for spending money. Now, Hal had taken two hundred which he was told went toward his flight home. I'm afraid Hal will lose the good ones and get ones like my second cabin steward.

[anniecat]

As a first time cruiser who knows what to expect (ie the $10/day/person charge) I do not on principle mind the new policy. However, if the service is as described above, I will be bitterly complaining to the on-board as well as on-shore management. I do not plan to remove the auto-tip, and if service is excellent will add to it. But if service is not acceptable across the board I will remove that charge and NOT TIP AT ALL, and never travel with HAL again. I belieive that paying a rather extravagent amount for the cruise itself entitles passenger to the advertised great service. I am planning on having a wonderful time next month and am hoping that the experience described by others will not occur. ......

 

Amsterdam August 8 to Alaska

[superstein61]

Once again, this is an area where HAL could learn from some of its brethren.

 

All they need to do is let you adjust the auto-service charge (ok they call it a tip - but thtas not hwat they made it) up or down by person (ir your cabin steward, Dining, etc). this would let you reward someone who was good more - and penalize those who were not good

 

the all or nothing thing auto-service charge masquerading as a tip is ridiculous

[kryos]

He had no training and was a total waste. I did not feel that he should be tipped extra. He was being paid (too much for what he was doing) and I felt that in this case that was enough.

You would think a line like HA would have untrained people "shadowing" the better employees for a week or so. Sure, everyone has to start somewhere, and none of us are going to be good at our jobs when we are new ... and especially when there are language barriers. That's why saavy employers ... especially in the service sector ... provide on-the-job training by having these new employees assigned to the better long-time ones for a week or so ... so that they can learn the ropes in an environment where someone else will correct their mistakes before the customer even knows about them.

 

I feel kinda bad for this guy. Sounds to me like he just wasn't being given the proper training. And, I feel bad for you having to deal with him.

 

Hopefully your detailed letter to the Hotel Manager will do some good.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

We were among the first to experience this new tipping and gratuity policy this past May. Things were not explained very well at the end of the cruise. We kept debating back and forth as to whether we wanted to leave the automatic tips on our bill. At that time it wasn't even explained that if we had removed the automatic tips, the money we gave personnally would have gone into a pool. We were glad that we made the decision to leave on the tips as we did give extra to everyone who made our cruise an enjoyable one.

We were fortunate to have a good cabin steward, waiter, and assitant waiter, plus a lot of other good poeple all over the ship.

:)

[LizB1]

Adele, first of all I would definitely write a strong letter of complaint explaining everything to Stein Kruse, President of HAL. It was my understanding from the beginning that one would be allowed to adjust, either downward or upward, the $10.00 per day charge on their shilboard bill. Didn't anyone else get this impression?

 

Also if that had happened to me/us I would have had a meeting with the GRM (Donna) two days after you left Amsterdam to tell her how bad your cabin steward was and giving her specific information. If you did not get any satisfaction after several days I would have marched into Mr. Fealey's office (HM) and registered a written complaint with him and let him know that if the bad service continued you would not give any tip to this steward at the end and would be forced to remove all tips from your shipboard bill because of this one steward.

 

I believe if this bad experience at the Front Office had happened to us I would have demanded they remove the $10.00 per day stating in writing this was because of this one room steward and that you were not allowed (by the Front Office) to adjust the $10.00/day accordingly and your tips would be given to those individuals so deserving...even if they had to pool them. I can't see any reason why some extra can't be slipped into someone's pocket and not included in their general gratuity at the end of the cruise either. Who's to know they were given a little extra.

 

Because of your post my DH made it clear to me last evening that when we do the 35-day Maasdam cruise next July we will definitely remove the $10.00pp/day charge and will tip as we always have for the past thirty years.

[RaffinOrganGrinders]

Last year my daughter and I took a short cruise on Royal Caribbean and enjoyed it.

we were given the option of the charges everyone has spoken of. I can't remember the exact amount but it was less than $10 per day. In the letter we received in our cabin The total daily charge was broken down to the different people so you knew just who got what. We went ahead and did this and gave our steward a little gift also as she gave us excellent service.

 

 

 

Does HAL give a breakdown like this? Our last cruise with HAL was right before this change was instituted. We are unsure as how we are going to handle this on our upcoming 15 day cruise in the fall.

 

On our last cruise our steward was only average which was disappointing to me. If we asked for something he got it for us but nothing extra. We were supposed to have those nice fluffy robes in our cabin but they were missing so we asked our steward and lickety split they appeared but the ties were missing! And so it went!

[elmorejj]

We were also told, by a wine steward, about the $200 reduction in pay that used to pay for their flights home. So can I assume that they are taking this $200 away from all crew members and that is why the $10pppd is being shared with all of the behind the scenes crew to make up for this deduction in their pay? If this is so, and I shall ask in Dec. then all we as pax are doing is meeting the payroll for HAL. Really not something I want to contemplate.

 

Let a tip be a tip, not someones overall pay check....jean

[longtimecruiser]

Liz, I too was under the impression that the tips could be adjusted either up or down. I was so shocked te receive that answer from the front office and I might add in a "SNIPPY" tone. I was very disgusted. As I said I wrote a 4 page letter to Mr. Feeley which brought about a call from Donna. She agreed with all I said and basically told me that Windstar wanted to get rid of this steward. I talked with her for over an hour. She tried telling me that they were on top of it but I barely ever saw my cabin stewards supervisor in my corridor. I had also talked with the Chief Housekeeper whom I knew from other cruises. No one seemed to take me very seriously or really care. I told the chief housekeeper to come to my cabin and look at how my bed was made. One side very long, hardky any sheet on the other side. No sheet at the top going over the blanket. The first night he had put the blanket ON TOP of the bedspread. Yes, on TOP of the bedspraed. I could not believe my eyes!!!!! All I kept being told was that he came from Windstar. I kept saying to them"Don't they know how to make a bed on Windstar?. No one took this seriously. They had so many complaints on this steward that I think they were trying to sweep everything under the rug. At one point, early on they had to get my old cabin steward to come and "train" him. That was NOT fair to him with all the other cabins he had. I kept asking where was his supervisor. He should have been there telling him what to do, NOT my old cain steward. Believe me, I was fed up with the whole situation!!!!!!!!

[grannynurse]

I agree with longtimecruiser. The $10 pp p/d is a service charge not a gratuity. Gratuitities are given freely to reward good service, not tacked on without prior consent.

We were also told that adjustments were to be made at the end of the cruise. Yet, many people lined up at the Front Desk early on to complain, pound on the counter, and many yelled at the staff who were powerless to change anything.

Again, the lack of effective communication between Seattle and the individual ships, and the apparent ignorance of customer concerns is rearing it's ugly head. HAL needs to talk to it's passengers personally. Perhaps by providing forums on a personal (face to face) level to include the different demographic categories, and resolve to listen.

We can rant and rave but if no one is listening, nothing will be accomplished.

 

We are seriously reconsidering our December Zaandam trip based on our recent experience with our lack of communication debacles on board.

GN

[CockyGoffin]

We booked our cruise directly with HAL. This is our first and we are really looking forward to it. Back when we booked there was no tipping policy. We never received any updates from HAL stating that they where changing this policy. I would not have known about the changes until the travel docs arrived. Fortunately I read these boards (you guys are a great source of info).

 

While the amount of money is not significant, I have never liked anyone making changes without notifying me. Why didn’t HAL just add this cost to the initial cruise price and avoid the risk of offending client’s.

 

I also don’t care for the change in policies for alcohol in the rooms. It really killed my plans for departure gifts for my friends traveling on the same cruise.

 

I’m still looking forward to this cruise. But I must admit my opinion is tarnished even before we start.

[Thoth]

Thanks for the input folks... I went to the bank and loaded up on $10's and $20's for this weekend's trip. If I like the service then I'll tip and if I don't then they can live off the $70 added to my account. Sounds fair!!

[Stevesan]

We booked our cruise directly with HAL. This is our first and we are really looking forward to it. Back when we booked there was no tipping policy. We never received any updates from HAL stating that they where changing this policy. I would not have known about the changes until the travel docs arrived. Fortunately I read these boards (you guys are a great source of info).

 

You apparently missed the many threads on tipping. HAL's policy has not been no tipping.. It has been tipping not required. As you realize, there is a major difference. I suspect a TA told you it was not tipping. Unfortunately, many TAs have misinformed their customers about this. I, too, have dealt with some TAs selling cruises who don't have a clue about any aspect of cruising.

[jhannah]

Because of your post my DH made it clear to me last evening that when we do the 35-day Maasdam cruise next July we will definitely remove the $10.00pp/day charge and will tip as we always have for the past thirty years.

Just be sure you understand that you won't really do your servers a favor by doing this. They must pool tips given by those who remove the $10 from their shipboard account. Therefore, the tips you give will be watered down among the various groups in the pool.

[CockyGoffin]

You apparently missed the many threads on tipping. HAL's policy has not been no tipping.. It has been tipping not required. As you realize, there is a major difference. I suspect a TA told you it was not tipping. Unfortunately, many TAs have misinformed their customers about this. I, too, have dealt with some TAs selling cruises who don't have a clue about any aspect of cruising.

 

Have had no contact with a travel agent and am new to the board. All my information (or miss information) came directly from HALS site. If I mis-read it then what can is say? I've never cruised before and take everything I read on HALs site as face value.

[LizB1]

Just be sure you understand that you won't really do your servers a favor by doing this. They must pool tips given by those who remove the $10 from their shipboard account. Therefore, the tips you give will be watered down among the various groups in the pool.

 

Yes, I understand this, however, won't they still end up with the same amount they would have shared if we had left the $10.00 per day on the account?? Will those incompetent ones still get their share if we complain about them??

 

Also, where do you get your info from, I am curious, as I don't think anyone at HAL understands the policy yet?

[jhannah]

The info came from a post a while back. It was clarified via a letter from HAL.

 

If you give the cabin steward $10 per person per day, then in theory he should receive the same amount. If you give him/her less than that, they will come up short since it will be pooled and redistributed.

[jazzsea]

I would like to see HAL put envelopes in the cabins with a guideline for tipping and forget about the $10 a day program. I doubt that they will do that, however. Our next cruise with them is in October. We'll keep the tips in place but may remove them if we find poor service in either our cabin or the dining room. One friend of mine is taking 14 pre paid phone cards with her on her Alaska cruise next week. (She bought them at Costco - 1400 minutes for $45.) She is going to give her cabin steward and waiter a 100 minute card in addition to her gratuity. She likes the idea of giving them something that cannot be divided or pooled with other staff. After reading these last posts, i agree with her. Maybe someone can start a thread about gifts for crew members other than cash.

[LizB1]

The info came from a post a while back. It was clarified via a letter from HAL.

 

If you give the cabin steward $10 per person per day, then in theory he should receive the same amount. If you give him/her less than that, they will come up short since it will be pooled and redistributed.

 

We have always tipped more to our room steward, dining room steward and assistant dr steward than they would get from the $10.00/day distribution under the new policy. If we remove our tips from the bill in the future we would continue to do this letting HAL know that the service we received from each was either excellent (as in the past) or poor if justified. Would also tell them in writing that we do not approve of this new sytem of gratituties (if one can call them that).

[Opinions]

'No Tipping Required'- most people thought it meant tips were included so they didn't tip or understood it but used it as an excuse not to tip.

 

QUOTE] I don't believe "most" people thought tips were included...Some probably did but in my opinion "most" people did tip.

[peaches from georgia]

None of us really have the facts and figures on what % of pax tipped under the old system and what the average tip was. It is safe to say, however, that there was a problem.

 

On our first HAL cruise we were at a table for 6. We knew the tipping policy because of CC. One of the other couples at our table had cruised HAL a number of times and had always thought tips were included and had never tipped. The second couple was on their first HAL cruise and had been told by their TA that tips were included.

 

On our second HAL cruise we were at a table for 8. All had cruised HAL before. One solo cruiser was leaving a 'small' tip which he said he always did, but he knew it wasn't expected because 'HAL says tipping is not required'. The others all thought from what they had heard on other HAL cruises or from their TA that tips were included in their fare.

 

Our tablemates on both of these cruises were a good cross-section of HAL pax- ages from 40 to 80, from the penthouse to an inside cabin on the lowest deck.

 

On our third HAL cruise we had a table for 2, but saw very very few tips being given out the final night. Not all of these folks would have tipped on a different night than the last, so I assume many of these people did not tip.

 

From my experience I certainly believe that the tipping policy, or the lack of, was a major problem on HAL ships. I will not get into parsing the word 'most', as no one here knows the actual figures. I will change my word to 'many' people did not tip for a variety of reasons.