US flagged ship No tipping needed now?

[steveaaaa]

In another topic regarding the discussion of the Aloha of the Sea's cancelling a cruise because the crew was exhausted,a reply was made from a poster that the crew was working 80 hours a week.The ship which is a flagged US vessel which can sail between US ports with out stopping at a foreign port. The crew is now goverened by US employment laws.

My 1st questions now would be'

 

Is crew now rolling in $$$ Since they are governed by US employment law they recieve time and a half for anything over 40 hours so they get paid for 100+ hours?I thought overtime was not mandatory with US jobs? Their R&B is included I would assume?

 

My 2nd question now is that the original thought of tipping was this was their only income (stewards,busboys, and Waiters) now that we have a US crew with US wages,benefits,ect, tipping is now not needed??

I have also seen questions on this board about tipping the waiter if you do not eat in the dining room all week.The answer was always that this is their only income,so now with US labor laws and fair wage acts in place,if you ate at the buffet for every meal you would not have to tip the waiter or busboy??

The crew now under a US vail could also unionize to help with the poor work conditions as we are led to believe.

My 3rd question is how does uncle sam become involved.Is every tip envelope claimed on taxes or if prepaid tipping is done is that figure given to the IRS?With the bartenders the tip is automatic so I would assume that very accurate tax figures are supplied for the bartender.

 

If I am incorrect on anything above please let me know as I have no knowledge of how a US flagged ship deals with the above and I am curious.

Steve

[GoinCruisin]

Well, it's been a long time since I was in the service industry, but I remember making about 2 bucks an hour and my main source of income was derived from tips.... I had to report the tips to the IRS (okay, well most of them ;) the IRS may have thought I was a pretty bad waitress!!).... so I would assume that since most of the workers on cruiseships have always operated pretty much the same way (low wage + tips), regardless of what country it is governing, that they are still being paid extremely low wages and rely solely on tips... I doubt seriously that they are rolling in the dough....

 

Oh yeah, and I was never paid dime one of overtime...

[teedee]

Steve - It's been many years since I was a waitress, but it used to be that there was an entirely different set of rules for people in the service industry. Minimum wage was much lower, if it existed at all, for waiters/waitresses. I relied on my tips to live. Also overtime laws did not come into play either. But again I'm talking over 20 years ago so things may well have changed.

 

Terri

[derf5585]

One major oddity: The ship's tipping policies are absolutely bizarre

from

http://www.cruisecritic.com/virtual/virtual.cfm?ID=7

[hdawson]

I think the only American flagged and crewed cruise ship, other than river boats, is the Pride of Aloha of Norwegian Cruiselines. A couple more are planned and in construction. They only cruise the Hawaiian Islands. These are the only ships to be under US wage laws. There is a $10 per day "service fee" being added to your onboard account which is not negotiable and can't be removed. NCL states that this is not to be considered a tip and goes into NCL's revenue stream. They encourage tipping for excellent service. The crew is paid a salary on this ship. This fee will go fleetwide by May 05 even though the rest of their ships will not be American flagged or subject to US wage laws. NCL's statement was that they will not add the service fee to their fare because it would appear to be not competitive with the lines that don't have a service fee. Duh!

The above is my impression from reading many posts on various boards. If you find any part not correct please update us.

[betsyrossapk]

I am not sure how the "American" ownership would change anything. We just completed a land vacation visiting Gettysburg, Wash DC & Hershey, Pa. At each hotel we stayed at we left a $5 per nite tip for the maid & 15% tip on all our meals. Why should it be any different on a cruise ship baffles me.

[hdawson]

NCL is still owned by Star Cruises of Indonesia or Malaysa. Don't know if these Hawaii only ships maybe reincorporated. Maybe someone else has credible information. Flagging has nothing to do with ownership.

[steveaaaa]

Well thanks for the replies everyone I will just keep watching to see if we can get a factual answer.

 

Hdawson,

The part in you reply of the $10 non negotiable fee will probably end up in court as the port charges eventually did. The truth in advertising will probably bite them in the end especially if they try and advertise or sell in the state of FL.

Steve

[hdawson]

Steve. I suspect the Fair Trade Act and Truth in Advertising will come into the picture. I believe the factual and final price must be in print of equal size as the lead-price. Since they state that the $10 goes into NCL's revenue stream, it becomes a part of the cost of the cruise. Just my very humble opinion.