Extended cruises...Why extra tipping

[steveaaaa]

If the cruise line cannot dock and your cruise is extended, why are they auto adding the extra days tips?

A business associates friend just informed me of a situation that seems wrong( I am taking their account at full face value). They were on one of the extended cruises with their inlaws and they paid for their cruise.They were a family of 4 and they did not have a charge card so they put up $500.With tips (7 days worth) and other watched expenses, they spent the $500.At the cruise end they were being hounded for another $80 because their account was now in the red. The end result was the person who paid their cruise fare ended up forking over the money.

I can see giving out envelopes but this auto add just don't seem right. Some peoples budget might not be able to handle it and being guilted does not seem right. I know you can go and remove them, but in the case of an extended cruise due to no fault of your own, why should you be forced to remove them in person.The issue of being stuck on the ship and almost forced to spend more for a few extra days should be enough.

Where in the contract does it allow for this? If a seven day cruise is booked, then a seven day tip charge is reasonable.Just because they add extra days is not any passengers fault.

Should the person who put up the extra $80 ask them(inlaws) for it back?

Steve

[JanLynne]

Well I can see paying extra tips for the extra days, after all they are still taking care of you and your needs. I don't necessarily think they should add it to your card without letting you know first. They should at least announce it or put it in the capers and let the person decide. I just got off a cruise and if we got stuck extra days I certainly would have give more tip money.

[ArkansasFish]

Why was the cruise extended? Hurricane or something?

Think about it this way, you got 4 more days of room and food for 80.00.

That is not bad at all.

[GayleR]

Wow, I never thought about the tips for the extended days. That's a good question. I know I plan to spend X amount of money on the cruise, and bring some extra for good measure. I don't know how I'd handle that situation. :eek:

 

 

Gayle

[emerald777]

I was on the 8/28 Navigator which was extended 2 days because of Hurricane Frances. We didn't do autotipping, but we paid extra for the 2 extra days. It wasn't that much per person and our steward and waiters definitely deserved it! I guess having to pay for 4 people could add up, but it was still only 10.00 a day pp. Why didn't the others offer to pay the extra themselves?

[llanning]

I was on the Triumph on the first extended trip (Frances). They did not automatically add the tips.

[cantwait2cruise]

We were on the Aug. 30th Sensation sailing that was extended three extra days b/c of Frances. They did NOT automatically add the extra days of gratuities to our sail and sign card. I, however, gave our waiters and cabin steward the appropriate amounts for the extra days b/c they continued working hard and serving us....they certainly earned the money. While I can understand that some people have a tighter budget and may not be able to spend the extra expense, I certainly think that you should tip for extra days if at all possible. But as I said it was not automatically added to our card and nothing was even mentioned about it. I'm sure that lots of folks failed to tip for the extra days, but I personally did not feel comfortable with that and felt our waiters and steward deserved to be compensated.

[brn2crz]

Would then the following shortened cruise pay full tips?

 

As long as the extended days were full service days,I would not have problems paying the tips (providing I have money left lol )

[pholter]

I believe the tipping guidelines are $10pp per day. If my cruise was extended, I would fully expect to have them added to my S&S account in addition to the ones I prepaid. I guess they could always let the staff have vacation time on board instead- no room service, no cleaning of cabins, no dining room service, etc. Now, had I already removed my tips opting to tip out myself, then I might be a bit mad if they added additional afterwards, but only in that case. I would expect some sort of friendly reminder to be printed in the Capers about extra tipping regardless. Some folks may not think that service deserves tips otherwise.

[hdawson]

Extending the cruise for a couple of extra days because of weather is nobodys fault. Did the service from the staff end or did they coninue providing the service for which a tip is expected and in my case so definetly deserved? The tip is for service received.

[Cotton]

I would not hesitate to tip the usual $10 per day for the continued good service from the staff! You got an extra coupla days of food, fun, and cabin service, at no extra charge to you. So what's an extra $20pp?:rolleyes:

[tbrown]

We were in the holiday and due to Ivan we also was charged to the S&S card the extra for the days out there. Due to way things were with service we did adjust ours. No I wouldn't ask my in-law to pay the extra but if they knew we were going to have to pay this they would volunter (if service granted paymebt) no matter who paid the additional

[BrendaB1]

Tina

Holiday Sept 11, 2004 (what was I thinking this is hurricane season):eek: (Turned out to be the curse from He** in more ways then just the hurricane):(

 

I guess that is just a bad week to sail on that ship. I sailed on it to celerbrate my 9/11 bday the year following the bombings. My opinion matched yours...word for word. lol

 

Additional tipping seems only fair to me since the staff is still performing their everyday job. I don't thing any of us would like working for free, would we? I would say additional days would be an added bonus and well worth the additional tip.

[klfrodo]

What the heck are you complaining about the additional tips for.

 

I got stuck at a hotel due to Hurricane Francis and MIA being closed down. I had to pay for the additional nights stay at the hotel. I am NOT complaining about this. Peoples lives and homes were being destroyed around me. I was safe in the hotel.

 

Did Carnival make you pay for the additional days while at sea while you were eating meals and being served your favorite beverages?

 

This board has gone wack. There are a lot of individuals on this board who have lost perspective on whats REALLY important in life.

 

Complaining about additional tips............ get real

[SallyMay]

I would have no problem paying more tips. If the crew worked just as hard serving you then why complain about an extra day or two. You were not charged extra for those days crusing. I look at it this way - they kept you out of harms way and did their job as they had the other days that you paid for.

[Travel Angel]

What the heck are you complaining about the additional tips for.

 

I got stuck at a hotel due to Hurricane Francis and MIA being closed down. I had to pay for the additional nights stay at the hotel. I am NOT complaining about this. Peoples lives and homes were being destroyed around me. I was safe in the hotel.

 

Did Carnival make you pay for the additional days while at sea while you were eating meals and being served your favorite beverages?

 

This board has gone wack. There are a lot of individuals on this board who have lost perspective on whats REALLY important in life.

 

Complaining about additional tips............ get real

 

Gotta aggree as above.

 

Let's see if we really understand this....

 

Hurricane causes ship to be unable to return to port as scheduled.....

Passengers get 1 - 2 days extra cruise including:

a. Accommodations

b. Entertainment

c. Meals/Complimentary Room Service

d. All ammenities offered by cruiseline

ALL OF THE ABOVE AT NO EXPENSE TO PASSENGERS

 

Out of pocket expenses to passengers onboard a ship for 2 additional days:

a. Soft Drink/Liquor purchases (at pasengers discretion to purchase !)

b. Additional Gratuity Costs at $10.00 p/p per day (at passengers discretion !)

c. Ammenities/Shopping, Laundry, etc. (at passengers discretion !)

 

Seems to me that the only one losing out on this is THE CRUISELINES who were showing GOOD PUBLIC RELATIONS by not passing on ANY ADDITIONAL CHARGES FOR SERVICE RENDERED (excluding auto charge of tips WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED/ADJUSTED BY PASSENGERS CHOOSING TO DO SO !) to passengers !

 

Think the original poster may need to really RETHINK their logic on this one !

 

"Kudos" to the cruiselines for trying to make the situations they have been dealing with regarding hurricanes, as PLEASURABLE AS POSSIBLE FOR CRUISE PASSENGERS that appear to be getting HARDER TO PLEASE !

[hstrybuf]

If I was on a cruise that was extended for one reason or another, I would feel obligated to pay tips for those days since I would be receiving service. Really now, did these people cut their budget soooo close that they couldn't afford a few extra bucks for tips??? If they cruise again, advise them to take half the clothes and twice the money. Seems to work for a lot of folks! ;)

[Cruising89143]

I was on the Fantasy for two extra days during Frances and Carnival did not add tips to our sail n sign account.

[Dannzzigg]

The OP is relying on second-hand information that seems to be incorrect. I was aboard The Inspiration for an additional two days while Frances was laying waste to my neigborhood. We left the auto-tips on and there was no adjustment made. The auto tips are the first thing billed to your S&S account. If they were to change the amount for tips, it would most likely show up as an additional line on the statement. There wsa no such charge.

 

In fact, I made a point to ask our room steward about the tipping situation. He seemed surprised that I did, but he confirmed that Carnival does not add tips for the additional days. We made sure he and the dining room staff were well taken care of, in addition to the auto tips.

[Sweetcharlotte30]

I just got to say that when we were out on the Pride the ATM was busted the entire cruise, If it came down to where we HAD to stay on the ship and they were chargeing us extra$, they wouldn't able to get one red cent. Reason being, we put up our S&S card with cash and we spent it right down to the last dollar. Our credit card was back at the park n' fly, sooooo what 'cha gonna do?

[MICruizers]

I think that another thing to remember is that what the cruise lines call "tips" or "gratuities" are not that at all. Has anyone noticed that there are only a handful of cruise ships flagged as US registered. Sometimes known as "flags of convenience", these cruise ships are registered in the Bahamas, Liberia, Panama, Monrovia, etc for (mostly) financial reasons. First, the cruise lines pay the bulk of the ships' taxes to the country of registry, whose taxes are inevitably lower than taxes in the US. Secondly, the registration fees are paid to another country, which are inevitably lower than the US. Thirdly, as a foreign flagged vessel, these ships are not obligated to hire American crew, do not have to pay Federal Minimum Wage, are not legally obligated to provide ANY benefits under US law, they also are not required to pay overtime to their staff, etc. Bottom line is that the cruise lines DO NOT pay foreign workers very well, and they depend on US (the cruising masses) to pay their wages. In essence, your "tip" money is not a "bonus for great services rendered," the tip money is figured into the crew's pay. Do you think that these cruise lines have the capital they do by paying their employees $15.00 per hour, plus time and a half for overtime (as many crewmembers work 12+ hours per day, 7 days a week)? The cruise lines have gone to the automatic tipping to "virtually" ensure that the crew is making a living, while the cruise lines can lower fares to entice more cruisers. Even if I receive less than stellar service, I wouldn't lower the tip amount...anybody can have a bad day, and I know how much these crewmembers need the money to support their families in whatever country they hail from....

[tbrown]

The OP is relying on second-hand information that seems to be incorrect. I was aboard The Inspiration for an additional two days while Frances was laying waste to my neigborhood. We left the auto-tips on and there was no adjustment made. The auto tips are the first thing billed to your S&S account. If they were to change the amount for tips, it would most likely show up as an additional line on the statement. There wsa no such charge.

 

In fact, I made a point to ask our room steward about the tipping situation. He seemed surprised that I did, but he confirmed that Carnival does not add tips for the additional days. We made sure he and the dining room staff were well taken care of, in addition to the auto tips.

They charged our S&S card on the Holiday during Hurricane Ivan. No questions asked from them

[DFD1]

Well stated, Midcruizers. There is this big ongoing discussion over on the Holland America Forum about this as well. The idea that this auto tipping policy is anything but a salary payment shift directly to the passengers and away from the company is a joke.

 

I do know that Holland America did not add automatic tips for extra days at sea and I'm surprised that some passengers have indicated here that Carnival did add the extra tips.

 

The passenger who posted here that he set up his account in cash, then spent it all, has the right idea about how to control these costs. "Can't get blood out of a turnip" so to speak.

[tbrown]

On the cruise we were on they had three people that needed to clear up their account before deparkment. One of them was waiting with us and they said that they used all of their money and that when they went to the pursur's desk it was over the extra 20 for the day we were stuck at sea.

[nmarsh]

I'd love to be "stuck at sea" and I would gladly pay the extra tip.