6 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Not everyone cares about the Super Bowl.

Not everyone might care about the Super Bowl but it is still the biggest sporting event in the United States and a whole lot of people do enjoy the event.

4 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

But the more people decide to cheat the system (because you are only supposed to remove them for poor service), the more prices will go up.

You can remove tips for any reason, in fact Royal will not even ask why you are removing the tips!    

2 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

It’s a choice to remove in case service was really bad. Service from all staff.
Removing for financial convenience is a wish to get a free ride knowing that service will still be good because majority contributes. 🙂

 

Many people, including myself, always remove the auto gratuities.   We tip in cash at the end but do not allow Royal to decide who gets our tips.  Royal is fine with this.   Tip the way you are comfortable and let everyone else tip the way they want.

2 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

We are a family of 7, would never remove it. In many restaurants, an auto tip is added onto our bill, I will actually add more money if service warrants it.

Good for you!  Everyone should  tip the way that is best for them!

4 minutes ago, Tulsacoker said:

looks like its time for this thread to be locked 

Why because you can't handle the discussion.  Put your big boy pants on!

2 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

Really? So family of 5 receives usually great service paid by majority, but somehow they shouldn’t participate in contribution to this because it’s expensive for them? 🙂
You know cruising is not an essential service which must be subsidized for large families. It’s not good stamps or something.

 

It is a choice, if they don't wish to leave a tip, or adjust the tip,  it is up to them.   

1 minute ago, Tatka said:

 

Are you calling autogratuities “extras”?

 

I would!

10 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

Yes they are. And before autogratuities they were making very little money.

 Waiters would probably split some of cash gratuities with kitchen stuff to get orders faster, but there are people cleaning general areas, doing laundry. They used to get $450-500 a month. Now with collected gratis they make $1200 or so. 

 

 This is why I think it is a good system to collect and distribute money more fair, but to avoid losing part of money because of "smart" removals of autogratuities lines would be better off including what they need to pay in common fare. Then whatever is paid on top in cash to most deserved can still be paid.

If you believe that to be true, keep tipping that way!   It is your money, spend it any way you like.  We will continue to give cash and remove auto gratuities.   Royal is just fine with either way of tipping. 

19 minutes ago, Sam Ting said:

We always remove this optional fee and tip as we go.  How the cruiseline convinced passengers to donate to their billion dollar company so it can pay its employees is beyond me. 

Agree!!!

2 minutes ago, Cruisin_n_Boozin said:

This would imply they are keeping the gratuities and not paying the staff out. I think you are off base here. 

Gratuities make up most of the compensation for crew in the housekeeping, beverage and food departments.   Royal now even requests we give gratuity to crew members we don't even see.   Royal profits even more when they get passengers to pay more of the crew's salary.    

1 hour ago, compman9 said:

I find it bizarre that RCI still refuse to include gratuities in the cruise fare

 

They are now an international cruise line with hoe ports that do not have a tipping culture and most of their staff come from non-tipping culture countries

 

 

Gratuities contributes a substantial profit margin for Royal, it will not go away anytime soon.

20 minutes ago, karena1 said:

We also know 100% that they do know who prepays or has auto tips charged daily.  We have seen the lists and talked to many, many of our cabin people about it.  I agree, it probably does not affect your service one way or another, but I would never in a million years remove the pre-paid or daily tips, just would not do it.  Worked enough in the hospitality industry to know how it affects everyone involved.

Good for you!  You should tip the way you feel most comfortable.  We always remove  our daily tips and tip in cash.   Royal makes it very easy to tip this way.  Everyone should tip the way they feel most comfortable.

8 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Nope, I’m down there on the first or second

night, whenever I happen to be walking by and the line is manageable. 

That is the way we do it!

17 minutes ago, MrsKC08 said:

Royal is very clear about where the tips get allocated!

The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories. As a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience.

I guess you find their policy clear, I do not.    The way Royal's policy is set up they can give your tips to almost anyone  on  any of  their ships.

33 minutes ago, budmeister said:

 "you have clean linens and towels in your room, the staff in the laundry department contributed to that. "

 

Do those people get a portion of tips?

 

 

 

When you leave it up to Royal to give out your tips,  you don't know where your money goes.   

23 hours ago, Familyofjust3 said:

Thanks for the advice everyone. It seems tipping at the start is the way to go. 

Just remember if you prepay your tips, you can not make any adjustments on the prepay tips if you have any issues.   

Tip the way that works best for you.  We use the envelopes provided by customer service, this works best for us.  You can prepay or do automatic gratuities if you prefer, we have choices.

Never believe Royal's percentage off sales a they are never true!    Always look at the final price you will pay.

4 hours ago, Familyofjust3 said:

Good morning. We’re going on the UAE cruise over Christmas on Jewel of the Seas and have been advised that we can pay our gratuities/tips at the end of the cruise in envelopes left in our cabin. We apparently have to tell the concierge when we board that that’s what we intend to do. Is this correct?  Apologies if this has already been covered and I’ve missed it. 

Just go down to guest services and they will remove your gratuities and give you envelopes.  Royal makes it very easy to tpi this way.  Royal will still be leaving you additional envelopes  in your cabin as  well for those who wish to tip even more,

On 10/21/2019 at 8:16 AM, LMaxwell said:

A gratuity is included when you purchase the package.  How much?  Who knows.  But you are also still paying your regular daily gratuity for services on the ship.  It takes something really wow/spectacular to warrant triple tipping so I bring some extra cash but if service is poor to OK no triple tip.  

Agreed!!! 

8 hours ago, Readytogo said:

Why is this so hard for some people to understand?

Because some posters on here post information that is just not true.

14 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

No gratuity is added to any dining package purchased in the cruise planner.      

 

If purchased on board a gratuity is added.  

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

No gratuity is added to any dining package purchased in the cruise planner.  u    

 

If purchased on board a gratuity is added.  

 That's why it's better to buy the dining package in the cruise planner when it goes on sale.

11 hours ago, cb at sea said:

Remember that a gratuity is ADDED to the cost of the package...so take that into account!

 

This is true!

37 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Just curious, if you give them advance notice, can't they adjust the payouts prior to your event 🤔

If they could, I would think they would want those in the slot pull to win at least a little something to start with.  The excitement created by a slot pull when we win something, encourages the new players to play in the casino.   When they get that feeling of winning some cash, it makes so many players want to win even more money.  I am always surprised at the end of a slot pull how many players end up staying in the casino to play even more.