SantaFeFan

25 minutes ago, malba2366 said:

I absolutely want the crew to make a good wage, but the "gratuity" system is complete garbage.  The system forces the good cruisers to subsidize cheapskates and scumbags who don't pay the gratuities or leave a minimal gratuity.  The cruise lines should add a mandatory crew gratuity to all bookings and then guests would be free to tip on top if they wish, with the clear understanding that it is not required or expected.

That is what NCL does. To reduce or remove the tips, passengers must contact corporate headquarters after the cruise by submitting a form with detailed reasons for the reduction or removal. I am willing to bet that they don't get very many of those requests. 

20 minutes ago, Denversail said:

I think this is a tough topic. I live in the USA and I’m suffering from some serious tip fatigue. I’ve always been a good tipper. Since the pandemic a ton of places are wanting tips for non waiting service. I thought that was why we get pick up? It used to be a cheaper option than eating in a restaurant. On top of the inflation that has already been passed to me as a consumer many services that didn’t use to expect a tip now want 15 - 30 %. That is like a 30% to 45% increase to me the consumer. It is out of control. Like I said I am exhausted by it all and a little fed up.

I agree. I would prefer we get away from the tipping culture completely. It would make things easier for all consumers, but possibly at the expense of those who rely on tips. 

But, as long as this flawed system remains in place I will abide by it and try to support those dependent of those tips. The last thing I want to do is to benefit financially by reducing or eliminating the tips and as a result causing financial hardships to those I depend on who are in service industries and cannot change the system they are forced to work in. It's not their fault, so I can't in all conscience punish them. 

26 minutes ago, Potstech said:

As long as their is a daily gratuity we will only tip our room steward an amount we feel is proper for services rendered.  That is and will always be the way we do it. It is not up to the customer to increase the pay for all the employees of the cruise line.  That is what the cruise fare is for.  We agree that the tipping culture is getting out of hand and will no longer participate.  Let the cruise lines pay a "decent" salary as we will no longer subsidize it.

I laugh every time I read comments like this. People who feel this way have little understanding that it will ALWAYS be the customer who pays for the employee's salaries.

In fact, the customer also pays the captain's salary, the CEO of the company's salary, the purchase price of the ship when it was delivered, the fuel, the food, the company liability insurance, the rent for the land based headquarters, etc. etc. 

Do you actually think that salaries are paid with some kind of magic money printing machine that the company turns on when paychecks are due and that this isn't paid by the customer? SMH.  

4 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

If you are sure you will only have one connected at a time you do not have to log off/log on. The system will auto disconnect the first when you try to attach #2

Thanks. Never used the system before so only going by what I have heard so far. Your comment is new information that will help me figure out how to use my devices. 

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Probably...but keep in mind you are now dividing that abysmal bandwidth by 4 and serving it up to the 4 devices 

Actually, my goal is to have two devices available, but would not using both at the same time. I would only use one at a time and would prefer to avoid having to log one off and log the other on every time I want to swap them. For most of the day my smaller and lighter phone will suffice, but other times the much large screen of the tablet would be better. I don't want to pay to connect four devices since I will only be using one at a time. 

1 minute ago, antsp said:

The usa has a strange business model.to the rest of the world. The price you see is the price you pay, so to have charges and add ons added after paying causes a lot of upset for a lot customers. That's another reason passengers remove the tips

Not a good reason. As travelers, we all should respect the cultures of the places we visit, including on a cruise ship. To defy a culture because they don't like it is being a selfish traveler. It's no better than visiting another country and disrespecting how they do things there. 

Just now, ldtr said:

Look at it this way depending upon what the US government does concerning additional fees for hotels, airlines, etc, and considering that the largest cruise market is the US, you migth get your wish and have tips go away, because they might just be included in the fares.  At this point that would only effect the basic fares on Princess since for all of the package fares they are included in the fares.

 

The more that withhold the tips, the faster  that day will come.

And the sooner that certain people will no longer be able stiff the crew. And that would be a good thing. 

1 minute ago, antsp said:

My point was its pooled, if a passenger wants to remove there auto tip its entirely a personal decision, its allowed and done by loads of passengers. That's the way Princess runs its business, right or wrong is for another day

Sorry, antsp. I reread your post and completely changed my reply (check out the edit). We both agree, and my apologies for misunderstanding your post. 

15 minutes ago, antsp said:

All tips are pooled fleetwide, removing your tip, removes money from the tip pool, not just for the crew you meet on your ship, but crew on a Princess ship you are not even sailing on. 

Agreed. Removing tips and handing them out individually only succeeds in making more work for everyone. The people receiving cash tips must record who gave them those tips, the amount of the tips, and surrender them to the purser for guest account reconciliation. A cash tip makes more work for several people who must keep track of those tips. 

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

There are several areas that the newest suggested  gratuity irks me. What used to be reasonable was the dinning room staff and the room steward. Now they have everyone on board included.

Gratuities have ALWAYS been split by all in the hotel staff. Nothing has changed. 

40 minutes ago, eclue said:

The gratuity charges are getting out of control...We eat only in the buffet - do not use the dining room at all....we remove the auto gratuity from our account early in the cruise and we hand pay our room steward generously. We also tip bar service in the casino and waiters in the buffet...I think adding all those others is a bit out of line...

The staff in the buffet work the counters supplying the food you eat, right? Then they deserve to be included in the gratuities. Period!

The majority of the hotel staff are there to support the people you deal with face to face. They are, and should be, part of the tip pool since the people you interact with couldn't do their jobs without the behind-the-scenes people providing support. 

By removing the gratuities and giving them to your hand picked favorites, you are only making more work for those people. When you remove the tips you are not accomplishing what you think. You are wasting your time - and everyone else's.  

31 minutes ago, suekel said:

I always thought that the daily gratuities were for everyone, customer facing and behind the scene.  What I've heard is that if you remove the automatic gratuities, the tips you pay out individually have to be turned in to be spread out.  But removing the automatic tips, that $50 you give your steward is not $50.  

It has always been that way. Nothing new. Experienced cruisers who actually care about the staff know that it has worked that way since the beginning.

22 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

You can if it is an Android phone. 

Thanks. It's the just released Samsung S23+.

My smartphone has mobile hot spot capabilities. With the Princess Plus wi-fi, can that device connect to additional devices, such as a tablet, through it's hotspot capabilities? 

6 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

Yes indeed but people seem to like to feel important and tip till it hurts.

I guess to some the concept of being generous is considered a character flaw. SMH. 

17 minutes ago, wowzz said:

But why buy a drink package ? Cheaper to buy Princess Plus

I was replying to your question about the Plus Package (which is $76.70, not $60), not a separate drink package:

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I'm not following your logic. If I buy Princess Plus for $60, I get the drinks package within that deal.

Where does the $11 gratuity come into it ?

Sorry if I am being dense !

According to Princess drink package pages:

Package Details and Qualifications

• The Plus Beverage Package is US $64.99 per day plus 18% service charge (totaling $76.70 per day) for all itineraries except Australia.

29 minutes ago, t&atravel said:

Specialty dining includes 17% service charge per Princess.com FAQ’s

 

Thank you. That confirms what the hotel manager on Grand described. 

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Correct. Waitstaff in the specialty restaurants and at the Chef's Table are part of the tipping pool.

 

(By the way, it is my understanding that the service charge for specialty dining does not include any gratuity since the staff is part of the tipping pool.)

And it is my understanding that the additional charge for specialty dining DOES include the gratuity. This isn't a guess on my part, or a rumor I heard, or something I read on CC. It was described to the audience by the hotel manager on Grand Princess during a question and answer event when someone asked that very question.

Sorry, but I would believe that ship officer over anything posted here. 

3 hours ago, memoak said:

So should one remove their dining gratuities for that day ?

 

Of course not. If you used any of the other dining venues, you were served by the same staff who serve you in the MDR. If you insist on removing the gratuities for that day, then you would have to also not eat the rest of the day. Are you willing to fast for the rest of the day to make your point?  

4 hours ago, memoak said:

Gratuities for specialty dinners are covered as long as you pay the normal per day gratuities. No different from the MDR

They are not covered as part of the MDR gratuities. As LAcruiser88 described in post #3, they are part of the specialty dining upcharge. It has always been that way. 

30 minutes ago, Taykee1 said:

I'm on the old Plus Package of $12UD per drink, would love to see some of the new drink menus posted to see what I will actually be able to drink. A little scared that I will have to pay extra for each drink now its changed. Thanks everyone. 

Old packages at the $12 limit will be grandfathered in to cover the new $15 limits, resulting in those packages receiving $3 discount per drink. With the increase in prices, the old packages have had their limits increased as well at no additional cost the the purchaser, giving those packages the same drink variety as when purchased. It would be a  PR disaster if they sold packages with a promise of $12 drinks only to raise the prices out of reach of those packages. 

3 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Thrak, there was an explanation of this in some Princess Q and A.  Second formal night, based somehow on the “new” Love Boat “reality” tv show.  I think it started on Discovery and is spreading like a fungus throughout the fleet.  I’ll pass.

Based on how much of a disaster that "new" Love Boat reality show was, I would think that Princess would stay far, far away from any continuing association with it. 

11 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

No. Not at all what I was served. Believe me I know what a street taco is. Yes, they look like your pictures. Now... Take ONE tortilla and lay in in the bottom of a small bowl. Pile a bit of lettuce on top. That is not a street taco. I really wish I had taken a picture of the mess. Like I said previously, I live in California and grew up eating tacos. When Taco Bell came to town I was blown away as I had never seen one of those stupid crispy "taco shells". We always just had regular corn tortillas. Street tacos didn't make it this far north until later but have been a staple in the area for many, many, many years. I have also had street tacos in Mexico. (Love putting lime on them.)

 

Edit: While not "cooked" Princess does heat their tortillas a bit to make them more pliable. I've had them in restaurants and from taco trucks where they are either gently heated or simply room temperature.

OK, got it. I didn't have a good idea what you were served. Now I understand. NOT street tacos. Done correctly, street tacos are pretty good! I live in San Jose and get them all the time from local taco trucks. Yum!

5 hours ago, Thrak said:

I ordered tacos up on Lido deck. It's supposed to be the Princess version of 2 street tacos. I was served a small bowl with an uncooked tortilla in the bottom and some salad stuff on top. I looked at it and said, "THIS is a TACO?" The guy said, "Yes". I dumped it in the nearest trash and got a slice of pizza instead.

Street tacos - also know as traditional Mexican tacos - don't have fried shells. They are tacos that have a soft tortilla that isn't fried. 

3 minutes ago, Stosh68 said:

 

So instead of taking the time to call room service, you instead decided to take even more time to take a photo and then post said photo to a web site.  

 

Reminds me of people who endure poor service either from the room attendants or dining room staff and instead of saying something when it happens silently put up with it and then remove the tips as punishment, or come on public forums and complain. 

It is always better to contact the appropriate people and get the issue resolved rather than stay annoyed or angry. But, it seems that some people need to have something to complain about. 

11 hours ago, jwattle said:

I was only questioning the "few dollars worth of stuff" comment.

And like I explained (which you have completely ignored), all we got was a "few dollars worth of stuff" that only consisted of a single personalized notepad, a group photo and a cheap picture frame. So my comment was accurate for OUR group's tour. 

"But you do you".