tottenhamfc

You are bragging about something that is totally alien to most. It doesnt change the fact that you have money to burn willy nilly. If you agree with the model because you can afford it, that is not what the debate is about.

Absolutely not. What I am being cautious about is ensuring staff are properly compensated for the great work that they do.

Most dint have twelve cruises booked. You are far from the norm .

Yep and all the additional cuts/changes that go along with it. I am torn between feeling grateful to be able to cruise and the obvious deterioration of services primarily in the dining room.

You are in a different category than most on here. The question really is are RCL pushing the envelope and aggravating many of their clients? I always pay my grats and tip a little extra but I am changing my mind about the whole culture if tipping after the dialogue on here.

They may do this if people rebel against grats. It is a useless model.

I have noticed. I was talking as a general strategy.

I agree with you. I was just on a TA and now the head waiters are tip surfing. I was sick and tired having a spiel over the intercom every night saying how good the food and service was and constantly interrupting what should have been a nice relaxing evening with fellow cruisers. Oh and also pushing specialty restaurants which have conveniently taken the favourite meals.

TBF unless you are on Cruisecritic or something similar you may not even know about grats being optional. I thought it was specific to certain laws that were applicable to individual countries. I am D+ and I didnt even know about this until a few customers on my last cruise started talking about it. I was at the point of not paying extra but never considered removing grats.

This is true but the service from individuals on cruiseships is very good. It deserves some form of recognition. How else other than tips would they be recognized? If they were on land they would be working an 8 hour day with two days off. They would require more employees thus higher fares

Totally disagree with you on this. Can you honestly say that you get better service off of a cruiseship? I cant say I do.

So you are taking an assumed percentage and then topping it up possibly? So for arguments sake one pulls 16 bucks a day and pays the room steward lets say two bucks and you might make it three for arguments sake. So then add two more the waiters which equates to 9 bucks overall leaving a remaining 7 bucks. Does one pocket that or do you give to employees who enhance your cruise but are not visible? I know in the restaurant industry where I live, you tip the server and a percentage of his/her tips go to the behind the screen staff like dishwasher, cooks etc.

What do you want the employees name to be broadcast on social media? Why should I disbelieve him? At least mine was a factual conversation, yours was pure speculation on a higher percentage.

Yes. The ones that engaged gave 20 bucks to three people. Room steward, waiter and asst for a 15 day cruise. That was the extent if it. So essentially pocketed the remainder. And if we are considered to be optional grats, then one cannot dictate how much to give bac can we?

The ones that I have discussed this with on board may pay 10 to 20% back in tips to room steward and waiters. More is pocketed back than paid out trust me.

Dont disagree with that model. However the company does because they know higher fares will result in competition that they want to avoid. In the end the employee requires a fair wage for 18 hour days 7 days a week.

So lets assume nobody pays grats. Employees are then paid leas regardless of the model. Most are paying grats because they value the employees. You clearly are using the word grats as an an exit strategy to lower your overall cost. Just say that and then we are talking the same language. I believe the model is wrong but I also value service. The service generally goes above and beyond what we we are used to in society these days.

And you are arguing with me and I agree with you however I also know that if you remove grats they will raise fares. So is it all about optics?

Of course they dont, employees do.

This whole thread is about gratuities. You can spin your narrative any which way you want but it doesnt change the fact that 90% are paying for 100% of passengers

The correlation is approx 1 million lost to 10% that dont pay as a result of removing grats and 1 million gained by raising the fee to the other 90% that pay. Simple revenue neutral math.

Guest services told me on the last cruise.

So six of one a and half a dozen of the other. Is it the optics we are concerned with or the bottom line?

I dont! In fact my bill was grats only. Didnt spend a penny. All I am saying is that employees should not suffer due to some paying and others not. It is hard enough to find employees let alone losing them.

The focus is on short cruises, younger demographic, alcohol Packages, families and activities not necessarily in that order. Seasoned cruisers are a drain on revenue because we have benefits. It is a typical bean counter approach.