Gratuities

I don't want to be banned for being abusive so I will ask simply - what kind of gifts do you give, are they the types that take no room in the crew's cabin and can be easily converted to cash. If they can be converted to cash, how do you k now if they don't have to turn in gifts of value?

 

DON

See post #15.

Gifts are there's to keep.

I've asked many crew members.

Cash is supposed to be pooled although I suspect that some of it is just pocketed, especially if it's done discreetly. I've also asked some crew about that policy & they tell you the stock answer with a smile. ;);)

I have no way of knowing if Princess keeps part of the gratuity pool as a fee for administering the program or not. But I would bet that if they do, the amount they keep is calculated as a percentage of the total amount in the gratuity pool. So if you lower the amount of your auto gratuity you are penalizing the staff as well as Princess and not just Princess.

Before you condemn a cruise line for paying slave wages, you need to know that the wages are considered good in the home country of the employee. The whole world is not like San Francisco or Seattle where a $15 per hour wage is needed to survive.

If you can't afford the auto gratuity, then maybe you need to find an alternative to cruising for your vacations.

And the bottom line to all this is... Princess is only going to pay so much of the salaries for their employees. If people remove the autotips and/or start trying to back door the money where they think they want it to go, Princess and other cruise lines will simply go to a situation where your "tips" are included in the cost of the fare. Did it ever occur to anyone that if you remove the tips, that Princess will evaluate the numbers - constantly over the course of the year - and adjust cruise fares accordingly??? So while you think you may be saving money or controlling it, in the long run you will still be dancing to Princess' tune. This is basic corporate economics 101.

If people want to waste their precious vacation time hand tipping everyone they see, want to be cheap and remove tips, believe they can "better" control where there money goes by tipping outside the auto tips, remove them because they disagree with Princess' business model and feel the company should pay the full wages, or whatever else silly explanations people on this board come up with to justify their actions, then nothing the rest of us do or say is likely to change their mind. Scrooge didn't think he was cheap - nor did he care - til it was time for him to pay the piper....

On board you can go to the Guest Services desk and ask that they be removed from your account (assuming they were not a perk for booking).

 

However, tips you give your dining room waitstaff and your cabin steward will be turned in by them to be added to the pool just like the autogratuities.

 

In choosing on your own, do not forget the staff at the ice cream, pizza and burger counters by the pool if you use their services. Also those who serve you in the buffet.

However, tips you give your dining room waitstaff and your cabin steward will be turned in by them to be added to the pool just like the autogratuities

HOLD THE PHONE...

Since 2003, we have always left the auto-gratuities on our account AND, have always given each staff member that served us a nice tip envelope at the end of the cruise. We were under the impression that this extra gratuity was theirs to keep and not 'pooled'. Does Princess have different rules than NCL, RCI and Celebrity?

If a passenger leaves auto gratuities on and in addition gives extra cash tips to one of the crew - room steward etc- then that crew member gets to keep the extra cash tips. BUT first the crew member must turn in the extra cash tip until Princess verifies that indeed the passenger did not remove his auto gratuities. When giving extra cash tips the crew will ask that you write your name and cabin number on the envelope so that Princess can verify that you did not remove auto gratuities.

That is what you want to believe because there is no proof, no written policy available for us to read. Crew likes to give sob stories and extract all they can from us, no different then any other tipped personnel.

Back when Princess was "The Love Boat", before the Carnival merger there were no auto gratuities. You tipped the last night of the cruise to your room steward, head waiter, assistant waiter and Maitre d, if you felt he went above and beyond. The service was stellar because everyone had to work harder for their tips. One of the Maitre d's told me that the women would fawn over the servers, "Oh, I want to take you home with me", etc. and he said it was all for tips, and the extra service or fawning over passengers was all for tips, so I would say the crew prefers cash over little trinkets or candy or whatever. He also said he felt sad for passengers that they had to cruise to get attention.

Hi,

can I ask that geatuities won’t be added automatically?

So I could choose on my own

WHY??? When you change the auto tip, it messes it up for a lot of people! There are staff who help serve you behind the scenes, such as cooks etc. Do you wish to cheat them out of part of their wages? If so, please explain why.

I think this guy is going old school to be honest as long as he tips I don’t see anything wrong with it

 

 

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He doesn't accomplish his purpose since all those tips will turned in to the auto-grat pool.

If his individual tips exactly equal the auto-grats all he will have accomplished is causing a great deal of bookkeeping work for nothing.

If less, then he is cheap.

If more, then he defeats his own purpose since the person he thought deserved more won't get it, since it will have to be turned in and pooled.

If you believe this you must still believe in fairies.:D

No. I believe that when there are cameras everywhere, when fellow employees will regard this as stealing from them, when the steward and waitstaff are given black marks for bad service - possibly affecting their ability to get their next contract - when 'their' pax remove them . . .

But hey, whatever gets you through the night.

Your tips are not just split between the staff you cruise on but as stated on Princess website all tips are collated and split between staff fleet wide so staff you have never seen or likely to on other ships will get a share of your tips. There is only one reason why gratuities are collected by Princess is to pay the staff wages and so they can get away with paying abysmal wages and making vast profits for Carnival plc.

And knowing that is the system in place and that you accepted it by booking the cruise, somehow that justifies stiffing the crew.

OK, got it.

See post #15.

Gifts are there's to keep.

I've asked many crew members.

Cash is supposed to be pooled although I suspect that some of it is just pocketed, especially if it's done discreetly. I've also asked some crew about that policy & they tell you the stock answer with a smile. ;);)

Next cruise you should give the longshoreman who puts your luggage on the cart a gift in lieu of cash. I hear they like potpourri.

However, tips you give your dining room waitstaff and your cabin steward will be turned in by them to be added to the pool just like the autogratuities

HOLD THE PHONE...

Since 2003, we have always left the auto-gratuities on our account AND, have always given each staff member that served us a nice tip envelope at the end of the cruise. We were under the impression that this extra gratuity was theirs to keep and not 'pooled'. Does Princess have different rules than NCL, RCI and Celebrity?

No. That poster conflated 2 different things. So long as you leave the auto-grats on they get to keep the extra cash tips.

No. That poster conflated 2 different things. So long as you leave the auto-grats on they get to keep the extra cash tips.

I don't think anyone has proof of this, but it is what we've always been told.

Next cruise you should give the longshoreman who puts your luggage on the cart a gift in lieu of cash. I hear they like potpourri.

I don't use their service.

I'll leave the tipping to you. :rolleyes:

And knowing that is the system in place and that you accepted it by booking the cruise, somehow that justifies stiffing the crew.

 

OK, got it.

I'm quite familiar with this guy stiffing the staff. He's well known to do it on Cunard. We DO agree on many subjects, however cheating the staff certainly is NOT one of them.

I don't want to be banned for being abusive so I will ask simply - what kind of gifts do you give, are they the types that take no room in the crew's cabin and can be easily converted to cash. If they can be converted to cash, how do you k now if they don't have to turn in gifts of value?

 

DON

Some pax have been known to give gift cards in lieu of cash. We still dispense with the greenbacks. My brother once gave his MIL a "Diamond Back", but that's another story.

I don't use their service.

I'll leave the tipping to you. :rolleyes:

So you put the luggage on the cart yourself? Ever wonder how some luggage just doesn't make it to the room? Try & prove the Longshoreman tossed it. Personally, I'll give them a few bucks to "insure" it does make it to my room!

So you put the luggage on the cart yourself? Ever wonder how some luggage just doesn't make it to the room? Try & prove the Longshoreman tossed it. Personally, I'll give them a few bucks to "insure" it does make it to my room!

A lot of people, like myself, carry their luggage themselves. I only pack carry on items and it simplifies everything when I travel. Everything I take on vacation is WITH me at all times.

It is easy, just go to guest services and ask them to make the amount you feel is right. I usually reduce my daily gratuity to $10 PP PD because I believe that amount is what actually gets distributed to the crew. No one knows the answer to how much they keep with cash since Princess chooses to be secretive which in itself shows me they don't distribute the gratuity as we would hope.

Thanks!

That s what I want to know. :)

And knowing that is the system in place and that you accepted it by booking the cruise, somehow that justifies stiffing the crew.

 

OK, got it.

Actually what I accept in my booking is this

"

HOW DO GRATUITIES WORK?

To simplify the tipping process for our passengers, a discretionary gratuity charge will be automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. The daily gratuity amounts are $15.50 per guest for suites, $14.50 per guest for mini-suites and club class, and $13.50 per guest for interior, oceanview, and balcony staterooms. This gratuity will be shared amongst those staff who have helped provide and support your cruise experience, including all waitstaff, stateroom stewards, buffet stewards, and housekeeping staff across the fleet. A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges and dining room wine accounts."

Making the amount what one feels is adequate is not stiffing the staff. Do all you righteous people look at everyone's tips when you go to a restaurant too? ONLY the bar 15% gratuity is not discretionary and will be added without ability to adjust it.

However, tips you give your dining room waitstaff and your cabin steward will be turned in by them to be added to the pool just like the autogratuities

HOLD THE PHONE...

Since 2003, we have always left the auto-gratuities on our account AND, have always given each staff member that served us a nice tip envelope at the end of the cruise. We were under the impression that this extra gratuity was theirs to keep and not 'pooled'. Does Princess have different rules than NCL, RCI and Celebrity?

Auto-grats started around 2003????? Doesn't seen like they have been around for that long. So went back and looked at a "passenger folio" from 2005(term they used back then)...and guess what I found....At that time on the Tahitian Princess...auto grats were listed as Room Grat...3.50 and Meal grat 6.50.per day Now why one keeps this info...who knows, but I do:rolleyes:

At one time any xtra was for the receiver to keep, seems like in the last few years people have been mentioning redistribution.

A lot of people, like myself, carry their luggage themselves. I only pack carry on items and it simplifies everything when I travel. Everything I take on vacation is WITH me at all times.

We cruise for 14 days at a time, so for us it's two 45 pounders & two carry ons & the CPAP machine.

I wish Princess wouldn't make it so easy for some people to stiff the crew. Perhaps every cruise line should start implementing NCL's policy of making people wait until after the cruise and then fill out a form to make the adjustment.

I wish Princess wouldn't make it so easy for some people to stiff the crew. Perhaps every cruise line should start implementing NCL's policy of making people wait until after the cruise and then fill out a form to make the adjustment.

The cruise lines need to start paying a living wage and take the passenger out of the mix on using "auto tipping" to support their wages.

Tipping usually is a discretionary action that is taken when it is warranted because of service above and beyond the ordinary.....not when some cruise line says "oh by the way.....you get to give a tip everyday (whether you agree with it or not) for service that may or may not be good." This is no different then giving every one a trophy for just showing up for a game whether they win or not!!!

Call it a resort fee or whatever but if they call it tipping then I consider it my prerogative to do what I want. According to some of the arguments on here I might as well tip everyone at Walmart, McDonalds, The $ Store, Big Lots, United Airlines, Hertz, Hilton because many of those workers are not paid living wages either.... :rolleyes::rolleyes:

So you put the luggage on the cart yourself? Ever wonder how some luggage just doesn't make it to the room? Try & prove the Longshoreman tossed it. Personally, I'll give them a few bucks to "insure" it does make it to my room!

Not at all, we simply carry on our 1 suitcase each & eliminate checking anything.

We travel very light whether it's 3 days or 30 days. No need for all the extras, especially formal clothing. :D