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Gratuities on Sun Princess on Aussie cruises


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I had not heard of this before however I have always wondered how the dude that is in the 'sweat shop' washing my pillow case (who is on a contract that finished half way though my cruise) gets to benefit from my tip.

 

http://crew-center.com/cruise-ship-gratuities-increase-70-what-about-crew-members-salaries

 

"If you ask any crewmember working in the housekeeping or dining room they will tell you that they made more money prior to 2012. Now they say the money they earn is less. So why is that? Someone will say they take the money from the crew to build new ships but this is only speculation. The fact is that they simply included all the crew from Housekeeping, F&B Department and Hotel Department with the guests’ gratuities."

 

It sounds to me that the cruise lines are using gratuities to cut back on their wages costs, by spreading them across a wider group. Thus cutting the income earned by front line staff, while presumably allowing the company to cut the wages of the back room staff now receiving a share of gratuities.

The whole system of tipping/service fees/gratuities is corrupt. It is designed to screw over both the passenger and the staff for the benefit of the corporation.

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http://crew-center.com/cruise-ship-gratuities-increase-70-what-about-crew-members-salaries

 

"If you ask any crewmember working in the housekeeping or dining room they will tell you that they made more money prior to 2012. Now they say the money they earn is less. So why is that? Someone will say they take the money from the crew to build new ships but this is only speculation. The fact is that they simply included all the crew from Housekeeping, F&B Department and Hotel Department with the guests’ gratuities."

 

It sounds to me that the cruise lines are using gratuities to cut back on their wages costs, by spreading them across a wider group. Thus cutting the income earned by front line staff, while presumably allowing the company to cut the wages of the back room staff now receiving a share of gratuities.

The whole system of tipping/service fees/gratuities is corrupt. It is designed to screw over both the passenger and the staff for the benefit of the corporation.

 

Totally agree, I have always said that the Auto gratuity/Tip/Service Charge is an Automatic Wage Subsidy - AWS - User Pay - us. A proportion of the crew wage, well certainly the service sector, is paid from the gratuity stash.:evilsmile: And in my opinion that is why Princess ships operating from Australia and P&O Australia, do not charge the pax directly, because of pax removing or reducing the daily charge. The gratuity is done indirectly or hidden through pricing. At least they cut the long lines of pax at the reception desk, filling the 'remove gratuity forms.'

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  • 1 month later...
Great, thanks a lot..much appreciated.

 

Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk

 

Hi Newport Dave, I'm just back off the Sun Princess . Daily gratuity charges were AUD$17.30 pp per day. Coffee card was AUD$36. As an aside - I paid myself £100 onboard credit and received a generous AUD$185.14.

 

Anything else you want to know let me know. Brilliant cruise apart from the disruption with the tropical cyclone.

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Hi Newport Dave, I'm just back off the Sun Princess . Daily gratuity charges were AUD$17.30 pp per day. Coffee card was AUD$36. As an aside - I paid myself £100 onboard credit and received a generous AUD$185.14.

 

Anything else you want to know let me know. Brilliant cruise apart from the disruption with the tropical cyclone.

 

Glad you enjoyed your adventure, did the Aussies behave? :') Like plenty of tuxedos on formal nights?

 

You guys from UK are in clover when you come to OZ, almost 2 AUD for a quid. Think of us, like when we hit merry old England in May.... 2 Aussie dollars = a quid. ouch.

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Glad you enjoyed your adventure, did the Aussies behave? :') Like plenty of tuxedos on formal nights?

 

You guys from UK are in clover when you come to OZ, almost 2 AUD for a quid. Think of us, like when we hit merry old England in May.... 2 Aussie dollars = a quid. ouch.

 

Still thought Sydney expensive for beer/wine - even on happy hour, maybe we went to the wrong places - still a fab place though. Aussies great - as ever, love visiting your part of the world.

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Still thought Sydney expensive for beer/wine - even on happy hour, maybe we went to the wrong places - still a fab place though. Aussies great - as ever, love visiting your part of the world.

 

Yes, in the tourist areas, the Rocks, Circular Quay, Darling Harbour etc, you will pay through your nose for a beer or wine, but in the other parts of the city not so bad. My son frequents the 'Opera Bar' at Circular Quay, $10 for a basic beer, whereas in my local golf club a beer is $4.50.

 

A pint of basic beer in UK out of London is about 4 quid is it not? About the same as here, although I find wine expensive in UK pubs and restaurants. I like the idea of small, medium and large glasses of wine that they serve over there.:halo:

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed you visit to Sydney and cruise on ye olde Sun Princess, you 'Escaped Completely and Came Back New.':*

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A pint of basic beer in UK out of London is about 4 quid is it not? About the same as here, although I find wine expensive in UK pubs and restaurants. I like the idea of small, medium and large glasses of wine that they serve over there.:halo:

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed you visit to Sydney and cruise on ye olde Sun Princess, you 'Escaped Completely and Came Back New.':*

 

Thanks NSWP, yes great cruise and thanks for the info. Beer in London about £5 a pint, I pay £3 in my local. JD Wetherspoons pubs are a good bet in any town. Have a great time over here in blighty.

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Hi Newport Dave, I'm just back off the Sun Princess . Daily gratuity charges were AUD$17.30 pp per day. Coffee card was AUD$36. As an aside - I paid myself £100 onboard credit and received a generous AUD$185.14.

 

Anything else you want to know let me know. Brilliant cruise apart from the disruption with the tropical cyclone.

Thanks for the info, sorry for the delay in replying just got back into Southampton from the Canaries.

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

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Thanks NSWP, yes great cruise and thanks for the info. Beer in London about £5 a pint, I pay £3 in my local. JD Wetherspoons pubs are a good bet in any town. Have a great time over here in blighty.

 

Mmmm 3 quid a pint at Wetherspoons, so 'The More you Drink the More you Save?' My theory anyway, lol.:')

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And outside London, it's about £2 approx.

 

Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk

 

2 quid a pint? @ the local working mans club or the Sgts Mess? Don't think I have seen it that cheap.:')

 

Pint of Brains fine Welsh Bitter for 2 quid would be a bargain. When I left UK in 1966, I recollect a pint of Watneys Red Barrel was 2 shillings and 6 pence. Too much for a young soldier like me.!!

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2 quid a pint? @ the local working mans club or the Sgts Mess? Don't think I have seen it that cheap.:')

 

Pint of Brains fine Welsh Bitter for 2 quid would be a bargain. When I left UK in 1966, I recollect a pint of Watneys Red Barrel was 2 shillings and 6 pence. Too much for a young soldier like me.!!

These are Wetherspoons prices, you go to any other pub and it goes back to £3-4 a pint.

 

Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk

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These are Wetherspoons prices, you go to any other pub and it goes back to £3-4 a pint.

 

Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk

 

dave...I don't drink beer these days, but drink Cider, I can only imagine the price of a pint of Thatchers Cider @ Premier Inn, Heefrow or Holiday Inn, Southampton or in the Cotswolds pub we are staying at. I would suggest a Fiver.:rolleyes: It was about 4 or 5 quid on my last trip to England's green and pleasant land in 2016.

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Just off the sun princess. US passengers were charged daily gratuities. The Australian passengers were not. Assuming Australians are charged more for their cruise than americans to make up for it.

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Just off the sun princess. US passengers were charged daily gratuities. The Australian passengers were not. Assuming Australians are charged more for their cruise than americans to make up for it.

Definitely we do pay more,the gratuities are added on to the fare before you sail,

I read somewhere that they still could be taken off onboard if you want to be miserly

Cheers Carole

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Just off the sun princess. US passengers were charged daily gratuities. The Australian passengers were not. Assuming Australians are charged more for their cruise than americans to make up for it.

 

I wonder why the cruise lines don't charge the same price to passengers from overseas and Australia and state gratuities are included when ships cruise in Australian waters. Rather than have a two tier payment system on the same ship in Australian waters.

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I wonder why the cruise lines don't charge the same price to passengers from overseas and Australia and state gratuities are included when ships cruise in Australian waters. Rather than have a two tier payment system on the same ship in Australian waters.

Because they know those from some countries can’t help themselves and will tip anyway.

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When Princess Cruise came to Australia they did lots of marketing and found that Australians would not believe the standard auto daily gratuities. They made a choice to improve business and get more bookings. It also did not help that credit card processing services in Australia will refund these charges without question if disputed.

 

So the American passengers booked through Princess USA still pay the fees. Really in this case the Australian guest are showing they will not allow this form of stealing. And yes the ship for PR can say they are paying more but I would like to see that proved. how would that work when the percent of non paying vs paying charges very cruise.

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I wonder why the cruise lines don't charge the same price to passengers from overseas and Australia and state gratuities are included when ships cruise in Australian waters. Rather than have a two tier payment system on the same ship in Australian waters.

 

It gets confusing. Many bookings are made through travel agents, and then they need to know all the specifics and variations, and invariably won't. And even head office give different replies on questions as it stands.

 

It also means that their own pricing software has to change within the US market to know which ships do and don't (And then people may complain that e.g. a free gratuities offer has no benefit, since gratuities aren't charged on that cruise... and so on). Just simpler to keep things consistent.

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It gets confusing. Many bookings are made through travel agents, and then they need to know all the specifics and variations, and invariably won't. And even head office give different replies on questions as it stands.

 

It also means that their own pricing software has to change within the US market to know which ships do and don't (And then people may complain that e.g. a free gratuities offer has no benefit, since gratuities aren't charged on that cruise... and so on). Just simpler to keep things consistent.

 

If charging the same price is too big of a reach, they could simply state that gratuities are included for ships in Australian waters. If the payment of commission is involved they could simply show the total cost equals A+B.

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When Princess Cruise came to Australia they did lots of marketing and found that Australians would not believe the standard auto daily gratuities. They made a choice to improve business and get more bookings. It also did not help that credit card processing services in Australia will refund these charges without question if disputed.

 

So the American passengers booked through Princess USA still pay the fees. Really in this case the Australian guest are showing they will not allow this form of stealing. And yes the ship for PR can say they are paying more but I would like to see that proved. how would that work when the percent of non paying vs paying charges very cruise.

When we started cruising on Princess out of Australia, the auto gratuities applied and we were charged the 15% gratuity on drinks. P&O Aust removed the auto gratuity in October, 2010. Princess followed suit and removed the auto gratuities and the drinks gratuity on 1st May 2011.

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Because they know those from some countries can’t help themselves and will tip anyway.

 

Many Aussies are catching the tipping disease too Mr Gut. Even though they are not required to pay auto tips on P&O Australia and Princess Australia ships, as auto tips are hidden in fare structure, they still throw money around at service staff, which is not necessary.:rolleyes:

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The cruise industry needs to stop this and change. They offer a inclusive product and then throw these fees on top of that price. They need to set the price and pay the staff. But that would means paying taxes, fees and showing a higher cruise fare. It will happen it has happen in other business, airlines are required to show the total fare. I believe it will happen with cruises in the future.

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The cruise industry needs to stop this and change. They offer a inclusive product and then throw these fees on top of that price. They need to set the price and pay the staff. But that would means paying taxes, fees and showing a higher cruise fare. It will happen it has happen in other business, airlines are required to show the total fare. I believe it will happen with cruises in the future.

I would love to see it happen. The problem I see is that the large cruise companies are all US-based where people are used to tipping. Most of the rest of the world thinks that employers should pay a 'living wage' and that if a customer wants to add a modest tip to a bill for exceptional service they can. They should not be obliged to. There are a couple of luxury cruise lines that have an all-inclusive price, but I suppose if one of the mainstream lines tried it, their prices would have to go up and they would have difficulty competing in their usual market.

 

I agree with the earlier comment, that we wouldn't like to see tipping become the normal practice on the Australian-based ships where currently tipping is not expected. Of course, the stewards will happily accept it. :D

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