Who gets my tips?

Whether I prepay or have them automatically put on Sea Pass each day I know doesn't make a difference for the following questions.

My questions are:

-does my actual cabin steward, & my actual wait staff (traditional dining) get my tips, or are they now pooled among all cabin stewards & all wait staff?

-If that is the case, if I hand my people an envelope with cash at the end of the cruise, do they actually get to keep that money for themselves. or do they need to throw it in to the pool of tips to be divided up?

-If I pay the recommended amounts (either prepay or daily automatic) & then tip with additional cash in an envelope & hand it directly to specific people at the end, do they get to keep the cash?

I guess I am trying to determine that if I want to give additional tips above the recommended to specific people for exceptional service , do they get to keep the cash for themselves? Last cruise on Independence I tipped Victor the "Windjammer Greater" because he was excellent & always started our day off with a big smile, greeting & singing & dancing.

Thank you in advance for any responses.

Cabin attendant, waiters, ass't waiters and head waiter...just as if you tipped in cash! Yes..any tip, whether paid in cash or on your account goes to those folks.

All tips are pooled and RCI decides who gets what.....

RCI has their own way of scoring EVERY employee and distibute the tips by that score - that they came up with, in the way THEY decide to distribute the tips !

So it does not matter how you tip...once it left your wallet - RCI decides what will be done with it and who gets how much of the pooled tip!

So YOUR waiter etc. gets what RCI decides he gets acording to the score THEY assign to him.

You have no influence on that....no matter how and how much you tip.....

While I appreciate the responses, now I have 2 completely opposite answers?

I don't want to start a debate, but are either of these answers factual or just guesses?

If possible, I really want to know the real answer.

All tips are pooled and RCI decides who gets what.....

RCI has their own way of scoring EVERY employee and distibute the tips by that score - that they came up with, in the way THEY decide to distribute the tips !

So it does not matter how you tip...once it left your wallet - RCI decides what will be done with it and who gets how much of the pooled tip!

 

So YOUR waiter etc. gets what RCI decides he gets acording to the score THEY assign to him.

You have no influence on that....no matter how and how much you tip.....

Contradicts the below post...

Cabin attendant, waiters, ass't waiters and head waiter...just as if you tipped in cash! Yes..any tip, whether paid in cash or on your account goes to those folks.

Contradicts the above post... Can anyone verify the factual information??

Cabin attendant, waiters, ass't waiters and head waiter...just as if you tipped in cash! Yes..any tip, whether paid in cash or on your account goes to those folks.

I see no contradiction....it gets distributed just not in the way people LIKE to belive it does...

It is in the best interest of RCI to keep it a secret who actually gets what out of the tip-pot.

So making the pax belive they have any influence on what THEIR waiter etc. gets is essential to keep the secret money-spreading system alive.....:rolleyes:

The RCI employee-scoring system determines how much tip-bonus your waiter gets - not you.....

So if I decide to give my cabin attendant an additional cash tip - do they keep that?

So if I decide to give my cabin attendant an additional cash tip - do they keep that?

Yes.

I see no contradiction....it gets distributed just not in the way people LIKE to belive it does...

 

It is in the best interest of RCI to keep it a secret who actually gets what out of the tip-pot.

So making the pax belive they have any influence on what THEIR waiter etc. gets is essential to keep the secret money-spreading system alive.....:rolleyes:

The RCI employee-scoring system determines how much tip-bonus your waiter gets - not you.....

I see absolutely no benefit to RCI to keep their "secret", if they have one. It only serves to alienate passengers who are trying to reward the crew members who they have interacted with and provided them with great service.

mac_tlc

So if I cancel my prepay or auto tips & tip entirely in cash at the end, then my people get all of that cash?

"I see absolutely no benefit to RCI to keep their "secret", if they have one. It only serves to alienate passengers who are trying to reward the crew members who they have interacted with and provided them with great service."

Exactly!

Maybe the factual answer is coming soon.

So if I decide to give my cabin attendant an additional cash tip - do they keep that?

I asked about the extra tips last week on Adventure.

Our head waiter said that the servers do get to keep the extra tips given. He said he thinks that NCL makes the servers turn them in to be pooled but that Royal has not changed their policy YET. Sounded like he was expecting that to happen.

I then asked our cabin steward and he said the extra tips are shared with their team which including those we don't see that help with linens and help the stewards when needed.

I see absolutely no benefit to RCI to keep their "secret", if they have one. It only serves to alienate passengers who are trying to reward the crew members who they have interacted with and provided them with great service.

 

mac_tlc

They have a VERY strong interst to give a bonus to THEIR favorites on THEIR scale - not yours!;)

The secret is so pax belive what they want to belive in...and not the facts....it is a money game after all!

Note how every question about tips gets different answers or how the answer is misleading...so pax stay with their belives because they hear what they want to hear....

Note how the staff only talks about EXTRA tips...:halo:

Our cabin on our last cruise was cleaned by "a team" They worked together and were very organized and thorough. When you remove the auto tip and only tip those that you perceive that give you direct service you are missing many employees who work behind the scenes. That is why I believe you should never remove the auto tip.

All tips are pooled and RCI decides who gets what.....

RCI has their own way of scoring EVERY employee and distibute the tips by that score - that they came up with, in the way THEY decide to distribute the tips !

So it does not matter how you tip...once it left your wallet - RCI decides what will be done with it and who gets how much of the pooled tip!

 

So YOUR waiter etc. gets what RCI decides he gets acording to the score THEY assign to him.

You have no influence on that....no matter how and how much you tip.....

Where are you getting this information from? Not that I’m an expert, but I have never ever heard of this being the case. And every job I’ve worked as a tipped employee has not had this system either. Just curious how you found this to be true.

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"When you remove the auto tip and only tip those that you perceive that give you direct service you are missing many employees who work behind the scenes. That is why I believe you should never remove the auto tip."

Thank you for that excellent point. I didn't think of that. I definitely will NOT be removing my auto tips.

I guess at this point I am hoping that whether the pre or auto tips are pooled or not, that at least when I hand an extra tip in cash at the end, that the specific person keeps that as I feel they provided my family above & beyond service that made the cruise a bit more enjoyable.

A cabin steward who knows my name & converses with my family when we are walking down the hallway (not only coming out of my own cabin where he may know who is staying in there), the wait staff that may take care of a special request at dinner, or the person in the Windjammer who is very busy but still pushes the chair in for my wife & daughters, in my opinion, just makes the cruise a little special, and I like to show my appreciation as I am with my family, and most of them are living away from theirs.

"I see absolutely no benefit to RCI to keep their "secret", if they have one. It only serves to alienate passengers who are trying to reward the crew members who they have interacted with and provided them with great service."

 

Exactly!

Maybe the factual answer is coming soon.

There are certain posters here that you need to ignore and move on. I'm sure you can figure it out.

Where are you getting this information from? Not that I’m an expert, but I have never ever heard of this being the case. And every job I’ve worked as a tipped employee has not had this system either. Just curious how you found this to be true.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I told you where he was getting this information from I'd be banned from CC.

So if I cancel my prepay or auto tips & tip entirely in cash at the end, then my people get all of that cash?

NO, they must turn it in to the tip pool. You have left out waiters from the buffet, cafe's and house keeping staff that wash you sheets. Leave auto tips in place and tip extra if you want. Room service runners work for tips that are given at time order is delivered.

Whether I prepay or have them automatically put on Sea Pass each day I know doesn't make a difference for the following questions.

My questions are:

-does my actual cabin steward, & my actual wait staff (traditional dining) get my tips, or are they now pooled among all cabin stewards & all wait staff?

-If that is the case, if I hand my people an envelope with cash at the end of the cruise, do they actually get to keep that money for themselves. or do they need to throw it in to the pool of tips to be divided up?

-If I pay the recommended amounts (either prepay or daily automatic) & then tip with additional cash in an envelope & hand it directly to specific people at the end, do they get to keep the cash?

I guess I am trying to determine that if I want to give additional tips above the recommended to specific people for exceptional service , do they get to keep the cash for themselves? Last cruise on Independence I tipped Victor the "Windjammer Greater" because he was excellent & always started our day off with a big smile, greeting & singing & dancing.

Thank you in advance for any responses.

Your money goes to a pool. The pool is distributed to a lot of crew members at the discretion of the cruise line. NOT to your steward or waiters specifically.

RCCL: The automatic gratuity is applied to each guest’s SeaPass account on a daily basis. 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.

This is the biggest waste of mental energy. Hold a gun to my head and you can't make me care who gets what. Clean my room, serve my meal, make my drink... we're good. I'll focus on my vacation and not waste time worrying about what other people do or don't get for doing a job they chose.

All tips are pooled and RCI decides who gets what.....

RCI has their own way of scoring EVERY employee and distibute the tips by that score - that they came up with, in the way THEY decide to distribute the tips !

So it does not matter how you tip...once it left your wallet - RCI decides what will be done with it and who gets how much of the pooled tip!

 

So YOUR waiter etc. gets what RCI decides he gets acording to the score THEY assign to him.

You have no influence on that....no matter how and how much you tip.....

I do not believe one word of this.

It is obvious you no longer enjoy the Royal product so please for all of us, just move on.

I do not believe one word of this.

 

It is obvious you no longer enjoy the Royal product so please for all of us, just move on.

Why one earth do you care which line this person cruises?

Different cruise line, but this is probably similar to what Royal pays their staff from the gratuity pool: https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1123

Regardless of the specifics, the distribution of tips has been developed by those involved in order to fairly reward those providing service.

No need to reinvent the wheel. If you tip the recommended amount, it will be fair.

We always prepay and then add at the end of the cruise.

I have also started giving random tips to those who likely never get one-the washy washy person at the WJ, a guy painting, etc. It really makes their day. I simply keep some ones in my pocket and give them out spontaneously.

Happy Sails to You