Tips on avoiding tips please

[Sir Tipalot-Knott]

Lady Save-a-Penny and I are going on Ventura No14 on 4th June 2010 & would be grateful for any tips on avoiding tipping...we can then spend our cash on frivolities instead...;););)

[MattyBarlow]

Tipping is up to you. No one HAS to tip. If you are freedom dining you can remove your tips at reception. However i would like to think you would at least tip your cabin steward as long as you've recieved good service.

[jodanuke]

Try Butlins or Blackpool as cruising is obviously not in your budget

[LynnKnicker]

Lady Save-a-Penny and I are going on Ventura No14 on 4th June 2010 & would be grateful for any tips on avoiding tipping...we can then spend our cash on frivolities instead...;););)

 

 

I do think that it is a sad reflection that people would go to such extremes as to avoid tipping.

Tipping is mentioned in the cruise brochure. You are aware before the cruise that tipping will be added to your onboard account.

It should not be a surprise, therefore, that as a Guest, you Tip the service staff for serving you.

The very reason tipping is now being added to pax onboard accounts, is to avoid stiffing the service staff.

In the old days, one only ate in one restaurant for breakfast lunch and dinner. the wait staff and the cabin steward all got tipped personally from the Guest/Pax.

Nowadays with the welcome addition of restaurants, one can eat when you like, where you like. The choices on cruises has increased, thankfully for the better.

However with change, also comes change of outlook and change of pax standards.

Tipping is the actual income that service staff receive in their contracts onboard a ship. It is not for the likes of you and I to discuss the why's and why not, on this thread. Maybe another time.

Tipping happens.

Tipping is expected.

Therefore, we tip.

Therefore we dont stiff the service staff.

[davecttr]

Lady Save-a-Penny and I are going on Ventura No14 on 4th June 2010 & would be grateful for any tips on avoiding tipping...we can then spend our cash on frivolities instead...;););)

Troll methinks:rolleyes:

[UKBayern]

Troll methinks:rolleyes:

 

I have a feeling it's not. In their only other post on the roll call they mentioned their names and that it is their forth cruise. They know the deal, they are just tight-fisted mean people who like to see the staff struggle on $0.50 a day. Bleh, makes me ashamed of having the same nationality....

[jodanuke]

A troll indeed. Why do we bother to answer questions like these?

[MattyBarlow]

You do not have to tip if you go on a cruise. It is a tradition and yes mentioned in the brochures but its not part of your contract with the cruise company, hence being able to remove auto tipping. I'm not a fan of auto tipping but i do believe in tipping for good service.

[lostinvegas]

To be honest they should just scrap the tipping,, put the price of the cruises up and pay the staff a propper wage. I mean that's what this auto tipping amounts to anyway. I don't know how much the staff get paid or what is in their contract.

 

The whole thing has gone mad if you ask me.

 

As for the OP they might be tight etc... but its the cruise lines that are at fault for having a system where people can avoid paying, the OP is just playing the system to their advantage.

 

Tips are a traditional thing and it should go back to the tradition where you tip when you receive good service, it should not be something that's automatic, if that means putting the basic wages up to a decent amount and us paying more for our cruises then so be it.

 

Chris

[Single Cruiser]

Try Butlins or Blackpool as cruising is obviously not in your budget

 

Have you seen how much it costs at Butlins? A family of 6 for just a long weekend in silver half-board cost me £1500 a couple of years ago. :eek:

[Single Cruiser]

To be honest they should just scrap the tipping,, put the price of the cruises up and pay the staff a propper wage. I mean that's what this auto tipping amounts to anyway. I don't know how much the staff get paid or what is in their contract.

 

The whole thing has gone mad if you ask me.

 

As for the OP they might be tight etc... but its the cruise lines that are at fault for having a system where people can avoid paying, the OP is just playing the system to their advantage.

 

Tips are a traditional thing and it should go back to the tradition where you tip when you receive good service, it should not be something that's automatic, if that means putting the basic wages up to a decent amount and us paying more for our cruises then so be it.

 

Chris

 

 

Good post. I'd rather pay a fare which has a honest wage for the staff and then only tip for those who have shown exceptional service.

[lostinvegas]

Thanks Single Cruiser, I very almost bought up the same point as you about Butlins :D

 

Does anyone actually know for a fact that the servers/cabin stewards wages are solely made up of tips? or is it just a rumour made up by the cruise line staff so we feel obliged to tip more. The whole thing has my head in a spin.

 

Chris

[LynnKnicker]

Good post. I'd rather pay a fare which has a honest wage for the staff and then only tip for those who have shown exceptional service.

 

I agree with what you say.

Abolish tips, increase the fare the passenger is charged the cruise.

And then tip if you receive outstanding service.

I agree 100%

But what do we do in the meantime.

I feel sorry for the waiter who has been assigned a twenty seater station in the restaurant, no salary depending only on tips, and in reality only ten people tip him because the others are eating in the alternative restaurants. Its not our problem, I know. but something has to change ....soon.

But in the meantime, i dont like seeing the service staff suffer.

[LynnKnicker]

Does anyone actually know for a fact that the servers/cabin stewards wages are solely made up of tips? or is it just a rumour made up by the cruise line staff so we feel obliged to tip more. The whole thing has my head in a spin.

Chris

 

If I remember correctly, the staff on RCCL receive $50 per month as a salary, with the rest made up of tips. they work for six months straight with 6 weeks vacation (They receive no payment for holidays)

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On P&O, the service staff from Goa and Phillipines are paid 100 pounds sterling per month. They work nine months contracts with two months vacation. (No payment for vacation)

European Union Citizens on P&O who are employed in the Hotel Department are on much higher salaries due to union/EU Citizenship rules, and have contracts for six months with paid vacation.

These are true facts and figures.

[Sicky Vicky]

true facts

 

Is there any other kind?

[LynnKnicker]

Is there any other kind?

 

This is where lynn looks for the edit button, to find "It's Too late".....

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Lynn is embarrassed for the first time ever...

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[RJChatsworth]

With no auto-tipping, in theory the cabin stewards/stewardesses are looked after and so are the main restaurant waiters. If this tipping is to make up their wages does this assume the galley staff, the bar staff (on the assumption the 15% service charge on purchases is not distributed) the laundry people in the bowels of the ship etc,etc are paid a decent wage? So why not all of them?

 

There is another anomoly, I believe on lines where there are, say, over 50 different nationalities operating as waiters they are not all paid the same rate for the same job. They are paid in accordance to the GDP of the country from which they originate. This is because it is felt unfair that a waiter from, say, the Far East would go home with shed fulls of money compared with, say, a European waiter. Giving tips therefore becomes a jungle if you give them all the same amount!

 

With auto-tipping has anyone ever seen a statement as to where it actually goes? Are we contributing to the Captain's car!?

[ROSEBASKETS]

If you tip direct to the member of staff on P&O it goes straight to the member, they do not have to share it or put it in the pot or declare it to P&O.

 

If you order in the Beach House and pay extra for something eg a fillet steak or surf and turf, 50p goes to the staff, mind you it does have to be shared between 21 of them :eek:

[T4TC]

Lady Save-a-Penny and I are going on Ventura No14 on 4th June 2010 & would be grateful for any tips on avoiding tipping...we can then spend our cash on frivolities instead...;););)

 

Think this is a wind up, Sir Tipalot-Knott has cruised a few times according to his profile:D

[RJChatsworth]

If you tip direct to the member of staff on P&O it goes straight to the member, they do not have to share it or put it in the pot or declare it to P&O.

 

I was aware of that. But what about the other workers on the ship whom you don't tip. Are they paid a decent wage but the ones you do tip aren't?

[MattyBarlow]

Yeah what about the Helmsman! He steers the ship more than any officer!

[Merlin7]

On P&O your main table waiter shares his paltry £3 something a day with the under waiter and those behind the scenes who plate the meals and fill the vegetable dishes for his set of tables.

 

Similarly your cabin steward will share some with the young lad who hauls away used towels and bedding, fetches cabin drinks orders for him/her.

[suenruss]

Lady Save-a-Penny and I are going on Ventura No14 on 4th June 2010 & would be grateful for any tips on avoiding tipping...we can then spend our cash on frivolities instead...;););)

 

Is this a joke?

[Biro]

If I remember correctly, the staff on RCCL receive $50 per month as a salary, with the rest made up of tips. they work for six months straight with 6 weeks vacation (They receive no payment for holidays)

.

.

On P&O, the service staff from Goa and Philippines are paid 100 pounds sterling per month. They work nine months contracts with two months vacation. (No payment for vacation)

European Union Citizens on P&O who are employed in the Hotel Department are on much higher salaries due to union/EU Citizenship rules, and have contracts for six months with paid vacation.

These are true facts and figures.

 

The following is pasted from cruise jobs with P@O

 

Dining Room Waiter (serving passengers, explain the dishes, make recommendations, supervise assistant waiters assigned to their tables) - lots of experience and fluent English Language skills required. Salary range: $2200-3800 U.S. per month, depending on gratuities from passengers. Possibilities for promotion to Dining Room Head Waiter

 

I read this as a minimum wage of $2200 rising to $3800 if a full compliment of gratuities are received.This being a long way from the $50 dollars a month and other wages regularly posted on this and other sites.

 

I raise this point only to highlight the information and by no means to justify the removal of tips or auto gratuities.

 

Perhaps it is time for representatives from the companies involved to come clean as to the make up of wages and also honesty to come from cruise staff as to their monthly pay cheque with and without gratuities.

The web site provides an interesting insight all the jobs available on a ship and the pay scale it attracts

[LynnKnicker]

The following is pasted from cruise jobs with P@O

 

Salary range: $2200-3800 U.S. per month, depending on gratuities from passengers. Possibilities for promotion to Dining Room Head Waiter

 

I read this as a minimum wage of $2200 rising to $3800 if a full compliment of gratuities are received.This being a long way from the $50 dollars a month and other wages regularly posted on this and other sites.

 

lets be honest. A lot of people will look at that figure you quoted from an employment web page and say OMG !!

Depending on Gratuties is the most important sentence in that paragraph. That figure is based on a waiter having a full station each cruise and that all pax pay him.

We all know this is not the case anymore, when there are so many different dining venues on each ship nowadays.

Lets be clear $50 is what most cruise lines pay their waiters. Its the gratuties that make up the rest of their take home pay. it doesnt come any where near that figure.