Has anyone openly not paid required tips at end of cruise?

[QTPieRye]

ok so maybe i was a little off. point is added tip is not much. maybe if you are ordering more than 2-3 drinks i guess it adds up.

 

See that's what just the thought of alcohol does to us! LOL What ended up costing us the most was the speciality foo-foo drinks, i.e. the coconut monkey..... the drink inside was a little plastic cup!

 

You live and learn :) And if you don't learn, you always have CC!!

[bumorgan]

I have never, to date, tipped the MD.

 

 

I have never also until I was on the Miracle. The MD would actually greet each guest as they came into the dining room. He would come out each dinner and tell a few jokes before the waiters danced and sang. He had such a great personality I was compelled to tip him. :)

[MissDiva1]

For us, we didn't even realize that there was an automatic tip that was added to our drinks~ had we known this, we would have most certainly removed them because each time we ordered 2 drinks we gave the waiter a $5.00 CASH tip~ he never mentioned to us that the tip was already being added~ not saying we wouldn't have given him extra because he was wonderful, but probably not as much! No wonder he followed us around all week :)

 

P.S.~ When you ask the price of the drink, IMO, they should tell you the total price that includes the automatic tip!!!

 

:eek::eek::eek:

[MissDiva1]

Well It was me and my sister and my nephew on a cruise and he was a one years old and I was going to take them off for him, but on the last night they didn't charge the pre paid for him just me and my sister. wonder what age do they start

 

I believe it is age 2.....

[papilliontraveler]

I can't remember the last time we tipped anyone. I figure it is costing me enough just by going in there.

[GlendaleCruiser]

I just let the autotips go onto my S&S. I usually give extra cash but only if service has been exceptional and I am very happy to say that in my past few cruises our steward has gone above and beyond to do a favor (Thanks, Made and Komang) and our wait staff was unbelievable (Thanks, Zsashmina!).

 

I have tipped the Maitre 'D when he did something above and beyond like change my table or dining times, but I never do if I only see them on the last night with their hands out.

 

By the way, the waitstaff and stewards do get a report on the night before the last day as to who has tipped them.

 

And the to person who said that it must be interesting to sit by Guest Services desk to listen in to the drama, that is exactly what John Heald says, too. Most people are there to resolve issues on their S&Sign (I've been charged double for drinks, etc) but I'm sure there are a few there to remove tips.

 

That's just so sad..........and I wouldn't want to cruise if it meant stiffing someone because I ran out of money. I ran out of Euro on my last cruise but thank heaven the taxis took credit cards and we were able to put our last breakfast on the credit card at the hotel.

[Thundertouch]

We didn't take out the tips but we moved them about for the services we used, never ate in the dinningroom. We gave 80 percent to the room steward as he was great and the remainder to the wait staff. We gave additional tips to the childcare workers in camp carnval...They were great too.

[katiel53]

 

I look at the auto tipping practice as a way for the cruise lines to lower wages paid by the corporation. If you really want to help the staff, give them cash tips so they don't need to report it for taxes... :D

 

You do realize that most of the employees come from foreign countries and probably don't pay taxes anywhere, right? Sorry, but your reasoning is wrong.

 

I also believe if they are from a country when they do have to pay taxes, the government knows approximately how much is made in tips and expects taxes to be paid on that amount, so it doesn't matter if it's paid in cash or not. Once again wrong reasoning, at least in my opinion.

[cruizinwoman]

There were a couple of times we did not tip the Maitre’ D because we did not see him or her the entire cruise, but I do believe he or she is responsible for creating the seating so that you are at a table with similar folks. We’ve almost always been at tables with people close to our age, married like us, and without kids or children. Only when we took our kids (teens) were we seated at a table with another family with teens. But it is cheesy when you don’t see them at all until the last night, and *poof* there they are, hand out, waiting for tips.

[sradogna]

I do not recall the receipt showing the amount of the tip~ but maybe it did! Not sure how anything ordered could have only been a $0.42 tip at 15%? When I went back after the cruise and calculated it, our 15% gratuity was almost always between $2.00 and $3.00 per item~ plus the extra we gave. He was making bank!

 

Huh? How could your tip be between $2.00 and $3.00 PER ITEM at 15%. Were you ordering drinks that were between $13.00 and $20.00 EACH? I bet you ordered two drinks totalling $13.00 - $20.00. A 15% tip on a 9.00 drink would by $1.35. Not exactly what I call making bank but if your volume was very high you could do quite well.

[MissDiva1]

Huh? How could your tip be between $2.00 and $3.00 PER ITEM at 15%. Were you ordering drinks that were between $13.00 and $20.00 EACH? I bet you ordered two drinks totalling $13.00 - $20.00. A 15% tip on a 9.00 drink would by $1.35. Not exactly what I call making bank but if your volume was very high you could do quite well.

 

She said she gave them additonal $5 tips on top of that......

[zqvol]

I tip well and have always paid my tips at end of cruise. I am thinking of pre-paying tips this cruise. Just wondering if anyone has got off by complaining and not paid the required tips? No flaming please.

 

 

First you need to understand that there are NO REQUIRED tips, there are suggest amounts, but nothing is required. As to the rest of your question it is clear based on reading on these forums, that there are numerous people who do not extend any gratuities to crew members.

[QTPieRye]

Huh? How could your tip be between $2.00 and $3.00 PER ITEM at 15%. Were you ordering drinks that were between $13.00 and $20.00 EACH? I bet you ordered two drinks totalling $13.00 - $20.00. A 15% tip on a 9.00 drink would by $1.35. Not exactly what I call making bank but if your volume was very high you could do quite well.

 

Just curious if you have you ever bought alcohol on a cruise? Like I said, IMO, the waiter made bank and NO, I did NOT order more than 1 drink at a time.... often bought speciality DOD drinks~

 

So that you can understand: On one particular night, we purchased: 1 coconut monkeyhead drink that cost approximately $15.00 + 15% gratuity of $2.25. DH purchased a bucket of Miller beer for approximately $21.00 + 15% gratuity of $3.15. Thus, the total auto gratuity was $5.40. On top of that we tipped another $5.00 cash... thus, the waiter received $10.40 tip on a $36.00 purchase which = 29% tip... I consider this to be quite good.

[molole]

Nope, never. We always pay the auto amount of tips plus some.

 

DH and I are not bigger spenders. Our highest bill to date is less than $200. The biggest portion of our on-board spending is always auto-tips. And we usually give a little extra cash to the stewards and waiters.

 

I have no issues with those pulling tips due to bad services. But pulling tips for no reason is bit much. You can be frugal without being cheap.

[mom2two2]

That is sad and typical from a lot of families

 

 

I do not think it is a "family" thing, it is a rude person thing. We have sailed with the kids and never once even discussed taking off tips because they are children.

[arpie05]

i undertipped my server once when you paid tips in cash. he was a jerk. i gave what i decreased to the head waiter.

 

Sounds like what I did. We had a bad experience with our room steward once on the Sensation so we decreased our tips (I think by $1-2 per day)and reallocated to dining room.

 

I left our Dream steward extra.

 

I wish on our first cruise on the Holiday I had been as knowledgeable. We had such great servers and room stewards and I didn't know to tip extra. They were still high on our list of the best we've had.

[arpie05]

Duplicate post

[waldocruiser1]

I did openly not give a tip to the taxi driver in St Thomas,

 

First he got real mad and yelling because DW and I would not move to the back of the van. Yes we got in first, we wanted to hear if he was talking about the sights we went past, and we are larger people and did not want to have to squeeze to the back over the end of the seat.

 

Second he would not take my $2.00 bills, not because he did not trust them, but because he was still mad. You had to be there.

 

and in hindsight, because he dropped us off at the wrong entrance to the beach we wanted to go to.

 

If he had taken the $2's he would have had an $7 tip on a $17 cab ride, but because he did not, he got nothing.

[sradogna]

Just curious if you have you ever bought alcohol on a cruise? Like I said, IMO, the waiter made bank and NO, I did NOT order more than 1 drink at a time.... often bought speciality DOD drinks~

 

So that you can understand: On one particular night, we purchased: 1 coconut monkeyhead drink that cost approximately $15.00 + 15% gratuity of $2.25. DH purchased a bucket of Miller beer for approximately $21.00 + 15% gratuity of $3.15. Thus, the total auto gratuity was $5.40. On top of that we tipped another $5.00 cash... thus, the waiter received $10.40 tip on a $36.00 purchase which = 29% tip... I consider this to be quite good.

 

LOL ... Yes I've been ordering alcohol on cruises since 1987. I just don't order the $15.00 monkeyhead or $21.00 bucket of beer. Most everything else averages a bit below $10.00 per drink total including tip even for the DOD drinks so the math just wasn't working. I just don't consider 15% doing quite well regardless of what a person orders. At 15% it takes an awful lot of monkeyheads to have a really good day ... but I agree that a tip of 29% is a different matter and he was doing quite well. I bet he wished for 29% all of the time.

[iowagirl411]

i always remove my tips when i get on the boat. i always tip at the end of the cruise and i always tip the people i think have earned it. i dont think its fair to tip people that i have never had any association with. if someone works their booty off for me then they should be the ones being tipped.

 

It's very commendable of you to want to tip everyone who worked their "booty off" for you, but how do you track down all the workers from breakfast & lunch & the stewards assistants, etc.? I would think that would really take a huge block of time out of you last cruising day. Plus, that's a lot of bills to be carrying around. Do you bring that many bills with you or get all that change from guest services? I'm too lazy for all that. I'll continue using the auto tip system.

[Miller_KC]

I never have reduced or dropped the auto tip but I plan to if I get sub-par service. So far there has only been one room steward and one head waiter that did not get extra from me beyond the auto tip.

 

I did give the Maitre'D on the Legend a nice tip, but he sang Sinatra style songs every night and did visit our table during the week.

 

A couple of other Maitre'Ds also got tips for visiting our table and helping out with table changes but most I never see and don't leave tips.

 

One frequently missed opportunity is tipping the servers of the free drinks during the past guest and captain's (now the farewell) party. $2 or $3 during the evening meant the you had all the drinks you need. This worked better when the parties were in the smaller lounges. Now that they're in the showroom I think the servers have set routes they are suppose to follow.

[waldocruiser1]

i always remove my tips when i get on the boat. i always tip at the end of the cruise and i always tip the people i think have earned it. i dont think its fair to tip people that i have never had any association with. if someone works their booty off for me then they should be the ones being tipped.

 

If I were going to tip only in cash, after reading all the comments about lists in the crew area of people that removed their tips, I would leave them on until the end of the cruise, then make the adjustment, if it was due.

 

We have tipped extra because of good service. I like the auto tip service, makes life easier.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

If I were going to tip only in cash, after reading all the comments about lists in the crew area of people that removed their tips, I would leave them on until the end of the cruise, then make the adjustment, if it was due.

 

We have tipped extra because of good service. I like the auto tip service, makes life easier.

 

I have only heard of rhe one list on the swine flu cruise on the Splendor.

 

While that list has been mentioned many times that is the only list I have seen talked about.

 

Bill

[MissDiva1]

I have only heard of rhe one list on the swine flu cruise on the Splendor.

 

While that list has been mentioned many times that is the only list I have seen talked about.

 

Bill

 

One time incident under an unusual cirvumstance.

[maggie cruises]

our steward on NCL Jewel actually put back a dirty wet towel from the floor back on the rack when he was pretending to turn the room down...and we just happened to walk in and I happened to brush by the towel...and immeadiately gave it back to him...

 

well at least it was a wet dirty towel from my cabin and not someone else's.....

 

Well, he knew we were pissed and he was pissed because we caught him...so what does he make sure he does...

 

He is there at the earliest possible moment the next morning to wish us well and to hope we had a great cruise...we did ..no thanks to him...

 

Of course I left the auto tips on the account but like an idiot I handed him an extra $20....

 

wish I hadn't but I am so used to tipping fairly that it was automatic on my part...