Forced gratuities

[tpajet]

Something that was not told to us when we booked is that Carnival automatically adds $10 per person, per day to your bill as a gratuity for the dinning and cabin staff. For us that's $250. I've looked at Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Disney - HA does the automatic gratuity for the stateroom, but it's only $11 per person per cruise, while Royal and Disney only recommend an amount to tip, $11-$12 per person, per cruise, not per day.

 

First of all am I reading this correctly on the other cruise lines (per cruise instead of per day) and do any other cruise lines do the forced gratuity?

 

Here's the part I find interesting as well. You have the option on your sign and sail card to deposit cash into the account, $100 at a time. But they didn't tell us that if we did that option to go ahead and put up $350 (the $100 plus the forced gratuity).

[Waterloomarc]

No you're not reading the others' correctly they're all per day.

[cruisecrazy82]

How exactly is it forced if you have the option to remove the tips??? Which YOU DO. I personally love that I can go ahead and include our tips in our cruise cost, one less thing to worry about. And as far as other cruise lines go, DCL's recommended amount for 2 people for a 7 night cruise is $168, a bit more than CCL's $140...

[Kamloops50]

Something that was not told to us when we booked is that Carnival automatically adds $10 per person, per day to your bill as a gratuity for the dinning and cabin staff. For us that's $250. I've looked at Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Disney - HA does the automatic gratuity for the stateroom, but it's only $11 per person per cruise, while Royal and Disney only recommend an amount to tip, $11-$12 per person, per cruise, not per day.

 

First of all am I reading this correctly on the other cruise lines (per cruise instead of per day) and do any other cruise lines do the forced gratuity?

 

Here's the part I find interesting as well. You have the option on your sign and sail card to deposit cash into the account, $100 at a time. But they didn't tell us that if we did that option to go ahead and put up $350 (the $100 plus the forced gratuity).

 

You miss read or miss understood . All gratuities (approx $11 US) are per day per person . Some cruises include the gratuities in the fare but they still about the same per day. Don't forget that every bar purchase will include a 15% tip added to it . This includes specialty coffees and soft drinks.

 

I usually buy on board cruise credits thru my travel agent (TA) to amount of the gratuities plus a little extra . I usually know about a 7 day cruise costs me for misc items.

Gratuities are not forced but recommended . You can opt out of them when you get on board .Saying this some cruise lines will ask you to pre pay gratuities if you take "Anytime Dining" .

Keep in mind that the gratuity is split up between a number of people.If you tip in cash , this amount goes into a pool and is distributed between all employee's in that department.

[sandancer]

Almost all the mass market cruise lines add the gratuities to your onboard account on a daily basis, unless you pre-pay them. You can go to Guest Services and ask to have them removed but if you are going to do this you need to do it immediately you board the ship. If you don't it will be assumed that your room attendant or waiter has done something wrong. We choose to pre-pay (not Carnival so don't know if they offer this option) as it is much more convenient to just have it added at the time of final payment. There are dozens of threads on this subject. Just do a search on tipping and you will find masses of info.

[alfthecruiser_1]

Something that was not told to us when we booked is that Carnival automatically adds $10 per person, per day to your bill as a gratuity for the dinning and cabin staff. For us that's $250. I've looked at Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and Disney - HA does the automatic gratuity for the stateroom, but it's only $11 per person per cruise, while Royal and Disney only recommend an amount to tip, $11-$12 per person, per cruise, not per day.

 

First of all am I reading this correctly on the other cruise lines (per cruise instead of per day) and do any other cruise lines do the forced gratuity?

 

Here's the part I find interesting as well. You have the option on your sign and sail card to deposit cash into the account, $100 at a time. But they didn't tell us that if we did that option to go ahead and put up $350 (the $100 plus the forced gratuity).

Option 1: You can pay your $10PP- PERDAY for your cabin when you book your cruise and not have charged onto you S&S card when you arrive at the ship.

Option 2: When you check in for your ship, when you get your S&S card, whatever credit card or payment plan you are using, the $10PP perday per cabin gratuidity is automatically added first.

Option 3: Once on board ship, whatever plan you are using, you can go to the "guest service desk" to change or remove from your account. These options are up to the people.

We pay up front when we book our cruises just to save the money for our cruise and have fun with.

Enjoy your cruise with whatever you deside. Totally up to you..:eek:

[Loving My Life]

You are definitely reading it wrong. They all recommend $10-12 per day per person.

 

Wouldn't you agree that 7 days worth of cabin cleaning, turn-down service, and service in the dining room is worth much more than $10 for a week (not to mention all the other services your steward and others will provide for you throughout the week)? If you stayed in a hotel for a week and had daily room cleaning, wouldn't you leave more than $10? If you ate out at a nice restaurant 7 times (or as many as 21 times if you eat breakfast and lunch in the main dining room as well), surely you would pay far more than $10 in tips.

[firefly333]

NCL calls it a service charge and its not really removable from what I hear .. and Carnival is among the lowest for what it charges in tips.

[tef43]

First of all am I reading this correctly on the other cruise lines (per cruise instead of per day)

No you are not. They all quote per person per day.

and do any other cruise lines do the forced gratuity?

Pretty much they all offer you the OPTION of having gratuities added to your onboar account. Absolutely NOTHING in your examples is "forced" or "mandatory."

 

Reading *IS* fundamental.

[cruisenanny]

Are we sure this thread is for real?? LOL I'm just not sure:rolleyes:

[klmorg]

Reading comprehension is essential....

[Loving My Life]

Are we sure this thread is for real?? LOL I'm just not sure:rolleyes:

 

I wondered the same thing! ;)

[jm3156]

We have always enjoyed cruising with a group of friends. On our last cruise with them, one of them told us they had removed the tips from their bill. I was appalled !!! Since then, I have refused to sail with them. They are under the impression that this is ok and feel as if they are getting a BONUS ! I wish the cruise lines would add this and not allow it to be removed.

[jrmende63]

one thing to note, IF you pre-pay your gratuities, then you CAN NOT adjust them on the cruise. We found this out when booking our Alaskan cruise. It did not matter to us as the measly 20 per day is pennies for what the staff does for us. We have never prepaid them since but I would have no qualms about doing so.

[firefly333]

one thing to note, IF you pre-pay your gratuities, then you CAN NOT adjust them on the cruise. We found this out when booking our Alaskan cruise. It did not matter to us as the measly 20 per day is pennies for what the staff does for us. We have never prepaid them since but I would have no qualms about doing so.

 

The FAQs say you can adjust them even on prepaid. I have not tried it as I dont prepay.

[jrmende63]

The FAQs say you can adjust them even on prepaid. I have not tried it as I dont prepay.

Well that came from Carnival not me..I only know what my PVP stated to me and backed up by another PVP. So if it has changed, I apologize.

[cruisenanny]

tpajet is VERY well versed in complaining about Carnivals internet policy in their 2nd of 3 posts, yet they are so misled & confused over Carnivals tipping protocol?? Humm...... I'm not really buyin' it tpajet:)

[H82seaUgo]

one thing to note, IF you pre-pay your gratuities, then you CAN NOT adjust them on the cruise. We found this out when booking our Alaskan cruise. It did not matter to us as the measly 20 per day is pennies for what the staff does for us.

 

is this unique to alaska? this is not true on "normal" sailings.

 

op et all:

 

cruising is a service vacation, just like service restaurants and hotels. should you not like being served, and you prefer to do it all yourself, cruising is not for you.

[richfret]

I doubt if you are going to get much sympathy on Cruise Critic regarding a reduction of "forced" gratuities. We always leave an extra amount if they do a good job and so far in 14 cruises, we have always left an extra tip.

[mizLORInj]

Wouldn't you agree that 7 days worth of cabin cleaning, turn-down service, and service in the dining room is worth much more than $10 for a week (not to mention all the other services your steward and others will provide for you throughout the week)? If you stayed in a hotel for a week and had daily room cleaning, wouldn't you leave more than $10? If you ate out at a nice restaurant 7 times (or as many as 21 times if you eat breakfast and lunch in the main dining room as well), surely you would pay far more than $10 in tips.

 

Beautifully put and I fully agree!

[jrmende63]

is this unique to alaska? this is not true on "normal" sailings.

 

op et all:

 

cruising is a service vacation, just like service restaurants and hotels. should you not like being served, and you prefer to do it all yourself, cruising is not for you.

 

You know that could be that special voyages and voyages can't be undone. I do know that is what I was told. My PVP is a savvy lady; so it could be just Alaska or special voyages.

and I agree...they earn every tip they get...we give more to them. Only once have I ever not given more...and this cabin steward did not even do the basics until he was reported. I still did not pull his tips. He just got no extra.

[firefly333]

Well that came from Carnival not me..I only know what my PVP stated to me and backed up by another PVP. So if it has changed, I apologize.

 

Im going by what Host Mach once posted, what the policy says in writing and he said you could adjust the tips. I dont plan on trying it out myself.

 

Id ask for the policy in writing from my PVP if there was a question like this, rather than verbal.

[CCLNCLRCICRUISER]

Well that came from Carnival not me..I only know what my PVP stated to me and backed up by another PVP. So if it has changed, I apologize.

I think the confusion might be that if you prepay the tips there is a cutoff date of canceling them, it cant be done by Carnival shoreside, it has to be done on the ship. Your PVP was probably just letting you know they couldnt cancel it, which is true.

 

I was trying to find the complete tipping FAQ, if I can I will post it, to get the exact verbage.

[joeyancho]

To OP, I fyou can't afford the tip, you can't afford to go. That's the way the game is played, like it or not. If you don't wanna tip, go camping.

[firefly333]

To OP, I fyou can't afford the tip, you can't afford to go. That's the way the game is played, like it or not. If you don't wanna tip, go camping.

 

The OP just said no one advised him of the add on tips .. not that he couldnt pay them.

 

For some reason he also thought other cruiselines only charged like $11 tips for the entire cruise.