Forced gratuities

[repo-cruiser]

I quickly found out how the game was played. Also how the taxes on international flights could easily exceed tips on a cruise ship.

 

 

 

I can believe it. The line in my signature (forgot it was there since I block signatures), was for the benefit of some who insisted on using codespeak. SW is the IATA code for Air Namibia, but is also an abbreviation for South West (generic). At some point, ICAO codes are going to replace IATA codes (long overdue IMO) and SouthWest (SWA) shouldn't be confused with Air Namibia (NMB). One would think.

Living where southwest air is located we can't even use them (without stops and ridiculous prices), thanks to the Jim Wright law (former speaker of the house). To me sw is a joke of an airline but thats different thread. OP they should have told you about the tips, not your fault at all. Some on here will tip for horrible service and there proud of it.

[redlef]

Some on here will tip for horrible service and there proud of it.

 

And others wouldn't tip for good service and are proud of that

[platinum.wannabe]

Some on here will tip for horrible service and there proud of it.

I haven't been around here all that long but I've read my fair share of tip threads - I have yet to see anyone suggest tipping for horrible service. :rolleyes:

[repo-cruiser]

I haven't been around here all that long but I've read my fair share of tip threads - I have yet to see anyone suggest tipping for horrible service. :rolleyes:

Sure they do, they say" no matter what service i get ,these poor folks deserve a tip since they are paid so little", ie they feel sorry for them. They are now not tipping them , they are giving a charitable contribution, which is fine except for people like me who are on the next cruise and was told point blank half way though the cruise that" I don't need to clean shower every day or vacuum, I was tipped better than ever for not doing much at all". Tipping for bad service lets them think they can do that to the next week passengers and still get a tip. It's not there fault it's the tippers who tip for poor service.;)

[JPH814]

Sure they do, they say" no matter what service i get ,these poor folks deserve a tip since they are paid so little", ie they feel sorry for them. They are now not tipping them , they are giving a charitable contribution, which is fine except for people like me who are on the next cruise and was told point blank half way though the cruise that" I don't need to clean shower every day or vacuum, I was tipped better than ever for not doing much at all". Tipping for bad service lets them think they can do that to the next week passengers and still get a tip. It's not there fault it's the tippers who tip for poor service.;)

 

do you clean your shower and vacuum every day at home?

[cruisenanny]

Sure they do, they say" no matter what service i get ,these poor folks deserve a tip since they are paid so little", ie they feel sorry for them. They are now not tipping them , they are giving a charitable contribution, which is fine except for people like me who are on the next cruise and was told point blank half way though the cruise that" I don't need to clean shower every day or vacuum, I was tipped better than ever for not doing much at all". Tipping for bad service lets them think they can do that to the next week passengers and still get a tip. It's not there fault it's the tippers who tip for poor service.;)

I really hope you talked to someone about your steward saying that to you!! Not saying i don't believe you... but i find that whole thing very hard to imagine, I would fall over from shock if I ever heard a steward talk to a guest that way, on ANY line:rolleyes:

[curlydog]

yep, you shoulda done a bit more homework

yep, same program on all the lines

yep, there are a lot of A55hats on this board

[Stede Bonnet]

Some friends of mine are waiting on a refund cheque from carnival because on their first cruise last month the staff insisted that they pay gratuities at the end of their cruise even though they had pre-paid them through the travel agent.

[firefly333]

Some friends of mine are waiting on a refund cheque from carnival because on their first cruise last month the staff insisted that they pay gratuities at the end of their cruise even though they had pre-paid them through the travel agent.

 

if tips were added why didnt they just request them to be removed?? They knew they paid them, so just request the tips that were added in error be removed.. dont argue about their records. just remove them. no need to get into a debate.. maybe the TA goofed or something too. sounds odd to me that the ship didnt have the record they had been paid. Never once heard of this, so its not common..

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Some friends of mine are waiting on a refund cheque from carnival because on their first cruise last month the staff insisted that they pay gratuities at the end of their cruise even though they had pre-paid them through the travel agent.

 

what staff insisted they pay tips? That's absurd.

 

Did they threaten them or something?

 

Bill

[cruisenanny]

Some friends of mine are waiting on a refund cheque from carnival because on their first cruise last month the staff insisted that they pay gratuities at the end of their cruise even though they had pre-paid them through the travel agent.

Maybe that TA thought your friends $ was a tip for THEM?:rolleyes: I'm sure it's possible but it seems unlikely that the cruiseline wouldn't have record of them pre-paying the tips if the TA really applied the $. Also, since anyone can remove their auto-tips at any time, it seems strange that "the staff" would INSIST that your friends had to pay the tips... Odd

[Stede Bonnet]

I doubt it is common but they were not given the option of removing the tips. They were just pressured into paying the bill. They took it up with their agent, who took it up with Carnival and it has been resolved.

 

It wasn't a very nice way to end the cruise though.

 

If my family ever goes that is one thing I'll know to check for as we will pre-pay gratuities as well.

 

I believe all sailings from Bridgetown must pre-pay the gratuities anyway, which the Victory staff should have known but my friend said there were a number of people asking why was the charge there if they had prepaid, so it wasn't only them

[firefly333]

I doubt it is common but they were not given the option of removing the tips. They were just pressured into paying the bill. They took it up with their agent, who took it up with Carnival and it has been resolved.

 

So 2 things no one has ever heard of happened .. hard to believe since its a 3rd hand report.. sorry.

 

You CAN remove tips .. no one has ever said that this happened, that they were not able to remove them.. More likely a misunderstanding.

 

I would take that report from a friend if I was you with a grain of salt.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I doubt it is common but they were not given the option of removing the tips. They were just pressured into paying the bill. They took it up with their agent, who took it up with Carnival and it has been resolved.

 

It wasn't a very nice way to end the cruise though.

 

If my family ever goes that is one thing I'll know to check for as we will pre-pay gratuities as well.

 

I believe all sailings from Bridgetown must pre-pay the gratuities anyway, which the Victory staff should have known but my friend said there were a number of people asking why was the charge there if they had prepaid, so it wasn't only them

 

sounds like they were on the Victory and boarded in Barbados which explains the prepaid tips.

 

Sounds like CCL screwed up somewhere along the line.

 

Bill

[donaldsc]

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).

 

Can I assume that you also do not believe in tipping at restaurants? If you try not tipping when you get out of a NYC taxi, they will run over your foot.

 

Get real.

 

DON

[firefly333]

sounds like they were on the Victory and boarded in Barbados which explains the prepaid tips.

 

Sounds like CCL screwed up somewhere along the line.

 

Bill

 

this was booked by a TA. prepaid tips show up as a credit. If the TA had checked the booking before the cruise, they could have seen if the tips were properly credited to the booking.

 

I suspect the TA didnt do something correctly nor could they have checked the booking or this would have been noted.

[AQW]

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.

 

I was told it was all or nothing, that you cannot have part removed.

 

FWIW, I was able to adjust my pre-paid gratuities on a Splendor cruise in '09. We had a truly horrible room steward who not only ignored our minor requests (like ice in the ice bucket) but was openly hostile throughout the voyage. Only time in 12 cruises I have ever reduced gratuities. But we had no problem adjusting them even though they were pre-paid, and we were able to make adjustments only to the room steward portion without affecting the remaining gratuities.

[trainerdude]

[quote name=

Yes, unfortunately, now you know its true, a lot of stewards and waiters only make about $50 a month.[/quote]

 

What??? I have heard this from too many people who don't seem to have their facts straight. Cruise ship staff make more than $50 a month. I know, because I have asked them, and read online more than enough to debunk this myth.

 

Now..as for tipping...2 things

 

1. In some countries tipping just doesn't happen. They have no concept of it.

2. I tipped on our first cruise above what was recommended, but only because the service was outstanding from a few certain people. If my service is poor, I would like to have the option of tipping less based on said service.

 

From what I can understand, the OP has no issue paying for tips, just wanted to be informed of it.

 

Trainerdude

[firefly333]

What??? I have heard this from too many people who don't seem to have their facts straight. Cruise ship staff make more than $50 a month

Trainerdude

 

$50 base salary .. not including tips.. again!!!! I too have asked what they make base salary. .. I was on the ship the week after Ike where they were not going to be able to cruise, and missing out on tips for a week really does cut into their projected income. Also if you look at any site that shows salarys for these crew members .. it always includes tips in the estimated salary.

 

You are taking something out of context and then arguing about it.

[trainerdude]

$50 base salary .. not including tips.. again!!!! I too have asked what they make base salary. .. I was on the ship the week after Ike where they were not going to be able to cruise, and missing out on tips for a week really does cut into their projected income. Also if you look at any site that shows salarys for these crew members .. it always includes tips in the estimated salary.

 

You are taking something out of context and then arguing about it.

 

Yes, I know what your talking about, and Baseline salary for most positions is about 400-800 a month. A far cry from $50. Is it a great salary? Nope. Do they rely on their tips? You betcha they do. Does that mean I have to tip them no matter what type of service they provide? Nope.

 

I know that for many, they pay for family back home and may not see them for months at a time, and I for one recognize this sacrifice they make and honor it By tipping individual people who go the extra length to make my cruise special.

 

but again, it's option for a reason....and I am ok with that. You worry about what you tip or don't and let others do the same.

 

Trainerdude

[bplazo]

Did you seriously think that it was only going to be a tip of $10 or $11 per person per cruise? Lets be real.

[quickrate]

Yes, I know what your talking about, and Baseline salary for most positions is about 400-800 a month. A far cry from $50. Is it a great salary? Nope. Do they rely on their tips? You betcha they do. Does that mean I have to tip them no matter what type of service they provide? Nope.

 

I know that for many, they pay for family back home and may not see them for months at a time, and I for one recognize this sacrifice they make and honor it By tipping individual people who go the extra length to make my cruise special.

 

but again, it's option for a reason....and I am ok with that. You worry about what you tip or don't and let others do the same.

 

Trainerdude

would love to know your source that a room stewards or dining room waiters baseline wage is 400-800 as I have always been under the impression that it is more like 50 to 75. Granted, they do get free room and board but 400-800 base seems much higher than I thought it was. Not that it affects how we tip one way or another as in all our cruises, never felt the need to adjust tips. We do tip extra and on a couple of occasions did not as we felt the person in question barely gave acceptable sevice.

pat

[BeccaBecca1713]

Ok, I gotta admit I only got to the 6th page and just had to comment, so my apologies if I repeat anyone else.

 

OP, you claim you are well-versed in cruising, although later you state this is your first cruise.

 

You're upset because you now have to budget for this.

 

Does this mean you deliberately planned to not tip while on the cruise? Cause I think even if you didn't know about the auto-tip, you would have already factored in tips in your budget. Just an observation......

[trainerdude]

http://cruise-ships.nichinfo.com/cruise-ships/cruise-ships-salaries-of-every-cruise-ship-job-positions/

[Cruzin2paradise09]

Here's a link to a different site with a little bit more information ... the inclusion of the words "...depending on percentage of gratuities (tips)."

 

http://www.cruiseshipjob.com/hotel.htm

 

 

I posted this earlier in the thread ... gives a bit more insight into the salaries of cruise personnel.