Tipping in Australia & New Zealand.

[Aus Traveller]

I feel most regular cruisers have now worked out that "gratutities" are a wage subsidy and not "tips" as Australians understand..i.e. an amount of money given in exchange for service over an above what is expected.

 

I recently sailed on the Radiance and also prepaid gratuties which was a condition of anytime dining. I never remove the gratuties from my account since as stated above it forms part of the staff wage structure.

 

On ships based in Australia year round they have included this subsidy in the fare and so it does not appear on your account....that does not mean you have not paid it.

 

So on land in Australia and New Zealand tipping is not encouraged or expected in fact in NZ they may persue you down the street to give back money left above the bill. We really do not want tipping to invade our culture as an expected on every occasion thing..we like things the way they are (and by the way I worked in hospitality for years).

 

However onboard please understand what the charge is and why it is and just leave it there...the staff look after us very well..when in Rome and all that!

You have explained the situation very well:).

[Islandgirl4242]

We live in the states where tipping is expected, but our wages for servers is well below what it takes to survive. I understand and applaud Aus & NZ for paying more acceptable wages and wanting to keep the practice of tipping from invading their countries.

 

I believe that a ship sailing out of AUS or NZ does not necessarily pay the crew more than when they sail from any other ports. Cabin stewards, waitstaff, laundry workers etc. are not highly paid positions and these people rely on much appreciated tipping. You don't see many ships with crews from the states or AUS or NZ...they don't pay enough. Crew in the one on one service part of our cruises are paid poorly and live in quite cramped quarters...those in the laundry aspire to be a waiter, etc. Many of these people send most of their wages to those waiting at home. And, yes, they feel fortunate to have these jobs because often where they're from work is difficult or impossible to obtain. On our last cruise we got to know our delightful room steward and he had just graduated with an advanced degree from a China university, but there were no jobs upon his graduation. He was working on the ship until he found something and could go back home...this isn't a vacation for these people, most of them of them work long hours and quite hard. We tip on ships because we receive good service and realize that ours tips (always handed directly to the person) may help these workers get back home with their families a little sooner!

[bazzaw]

We tip on ships (always handed directly to the person) !

 

But which "person" do you tip??? There would be a multitude of low paid staff onboard who all help in some way or another to make your cruise a success - why would you only choose to tip those who you have direct contact with? Do you tip the dishwashers in the galley? If not - why not?? Are they paid more or less than your waiters and cabin staff?

 

Barry

[NSWP]

But which "person" do you tip??? There would be a multitude of low paid staff onboard who all help in some way or another to make your cruise a success - why would you only choose to tip those who you have direct contact with? Do you tip the dishwashers in the galley? If not - why not?? Are they paid more or less than your waiters and cabin staff?

 

Barry

Exactly Barry, purpose of auto tips is to ensure the tips received are split amongst all service crew who directly or indirectly serve you, as you said, the laundry boys, the dishwashers, not just your cabin steward or MDR waiter.

 

Now as I said before, their is some suspicion that the auto tips collected on each cruise go into the Fleet tipping pool. Now I do not agree with that all. But then we all know auto tip means automatic wage subsidy (AWS !)

[Aus Traveller]

I don't know whether the local tips go into a fleet tipping pool, or not.

 

I applaud P&O Aust and Princess Australia who have both removed tipping. :):)

 

When tipping was in place with these cruiselines, the only people who benefited from the tipping pool were the service staff. One-third went to the cabin stewards, one-third to the dining room waiters and one-third divided among the bar staff, buffet stewards, head waiters and a small percentage (25c per passenger) to the Maitre d'. The dishwashers and laundry people are not included in the tipping pool. The behind-the-scenes people receive a receive a flat salary.