Anyone refuse to tip on a cruise?

[caribbean sailor]

I can confirm that the employees do get a print out of each guest they are assigned and whether they have prepaid the gratuities. This was more of an issue back when pre-paid gratuities were less common.

 

I have discussed this with two different crew members and have seen the waiter checking his list in the MDR.

 

This is less of an issue now that many of the ships add $12/day automatically.

 

I do believe most employees know how many guests they serve every week and how much tip they should be receiving with there next payroll check.

 

Its not that complicated.

 

 

How much do they receive from Royal Caribbean.That should be the question.And if anyone is stiffing them,it's Royal Caribbean.Tips are given not taken.:)

[floridafish]

I consider myself a very generous tipper.

 

I won't get started on my belief that employers should pay living wages without the assistant of customer tipping but that's another topic for another day.

 

Having said all that, once tips are pre-calculated by the service provider, I will not tip any more as a matter of principal.

 

 

I suppose it protects the workers from cheapskates. And you know who you are.:mad:

 

On the flip side it precludes the workers from my habit of tipping in a generous manner.

[poncho1973]

I consider myself a very generous tipper.

 

I won't get started on my belief that employers should pay living wages without the assistant of customer tipping but that's another topic for another day.

 

Having said all that, once tips are pre-calculated by the service provider, I will not tip any more as a matter of principal.

 

 

I suppose it protects the workers from cheapskates. And you know who you are.:mad:

 

On the flip side it precludes the workers from my habit of tipping in a generous manner.

 

I will do this in a restaurant where they auto-grat me, because MOST (not all, but most) places leave that in the hands of the servers.

 

I have had a couple of servers say at the end of the meal "I'll bring your check. Please note that our manager auto-grats and we have no control over that. Just know your tab includes an 18% gratuity included."

 

When they bring it up in a manner like that (regardless of their intent... they make it seem like they are just warning you) then I tip as I see fit... normal service, that's it. Extra nice service, I throw something in on top.

 

On a cruise ship? There is almost no case where I'm tipping the bar staff more than the auto-grat. I order bottled beer. They are simply popping the cap off and handing it to me and getting a buck for the privilege. My wife usually gets a glass of wine or rarely a pre-made (in giant batches) frozen drink.

 

The rest of the staff? I'll gladly toss a few extra bucks their way for excellent service. Normal service? They get the auto-grat.

 

A big exception to the bar staff is if I want a very specific drink or a specific beer that they have to run across the ship to get. On extremely rare occasions, I will get a wild hair for a specific drink made in a specific way with specific alcohol. THEN they get a nice extra tip from me. On one cruise, they had a very limited supply of Effes (Turkish) beer and they only had it down on the Promenade. I had been talking to a bartender about it and he said he would run and grab a few for me to enjoy during the show we were about to watch. In order to take 5+ minutes to please me, this guy missed out on a few other drink orders. I tipped him well for that because I appreciated (and didn't expect him to offer to do it either) it.

[BamaGuy44]

I consider myself a very generous tipper.

 

I won't get started on my belief that employers should pay living wages without the assistant of customer tipping but that's another topic for another day.

 

Having said all that, once tips are pre-calculated by the service provider, I will not tip any more as a matter of principal.

 

 

I suppose it protects the workers from cheapskates. And you know who you are.:mad:

 

On the flip side it precludes the workers from my habit of tipping in a generous manner.

 

Not sure what principle you're upholding here. The service provider (the cruise line) makes the same profit off your cruise whether you tip over the standard amount or not. The only people who get less would be the individual workers.

 

Certainly it's your right to tip whatever you want, I'm just not following the logic of your reasoning.

 

"Wow Mr. waiter/cabin steward, your service was fantastic! I'm a super generous tipper so normally you would be very well paid for this week, but sadly your boss already calculated my tip amount. Sucks for you."

 

:confused: Does not compute.

[floridafish]

Yes, it does suck for them. And as a group they might want to organize and decide collectively what's best for them.

 

They might prefer the security albeit possibly less tips derived from company pre-calculated auto collected tips. Or they might want to "roll the dice", benefit from people like me that tend to over tip but risk getting stiffed by people with no clue or just too cheap.

 

They just can't have it both ways. At least not in my world.

[poncho1973]

Yes, it does suck for them. And as a group they might want to organize and decide collectively what's best for them.

 

For me, this post crossed the line from "this person has a legitimate thought" to "I think you're just trolling now."

[floridafish]

For me, this post crossed the line from "this person has a legitimate thought" to "I think you're just trolling now."

 

I'm not quite sure what you don't get or why you think I'm a troll.

 

I have no clue how RCI or any other cruise line comes up with their tipping policy. Quite frankly I don't care. Furthermore I have no problem if they want to collect pre determined tips up front. At the end of the day it makes sense to protect and reward the crew for their hard work.

 

If a restaurant or cruise line or any other service establishment has this policy, for me personally, I will not tip any more. To do otherwise makes no sense. Is there no downside for collecting tips up front?

 

What don't you get?

[BamaGuy44]

Yes, it does suck for them. And as a group they might want to organize and decide collectively what's best for them.

 

They might prefer the security albeit possibly less tips derived from company pre-calculated auto collected tips. Or they might want to "roll the dice", benefit from people like me that tend to over tip but risk getting stiffed by people with no clue or just too cheap.

 

They just can't have it both ways. At least not in my world.

 

Ahhh, I thought you were just mad at the cruise line for pre-calculating tips. Turns out you also feel the individual workers should somehow prevent the cruise lines from pre-calculating their tips if that's not what they want.

 

The waiters and stewards should just organize and decide what the cruise line's policies should be, and just make the policy whatever is most beneficial for them. Makes perfect sense, not sure how I missed that obvious solution.

[floridafish]

Ahhh, I thought you were just mad at the cruise line for pre-calculating tips. Turns out you also feel the individual workers should somehow prevent the cruise lines from pre-calculating their tips if that's not what they want.

 

The waiters and stewards should just organize and decide what the cruise line's policies should be, and just make the policy whatever is most beneficial for them. Makes perfect sense, not sure how I missed that obvious solution.

 

I have problem if they pre calculate tips or not. That's between the cruise line and their employees. And I was not being flip about the worker choosing to organize. If I had to guess though they(the crew) are probably are happy with the current system.

[Ocean Boy]

Yes, it does suck for them. And as a group they might want to organize and decide collectively what's best for them.

 

They might prefer the security albeit possibly less tips derived from company pre-calculated auto collected tips. Or they might want to "roll the dice", benefit from people like me that tend to over tip but risk getting stiffed by people with no clue or just too cheap.

 

They just can't have it both ways. At least not in my world.

 

I suspect an attempt at "organizing and making collective decisions as to what is best for them" might lead to the cruise line organizing a walk right down the gang plank.

[floridafish]

I suspect an attempt at "organizing and making collective decisions as to what is best for them" might lead to the cruise line organizing a walk right down the gang plank.

 

Which is why with the exception of the cruise director you don't find any Americans working on cruise ships. The unions would eat them for lunch.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

I agree with what you've said. The issue, it seems, is that a small number of people are not tipping based on the level of service. They are withholding tips based on a philosophical difference of opinion. If someone receives sub par service (we never have), to me, a reduction is justified.

 

But to book a cruise - understanding that the crew works primarily for tips, enjoy the very high level of service, and never have any intention of tipping seems a bit unethical.

I have another word for it and its certainly not as nice as unethical.

I would have to agree with both of you on that specific point. I have seen and overheard cruise passengers specifically boast about "stiffing the staff" by complaining so that their gratuities got "waived". Unfortunately, there are just such people out there, and it's seen in restaurants all the time as well.

 

The workers onboard work hard to provide us with a memorable experience. We've always appreciated that...a shame a few other folks see this as an opportunity to do something questionable.

[Adayatatime]

I would have to agree with both of you on that specific point. I have seen and overheard cruise passengers specifically boast about "stiffing the staff" by complaining so that their gratuities got "waived". Unfortunately, there are just such people out there, and it's seen in restaurants all the time as well.

 

The workers onboard work hard to provide us with a memorable experience. We've always appreciated that...a shame a few other folks see this as an opportunity to do something questionable.

 

They work really hard, they should have an increase in basic pay rather than relying on customers.

[BamaGuy44]

Which is why with the exception of the cruise director you don't find any Americans working on cruise ships. The unions would eat them for lunch.

 

There are more Americans working on cruise ships than that. There were around 40 when I was on the Disney Fantasy last year. And the cruise line isn't subject to US labor laws regardless, because the ships don't sail under a US flag.

 

Anyway my only point was that bragging how super generous you are with tips but not with cruise ship workers, because of a policy they have no control over seemed strange, but hey it's your money.

[AmberCascades]

They work really hard, they should have an increase in basic pay rather than relying on customers.

 

Yes, everyone is in agreement with this. But even if they go all Norma Rae on management, this is not likely to happen. Removing auto-tips or not tipping at all doesn't make management suffer. It makes the crew suffer. Well....maybe it will make the cruise line suffer if they have to keep paying to train and hire new staff....oh, but then they'll just increase the fares to cover that, so no worries.

 

If you are really and truly concerned about the poor crew that makes the bare minimum and has to practically kiss some peoples posteriors in order to get any kind of tip, then what you should be doing is boycotting cruising altogether. Just stop going on cruises. That will show management that you mean business.

[Adayatatime]

Yes, everyone is in agreement with this. But even if they go all Norma Rae on management, this is not likely to happen. Removing auto-tips or not tipping at all doesn't make management suffer. It makes the crew suffer. Well....maybe it will make the cruise line suffer if they have to keep paying to train and hire new staff....oh, but then they'll just increase the fares to cover that, so no worries.

 

If you are really and truly concerned about the poor crew that makes the bare minimum and has to practically kiss some peoples posteriors in order to get any kind of tip, then what you should be doing is boycotting cruising altogether. Just stop going on cruises. That will show management that you mean business.

 

 

Don't pick on me I was being tongue in cheek :o:D

[lady_cruiser]

I am not in favor of the prepaid variety myself.

 

I am going to tip anyway so its easy for me to have the tips taken out ahead of time giving me more to spend once on-board.

 

Now have I not added to the tips at the end of the cruise. For the first time since 2005 I have to answer yes. Our last cruise we had a cabin attendant that forgot to clean our cabin one day (and yes the "clean room" sign was in the door) and on two occasions left us with only half a roll of toilet tissue.

[tserface]

I always seem to get one or two waiters that remember us by name and seems to know our favorite drinks by the second day. On our last Freedom cruise there was a nice young lady named "Kim" (from Korea) who worked in the Diamond lounge and greeted use every night, by name, with a very pleasant smile. She also knew what we wanted. I know a lot of people don't tip in the Diamond Club, but we tipped her every night and at the end of the cruise because the experience was so great. There was another waiter named Heidi who always made us feel welcome in other venues (at Bingo, shows, trivia) and also knew our names and what we had to drink last. We often gave extra gratuity to her as well because she made us feel like "friends" rather than just throwing drinks at us.

 

I'm not a fan of auto gratuity, but I just consider it part of the cost of the drink. To me, it's a service charge they use to pay the servers and tenders.

 

I really love the experience of being treated extra special during our vacation and I like that they put the extra line on the bill so we can reward it if we choose a the time.

 

Tom

 

On a cruise ship? There is almost no case where I'm tipping the bar staff more than the auto-grat. I order bottled beer. They are simply popping the cap off and handing it to me and getting a buck for the privilege. My wife usually gets a glass of wine or rarely a pre-made (in giant batches) frozen drink.

 

The rest of the staff? I'll gladly toss a few extra bucks their way for excellent service. Normal service? They get the auto-grat.

 

A big exception to the bar staff is if I want a very specific drink or a specific beer that they have to run across the ship to get. On extremely rare occasions, I will get a wild hair for a specific drink made in a specific way with specific alcohol. THEN they get a nice extra tip from me. On one cruise, they had a very limited supply of Effes (Turkish) beer and they only had it down on the Promenade. I had been talking to a bartender about it and he said he would run and grab a few for me to enjoy during the show we were about to watch. In order to take 5+ minutes to please me, this guy missed out on a few other drink orders. I tipped him well for that because I appreciated (and didn't expect him to offer to do it either) it.

[poncho1973]

Which is why with the exception of the cruise director you don't find any Americans working on cruise ships.

 

Blatantly untrue. I've met many Americans on my cruises. They are definitely a minority, but they exist and there are plenty of them.

 

The unions would eat them for lunch.

 

Someone isn't nearly as informed as they think... which goes back to my comment that I think you're just trying to rile people up at this point.

 

Not that I don't love working people up sometimes myself, but I do advertise that as a service I provide.

[BamaGuy44]

 

Not that I don't love working people up sometimes myself, but I do advertise that as a service I provide.

 

Nice. Is that on your business card? ;)

[floridafish]

There are more Americans working on cruise ships than that. There were around 40 when I was on the Disney Fantasy last year. And the cruise line isn't subject to US labor laws regardless, because the ships don't sail under a US flag.

 

Anyway my only point was that bragging how super generous you are with tips but not with cruise ship workers, because of a policy they have no control over seemed strange, but hey it's your money.

 

40 huh? :rolleyes:

I'm not bragging. I used to work for tips when I was younger and I know how important it is to service workers, especially wait staff.

 

Pre paid and pre calculated tips in general are probably the best policy for cruise lines. They protect the staff and people you might not notice, hopefully, get to see some of that money.

 

But like a restaurant that tacks on an automatic 18% tip, incentive for giving good service(other than pride in one's work) goes away. As does my usual 20+% tip.

[AmberCascades]

Don't pick on me I was being tongue in cheek :o:D

 

:) My apologies. But your comment is one that is expressed by many and it's not wrong.

 

My rant was just a general one towards people who want to "stick it to the man" by not tipping the crew. Not tipping the crew doesn't benefit them in any way so some people should just admit they are cheapskates instead of pretending they are removing the tips out of the goodness of their heart.

 

sigh I shouldn't have come in here. Now I'm all riled up. :eek:

[Ocean Boy]

I am going to tip anyway so its easy for me to have the tips taken out ahead of time giving me more to spend once on-board.

 

Now have I not added to the tips at the end of the cruise. For the first time since 2005 I have to answer yes. Our last cruise we had a cabin attendant that forgot to clean our cabin one day (and yes the "clean room" sign was in the door) and on two occasions left us with only half a roll of toilet tissue.

 

I don't quite get that. If someone has a finite amount of money, how does taking some away sooner provide more to spend later?:confused:

[floridafish]

Blatantly untrue. I've met many Americans on my cruises. They are definitely a minority, but they exist and there are plenty of them.

 

 

 

Someone isn't nearly as informed as they think... which goes back to my comment that I think you're just trying to rile people up at this point.

 

Not that I don't love working people up sometimes myself, but I do advertise that as a service I provide.

 

Oh really? Just how many American crew members do you run into? I'd like to hear a rough estimate out of 900-1,000 plus crew members on any given ship? And I'm the troll?

[Ocean Boy]

:) My apologies. But your comment is one that is expressed by many and it's not wrong.

 

My rant was just a general one towards people who want to "stick it to the man" by not tipping the crew. Not tipping the crew doesn't benefit them in any way so some people should just admit they are cheapskates instead of pretending they are removing the tips out of the goodness of their heart.

 

sigh I shouldn't have come in here. Now I'm all riled up. :eek:

 

Stay calm and enjoy the ride.;):p