deleting automatic gratuities

[viperrtblck]

Haven't cruised since they started the auto gratuities, I think it's not $12/day and $14/day for suite guests...per person. They went away with the envelopes now? I read online that you could have the amount lowered if you're not happy with the service (http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5524). Has anybody ever done this? I don't trust where the money goes if it's just being automatically charged to me, I thought gratuities were optional? I feel more comfortable handing the envelope with cash at the end of my cruise to the individuals intended to receive them, instead of the cruise line hitting up my sea pass each and every day.

[Clarea]

If you have not prepaid your gratuities, then you can go to Guest Services and have them modify automatic gratuities.

[viperrtblck]

I have not done prepaid gratuities. Am I able to have guest services just 0 them all out for my cabins party? Then just give cash to the folks at the end of the cruise in the envelopes; do we still get the envelopes even?

[Clarea]

I have not done prepaid gratuities. Am I able to have guest services just 0 them all out for my cabins party? Then just give cash to the folks at the end of the cruise in the envelopes; do we still get the envelopes even?

Yes, you can completely remove automatic gratuities. They usually give us a couple of envelopes, and I get more from Guest Services if I need them.

[garycarla]

I a new over here, being a longtime NCL cruiser.

 

This question comes up from time to time and gets down right nasty.

 

Personally, I love not having to deal with those damn envelopes, and making sure the right people get them, and worry about people that do work hard but don't get a tip.

[awhcruiser]

Exactly.

I a new over here, being a longtime NCL cruiser.

 

This question comes up from time to time and gets down right nasty.

 

Personally, I love not having to deal with those damn envelopes, and making sure the right people get them, and worry about people that do work hard but don't get a tip.

[awhcruiser]

How do you know who should receive tips during your cruise?

Haven't cruised since they started the auto gratuities, I think it's not $12/day and $14/day for suite guests...per person. They went away with the envelopes now? I read online that you could have the amount lowered if you're not happy with the service (http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5524). Has anybody ever done this? I don't trust where the money goes if it's just being automatically charged to me, I thought gratuities were optional? I feel more comfortable handing the envelope with cash at the end of my cruise to the individuals intended to receive them, instead of the cruise line hitting up my sea pass each and every day.

[Kamloops50]

If you remove the Gratuities , the people that get the cash are supposed to turn the cash into a pool. These gratuities pay more than the cabinet steward and MDR staff. I would leave the auto tips on and give extra to the people you want .

[willcruiseanythyme]

Haven't cruised since they started the auto gratuities, I think it's not $12/day and $14/day for suite guests...per person. They went away with the envelopes now? I read online that you could have the amount lowered if you're not happy with the service (http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5524). Has anybody ever done this? I don't trust where the money goes if it's just being automatically charged to me, I thought gratuities were optional? I feel more comfortable handing the envelope with cash at the end of my cruise to the individuals intended to receive them, instead of the cruise line hitting up my sea pass each and every day.

 

We started cruising in 2001 and we've always had gratuities automatically added daily. How long has it been since you've cruised? We have been able to request envelopes though if we wanted to give more. Now that many cruise lines are doing my time dining/anytime dining I think it would be hard to tip each server if they are different every night hence the automatic gratuities. Just my thought.

[Ashland]

We started cruising in 2001 and we've always had gratuities automatically added daily. How long has it been since you've cruised? We have been able to request envelopes though if we wanted to give more. Now that many cruise lines are doing my time dining/anytime dining I think it would be hard to tip each server if they are different every night hence the automatic gratuities. Just my thought.

 

RCI only started adding the automatic gratuities in Feb 2013.

[kezz]

If you have not prepaid your gratuities, then you can go to Guest Services and have them modify automatic gratuities.

 

Hi clarea,

 

What if you when booking, your gratuities are included in the deal.

 

Can you lower or remove these?

 

Thanks

 

kezz

[BARNET]

Have been cruising since 2002 and have always pre-paid gratuities and give more when the service is good which I have found to be the case on nearly all our cruises, having said that on the last cruise the waiter and his assistant where that poor we didn't give any additional tips. You don't need to use the envelopes just give them the money in their hand it's then up to them if they turn it into the pool or not.

[Merion_Mom]

Hi clarea,

 

What if you when booking, your gratuities are included in the deal.

 

Can you lower or remove these?

 

Thanks

 

kezz

 

I have never tried to have them removed, but I believe that the answer is "no". Prepaid gratuities are not refunded once you are on board.

 

I can see any number of complications if they allowed this.

 

Just one, off the top of my head:

 

What if the passenger's travel agent had "given" them prepaid gratuities as a "perk" of booking with them?

 

What a horrible thing for a person to do: Take back money that wasn't theirs in the first place, and depriving the staff of their livelihood, at the same time.

[Jimmers]

I can't imagine receiving a week of service that was so bad it didn't deserve the minimum level of "gratuity" that is auto deducted. We almost always give extra on the last night.

 

I agree that a gratuity is by definition, voluntary, so I think RC should change this to "service fee" instead. Better yet include it in the cruise fare.

 

I don't know how accurate it is but I read that the service employees are paid only about $50 a month so their livelihood depends on the "gratuities" they receive from passengers, many of which come from countries where tipping is not the custom. Not to mention the low life who decide to slither out the back door without paying any.

 

So I think the auto tipping is a good thing but again I still think it should be redefined as service fee.

 

As far as not trusting RC to pass on the gratuity to the crew, that's really not my responsibility. Just as it's not my responsibility to make sure that the gratuity I charge to my credit card at a land based restaurant gets to my server.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Jimmers

[Clarea]

Hi clarea,

 

What if you when booking, your gratuities are included in the deal.

 

Can you lower or remove these?

 

Thanks

 

kezz

Under normal circumstances, you cannot remove prepaid gratuities. If my memory serves, I believe I once read here that someone got them removed by making a huge scene at Guest Services. I've not read that more than once, so it may not be reliable info.

Edited February 26, 2015 by clarea

[viperrtblck]

We started cruising in 2001 and we've always had gratuities automatically added daily. How long has it been since you've cruised? We have been able to request envelopes though if we wanted to give more. Now that many cruise lines are doing my time dining/anytime dining I think it would be hard to tip each server if they are different every night hence the automatic gratuities. Just my thought.

 

My last cruise was Sept 2013, they MAY have had this system in place then but not positive.

[LMaxwell]

My last cruise was Sept 2013, they MAY have had this system in place then but not positive.

In late 2013 yes. In 2001 no

[viperrtblck]

Thanks everyone, great info so far. I will not be doing the pre paid gratuities, I know this much. I guess I just have that feeling that when tipping someone, I prefer to have it directly handed to the person I intend it to go to, via cash. Like stated before, by doing the auto tip to my sea pass like RCCL does now, I don't know where that's going, and after reading some stuff online (who knows how accurate it is or isn't), is the cruise line really giving all of my tip money to the intended crew members I dealt with? Plus with the fact of giving them extra if we become close and have an enjoyable vacation with them....I might as well just give them the whole intended tip as I'm giving them an envelope with the extra money anyway. Also, with only the 3 or 4 folks we are to tip (waiters, room attendants) it isn't an inconvenience to track people down to give them the cash....in my opinion.

[Clarea]

Thanks everyone, great info so far. I will not be doing the pre paid gratuities, I know this much. ....

Just so you know, if you choose My Time Dining, you are required to prepay gratuities. You will have to opt for traditional dining in order to avoid prepaid gratuities.

[PORT ROYAL]

Haven't cruised since they started the auto gratuities, I think it's not $12/day and $14/day for suite guests...per person. They went away with the envelopes now? I read online that you could have the amount lowered if you're not happy with the service (http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/details.do?pagename=frequently_asked_questions&pnav=5&pnav=2&faqType=faq&faqSubjectId=415&faqSubjectName=Gratuities&faqId=5524). Has anybody ever done this? I don't trust where the money goes if it's just being automatically charged to me, I thought gratuities were optional? I feel more comfortable handing the envelope with cash at the end of my cruise to the individuals intended to receive them, instead of the cruise line hitting up my sea pass each and every day.

 

Just join the 'Remove Gratutities Q' at GR on the day of embarkation. Don't worry, you will be amongst like minded people.

[Clarea]

When I cruise I only take one Noia.

 

Am I correct that the auto tipping started sometime around 2012? I'm thinking my 2012 cruise was the last time I got better than average service in the MDR.

I believe auto tipping started in March 2013.

[LMaxwell]

Thanks everyone, great info so far. I will not be doing the pre paid gratuities, I know this much. I guess I just have that feeling that when tipping someone, I prefer to have it directly handed to the person I intend it to go to, via cash. Like stated before, by doing the auto tip to my sea pass like RCCL does now, I don't know where that's going, and after reading some stuff online (who knows how accurate it is or isn't), is the cruise line really giving all of my tip money to the intended crew members I dealt with? Plus with the fact of giving them extra if we become close and have an enjoyable vacation with them....I might as well just give them the whole intended tip as I'm giving them an envelope with the extra money anyway. Also, with only the 3 or 4 folks we are to tip (waiters, room attendants) it isn't an inconvenience to track people down to give them the cash....in my opinion.

 

There is nothing wrong with your opinion on this. That is why the cruise line offers you the option to do as you choose. Many on here will not understand this and conveniently forget decades of cruise industry norms when it comes to tipping and insist you fall in line or be labeled a horrible person. You probably won't be treated very nicely for expressing your reasonable, well thought out opinion.

[LMaxwell]

I believe auto tipping started in March 2013.

 

Yes auto-tipping is pretty new in the overall scheme of things. Many of us have years and years of experience with recommendations by job role, envelopes, cash, and giving a gratuity directly to those who made our vacations so nice.

[Ocean Boy]

How do you know who should receive tips during your cruise?

 

How do you know who should receive a tip in all the rest of life's activities that don't involve cruising? And how did we figure it out on cruises before they "invented" automatic charges?

Edited February 26, 2015 by Ocean Boy

[Paul65]

How do you know who should receive a tip in all the rest of life's activities that don't involve cruising? And how did we figure it out on cruises before they "invented" automatic charges?

 

In the rest of life, we learn, for the most part, by being told things like, "you should tip your waiter 15% (or 20% or whatever) of the bill." Before the gratuities on the cruise were automatic, we knew from the guidelines given by the cruise line of how much to give to whom on a per day basis and were provided envelopes for those people.

 

Of course, people bickered back then about that system, and many people thought they knew better and either didn't tip or changed who or how much. This led to the current system of making it automatic. And, yes, there are still those who think they know better and want to resist that and do it their own way.