Gratuities going up..

[sfaaa]

What I learned in Mexico: A full days wage is about $7 (US) a day. $35 a week.

 

And what I learnt in many third world countries: There is either no work available or poorly paid dead end jobs for average citizens. Yeah, these cruise lines are such horrible evil employers yet so many are more than happy to go work on the ships and get paid in hard currency like US$. Stop treating the crews like they are underprivileged children on welfare. They are adults and not dumb.

[pablo222]

Under US financial accounting which applies to the cruise lines since their stock is listed on US exchanges. Tips can be considered tips and not salary as long as they are optional.

 

The problem with your theory is princess in places like australia,

where tips are not optional, but included in the price.

 

Princess simply needs to include a few other countries in this plan.

[majortom10]

Sorry but £21 per couple a day (approx) + 15% on every drink is way to much I am afraid to say total price for 14nt cruise thats over £300 not an insignificant amount.

[BritinSoCal]

And what I learnt in many third world countries: There is either no work available or poorly paid dead end jobs for average citizens. Yeah, these cruise lines are such horrible evil employers yet so many are more than happy to go work on the ships and get paid in hard currency like US$. Stop treating the crews like they are underprivileged children on welfare. They are adults and not dumb.

 

Think you'll find that first world countries like the US have more than their share of low-paying and dead-end jobs for the "average citizens" who thus have to rely on tips to boost their wages (and here in California the going rate is now 20% for 'average' service since even by State Law the minimum wage won't get you a shoe-box under a freeway underpass).

 

For our next cruise the gratuities are going up by $1.10 a day, so not exactly a deal-breaker and even if it were I'd rather cut back on my discretionary spending on-board or not fork-out on an overpriced Princess Shore excursion...

 

I'm a believer in a fair-days pay for a fair-days work...

 

Those of you on this thread who are shareholders and have questioned as to how much of this increase actually goes into the pockets of your ship's overworked hotel staff might like to ask this question at the next AGM :)

[JimmyVWine]

Stop treating the crews like they are underprivileged children on welfare. They are adults and not dumb.

I'm not sure what this adds to the discussion. The crew didn't raise the gratuity amount--PCL did. Your entire post reads as if this increase is the crews' doing and we should be mindful of the fact that they earn enough already, thank you very much. It's not like the crew upped the ante and threatened to go on strike if we don't comply. We can debate until we are blue in the face whether the crew is doing quite well on what they currently earn or if they need the December bump to make ends meet. But that is hardly relevant since the crew had nothing to do with the new policy.

[shredie]

Sorry but £21 per couple a day (approx) + 15% on every drink is way to much I am afraid to say total price for 14nt cruise thats over £300 not an insignificant amount.

 

Sorry we won't be seeing you cruising anymore.

[WpgCruise]

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

The folks complaining will remove the TIPS no matter the amount, so to them the moaning is just fun.

 

 

As to those who are complaining about it, it seems to me that the ones who stiff the workers anyway have no reason to complain. What's a few more cents you never intend to give the crew anyway?

[ano]

If you do the math, what cruise lines charge for "tipping" is not tipping, rather, its these employee's salary. No doubt that these people work hard and probably deserve every penny of it, but "tip" makes it sound like its over and above a decent salary and it isn't really true. It IS their salary. Really when you book a cruise you THINK it includes the price of servers and cabin stewards, it really doesn't, you have to pay for those separately.

[Brisbane41]

The problem with your theory is princess in places like australia,

where tips are not optional, but included in the price.

 

Princess simply needs to include a few other countries in this plan.

 

Its a misconception about Australia. No tips are factored into the price of anything. All companies must pay a designated wage so all costs are reflective of that. In Australia the person serving you is not working for you but is employed by the restaurant/hotel/establishment. There is none of this system that you find in America in Australia.

 

One thing I often laugh at in Australia is those cruise ship passengers that tip the coach driver. They are foolish to do it and the driver is often quietly laughing at them because the driver is getting over $30 per hour to drive and double time on weekends. It is easy for a tour coach driver to pull in $2,000 a week gross in Australia. I cannot fathom why tourists think they must tip a coach driver in this country because the driver is not doing it for the guests, the driver is employed by a company that pays set wages.

[moki'smommy]

 

If they were to become non-optional (as in included in the fare) then they would be considered revenue and any money paid to the crew would be considered to be salary. It would then be taxed accordingly according to the crews home country as far as income and retirement taxes go. Tips are often treated differently than salary in many countries. The cruise line might also have some additional costs in the country requires any employer matching in the retirement system contributions.

 

I can't address Princess, but DCL makes it quite clear in writing that the crew member is fully responsible for any reporting or taxes required by their home countries. Only US citizens who are crew have taxes withheld and sent to the government. I don't know enough about international law to understand why that happens since the main company (Magical Cruise) is a UK corporation and the ship is flagged in the Bahamas.

 

Most crew are hired thru an agency and that agency gets a portion of their wages for some time after the hire...but does not get a portion of the tips. That might be one reason why crew wouldn't want tips to become salary.

 

In any event, I'm quite certain that the lawyers for the cruise lines have figured out that the current system is in the best interest of the cruise line.

Edited September 20, 2016 by moki'smommy

[lovey1103]

If you do the math, what cruise lines charge for "tipping" is not tipping, rather, its these employee's salary. No doubt that these people work hard and probably deserve every penny of it, but "tip" makes it sound like its over and above a decent salary and it isn't really true. It IS their salary. Really when you book a cruise you THINK it includes the price of servers and cabin stewards, it really doesn't, you have to pay for those separately.

Well said, thank you.

[Pierlesscruisers]

$3.10 extra per day x 18 days is $55.80. But that $502.20 would earn only $4.51 in our .90% APR savings account. Hmmmm, maybe we will Pre-pay.

 

That would only earn the full $4.51 if it were paid a full year in advance of when the actual cruise payment date would be, also. If the date you paid the gratuities was only 90 days in advance of when they would normally be paid it'd only earn you about $1.13 so the real "cost" is miniscule. :p

 

Tom

[Pierlesscruisers]

I for one won't be paying this. I plan to go to guest services and assign the amount I believe actually goes to crew which is about $10 PP PD. The rest only goes into CCL's bottom line.

Lately there seems to be no end to this nonsense. Pay the dsc and then pay again going to a specialty restaurant. This tip mentality is unique to us Americans and they know it and exploit it.

 

Interesting. First you say that you "believe" that only about $10/day goes to the recipients, then you make the solid statement that "The rest only goes into CCL's bottom line." which sounds to me like stating a fact. So, I'm going to ask what leads you to your belief of the first statement and what is your reference for latter statement? Personal knowledge or what?

 

Tom

[Pierlesscruisers]

Wow 2 raises in 1 year.

 

If you really think that those 2 raises really increases their income all that great, maybe you should send in an application for a position on one of the ships!! :rolleyes:

 

Tom

[Pierlesscruisers]

All you are doing is paying to boost Princess (Carnival) profits as all gratuities does not go to the staff.

 

I assume that you have proof that the gratuities are not all distributed to the staff and that some part of it goes into the company coffers? I'll bet that you have no proof of that but that it's strictly an opinion.

 

Tom

[floridalover5623]

Do you think maybe that is why the price is going up, too many people are having the tips removed from their account and those of us that pay them are paying the price.

 

I don't really believe that there are that many people who remove tips. It's probably more of a pay increase.

 

If Princess built the tip into the price of the cruise then that's not a tip. It's an increase in the price of the cruise. Am I right or wrong??? :confused:

Tony

 

That's correct. But people price a cruise on what the base price is & not the extras that come with it. Princess has to hook them first & then follow up with the extras...like tips, port charges, taxes, drinks, Specialty restaurants.

[Ruthielj]

These are a TOTAL scam. The gratuities do NOT go to the employees ... ask anyone who has worked on a ship. We ALWAYS go to the front desk, insist that we are going to tip directly, and they are removed. We tip our dinner servers and room stewards with cash. We do not tip the bartender since every drink already has an 18% gratuity that they do receive. You must ask that the gratuity is removed prior to the last day. They will give you a sob story, try to talk you out of it, but will remove it if you insist.

[Ruthielj]

And Tom ... the "behind the scene" international workers sign their 6 month contracts with a fixed pay rate ... this is preset ... doesn't change depending on how many passengers were on each sailing, how many opted in/out of mandatory gratuities ... etc. My close friend spent one year working in the kids club ... her pay rate NEVER changed. She was always so appreciative for the cash tips from parents. If you find an American worker on board that trusts you ... they will probably share this with you as well. However, they would be fired if they were heard sharing this.

[shredie]

These are a TOTAL scam. The gratuities do NOT go to the employees ... ask anyone who has worked on a ship. We ALWAYS go to the front desk, insist that we are going to tip directly, and they are removed. We tip our dinner servers and room stewards with cash. We do not tip the bartender since every drink already has an 18% gratuity that they do receive. You must ask that the gratuity is removed prior to the last day. They will give you a sob story, try to talk you out of it, but will remove it if you insist.

 

And Tom ... the "behind the scene" international workers sign their 6 month contracts with a fixed pay rate ... this is preset ... doesn't change depending on how many passengers were on each sailing, how many opted in/out of mandatory gratuities ... etc. My close friend spent one year working in the kids club ... her pay rate NEVER changed. She was always so appreciative for the cash tips from parents. If you find an American worker on board that trusts you ... they will probably share this with you as well. However, they would be fired if they were heard sharing this.

 

Which is it?

[moki'smommy]

Based on this discussion, I contacted my friend, a UK citizen, and asked about withholding and taxation. He replied that upon accepting his first contract, the cruise line required him to complete a form notifying the British taxation office that he would be working for the cruise line. He also said that in the UK, "seafarers" are not subject to tax provided that they do not reside in the UK for more than 183 days in a tax year. Based on this, he said it was not unusual for a first contract to be subject to tax, but if doing a series of contracts he just had to be a little careful as to the start and end dates and it would be fine. While he works in a salaried, technical position, it makes no difference whether the money received is designated as "salary" or "tips."

 

Just to satisfy my curiosity, do you KNOW that the tips paid on Princess do not go to the designated crew, or are people just supposing this?

[NSWP]

At the end of the day, cruise lines do not want to pay all the crew's wages from their profits, so the automatic tipping/gratuity system, becomes the 'Automatic wage subsidy.'

 

In essence your tips subside the wages on board. I know the cabin stewards, MDR waiters are informed if you remove your auto tips.

 

I love tipping threads, yawn, pass the popcorn please.

[JimmyVWine]

We ALWAYS go to the front desk, insist that we are going to tip directly, and they are removed. We tip our dinner servers and room stewards with cash.

Do you tip the bussers? The servers who fill your water glasses? The pool deck attendants? The folks in the laundry room? The buffet attendants? If you tip your steward and your two dining room servers, you are stiffing the other 50%-75% of the people who attended to you throughout your cruise. When you leave on the auto-tip, all of the "invisible people" get a share. When you tip directly, only the people with whom you come into contact get a share. Do you think that only 3 people work to make your cruise a success?

 

Which is it?

Right?

[yuccaman]

And Tom ... the "behind the scene" international workers sign their 6 month contracts with a fixed pay rate ... this is preset ... doesn't change depending on how many passengers were on each sailing, how many opted in/out of mandatory gratuities ... etc. My close friend spent one year working in the kids club ... her pay rate NEVER changed. She was always so appreciative for the cash tips from parents. If you find an American worker on board that trusts you ... they will probably share this with you as well. However, they would be fired if they were heard sharing this.

 

This is IMMATERIAL, as the collected tips are/were never destined for these workers. They do earn a fixed salary. Primary recipients of these tips are those who in the old days were tipped in cash by cruisers- room stewards & wait staff.

[GUT2407]

Do you tip the bussers? The servers who fill your water glasses? The pool deck attendants? The folks in the laundry room? The buffet attendants? If you tip your steward and your two dining room servers, you are stiffing the other 50%-75% of the people who attended to you throughout your cruise. When you leave on the auto-tip, all of the "invisible people" get a share. When you tip directly, only the people with whom you come into contact get a share. Do you think that only 3 people work to make your cruise a success?

 

 

Right?

 

Why don't they do whatever they do on land, sure don't tip busses there, do you?

 

That's why cash tips are pooled actually.

[yuccaman]

These are a TOTAL scam. The gratuities do NOT go to the employees

 

Oh, really? Wow, I think you really need better sources for your "information".