What if cruise ship tipping was like a restaurant; based on cost?

[Moonarino]

But then cheap people wouldn't be able to come to this forum and complain about tipping. The amount of content and traffic for CC would drop dramatically. We can't have that... ;)

 

And some people come here just to up their post count. True or not? This is a real question, just like how many "cheap people" come here just to "complain about tipping" is a question, i.e., not a known fact by you or anybody.

 

 

What would the point of all this be? Everyone already gets charged tips, yet still feel the burning need to tip even more. You could make the auto-grats 50% of the cruise fare and people would still find a dozen reasons why they tip extra. Americans can't help it, they feel like they're doing something wrong if they leave an empty table.

 

This American has left an empty table many times when the wait staff were mediocre at best. I've also tipped extra plenty of times.

 

Is being polite (not insulting) in public venues becoming a completely lost art?

 

 

No, leave AG as is. No, don't add AG to cruise fare, because that would completely remove the option of lowering tips when a cruise is notably unsatisfactory overall, because overall the crew, wait staff, etc, didn't do their jobs. I have never lowered my AG's on any cruise, but once or twice I was sorely tempted to.

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[time4u2go]

Then why do we scale it in restaurants by price of food if everyone gets similar service?

 

Maybe the cruise ship model IS the better way?

 

 

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That's a fair point. If two people at one table order the most expensive item on the menu, and two people at another order the cheapest item on the menu, they would both most likely receive the same level of service (assuming they had the same waiter), but they would pay different tip amounts. Definitely something to think about.

[John&LaLa]

It’s possible inside cabin guests require more service than someone in a suite but should they be paying 20% instead of 5%?

 

Waiting for someone to explain why besides RCI inability to manage a database this is not workable. I thought everyone here sailed in suites and had money to burn adopting a steward for the week, so why doesn’t anyone just come out and say they don’t want to pay more, hmm? No crime in being honest

 

 

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I thought I did

 

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[ObstructedView2]

LMaxwell, let's adjust that thinking a little bit, and let me ask you this.

 

What if one couples bill is $40 & they left an $8 tip but sat at & took up the servers table for 6 hours.

 

The other couple had a $200 bill, left a $40 tip & took up the table for 2 hours.

 

That $40 check with the $8 tip just cost the server a lot of potential money. Happens quite often in restaurants.

 

A server will lose a lot of money because someone is taking up a table having some sort of meeting, on a lap top, doing business, etc, etc... While in that time the server could've flipped that table a few times.

 

What I'm trying to say is:

The customer took up the table for 6 hours, leaving the server an $8 tip on the $40 check, but not on the hours sitting there. Causing the server to lose money....

 

So what about 'time' as a factor. Should it be a factor?

 

 

:confused:

 

As for the concept that the $40 couple somehow spends 6 hours without being asked to leave, in a restaurant where it's apparently common to order $200 in a two hour window, I find that hypothetical rather hard to buy as an option.

 

Alfaeric,

Every restaurant I have worked at in the past 25 years we were not permitted to ask paying customers that are sitting for hours, to simply get up & leave.

 

There are all sorts of instances & circumstances of course, most managers or owners would not do so, but apparently you have never worked in a restaurant. So I understand why you find the hypothetical hard to believe.

 

 

;p

[CruisingNole]

Alfaeric,

Every restaurant I have worked at in the past 25 years we were not permitted to ask paying customers that are sitting for hours, to simply get up & leave.

;p

 

In the past, I worked at places where I actually had to stay late because one of my tables didn't want to leave. Even though the restaurant was closed and literally every other customer had left, I still couldn't ask them to leave.

 

Obviously this is left at the discretion of the restaurant manager/owner, but like you said, for the most part, the customer can stay however long he/she wishes, even if the only purchase was a cup of coffee.

[Moonarino]

I think the algorithm would be too much for any cruise line to handle (lol).

 

Seriously, LMaxwell, I do empathize with your question, "It’s possible inside cabin guests require more service than someone in a suite but should they be paying 20% instead of 5%?" I pick this point in particular because my lady and I are about as low-maintenance as anybody can be. Even before Carnival moved to once-a-day stateroom service, we always told our attendants that we only needed once-a-day service. It always works fine for hotels, so why not on a cruise ship? But other staterooms do require a lot more attention than ours. From this standpoint, in the past, theoretically, we pretty much always overtipped our stateroom attendants. But in practice we never gave it a second thought.

 

And I guess that's my whole point. There are areas of imbalance now, but no system is ever perfect. I've never minded at all the way auto-gratuities are presently handled, and if it were changed (made more complicated), I think it might bring other headaches.

[grapau27]

Another low brow insult from a keyboard tough guy.

 

 

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Thanks for a new take on tipping.

It was thought provoking but I think on RC the current AG is fine.

Graham.

[Moonarino]

... the cruise ship model covers more than just food service. The cruise ship model has worked relatively well for decades, even more so with the advent of auto-tips (especially from the crew's perspective).

 

I wanted to mention that too, and MDR always (or by default) gets the biggest share, yes? When we break it down that way, stateroom service isn't even a plurality of the gratuities total, much less a majority.

 

And yes, the crew's perspective. On our first cruise we got to be tight buddies with our MDR head waiter (a middle-aged Indonesian), great guy to talk to, and in the process of a week he thoroughly educated us on how much the average ship employee depends on those gratuities. (And I'm not at all a sucker for a sob story, just to discourage that type of reaction). Most send a hefty portion of their wages home to their families in whatever country they're from ... part of something like $350-400 billion that non-Americans in America (including US-based cruise ships) send overseas every year. Then there was the American theater manager, who I buddied up with in the "smoking lounge" on that cruise. These people are sometimes (or often) stuck on their ships for 8 days plus, week in and week out for anywhere from 3 to 8 months. Aside from the pay, it's not something I could handle very well. And that makes if even more important to me that my cruise ship's crew get paid as well and as reliably as they can.

[peach section]

Interesting thread.

 

I’m OK with either option, and support those who said, just include gratuities in price of the trip.

 

For the restaurant model, during the KSF promotions, the ship would lose out on gratuities for all the $0 kids in a cabin.

 

With current system, during KSF for a family of 4 in a cabin, even though only the 2 adults pay the cabin fare - all 4 (2a+2k) pay the daily gratuities.

[LMaxwell]

Thanks for a new take on tipping.

It was thought provoking but I think on RC the current AG is fine.

Graham.[ATTACH]423847[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

Looking sharp Graham but you’ll need to change for the watersides!

 

 

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[PhoenixCruiser]

What’s your opinion or input on the topic? Are are you just being a curmudgeonly carol ?

 

 

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I'm content with the current policy - except I wish it was mandatory and people didn't have the option to remove them.

 

If the service is excellent we usually leave additional cash towards the end of the cruise.

[CruiseGal999]

I always pre-pay the gratuities/DSC. But it sucks when you get lousy service. My cruise in May 2017, steward was going home at end of cruise. DEFINITELY lacking in his duties. AND he left a slip charging me for things (bottles of water) I never even had in my cabin! I had him remove EVERYTHING from the fridge and desk. I handed him the slip and reminded him that everything had been removed ... by him. He GRABBED it out of my hand and grunted something and stormed out of the cabin.

[Moonarino]

I always pre-pay the gratuities/DSC. But it sucks when you get lousy service. My cruise in May 2017, steward was going home at end of cruise. DEFINITELY lacking in his duties. AND he left a slip charging me for things (bottles of water) I never even had in my cabin! I had him remove EVERYTHING from the fridge and desk. I handed him the slip and reminded him that everything had been removed ... by him. He GRABBED it out of my hand and grunted something and stormed out of the cabin.

 

There ya go. Reminds me of a very distasteful (broader) experience on one of my first cruises; not the first, but close. (In fact I was charged $29.95 for something about 14 hours after I left the cruise ship, which the cruise line never explained to me.) That was the first time I thought about adjusting my AG, and why I still very much want the option.

[time4u2go]

I always pre-pay the gratuities/DSC. But it sucks when you get lousy service. My cruise in May 2017, steward was going home at end of cruise. DEFINITELY lacking in his duties. AND he left a slip charging me for things (bottles of water) I never even had in my cabin! I had him remove EVERYTHING from the fridge and desk. I handed him the slip and reminded him that everything had been removed ... by him. He GRABBED it out of my hand and grunted something and stormed out of the cabin.

Did you reduce the gratuity accordingly?

[Ourusualbeach]

There ya go. Reminds me of a very distasteful (broader) experience on one of my first cruises; not the first, but close. (In fact I was charged $29.95 for something about 14 hours after I left the cruise ship, which the cruise line never explained to me.) That was the first time I thought about adjusting my AG, and why I still very much want the option.

 

How would the ability to adjust AG have helped you since you were charged after you left the ship?

[Cauzneffct]

I think linking the grat to cabin type (beyond the current higher grats for suites) makes more sense than linking it to price paid (which given the fluctuations in price, sales, price drops, etc., could be a problem logistically and potentially disadvantageous to those receiving the grat).

 

Your argument, as made by the "$40/200 Restaurant" hypothetical (which only makes sense if the couples are, inexplicably, eating the same meal), is more compelling going the other way; a flat "service charge" for restaurants on land (or alcohol on board) rather than tipping. After all, why does a bartender on board gets more for pouring me a Johnnie Blue than a Dewars?

 

 

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Edited June 17, 2018 by Cauzneffct

[LMaxwell]

I'm content with the current policy - except I wish it was mandatory and people didn't have the option to remove them.

 

If the service is excellent we usually leave additional cash towards the end of the cruise.

 

I always pre-pay the gratuities/DSC. But it sucks when you get lousy service. My cruise in May 2017, steward was going home at end of cruise. DEFINITELY lacking in his duties. AND he left a slip charging me for things (bottles of water) I never even had in my cabin! I had him remove EVERYTHING from the fridge and desk. I handed him the slip and reminded him that everything had been removed ... by him. He GRABBED it out of my hand and grunted something and stormed out of the cabin.

 

This is why I don't pre-pay (besides having OBC cover portion of it) and why it should not be mandatory. Make it mandatory and the service described by CruiseGal becomes the norm. You have to still provide an incentive to workers to earn more, not settle for bare minimum. Anyways, that wasn't really the point of the thread.

 

But I don't have any problems if they raise the fare so the pricing is clear and upfront, and then people tip extra whatever they feel like if anything at all.

[LMaxwell]

IAfter all, why does a bartender on board gets more for pouring me a Johnnie Blue than a Dewars?

 

 

Just be glad you didn't start a thread asking that question...

[John&LaLa]

Our TA pays grats 75% of the time. I really don't care

 

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[steveru621]

I do not want gratuities added to my cruise fare.

[tortoisegirl]

I think it is fine as-is, but they really should just raise fares enough to actually pay their employees enough.

 

I think the restaurant model for tipping based on a percent of the bill is unfair. Sufficient employee pay should be just included in the price of items, like it is everywhere else. In many states restaurant employees get over minimum wage plus tips, so they can actually make quite a bit of money. Its also why I don't believe in tipping at a coffee shop or similar. Seems like everyone wants tips now. I think the whole system is stupid.

 

In restaurants I actually typically pay a higher than usual percentage when the bill is low, and a lower than usual percentage when the bill is high. I don't think its fair to pay more just because I ordered something expensive and didn't require more service. However, one thing to think of though is that at fancier restaurants the servers usually have less tables / spend more time with each table.

[grapau27]

Looking sharp Graham but you’ll need to change for the watersides!

 

 

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Thanks.

We were watching people trampoline jumping as that was the entrance,we had to climb a spiral staircase to get there.

[sparks1093]

It’s possible inside cabin guests require more service than someone in a suite but should they be paying 20% instead of 5%?

 

Waiting for someone to explain why besides RCI inability to manage a database this is not workable. I thought everyone here sailed in suites and had money to burn adopting a steward for the week, so why doesn’t anyone just come out and say they don’t want to pay more, hmm? No crime in being honest

 

 

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No one has to explain anything since we don't run the cruise line. And if your proposed system did result in me paying a higher amount yes, I would oppose it on those grounds also because I don't want to pay more (and I don't stay in suites either).

[LMaxwell]

No one has to explain anything since we don't run the cruise line.

 

Wrong, everyone here is a CFO/CIO/junior CEO :')

[sparks1093]

Wrong, everyone here is a CFO/CIO/junior CEO :')

 

Including you, evidently;).