Yet Another Gratuities Question

[mdsgu]

Let me preface this by saying.....we've always done pre-paid gratuities, we usually give the steward $20-$40, our waiters $20 each, and $1 per drink. Occasionally more if we superb service. I have no problem with the cash that we hand directly to each person. I also have no problem with giving money to the cruise line to pass on to the employees.

 

However, I've been reading a lot about how gratuities are going up and up and up, and how it seems that the lines are not passing that money on to the employees, or, if they are, it is part of their salary and not a true "tip" or "gratuity." I don't want to stiff the behind-the-scenes people, but I have been toying with the idea of removing my pre-paid gratuities on my next cruise (later this month) and tipping people in cash. It's my understanding, right or wrong, that cash handed to a staff member is theirs to keep and is not pooled.

 

Who has done this? Does it work? Should I do it immediately on boarding or wait until the end of the cruise? One suggestion I read on another site was to remove the "tips" and give a significant amount upfront to the steward and waiter so they know they aren't getting screwed, but, if the gratuities the cruise line charges are truly gratuities, the staff shouldn't know who paid and who didn't until the cruise is over.

[sparks1093]

Personally I'm not interested in re-inventing the wheel. As long as all of the gratuities I leave make it to a staff person and are not retained by the company for its profits I am fine with however it gets distributed. I figure once I leave a tip in a restaurant what happens to it is out of my control, so why should I worry any more about the shipboard tips since I have no control over that either?

[Ourusualbeach]

Why not just stick with what you are doing. Leave the auto grats and tip extra, that way everyone is covered. If you remove your grats then your cabin steward may get more however other behind the scenes people lose out.

 

The way I look at it is that if the employees thought that they were getting screwed Royally by the current system then they wouldn’t return to work contract after contract and they would apply to a different cruise line.

[U4icmusic]

Personally I'm not interested in re-inventing the wheel. As long as all of the gratuities I leave make it to a staff person and are not retained by the company for its profits I am fine with however it gets distributed. I figure once I leave a tip in a restaurant what happens to it is out of my control, so why should I worry any more about the shipboard tips since I have no control over that either?

The issue is cruise staff will tell you they are not getting all the money paid into the daily service charge pool. If you ask a cruise line how the money is broken down, they won't tell you who gets what. On some cruise lines it is impossible or nearly impossible to get the daily service charges waived and tip out individually, like we all used to. I truly believe that there is something fishy going on and that part of the daily service charges are going to stockholders and executive staff.

 

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[njmomof2]

[quote name=mdsgu;56521173 It's my understanding' date=' right or wrong, that cash handed to a staff member is theirs to keep and is not pooled.

[/quote]

 

It is my understanding that this is incorrect. If you remove the auto-gratuities and hand cash to your room steward, they must turn it into the pool. They cannot keep it and I believe others have said if they do, they can risk their jobs.

 

If you leave auto-gratuities in place, and tip over and above, they CAN keep that money for themselves.

 

Someone with more experience will either confirm or deny.

[Biker19]

Might as well get it out of the way.

[MrsPete]

Personally I'm not interested in re-inventing the wheel ... I figure once I leave a tip in a restaurant what happens to it is out of my control ...

... if the employees thought that they were getting screwed Royally by the current system then they wouldn’t return to work contract after contract ...

These two quotes sum up my thoughts. A system exists. Given a free market economy, it's safe to assume that the employer and the employees have accepted this system as fair, so why should we -- the customers -- try to recreate something we think is better? Why should we create chaos by inviting every cruiser to act upon his or her individual ideas? Just do what's easy and expected: prepay the standard gratuities, then give a little extra to anyone whom you deem to have gone "above and beyond".

[Merion_Mom]

Just one thought to add to this hashed and rehashed and rehashed topic. (thanks, Biker)

 

When you eat at a restaurant and pay with a credit card, do you leave the tip in cash, or add it to the credit card?

 

If credit card, the server is probably not getting all of it.

 

Does THAT bother you?

[mdsgu]

Just one thought to add to this hashed and rehashed and rehashed topic. (thanks, Biker)

 

When you eat at a restaurant and pay with a credit card, do you leave the tip in cash, or add it to the credit card?

 

If credit card, the server is probably not getting all of it.

 

Does THAT bother you?

 

Cash, for that very reason.

[sparks1093]

The issue is cruise staff will tell you they are not getting all the money paid into the daily service charge pool. If you ask a cruise line how the money is broken down, they won't tell you who gets what. On some cruise lines it is impossible or nearly impossible to get the daily service charges waived and tip out individually, like we all used to. I truly believe that there is something fishy going on and that part of the daily service charges are going to stockholders and executive staff.

 

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That's my point- I don't have to worry about it because my only task is to leave the tip, after that what exactly happens to it isn't my concern. I don't ask my wait staff in a land based restaurant if they get to keep all of the tip I give them or if they have to tip out to other staff or pool the tip with other servers, why would I ask aboard ship?

[JJnumber1]

The military has a term for people who know just enough about a particular topic to get in trouble but pass themselves and their opinions off as hard facts. They call them barracks lawyers. The best advice I ever received as a young airmen was to always disregard what the barracks lawyers said.

[ONECRUISER]

Might as well get it out of the way.

I would say too soon but given the topic and it's Friday...

[RocketMan275]

 

However, I've been reading a lot about how gratuities are going up and up and up, and how it seems that the lines are not passing that money on to the employees, or, if they are, it is part of their salary and not a true "tip" or "gratuity."

 

Just because you read something on cruise critic does not make it a fact. There is no factual information that the cruise lines are not passing that money onto the employees. The claims that the cruise lines skim a portion usually are from persons who would like to do away with gratuities, auto or otherwise.

 

The cruise line employees have a contract with the cruise line governing compensation including gratuities. A cruise line that violated this contract would have a difficult time finding employees and would face numerous law suits.

[Ocean Boy]

I opened this thread to see if any new ideas were being advanced....

[little britain]

If the cruise line was keeping the money then the staff would not come back contract after contract, year after year.

The system works so leave it in place

 

 

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[CookieDiva]

Just one thought to add to this hashed and rehashed and rehashed topic. (thanks, Biker)

 

 

 

When you eat at a restaurant and pay with a credit card, do you leave the tip in cash, or add it to the credit card?

 

 

 

If credit card, the server is probably not getting all of it.

 

 

 

Does THAT bother you?

 

 

Are you talking about something other than splitting with runners, bus people, etc, CC fees, and taxes?

 

 

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[gerif]

Personally I'm not interested in re-inventing the wheel. As long as all of the gratuities I leave make it to a staff person and are not retained by the company for its profits I am fine with however it gets distributed. I figure once I leave a tip in a restaurant what happens to it is out of my control, so why should I worry any more about the shipboard tips since I have no control over that either?

^^this^^. I can remember the days of filling little envelopes prior to the cruise with suggested amounts for everyone who needed to be tipped and then transferring to the ship’s envelopes with additional cash as warranted then making sure the envelopes found their way to the proper staff. Was so happy when they instituted autograts. Can still give extra as desired but don’t have to worry about anything else. From what I’ve read, it seems a lot of those who want to remove grats and tip in cash only those staff members who serve them directly really don’t want to pay even the suggested amounts.

[U4icmusic]

If the cruise line was keeping the money then the staff would not come back contract after contract, year after year.

The system works so leave it in place

 

 

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The staff is so poor. They have to keep coming back just to survive.

 

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[U4icmusic]

That's my point- I don't have to worry about it because my only task is to leave the tip, after that what exactly happens to it isn't my concern. I don't ask my wait staff in a land based restaurant if they get to keep all of the tip I give them or if they have to tip out to other staff or pool the tip with other servers, why would I ask aboard ship?

Because you are not tipping the staff, you are paying a daily service charge to the cruise line and they are worried only with their bottom line and not their poor, underpaid staff, typically from poor underdeveloped countries.

 

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[steveru621]

Because you are not tipping the staff, you are paying a daily service charge to the cruise line and they are worried only with their bottom line and not their poor, underpaid staff, typically from poor underdeveloped countries.

 

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OMG

 

You have no evidence what-so-ever. Rumors and more rumors.

[sparks1093]

Because you are not tipping the staff, you are paying a daily service charge to the cruise line and they are worried only with their bottom line and not their poor, underpaid staff, typically from poor underdeveloped countries.

 

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The staff is getting paid somehow and I believe that the traditionally tipped/tipped out staff members receive most of their income from the gratuities that are paid. I've never seen anything that would lead me to believe otherwise (and this includes discussions from prior shipboard personnel that have a knowledge of how things actually worked). That poor underpaid staff is likely earning 2 to 4 times what they could earn at home so I doubt they look at themselves as underpaid (with that said they earn every penny of what they make).

[U4icmusic]

OMG

 

You have no evidence what-so-ever. Rumors and more rumors.

Talk to the staff on your next cruise. We are told this on every cruise we take.

 

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[sparks1093]

Talk to the staff on your next cruise. We are told this on every cruise we take.

 

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I used to work for tips, I know how that game is played.

[steveru621]

Talk to the staff on your next cruise. We are told this on every cruise we take.

 

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SMH I have and got the exact opposite story.

 

So let me get this straight. you hand someone 10 dollars and they volunteer this story every time? Waitstaff, Stewards, everyone?

[cb at sea]

The folks who are supposed to be tipped ARE being tipped. No worries.

 

You can't rely on the "tipped" person's account of how much they get...they are going to tell you they are shafted every time. If that was the truth, they wouldn't take the job. They aren't shanghaied and forced to work, you know!