Yet Another Gratuities Question

[U4icmusic]

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

Not sure what you are referring to. Are you saying the staff are all lying?

 

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[steveru621]

Not sure what you are referring to. Are you saying the staff are all lying?

 

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Yes, absolutely. Because they want more cash. The exact thing you keep saying they can't keep.

[Biker19]

Are we there yet?

[1980dory]

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.

 

...numerous lawsuits. And what court would have jurisdiction?

[sparks1093]

Not sure what you are referring to. Are you saying the staff are all lying?

 

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Lying is a strong term, it's more playing people's heart strings or telling people what they want to hear.

[U4icmusic]

Yes, absolutely. Because they want more cash. The exact thing you keep saying they can't keep.

They can't keep it if they don't get it. If the cruise lines were splitting up the daily service charges honestly, then each cruise line would have an exact breakdown on their website, showing who gets what. None of them do because they are all secretive and deceitful. They don't care about their employees and how they get paid. They want the cheapest workforce they can find. It's also why most cruise lines ships are registered in third world countries so they don't have to follow labor laws in industrialized nations.

 

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[sparks1093]

They can't keep it if they don't get it. If the cruise lines were splitting up the daily service charges honestly, then each cruise line would have an exact breakdown on their website, showing who gets what. None of them do because they are all secretive and deceitful. They don't care about their employees and how they get paid. They want the cheapest workforce they can find. It's also why most cruise lines ships are registered in third world countries so they don't have to follow labor laws in industrialized nations.

 

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If I were working onboard the ship I wouldn't want my employer telling anyone how much I make. Harder to pull on their heartstrings:'). (And every business wants the cheapest workforce they can find, it's not just cruise lines.)

[Saab4444]

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

 

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If you are talking about staff from SE Asia they are not poor, they are rich compared to local workers and can take care of many others. This applies even if they work for a cruise line without generous extra-tippers from the US.

 

 

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[gerif]

...numerous lawsuits. And what court would have jurisdiction?

Every contract I’ve ever seen in 45 years in law has listed the jurisdiction wherein any dispute would be settled.

[little britain]

It's also why most cruise lines ships are registered in third world countries so they don't have to follow labor laws in industrialized nations.

 

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Jeez I didn't know the Bahamas were that rough....

[molly361]

Are we there yet?

Not quite. Maybe another 20 posts more or less

 

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[gerif]

They can't keep it if they don't get it. If the cruise lines were splitting up the daily service charges honestly, then each cruise line would have an exact breakdown on their website, showing who gets what. None of them do because they are all secretive and deceitful. They don't care about their employees and how they get paid. They want the cheapest workforce they can find. It's also why most cruise lines ships are registered in third world countries so they don't have to follow labor laws in industrialized nations.

 

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Seriously? Do you go into a restaurant and ask the staff about their compensation? If it’s a chain restaurant, do you expect to have workers’ compensation amounts posted on the parent company’s website? I’ve never had a discussion with any crew member regarding the compensation s/he received. Absolutely none of my business and I would consider any such discussion to be terribly tacky at best. Why on earth would you bring up such a thing? Do you go around asking people how much they make and how they are paid?

[Vegcurry]

When you go into a restaurant on land do you auto tip your servers, bar staff, dishwashers and the people who wash the tablecloths before you eat?

 

Thought not!

 

Why should it be different on a cruise ship?

[sparks1093]

When you go into a restaurant on land do you auto tip your servers, bar staff, dishwashers and the people who wash the tablecloths before you eat?

 

Thought not!

 

Why should it be different on a cruise ship?

 

I leave a tip for the waitress. What she does with it after that isn't my concern. (And I don't reduce what I give her just because she might be sharing it with others.)

[RocketMan275]

If you are talking about staff from SE Asia they are not poor, they are rich compared to local workers and can take care of many others. This applies even if they work for a cruise line without generous extra-tippers from the US.

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On our first cruise we spent a lot of time with one bartender. He told us he had worked three contracts and would work only one more (total of five). After that fifth contract he would have sufficient cash to build his dream house in his home country (Croatia).

[steveru621]

They can't keep it if they don't get it. If the cruise lines were splitting up the daily service charges honestly, then each cruise line would have an exact breakdown on their website, showing who gets what. None of them do because they are all secretive and deceitful. They don't care about their employees and how they get paid. They want the cheapest workforce they can find. It's also why most cruise lines ships are registered in third world countries so they don't have to follow labor laws in industrialized nations.

 

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I really do feel sorry for you. Yes, indeed the world is against you and every company is deceitful.:evilsmile:

 

Gratuities breakdown for RCI has been published numerous times.

[U4icmusic]

Seriously? Do you go into a restaurant and ask the staff about their compensation? If it’s a chain restaurant, do you expect to have workers’ compensation amounts posted on the parent company’s website? I’ve never had a discussion with any crew member regarding the compensation s/he received. Absolutely none of my business and I would consider any such discussion to be terribly tacky at best. Why on earth would you bring up such a thing? Do you go around asking people how much they make and how they are paid?

This is not about compensation or how much they are paid. It's about how the cruise lines splits up the daily service charge. We all know servers in the USA make about $2.52 per hour plus tips. Again, two different things when working in the USA, or on a foreign flagged ship.

 

Personally, I like the daily service charge. It's easier and there's no need to carry extra cash for envelopes like we used to. I think most of us agree that we want the money to go to the staff that it is intended to go to and not officers and stock holders.

 

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[steveru621]

This is not about compensation or how much they are paid. It's about how the cruise lines splits up the daily service charge. We all know servers in the USA make about $2.52 per hour plus tips. Again, two different things when working in the USA, or on a foreign flagged ship.

 

Personally, I like the daily service charge. It's easier and there's no need to carry extra cash for envelopes like we used to. I think most of us agree that we want the money to go to the staff that it is intended to go to and not officers and stock holders.

 

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We are all done.

 

It's not a service fee. Just because you want one you can call it anything you want.

[amsred2]

 

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.

 

 

Did anyone actually answer these questions or did everyone just jump on their high horse and bag on the person asking them?

[RocketMan275]

Did anyone actually answer these questions or did everyone just jump on their high horse and bag on the person asking them?

Yes, these questions were answered. The short story is this won't work. You remove the auto gratuities and the crew cannot keep any cash, they have to put all the cash received into the pool.

[sparks1093]

This is not about compensation or how much they are paid. It's about how the cruise lines splits up the daily service charge. We all know servers in the USA make about $2.52 per hour plus tips. Again, two different things when working in the USA, or on a foreign flagged ship.

 

Personally, I like the daily service charge. It's easier and there's no need to carry extra cash for envelopes like we used to. I think most of us agree that we want the money to go to the staff that it is intended to go to and not officers and stock holders.

 

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If you can't trust the cruise line to properly distribute the tips how can you trust them with your life?

[SheehanDJ]

What I have been told multiple times from what I think are pretty good sources:

 

If you pre-pay your gratuities your name/cabin number is posted for the crew to see so that your room steward, waiters, know you have tipped. If you pay as you go daily they find it is a no new is good news scenario. If you cancel tips they are notified.

 

All the gratuity money eventually makes it to the crew. If a crew member gets in trouble the gratuity part of their check stops until they improve their performance. The example I was given was show up late for shift twice in the same week and you won't see your gratuity part of your check until you have been on time for a month. The week you were "bad" you never get tips for, those go into a pool type of thing and it pays for the christmas party and stuff like that. If you never improve your performance you get all the tips they held back on your last check they give you when you are fired.

 

Pretty much universally all the crew like this system better than the envelope system of the past. Empty or very light envelopes were evidently very common.

 

Bartenders HATE the drink packages as over all they are making less tip money. They are pour way over 6 drinks per person per day but only getting tipped for 6 - 7 drinks.

 

Cash tips vary boat to boat, department to department, and sometimes bar to bar. The majority pool cash tips.

[Biker19]

So, then, we are done?

 

[kadeycat]

Might as well get it out of the way.

 

LOL- love it!!

[Thorben-Hendrik]

They can't keep it if they don't get it. If the cruise lines were splitting up the daily service charges honestly, then each cruise line would have an exact breakdown on their website, showing who gets what. None of them do because they are all secretive and deceitful. They don't care about their employees and how they get paid. They want the cheapest workforce they can find. It's also why most cruise lines ships are registered in third world countries so they don't have to follow labor laws in industrialized nations.

 

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+ 1 (y)