gratuities

[riclop]

We will be sailing on board the Celebrity Summit in November. We don't plan on eating in the dining room very often - buffet, room service, etc for us. In your opinion, will we be better off tipping as we go or sticking with the gratuities package being added to our total bill? We plan on tipping our room attendant very well as they will probably be doing the majority of work for us.

 

Any thoughts?

 

thank you :)

Leave them alone.

[goofysmom99]

I leave gratuities in place. I have room service every morning and my cabin attendant never delivers it. It's someone from the galley. I bring along a large number of small bills on a Transatlantic for servers in Cafe al Bacio (Elite + benefit) and room service deliverer. They appreciate it and I appreciate their service. After the first couple of days, I'll have the same deliverer for the rest of the cruise, too. They want to deliver my tray. I've even had him/her call to see if I've forgotten one of my usual items. Win-win.

 

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[Adammara]

Here in the UK, P&O are including the 'Service Charge' in the fare from next May. I hope other lines do the same.

[GastroGnome]

Its a vexed point - and to an extent cultural. In general terms folk from the US are more accustomed to a tipping culture. Brits are not, although we do tip it isn't as "expected" - and Japanese find the concept positively offensive. It is interesting that a British line has lead the charge somewhat in incorporating the gratuities back into the overall cruise fare (not removing them as such - just placing them elsewhere where they cannot be removed). I very much hope it does not mean a loss of income for those at the lowest end of the scale.

 

 

There is an argument that lines should simply pay folk fairly and not leave it up to the vagaries of passengers who may not realize how much goes on behind the scenes. But I do wonder if they did this whether that fair pay would slowly erode? Or perhaps I'm being too cynical!

[mickey89]

Why the dramatic rise in gratuities every year way beyond inflation? Maybe it's to offset the many people who cancel their gratuities, who knows, but over $200/week is getting a little excessive in my book. That's a lot more than the UK state pension !

[Bo1953]

We see this discussion of 'gratuities' arise often around here and the comparison of cultural norms and pay rates to employees, etc., etc., etc...

 

I do get it that 'non-American' cultures may have an issue with 'tips/gratuities' I get it that some passengers may believe that cruise lines need to 'pay' the staff and crews better...

 

This is the deal, as if we did not know already... there are options, if many do not believe in tips/gratuities

 

1) which or how many British/Australian (most patriates of these countries who write about this with explanation of reasons to removing) cruise lines do not charge these additional fees, either included or added to fare?

2) what are the reasons anyone would place themselves in a situation where this 'dis-tasteful' according to their beliefs/cultural norms?

3) what are the reasons one would complain about such charges when they are, in 98% situations, clearly shown/stated before even the first deposit is given?

 

One poster indicated that the weekly gratuities are more than a pensioner would receive, clearly, in many instances that pensioner would not be sailing on X, as a passenger... unless gifted or other arrangements were made..

 

bon voyage

[Ex-Airbalancer]

One poster indicated that the weekly gratuities are more than a pensioner would receive, clearly, in many instances that pensioner would not be sailing on X, as a passenger... unless gifted or other arrangements were made..

 

bon voyage

I think I have meet more retired people on X than people who work:D

These are really service charges not Gratutities, if Azamara can included service charges in their price , the rest of RCL family should do it

 

In Canada , all taxes and port fees must be included in the price, which is nice

[Bo1953]

I think I have meet more retired people on X than people who work:D

These are really service charges not Gratutities, if Azamara can included service charges in their price , the rest of RCL family should do it

 

In Canada , all taxes and port fees must be included in the price, which is nice

 

In my view, one way to have them 'included' is to pre-pay them... which is an option when booking as well.

 

You are absolutely correct, they are Service Charges vs gratuities, my apologies for the mis-naming of these charges...

 

bon voyage

[mickey89]

Yes , BO it must be dementia. What I said was that the Gratuities were excessive and had risen way ahead of inflation and suggested maybe the reason was that so many people were cancelling the automatic charge and it was the cruise lines way to compensate for the shortfall. The numbers of people cancelling the automatic charges are far in excess of Australian and Brits onboard, you need to look closer to home to answer that statement.

Also Celebrity call them gratuities not service charge and infer that it's all passed on to their staff, believe that if you will.

[DYKWIA]

We see this discussion of 'gratuities' arise often around here and the comparison of cultural norms and pay rates to employees, etc., etc., etc...

 

I do get it that 'non-American' cultures may have an issue with 'tips/gratuities' I get it that some passengers may believe that cruise lines need to 'pay' the staff and crews better...

 

This is the deal, as if we did not know already... there are options, if many do not believe in tips/gratuities

 

1) which or how many British/Australian (most patriates of these countries who write about this with explanation of reasons to removing) cruise lines do not charge these additional fees, either included or added to fare?

2) what are the reasons anyone would place themselves in a situation where this 'dis-tasteful' according to their beliefs/cultural norms?

3) what are the reasons one would complain about such charges when they are, in 98% situations, clearly shown/stated before even the first deposit is given?

 

One poster indicated that the weekly gratuities are more than a pensioner would receive, clearly, in many instances that pensioner would not be sailing on X, as a passenger... unless gifted or other arrangements were made..

 

bon voyage

 

The OP is from Delaware, presumably in the US. I've seen quite a few threads on tipping which originate from someone in the US. Challenges to gratuities / tipping don't just come from UK and Austrailia

 

Re point 3 - one obvious difference is that in the US you are quite accustomed to the price on the ticket not being what you pay at the till (tax added at till). This is most certainly NOT the case in the UK. Legally, in the UK, for non business sales, the advertised price / price on the ticket is the price you pay - there can be no compulsory charges after this. Whilst it is true they care clearly shown they are not included in the price

Edited August 27, 2018 by DYKWIA

[Bo1953]

Yes , BO it must be dementia. What I said was that the Gratuities were excessive and had risen way ahead of inflation and suggested maybe the reason was that so many people were cancelling the automatic charge and it was the cruise lines way to compensate for the shortfall. The numbers of people cancelling the automatic charges are far in excess of Australian and Brits onboard, you need to look closer to home to answer that statement.

Also Celebrity call them gratuities not service charge and infer that it's all passed on to their staff, believe that if you will.

 

You are correct, the OP is from DE, here in the US, yet the question was referring to leaving the gratuities/service charges in place or pay as they go along, not a value judgement on paying at all rather it be a moral issue or value issue just as a service issue. They are looking for input and advice on the best approach without an understanding of how the system works AND did return to say that they did not think about several of the points raised in response to the 'original' post.

 

Not sure any of my comments were specifically directed to your statements/thoughts at all. Even the thought on the current 'excessive' rise of the weekly charges in relation to inflation. I took it to mean that of the Commonwealth and not much of the rest of the world...

 

As far as '..numbers of people cancelling...' to my way of thinking you are quite correct about Americans doing this, since we generally sail most often around the world in the aggregate. So it does stand to reason you are correct on that point, yet I believe that most posters on this topic against paying, are not American's and have not gone back to verify. You also can agree that most Americans usually give more for service received as well.... then again, that is in the aggregate of numbers of passengers sailing.

 

 

As several others have posted in the affirmative and explained the reason for leaving them in place, there still will be a chorus of passengers who will rallye against them, regardless of nationality... or so I believe.

 

bon voyage

[Cirdan]

I think gratuities increased more then inflation, because crew is better "paid". The real pay is a normal regular salary plus gratuities. There is some guarantee of a minimal amount of gratuities (or cruise line will pay).

 

 

From a recent interview of a cruise HR, it seems that cruise lines must handle better crew (better paid, better handled by bosses, etc.), in order to keep crew. On one side there is much more ships (and larger ones), cruise work is not for all (and not for all ages), developing countries are developing, so no more a cheap pool to get crew members.

 

 

So this is good (but for our personal finances).

 

 

 

I assume that for many cruises, it is simpler to increase gratuities, but we see also an increase of ticket prices.

 

 

In any case, I like the European style: full transparency of costs: cruise lines should do the calculations for us, so that we can compare better cruise lines, but in general this is a well know problem (especially on "US based" companies, which has an higher gratuity share) so it is also not a surprise to cruisers.

[keithm]

Yes , BO it must be dementia. What I said was that the Gratuities were excessive and had risen way ahead of inflation and suggested maybe the reason was that so many people were cancelling the automatic charge and it was the cruise lines way to compensate for the shortfall. The numbers of people cancelling the automatic charges are far in excess of Australian and Brits onboard, you need to look closer to home to answer that statement.

Also Celebrity call them gratuities not service charge and infer that it's all passed on to their staff, believe that if you will.

You really want to see the cheap SOB's? Just go to the dining room on the last night! You'll have those of us who are delighted to give additional to those who worked so hard to take care of us. Then you go by Guest services & see the "rest" doing everything in their power to cheat the staff, who took such great care of them, whilst having to put up with the constant abuse & complaints from those who would be best served going down with the ship.

[wendychloecruiser]

You really want to see the cheap SOB's? Just go to the dining room on the last night! You'll have those of us who are delighted to give additional to those who worked so hard to take care of us. Then you go by Guest services & see the "rest" doing everything in their power to cheat the staff, who took such great care of them, whilst having to put up with the constant abuse & complaints from those who would be best served going down with the ship.

 

Better yet...the one’s who don’t even have the cojonas to do it in person...and just pick up the phone on the last night....

[keithm]

Better yet...the one’s who don’t even have the cojonas to do it in person...and just pick up the phone on the last night....

Really? I thought you had to at least do it in person. At least NCL has made it extremely hard to remove the gratuities.

[wendychloecruiser]

Apparently you can just call. Just going by the cheapskate’s responses to tipping threads.

[dodger1964]

I don't know where people get their "facts".

 

"going down to guest services the last night to get tips removed?"

Edited August 28, 2018 by dodger1964

[lovescarborough]

I don't know where people get their "facts".

 

"going down to guest services the last night to get tips removed?"

I thought I had seen it somewhere onboard that there was a deadline for removal of gratuities after the first few days ? Personally I would never do this but I agree with others that it would be better if it was an included 'service charge'. The words 'gratuity' and 'tip' are defined as extra rewards generally for good service so how can you reward someone for something that they haven't yet done by prepayment of gratuities ? Far better IMO to have everyone pay a service charge or better still just an inclusive price and leave extra tips for good service.

[Cirdan]

I know one person that removes gratuities and it gave them in person (he doesn't trust the system: he think that the companies will get a share).

 

 

And the old way: we got several letters, to give tips to different persons. I think some people are still used on this method, instead of the impersonal auto-gratuities.

 

 

So I do not think most (any) people do it to be "cheap".

[AmberCascades]

Excuse me....may I hijack this thread for a moment with my own question?

 

We are going on a cruise next month where our main currency will be Euros, with some GBP and some USD for the ship. We are a bit light in USD but the ship is the only place we will need them, so I don't know if we need to get more. I think it's probably okay to do extra tipping with Euros (because cash is cash, right?) but is there any reason why this would cause undue hardship to any crew member that receives Euros instead of dollars?

 

Thanks for letting me interrupt.

[wendychloecruiser]

Excuse me....may I hijack this thread for a moment with my own question?

 

We are going on a cruise next month where our main currency will be Euros, with some GBP and some USD for the ship. We are a bit light in USD but the ship is the only place we will need them, so I don't know if we need to get more. I think it's probably okay to do extra tipping with Euros (because cash is cash, right?) but is there any reason why this would cause undue hardship to any crew member that receives Euros instead of dollars?

 

Thanks for letting me interrupt.

 

The crew appreciates grats in any currency.

[bengaltiger1]

I thought I had seen it somewhere onboard that there was a deadline for removal of gratuities after the first few days ? Personally I would never do this but I agree with others that it would be better if it was an included 'service charge'. The words 'gratuity' and 'tip' are defined as extra rewards generally for good service so how can you reward someone for something that they haven't yet done by prepayment of gratuities ? Far better IMO to have everyone pay a service charge or better still just an inclusive price and leave extra tips for good service.

 

 

 

On Board Service Charge is how it is phrased on my confirmation invoice from Celebrity Cruises U.K.

 

 

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[jody75]

Excuse me....may I hijack this thread for a moment with my own question?

 

We are going on a cruise next month where our main currency will be Euros, with some GBP and some USD for the ship. We are a bit light in USD but the ship is the only place we will need them, so I don't know if we need to get more. I think it's probably okay to do extra tipping with Euros (because cash is cash, right?) but is there any reason why this would cause undue hardship to any crew member that receives Euros instead of dollars?

 

Thanks for letting me interrupt.

Assume you are aware that the smallest Euro and GBP notes are €5 and £5. Better to small tip in US$.

[DYKWIA]

Assume you are aware that the smallest Euro and GBP notes are €5 and £5. Better to small tip in US$.

 

Crew happily take the large denomination coins £1 or £2 - never had an issue - ship is essential cashless with the exception of “tips” it makes little sense on a UK cruise to change currency to US dollars and back again (losing a fortune) just to provide a tip. On UK cruises crew are based out of the UK for at least 6 months. I read on another post that because of the multi nation background of the crew there is always someone

on board to trade currency with.

[AmberCascades]

Thanks for your responses. We do have US $1s for the bar, etc., but at the end of the cruise we pass out larger amounts to special people so 5s or 10s in Euros or GBP wouldn't be an issue. I know the crew sometimes doesn't want random currency that they have to exchange somewhere, but I figured Euros are probably safe. Thanks for answering.