gratuities

[mickey89]

Crew happily take the large denomination coins £1 or £2.

The person is Canadian, unlikely to have coins !

[AmberCascades]

The person is Canadian, unlikely to have coins !

 

?? ? Actually, in Canada we have $1 and $2 coins. But I wouldn't give these to the crew as they would definitely need to exchange them somewhere. I think we still have a pound coin or two bobbing about from our last trip to GB. The banks don't seem to want them back. :)

[lovescarborough]

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

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Yes I have seen that too but then on the Celebrity UK website they are called gratuities and tips and they even include a list of who supposedly gets what share of the gratuities.

[DZalumni]

If I remember correctly the Celebrity fleet (expect for xpedition) are registered to Malta, where the minimum guaranteed wage is the equivalent to $1.25 USD. True staff gets free room and board. But all they are making is $1.25 USD a day. Pre-paid gratuities are pooled, spread evenly among crew. I don't know too many people that can live off $1.25 USD a day.

 

The gratuities as a service fee. When you order a pizza for delivery there is a service fee, and you still tip. So why would you change your behavior on a cruise.

 

TIPS stand for two things, To Insure Prompt Service or To Insure Proper Service.

 

Gratuities don't stand foranything, it's a fancy name for a service fee.

 

Just my $0.02.

Edited August 28, 2018 by DZalumni
Spacing was odd when pasting from word.

[Marelaine]

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.

 

On the next to last day of our cruise, we headed to Guest Services to ask for envelopes because there were a few crew members that we wanted to tip extra. The line was looooong, but we waited. When it was our turn, the weary looking guest services rep was stunned that we weren't waiting to complain and get our grats removed. She touched my hand to see if I was real and handed over a short stack of envelopes. We had a good laugh at that one.

[groryjm]

If I remember correctly the Celebrity fleet (expect for xpedition) are registered to Malta, where the minimum guaranteed wage is the equivalent to $1.25 USD.

 

If you check you will find as of 2018 the national minimum wage in Malta is €747.50 per month or $874.17

[BridgeMates]

On the next to last day of our cruise, we headed to Guest Services to ask for envelopes because there were a few crew members that we wanted to tip extra. The line was looooong, but we waited. When it was our turn, the weary looking guest services rep was stunned that we weren't waiting to complain and get our grats removed. She touched my hand to see if I was real and handed over a short stack of envelopes. We had a good laugh at that one.

 

Makes me sick! We saw a couple hundred people cancelling tips on our British Isles cruise a few years back, including some new friends we'd made. After that we avoided them. Gave our steward an extra large tip as he said out of 19 rooms he had only 4 that hadn't canceled. Sad!

[Denny01]

If I remember correctly the Celebrity fleet (expect for xpedition) are registered to Malta, where the minimum guaranteed wage is the equivalent to $1.25 USD. True staff gets free room and board. But all they are making is $1.25 USD a day. Pre-paid gratuities are pooled, spread evenly among crew. I don't know too many people that can live off $1.25 USD a day.

 

The gratuities as a service fee. When you order a pizza for delivery there is a service fee, and you still tip. So why would you change your behavior on a cruise.

 

TIPS stand for two things, To Insure Prompt Service or To Insure Proper Service.

 

Gratuities don't stand foranything, it's a fancy name for a service fee.

 

Just my $0.02.

 

I’m sorry, but your $0.02 doesnt make any sense. Havdeing been to Malta, it’s not exactly a $1.25USD min wage country, as posted by gorgyjm (neat post-name!) after they checked on the itnernet quickly. We were in Malta a few years ago and Valletta and the whole island is fantastic. It’s a socialist society, their kids go to college if they can pass the entry paid for by the state. The roads, infrastructure is excellent and the people are very well educated and firendly, and proud of their country.

 

We are looking for pretty much any cruise that stops in Malta, so I’d not go that route of Celebrity using some made up Malta min wage. And you really think the crew is making $1,25 a day???

 

Den

[DYKWIA]

If I remember correctly the Celebrity fleet (expect for xpedition) are registered to Malta, where the minimum guaranteed wage is the equivalent to $1.25 USD. True staff gets free room and board. But all they are making is $1.25 USD a day. Pre-paid gratuities are pooled, spread evenly among crew. I don't know too many people that can live off $1.25 USD a day.

 

The gratuities as a service fee. When you order a pizza for delivery there is a service fee, and you still tip. So why would you change your behavior on a cruise.

 

TIPS stand for two things, To Insure Prompt Service or To Insure Proper Service.

 

Gratuities don't stand foranything, it's a fancy name for a service fee.

 

Just my $0.02.

 

Minimum wage in Malta is about 750 euros per month (Roughly $900) significantly more than the $1,25 a day you quote. Does the Maltese minimum wage apply in this context, not sure.

 

Your definitions of TIPS only makes sense in the context of prepayment where they could be misconstrued as a bribe. Most Tips are given out after receiving the service. The Bacronym you suggest for Tip is widely debunked.

 

In the UK the term gratuity historically means an extra end of contract payment for the service received - so the term seems to make sense in the context of the cruise line paying the crew an extra sum at the end of their contract. They in turn ask the punter to voluntarily contribute towards the payment of that gratuity.

[DYKWIA]

Makes me sick! We saw a couple hundred people cancelling tips on our British Isles cruise a few years back, including some new friends we'd made. After that we avoided them. Gave our steward an extra large tip as he said out of 19 rooms he had only 4 that hadn't canceled. Sad!

 

you saw a couple hundred people cancelling tips? We’re they all holding a sign up saying “ we hate tipping”? What nationality were they? Maybe some were querying their bill, or there for some other reason - I’ve been on several UK cruises and never seen more than 20 people queuing at customer services at any time and I haven’t a clue what any of them were queuing for. Last cruise iI queued up on the last day to return a plug I had borrowed for my shaver (that I had forgotten to pack) I’d hate to think you thought I was there cancelling my gratuities.

 

if your Steward's observations of 15/19 cancelling gratuity payments applied across the ship then approximately 80% didn’t pay. That could indicate a significant cultural attitude on this cruise towards this charge that doesn’t match yours. You might not like it, but that’s the way it is. Any ship sailing from the UK will almost certainly have a high percentage, if not majority, of UK passengers, where the tipping culture is very different - it is probably irrelevant to them that the ship flies a Maltese flag and Celebrity head office is in Miami.

 

Celebrity create the circumstance that allows people to remove this charge should they wish (we don’t). If this is a problem for Celebrity maybe they should just include it in the price - I believe P and O have just announced they are including it. Celebrity has no issue with almost making it compulsory that You prepay pay for WiFi and drinks packages so why not staff wages.

[steve ch]

?? ? Actually, in Canada we have $1 and $2 coins. But I wouldn't give these to the crew as they would definitely need to exchange them somewhere. I think we still have a pound coin or two bobbing about from our last trip to GB. The banks don't seem to want them back. :)

The crew won't be able to spend old £1 coins. They went out of circulation last year, to be replaced by a new 12 sided version.

[BridgeMates]

you saw a couple hundred people cancelling tips? We’re they all holding a sign up saying “ we hate tipping”? What nationality were they? Maybe some were querying their bill, or there for some other reason - I’ve been on several UK cruises and never seen more than 20 people queuing at customer services at any time and I haven’t a clue what any of them were queuing for. Last cruise iI queued up on the last day to return a plug I had borrowed for my shaver (that I had forgotten to pack) I’d hate to think you thought I was there cancelling my gratuities.

 

if your Steward's observations of 15/19 cancelling gratuity payments applied across the ship then approximately 80% didn’t pay. That could indicate a significant cultural attitude on this cruise towards this charge that doesn’t match yours. You might not like it, but that’s the way it is. Any ship sailing from the UK will almost certainly have a high percentage, if not majority, of UK passengers, where the tipping culture is very different - it is probably irrelevant to them that the ship flies a Maltese flag and Celebrity head office is in Miami.

 

Sorry you think I exaggerated. It was not at Guest Services. They had so many people cancelling their tips, they made a special line into one of the specialty dining rooms as there were so many cancelling! By the way, this was not on Celebrity.

[AmberCascades]

The crew won't be able to spend old £1 coins. They went out of circulation last year, to be replaced by a new 12 sided version.

 

 

Gah! Thanks. I should familiarize myself with the money before I go. Last time I think I gave the barista a 20 pound note for two coffees. :) I'm sure she enjoys tourists doing that to her first thing in the morning. ;p

[Cirdan]

In any case, this article is still relevant "The Truth About Gratuities" (it was in today cruise critic email)

 

 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=298&et_cid=3140232&et_rid=16593934&et_referrer=Boards_Million_Member_Newsub

[Denny01]

Cnx my post, not needed.

[bermadu22]

?? ? Actually, in Canada we have $1 and $2 coins. But I wouldn't give these to the crew as they would definitely need to exchange them somewhere. I think we still have a pound coin or two bobbing about from our last trip to GB. The banks don't seem to want them back. :)

 

Aha, yes! The $1 "Loonie" and the $2 "Toonie." I just find the names amusing, we learned that on a Canada/New England cruise. Which was awesome, BTW. We look forward to cruising to Canada again, when time and finances permit. A lot of interesting ports to stop at, and cruising the St Lawrence River is just gorgeous with all that pristine scenery.

[GastroGnome]

If you check you will find as of 2018 the national minimum wage in Malta is €747.50 per month or $874.17

 

Minimum wage isn't usually relevant in international maritime. The ITF (International Transport Federation) sets a suggested minimum wage for seafarers - but not all ships adhere to it. The current ILO minimum is $614 per month for a recommended average 208 hours per month. The UK has recently changed its laws to require that seafarers in UK waters must be paid the UK minimum wage which is 7.83GBP - but exactly how that would be enforced for something like a cruise ship starting in Southampton but then leaving UK internal waters I am less clear.