invision Posted December 31, 2018 #1 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Background: Just completed our 12th cruise on RCCL. Current Level is Dia+. Statement: I believe gratuities have gotten out of hand. 18% is collected on everything clear down to a bottle of water. Pre-paids are expensive. I personally like to tip members who are helpful or go the extra mile. After talking with members on this last trip I have surmised that members are not paid enough by RCCL and us travelers are subsidizing those low wages. Programs like WOW "Additional tip" envelopes etc... are annoying. In no way should gratuities be automatically added. Can you image if every mechanic that worked on your auto or the garbage man started demanding 18% gratuity etc... Gratuities should be earned not automatically charged to your account. I realize this will not be a popular topic here and especially for a first post. Happy New Year !! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packerman8 Posted December 31, 2018 #2 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) If you buy a drink package, You are taxed only 1 time instead of multiple times like you are explaining here. $14.50 per person per day does seem high to me. Do we know what percentage of the tips each person gets? I would be very intrigued to find out. Depending on how well they do, We usually give a little extra to our Room Steward and the Main Waiter. Thanks! Edited December 31, 2018 by packerman8 Spelling Error Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StolidCruiser Posted December 31, 2018 #3 Share Posted December 31, 2018 6 minutes ago, invision said: Background: Just completed our 12th cruise on RCCL. Current Level is Dia+. Statement: I believe gratuities have gotten out of hand. 18% is collected on everything clear down to a bottle of water. Pre-paids are expensive. I personally like to tip members who are helpful or go the extra mile. After talking with members on this last trip I have surmised that members are not paid enough by RCCL and us travelers are subsidizing those low wages. Programs like WOW "Additional tip" envelopes etc... are annoying. In no way should gratuities be automatically added. Can you image if every mechanic that worked on your auto or the garbage man started demanding 18% gratuity etc... Gratuities should be earned not automatically charged to your account. I realize this will not be a popular topic here and especially for a first post. Happy New Year !! ....and no one has made a post like yours before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thechamp555 Posted December 31, 2018 #4 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) I just heard recently that you can ask to have the gratuities cancelled so you can decide yourself to whom these tips will be assigned. Is it really the case ? Edited December 31, 2018 by Thechamp555 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invision Posted December 31, 2018 Author #5 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Thanks for the reply. We have never bought a drink package as only buy water outside the use of the Concierge lounge. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoopster95 Posted December 31, 2018 #6 Share Posted December 31, 2018 5 minutes ago, invision said: I have surmised that members are not paid enough by RCCL and us travelers are subsidizing..... I realize this will not be a popular topic here and especially for a first post. Happy New Year !! Good post, just an FYI this is very old news to many here on. Guise Critic. If you use the search tool above and search “gratuities” you will find many extremely lengthy discussions on this topic the old News is that the 18% is in fact a “wage”, not a gratuity at all. Royal, and all cruise Lines, hide and lie about the fact this is not a “gratuity”. Using your example, it be like taking your care to a mechanic to repair a $500 problem. He shows you the final bill to be $750 because there’s $250 Of labour.... however your bill shows the word “gratuity” for the $250. Royal and all cruise lines should remove this word altogether and include all “wages”, 18% or whatever, into the original base cruise fare 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invision Posted December 31, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted December 31, 2018 1 minute ago, Thechamp555 said: I just heard recently that you can ask to have the gratuities cancelled so you can decide yourself to whom these tips will be assigned. Is it really the case ? Yes this is true. We tried that on the last cruise. Gave out $700 usd cash in tips to outstanding crew. Promised a refund of the $560 usd pre-paids within 7-10days by both concierge and customer service. Have not seen any refund in 16 days yet. No answered emails, no returned calls by RCCL. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
not-enough-cruising Posted December 31, 2018 #8 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Thechamp555 said: I just heard recently that you can ask to have the gratuities cancelled so you can decide yourself to whom these tips will be assigned. Is it really the case ? Yes that is 100% accurate. If you pre paid you are stuck with it, but if you choose to pay on board, then you can go to GS and ask them to cancel the auto debit of gratuities from your account. Edited December 31, 2018 by not-enough-cruising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted December 31, 2018 #9 Share Posted December 31, 2018 2 minutes ago, invision said: Yes this is true. We tried that on the last cruise. Gave out $700 usd cash in tips to outstanding crew. Promised a refund of the $560 usd pre-paids within 7-10days by both concierge and customer service. Have not seen any refund in 16 days yet. No answered emails, no returned calls by RCCL. A good reason to not pre-pay grats if you plan to tip in cash instead - seems to be a lot harder to get the pre-paid back vs. asking to stop adding or remove the auto-grats once on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted December 31, 2018 #10 Share Posted December 31, 2018 17 minutes ago, invision said: I realize this will not be a popular topic here and especially for a first post. Welcome to CC. Actually, tipping threads are very popular. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invision Posted December 31, 2018 Author #11 Share Posted December 31, 2018 So I see. :-) The explanation of "gratuities = wage subsidize" is a fact !! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
not-enough-cruising Posted December 31, 2018 #12 Share Posted December 31, 2018 9 minutes ago, invision said: Yes this is true. We tried that on the last cruise. Gave out $700 usd cash in tips to outstanding crew. Promised a refund of the $560 usd pre-paids within 7-10days by both concierge and customer service. Have not seen any refund in 16 days yet. No answered emails, no returned calls by RCCL. M Unfortunately I have heard very few success stories of people getting the pre paid gratuities reimbursed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted December 31, 2018 #13 Share Posted December 31, 2018 1 minute ago, invision said: The explanation of "gratuities = wage subsidize" is a fact !! and is discussed in every tipping thread with lots of input whether needed or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justgimeasec Posted December 31, 2018 #14 Share Posted December 31, 2018 I'm curious about the 'prepaid' gratuities? Are these just when the travel advisor covers them as part of the package? Or is there a way to pay these off before hand. I don't mind having them added to my credit card at the end of the cruise, but the idea of getting them out of the way and having a smaller departing bill sounds good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invision Posted December 31, 2018 Author #15 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Yes you can prepay when you pay for the cruise 3 months ahead of time. But its black magic to whom gets the money... M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandma Dazzles Posted December 31, 2018 #16 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) Welcome to cruise critic. This subject is regularly beaten to death. Just as a reminder, food service and similar workers in the industry, are paid a very small minimum wage at their jobs in the US. By law tips make up their wage to a minimum. In Wisconsin where I live minimum wage is $2.33 per hour for such workers. Cruising is just the same - if you don’t like the way the industry operates, suggest cruising on a line that incorporates the “tips” into your base fare and then you don’t have to tip. I also don’t find $14.50 per person per day to be excessive. If I were to eat in a land-based restaurant for at least three meals per day, have twice daily room cleaning, bathroom cleaning, and so on, I would spend more. Drink package price has the automatic 18% added. The bar gratuity is only charged on individually priced drinks. Very easy to drink tap water or any of the drinks included with your cruise. Edited December 31, 2018 by Grandma Dazzles 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONECRUISER Posted December 31, 2018 #17 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, invision said: So I see. 🙂 The explanation of "gratuities = wage subsidize" is a fact !! M As with Millions of other American server's that are paid less then Minimum wage. But even on cruise ship's this is a standard at least 100yrs old Edited December 31, 2018 by ONECRUISER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdad59 Posted December 31, 2018 #18 Share Posted December 31, 2018 "I don't believe in tipping I believe in over tipping." - Todd Wilkinson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milwaukee Eight Posted December 31, 2018 #19 Share Posted December 31, 2018 OP, where are you from/reside? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invision Posted December 31, 2018 Author #20 Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) I don't think the $17.50 a day per person they charge us is bad. Trouble is who get how much of this amount is not clear. RCCL should state that somewhere but I have not been able to put my hands on that info. M Edited December 31, 2018 by invision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invision Posted December 31, 2018 Author #21 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Just now, Milwaukee Eight said: OP, where are you from/reside? From LA USA. LA = Lower Alabama :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONECRUISER Posted December 31, 2018 #22 Share Posted December 31, 2018 54 minutes ago, Grandma Dazzles said: Welcome to cruise critic. This subject is regularly beaten to death. Just as a reminder, food service and similar workers in the industry, are paid a very small minimum wage at their jobs in the US. By law tips make up their wage to a minimum. In Wisconsin where I live minimum wage is $2.33 per hour for such workers. Cruising is just the same - if you don’t like the way the industry operates, suggest cruising on a line that incorporates the “tips” into your base fare and then you don’t have to tip. I also don’t find $14.50 per person per day to be excessive. If I were to eat in a land-based restaurant for at least three meals per day, have twice daily room cleaning, bathroom cleaning, and so on, I would spend more. Drink package price has the automatic 18% added. The bar gratuity is only charged on individually priced drinks. Very easy to drink tap water or any of the drinks included with your cruise. Well said. Was a Manager of Rest/Bar 35yrs ago and my Wait Staff were making those low wages plus their tips. This all while putting themselves threw college, doing so while living on own... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONECRUISER Posted December 31, 2018 #23 Share Posted December 31, 2018 7 minutes ago, zdad59 said: "I don't believe in tipping I believe in over tipping." - Todd Wilkinson Classic movie... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zdad59 Posted December 31, 2018 #24 Share Posted December 31, 2018 31 minutes ago, invision said: I don't think the $17.50 a day per person they charge us is bad. Trouble is who get how much of this amount is not clear. RCCL should state that somewhere but I have not been able to put my hands on that info. M From another thread on this topic..... Stateroom Attendant: $3.55 Dining Room: $6.25 Other Hotel Services: $4.70 Total Standard Staterooms: $14.50 Previously $13.50 Stateroom Attendant: $6.20 Dining Room: $6.25 Other Hotel Services: $5.05 Total for Suites: $17.50 Previously $16.50 The other hotel services include the persons who wash the bed linings as well as whoever cleans balconies or restocks the mini bar. Other hotel services include any additional person other than the stateroom attendant that may attend to any stateroom need. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNfamilycruiser Posted December 31, 2018 #25 Share Posted December 31, 2018 45 minutes ago, invision said: I don't think the $17.50 a day per person they charge us is bad. Trouble is who get how much of this amount is not clear. RCCL should state that somewhere but I have not been able to put my hands on that info. M I think on the website the information is listed in the FAQ - I am certain I have seen it multiple times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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