Staff gratuities with "free" grats???

[Pierlesscruisers]

16 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

The contract I copied and pasted was 2015 pretty recent.  I think the staff wants the cash because the pool still grows with every contribution, but it's not going into an individual pocket. 

 

Okay. I was going by the 11/07 (I believe that was what I saw) date on the bottom of the pages I noticed. Didn't check every page though. So I assumed that was the date of the document (there's that "assumed" word again.)

 

Tom

[famski740]

This is a topic that will talked about from now till the end of cruising with many different answer depending on who you ask.

 

I for one will always leave the automatic gratuity in place but have now decided that in stead of giving an extra tip at the end of a cruise, I fill out one of the special mention cards with the employees name and a note of how they went above and beyond.  I also mention them in the survey at the end of the cruise.  I believe this will help them more in maintaining their positions and even getting promoted up the latter.

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, famski740 said:

This is a topic that will talked about from now till the end of cruising with many different answer depending on who you ask.

 

I for one will always leave the automatic gratuity in place but have now decided that in stead of giving an extra tip at the end of a cruise, I fill out one of the special mention cards with the employees name and a note of how they went above and beyond.  I also mention them in the survey at the end of the cruise.  I believe this will help them more in maintaining their positions and even getting promoted up the latter.

You are correct in your comments about the cards complimenting a particular crew member. We always submit them. On one of my cruises last year, a waiter I'd had on my previous cruise, saw me in the Horizon Court and came across the room to thank me for putting in a card with his name on it. The last time I saw these cards they were called "Moments That Matter Award Nomination".

[coopco]

OMG - so confused now. If I pay the auto-gratuities and pay my cabin steward/wait staff extra in cash in an envelope on the last day, they get to keep it for themselves, right? I'm assuming it does not go into a pool. On our last cruise, we were told by waitstaff in a specialty restaurant, if we leave an extra tip on the bill, it goes to the pool. But if we tip in cash, it goes to the person we are trying to tip. Is that true? Maybe cruise companies need to spell out their policies exactly so customers know. If I tip someone extra because of the service they are giving me, I want it to go directly to them, not the pool.

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, coopco said:

OMG - so confused now. If I pay the auto-gratuities and pay my cabin steward/wait staff extra in cash in an envelope on the last day, they get to keep it for themselves, right? I'm assuming it does not go into a pool. On our last cruise, we were told by waitstaff in a specialty restaurant, if we leave an extra tip on the bill, it goes to the pool. But if we tip in cash, it goes to the person we are trying to tip. Is that true? Maybe cruise companies need to spell out their policies exactly so customers know. If I tip someone extra because of the service they are giving me, I want it to go directly to them, not the pool.

 

The cruise companies have spelt it out. We just haven't been looking.

 

"Each and every crew member also agrees to deliver any such voluntary passenger contribution he or she receives from any passenger under any circumstances to the Pool immediately upon receipt of the contribution from the passenger."

 

From Post #17.

 

Staff will tell passengers whatever story their managers tell them to tell. Their jobs are not so secure that they can afford to do otherwise.

Edited April 26, 2019 by SinbadThePorter

[kywildcatfanone]

3 hours ago, coopco said:

OMG - so confused now. If I pay the auto-gratuities and pay my cabin steward/wait staff extra in cash in an envelope on the last day, they get to keep it for themselves, right?

This is correct. 

[bemis12]

4 hours ago, coopco said:

OMG - so confused now. If I pay the auto-gratuities and pay my cabin steward/wait staff extra in cash in an envelope on the last day, they get to keep it for themselves, right?

 

That depends on whether you believe Princess, or one of the internet people who knows differently.

[johnsuttoncoldfield]

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

This is correct. 

That is indeed correct - albeit technically they do have to firstly hand everything over to "the pool", they receive it back if the passenger has not removed their gratuities.

[Colo Cruiser]

3 minutes ago, johnsuttoncoldfield said:

That is indeed correct - albeit technically they do have to firstly hand everything over to "the pool", they receive it back if the passenger has not removed their gratuities.

Exactly. They do get to keep the cash.

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, johnsuttoncoldfield said:

That is indeed correct - albeit technically they do have to firstly hand everything over to "the pool", they receive it back if the passenger has not removed their gratuities.

link ?

[johnsuttoncoldfield]

Just now, voljeep said:

link ?

No "link" required - information based on 46 years in the travel industry and associated contacts at Carnival Corp - it is my "job" to know - If others simply do not want to believe me, that's fine, it's really not a problem to me, I'm just attempting to be helpful.

Hope you are all having a good day.

[pablo222]

On 4/24/2019 at 8:54 PM, Pierlesscruisers said:

 

Okay. I was going by the 11/07 (I believe that was what I saw) date on the bottom of the pages I noticed. Didn't check every page though. So I assumed that was the date of the document (there's that "assumed" word again.)

 

Tom

 

The excerpts and the contract posted in this thread are old.    One of the posters relentlessly posts

those excerpts.

 

During one of the previous iterations, a very respected poster here detailed why the contract was

out of date.

 

I find the new format CC hard to search, or I would try and find a cite.