Sorry another question about tips

[shopaholic6]

1 hour ago, Seville2Cabo said:

Just because something is optional, does not mean it is not expected or the custom.   

 

I don't understand the "it's not our culture to tip".  This is just an excuse.  So if you are traveling to a country that removes shoes before entering a home, do you just say "not my culture"?

 

 

That’s the stupidest argument I ever heard. If you go to a country where they wear the burka, do you wear it? Or do you say ‘it’s not my culture’?

Edited May 12, 2019 by shopaholic6

[shopaholic6]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Personally I think the people who claim 'It's not our culture' are hiding behind this because basically they are tightwads.

There are still many people in the UK like myself accept tipping is part of cruising.

Except P&O clearly feel different and pay their crew a decent wage, therefore don’t expect tipping.

[Cru1s1ng2009]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Personally I think the people who claim 'It's not our culture' are hiding behind this because basically they are tightwads.

There are still many people in the UK like myself accept tipping is part of cruising.

so nice to see someone from the UK who tips and 'gets it'. Thank you!

[Cru1s1ng2009]

27 minutes ago, shopaholic6 said:

That’s the stupidest argument I ever heard. If you go to a country where they wear the burka, do you wear it? Or do you say ‘it’s not my culture’?

no yours is stupid since we are throwing words like that around. If you are in a country where women wear a burka you surely aren't going out with short shorts and your cleavage out are you? No, you would cover up much more and possibly wear a headscarf. that is called adjusting to the culture. And everyone says us in the US are rude... sheesh. 

[katiel53]

I want to preface my post by stating that I do have our tips put on the Sail & Sign card and we do tip extra usually for our cabin steward and if we eat in the dining room, to our waiter as well.

 

Having said that, I do feel we should not have to tip those behind the scenes that are considered "others" in the tip pool.  I expect that I will have clean sheets, towels, napkins, tablecloths etc.  I believe they have been paid  with my cruise fare.

 

I feel guest services employees are basically the same as those in a hotel whom I don't tip and don't see the need to tip them on the ship.   I expect the halls, stair railings etc to be clean and believe I paid for that again, as part of my cruise fare.

 

My feelings are that some cruise line, I think Carnival, but could be wrong on that, decided they could increase their revenue by adding gratuities to employees that were not part of the tipping policies and that cruisers would just pay them because they were either bullied into doing so by other cruisers or that it's expected so we need to pay them.  After the success with the first line doing so, others jumped on the bandwagon and this will continue as is until they find we need to tip the Captain and the other officers for keeping us safe.  Then there will be an additional charge known as the safety charge.  JMO.

 

 

[grapau27]

7 minutes ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

so nice to see someone from the UK who tips and 'gets it'. Thank you!

Thanks.

I tip in the UK and more in the US where service is better.

Ships crew deserve to be rewarded as they help to make our cruise special.

Edited May 12, 2019 by grapau27

[shopaholic6]

1 minute ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

no yours is stupid since we are throwing words like that around. If you are in a country where women wear a burka you surely aren't going out with short shorts and your cleavage out are you? No, you would cover up much more and possibly wear a headscarf. that is called adjusting to the culture. And everyone says us in the US are rude... sheesh. 

I don’t think ‘tipping’ is really in the same category though is it? I do my job, hate it and don’t get tips. Everyone else I know does their jobs and don’t get tips. I’m pretty sure Royal Caribbean make more in a year than I do, so why don’t they pay their staff properly? And for the record, I have paid my tips - I just don’t particularly agree with it!

[shopaholic6]

6 minutes ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

so nice to see someone from the UK who tips and 'gets it'. Thank you!

I never said I didn’t tip .......

[DramaQueen22]

I am all for giving those who gave exceptional service a bit extra...go ahead and do that!  However, as others have pointed out, a percentage of your per-day gratuities go to "back of the house" folks who also do much to give you a great experience.  Because of that, I wouldn't remove the gratuities.

[grapau27]

38 minutes ago, shopaholic6 said:

Except P&O clearly feel different and pay their crew a decent wage, therefore don’t expect tipping.

To a degree they have been forced to do this as other cruiselines offer this in the UK.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

2 hours ago, brentconn said:

https://marinersgalaxy.com/latest-salaries-on-cruise-ship-you-ge/ See for yourself.

 

This is the worst way to distort facts. You seriously believe that guys make about 50K per year? LOL. You are taking a few positions salary and making a blanket statement.

 

Taken from here:

 

At the entry level is the dining room junior waiter. This employee is reported to make an average of $1,200 to $1,800 per month depending on tips from passengers. However, the real salary is difficult to determine as many of these types of cruise ship employees make a base salary of under $500 and gratuities are inconsistent and often not reported. A dining room waiter typically has more direct interaction with guests and valuable language skills, therefore making a reported $2,200 to $3,800 per month. A head waiter on a cruise ship will have a higher base pay than most and can make $2,600 to $4,800 per month.

 

Anybody can google.  

 

 

[brentconn]

I would say the range is on the bottom end of that estimate. Have you seen the bulk of servers and people behind the line? The vast majority of the employees probably make around 30K and that's with tips. The Allure captain probably makes 150k and he is in charge of 6500 people so I'm sure the staff is not making a third of his salary. I don't know how many employees there are but 90% make 30K. So let's take our jobs. Even though I work long hours I am not working every single day. I can go for a drive, see a concert in another city, have a picnic in the mountains etc.. When these people are done with their shift where do they get to go? NOWHERE. Can't we just be thankful for 7 days that we can afford to be waited on hand and foot for seven days? Just let a few dollars go and quit being so cheap. RCL is rich, the employees are not.

[grapau27]

2 minutes ago, brentconn said:

I would say the range is on the bottom end of that estimate. Have you seen the bulk of servers and people behind the line? The vast majority of the employees probably make around 30K and that's with tips. The Allure captain probably makes 150k and he is in charge of 6500 people so I'm sure the staff is not making a third of his salary. I don't know how many employees there are but 90% make 30K. So let's take our jobs. Even though I work long hours I am not working every single day. I can go for a drive, see a concert in another city, have a picnic in the mountains etc.. When these people are done with their shift where do they get to go? NOWHERE. Can't we just be thankful for 7 days that we can afford to be waited on hand and foot for seven days? Just let a few dollars go and quit being so cheap. RCL is rich, the employees are not.

I agree and very true for the crew.

 

[time4u2go]

7 minutes ago, brentconn said:

I would say the range is on the bottom end of that estimate. Have you seen the bulk of servers and people behind the line? The vast majority of the employees probably make around 30K and that's with tips. The Allure captain probably makes 150k and he is in charge of 6500 people so I'm sure the staff is not making a third of his salary. I don't know how many employees there are but 90% make 30K. So let's take our jobs. Even though I work long hours I am not working every single day. I can go for a drive, see a concert in another city, have a picnic in the mountains etc.. When these people are done with their shift where do they get to go? NOWHERE. Can't we just be thankful for 7 days that we can afford to be waited on hand and foot for seven days? Just let a few dollars go and quit being so cheap. RCL is rich, the employees are not.

Do you know all of these things for a fact or are they just your opinion?

[brentconn]

I don't know them for a fact. I can only imagine the classifieds saying help wanted make $50,000 a year. Let me ask you, do you think the waitstaff makes $50,000 a year? That is a lot of money. If that was the average and multiply that by 1500, that would be 75 million dollars a year that they have to pay their staff. It just sounds unbelievably too good to be true.

Edited May 12, 2019 by brentconn

[kathynorth]

On 5/7/2019 at 7:18 PM, Milwaukee Eight said:

Waiting 

Your wait is over

[Thorben-Hendrik]

19 hours ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

This is such a hot button item on CC because there are so many people who feel tips are optional. 

 

They are!👍

[Thorben-Hendrik]

19 hours ago, time4u2go said:

I don't doubt that some aren't tipping at all.  But then there's others that tip more than the recommended amount.  The cruise line provides multiple options, so it obviously all works out in the end.

👍

[Thorben-Hendrik]

19 hours ago, time4u2go said:

I'm not rationalizing anything.  If the system wasn't working, they'd change it. 

 

The sad thing is when people try to tell other people how or if they should tip.

👍👍

[itsmeagain]

On 5/7/2019 at 7:49 PM, Snit13 said:

 How do you go to the laundry room to tip the crew member who washed your bed linen and towels and got them nice and clean?  I don't even know where the laundry room is on a ship.  

The same way you go to the captains cabin and tip his room Stewart that is part of the tip pool. 😇😇😂😂

[Seville2Cabo]

Hard to believe captain only makes $150. Need to start tipping him. 

[not-enough-cruising]

2 hours ago, brentconn said:

I don't know them for a fact. I can only imagine the classifieds saying help wanted make $50,000 a year. Let me ask you, do you think the waitstaff makes $50,000 a year? That is a lot of money. If that was the average and multiply that by 1500, that would be 75 million dollars a year that they have to pay their staff. It just sounds unbelievably too good to be true.

An Oasis class ship expects to take in over $600,000 a week in tips, that’s over $31 million a year. If you have the clientele paying nearly half the wages in gratuity, then your numbers of $75 million in salaries isn’t too far fetched.  

[Seville2Cabo]

8 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

An Oasis class ship expects to take in over $600,000 a week in tips, that’s over $31 million a year. If you have the clientele paying nearly half the wages in gratuity, then your numbers of $75 million in salaries isn’t too far fetched.  

The large ships have to average Over $400 million revenue per year.  For a service business, $75 million in salaries is not bad

Edited May 12, 2019 by Seville2Cabo

[not-enough-cruising]

8 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

The large ships have to average Over $400 million revenue per year.  For a service business, $75 million in salaries is not bad

SO...........either the crew are making a lot more money than we are lead to believe (actually I hope this is true), OR RCI is skimming off a lot of the auto gratuity; regardless I stand by my decision to not permit the auto gratuity and tip any and all I desire in cash.