Gratuity policy change

[Hanoj]

1 hour ago, RJ2002 said:

 

Are excursion tips included on luxury lines?  We've sailed on Regent and they were not. 

 

How long ago did you cruise with Regent? I have seen tips included for excursions on a couple luxury lines in my perusing websites (from US) recently and thought Regent was as one of them, in addition to Seabourn and Tauck if I recall accurately. 

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, Twitchly said:

I actually really liked Viking’s approach to tipping on our 2018 cruise. They automatically added a gratuity charge to the onboard bill; if you wanted to change it, you had to take action. That seemed like a reasonable compromise between putting all responsibility on you (which meant you would be more likely to skip or forget it) vs. baking the gratuities into the price of the cruise. I admit to not really understanding the latter option, since tipping is supposed to be for excellent service. If it’s just another fee, then wouldn’t that just be considered a salary raise? That’s fine too, but then why call it a gratuity? 

Hi Twitchly - you make a good point and I agree with you - Vikings policy seems to be a good compromise.  On the three VOC’s we’ve been on, the folks we talked with about gratuities also felt this way.  

[RJ2002]

7 minutes ago, Hanoj said:

 

How long ago did you cruise with Regent? I have seen tips included for excursions on a couple luxury lines in my perusing websites (from US) recently and thought Regent was as one of them, in addition to Seabourn and Tauck if I recall accurately. 

 

We just disembarked Navigator a few weeks ago.  Gratuities are only included for "onboard" services; excursions are not included. I've not sailed Seabourn, but this page specifically says gratuities for shore excursions are not included.  

 

https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/shore-excursions.html

 

I do see on the Tauck website that excursion gratuities are included.

[suspaul]

We’re currently on a cruise, not Viking, our onboard gratuities are $15.50 per person per day, not included in our cruise fare and is added to our onboard account daily.  

 

To those who state they only tip those that provide exceptional service, in their opinion, and prefer to tip these crew members only, I ask, did you selectively tip the crew members who did your laundry and provided clean linens and fresh towels daily?  What about those behind the scenes that prepare your food, wash your dishes and keep your ship spotless?  Envelopes for each of these?  If you have a problem I understand, talk to customer service and have adjustments made but to not tip those behind the scenes is not right.

 

in my opinion, if you (we) choose to travel don’t wimp out and withhold gratuities, it’s unfair.  Personally I’d prefer if Viking and other cruise lines just rolled the cost of gratuities into the cruise price, this would solve many problems.  Like I said, this is only my opinion.