What do you tip your royal genie?

[ownedbypets]

We base our tip on how many times the genie uses the magic key for the elevator!

[Beth 2001]

We tipped $800 to our first Genie and $1000 to our second (who we felt really went above and beyond for our party of four). He put out a huge spread (including a custom anniversary cake) in our suite when we boarded; brought trays of vodka/whisky shots and buckets of beers to our suite every day;  delivered any snacks/bites we wanted from Jamie's, Izumi, Sabor, and other specialty restaurants every afternoon; arranged all of our shows/meals and met us at dinner and escorted us to reserved seats in the theater every night;  booked an overwater cabana for us at Labadee; scheduled a private bridge tour for the four of us hosted by the ship's captain; arranged for us to meet the Mamma Mia cast after the show and film a video of them singing a song for us; decorated our suite and organized a custom birthday cake for our twins; gave us very nice anniversary and birthday gifts with heartfelt handwritten cards; and escorted us off the ship in every port and walked us past all the lines to get us off quickly on disembarkation day.

 

We spent about three times what we would have normally paid for two balcony staterooms but we loved our Star Class suites and appreciated our Genies' excellent service. 

[LXA350]

Tipping is a cultural thing, for most countries it would be showing someone that went above and beyond additional appreciation. In the US, tipping is a must and part of the service culture as it is expected and at the end a fee that you need to pay for the service you are getting which is not included. The system is absolutely redicioulous, can't you just add those 15 or 20% in the first place insteas of playing these tipping games when you go to a Restaurant, a Bar or take a taxi???

 

What does happen a lot in Europe and in Australia for instance is that guests are removing the Gratuity which you pay pre cruise or would be added manually daily, this is not fair as given on how the setup of the cruiselines are this is part of the salary at the end of the day of the crew members. Here cruiselines should just increase the cruisefares by these amounts and then do the allocations accordingly.

 

In my case, I am happy to have the gratuties added, but I prefer to just have it paid / included in my total fare I pay before I cruise than having charges after. I just want to pay what I need to pay and then want to enjoy my cruise and get the service I paid for and not buying myself excellent service which people think they need to do.

[neverbeenhere]

Ahhhhh… we finally got there. 

[Kbonner]

I calculate with the above information slightly differently:

based on US customers  with excessive tipping as posted above:

basic salary 2200 plus 4 suites x average of 600 tipping, times 4 weeks, makes it to 11800$ per month.

This is insane for a genie who comes from a country where a university professor has not even half the income.

[LXA350]

1 hour ago, Kbonner said:

I calculate with the above information slightly differently:

based on US customers  with excessive tipping as posted above:

basic salary 2200 plus 4 suites x average of 600 tipping, times 4 weeks, makes it to 11800$ per month.

This is insane for a genie who comes from a country where a university professor has not even half the income.

 

Fully agree with you. either some people here have serious ego issues if they think they need to pay their Genie hundreds of $ or  are overwhelmed with the tipping culture in the US wich is just so rediciolous. The genie is part of the experience you are paying for when booking a Star Class Suite. Again, in most developed countries people in the service sector get salaries together with social benefits, this is not the case in the US and tipping is no more than actually paying part of the salaries which is a obligation and not a favor you do.

[time4u2go]

4 hours ago, Kbonner said:

I calculate with the above information slightly differently:

based on US customers  with excessive tipping as posted above:

basic salary 2200 plus 4 suites x average of 600 tipping, times 4 weeks, makes it to 11800$ per month.

This is insane for a genie who comes from a country where a university professor has not even half the income.

More accurately, 4 suites at an average of $600 per week, plus the salary, comes out to  $151,200 per year, or $12,600 per month, or $2900 per week.  Sounds like a pretty nice gig!

[Yorkshire-Pudding]

I have been fortunate to experience butlers at hotels, resorts and at sea and it is my understanding that the big difference between them is that the genie supervises guest requests. So when you order that speciality meal in your suite, the genie makes sure it happens but does not actually get the tray unlike a butler who gets their hands dirty and goes to the kitchens. So should you tip them the same?

[coops]

On 9/19/2021 at 9:20 AM, time4u2go said:

More accurately, 4 suites at an average of $600 per week, plus the salary, comes out to  $151,200 per year, or $12,600 per month, or $2900 per week.  Sounds like a pretty nice gig!

Not if you get the people who say well we don't tip because we don't believe in that like the USA. Those are probably the same ones that are very demanding to. If you sail out of the USA then you should follow the tipping guidelines unless you receive terrible service. Wish they would just put the tips added to the cruise price so others do not stiff the help.

[Old Fart Cruisers]

On 9/19/2021 at 3:43 AM, Kbonner said:

 . . .This is insane for a genie who comes from a country where a university professor has not even half the income. 

So, what would you suggest as an appropriate tip for a university professor?  

[brillohead]

On 9/19/2021 at 4:43 AM, Kbonner said:

This is insane for a genie who comes from a country where a university professor has not even half the income.

I had a server once with a degree in Chemical Engineering -- she made way more as a server on Royal than she could in her home country.

I had another server who had worked for Royal for over 20 years.  He lived in Jamaica, and had been able to send all of his children to private school because of his wages with Royal.

Being a Royal Genie is a "top tier" position, reserved for the cream of the crop.  If they do the backflips necessary to meet the demands of their customers, they deserve the pay that comes with it.

If you really want to get all in a tizzy about what someone earns versus the effort/skill necessary to do the job, research EMT/paramedic wages sometime.  The person handing your bag of burgers out the drive-thru window is probably earning just as much money, if not more, than the person who is doing life-saving CPR on a heart attack patient.

 

[CruiseZog]

The good news about it being your money is you can tip whatever you want, whether nothing or $1,000. 

 

To answer the original question, I think $350 to $700 covers most cabins, although I'm sure some tip less and others more. 

[dasi11]

Do we know if the Genie has to share a portion of his tip with the staff pot?  Since we know tips are pooled and split, I just assumed the Genie was on his honor to put a portion of the tip in for those that helped him get his job done.  I know the pot is shared since tipping has become such a problem.  We don't actually know that the Genie gets to keep the whole tip.  Even the extra we give the room attendant and waiters, it is combined into the pot for all to share.  

I can't imagine working 7 days a week every week with very little time off.  These jobs are NOT easy!

Edited September 24, 2021 by dasi11

[time4u2go]

2 minutes ago, dasi11 said:

Do we know if the Genie has to share a portion of his tip with the staff pot?  Since we know tips are pooled and split, I just assumed the Genie was on his honor to put a portion of the tip in for those that helped him get his job done.  I know the pot is shared since tipping has become such a problem.  We don't actually know that the Genie gets to keep the whole tip.  Even the extra we give the room attendant and waiters, it is combined into the pot for all to share.  

I can't imagine working 7 days a week every week with very little time off.  These jobs are NOT easy!

According to post #9, no.

[John&LaLa]

On 9/19/2021 at 9:20 AM, time4u2go said:

More accurately, 4 suites at an average of $600 per week, plus the salary, comes out to  $151,200 per year, or $12,600 per month, or $2900 per week.  Sounds like a pretty nice gig!

 

They only work half the year

[ReneeFLL]

2 hours ago, dasi11 said:

Do we know if the Genie has to share a portion of his tip with the staff pot?  Since we know tips are pooled and split, I just assumed the Genie was on his honor to put a portion of the tip in for those that helped him get his job done.  I know the pot is shared since tipping has become such a problem.  We don't actually know that the Genie gets to keep the whole tip.  Even the extra we give the room attendant and waiters, it is combined into the pot for all to share.  

I can't imagine working 7 days a week every week with very little time off.  These jobs are NOT easy!

Several years ago there were threads discussing the extra tips paid directly to the cabin attendants. This wasn’t about genies or others so I don’t know if it would apply to them. I asked mine and she said what a passenger gives her it goes into her own pocket. The tips that you are charged daily goes into a pool and is split with others.

[LilBlackDress]

4 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Several years ago there were threads discussing the extra tips paid directly to the cabin attendants. This wasn’t about genies or others so I don’t know if it would apply to them. I asked mine and she said what a passenger gives her it goes into her own pocket. The tips that you are charged daily goes into a pool and is split with others.

I was told differently... 

I was told all extra tips get pooled as well. 

I think it makes more sense if they keep what people personally hand them. If someone doesn't tip extra are the other RA or supervisor going to start talking behind that persons back thinking they kept that one tip? 

The never ending what is fact or fiction tip conversation 

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Several years ago there were threads discussing the extra tips paid directly to the cabin attendants. This wasn’t about genies or others so I don’t know if it would apply to them. I asked mine and she said what a passenger gives her it goes into her own pocket. The tips that you are charged daily goes into a pool and is split with others.

 

10 minutes ago, LilBlackDress said:

I was told differently... 

I was told all extra tips get pooled as well. 

I think it makes more sense if they keep what people personally hand them. If someone doesn't tip extra are the other RA or supervisor going to start talking behind that persons back thinking they kept that one tip? 

The never ending what is fact or fiction tip conversation 

I have asked room attendants and dining room servers on different ships this question, and I've always gotten the same response:

If the guest leaves the auto-grats on their account, any cash money an employee receives is theirs to keep.  If the guest removes the auto-grats from their account, the employee is supposed to turn in any cash money to be included in the tip pool.  

This would jibe with reports of waiters and room attendants being given a list of who removed auto-grats and who didn't .... so they'd know which cash tips they are allowed to keep and which are to be turned in to the pool.

[BekkaW]

On 9/18/2021 at 9:39 PM, LXA350 said:

What does happen a lot in Europe and in Australia for instance is that guests are removing the Gratuity which you pay pre cruise or would be added manually daily, this is not fair as given on how the setup of the cruiselines are this is part of the salary at the end of the day of the crew members. Here cruiselines should just increase the cruisefares by these amounts and then do the allocations accordingly.

This is incorrect - bookings made on the Australian website/paid in Australian dollars have the gratuities built into the price paid for the cruise. They cannot be removed. It has been this way for some years now. 

[A&L_Ont]

Genie tips go directly to the Genie.
 

If they chose to thank those who helped wishes happen, I think that is their call. Such as a baker who made a special cake etc…

[compman9]

On 9/25/2021 at 12:01 AM, John&LaLa said:

 

They only work half the year

Are they not allowed to work for the other half of the year

[Iamcruzin]

On 9/17/2021 at 5:55 PM, ChC said:

I am the Genie of my family. I wish I was tipped by my family as generous as some of above posters did. I do more than the Genie on the ship, reservation, booking, tidy up, emotional support 24/7, cooking, looking after family well being, packing, on demand service 24/7 and other tasks for the other half that can not be published... 

 

No, I won't tip the Genie if I have no need to use the service, or feel pressured to tip the Genie if I want nothing in the week onboard.

Sounds like you can use an "Alice" at home and not a Genie at sea. Personally I wouldn't know what to do with a Genie. We are not even high maintenance for the regular room steward.  Just give us fresh towels and keep the soap dispenser full. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Iamcruzin

[compman9]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

Sounds like you can use an "Alice" at home and not a Genie at sea. Personally I wouldn't know what to do with a Genie. We are not even high maintenance for the regular room steward.  Just give us fresh towels and keep the soap dispenser full. 

 

DW and I discussed this on our walk this morning. Apart from show times and dinner reservations, which the concierge has always dealt with if we needed help, we genuinely could not think of one thing we would ask a Genie to do for us.

 

We go on holiday for the adventure, having someone hold your hand to get in an elevator and accompany off the ship, seems utterly bizarre. 

 

Part of the fun of a cruise is walking around aimlessly on a ship, doing your own thing without interference.

[jgoodm]

On 9/17/2021 at 8:03 AM, pasodancer said:

Pre-Covid (2018):  For us it depends upon how much we use him.  For a 7 night on Anthem we tipped $600 (we rarely used the Genie).  For a 7-night on Oasis we tipped $800 as we did use our Genie to make reservations for us.  We didn't have any in-suite dining or parties.  We also did additional tips to the Cabin Stewart each time (think it was $100).  

This is in my line of thinking as well. Maybe a bit more this year since these people all lost a year of work. 
 

What did you do for your room attendant?  I’m trying to distinguish between a really good tip and a ridiculous one. 🤷‍♂️
 

Any thoughts?