OK we just did our first cruise and here is my lesson learned

[Sam Ting]

7 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

I'm wondering that myself. 

Absurd anyone would consider giving tips to crew not even working on the ship.  We remove the gratuities and tip as we go.  Probably end up spending more money, but at least we know the tips we give go to the ones who serve us directly.  The behind the scenes crew is not and shouldn’t be our responsibility to compensate for doing their job FOR THE CRUISE LINE!  

[AE_Collector]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Yet actually very little of the "autotip" is now dedicated to the people give you that great service on board.

 

The tip pool is now shared among all the Princess ships. So of the $14.50/day autotip, a dollar or less each day actually goes to staff on your ship.

So this math is because there are maybe 15 ships in the fleet? Looking at it this way does the ~$14 from those ships that would be shared BACK to the ship that you are on get lost in the mail? Balancing things out across all ships may result in a very small extra amount to one ship compared to what the passengers left but saying that $1 or $14 goes to the crew on the ship you are on is ridiculous. I think $1 is $1 to crew members, they don’t need the serial numbers of the bills traced back to where they came from. And the reason for this “sharing” is so that crew in areas like UK that more frequently do cancel gratuities don’t get stiffed.

[Steelers36]

9 hours ago, AE_Collector said:

I don’t agree with this statement because it is only the additional gratuity charge to the passenger that isn’t required in that area (Australia/New Zealand). The crew still gets their share of the gratuity pool (as opposed to a higher rate of pay working in these areas) but Princess adds the $ to the pool on behalf of the passengers on these cruises. Some ships come and go from these areas during a crew members contract. So nothing in other areas is being supplemented by those of us who consider the auto gratuities a part of the cost of the cruise. 

It's baked into the cruise fares for that sector of the World.

[wowzz]

32 minutes ago, AE_Collector said:

And the reason for this “sharing” is so that crew in areas like UK that more frequently do cancel gratuities don’t get stiffed.

Which happens hardly at all now, as the majority buy PP.

[arizonaperson]

On 5/11/2022 at 5:45 PM, JonlLee said:

I didn't know they have automatic crew appreciation for $14.50 per day per person

being a frugal me, my question , is there a way to get rid of this automatic crew appreciation fee? or this is mandatory for all pax? 

 

We also left $60 tip in our room. would that cash be distributed among the other crew/waitress or he/she just pocket that for him/herself?

 

we were on a 4 day alaska 

 

thank you 

We’ll your first cruise is already said & done. I guess you didn’t use a TA and  or they didn’t tell you about the crew appreciation charge. Most cruise lines have had this for quite sometime now.

The $60. Extra you left for your cabin attendant in my opinion whether they got to keep it or not was more than likely the right thing to do, don’t feel that you did not do the right thing.  

Now you know when & if you go on your next cruise whether it be on Princess or another line to check into the extras that you may encounter. But if you feel like you got great service from any crewmember always feel free to tip what you want. If you don’t feel like tipping  extra because you’re frugal then don’t ,but that’s why the crew appreciation tip is added to your onboard account .

And there are many crew that participate in the crew appreciation tip -that you never see and would never see.

Just try going on a cruise next time and washing your own towels ,your cloth napkins, the cleaning of your state room, cooking your own food and the list goes on and on. Nobody would go on a cruise vacation if that’s what they had to do or shall I say very few would  .

 You can always come back to cruise critic before your next cruise of course  & read the threads and/or ask questions .The majority of people on cruise critic are very helpful .

[Mike07]

I consider y'all to be the SMEs on how cruise operations work, and even for the posters on this board, it's not fully transparent or straightforward how the gratuities work. I wish more lines would bake said gratuities into the total cruise fare.  Otherwise, Princess could sell cruise fares for $249.99 for a 14-dayer and then charge $100 per person, per day in mandatory gratuities. You hide that deep in the Passenger contract terms and/or the offer, you'll have tons of people sign-up and then get the sticker shock after embarkation that they're on the hook for the truer cost of the fare.

 

 

[Mike07]

23 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

Just try going on a cruise next time and washing your own towels ,your cloth napkins, the cleaning of your state room, cooking your own food and the list goes on and on. Nobody would go on a cruise vacation if that’s what they had to do or shall I say very few would  .

 You can always come back to cruise critic before your next cruise of course  & read the threads and/or ask questions .The majority of people on cruise critic are very helpful .

 

 

Yes, but in like industries, that is covered in the fare or the goods sold.

 

When I provide a tip to the waitstaff at a restaurant, the expectation is that said waiter receives 100% of that gratuity --- not the dishwasher, not the delivery driver of the linens washer, so on and so forth.

 

Do you tip flight attendants on airplanes? (some frequent fliers actually do with starbucks gift cards and like GCs)

[arizonaperson]

1 minute ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Yes, but in like industries, that is covered in the fare or the goods sold.

 

When I provide a tip to the waitstaff at a restaurant, the expectation is that said waiter receives 100% of that gratuity --- not the dishwasher, not the delivery driver of the linens washer, so on and so forth.

 

Do you tip flight attendants on airplanes? (some frequent fliers actually do with starbucks gift cards and like GCs)

 There are many restaurants in the US that 100% of the gratuity definitely does not go to the waiter or the waitress a.k.a. your server. Many restaurants share the tip and have to share the tip with the dishwasher or the person that clears the dishes or the food runner and the list goes on and on .

so if you think 100% of your tip is going to your server ,I would ask them before you give it to them because  you may want to change your mind. 

 I personally do not tip my flight attendants ,but for those that do ,I say go for it. Whatever makes each individual happy about tipping or not tipping. 

[MileHighAko]

This is a fascinating thread. So many different opinions and practices for such a simple concept. I love it.

 

Personally, I think it's strange that one person (crew) works to serve another person (passenger) only to find out at the end of the week that their service wasn't good enough or appreciated because the passenger removed their $ appreciation and the crew has no opportunity to rectify the situation because the cruise is over. To make matters worse, since all of this appreciation is pooled, no one crew members knows if it was him or her that gave the poor service (or if it was just a grouchy passenger trying to get something for nothing).

 

In my opinion, I wish they would just include crew appreciation in the cost of the fare (thank you princess plus/premier), and move on. It must be ultra confusing for the cruise lines to have to manage all these different pay schemes. Meanwhile the typical crew members suffer the results. 

[Mike07]

4 minutes ago, MileHighAko said:

In my opinion, I wish they would just include crew appreciation in the cost of the fare (thank you princess plus/premier), and move on. It must be ultra confusing for the cruise lines to have to manage all these different pay schemes. Meanwhile the typical crew members suffer the results. 

 

 

I think that would work best as if everybody is going to be charge for it anyway, why not just include it in the cost of the fare when booking?  Separate line item and mandatory.  I believe that government taxes and port fees are listed as a separate line item.

 

And yes, on Uber/Lyft and restaurants, I tend to have cash ready, because I do not trust that tips get passed in full to staff.

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Mike07

[Mike07]

9 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

 There are many restaurants in the US that 100% of the gratuity definitely does not go to the waiter or the waitress a.k.a. your server. Many restaurants share the tip and have to share the tip with the dishwasher or the person that clears the dishes or the food runner and the list goes on and on .

so if you think 100% of your tip is going to your server ,I would ask them before you give it to them because  you may want to change your mind. 

 I personally do not tip my flight attendants ,but for those that do ,I say go for it. Whatever makes each individual happy about tipping or not tipping. 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback.  Not trying to pick a fight with you over this as we clearly see things differently.

 

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, Mike07 said:

I believe that government taxes and port fees are listed as a separate line item.

In the UK cruise fares include taxes and port fees. So, if you book with, say P&O or Saga, the price you see, is the price you pay. No gratuities, taxes, nada ! 

It's not exactly rocket science !  

[caribill]

10 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

so, we should all just cancel auto gratuities?

No.

[Happiest when cruising]

6 hours ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Yes, but in like industries, that is covered in the fare or the goods sold.

 

When I provide a tip to the waitstaff at a restaurant, the expectation is that said waiter receives 100% of that gratuity --- not the dishwasher, not the delivery driver of the linens washer, so on and so forth.

 

Do you tip flight attendants on airplanes? (some frequent fliers actually do with starbucks gift cards and like GCs)

I don’t think there are many restaurants that the servers aren’t sharing the tips with the hostess/host, kitchen and cleaning staff. It’s called a tip pool. My daughter worked as a server and some restaurants actually only direct deposit to bank accounts, the tips every two weeks, along with the paycheque with some vague accounting on the paystub. There are also some restaurants that you must pay a percentage of the customers bill into the pool, even if a table left nothing. 

[Nebr.cruiser]

4 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

I don’t think there are many restaurants that the servers aren’t sharing the tips with the hostess/host, kitchen and cleaning staff. It’s called a tip pool. My daughter worked as a server and some restaurants actually only direct deposit to bank accounts, the tips every two weeks, along with the paycheque with some vague accounting on the paystub. There are also some restaurants that you must pay a percentage of the customers bill into the pool, even if a table left nothing. 

My college age granddaughter is working at a very upscale restaurant, mostly bussing table and some other duties.  Tips are shared, I do not know how the percentages are figured however, for example, do waiters get more, etc.?  She receives her share of the tips every two weeks and averages about $28 per hour with her base pay and tips.  

 

I'm sure not all restaurants do this, but it is pretty common.

Edited May 15, 2022 by Nebr.cruiser

[caribill]

15 hours ago, Sam Ting said:

Absurd anyone would consider giving tips to crew not even working on the ship.  We remove the gratuities and tip as we go.  Probably end up spending more money, but at least we know the tips we give go to the ones who serve us directly.  The behind the scenes crew is not and shouldn’t be our responsibility to compensate for doing their job FOR THE CRUISE LINE!  

 

Some of those in the tipping pool who serve you directly include those at the hamburger counter and pizza counter and ice cream counter on the Lido deck. Also those at the International Cafe.

 

I assume you reward those people also with your cash payments.

[Happiest when cruising]

1 hour ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

My college age granddaughter is working at a very upscale restaurant, mostly bussing table and some other duties.  Tips are shared, I do not know how the percentages are figured however, for example, do waiters get more, etc.?  She receives her share of the tips every two weeks and averages about $28 per hour with her base pay and tips.  

 

I'm sure not all restaurants do this, but it is pretty common.

Yes, I think it is these days. Most people don’t actually leave cash tips on the table any more, so it is easier to track. Cash for anything  is almost not heard of anywhere. I’m lucky if I have 10 dollars in my own wallet. That’s a pretty good wage, my niece says she makes about 38.00 per hour. I think I was in the wrong  business.  

[Itchy&Scratchy]

7 hours ago, Happiest when cruising said:

That’s a pretty good wage, my niece says she makes about 38.00 per hour. I think I was in the wrong  business.  

however, with my bad back and aching feet, there is no way I could waitress anymore.

Many years ago, before all the pain, I probably could, but there was no way to get $38/h in the small town I went to school at. People were lucky to have fast food jobs for $5/h. That's what I had - one job for $5/h and one for $4.40/h.

[Mike07]

15 hours ago, wowzz said:

In the UK cruise fares include taxes and port fees. So, if you book with, say P&O or Saga, the price you see, is the price you pay. No gratuities, taxes, nada ! 

It's not exactly rocket science !  

 

 

It is not, and the benefit of that booking fare method out in the UK is that you do not feel nickel and dimed.  While, I cannot attest to OP somehow missing the gratuities charge as every line I've been on allows access to ones portfolio thru WiFi or the stateroom TV, I can say

 

A Porsche dealer could sell me a brand new, 911 Turbo S for $5,000 USD... and then require a mandatory $245,000 document and labor services fee to sell the car.  Or, they could charge me $250,000 and throw in complimentary doc fees. Either way, they are getting their money, but which one feels sleazier and more like a bait trap?

[bassmk]

On 5/12/2022 at 10:26 AM, voljeep said:

 too much talking and 'hard sell of products' for her to enjoy the treatment...

THIS PART. I don't mind a little chit-chat in the beginning, but once I'm getting the treatment, I need silence. And the hard sell is a complete turn-off. I don't do the spa anymore because of the sales techniques and I feel a little bad about it (I know it's likely commission based and they're just trying to make a living) but it kills the entire vibe that I paid a lot of money for.

[beg3yrs]

On 5/14/2022 at 1:07 AM, caribill said:

 

.....

 

The tip pool is now shared among all the Princess ships. So of the $14.50/day autotip, a dollar or less each day actually goes to staff on your ship.

That's a little misleading. If the $14.50 is put into a pool that gets distributed over the whole fleet, yes maybe less than a dollar a day of your contribution comes back to the ship but ... each ship in the fleet also contributes their dollar a day to your ship bringing it on average back close to the $14.50, possibly more in some circumstances. The effect of this is that if a particular cruise goes awry and the passengers stiff the crew, the misery is spread over the whole fleet. Conversely, an excellent cruise with higher than average tips will help the whole fleet.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, beg3yrs said:

The effect of this is that if a particular cruise goes awry and the passengers stiff the crew, the misery is spread over the whole fleet. Conversely, an excellent cruise with higher than average tips will help the whole fleet.

 

Exactly.

 

The point I tried to make was that when someone cuts out the $14.50 daily gratuity to "punish" the perceived bad service on their cruise, they are punishing the staff on other ships more than the staff on the ship they are on.

 

However an excellent cruise should have average tips with the excellence rewarded in cash to the staff on their cruise which now can be kept by the staff (even if daily gratuity was cancelled) and not turned in to the pool. Only if excellence was rewarded by increasing the daily gratuity would it flow to other ships.