Auto Gratuities- Yes or No?

[RedIguana]

20 minutes ago, MsMidge said:

Exactly! For tips to be included in the fare, the price would have to be increased by more than the $101.50, because the cruise line would have to count that amount as revenue and pay tax.

Wages may be considered revenue, but taxes are paid on profit, not revenue (US). Wages are deductible business expenses.

[pcur]

21 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

We are so generous that we tip Chair Hogs.

No, that's called "paying them to go away"........

[rudeney]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

to me that answer is obvious. If rcl can advertise 399 pp, or add 101.50 and then has to advertise its 500.50 pp ....to the average person 399 sounds better. I see this all the time 399 ... they dont even bother to say its pp false advertising. To draw in newbies. 

 

Yep, and add in all the "Royal Math" they use in Cruise Planner to "discount" the DBP and other extras.  I can see how a newbie would have a very hard time with this.  Me, I just figure I'm going to pay, and pay, and pay.

[DCPIV]

21 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

But, positions that are included in the auto grats depend on those gratuities to get themselves up to their minimum contract value before they go above. 

 

Just like our home town. Minimum wage is $15/hour. If you are in a position that gets gratuities, an employer only has to pay $5/hour. That waiter at the corner diner needs to make $10/hour in tips just to get to minimum wage.

 

I know that first part isn't true (thus, the minimum contract value), and I suspect the second part also isn't true.  In every jurisdiction I know (and I admit I only know a few), an employer is required to make an employee whole on the minimum wage if tips are not enough to do so.

[PTC DAWG]

Honestly, IDGAS what others do re tips..I leave the auto grats in place, and tip extra all through the cruise in CASH where I see fit.  
 

that seems simple enough to me. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by PTC DAWG

[Seville2Cabo]

5 hours ago, rudeney said:

 

Sure, they could do that, but it's not the way the business is structured and not what customers expect.  I treat the added gratuities just like the "Federal universal service charge" tacked onto my phone bill.  I know it's going to be added, it's not a "federal" charge, but a "charge the federal government allows" because the phone company wants to make more revenue, but not have to advertise a higher price.  It is what it is. 

 

 

I actually agree with you, because that would make it much simpler.  But I don't mind it being done either way.  Whether that beer is $7.99 + 18% or $9.43 is all the same to me.  The only thing that I am unsure about is if there is any sort of tax advantage (either to the company or the employees) with paying the crew with tips vs. a higher wage.  If soo, it might explain the industry's hesitancy to move away from the gratuity model.

Yes. Commissions and taxes would have to be paid if they were part of the cruise fare

[Mapleleafforever]

We removed our auto grats on our Harmony cruise in 2019 and paid more in tips than ever before. We had no intention of eating in the MDR as we were cruising with our then 15 month old daughter and instead dined only in Jamie's or the WJ. We tipped the WJ staff after every meal as our daughter wasn't the cleanest and our stateroom attendant was also very well taken care of. 

 

We left them alone on our 2020 Allure cruise but at the end of the day we tipped much less and we now had a 6 month old daughter with us as well. 

 

From now on we'll just leave them alone. 

 

It's a personal decision, bottom line. 

 

 

[StolidCruiser]

9 hours ago, snaefell said:

In previous threads on this topic posters claimed that a list of those withdrawing the auto tips is available to the crew,like many aspects of this subject posters claim many opposites that they KNOW to be true,like I said in a previous post(which annoyingly seems to have been removed),people know everything & nothing about this subject!😆

 

I am intimately familiar with the subject but a certain minority refuse to believe it because it contradicts their perspective that the intended benefactors will never know what is going on when those few dollars are slipped into staff hands at the end of the cruise by giddy guests who think they are “sticking it to the man”.

 

[StolidCruiser]

1 hour ago, DCPIV said:

 

I know that first part isn't true (thus, the minimum contract value), and I suspect the second part also isn't true.  In every jurisdiction I know (and I admit I only know a few), an employer is required to make an employee whole on the minimum wage if tips are not enough to do so.

Are you familiar with all foreign jurisdictions or just a narrow US-based understanding?

[StolidCruiser]

5 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

Got suckered into responding before getting to this.  Dagnabit!!!

Edited July 7, 2022 by StolidCruiser

[rudeney]

1 hour ago, Seville2Cabo said:

Yes. Commissions and taxes would have to be paid if they were part of the cruise fare

 

I was thinking taxes might be a wash - RCCL would have to pay taxes on the additional revenue, but the increased expense of crew wages would reduce net income.  But TA commissions would be an issue.  If they took that out of the additional revenue, then either crew wages would need to be reduced, or cruise fares would need to increase more than the amount of current gratuities.  

[deliver42]

This thread is a double edge sward. It's good not to have a thread about covid, but a thread like this about auto gratuities has been beaten to death in the past, and this is no exception.

[Joseph2017China]

are we finished yet?  

 

[babyblue78]

On 7/6/2022 at 5:44 PM, hotsauce126 said:

 

Hopefully Royal goes the Virgin Voyages/Sandals route and just builds staff pay into the cruise fare and then nobody has to worry about gratuities anymore

 

Tipping is still very much a thing at Sandals though, so what has happened is the prices were higher to supposedly include tips.  Then tipping continues so the culture is still there....

[JoeFan]

10 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

So, it is to make you feel good about yourself?

What happens when you can't find a particular crew member to hand them the envelop containing the tip cash?

The gratuity system (whether you agree with it or not) is to reward not only the face of the hospitality crew (room stewards, waiters, etc), but also those behind-the-scenes workers that passengers never come in contact with.  The cruise industry's gratuity system may be imperfect, but it allows a large and deserving group of unseen crew members to efficiently share in the gratuities.

 

Keep the auto tips/gratuity in place and leave additional $ for those crew members that really made your cruise extra enjoyable.  Remember crew names, and acknowledge them in the post cruise survey.

 

Do the right thing.  

 

Who are these behind-the-scenes workers?

[Ferry_Watcher]

Just now, JoeFan said:

 

Who are these behind-the-scenes workers?

The food prep workers, the folks who do the laundry, the staff that keeps the public restrooms clean and filled with towels, the folks who bus the Lido tables, the folks who keep the beautiful public areas clean and polished.

It's more than your room attendant, waiter/server or wine steward (folks who generally interact on a daily basis with passengers).

[AlohaLivin]

How are you going to hand everyone that works on the ship envelope? You’re going to hand them to all the people that work cooking the food, to all the people that wiped down the staircases from all our hands, the musicians, and the life guards? I think it’s one thing to give extra money at the end to those who serve you consistently throughout your cruise, but I think it’s very selfish to remove the daily gratuities so that all of those that you don’t see who work on your behalf will be shorted. 

 

 

 

@Merion_Mom I tried, but could not resist! 

Edited July 8, 2022 by AlohaLivin

[KATHYMAC68]

11 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

So, it is to make you feel good about yourself?

What happens when you can't find a particular crew member to hand them the envelop containing the tip cash?

The gratuity system (whether you agree with it or not) is to reward not only the face of the hospitality crew (room stewards, waiters, etc), but also those behind-the-scenes workers that passengers never come in contact with.  The cruise industry's gratuity system may be imperfect, but it allows a large and deserving group of unseen crew members to efficiently share in the gratuities.

 

Keep the auto tips/gratuity in place and leave additional $ for those crew members that really made your cruise extra enjoyable.  Remember crew names, and acknowledge them in the post cruise survey.

 

Do the right thing.  

It does make me feel good about myself… it shows my appreciation and how much I enjoyed their service. And that makes me feel good making them feel good. Didn’t realize that was a bad thing. Thank you.

 

[time4u2go]

47 minutes ago, AlohaLivin said:

How are you going to hand everyone that works on the ship envelope? You’re going to hand them to all the people that work cooking the food, to all the people that wiped down the staircases from all our hands, the musicians, and the life guards? I think it’s one thing to give extra money at the end to those who serve you consistently throughout your cruise, but I think it’s very selfish to remove the daily gratuities so that all of those that you don’t see who work on your behalf will be shorted. 

 

 

 

@Merion_Mom I tried, but could not resist! 

Do all of those people share the automatic gratuities?

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

The food prep workers, the folks who do the laundry, the staff that keeps the public restrooms clean and filled with towels, the folks who bus the Lido tables, the folks who keep the beautiful public areas clean and polished.

It's more than your room attendant, waiter/server or wine steward (folks who generally interact on a daily basis with passengers).

Behind the scenes folks are paid by the cruise line to do what they do, that is part and parcel of the minimum expectation when I pay my cruise fare, no gratuity necessary

[not-enough-cruising]

Just now, time4u2go said:

Do all of those people share the automatic gratuities?

And therein lies the problem, for me, no one knows.

 

A gratuity is for service above and beyond; the guy doing the laundry, or washing the dishes, does nothing "above and beyond", he does his job and gets paid what he agreed to in his contract.

[AlohaLivin]

1 hour ago, time4u2go said:

Do all of those people share the automatic gratuities?

That is what I was told.  But it’s definitely shared with a lot  more people than one’s server and the cabin steward (and IMHO the purpose is to tip those people who deserve it rather than the cruiser getting the proud, tingly feeling one gets from handing someone money). Just my view. 

[Ferry_Watcher]

2 hours ago, KATHYMAC68 said:

It does make me feel good about myself… it shows my appreciation and how much I enjoyed their service. And that makes me feel good making them feel good. Didn’t realize that was a bad thing. Thank you.

Auto tips should have the same effect on you - doing right by the preferred gratuity method that benefits all deserving crew members.  You can also tip above and beyond the auto tips.

BTW, you never answered the question of 'what happens if you can't find the particular crew member to hand your "in lieu of Auto Tips" cash envelop to?'

 

[not-enough-cruising]

4 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

BTW, you never answered the question of 'what happens if you can't find the particular crew member to hand your "in lieu of Auto Tips" cash envelop to?'

 

It’s never a problem. The people

I wish to tip, I see all the time-that is why they may be getting a tip. 

[LGW59]

On 7/6/2022 at 1:50 PM, KATHYMAC68 said:

Are we still able to cancel the auto gratuities and tip with the cash in envelopes?

I always liked handing them the envelopes and giving more when someone deserved it.

I know I can still tip extra, but I miss that last night ritual.

You don’t have to remove the auto grats, nor should you either!  And what stopping you from still enjoying that last night ritual as well.