When did the gratituites increase?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

5 minutes ago, karena1 said:

Edocs for our August 19th cruise says:

 

Gratuities A $14.50 per guest, per day gratuity will be automatically added to each guest’s SeaPass® account on a daily basis to be shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who Things To Know 10 July 20, 2022 8:51 AM Things To Know Continued work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience. Suite guests will see a $17.50 daily gratuity

It appears any cruise that includes days in September and beyond will have the increase 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Ex-Airbalancer

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

It appears any cruise that includes days in September and beyond will have the increase 

More likely, any cruise which have its edocs reissued will likely list the increase.

[Biker19]

9 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

Our 8-22 cruise docs shows $14.50 and our 8-29 shows $16.00.

If your 8/22 cruise edocs get reissued, they'll likely list the new rate as well.

[karena1]

5 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

More likely, any cruise which have its edocs reissued will likely list the increase.

It is strange as I just did 3 mock bookings all the way into 2023 and none of them show any increase in the amount of tips that are paid. And their website still shows this:

 

What is Royal Caribbean's service gratuities (tips) price and policy?

A

 

 

The automatic service gratuity is $14.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Junior Suites and below, or $17.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Grand Suites and above, applied to each guest’s SeaPass account on a daily basis. The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories. As a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience.

 

As soon as my Sept Edocs are ready, I will see what it says in there.

Edited July 31, 2022 by karena1

[brillohead]

Just now, karena1 said:

It is strange as I just did 3 mock bookings all the way into 2023 and none of them show any increase in the amount of tips that are paid. And their website still shows this:

 

Not strange at all... Royal's IT Department is notoriously inept. 

[Biker19]

Just now, karena1 said:

It is strange as I just did 3 mock bookings all the way into 2023 and none of them show any increase in the amount of tips that are paid.

That part of the IT system is likely to be updated latter, even an invoice created today still lists the old amount - the new amount is only listed in edocs issued after about 7/26.

[bucfan2]

Roughly a 10% increase….that beats inflation. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by bucfan2

[DirtyDawg]

2 minutes ago, bucfan2 said:

Not quite a 10% increase….that beats inflation. 

For now! 😉

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[Ex-Airbalancer]

2 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

If your 8/22 cruise edocs get reissued, they'll likely list the new rate as well.

People on the Voyager doing b2b , have found the Aug 21 cruise is @$14.50 and the Aug 28 cruise @$16  , that is why I think the increase starts in September 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 minutes ago, bucfan2 said:

Not quite a 10% increase….that beats inflation. 

It more than 10% increase , 10% of $14.50 is $1.45 , the increase is $1.50 

[bucfan2]

3 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

For now! 😉

 

Exactly.

[Biker19]

23 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

People on the Voyager doing b2b , have found the Aug 21 cruise is @$14.50 and the Aug 28 cruise @$16  , that is why I think the increase starts in September 

 

Again, if anyone has edocs reissued for any sailing after about 7/26, it may list the new rate, including the 8/21 Voyager sailing.

 

This says nothing of what will actually happen on the ship - the whole thing could be an IT screw up and RCI hit the submit button on all the revised edocs too early.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Biker19

[bucfan2]

4 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

It more than 10% increase , 10% of $14.50 is $1.45 , the increase is $1.50 

Good point…my bad.  By time people read this, 10% will sound even better.  Should have saved the comment for a few months and just said ‘significantly lower than inflation’.

Edited July 31, 2022 by bucfan2

[livingonthebeach]

3 hours ago, brillohead said:

As has been stated, some restaurants pool their tips.  Others involve the waitstaff "retipping" their bartenders and bussers a percentage of their sales.  I have a friend who has worked at a casino for over a year.  All their dealer tips get pooled every shift among all the dealers on that shift.  

Tips happen.  Deal with it.  If you don't want to tip people for their work, then go on a different type of vacation.

 

As I have stated, over and over and thrice over again, I give very generous cash tips. I just erased the rest of the stuff I had in store for you!

[S.A.M.J.R.]

18 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

the UN ILO regulates sea farers salaries from any nation who work 70 hours per week.  The minimum is sat at $1200 per month.

So let me get this right...

 

70 hours/week * 4 weeks = 280 hours/month.

$1200/month / 280 hours/month = $4.29(rounded)/hour.  

 

Yup, that's a significant salary.  

 

Now, something else to ask... how many of you tip the baggage porters at port?  I found this sign while walking off the ship at PC last week:

 

[Tlbecker1]

1 minute ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

So let me get this right...

 

70 hours/week * 4 weeks = 280 hours/month.

$1200/month / 280 hours/month = $4.29(rounded)/hour.  

 

Yup, that's a significant salary.  

 

Now, something else to ask... how many of you tip the baggage porters at port?  I found this sign while walking off the ship at PC last week:

 

Wow!  We will be in Seattle in 2 weeks, I am curious if they will have a sign there too.  We always tip the porters.

[nelblu]

12 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

So let me get this right...

 

70 hours/week * 4 weeks = 280 hours/month.

$1200/month / 280 hours/month = $4.29(rounded)/hour.  

 

Yup, that's a significant salary.  

 

Now, something else to ask... how many of you tip the baggage porters at port?  I found this sign while walking off the ship at PC last week:

 

My memory may be a bit amiss, but didn't Starbucks eliminate tipping jars.

 

Funny instance, when we were in Rome a few years ago, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the Vatican.  Even though the bill showed an amount as a table cover charge, the waiter seeing us as Americans tried tom tell us that grats was not included.  We knew better but left a couple of Euros for his effort and audacity.😄

[Ocean Boy]

22 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

 

Now, something else to ask... how many of you tip the baggage porters at port?  I found this sign while walking off the ship at PC last week:

 

In Port Everglades the porters are sure not shy about bringing up the subject of tipping. One told me about how he was going to get my luggage all the way right to my cabin.🙄

[brillohead]

 

38 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

As I have stated, over and over and thrice over again, I give very generous cash tips. I just erased the rest of the stuff I had in store for you!

 

My point wasn't that you're not tipping at all, but rather that you're somehow bothered by the "unknown formula" for the distribution of the tip money:

 

15 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

I have to believe that when I go to any restaurant and tip my waiter/waitress it goes directly to them and not to the owner to be divided by some unknown formula to contribute to the busboys' and dishwashers' salaries. 

Plain and simple, it's not our business to know every detail of where money goes once we pay it to a person or business.  The waitstaff at your land-based restaurant may have to pay part of their tip money to a busser or bartender, or maybe they have to send it to the court for child support, or maybe they have to send it to the bank to pay their car loan, or maybe they have to send it to their electricity supplier, etc.  Not any of our business.  


If you tip over and above the Daily Service Charge, fine and dandy.  That's entirely your choice.  

 

But if you're removing the DSC and only tipping cash to the people you see in person (even if that amount totals more than what they DSC would be), that's when people would say you're cheating the hard-working staff out of their portion of the tip money.  

 

 

If I can't afford the DSC, then I can't afford the cruise.  I have eleven cruises already booked that I could prepay the gratuities on to save myself the $10.50/week, but IMO the staff deserve every penny of that $10.50 in the current economic situation, so I'm not going to do it.  That's my own personal preference. 

 

 

You do you, Boo.  Just know that if you're removing the DSC, plenty of people are judging you.  😉

 

 

 

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

31 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

Wow!  We will be in Seattle in 2 weeks, I am curious if they will have a sign there too.  We always tip the porters.

 

12 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

In Port Everglades the porters are sure not shy about bringing up the subject of tipping. One told me about how he was going to get my luggage all the way right to my cabin.🙄

I will point out that sign wasn't visible until we were walking OFF the ship (before we got to our bags).

 

After our cruise, we had time to kill before our flight, so we went to Disney Springs and had lunch.  When the bill came (for six of us), not only was there a line included for "Gratuity", but an area with "Suggested Tips for your convenience", circled by the server.  They wanted me to tip twice?  

 

I get being upset over the costs changing after booking.  BUT:

A) If you pre-pay, you can pay at the old rate.  Which makes sense to me.  Trying to keep up on a ship with which cabins are old rate and which cabins are new rates seems like it would be too much for Royal's IT department.  Pre-pay at the old rate and be done with it.

B) The $1.50/day/person increase would have cost us an extra $72 (6 people * 8 days).  On a $9000 cruise (again, 6 of us).  Seems a strange amount to get upset about. 

[Host Hattie]

29 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Funny instance, when we were in Rome a few years ago, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the Vatican.  Even though the bill showed an amount as a table cover charge, the waiter seeing us as Americans tried tom tell us that grats was not included.  We knew better but left a couple of Euros for his effort and audacity

The cover charge in Italy isn't a service charge

[brillohead]

10 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

After our cruise, we had time to kill before our flight, so we went to Disney Springs and had lunch.  When the bill came (for six of us), not only was there a line included for "Gratuity", but an area with "Suggested Tips for your convenience", circled by the server.  They wanted me to tip twice?  

The area with the "suggested tips" is just a cheat-sheet for people who don't know how to figure percentages.  

It's so you know what dollar amount to put on the "Gratuity" line on the merchant copy of the charge slip.

 

[Tlbecker1]

On our May TA on the Anthem the stateroom attendant left only 1 tipping envelope with his name and our room number all filled out.  That was a first for us.

[brillohead]

5 minutes ago, Tlbecker1 said:

On our May TA on the Anthem the stateroom attendant left only 1 tipping envelope with his name and our room number all filled out.  That was a first for us.

I've had that once or twice.  

Usually, they leave two envelopes, but I like to tip my room attendant, my waiter, and my assistant waiter.  So I've just been "eco-friendly" and handing them the cash directly without an envelope.  (I leave the room attendant's cash on top of the bed.)  

Nobody seems to mind the fact that there's no envelope.  LOL

[Tlbecker1]

51 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I've had that once or twice.  

Usually, they leave two envelopes, but I like to tip my room attendant, my waiter, and my assistant waiter.  So I've just been "eco-friendly" and handing them the cash directly without an envelope.  (I leave the room attendant's cash on top of the bed.)  

Nobody seems to mind the fact that there's no envelope.  LOL

I am sure that they don’t mind, cash is cash!  I just had never had anyone do that before.