Do room stewards know that you prepaid gratiuties?

[ldubs]

On 8/18/2022 at 8:36 PM, rudeney said:

"Tip creep" is a real problem.   I'm not talking about traditional tipped positions like restaurant and bar servers, cruise ship crew, etc. but the almost endless line of people who have their hands out for a tip.  Fast food and counter service restaurants have "tip jars" or "tip buttons" on their pay pads.  What's next?  Will I have to tip my HOA representative?  My veterinarian?  The cashier at the Dollar General?  I've long been a proponent of tipping because I believe it puts the customer in charge of the service provider's compensation where it's the customer who is in the best position to evaluate performance.  But this expectation that every person who deals with the public "deserves" a tip is just ridiculous.  I think the pendulum will swing so far out that people will get "tip overload" and just stop tipping everyone.  

 

"Tip Creep".  I never thought of that term, but have to agree.  Tip jars and/or expectations seem to be popping up everywhere.   I live in a tipping culture, but I have to admit it seems to be getting out of hand.   

[ldubs]

On 8/19/2022 at 5:42 AM, DirtyDawg said:

I am a huge fan of "tip creep". Please folks, tip your kids' University Professors - OK just the ones who teach Economics and Finance - you can skip all those general arts Profs if you like. I think a $ grand from each student at the end of each semester would be appropriate. Prof Dawg needs to cruise more! 😉

 

After that I'll agree with you 1000%. "Tip creep" is a real, HUGE, MASSIVE, problem!!! 😁

 

 

hahah -- I feel I already made a big contribution for our four kids!  All doing well and productive members of society -- thank you!  

[DirtyDawg]

33 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

 

hahah -- I feel I already made a big contribution for our four kids!  All doing well and productive members of society -- thank you!  

You've lost your chance then to tip your kids wonderful, dedicated,  GOAT Economics and Finance Profs. It's the kids' parents who are coming up who should be tipping!😁 And tipping BIG like we all do here at CC.

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by DirtyDawg

[Ocean Boy]

49 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

 And tipping BIG like we all do here at CC.

 

And don't forget...make sure to tell everyone what a big tipper you are or it's all for nothing.

[DirtyDawg]

1 minute ago, Ocean Boy said:

And don't forget...make sure to tell everyone what a big tipper you are or it's all for nothing.

You don't have to worry about that around here. Very chatty bunch.😉

[Bird82]

11 hours ago, the penguins said:

Sorry which part isn't true?

In this instance it doesn't matter what you or I understand by "gratuitues" it's how Royal (and every major main line cruise) intreprets/ uses the word.

What matters is the "bottom line" which is simply if anyone removes the auto grats then some people on board will be getting less than they otherwise would.

Personally I would rather auto grats were simply included in the basic fare with no option to remove them. But until Royal does that I will continue to pay the auto and tip extra as and when the service I get warrants it.

 

This is simply not true. I don’t think you comprehend what a gratuity/tip is. 

[thethreeofus]

On 8/19/2022 at 5:55 AM, SilkySal said:

I didn't think so either; however, a few years ago (can't remember when exactly), we were on a B2B. On turnaround day, we noticed a room steward, who seemed very upset. We stopped to ask him if he was ok. He proceeded to tell us that he had been taking care of 2 cabins all week and the young guests occupying the cabins were extremely messy and he worked very hard for them. He was angry that they had their gratuities removed and did not leave him any tips whatsoever. So, now I wonder if they are able to find out when gratuities are removed. Just sayin' that was our experience.

Your observation makes sense on turnaround day.    “We've been assured by various cruise lines that crew members aren't told which passengers have removed their auto-gratuities until after the sailing has ended, but we understand the concern that quality of service could suffer if crew members did find out.”

[Morecruisesplz]

On 8/19/2022 at 8:55 AM, SilkySal said:

Seemed very upset. 

Meaning what? Crying, banging head against cabin door? Maybe he was just trying to get you to pony up some cash. The whole story sounds bizarre!

Edited August 21, 2022 by fredmdcruisers
Typo

[Morecruisesplz]

14 hours ago, brillohead said:

Problem solved, no moral dilemma.

 

Outdated information. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 8/18/2022 at 7:32 PM, jkx said:

I usually do it so I don't have to worry about it at the end, but it would be nice to get the service at the beginning of the cruise from the room steward since he/she knows that his tips were paid for.

we have always got great service (except for once - on NCL - it was just ok), but we never prepay the gratuities.

Edited August 21, 2022 by Itchy&Scratchy

[brillohead]

2 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Outdated information. 

How so?

[PhillyFan33579]

6 hours ago, thethreeofus said:

Your observation makes sense on turnaround day.    “We've been assured by various cruise lines that crew members aren't told which passengers have removed their auto-gratuities until after the sailing has ended, but we understand the concern that quality of service could suffer if crew members did find out.”

i am friends with several cabin stewards who work for RCI. They know which cabins pre-pay gratuities and they know if gratuities are removed during a cruise, since RCI charges gratuities on a daily basis. What they don’t know until after the cruise is if a passenger removes gratuities on the last day of the cruise. They also know the history of passengers who have removed gratuities in the past. 

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, Bird82 said:

This is simply not true. I don’t think you comprehend what a gratuity/tip is. 

Repeating your statement doesn't help.

What part of my statement isn't true?

[the penguins]

10 hours ago, CanHardlyWait4NextYear said:

Well the "system" also states you can remove them if you want. It's an imperfect system start to finish. This is like the main thing I hate about cruising. 

You are correct about the "system" but it has to be like that for tax purposes otherwise everything would be counted as pay. This doesn't affect any US citizens working on the ship as their tax is handled by the ship. However all other nationalities are responsible for their own tax returns and in some countries pay and tips are taxed differently.

A typical RCI ship will have over 50 nationalities in the crew.

 

[crazyank]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

i am friends with several cabin stewards who work for RCI. They know which cabins pre-pay gratuities and they know if gratuities are removed during a cruise, since RCI charges gratuities on a daily basis. What they don’t know until after the cruise is if a passenger removes gratuities on the last day of the cruise. They also know the history of passengers who have removed gratuities in the past. 

We doubt this very highly.  Why would a cabin steward have access to financial information about a guest account? 

[Saab4444]

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

i am friends with several cabin stewards who work for RCI. They know which cabins pre-pay gratuities and they know if gratuities are removed during a cruise, since RCI charges gratuities on a daily basis. What they don’t know until after the cruise is if a passenger removes gratuities on the last day of the cruise. They also know the history of passengers who have removed gratuities in the past. 

Sure, they also know how much a guest has paid for his vacation, what car he drives and how much money he has in his bank account! Do you know anything about personal data protection law and how much a company can be sued for breaching this law by giving past data to a cabin steward?

[cublet]

Hello,

 

I always 'auto-pay' my grats and pay cash in addition to the individuals I have dealt with face-to-face throughout the cruise.

 

I like what used to happen: You would be given a pile of envelopes and a pre-printed form with perforations providing a tear-off slip to put in the envelopes to give to each recipient.

 

If what has been said here is correct and my cabin steward knows I 'auto-pay', is the single envelope he puts on my bed on the penultimate day a way of saying 'Thanks for the tip - but I would like some more'?

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Coralc]

3 minutes ago, cublet said:

If what has been said here is correct and my cabin steward knows I 'auto-pay', is the single envelope he puts on my bed on the penultimate day a way of saying 'Thanks for the tip - but I would like some more'?

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

 

Yes. 

[Bird82]

1 hour ago, the penguins said:

Repeating your statement doesn't help.

What part of my statement isn't true?

Repeating your statement doesn’t help. 

[brillohead]

1 hour ago, crazyank said:

We doubt this very highly.  Why would a cabin steward have access to financial information about a guest account? 

Maybe because they are allocated X dollars per passenger during each sailing, so if they are NOT going to receive that money, the cruise line informs them so they know what to expect in their paycheck that week?  

 

[Ourusualbeach]

There was a thread years ago that actually showed a printout by cabin and it showed who had prepaid gratuities, who was daily and who had removed.

 

No other financial information and not sure why some think the 2 are related.

 

To me, providing this information to the stewards would be an incemtive for them to ensure that they provided top notch service as many do remove gratuities and tip in cash as opposed to a reason to provide inferior service. 

 

JMO

[Sancho_proudfoot]

When we first started cruising  it was "distribute envelopes on the last night" tipping,  which we went along with. We got irritated by the maitre d' who we hadn't seen all cruise, oozing over  to our table on that last night  seeking his envelope. 

 

When auto  gratuity kicked in, we tried having the maitre d' deducted from the distribution, figuring he was probably better paid than the assistant  waiter and didn't  seem to add anything anyway. 

 

Prices in Europe/UK for cruises are way higher than in the US, so just the cruise is expensive enough, without being asked to help pay the staff wages  too. 

 

We now remove auto gratuity and tip for  better than average service. 

[livingonthebeach]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

There was a thread years ago that actually showed a printout by cabin and it showed who had prepaid gratuities, who was daily and who had removed.

 

No other financial information and not sure why some think the 2 are related.

 

To me, providing this information to the stewards would be an incemtive for them to ensure that they provided top notch service as many do remove gratuities and tip in cash as opposed to a reason to provide inferior service. 

 

JMO

 

Not disputing this was ever done but by the same token was there a printout for the dining room staff as well? After all, they supposedly get a percentage of those tips. So if the cabin steward knows, how about the head waiter, assistant waiter, maitre d'? Only the hairdresser knows for sure 🤪

[Ourusualbeach]

8 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Not disputing this was ever done but by the same token was there a printout for the dining room staff as well? After all, they supposedly get a percentage of those tips. So if the cabin steward knows, how about the head waiter, assistant waiter, maitre d'? Only the hairdresser knows for sure 🤪

All I can say is that it was done for the cabin attendants.

[brillohead]

11 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Not disputing this was ever done but by the same token was there a printout for the dining room staff as well? After all, they supposedly get a percentage of those tips. So if the cabin steward knows, how about the head waiter, assistant waiter, maitre d'? Only the hairdresser knows for sure 🤪

I don't recall who it was, but back when Galley Tours were still a thing, someone reported seeing such a list posted on a bulletin board in the kitchen for the servers.