Rotten on the Rotterdam? (A question about crew appreciation)

[richwmn]

23 minutes ago, RuthC said:

It's a tax advantage to the crew. In the countries of at least some of them wages are taxed, but tips are not. 
I have no idea if there are any tax advantages to the company or not. 

I have a friend that owned a restaurant. Tips reported on charge slips and passed directly to the servers do not count as income to the restaurant so are not taxed to the restaurant. The situation with HAL / Carnival may be the same or similar.

[HALcruiser2001]

On 12/11/2022 at 6:51 PM, tuolumne couple said:

I have also been at the front desk for some innocuous reason and heard people requesting the same thing. I cannot imagine why and would never ever consider removing the crew appreciation. I appreciate all that they do. Did your wife find her earring?

 

 

Maybe they tipped direct and didn't know about service charge.

[Copper10-8]

On 12/12/2022 at 10:44 AM, Sir PMP said:

Probably a Canadian😀

 

Well, you've heard about the slur "Going Dutch," have ya, Meneer uit Den Haag? 🤓

Edited December 14, 2022 by Copper10-8

[ski ww]

In Europe the gratuities are included in your bill (18%)

[Sir PMP]

8 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Well, you've heard about the slur "Going Dutch," have ya, Meneer uit Den Haag? 🤓

That's for Amsterdammers.

[Banditswife]

In my opinion- even if I felt I got bad service from a crew member, I would still leave the auto gratuity in place.  The best place to recognize poor service is in the "let us Know" feature of the app or on the post cruise survey.  Letting the ship know of poor behavior from a crew member is better done with words than with reducing their salary (tips.) If the crew member continually gets bad comments, they will either improve their behavior, be demoted or lose their job entirely.  In the US, our bosses cannot reduce our salaries for poor performance, they can, however, terminate our employment.  Crew appreciation is their salary or most of it.  For those of us fortunate enough to cruise $15.50 per day is a minimal amount.

[Infi]

OP's point about Home Depot and bearing the brunt of others using the self-check out reminded me of this anecdote. Several years ago, when the Rotterdam (VI) was based year-round out of Rotterdam, we were told by a crew member in a very high position that the HSC for that ship had to be handled differently. Since most of the Rotterdam passengers removed the HSC as a matter of course, the entire fleet's tips were pooled and divided equally so the Rotterdam crew would get their fair share, despite passenger behavior. An interesting story, and I wonder if that's part of the reason why there hasn't been a HAL ship with an overseas homeport year-round since. 

 

[oakridger]

5 hours ago, Infi said:

OP's point about Home Depot and bearing the brunt of others using the self-check out reminded me of this anecdote. Several years ago, when the Rotterdam (VI) was based year-round out of Rotterdam, we were told by a crew member in a very high position that the HSC for that ship had to be handled differently. Since most of the Rotterdam passengers removed the HSC as a matter of course, the entire fleet's tips were pooled and divided equally so the Rotterdam crew would get their fair share, despite passenger behavior. An interesting story, and I wonder if that's part of the reason why there hasn't been a HAL ship with an overseas homeport year-round since. 

 

I think that is what is currently done.  All ships pool into one fund then money is distributed.  This is the way I read it from below.  Anyone else read it as all ships go into one pool?

 

On the HAL website today:

 

"All of the Crew Appreciation and Service Charge payments made by all guests on all ships in our fleet are pooled, net of credit card transaction fees. The pooled funds are distributed throughout the year in the form of compensation, including bonuses, to crewmembers fleetwide who interact directly with guests and/or behind the scenes throughout every cruise, including those in the Bar, Dining, Entertainment, Housekeeping, Guest Services, Galley and Onboard Revenue areas."

 

~Nancy

[Mickb]

It is a cultural thing. In the UK and Europe a 10% tip is regarded as good. On one of my last trips to the US - ( recently) I was presented with a bill that gave me 3 options to tip between 17.5% - 25% . The bill was already steep  as the restaurant was ‘ in vogue’ and was quite frankly a triumph of style over substance. The service we received was perfunctory and when I asked for an explanation of one of the dishes, eyes were rolled and I was treated as someone who was ‘not all there’! Certainly in any other country such service would not have warranted a tip at all. I chose 17.5% and was asked by the server to justify my choice! I told him exactly why and suggested that we call the manager to discuss the matter further! He flounced off!

I  agree with the poster who pointed out that most of the high end lines have now incorporated gratuities into the price ( albeit higher) - this deals with the problem very neatly. But as I said in the beginning - it is a cultural issue.

[Spotbe]

On 12/12/2022 at 12:46 PM, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I agree with you.

I agree with Mary and Gail. Hi guys!

[Florida_gal_50]

On 12/14/2022 at 8:43 AM, Banditswife said:

In my opinion- even if I felt I got bad service from a crew member, I would still leave the auto gratuity in place.  The best place to recognize poor service is in the "let us Know" feature of the app or on the post cruise survey.  Letting the ship know of poor behavior from a crew member is better done with words than with reducing their salary (tips.) If the crew member continually gets bad comments, they will either improve their behavior, be demoted or lose their job entirely.  In the US, our bosses cannot reduce our salaries for poor performance, they can, however, terminate our employment.  Crew appreciation is their salary or most of it.  For those of us fortunate enough to cruise $15.50 per day is a minimal amount.

I would probably not remove the gratuity because I tip even when I shouldn't.  I don't know about getting rid of people.  There was one really, really poor waiter in one of the pay extra restaurants.  Lots of complaints about him.  When I came back on the ship for some reason I was talking to one of the crew and his name came up.  He told me they had tons of complaints about him but he went home and after his contract and Hal hired him back.  The crew seemed to know all about him.  That can't be good for morale.

[Banditswife]

23 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I would probably not remove the gratuity because I tip even when I shouldn't.  I don't know about getting rid of people.  There was one really, really poor waiter in one of the pay extra restaurants.  Lots of complaints about him.  When I came back on the ship for some reason I was talking to one of the crew and his name came up.  He told me they had tons of complaints about him but he went home and after his contract and Hal hired him back.  The crew seemed to know all about him.  That can't be good for morale.

Wonder if he was still in same position or got a lesser one.  Like land based businesses HAL probably has trouble finding employees.

[Rumpelstump]

If you have Crew Appreciation included in your cruise fare pre-paid,  then the crew  gets paid your appropriate allocation of money.  Your only remaining option is to decide how much extra you want to give to the crew while onboard.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Banditswife said:

Wonder if he was still in same position or got a lesser one.  Like land based businesses HAL probably has trouble finding employees.

Same position.  In my mind you should learn in the Lido or the mdr not the pay extra restaurants.

[LMaxwell]

I used to get fussed about this and who got what, and what was fair, are they better off w cash, etc.  

 

Now I don't bother at all.  I just leave it alone.

 

As long as things are going 95%+ to plan (which is almost always the case) then there is plenty of money there so everyone gets their share. I don't work for the company, so I can't guess if their distribution system matches what I would prefer or not. Likewise, I don't want to waste vacation time at GS or carry significantly more cash when it can just be auto charged to my credit card. 

 

That said; the option is there and if people prefer to give cash to a select few, so be it. I am sure it's no secret amongst crew that bar staff and stateroom attendants make more cash than those in laundry or dishwashing staff. It's a move up incentive.  If people prefer to save a few hundred bucks and skate out, so be it, I don't control them. As long as I pay for the services I receive, I can't be fussed what others do or don't do. 

 

Some of the people that ask for the least amount of service probably just leave it alone like me; some of the people you watch dropping extra cash all week at their favorite bartender may slip the waiter and room attendant another $100 each and cancel autos. Does it really mater? 

[Mary229]

On 12/15/2022 at 1:24 PM, Mickb said:

It is a cultural thing. In the UK and Europe a 10% tip is regarded as good. On one of my last trips to the US - ( recently) I was presented with a bill that gave me 3 options to tip between 17.5% - 25% . The bill was already steep  as the restaurant was ‘ in vogue’ and was quite frankly a triumph of style over substance. The service we received was perfunctory and when I asked for an explanation of one of the dishes, eyes were rolled and I was treated as someone who was ‘not all there’! Certainly in any other country such service would not have warranted a tip at all. I chose 17.5% and was asked by the server to justify my choice! I told him exactly why and suggested that we call the manager to discuss the matter further! He flounced off!

I  agree with the poster who pointed out that most of the high end lines have now incorporated gratuities into the price ( albeit higher) - this deals with the problem very neatly. But as I said in the beginning - it is a cultural issue.

Wow!  No that is not cultural, that is a jerk.  I would have withdrawn the tip altogether.   Sorry you had such a bad experience 

[babydrum]

On 12/11/2022 at 6:54 PM, Banditswife said:

I wish they would just make it part of the cruise fare.  I heard a woman say that they normally reduce their auto gratuity by about 1/2, then tip more than the other 1/2 to crew members personally.  I wonder if this works out the way they think it does.  Do those crew members receiving personal tips get to keep them? or are they required to include them in the tipping pool?

 

If a crew member goes above what we consider normal service, we tip extra.  But I always wonder if they actually get to keep it.

Some cruise lines like Azamara have made it part of the fare and you still get these threads where people insist on tipping beyond that.  I think on cruise lines where it has been included as part of the fare, the crew should not be allowed to accept tips because it is bound to create a culture where tipping is expected.  They have a crew fund that you can donate to instead and it benefits everyone at the end of the year.  If you just have to give more money, that is the type of option that should exist not additional tipping.