% of guests who remove gratuities

[RogueMonk]

10 hours ago, soremekun said:

I would think it's a low number.  Perhaps 3-5%.

It is my understanding that it's closer to 20%. That is what I was told by a friend who did a contract on RCI at guest services.

[GTO-Girl]

4 hours ago, kruzerci said:

 

Well, technically, the bartenders are supposed to be giving receipts now since the receipts now show how many drinks vouchers you have used. So they may have been planning on it but didn't get a receipt 😄. 

 

But yes, to your point, people are a lot more generous behind their keyboards than they with the tip envelope when nobody is watching. 

In addition to pre-paying our tips we also on the last night tip extra to our room steward, waiters and our favorite bar tender.

 

We are D+ and get 5 drink vouchers per day.  We also tip $1-$2 with each of our free drink vouchers.  So we are not just keyboard warriors…..😁😁

Edited February 26, 2023 by GTO-Girl

[Morecruisesplz]

36 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

In addition to pre-paying our tips we also on the last night tip extra to our room steward, waiters and our favorite bar tender.

 

We are D+ and get 5 drink vouchers per day.  We also tip $1-$2 with each of our free drink vouchers.  So we are not just keyboard warriors…..😁😁

Just what so many are reporting. Meaning those who are so proud of just paying pre-paid tips are underpaying in the real world.

[BennyandBo]

2 hours ago, RogueMonk said:

It is my understanding that it's closer to 20%. That is what I was told by a friend who did a contract on RCI at guest services.

I totally believe it's that high. Why some who think everyone but them is cheap don't believe it is beyond me.

[neverbeenhere]

Removing gratuities does not necessarily mean non tipping. We lived in the cash tip era for a long time after auto grat became the norm. But money hasn’t been an issue for us since 1989, so we always paid a decent amount of cash.

 

please give up worrying about other people’s habits. Be yourself… penny pincher or generous.  Life is way too short to be concerned about what other do or don’t do. 

[easyqueasy]

4 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

And that's the problem.  The mass market lines will continue to have pax subsidize the compensation of most of the ship until they all have a "gratuities included" policy.  And that will never voluntarily happen because the lines that don't change will have a price advantage.

 

Best case scenario is a cruise line tries to make gratuities mandatory but not include them in the advertised base fare and let it go to court as a deceptive advertising practice.

What if Royal started with changing the taxes, fees and port charges total to include gratuities? The price per person advertised for booking still remains the same and total price remains the same as with prepaid gratuities selected. 

[BennyandBo]

5 minutes ago, easyqueasy said:

What if Royal started with changing the taxes, fees and port charges total to include gratuities? The price per person advertised for booking still remains the same and total price remains the same as with prepaid gratuities selected. 

Fraud. They can't just make up the amount of Tax and Port charges.

[easyqueasy]

8 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

Fraud. They can't just make up the amount of Tax and Port charges.

How is it fraud? Does anyone know what each port charge is, what the tax is based off of and what fees are? It’s just being transparent and adding gratuities to the total. Seems no different than restaurants putting in mandatory 15% tips for serving groups of 8 or more. 

[BennyandBo]

1 minute ago, easyqueasy said:

How is it fraud? Does anyone know what each port charge is, what the tax is based off of and what fees are? It’s just being transparent and adding gratuities to the total. Seems no different than restaurants putting in mandatory 15% tips for serving groups of 8 or more. 

YES. LOL people do know what the taxes and Port fees are. LOL. You can't say oh most don't so let's bake this into them. That's is the very definition of fraud. Port fees get refunded when a port has to be passed up etc. These costs have to remain transparent. And when a restaurant ads mandatory gratuities for large parties they post in menu and inform upfront. I honestly cannot believe you think cooking the books is a viable solution to anything. LOL.

[easyqueasy]

4 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

YES. LOL people do know what the taxes and Port fees are. LOL. You can't say oh most don't so let's bake this into them. That's is the very definition of fraud. Port fees get refunded when a port has to be passed up etc. These costs have to remain transparent. And when a restaurant ads mandatory gratuities for large parties they post in menu and inform upfront. I honestly cannot believe you think cooking the books is a viable solution to anything. LOL.

How is it cooking the books if they list taxes, fees, port charges and gratuities as additional? It’s just making it mandatory.

[BennyandBo]

Just now, easyqueasy said:

How is it cooking the books if they list taxes, fees, port charges and gratuities as additional? It’s just making it mandatory.

How is that any different than just raising the price and saying includes gratuities?

[easyqueasy]

2 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

How is that any different than just raising the price and saying includes gratuities?

Because people like to see a lower advertised price so they can compare to other lines and this allows them to be truthful and competitive. 

[BennyandBo]

1 minute ago, easyqueasy said:

Because people like to see a lower advertised price so they can compare to other lines and this allows them to be truthful and competitive. 

But people can read and add. LOL. 

Once they do the math, the lines that don't charge them the gratuity as mandatory will win. Not to mention how well people will take to finding out the bait and switch on page 2.

 

If they (cruise lines) all don't do it, people will pick the lines with the lower total price. 

 

The cruise lines are perfectly happy with this system. The crew are happy or they can move on. The customers are happy (booking have never been better). Some tip, some don't, some auto gratuity, some cash, some nothing. It seems to work for everyone but the people on here. What they get, is not your problem. What I give them, is not your problem. It's my vacation. I'm not on a humanitarian aid mission. 

[easyqueasy]

4 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

But people can read and add. LOL. 

Once they do the math, the lines that don't charge them the gratuity as mandatory will win. Not to mention how well people will take to finding out the bait and switch on page 2.

 

If they (cruise lines) all don't do it, people will pick the lines with the lower total price. 

 

The cruise lines are perfectly happy with this system. The crew are happy or they can move on. The customers are happy (booking have never been better). Some tip, some don't, some auto gratuity, some cash, some nothing. It seems to work for everyone but the people on here. What they get, is not your problem. What I give them, is not your problem. It's my vacation. I'm not on a humanitarian aid mission. 

What people tip/don’t tip, I don’t care. I was responding to DallasGuy’s “Best case scenario is a cruise line tries to make gratuities mandatory but not include them in the advertised base fare and let it go to court as a deceptive advertising practice” by listing it so it’s clearly transparent and you called it fraud. And now it’s bait and switch from being transparent? Hmm. 

[BennyandBo]

3 minutes ago, easyqueasy said:

What people tip/don’t tip, I don’t care. I was responding to DallasGuy’s “Best case scenario is a cruise line tries to make gratuities mandatory but not include them in the advertised base fare and let it go to court as a deceptive advertising practice” by listing it so it’s clearly transparent and you called it fraud. And now it’s bait and switch from being transparent? Hmm. 

"Does anyone know what each port charge is, what the tax is based off of and what fees are?"

 

Read that to yourself. Can you see how that sounded to me? To me it implied, they don't know anyway so let's just stick it under tax or fee. It read like you were implying a few more bucks under tax, a few under port fee, etc, etc. I genuinely thought you were suggesting cooking the books based on that quote. After many posts I understand you were not. You were just spinning his ridiculous argument/suggestion. 

 

His idea of not being transparent and going to court is a real winner. How about everyone but out and let employer and employee handle there business. 

[easyqueasy]

13 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

"Does anyone know what each port charge is, what the tax is based off of and what fees are?"

 

Read that to yourself. Can you see how that sounded to me? To me it implied, they don't know anyway so let's just stick it under tax or fee. It read like you were implying a few more bucks under tax, a few under port fee, etc, etc. I genuinely thought you were suggesting cooking the books based on that quote. After many posts I understand you were not. You were just spinning his ridiculous argument/suggestion. 

 

His idea of not being transparent and going to court is a real winner. How about everyone but out and let employer and employee handle their business. 

Pretty sure you called it fraud in the post before that and went down that road. I was saying if they wanted to implement it it doesn’t have to be deceptive. It’s deceptive now because if you choose to not prepaid the gratuities, they still charge you daily once onboard and you have to cancel it. At least that’s my understanding.

[IJustWantToGo36]

13 hours ago, ante2001 said:

For the record I feel I’m not screwing anyone. A few years back the cruise line recommended gratuity for specific crewmembers. Apparently the other crew members were paid a different salary. I don’t feel bad at all, following the guidelines that the cruise lines recommended in the past. I just feel better knowing that my money is going directly to them, and not at the discretion of the cruise line.

How do you know?   Keeping an old system after it has been changed does not seem smart, unless you have current info.

[Kbonner]

On the many b2b cruises we made friends with 2 financial officers from 2 different ships (even ate dinner with them). Without further compromising them, both stated independently that Royal "takes" a certain percentage of auto gratuities for "handling". The amount was low 2-digit percentage of the auto gratuities. The crew will never see this portion in their pooled pockets.

I do not want to pay salaries for all the behind the curtain crew, this is Royals job and needs to be incorporated in the cruise fare. I want to tip those who serve me .

Since the financial officers confirmation, auto gratuity is not what I endorse.

[rolloman]

A few more observations. For those that want this thread and all tipping discussion nipped. Quick reminder, this is a message board dedicated to cruising discussions. Tipping is currently a hot topic due to recent rise of auto deductions. In addition, there are several who feel that not only is auto tipping not enough or feel the need for random crew performing non-customer facing duties being further compensated...How about this idea??? How about the cruise line tipping me or rewarding me with a fare reduction for my stellar performance as a passenger? How about tipping me if I report to the pier check- in at my stated boarding pass time? How about tipping me for doing a great job of going to my muster station in a timely manner? How about tipping me for treating the crew respectfully? The list can go on and on...proper use of the snoozing and cruising magnet for my cabin door...washing my hands prior to entering the buffet...following debarkation rules...As you can see with these examples there are a lot of expectations put on passengers and since we live in a tipping frenzy world...maybe I deserve a piece of the action too? It certainly makes as much sense as me roaming the passageways and grabbing a random crew member and begin stuffing dollar bills into his shirt while he on his way to repair the plumbing system. 

[BennyandBo]

5 hours ago, easyqueasy said:

Pretty sure you called it fraud in the post before that and went down that road. I was saying if they wanted to implement it it doesn’t have to be deceptive. It’s deceptive now because if you choose to not prepaid the gratuities, they still charge you daily once onboard and you have to cancel it. At least that’s my understanding.

It's not deceptive now because they notify you in advance that's what they are going to do to your credit card on a daily basis. And they notify you in advance that you can remove it. 

 

What's deceptive is what kbonner said they do a few posts above. Skimming tip money off the top for handling fee distribution. A perfect example of why cash tipping is more effective.

[BennyandBo]

3 hours ago, Kbonner said:

On the many b2b cruises we made friends with 2 financial officers from 2 different ships (even ate dinner with them). Without further compromising them, both stated independently that Royal "takes" a certain percentage of auto gratuities for "handling". The amount was low 2-digit percentage of the auto gratuities. The crew will never see this portion in their pooled pockets.

I do not want to pay salaries for all the behind the curtain crew, this is Royals job and needs to be incorporated in the cruise fare. I want to tip those who serve me .

Since the financial officers confirmation, auto gratuity is not what I endorse.

This happens on land sometimes too. That's why I tip cash.

[cello56]

If the cruise lines started including gratuities then we would be having a discussion on how cheap some folks are to not give the staff an 'extra' tip above and beyond the included gratuities? 

 

I am wondering also if the number of people who remove their gratuities will increase once all ships move to once a day cabin service. Considering RCI just increased the auto grats last November and now they are reducing the cabin service by 50%, I wonder if this will be the last straw for some people and have them remove auto grats and move to cash tipping. 

[Kiki and The Noush]

8 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

 

please give up worrying about other people’s habits. Be yourself… penny pincher or generous.  Life is way too short to be concerned about what other do or don’t do. 

That sounds great on paper, but in reality, aren't those of us who pay our grats having to cover for those who don't?  I prepay them, but I am somewhat annoyed that a "gratuity", something that is voluntary and given for recognition of outstanding service is treated as a fee.  

 

At what point, do I as a passenger who prepays grats, think to myself, "why am I subsidizing the wages of the workers for RC when RC is increasing my costs and reducing my benefits?" Or, and perhaps more importantly, "why am I paying a higher amount in grats to subsidize the cost of the cruise for those who are removing them?"

 

Am I the only one here that sees that as the percentage of people who remove them increases, so will the cost of the gratuities increase for those of us who pay them?

 

/rant

[BennyandBo]

11 minutes ago, Kiki and The Noush said:

That sounds great on paper, but in reality, aren't those of us who pay our grats having to cover for those who don't?  I prepay them, but I am somewhat annoyed that a "gratuity", something that is voluntary and given for recognition of outstanding service is treated as a fee.  

 

At what point, do I as a passenger who prepays grats, think to myself, "why am I subsidizing the wages of the workers for RC when RC is increasing my costs and reducing my benefits?" Or, and perhaps more importantly, "why am I paying a higher amount in grats to subsidize the cost of the cruise for those who are removing them?"

 

Am I the only one here that sees that as the percentage of people who remove them increases, so will the cost of the gratuities increase for those of us who pay them?

 

/rant

Nobody is forcing you to pay them. It literally is that simple. Pay or remove is your choice, Nobody else's. Yours.

[TwoMisfits]

You do get the service you pay for.

 

And just like at a land restaurant, if you remove the tip, you are leaving yourself open to having subpar service offered to you on future cruises, especially in your room and the main dining hall (where you are exactly identified).

 

Now that this is all digitized, I am sure that the cruise management is very aware in the aggregate of what percent of returning cruisers on their sailing have removed tips in the past, and they may even know that info person by person.

 

TL/DR - If I ever remove tips, I'm not going back on a cruise on that cruise line for a decade+.  

Edited February 26, 2023 by TwoMisfits