Auto-grat poll

[jean87510]

1 hour ago, Vibe said:

The person who is the victim of tip removal probably can't afford to waste their costly and rare internet time on Cruise Critic.

That's right.  How silly of me.  They probably don't even have phones.  Or know what the internet is.  

[A&L_Ont]

13 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

That's right.  How silly of me.  They probably don't even have phones.  Or know what the internet is.  

To be honest you would more likely find these posters somewhere other than CC. Crew Centre is an example where I see crew post items of concern. 

[StrikeEagle]

This poll reminds me of the Church Lady

[jean87510]

38 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

To be honest you would more likely find these posters somewhere other than CC. Crew Centre is an example where I see crew post items of concern. 

Yes, I do read there occasionally as I was curious about another subject related to medical staffing.  I was just making a point that IMO this is not anyones concern about who takes gratuities off let alone make a poll about it.  

[BirdTravels]

On 2/25/2023 at 9:18 PM, goldfish65 said:

I was attempting to make it a straightforward poll without getting into the usual bickering. 

And the purpose of the poll????? was to encourage/reinforce bad behavior... of removing auto grats?

[Morecruisesplz]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

And the purpose of the poll????? was to encourage/reinforce bad behavior... of removing auto grats?

Do you always insist that your way is the right way? Must be fun to be around. 

[BirdTravels]

4 minutes ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Do you always insist that your way is the right way? Must be fun to be around. 

I love you. You stalk me on the boards and have such nice things to say, always. Thank you so much for all of the time you spend on CC. 

[Ryder101]

Automatic gratuities can be removed at guest services at any time up until the morning of departure from the ship or by calling guest services from your cabin.

[goldfish65]

50 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

And the purpose of the poll????? was to encourage/reinforce bad behavior... of removing auto grats?

Not at all. On one of the recent tipping threads, people were speculating about the percentage, so I thought an informal yes or no poll would give a general idea. I hoped by suggesting "let's not comment" that people would simply vote and move on.

Edited February 27, 2023 by goldfish65

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

I love you. You stalk me on the boards and have such nice things to say, always. Thank you so much for all of the time you spend on CC. 

No one is stalk you. You just are not used to having your inaccuracies pointed out. You are just verbose and insistent on spreading untruths. I am not the who is "rare."

[Stede Bonnet]

I like the poll

[ramja96]

On 2/25/2023 at 8:23 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

Why would you as the OP, request no comments🤔

 

Better yet - how could you possibly expect there NOT to be any comments???

[teddybear231]

We always prepay our gratuities so that we don't have to worry about it once aboard. Then we usually tip our room steward and dining staff additional cash.

[The Fun Researcher]

There is a far higher percentage than I thought who remove auto-gratuities.  I would have guessed low single digits.

 

I see some rationale on both sides but lean far in favor of just leaving them (or prepaying). 

 

I can't get onboard with those that remove them and then don't distribute them manually regardless. 

 

I'll just assume they distribute them manually unless service is bad.  Manually doing it still smacks of the mindset that these folks somehow think they know better than Royal how to distribute gratuities.  So be it.

 

To make cross shopping easier I would like to see gratuities rolled into the price for all cruise lines in North America. (like the airlines were forced to do with all the taxes and fees years ago.  Still provide the option to remove them onboard if warranted.

[John&LaLa]

15 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

There is a far higher percentage than I thought who remove auto-gratuities.  I would have guessed low single digits.

 

I see some rationale on both sides but lean far in favor of just leaving them (or prepaying). 

 

I can't get onboard with those that remove them and then don't distribute them manually regardless. 

 

I'll just assume they distribute them manually unless service is bad.  Manually doing it still smacks of the mindset that these folks somehow think they know better than Royal how to distribute gratuities.  So be it.

 

To make cross shopping easier I would like to see gratuities rolled into the price for all cruise lines in North America. (like the airlines were forced to do with all the taxes and fees years ago.  Still provide the option to remove them onboard if warranted.

 

Absolutely no way this is a valid scientific poll. 😉

[The Fun Researcher]

1 minute ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Absolutely no way this is a valid scientific poll. 😉

True.  It just got me thinking out loud I guess.  🙂

[Morecruisesplz]

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

ll just assume they distribute them manually unless service is bad.  Manually doing it still smacks of the mindset that these folks somehow think they know better than Royal how to distribute gratuities.  

Grats are for service. How could Royal possibly know better than the customer how the service was? How can you even think that thought process is valid. Do you let the restaurant owner decide who gets your tip, handing it to the owner and not the waiter?

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Grats are for service. How could Royal possibly know better than the customer how the service was? How can you even think that thought process is valid. Do you let the restaurant owner decide who gets your tip, handing it to the owner and not the waiter?

 

FWIW, I tip on my CC on land. No idea where it goes

[Beeline Cruiser]

I have never done tips before and the crew still have a ball! Yeah honestly though I think that's pretty normal for the inside and window cabins - the suites make up the difference with butlers? And I'm almost positive they get wages and seriously who wouldn't want to live on a cruise ship?? LOL

[The Fun Researcher]

4 hours ago, fredmdcruisers said:

Grats are for service. How could Royal possibly know better than the customer how the service was? How can you even think that thought process is valid. Do you let the restaurant owner decide who gets your tip, handing it to the owner and not the waiter?

Very different things.  Gratuities on a cruise ship are for an expected level of service and are a fixed amount daily.  If I get that level of service, the folks on the ship get exactly what is suggested, and expected.  In our case, in addition they also get whatever extra we decide to give the room steward, wait staff and bar staff in extra cash.  If I somehow had a really bad experience that clearly was the fault of a certain tipped employee, I would ask to remove their gratuity if we couldn't resolve the issue otherwise.

 

Those that remove tips and pay in cash, how do you determine what is appropriate?  I'm guessing by some out of date formula?  Perhaps your whims that day?  If your expectations were met does the amount you hand out at least equal that of what the auto grats would have been?

 

The pay structure for workers on a cruise ship are setup based on the auto gratuity structure since the majority use that method.  It is significantly different than a simple restaurant since there are many more roles on a cruise ship that are impacted by gratuities, at least according to those that seem "to know".

 

Who knows really, so much hearsay and secrets regarding this topic that who knows what the correct answer is.  However, I prefer to let Royal handle it since they are the one setting up the compensation for their workers, and the workers took the job knowing those expectations.

[HBE4]

6 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

There is a far higher percentage than I thought who remove auto-gratuities.  I would have guessed low single digits.

 

I would have guess that as well, considering the CC community seems to have more experienced cruisers. Or maybe that's why it's higher as the new and/or casual cruiser might not even know they can remove auto-grats and maybe some of the more, um, "seasoned" cruises may like the traditional system?

 

Just musing out loud.

Edited March 1, 2023 by HBE4

[Ryder101]

Well...days later and this poll is at 13 1/2% who remove. All the "sources" have said "10 to 15%". Even this poll backs that up.

 

With all the cut backs, I really do see that number rising spring and summer. I'm not saying it should, just saying it's gonna.

[The Fun Researcher]

2 hours ago, Ryder101 said:

 

With all the cut backs, I really do see that number rising spring and summer. I'm not saying it should, just saying it's gonna.

I agree that the percentage may increase, particularly due to the once a day room service.

[Morecruisesplz]

10 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

I agree that the percentage may increase, particularly due to the once a day room service.

And the new dining room menus. (Being forced to pay for specialty dining on Indian food night in MDR.)

[ReneeFLL]

On 2/25/2023 at 1:19 PM, goldfish65 said:

See above. Let's not comment. 

🤣🤣🤣. You post a poll and tell people not to comment? Now that’s funny.