Tipping on Silversea

[MrsWaldo]

I've often left a little "future port cash" for my butler and suite attendant based on service and added to the crew fund. Didn't tip last trip.

 

Future cash lets them arrive in port with local currency eg after my upcoming Shadow the ship heads to Japan so I was taking Yen.  It's always been well received with a past butler finding me while waiting to debark to thank me.

 

Recently in Australia a few restaurants have started to add a 5% service charge to the bill.  Some of those restaurants have had exceptional service in the past, so I have shown more than 5% appreciation. Once that obligatory 5% is on the bill, I wont tip a penny more.  

 

A colleagues daughter has worked long term at one of these restaurants.  Her tip income since implementation has fallen considerably  

 

 

The losers in this may well be the staff.  

 

[Techno123]

@frantic36 your views are the same as mine. We both live in countries where service staff are paid properly and I hope/believe that on the luxury cruise ships this is also the case.

 

I find the whole gratuity thing uncomfortable to navigate and so I choose cruise lines that have them included. If I have already paid the gratuity as part of the fare (or like on Oceania it has been included in the SimplyMore package) why would I pay again? I expect the service to be intuitive and excellent - for anything extra it would have to be exceptional 😁

 

Personally, I think the guests who received the begging letter should write a suitable, acerbic comment on it and return to head office!!

[texanaust]

Totally outrageous and if onboard, I would have had a word with the HD.  The whole point of these lines is their inclusiveness.  This is simply a money grab...what's next???

[alexandria]

17 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

Truly shocked. 

That letter is in extremely bad taste.

[saminina]

18 hours ago, A Tucson Guy said:

 I used to live in Hawaii, hence I have a large collection of Tommy Bahama silk shirts, which I wear when I play golf, almost daily. All the Tommy shirts have a little cloth insert inside with five letters written on it. The letters are RELAX. I look at the insert every time I put the shirt on.

Interesting!

Edited March 17 by saminina

[Dolcevita Diva]

And now it appears that Silversea is introducing a new fare category called Essential for bookings close to sailing date that does not include gratuities.  Nor butler service, beverages, multiple dining options, wifi or excursions. 🤨   

 

Go take a look at the brochure shared by AtlantaCruiser72 in the Door-to-door vs. Port-to-port thread.   Will be interesting to learn the details of these exclusions and how they will be managed, but I am frankly speechless that they are unbundling core elements of Silversea's brand experience like this. 

 

[caviargal]

16 minutes ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

And now it appears that Silversea is introducing a new fare category called Essential for bookings close to sailing date that does not include gratuities.  Nor butler service, beverages, multiple dining options, wifi or excursions. 🤨   

 

Go take a look at the brochure shared by AtlantaCruiser72 in the Door-to-door vs. Port-to-port thread.   Will be interesting to learn the details of these exclusions and how they will be managed, but I am frankly speechless that they are unbundling core elements of Silversea's brand experience like this. 

 

Sounds much like what Celebrity has done, undone and more than once.  We took our family on Celebrity last year in Aqua Class.  The inclusions we received are now gone. And it was a PITA to have EVERYONE show their individual cards in the lounges when we wanted to order a drink.  It compromised service big time.  It had been 14 or so years since my last cruise with them and I doubt there will be another as we prefer an all inclusive resort when taking the kids and grandkids.

If this is true about SS, I would be shocked as well as disappointed. 

[Dolcevita Diva]

And with a second look, there is a disparity within the brochure.

Page 2 states that Essential fares include all onboard luxury inclusions and lists Food & Beverage and Butler service as included.  But the chart on page 3 has red Xs for 

• Multiple dining options and beverages
• Butler service, onboard gratuities and Wi-Fi

 

So this could just be very sloppy marketing and perhaps they are not unbundling to that extent.    Unless they correct their flyer before tomorrow, there will be much confusion and possibly misdirected anger with the rollout of these new fares. 

[Dolcevita Diva]

2 minutes ago, caviargal said:

Sounds much like what Celebrity has done, undone and more than once.  We took our family on Celebrity last year in Aqua Class.  The inclusions we received are now gone. And it was a PITA to have EVERYONE show their individual cards in the lounges when we wanted to order a drink.  It compromised service big time.  It had been 14 or so years since my last cruise with them and I doubt there will be another as we prefer an all inclusive resort when taking the kids and grandkids.

If this is true about SS, I would be shocked as well as disappointed. 

Yes, if this is true, it is changing Silversea's entire experience where everyone has a butler, can dine in all restaurants, look at or think about beverage ricing, etc.  You are absolutely right -having to go through the process of charging for beverages other than Connoisseur list wines or higher end spirits for a specific group of passengers based on fare category will undoubtedly slow service down.   Here's hoping this is just a sloppy job of flyer preparation by the marketing team and those red Xs go away. 

[commodoredave]

On 3/16/2024 at 11:59 AM, Texas Tillie said:

 

I'll be glad when my May cruise on Nova is finished where I'm using most of the future cruise credit I received after Silversea messed up so badly on the previous cruise I had booked but never took. The balance of the FCC can, well, you get it. After May I won't be back here and will delete the other social media site. Silversea/Royal Caribbean will then be a memory. I'm sure it was a fine line before Royal Caribbean.

Unfortunately, SS seems to be far more interested in marketing wonderful cruises than delivering them. I have 3 more booked in the next 12 months. After that, I may go elsewhere, including back to Regent.

[commodoredave]

3 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

And now it appears that Silversea is introducing a new fare category called Essential for bookings close to sailing date that does not include gratuities.  Nor butler service, beverages, multiple dining options, wifi or excursions. 🤨   

 

Go take a look at the brochure shared by AtlantaCruiser72 in the Door-to-door vs. Port-to-port thread.   Will be interesting to learn the details of these exclusions and how they will be managed, but I am frankly speechless that they are unbundling core elements of Silversea's brand experience like this. 

 

Absolutely stupid if true. Now, if they removed free excursions it would be an improvement!

[commodoredave]

14 hours ago, Techno123 said:

@frantic36 your views are the same as mine. We both live in countries where service staff are paid properly and I hope/believe that on the luxury cruise ships this is also the case.

 

I find the whole gratuity thing uncomfortable to navigate and so I choose cruise lines that have them included. If I have already paid the gratuity as part of the fare (or like on Oceania it has been included in the SimplyMore package) why would I pay again? I expect the service to be intuitive and excellent - for anything extra it would have to be exceptional 😁

 

Personally, I think the guests who received the begging letter should write a suitable, acerbic comment on it and return to head office!!

Some people tip more regardless of the fact that gratuities are included in the fare. Over time, this creates a culture of tip entitlement, where crew and ship management expect pax to tip more and more. I am guilty of this syndrome, and need to reevaluate my own tipping history. It is not necessary, nor should it be expected.

[saminina]

34 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

 I am guilty of this syndrome, and need to reevaluate my own tipping history. It is not necessary, nor should it be expected.

It's about time.  It's human and anything else that breathes nature to expect to be fed once the habit begins.  Feeding your pet is expected.  Animals/birds not living in cages find a way to survive.  Crew survives quite nicely without your added contributions.  Total insanity.

[Observer]

12 minutes ago, saminina said:

  Crew survives quite nicely without your added contributions.  

 

I believe that this is an unfortunate statement. I have come to know the number of crew during my hundreds of days on Silversea.  Most of them come from the global south. Many of them are supporting (often extended) families back home on their earnings.  They deserve our empathy.  

[Observer]

1 hour ago, commodoredave said:

Some people tip more regardless of the fact that gratuities are included in the fare.

 

Those people may believe that a $20 tip for a bartender who has looked after one well is a concrete way of expressing appreciation.  

 

1 hour ago, commodoredave said:

Over time, this creates a culture of tip entitlement, where crew and ship management expect pax to tip more and more. I am guilty of this syndrome, and need to reevaluate my own tipping history. It is not necessary, nor should it be expected.

 

As I have mentioned previously, I would welcome a situation in which crew were well compensated and there was a well-publicized rule that any crewmember accepting a tip would not have a contract renewed.

 

Other cruise lines offer better packages (including reasonable expectations of tips.)  Two crewmembers I know have moved from Silversea to Cunard.  I have kept in touch with them and both report that they are doing much better financially on Cunard performing the same job they were doing on Silversea.  Another moved to Crystal, again for financial reasons.

[saminina]

1 hour ago, Observer said:

 

I believe that this is an unfortunate statement. I have come to know the number of crew during my hundreds of days on Silversea.  Most of them come from the global south. Many of them are supporting (often extended) families back home on their earnings.  They deserve our empathy.  

I can do empathy.  Never realized many come from the global south.  Good to know.  Still, never a nickel to any one individual.  More crew will be taking the route you described if they can do better elsewhere.  Passengers, too.

Edited March 18 by saminina

[Bullswood]

From the letter quoted above:

 

"However, we are often asked by our guests how they can show further appreciation to our staff. These special acts of kindness and comfort in knowing how you like your coffee in the morning or your preferred cocktail, how you like your meal prepared or having your suite freshened up daily."

 

So daily room cleaning is a "special act of kindness and comfort" which is not a part of the base product and so should be rewarded with a further tip on top of the gratuity included in the elevated fares of this upmarket cruise line? Utterly shocking and probably an embarrassment to the staff too.

Having recently been on Celebrity, it seems that the erosion of "inclusions" is RCI corporate policy.

I trust we will not receive any such unseemly begging on our forthcoming SS cruise.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by Bullswood

[DavyWavey70]

1 minute ago, Bullswood said:

From the letter quoted above:

 

"However, we are often asked by our guests how they can show further appreciation to our staff. These special acts of kindness and comfort in knowing how you like your coffee in the morning or your preferred cocktail, how you like your meal prepared or having your suite freshened up daily."

 

So daily room cleaning is a "special act of kindness and comfort" which should be rewarded with a further tip on top of the gratuity included as part of the comparatively high fare of this upmarket cruise line? Utterly shocking and probably an embarrassment to the staff too.

Having recently been on Celebrity, it seems that the erosion of "inclusions" is RCI corporate policy.

I trust we receive any such unseemly begging on our forthcoming SS cruise.

 

 

 

 

I Still believe that this was a testing the water letter that no HD would ever send to every passenger onboard without corporate approval before being rapidly reappropriated within the group.

[Port Power]

15 hours ago, Dolcevita Diva said:

Yes, if this is true, it is changing Silversea's entire experience where everyone has a butler, can dine in all restaurants, look at or think about beverage ricing, etc.  You are absolutely right -having to go through the process of charging for beverages other than Connoisseur list wines or higher end spirits for a specific group of passengers based on fare category will undoubtedly slow service down.   Here's hoping this is just a sloppy job of flyer preparation by the marketing team and those red Xs go away. 

Yes, I think it is just a sloppy error.  The first page states meals, drinks, butler.  Almost impossible to exclude, actually, as butlers deliver room service.  
 

The main exclusion is removal of shore excursions, which will suit some people perfectly!  And as this category will particularly suit last minute bookings, the cancellation policy is irrelevant anyway.

[dawntrdr]

I've reviewed the three new fare categories published today on the website and none of them, not even D2D, state that they include gratuities.  So maybe that letter on the Dawn was just a precursor to the removal of gratuities from "all inclusive"?

 

[Texas Tillie]

1 hour ago, dawntrdr said:

I've reviewed the three new fare categories published today on the website and none of them, not even D2D, state that they include gratuities.  So maybe that letter on the Dawn was just a precursor to the removal of gratuities from "all inclusive"?

 

 

There's no way they could be considering eliminating gratuities from what's included. They aren't that stupid, are they?? 😏🙃😄

[commodoredave]

7 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

There's no way they could be considering eliminating gratuities from what's included. They aren't that stupid, are they?? 😏🙃😄

Photo opportunity anyone?!

[dawntrdr]

Happy to learn that gratuities are still there in the fare and on-board benefit itemizations, though not specifically mentioned in the short fare descriptions.

[A Tucson Guy]

I am wondering if you go with the Essential fare, can you pay for excursions, transfers and a hotel pre-cruise through SS?

[babydrum]

9 hours ago, Port Power said:

Yes, I think it is just a sloppy error.  The first page states meals, drinks, butler.  Almost impossible to exclude, actually, as butlers deliver room service.  
 

The main exclusion is removal of shore excursions, which will suit some people perfectly!  And as this category will particularly suit last minute bookings, the cancellation policy is irrelevant anyway.

I agree.  Most of the good shore excursions will be unavailable anyway so this lowers the frustration level.  I hope there is a corresponding discount.