Cruise Staff Salaries, Tips

[BarryOtt]

Hi:

 

Just for interest sake, does anyone know how much cruise staff (stewards, servers, wait staff) get paid or make in tips? If so, how much?

 

On a previous cruise someone at our table mentioned that a waiter makes about 70,000 over 9 months (salary plus tips). I have no idea.

 

Thanks,

Barry

[BobBeaSea]

Here ya go

http://www.cruiseshipjob.com/foodand.htm

 

http://www.cruiseshipjob.com/hotel.htm

[LHT28]

Good site bob

[agabbymama]

Those are interesting websites. While their salaries are not real high, they are better than I had always heard. I've had people say they get paid only like $100 per week. This shows that they do receive a fairly decent salary, they aren't slave labor like some people make it sound.

 

If you figure they probably get the same amount in tips, $3600 to $5000 per month isn't a bad wage, and it could be even higher depending the tips individual people give. I only did the suggested tip.

 

Next question, is do they have to pay taxes on it somewhere? Their home country or the registry of the ship?

[BobBeaSea]

Those are interesting websites. While their salaries are not real high, they are better than I had always heard. I've had people say they get paid only like $100 per week. This shows that they do receive a fairly decent salary, they aren't slave labor like some people make it sound.

 

If you figure they probably get the same amount in tips, $3600 to $5000 per month isn't a bad wage, and it could be even higher depending the tips individual people give. I only did the suggested tip.

 

Next question, is do they have to pay taxes on it somewhere? Their home country or the registry of the ship?

 

Those amounts INCLUDE tips. The crew is responsible for paying income or other taxes in their home countries, only if their laws require them to. The country of registry has nothing to do with it.

[8mpg]

Those are interesting websites. While their salaries are not real high, they are better than I had always heard. I've had people say they get paid only like $100 per week. This shows that they do receive a fairly decent salary, they aren't slave labor like some people make it sound.

 

If you figure they probably get the same amount in tips, $3600 to $5000 per month isn't a bad wage, and it could be even higher depending the tips individual people give. I only did the suggested tip.

 

Next question, is do they have to pay taxes on it somewhere? Their home country or the registry of the ship?

 

I have waited tables for a few years (Im 23 now) and $2000 a month is really low but you have to figure in they get free room/food/entertainment/travel... Id assume that if they are thrifty with their money, they can save 90% of it each month.

[Cricky]

Those are interesting websites. While their salaries are not real high, they are better than I had always heard. I've had people say they get paid only like $100 per week. This shows that they do receive a fairly decent salary, they aren't slave labor like some people make it sound.

 

If you figure they probably get the same amount in tips, $3600 to $5000 per month isn't a bad wage, and it could be even higher depending the tips individual people give. I only did the suggested tip.

 

Next question, is do they have to pay taxes on it somewhere? Their home country or the registry of the ship?[/quote

I dont mean to be rude but, if I read that site correctly the main people that serve you ie. waiter, asst waiter, and cabin stewart average around $2000 per month with tips. Yes I know that they recieve room and board but this does not include laundry, personal products, clothing, entertainment,travel to and from home, etc.Not to mention most of them are sending money home to help support their families. I dont know if they pay some sort of taxes but that would then be another cut from the already low wage.For the amount of time that they put in each week (12hr days,7 days a week) I would consider it slave wages. I am very gratefull for all of the hard work they do to make my vacation a pleasant experiance and always tip above and beyond the recomendation.JMHO

[agabbymama]

Oops, my mistake. I thought that was salary, not tips included. Although

$2000 a month is definitely not slave wages (my son-in-law brings that home after taxes).

 

I do wish the cruiselines just included it as part of the cost of the cruise, instead of calling it a tip though. It is not a tip, when it is automatically added on to you shipboard account.

 

A tip is something you feel you want to leave whether it is for restaurant services or hotel services. On the cruise ship you don't really have a choice, so then it becomes part of the cruisefare.

 

And when anyone tells me I HAVE TO TIP, that tends to make me say, OH NO I DON'T! Although I do leave the auto tips in place, it sometimes rubs me the wrong way.

[BobBeaSea]

Oops, my mistake. I thought that was salary, not tips included. Although

$2000 a month is definitely not slave wages (my son-in-law brings that home after taxes).

 

I do wish the cruiselines just included it as part of the cost of the cruise, instead of calling it a tip though. It is not a tip, when it is automatically added on to you shipboard account.

 

A tip is something you feel you want to leave whether it is for restaurant services or hotel services. On the cruise ship you don't really have a choice, so then it becomes part of the cruisefare.

 

And when anyone tells me I HAVE TO TIP, that tends to make me say, OH NO I DON'T! Although I do leave the auto tips in place, it sometimes rubs me the wrong way.

 

I am in full agreement with you, I also wish the cruiselines would just add the $10.00 pp per day to the fare. Cruise gratuities are one of the least understood nuances of cruising by modern day cruisers, IMO. I find the lines themselves carry a heavy burden of the blame for this. It is very strange that, even with the advantage of the internet and other resource materials, this subject is so widely misunderstood. It was always understood years ago and the stiff rate was about zero vs. today's 25 - 30% or so. I just don't get it....

[KKB]

Most cruise crews are from countries where $24000/year is an ENORMOUS amount of money. I am not trying to justify what the cruise lines pay, AT ALL. BUT realize that a college graduate can expect to make $500/YEAR in India. The outsourcing of many major companies customer service to places like India has been very popular with college grads of the area...they can make several thousand dollars a year. (see how much less the companies must pay these reps compared to US?)

 

Sorry...I digress. The hours are excrutiating on a cruise ship...often split shifts, MAYBE one day off/week, for many months at a time. BUT we have spoken to a couple of different crew members who have said that they will work 5 years on a cruise ship and be set for LIFE in their home country. A couple spoke of opening a business when they "retired" from the cruise life.

 

Also helps one realize why there are SOOO few Americans working on cruise ships...

[melgray13]

I'm glad the cruise line leaves the tips up to us rather than adding it to our price for a couple of reasons:

 

1) I like to reward folks that do a great job. I think there are some folks that work really hard to make my vacation the best, I like reward them.

2) I like the option not to tip or lower the tip based on service. I think this makes me feel like I'm in control.

 

I am glad they offer suggested tip amounts. It provides a good starting point.

 

I guess I think of it like service back home, even if I have a gift certificate that covers my meal, I would still tip for service.

[Meig]

If I lived in a country where the average income was US$255 a MONTH, or approx. $8 per DAY, I would be all over a job that paid me $2-3 an HOUR.

 

Let's use the Philippines as an example since I know many Filipinos are staff on cruiseships.

 

The average income for a family in the Philippines in 2003 was US$3046.00. That was per YEAR.

 

At $3 an hour, working a 12 hours day, staff make $36 a day. That's over 4 times what the average Filipino family brings in per day. And believe me, they work 12 hour days there, too.

 

Unless these people decide they want to live in America, they are making a very good wage at $3 an hour.

 

We tend to view things by what the cost of living rate is here in America so that $3 an hour is like slave wages to us. In their home country these people are doing pretty well, even after taxes.

 

I'm not saying it isn't a hard job. They do work tons of hours, but do you really think back home they are earning $8 per day working a regular 8 to 5 job? Doubtful.

[Meig]

I am in full agreement with you, I also wish the cruiselines would just add the $10.00 pp per day to the fare.

 

 

My husband thinks that if this was the case, then service would suffer for it. He travels extensively and says that in Europe, where tipping is not the norm (or at least not the way it is here in the States) service is not very good, either. Maybe that's being to harsh...but he says service there is different. They aren't working for tips so their attitude is different.

 

I have not traveled in Europe so I don't know, but I found it interesting that he would be against adding tips into the fare for that reason.

 

We like to give tips based on the service we get so some people get higher tips and some get lower (or none, depending on if they do anything for us).

[BobBeaSea]

My husband thinks that if this was the case, then service would suffer for it. He travels extensively and says that in Europe, where tipping is not the norm (or at least not the way it is here in the States) service is not very good, either. Maybe that's being to harsh...but he says service there is different. They aren't working for tips so their attitude is different.

 

I have not traveled in Europe so I don't know, but I found it interesting that he would be against adding tips into the fare for that reason.

 

We like to give tips based on the service we get so some people get higher tips and some get lower (or none, depending on if they do anything for us).

 

Nope, service wouldn't suffer. The crews' performance is constantly measured in so many different ways, the tips they get or don't get do not really matter for their evaluation. The stiff rate on mass market sailings is around 25-30%. The cruise line can pick any particular sailing on any one of their ships and forecast almost to the penny what the tip rate will be. It won't matter what the "service level" is.

 

IMHO, service in hotels in Europe is simply not a good comparison model for service on cruise ships, completely different animal altogether. Service expectations, like food, is subjective. In other words what I would be happy with would annoy someone else.

 

The other factor completely misunderstood is the base tips suggested for the crew are NOT like tipping at home. Anything above the suggested tip amounts IS like tipping at home. This is the way cruising has always been, heck in the "old days' of cruising, probably pre 1995 for a time reference, I think the stiff rate was something less than 5%. The reason is modern cruisers don't understand it and the cruise lines do a terrible job explaining it.

 

Just my thoughts...:)

[BobBeaSea]

I'm glad the cruise line leaves the tips up to us rather than adding it to our price for a couple of reasons:

 

1) I like to reward folks that do a great job. I think there are some folks that work really hard to make my vacation the best, I like reward them.

2) I like the option not to tip or lower the tip based on service. I think this makes me feel like I'm in control.

 

I am glad they offer suggested tip amounts. It provides a good starting point.

 

I guess I think of it like service back home, even if I have a gift certificate that covers my meal, I would still tip for service.

 

You might be glad the cruise lines leave it up to us for the basic tip amounts but I can assure you the crew doesn't want it left up to us. A lot of us don't know what we are doing and a lot of us have unrealistic service expectations.

 

We all like control, allows for a little power tripping and covert blackmail :D

[BobBeaSea]

For the poster that said $3.00 per hour isn't bad.....$5.15 per hour ain't so hot either. :)

[Meig]

The other factor completely misunderstood is the base tips suggested for the crew are NOT like tipping at home. Anything above the suggested tip amounts IS like tipping at home. This is the way cruising has always been, heck in the "old days' of cruising, probably pre 1995 for a time reference, I think the stiff rate was something less than 5%. The reason is modern cruisers don't understand it and the cruise lines do a terrible job explaining it.

 

Can you explain it a little better then? If new cruisers like me are confused, maybe it's because of what it is called...when I think of a "tip" I think of something given out as an extra for a good service provided. Is this not correct? I'd really like to understand this better than I do because I don't want to see the staff get stiffed but I also don't really like the fact that it seems like the cruiselines are relying directly on their passengers (versus indirectly through fares and paying a living wage from the fares) to make sure the staff get a living wage.

 

Did I make sense? :p

[franu]

The wages that the crew makes may be high in their country but the people on shore have the pleasure of living with their families and watching their children grow. Crew is usually signed on by contract for periods which average about 6 months. How many people do you know who would be willing to be away from home that length of time.

 

With that said, it is not my business how much anyone earns. This is not charity. I tip on the basis of good service. I really understand what it is like to depend on tips but they must be earned.

Fran

[BobBeaSea]

Can you explain it a little better then? If new cruisers like me are confused, maybe it's because of what it is called...when I think of a "tip" I think of something given out as an extra for a good service provided. Is this not correct? I'd really like to understand this better than I do because I don't want to see the staff get stiffed but I also don't really like the fact that it seems like the cruiselines are relying directly on their passengers (versus indirectly through fares and paying a living wage from the fares) to make sure the staff get a living wage.

 

Did I make sense? :p

 

Yes, the vast majority of the cruise lines ARE relying on their passengers for paying wait staff and cabin stewards, it has been this way forever. The "tips" used to be called "gratuities" years ago when gratuity meant something different from a tip. The gratuities were paid by the passenger for basic service which is usually pretty darn good service. On mass market ships passengers in cabins other than suites pay the same amount each, about $10.00 per day. This is not much more than it was in 1990.

 

This system worked fine until the explosion in cruise popularity as virtually all passengers knew what was expected of them (and this before the age of the internet). Things changed with the dramatic ship building programs and the widening of the cruising market. Prices were slashed, cruising became downright cheap and subsequently the North American cruising market leaped from about 4 million cruisers in the late 80's to 12 million cruisers today.

 

This is all great stuff but a knowledge gap was created, millions of people were politely informed they should tip certain crewmembers and, while most of them "got it" many did not. Consider also the number of families who cruise, for example parents with 2 children, they book a pair of insides for about $599.00 ea. for a 7 night sailing, late in the sailing dear old Dad is told to come up with an additional $280.00 for the "tips". Whoaaaaa...you're kidding, right? What has happened is the "tip money" has over the years become a larger percentage of the cruise fare than previous times, not withstanding the fact the amounts haven't increased all that much.

 

This will throw you, my first cruise on Sovereign of the Seas was in 1990. To show some of the differences consider the following:

 

-The price of the cruise then is the same price today, maybe even a bit more.

Cruising was a very expensive way to have a vacation

-I never saw a child on board, not saying some weren't there, just never saw any.

-Soft drinks (and many other things) were included in the fare.

-Dress code on a 7 nighter...2 formal nights (tux or dinner jacket), 1 semi-formal night (dark business suit), 1 smart casual night (sport jacket and tie) and 3 casual nights.

 

Today's stiff rate is pretty high, I wish the lines would just do away with this old custom of "tipping" and include it in the fare.

[Sally Forth]

I know from Phillipina nannies that even though many of them are landed immigrants in Canada they still pay taxes to the Phillipines. If they don't, their families get taxed on the remittance money they send home.

 

Viv

[Sally Forth]

If I lived in a country where the average income was US$255 a MONTH, or approx. $8 per DAY, I would be all over a job that paid me $2-3 an HOUR.

 

Let's use the Philippines as an example since I know many Filipinos are staff on cruiseships.

 

The average income for a family in the Philippines in 2003 was US$3046.00. That was per YEAR.

 

At $3 an hour, working a 12 hours day, staff make $36 a day. That's over 4 times what the average Filipino family brings in per day. And believe me, they work 12 hour days there, too.

 

Unless these people decide they want to live in America, they are making a very good wage at $3 an hour.

 

We tend to view things by what the cost of living rate is here in America so that $3 an hour is like slave wages to us. In their home country these people are doing pretty well, even after taxes.

 

I'm not saying it isn't a hard job. They do work tons of hours, but do you really think back home they are earning $8 per day working a regular 8 to 5 job? Doubtful.

Our neighbours had a nanny from the Philippines. After working in Canada for five years, she brought her daughter over. Her daughter quickly integrated into the neighbourhood. One of my kids said, "It must be nice to live in a big house with your mom." She said that actually, their house in the Philippines was bigger! The girl had lived with her grandparents and cousins. Her aunts were also nannies in Canada. The family lived a very nice upper middle class life on the $30,000 a year the women sent home. The nanny and her sisters were all engineers who couldn't find work at home.

 

Viv

[Kurbanfan]

Crew is usually signed on by contract for periods which average about 6 months. How many people do you know who would be willing to be away from home that length of time.

 

 

Uh.......well here in the good old USA there are thousands of men and women away for longer periods of time fighting for our country. And their pay aint so hot either.....

[KKB]

Uh.......well here in the good old USA there are thousands of men and women away for longer periods of time fighting for our country. And their pay aint so hot either.....

 

God bless 'em.:)

[isujim]

Interesting thread and here is my 2 cents worth............

 

We always tip at least the minimum.........I personally don't like cruiselines automatically adding this to my bill.........although since we tip the minimum anyway it wouldn't keep me from cruising......

 

What you have to realize.......and this is strictly my opinion.......we really aren't tipping.........we are providing salary supplement. This is not tipping for service based on a traditional tip.........make no mistake about it we are providing a salary supplement because the cruiselines (in an effort to keep costs down I might add) refuse to provide a decent salary.

 

So if we all remember that..........tipping in the traditional sense becomes a mute point.

 

Knowing that it is a salary supplement, I would never stiff any staff on the last night............If they did an excellant, beyond the normal job......that is where they get an extra tip.......and a true tip above and beyond then comes into play.......

 

Just my opinion

[tiyana4]

If I lived in a country where the average income was US$255 a MONTH, or approx. $8 per DAY, I would be all over a job that paid me $2-3 an HOUR.

 

Let's use the Philippines as an example since I know many Filipinos are staff on cruiseships.

 

The average income for a family in the Philippines in 2003 was US$3046.00. That was per YEAR.

 

At $3 an hour, working a 12 hours day, staff make $36 a day. That's over 4 times what the average Filipino family brings in per day. And believe me, they work 12 hour days there, too.

 

Unless these people decide they want to live in America, they are making a very good wage at $3 an hour.

 

We tend to view things by what the cost of living rate is here in America so that $3 an hour is like slave wages to us. In their home country these people are doing pretty well, even after taxes.

 

I'm not saying it isn't a hard job. They do work tons of hours, but do you really think back home they are earning $8 per day working a regular 8 to 5 job? Doubtful.

 

We had a waitress on the Legend who was from the Philippines and she informed us that for each 6-month contract she signed with RCCL (10 to date), she receives no salary. This is in exchange for free room & board (2 crew members per room), food, laundry services and whatever tips she could earn. She said that the only staff that earned a salary were the "Big Wigs"; The captain, officers, entertainment staff and other non-waitstaff. Imagine working for 6-months straight, 7 days a week with no salary! Then taking 6-weeks unpaid leave........with only the hope that they call you back to do it all over again for another 6-months.

 

She said it also depends on what type of contract you sign. If this is true, I will never look at tipping just the recommended amount the same again. :confused: