Is auto tipping hurting service????

[BullDogChief]

Excuse me but I do not believe anyone up to this point was complaining. I simply made a observation and brought it up for discussion. I thought that was what one of the reasons these boards were here.

 

Why so defensive? You were not complaining but it sure felt as if there were several others who were complaining...this was not aimed at you, personally, so why take it personally?

[Anjanu]

When I was on the Glory in December, our service in the dining room was horrible! Really it was! Our waiter, Dennis was rude, unfriendly and always appeared to be in pain when we arrived each night. For my birthday, my DH ordered a cake and the waiter never brought it out. He said he'd do it on the next night! The day AFTER my actual birthday! Everybody else who had a birthday, several waiters sang happy birthday to them. For me, I got the single person, quickie version. There were 6 of us at our table. The other 2 couples finally decided to remove their tips for him and his assistant.

 

One evening, my husband and I arrived 5 mins late and I asked for bread and the assistant told me "you were late so you have to wait for bread"!

 

I guess they were told that the other couples had removed their tips and we had not and that's when he decided to be friendly towards only my husband and I. Dennis was very talkative that night. Of course this was the last night onboard. By the way, I'm still waiting for my tiger shrimp.

 

At breakfast on the last morning, the waiter didn't even speak to us even after we all said a cheerful good morning to him. He just stood there waiting for us to order and after we ordered he just walked away. Before we were done, he tried to take our plates away. I finally said to him that since there were no more tips, I guess you feel that you can treat us any way you like.

I said that I had intended on taking this ship again one day to the eastern carribean and if I did, I would definitely remember him.

 

We didn't ask for a table change at dinner because we had already changed our table to accommodate the addition of friends whom we had met here at Cruise Critics.

 

Usually in addition to the auto-tips, I always give extra at the end of the cruise. This is the first time that I didn't. Our room steward was awesome and he got Dennis' extra along with his extra tip!

[jeepfella]

I think tipping is exactly that it's a tip. If I get horrible service at a restaurant I'm not leaving a tip, if I get excellent service, then I tip generously. On most cruises the staff earns the recommended tips.

 

However on the last few Carnival Cruises I have been on the Dining Room staff was rude, never filled glasses, and the tables were dirty. It was so bad that we decided to eat at the specialty restaurant or call room service. I had no issues with not tipping the dining staff on those cruises.

 

Tips are given for good service, we did however tip for the room service which was prompt.

 

The bottom line is if you didn't get good service why would you tip for it.

[Casino Player]

I have noticed lately more people commenting that they are not receiving the service they once had from either their cabin stewards or dining room waiters or sometimes both. We just got off the Glory and our dining room waiter was pretty bad. I'm wondering if because the staff knows they are getting automatic tips their service is not what it was when they had people giving tips voluntarily.

This observation comes from various cruise company boards who use auto tipping, not just CCL.

Maybe something the cruise lines who use auto tipping may want to examine.

 

 

Auto tipping is hurting service. Back in the old days of cruising the service for the most part was better. This was because the people providing the service realized that if they provided a good service they got a good tip. Now, they know they will get a tip whether they provide a good service or not. Service is getting worse now also because people are being trasferred from ship to ship more often and don't have time to get used to one ship and where things are on that ship.

[tlbuckingham]

Although I don't agree with the auto tipping policy (I leave extra anyway) I don't believe it hurts service. At least in my experience.

[Kurbanfan]

The bottom line is if you didn't get good service why would you tip for it.

 

Makes sense to me........

[Vanessa L]

Hasn't auto-tipping been in place for quite a while on Carnival? I know it was in place in 2004, because that was our first cruise and the auto-tips were added.

 

We had fantastic service on our cruise in 2004 and in 2006. We had very good service in 2008. I think it depends more on the "luck of the draw" than anything else. Sometimes you get a wait staff and cabin steward that are exceptionally personable, fun and efficient. Other times, you may get a person that is more reserved ~ still very efficient but not as fun. That was the case on our last cruise.....the service was very good but we didn't interact much with our servers because they were more quiet.

 

I know there are staff that are less than satisfactory, but lucky for us, we have not had that happen.

 

So, I don't believe auto-tips have anything to do with the quality of service you get......I think it's just a matter of which type of staff you happen to be assigned. Some are better, some worse.

 

I agree, our wait staff on our last 2 cruises (Fascination '06 and Imagination '07) were superb but our steward on the Fascination was awful. Our steward on the Imagination was awesome--best I've had in a long time. I really do think it has to do with the luck of the draw--though I have noticed that statistically speaking, service complaints have increased over the last several years. Not sure if that has anything to do with auto-tipping or not.

[ccartman2]

I estimate what I would leave at a restaurant for the dinners that were served. The wait staff gets about $6 per person per day. "Most" people would leave ~$20 tip at a restaurant (15%-20%). With this in mind, I usually give an extra $5 to $10 per day to the wait staff. The service that I get has always been excellent. The wait staff has always be friendly and we interact with them - we seem to be the last to leave the DR. Maybe that is why our service has always be so good. They remember what we like and bring it without being asked. Even the wine stewart would stop and chat with us. Yes, he also gor extra.

The cabin stewarts do their job behind the scenes. We meet him, but we do not see him when he cleans.

An extra $10 to $20 per person is what I usually give, depending upon the service.

There will be disagreement with this, as the more generous will say give more, and the cheapstakes will say give less.

There are those that look for any excuse to give less, and will find one. People think that eating in the Lido, means that they didn't receive any service.

There are those that say increase the cruise fare and eliminate the tips. If the fare would increase $100 per person, what is the difference whether it is in the fare or as an auto tip.

 

I'd say you are generous enough. I usually way length of the cruise, plus how good the service was. $20 is the most I have given and I did that for three different people on my 7 day cruise. On the 4 & 5 day, it was more around 10. It's my thoughts that it is solely up to the person who is generous enough to give the extra anyway.

[pnjkeith]

Seems to me, lots of people think tips are mandatory! Thats why they get bad service. Demand good service from waiter or have Maitre D move you. Only tip when you have good or better service!! If you feel bad about tip, then its obvious your waiter sucked!

[DebJ14]

The problem is not the auto-tipping - it is the over working of the staff. We have been sailing Carnival since the mid-1980's. Each time the cabin stewards have more cabins to cover and the waiters more tables. We always talk to our stewards and in the early years they had between 12 & 15 cabins to service. On our Sept. 08 cruise on the Glory the steward had 27 cabins and our Jan 09 cruise on the Ecstasy the steward had 25 cabins. There is no way you can get the kind of service we were used to with that many cabins. There was also much frustration among the room stewards because so many cruisers had out Do Not Disturb signs all morning and then they complained when the cabin wasn't made up. Hello - these guys have set hours so if you want your cabin done then get your butt out of bed.

Our waiter on the Glory had 24 people to serve in each sitting. He was run ragged with all the normal service issues, let alone the requests for extra lemon, extra butter, I don't like this entree. The busboy was always in the kitchen fetching the meals so he was not available. And you want them to make nice - even to nasty passengers.

We were on a cruise on the Elation out of Galveston before auto-tipping and our waiter was distraught. In early seating he was stiffed by 17 of the passengers and 14 of those in our late seating were no-shows at the last dinner. When we saw them later in the casino they admitted they skipped dinner to avoid tipping - but they sure loaded up on the diamond jewelry they couldn't wait to show the waiter at dinner. Disgusting behavior by low lifes led to auto tipping. If you want better service go on a line that charges more and makes the staff work less.

[Kurbanfan]

Good grief:rolleyes:

[jakieemma]

I think tipping is exactly that it's a tip. If I get horrible service at a restaurant I'm not leaving a tip, if I get excellent service, then I tip generously. On most cruises the staff earns the recommended tips.

 

However on the last few Carnival Cruises I have been on the Dining Room staff was rude, never filled glasses, and the tables were dirty. It was so bad that we decided to eat at the specialty restaurant or call room service. I had no issues with not tipping the dining staff on those cruises.

 

Tips are given for good service, we did however tip for the room service which was prompt.

 

The bottom line is if you didn't get good service why would you tip for it.

 

I wouldn't and haven't.

 

Only a couple of times has specific service been so bad that I have had to reduce their tip. I would never tip because of their low income or family life or anything else...I don't care about their wage or family situation. All I care about is their service to me, and good service gets good rewards.

 

We were in a restaurant this past weekend and the kid was GREAT...he got 30% from us and we told the manager how happy we were with him.

[LounVal]

I also fill out comment cards. On this last cruise our cabin steward Agus and a Lido deck waiter Samuel (who also bussed in the DR) got good remarks as well as some cash.

Speaking of Lido deck, every drink you order on board it has a 15% gratuity added to it. Many people don't realize this.

 

I do not know how true it is but, I understand that tipping is more prevalent among Americans than with people from other countries. I wonder how the staff fares with cruisers from outside the US.

I used to work south of the Canadian border in upstate NY and friends who worked in bars and restaurants hated getting Canadians as customers because they either tipped lightly or not at all.

[LounVal]

Why so defensive? You were not complaining but it sure felt as if there were several others who were complaining...this was not aimed at you, personally, so why take it personally?

 

I wasn't taking it personally. There was plenty of posts with gripes on these pages since your initial posting. However, at the time you posted your first remark you were only the fifth person to comment and no one before you was really complaining about anything just chatting.

[Loblolly_Cruiser]

First - No, I don't like auto- or pre-paid tips, BUT (1) its convenient, and (2) it usually costs me less than individual tipping would. The wife and I go to Vegas every other year and without a doubt we spend a lot more on tips than $10/day each.

 

As for "auto-tipping" - I tend to view the "auto-" or pre-paid tips as more of a service charge and part of the fare. I am paying a premium for better-than-average service. If I don't get the service I feel I've paid for I will seek redress. If I get exceptional service, I will gladly tip personally (which I have done).

 

That being said, the main thing that will get a nice tip from me anywhere is good service with a friendly, positive attitude - as we used to say - Service with a Smile! I also find that a friendly, positive attitude on my part will more likely than not get me the same from the server. Even when the service is less than stellar, a good attitude will get a good tip. ;)

 

 

[skay]

I have personally never had a bad cabin Steward, they have all been outstanding!

Dining room waiters........My last 4 cruises have been really bad, In some of those cases, i don't think it was the waiters personal fault, a few times they could not find their assistant and had to serve and pick up plates at all the tables, one time our waiter was also given a large wedding party to serve, besides his regular tables, i heard the Maidre'd tell him to give the wedding party priority service, our service was really bad that night, we ended up stopping other waiters for drinks, bread, dessert but i don't think it was our waiters fault that night. I think they need a little extra help in the dinning rooms.

So you're saying that when it comes to the dining room, in some instances, poor service might be more the result of understaffing rather than auto tipping?

[kinggartk]

I have noticed lately more people commenting that they are not receiving the service they once had from either their cabin stewards or dining room waiters or sometimes both. We just got off the Glory and our dining room waiter was pretty bad. I'm wondering if because the staff knows they are getting automatic tips their service is not what it was when they had people giving tips voluntarily.

This observation comes from various cruise company boards who use auto tipping, not just CCL.

Maybe something the cruise lines who use auto tipping may want to examine.

 

 

I Can't say that I agree....Our Cruise in May was great and the Room Steward and Waiters were Fantastic. We tipped extra at the end of the cruise. It was that good. We even slipped the girl who filled our drinks at dinner a $20 at the end of the cruise.

[ManyMore]

For me it's one word... YESSSSSSSSS!!!!! I hate the fact they suto tip because the service has gone down more every year, I started cruising in 1991.

[Georgiagolfer]

No, I don't think the auto tip has caused service to be bad or go down. However, just got off Fascination yesterday, and worst dining room service ever. So bad that we didn't go back after evening 2 on a 5 night cruise. I feel this is due more to cut backs in staffing levels.

 

Examples: We had a booth for 4 people. 1st night 2 of us asked for tea and never received. I Ordered tiger shrimp cocktail, and never received. Wrong entree brought to 2 of the people.

2nd night DW ordered soup and got wrong food again, this time the shrimp. 2 of us ordered tea again, and again never brought. The other couple said something to the Maitre'D when he came back and asked how things were. He must have said something to the waiter because within a couple minutes the waiter came to our table and was really rude to me with comments about saying something to the Maitre'D. He said if I was in such a hurry to get served, he would make sure I was the 1st person served each night. He also said I didn't have to say anything to the Maitre'D.

 

I should have told him I wasn;t the person who complained, but not worth it to me. I was on this cruise to relax and enjoy myself, and the best way to do that was to eat in on the Lido deck each meal. Did I remove the tips, no, as the tips are for all servers, not just the dining room. I did tip extra for those who went above and beyond in their service. I also filled out the comment card with the name of the server, and will follow up with a letter to CCL.

 

Will this stop me from cruising CCL, absolutely not. Next cruise we will be Platinum and looking forward to a better time.

[tedjazz]

No, I don't think the auto tip has caused service to be bad or go down. However, just got off Fascination yesterday, and worst dining room service ever. So bad that we didn't go back after evening 2 on a 5 night cruise. I feel this is due more to cut backs in staffing levels.

 

Examples: We had a booth for 4 people. 1st night 2 of us asked for tea and never received. I Ordered tiger shrimp cocktail, and never received. Wrong entree brought to 2 of the people.

2nd night DW ordered soup and got wrong food again, this time the shrimp. 2 of us ordered tea again, and again never brought. The other couple said something to the Maitre'D when he came back and asked how things were. He must have said something to the waiter because within a couple minutes the waiter came to our table and was really rude to me with comments about saying something to the Maitre'D. He said if I was in such a hurry to get served, he would make sure I was the 1st person served each night. He also said I didn't have to say anything to the Maitre'D.

 

I should have told him I wasn;t the person who complained, but not worth it to me. I was on this cruise to relax and enjoy myself, and the best way to do that was to eat in on the Lido deck each meal. Did I remove the tips, no, as the tips are for all servers, not just the dining room. I did tip extra for those who went above and beyond in their service. I also filled out the comment card with the name of the server, and will follow up with a letter to CCL.

 

Will this stop me from cruising CCL, absolutely not. Next cruise we will be Platinum and looking forward to a better time.

 

Just a quick question...How would you propose to correct the fact that you received poor service from your wait staff if you rewarded them for the poor service, seems like it just reinforced it to me.

[Georgiagolfer]

Just a quick question...How would you propose to correct the fact that you received poor service from your wait staff if you rewarded them for the poor service, seems like it just reinforced it to me.

You may/may not be correct about rewarding for poor service. I would assume that my remarks on the comment card, to the Maitre'D after the waiters comments, and the letter to CCL Guest relations would relay our concerns about the service. As for the tip, as I stated it covers more than just the head waiter, that is why I made the decision to leave on.

[caribbeankid92]

I am a firm believer that they should remove auto tips and increase the price on the cruise. Seems to be to make it a lot easier to not have to worry about people removing auto-tips. I think tipping should only be for above average work and should not be something automatically done.

 

On my last Island Princess cruise the service in the dining room was terrible. It was almost comical, we are a family of 9 so we couldn't asked to be moved. We were sorta in a corner and about 4 tables behind us were always empty after the 2nd night. Gee I wonder why? We did not consider removing auto-tips just because that isn't our style. The waiter seemed overwhelmed by how many people he had to serve.

 

Celebrity cruiser FL!

[pnjkeith]

Just a quick question...How would you propose to correct the fact that you received poor service from your wait staff if you rewarded them for the poor service, seems like it just reinforced it to me.

 

Well said. If everyone would quit tipping when service was bad, in no time it would be back to what it once was.

[dan40]

Right now, there are cruiselines with some form of auto-tipping. Carnival, RCL, and Princess would be a few examples.

 

Cruiselines with a service charge like NCL.

 

And lines with no tipping required like some upscale lines.

On the upscale lines. No tipping "required!" But if you want the absolute best service, you will be tipping. You [whoever 'you' are] may hate that, but its life.

Those lines aside.

 

The rest would have approximately the same number of service complaints per pax served. And they would have about the same number of kudos per pax served.

 

Increasing the servers pay with mandatory tips and/or service charges would make the servers happier---------------THIS WEEK! But what about the future?

 

And all this baloney about how much they make is pure hokum. They not only took the job, they PAID to get it. AND they can leave anytime they want. Some that are good at the service industry make out extremely well. Those with little or no business in the service industry do poorly. Again, that's life.

 

Many of us eat our fruits and veggies because they are good for us. How good are they for the migratory workers that have to pick those fruits and veggies? Back breaking work in terrible conditions for little pay and no bennies. You want to champion a cause? There is ONE of many, much more pressing that the imagined 'plight' of the cruise ship worker.

 

Tip more, less, nothing, whatever is your wont.

But please!!!! Stop the silly excuses.

 

Dan

[Slimpickins]

Brad,

Gotta be careful on this agreement stuff...I don't want to lose my status as the "Most Hated Poster" for having my own Opinion, even if sometimes it is a dissenting one. ;)

 

I think that title is already safe in the hands of someone else. If you want you can be the "Second Most Hated Poster":D.