Our TA advised us to not tip!!!

[land lover]

It is unfortuante your time had to be wasted by trying to resolve an issue that you thought was already taken care of.

 

I commend you for thinking of the service providers on the ship, many like your TA do not that is why auto tips are becoming the norm.

 

Enjoy your next sailing.

[COMBOY]

We booked with a on line agency that offered "prepaid gratuities" with our booking. Our confirmation did state this and we received prepay vouchers in our stateroom about the last day of our cruise with envelopes to give to our staff. Now I'm not sure how this prepay gratuities work between RCCL and our travel agency, but I'm assuming gratuities are added to our booking and the TA remits this amount to RCCL along with the cruise fare. Do you have any confirmations or paper work from this travel agency with a "confirmation" that you will receive prepaid gratuities your booking? If you do you should write a letter to RCCL guess relation with a copy of that invoice from the TA with details of the situation and CC the travel agent and the agency's management and see what the response is. It could have been just an oversight/mistake by the TA, but none the less it should be very embarrassing to them. If you lost your written confirmation and/or nothing indicate prepaid gratuities then I would just not use this TA anymore. He just told you this is get the booking - very unethical. In the future always get a written confirmation from the TA and review it. In the future you could verify on embarkation with the purser desk that you are to receive prepaid gratuities voucher. Always bring a little extra emergency money. So sorry this happen to you. Lessons learned.

[tomko2]

I think your actions were commendable and hope you had a wonderful cruise despite the stress caused by your TA.

Wishing you better times ahead and a return to Florida for a visit to the Space Station and a carefree (as it should be) cruise!

Kathy:)

[Kittycatwlv]

You did what you had to do, let it go. Did you not have a credit card linked to your seapass card?

[nycruiser80]

Thats horrible absolutely should not be tolerated. I just don't get it this guy gives TAs a bad rep. I was a TA and that is uncalled for especially for a "friend". I used to jumps hoops and latters for clients let alone friends they thought I was too much. Im so sorry. Like everyone said always get things in writing. If I were you and if you have any confirmation that this TA gave you, even if its from the travel agency and it says that you have pre-paid gratuities please please please contact ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) www.asta.org. Even if you don't have anything in writing just call them and see if you could report them and I would also sit down write a letter to the travel agencies owner/manager and also call to speak with them. They need to know what has happend. Im sorry good travel agents today want to make nice cause it is a very difficult business cause as you said you can book direct. Good luck. I wish I could help you.

[jjb415]

If the TA belongs to any travel association, they should be notified of, what seems to be, an ethical breech.

 

Good advice !! :)

[debs2028]

Think I would have been really annoyed by this but at the end of the day it is the service staff who have lost out

 

I am certain I would have used my credit card and tried to sort out the matter whan I got home

[pcur]

I need to vent about this, we went on Monarch the first of the month and here is the story as short as I can make it:

 

We were looking at cruises online and found a site that offered "free pre-paid gratuities" if you book through them. Well, we have a friend that is a Travel Agent and wanted to use him. I told him about the deal online and he called our reservation in and the lady said that RC would honor that. :) Yeah! Since we are on a very tight budget that will take like $100 off our expenses.

 

So cruise time rolls around and we take only a limited amount of cash (thinking if we spend it we will be ok and if we don't spend it all, great!) Cruise is great and on the second night we go to the information desk to check our account. We are told that NO there are no prepaid gratuites on our account!! :confused:Nothing they can do about it because we booked with TA. Told us we need to talk to the TA and have them fix.

 

Next day we are in Nassau and have cell service there so I text the TA and tell them there is an issue. TA replies that we can just have it added to our account and pay for it. I tell him that we did not budget for that and to please fix it. TA replies that we should not worry about it & to not tip them because they are paid and tips are just extra. Well, I tell him we just need it fixed because I do not intend to leave without tipping and it should have been on our account. He replies that he "does not understand the problem" At this point I am furious!!! Has he ever heard of Customer Service??? I tell him to please call RC and have it fixed before we leave. He replies "just dont tip". :eek:

 

I WAS SOOOOO MAD!!!!! :mad:Lession learned about trying to do something nice for someone else by using them as my TA. We ended up only tipping our room steward ($20) and our waiter ($20) so that we would have enough money left to get home. I have not heard a word from our "friend" since we have been home. Now we will book online directly with the cruiseline.

 

Other than that, our cruise was GREAT!!! :D

 

I'll read the rest of this thread, but wanted to make one comment now: your "friend" is a jerk. Really, really unprofessional and doesn't have his facts straight. The crew and their families back home, as we all know, LIVE on those tips; it's not just "gravy" money. Geesh!!

[pcur]

I hope you learned your lessons: There's no such thing as a free lunch (or a free tip)...the money has to come from somewhere. Don't cut your expenses too close...always leave a little wiggle room for the unexpected. Don't use TAs when you can simply book directly with the cruise line.

 

I don't think there is any "lesson" to be learned here. The OP was lied to by an unethical travel agent. No way to know that in advance. Many, many, many TAs give obc, prepaid gratuities and travel insurance as incentives. These things ARE the "free lunch" of cruising.

 

Also, many, many, many of us have wonderful relationships with our TAs and would never think of booking directly. I suggest a little "wiggle room" in your opinion about people with problems.

[AngieB30401]

Thanks for the comforting post (well at least most of you anyway).

 

We are a young couple (early 30s). We both have good jobs but bought land and built a house recently so we watch our money very closely. We do not have the option of having extra money after each paycheck. So some of you will understand what I mean when I say "we did not budget for this". It means - there was no money. We have not taken a vacation in 3 years to save a little here and there for this vacation. We picked a cruise because it was such a better deal than any other land vacation and we live in GA so we could drive to the port in about 4/5 hours. We took enough money to have a good time and not have to worry about things like that situation. Don't get me wrong, we had a GREAT time in spite of this. I just needed to post to vent and maybe help others - I have learned my lesson on this one.

For those that are upset about the amount we tipped. We were on a 4 night cruise. According to the suggested limits ($3.50 per day) our $20 was actually a little more than suggested. We decided to leave the tips for those that we actually saw (never saw the head waiter) and those that did most of the work (asst waiter didn't do much but pour water and offer bread) I know that tipping is a very hot topic on this site and I do not want to get into a debate of who to tip and how much etc. I am just telling what happened to us. We were expecting to leave everyone the suggested amount with the prepaid. Had we known this was not going to happen we would have budgeted enough to pay everyone the suggested amounts in cash. I do not mean to get defensive but remember I DID NOT WANT TO STIFF THESE PEOPLE!

[pcur]

I agree. And your Better Business Bureau could be contacted also.

The owner of the agency should definitely be informed.

 

Good idea. I agree completely.

[amybeth4]

I am surprised that no one commented on how low a tip they left! And the assistant waiter got nothing?

 

They tipped their steward $5/day, which is more than the recommended! Same for the waiter!

[Nano]

Sounds like you did the best you could do under the circumstances.

[Miss Fig]

I am surprised that no one commented on how low a tip they left! And the assistant waiter got nothing?

 

 

Are you trying to fan the flames? Almost everyone realizes this is a unique situation and is being sympathetic.

[travelteach326]

IVTOTRVL1,

 

Just to let you know, I too am a TA and I do NOT receive 10 -16 % commission on my sales. Maybe you do. I am not the owner of the travel agency and receive a small percentage of the booking. That is the arrangement that I have with my boss. I would love to be receiving 10 - 16%!

 

I would appreciate it if you did not give out information that is not correct. Would you like everyone assuming that you receive 10 - 16% on the trips that you book? Do you let people or your clients know how much you receive per booking?

 

Think!

[Got2Cruise]

We used an internet agency that gave us "prepaid gratutities". If you check your "my account" on the RCCL website, the prepaid gratutities should be listed immediately under your booking number. You can also telephone Royal directly to double check. This will not help the op, but can help others in the future to check if they do indeed have "prepaid gratutities". Prepaid gratutities is necessary if you wish to use MTD also.

[MrsPete]

We were thinking that if we did well spending the money that we brought we would tour Kennedy Space Center when we got off the ship on Friday. Needless to say, we just cam straight home :(and maybe we can do the tour if we ever cruise out of Port Canaveral again.

This is really off-topic, but sometimes you can get FREE tickets to Kennedy Space Center. Your Senators and House Reps have a limited number of tickets, which they can gift to the people in their area. Write to them well in advance and ask. You'll need to give the dates you plan to visit, which -- in the case of a cruise add-on -- won't be a problem for you. You may or may not be lucky enough to get tickets. The politicians have a limited number, and IF they've already given them out, they may not have any for you. Still, it's worth a try.

[MrsPete]

I am surprised that no one commented on how low a tip they left! And the assistant waiter got nothing?

This is a situation in which the OP did the best he could under bad circumstances. It wasn't bad planning or bad intentions, and he doesn't deserve criticism.

[unklez]

.....I too am a TA and I do NOT receive 10 -16 % commission on my sales. ...... I am not the owner of the travel agency and receive a small percentage of the booking. That is the arrangement that I have with my boss. I would love to be receiving 10 - 16%........

 

The real question is what % commission does your agency receive? Please let us know after you ask your boss.

[PhoenixCruiser]

This is a situation in which the OP did the best he could under bad circumstances. It wasn't bad planning or bad intentions, and he doesn't deserve criticism.

 

You make a good point and with that said don't we all need to have some sort of emergency fund?

 

If the OP's car broke down on the way home or if they got sick or hurt on their vacation what would they have done?

 

###

[WinnieinWA]

NEVER do business with friends. Don't sell anything to them and don't buy anything from them. That way you will always be friends.:)

[relaxandenjoy]

Sadly, I believe your TA never intended for the staff to be tipped and just hoped you wouldn't notice. If the agency is authorized to sell cruises, they should be part of CLIA "Cruise Lines International Association" and should be reported to this agency.

 

For those of you arguing over commissions, note that the structure is continually changing. I had been in the travel business for 15 years before being "downsized" as the cost of doing business continued to rise and the sources of revenue continued to shrink. And I worked for one of the world's largest Travel Agencies. Whether it's 10%, 5%, or 15%, those people do a lot of work for a little money! The reputable agents make traveling much easier and less stressful. Please don't let one bad agent spoil a whole industry.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Sadly, I believe your TA never intended for the staff to be tipped and just hoped you wouldn't notice.

 

Unfortunately we agree :eek:

 

Please report him!!

 

###

[nycruiser80]

Sadly, I believe your TA never intended for the staff to be tipped and just hoped you wouldn't notice. If the agency is authorized to sell cruises, they should be part of CLIA "Cruise Lines International Association" and should be reported to this agency.

 

For those of you arguing over commissions, note that the structure is continually changing. I had been in the travel business for 15 years before being "downsized" as the cost of doing business continued to rise and the sources of revenue continued to shrink. And I worked for one of the world's largest Travel Agencies. Whether it's 10%, 5%, or 15%, those people do a lot of work for a little money! The reputable agents make traveling much easier and less stressful. Please don't let one bad agent spoil a whole industry.

 

Sadly, you can still sell cruises and NOT be part of CLIA. My former boss dropped CLIA because essentialy she felt it to be a waste of money. To me we should have stayed members but who was I to say! Not sure though if CLIA has any clout with consumers. They may. We were members of ASTA (american society of travel agents) I don't beleive every agency has to be a member of that too! But see if they are and go to them and as other posters stated the BBB.

[LovesToTravel47]

I really DO sympathize with your position esp. when it comes to money. :(

 

Lesson to others is that: everything should have revealed itself once you made final reservation & final payment in either your cruise documentation or confirmation via email or RCL C&A web account. It SHOULD say 'Prepaid Gratutities' somewhere. If not, start dialing!

 

Doing My Time Dining and gratuities have ot be prepaid. Our documents did say 'gratuities prepaid' on them. So good idea to check your paper work for any future trips.