vpFREE2 Forums

cruise tipping

#1

No justification is necessary. Gratuities are discretional. Except in many countries or places where they are not allowed. Australian casinos come to mind immediately.

In a message dated 5/27/2014 10:50:16 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, vpF…@…com writes:

···

Nice post but my experience is cheapskates will always be cheapskates and will always be able to justify their cheapness.

From: vpF…@…com [mailto:vpF…@…com]
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 8:12 PM
To: vpF…@…com
Subject: [vpFREE] Re: cruise tipping

Personally I don’t suggest to people that to keep their cruise cost down, they should cut down the daily tip charged to the room. Instead how about having one less drink per person per day to save the same amount? The people on cruise lines work incredibly hard for ridiculously long hours and still somehow manage to smile even when faced with the most demanding customers. While I am happy that you personally tip your stewards, I’m sure you’ve also eaten in the buffets or have enjoyed the cleanliness of public areas/bathrooms. Your daily tip also goes to the people that work there. While you may feel you are making a statement to the cruise line that you don’t want to carry the burden of paying their employees, I can assure you that your tipping less will not in any way force the cruise line to pay them more. All it accomplishes is ensuring that the employees get paid less than they would have otherwise.

Your tipping less does not affect the cruise line’s bottom line, just the employee’s; so if your goal really is to show your disdain for how cruise lines do business, I would think boycotting cruising entirely would make more sense.

Please don’t feel like I am attacking you, I just want to point out that you are punishing the wrong people. And I definitely wanted to present a counterpoint to the people who might have read your post and were thinking about doing the same thing. Cruise employees work incredibly hard for pennies (most of which they send home to families they only get to see a few months out of the year).

—In vpF…@…com, <jasnow@… > wrote :

we have never been on casino cruise , although we have had many offers over the years, or a ncl cruise but we have cruised other lines that charge a flat daily tipping fee per person.

we found out that we could go to the purser’s desk and tell them that we didn’t want the amt of daily tipping they were charging. evidently they cant force you to tip. we usually tell them to charge us 5 or six dollars a day and then we tip our cabin steward and waiters we have seen several times a week seperately.this tipping fee is just a ploy by the cruise co to be able to keep wages low for all service employees and try to force thepublic to make up the difference.

not the way I wish to do business.

jas

#2

I have to agree. A gratuity is at your discretion, and is based on service. For NCL to determine that they are going to charge you a gratuity automatically, is just a service charge in disguise. Charge more for the initial cruise so you can pay more, and then leave the tipping to the guest.

The service on NCL, from the waiters to the stewards, has become
mundane. I hardly ever see my steward, and when I do and make requests, they seldom are followed through on. And they are usually simple requests - more towels left in room, shower gel, etc. The waiters in the non-specialty restaurants are not attentive, nor do they listen to you when you order something different or additional. There is no reason for them to be any better, their tip is automatic. You can’t have someone get something for free, which is what you’re doing when a tip is automatic. It should be earned, because when it’s not there’s no reason for them to go an extra step, or even do their job fully.

When we travel on NCL we stay in the Haven, and eat at the specialty restaurants. We don’t eat at the buffets, and when we want lunch or dinner we eat at the restaurant they have available for those guests in the Haven suites. On each occasion we leave a cash tip for our servers, regardless of where we eat. We also tip our butler and concierge quite handsomely, and leave a tip appropriate to the job performed for our steward. And when there is exceptional or above the average service, we make sure we tip those right then in cash. So without exception, I either have the automatic tips removed or reduced.

I agree that tips are discretionary and you don’t have to justify why you don’t leave them. The workers need to justify why they should receive them.

No justification is necessary. Gratuities are discretional. Except in many countries or places where they are not allowed. Australian casinos come to mind immediately.

In a message dated 5/27/2014 10:50:16 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, vpF…@…com writes:

···

On Tuesday, May 27, 2014 11:14 AM, “Count…@…com [vpFREE]” <vpF…@…com> wrote:

Nice post but my experience is cheapskates will always be cheapskates and will always be able to justify their cheapness.

From: vpF…@…com [mailto:vpF…@…com]
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 8:12 PM
To: vpF…@…com
Subject: [vpFREE] Re: cruise tipping

Personally I don’t suggest to people that to keep their cruise cost down, they should cut down the daily tip charged to the room. Instead how about having one less drink per person per day to save the same amount? The people on cruise lines work incredibly hard for ridiculously long hours and still somehow manage to smile even when faced with the most demanding customers. While I am happy that you personally tip your stewards, I’m sure you’ve also eaten in the buffets or have enjoyed the cleanliness of public areas/bathrooms. Your daily tip also goes to the people that work there. While you may feel you are making a statement to the cruise line that you don’t want to carry the burden of paying their employees, I can assure you that your tipping less will not in any way force the cruise line to pay them more. All it accomplishes is ensuring that the employees get paid less than they would have otherwise.

Your tipping less does not affect the cruise line’s bottom line, just the employee’s; so if your goal really is to show your disdain for how cruise lines do business, I would think boycotting cruising entirely would make more sense.

Please don’t feel like I am attacking you, I just want to point out that you are punishing the wrong people. And I definitely wanted to present a counterpoint to the people who might have read your post and were thinking about doing the same thing. Cruise employees work incredibly hard for pennies (most of which they send home to families they only get to see a few months out of the year).

—In vpF…@…com, <jasnow@… > wrote :

we have never been on casino cruise , although we have had many offers over the years, or a ncl cruise but we have cruised other lines that charge a flat daily tipping fee per person.

we found out that we could go to the purser’s desk and tell them that we didn’t want the amt of daily tipping they were charging. evidently they cant force you to tip. we usually tell them to charge us 5 or six dollars a day and then we tip our cabin steward and waiters we have seen several times a week seperately.this tipping fee is just a ploy by the cruise co to be able to keep wages low for all service employees and try to force thepublic to make up the difference.

not the way I wish to do business.

jas

#3

The flip side is they are built in in other countries.

No one has to tip, OTOH I would not want to go out with another couple that insists they don’t have to in the US. Especially if it is a place where I get good service. I’m betting I am not the only one.

If we were in Canada, different deal.

#4

Ditto on what Becky said, well put. The service is the worst on NCL because of the standard tip fee they charge. There is NO incentive for a steward or waiter to be nice to you or give you “above and beyond” service. It’s like going into a government office and expecting good service. A very few will give good service just because of their nature, but the majority don’t care since they make the same giving bad service as good.

I have complained to NCL many times about this. As she said we rarely ever see our steward and service in the free dinning rooms is bad so we now always (6 out of the 7 days) eat in the specialty restaurants. Between being NCL’s top tier level and Casino at Seas VIP level we get 4 specialty dinners free right off the bat and then the casino host always gives us a couple more. If it weren’t for this we would stop going on NCL with the main dinning rooms and buffet having so poor service. NCL does it because of the “freestyle” resulting in people not ever seeing the same waiter twice, but they could still do direct tipping for the room stewards.

When we go on RCL or Princess through MGM or other properties via Players Travel the service is significantly better because they get the tip they deserve instead of it being built-in to their salary.

Dave

#5

Charge more for the initial cruise so you can pay more, and then leave the tipping to the guest.

First off, I certainly agree with this. It would be much better if the cruise lines just had the charges already folded into cruise fare and paid the employees higher wages. That way people could not opt out, and could tip on their own for outstanding service. Instead the cruise lines pay their employees a pittance with the expectation that the wages will be subsidized by the customers’ generosity. Of course, the cruise lines like being able to advertise lower fares and don’t mind that the employees get shafted with the autograt policy.

Secondly, we have had very different experiences on NCL. I always cruise on the newest ship in the fleet, though. Especially if you are cruising within the first five or six months of the inaugural season, your crew will be “the openers,” who tend to be the best of the fleet recruited for the new ship. Perhaps this is why our NCL cruises have been so different. I also cruise in the Haven, but have never had a steward ignore a request. I’ve rarely even had to make them. Because my suites always have two bathrooms, I’ve never been short on towels, and sometimes, regarding body wash and shampoo, as soon as I move the little bottles from the tray in between the sinks to the shower they put replacements back on the tray so I often have one in back up at all times. I know I have read online that some people have found on various cruise lines that there are lists of customers who remove the automatic gratuity. I never really thought about it, but it might be true and could explain why our experiences are so different.

I don’t generally eat in the complimentary dining rooms, so I can’t really comment on the service there, and if I’m eating in the buffet, I’m just going to grab something quick so I wouldn’t be there long enough to notice any bad service, but I’ve never had any issues.

In fact, what always amazes me is that on every cruise there is usually a dozen or so employees that remember me from previous cruises. They might not remember my name, but they will remember something about me or my girlfriend. Like one waiter in the Haven restaurant always comes by even if he is not serving us to say “hello” and comment that we always eat lunch there on the first day and never come back until the next cruise. Or like on our Getaway cruise a couple months ago, a bartender remembered that my girlfriend liked the Coco Cabanatini a lot when we were on the Breakaway and told her that they removed the drink from the menu, but he still remembers how to make it is she wanted it. Considering how many faces they see, stuff like that amazes me. Of course, as I mentioned before, since I am always on the newest ship, a lot of times it is the same opening crew, so they could have seen me on a dozen cruises, but it’s still impressive nonetheless.

#6

When we go on RCL or Princess through MGM or other properties via Players Travel the service is significantly better because they get the tip they deserve instead of it being built-in to their salary.

You must not have been on RCL in a while. I was on an RCL ship (the Oasis) for the first time last year, and they had the same autograt policy.

While the service on the Oasis was not lacking, they didn’t seem as friendly as they do on NCL. Of course, like I mentioned in another post, I’m always on the newest NCL ship so I often see the same crew so I might be getting better and friendlier service just because they recognize me, so it probably isn’t a fair comparison.

That being said, though, I found NCL to be much more organized. Also, you are much more pampered being a Haven guest than being a guest in a Crown Loft suite. I was particularly surprised that they don’t even offer Crown Loft guests an escort to bypass the lines when you disembark. It makes a difference when you are carrying all your luggage off yourself instead of picking it up outside of customs.