Cruise Tipping Feels Manipulative
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- Cruise tipping feels manipulative. In this video I talk about my recent experience on the Spectrum of the Seas and how I feel that the tip envelop system used by cruise lines manipulates cruisers into giving more.
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Maybe we should just write on the envelope: “We have prepaid our gratuities- thank for your excellent service!” ??
Anne Handley Great solution, I thought of this little polite “push back” also!
Great idea!
What bothers me is when I go get a coffee or drink,if I don't put a tip in the tip jar immediately they get an attitude and act like I'm intruding on their precious time!
I love this idea. Beats the one I was having of putting a note in it saying *I paid once now it is your turn* and turning it in to customer service.
I find it so confusing on who to give cash tips to in addition to the automatic daily charge. On my last celebrity cruise we stayed in a suite which was even more confusing. We had to tip the butler, wine sommelier, the staff in the suite dinning room and staff in the suite Michael’s club. Some people were giving envelopes or cash daily, others at the end and I imagine some give nothing. In the absence of knowing exactly what to do, I tipped everyone. I always tip the room steward about $30 per week in cash every cruise as I think they are the hardest working staff on the ship (and probably the lowest paid). So confusing and it’s unclear how much to tip.
How about just paying decent salaries and charging the real price up front! Just saying.
Because working for tips is an incentive to deliver better service. You want indifferent, poor service? Go to France.
Deborah Teselle A lot of cruise lines have a set amount for gratuities so there's your argument blown out of the water
@@dteselle If they don't do a good job, they get invited off the ship!
Cecilia Nilsson they would still expect a tip.
Cecilia Nilsson Now there’s an idea.
I pay the assigned gratuities. I get those envelopes at the end of the trip and they go right in the trash if not needed. They are optional. End of story
well said.
Feels manipulative because it IS manipulative! You make so much sense!
When I cruise, on the first day when we met our room keeper, we each pitched in $10 (3 of us in a room) and gave it to him. He then went above and beyond, getting us free food when we came back late from the club (even when he probably could've been sleeping), got us reserved front seats to a show, and treated us like suite guests in an inside stateroom 😂. He did lots of other little things as well. We pooled some cash together and gave him a big tip at the end of the cruise because from what we heard off other cruisers, he was overly generous and possibly breaking rules for us.
Also, I like to tip the bartenders at bars you become regular at, especially on longer cruises. They can often serve you your next drink without you asking, make something special for you because they know you might drop $20 to them every couple of nights.
I do the same thing Oliver. Find a good bartender, slip him a $20 at the beginning of the cruise and he'll take care of you the rest of the week. Same with the room steward. Some of us are so cheap, always whining about tipping. If the service is good, I don't mind tipping.
I agree. Tip in the beginning and get some benefits. I do the same thing when I take my car in for service. Give them $5 and say get you a sandwich for lunch. Amazing how they tell you what might need attention in the future and not some immediate disaster. Too late to do you any good when you drive off at the end.
Cruising is great but there's always this feeling that the cruise line are trying to bleed the very last cents out of you by doing something like this! It leaves a very bitter taste after what should be a great experience!
Thanks for being open and honest about customers being expected to supplement what they company should be paying. It's not like cruising is cheap.
What ticks me off is paying a 15-18 percent tip when you order your drink at the counter
Even worse... the last few cruises I've been on, the bar staff has been somewhat pushy on us tipping them whenever a drink is ordered. Aren't they already getting an automatic 15-18% tip?
The envelope tick's me off. It should be the cruisers choice. On our last night we handed our room steward a tip (he looked like a kid on Christmas) it made me wonder how much of The " assifned gratuities" the rooms Staff actually see... SMH
Tony I agree 💯 with you.
I'd love to see how the daily tips go to the staff. $14 (avg daily tip) x 4000 (on a big RCL ship) = $56,000. Granted there are 2k+ folks working on ship but not all of them get tips (like entertainment staff I believe isnt included). Does it all go to them?
@@Lealelan I seriously doubt the staff gets anything extra on top of what the cruise line hires them at per hour. The more "gratuities" received by the ship just means less payroll dollars coming out of the cruise lines pockets. NEVER tip on your room card because then it goes to the overall ship tip pool, not all to the person you think you tipped. CASH IS KING.
@Stephen Border I think that's where Tony was going with the video. It seems like the cruise lines are confusing people, which in turn has them shelling out more $$
@@Lealelan Most cruises are at least one week and above. So multiply that times 7 and it is $392,000. I read somewhere that very little of that money goes to the staff which doesn't surprise me. If these cruise lines were registered in the US they could be asked to prove that the gratuities actually went to the staff and fined if it was found out that they didn't. I also understand that Europeans and Australians are not assessed the daily gratuities because the fare that is advertised is all inclusive. Why is it that this practice is not followed for US passengers? Assessing an upfront gratuity charge and forcing the passenger to go to the cruise line customer service to remove the charges is pretty manipulative in itself. Are they hoping that most passengers will feel too embarrassed and/or don't want to waste the time removing the gratuities when the cruise is completed? On our last cruise I put cash in two envelopes, one for each of the room stewards, and gave it to them in person. Neither one thanked me or even acknowledge the tip. So much for appreciation. Maybe they thought that I didn't give enough, if you can believe that.
@@FlaThunderstorm We're Aussie & we've prepaid all of our gratuities for our cruise in November on NCL.
Tipping isn't expected, although we do it occasionally - like your favorite coffee shop - but nothing like the States. Gratuities were an eye opener on our first cruise.
This is how I've always viewed this topic.
-Most lines don't call this a "gratuity" but rather a daily service charge. This is the $ that I am paying per day for service to meet my expectations.
-If the service meets my expectations, great.
-If it exceeds my expectations, I can give an actual gratuity to those who have exceeded my expectations.
-If the service does not meet my expectations, I can remove any or all of my daily service charge.
Tipping should be eliminated. Salaries should be raised instead.
artsietopology and then everyone would complain about increased prices
Then you’d get half ass service. What’s the incentive for going above and beyond if you’re not getting a tip?
@@Seansousa757 : then they are idiots.
@@BB-re6nz : pay people properly - it is not a crime.
@@BB-re6nz Get trash service? Treat it like any other job, terminate them.
I went on a cruise with my sister and best friend. We shared a room and we all prepaid our gratuity. At the end of the cruise there were 3 envelopes in our cabin. My sister and friend could not understand why I didn't tip more. I told them, the cabin steward didn't really do his job as far as I was concerned. When we first got on you could write your name in the dust, the bathroom mirror was speckled with tooth paste. We constantly had to ask for wine glasses. The second day I wrote my name on a surface and it was still there when we were ready to get off the ship. My sister and friend told how the steward is under paid and needs our tips. As I have been a waitress and needed my tips (I worked extra hard to get the best tip I could get) I told them, then he should had done a better job and earned a extra tip. I will tip extra to my room steward when they go that extra for me, and I have.
I waitressed for a few years and I kind of have the same attitude. Luckily I have not run into that bad of service on a cruise...yet.
Don’t prepay your gratuity. I prepaid for the six of us on a Carnival cruise. One person in our group was unable to go. Carnival would not refund the gratuity for that person. Also what happens when get really bad service.
@@fredreim2826 People go to guests service all the time and have the gratuity removed.
@@fredreim2826 Interesting. So Tony says that you can get your "forced" gratuities back. How easy is it? What''s other people's experiences?
Michael Atherton On our last cruise with Royal Caribbean we asked for the gratuity to be taken off our invoice. No problem. They didn’t even ask why. We then paid the crew ourselves in cash. Just don’t pay gratuities at time of booking a cruise.
🙋♀️ Something I don’t hear a lot of people saying. Now I did pre tip on our honeymoon cruises, (we are going back to back on carnival Ecstasy). Neither my husband or myself make too much money, we are ok enough to go on a honeymoon but we are by no means well off. We genuinely cannot afford to tip more. We saved/are still saving for the trip, and are budgeting for exactly what we need to pay. Not only rich people cruise. So no, if I get that envelope I’m absolutely not tipping more. If the cruise was more expensive than yeah, we would have paid the difference. We all work cruise lines, just saying!
Hey Tony, we just we went on a cruise and I felt the same way!!!! Amen to all you said’! Aloha from Hawaii 🌺🌺🌺
Don’t feel guilty for throwing that envelope in the trash. You’ve already met your required obligations by paying the prepaid gratuities and having given extra where it was warranted. It’s the cruise lines objective with that envelope to instill guilt into the passenger to supplement the worker’s income so they don’t have to pay better wages themselves. You will never, ever see the room steward again.
Another reason why I love the Disney Cruise line. If you want to pay someone extra, you can go pick up an envelope down at the desk. Pick the envelope by position, then writer their name down. We did tip the server and server assistant as well as our room steward. They did go above and beyond. This was totally on us as I went to get the envelopes. Nothing manipulative.
I have also not tipped extra as they did their job. And that was that.
Next cruise is Royal Carribean’s Oasis of the Seas. Can’t wait, but I know everything is extra.
Thanks for the update.
Just came off a 28 day cruise on the Crown Princess and wasn't aware of the $15.50 daily gratuity I was not happy but the the front desk just had me fill out a brief form and the gratuities were refunded and no further gratuities were taken. Of course we gave tips to the people we felt made a positive difference to our cruise. The thing I like about Princess is the relaxed and friendly atmosphere between cruisers and those working on the ship. The employees all seemed genuine and let their personalities shine. Thanks Abdul, Victor, Puja, Dragana, Ana, Ronnie. Armal and Cece.
I always go looking for those envelopes at the end of my cruises so I appreciate when they're in the cabin, but you are right about the message they send. I bet it annoys lots of passengers who should be feeling good about paying the full gratuities. I want companies to pay their employees well but regardless I will always tip when someone provides great service.
I am so sick of the manipulative tactics used. And every one yells “oh they work so hard they deserve it!” Well I work really hard at my job too, I don’t get tips! But that’s the job I signed up for and I knew my salary up front! Same as every worker on all the ships. And it must pay pretty decent or they wouldn’t keep renewing their contracts year after year. I want to go on vacation to relax but as soon as I get out of my car EVERYONE has their hand out wanting a tip. I feel like everyone treats me as a walking ATM and I’m tired of it. I’ll tip who and what I want when I want. I paid my money, I work hard, I’m not going to be manipulated or pressured to doing more. You think I’m cheap? Cool, I don’t know you, and your opinion of me ain’t my business 💯👏
On my first cruise we paid gratuities up front i.e. in full prior to even leaving port on the first day. At the end of the cruise we were happy with the service from the cabin steward so tipped her a little extra. She looked at the tip and said 'this for two cruises' (we were B2B). My wife was ready to put her hand in her wallet for more but I stopped her, turned to the steward and said 'if you're not happy I'm more than happy to take it back'. She left muttering something she thought inaudible. I nearly went to guest relations but decided the point had been made.
My last cruise was on Carnival and as always I prepaid gratuity. My room steward was nice and ok, but nothing I would call exceptional. He was more annoying than anything, lol. On the last day of the cruise he told me where he would be that night if I had anything for him. It made me feel really uncomfortable and I stayed away from that area.
Tipping is so out of control. I barely remember my room steward from my last cruise. I didn't ask for anything or required him to do anything outside of his regular duties.
TL;DR I didn't tip.
We usually only allow the room steward in once or twice. I don’t like people in my room on cruises or hotels. I don’t need to see a towel elephant.
What no one seems to understand is rarely ever does that $14.50 go to Henry. What happens is the cruise ship does what I consider stealing. They spread it up among management and bottom line expenses and then all the other employees. After everything is cut up and chopped out, the salary is useless. Don’t ever trust any big company to pay their employees a living salary because they never will. Tipping is nice if you can afford it, if you can’t, don’t worry about it and enjoy your life. I guarantee you Henry isn’t enjoying his and he’s likely in the best situation he can find. Enough said.
Then Henry needs to take that up with his employer. Good grief, it's like you go on vacation, and its open season on your wallet. Everyone tom dick and harry has their hand out, they want you to pay them extra, to do a job that THEY agreed to do, AND agreed to whatever pay the employer told them.
On our last cruise with carnival, our steward only came one a day.
We never bother them . Never actually see them.
I have been on 15 cruises with my husband and what I always wanted to know is how much of my prepaid tips are actually going to the people doing the work? I highly suspect most of that money is going to the Supervisors and the least amount of it is actually going to the room attendants, waiters etc.
My husband disagrees with me (he prefers pre paid tips), but now I insist on tipping in cash to the people that actually do the work. On my last cruise, we would have been charged $237.50 for tips for two of us for a week. Of that I felt the room steward deserved a good portion of that money. When I slipped him a $100.00 cash, he was almost brought to tears!
I think the staff are very unpaid and we need to change the cruise lines processes because they will not do it themselves!
On Norwegian I was disgusted with what happened. There was a series of valid customer service complaints that I had raised including paying for some services that I never received. Accordingly I escalated this requesting a rebate to address the issues. One of the solutions proposed by the manager was that the cruise ship offers the opportunity to opt out of the mandatory gratuities and pay as I see fit. I said to them “so let me get this straight, you want me to find my own rebate by taking money away from the workers even though these customer service issues relates to the way the ship is run”. It’s shocking really that they’d try to pay for their mistakes with the tips of the employees
I liked for your kids, but I subscribed because this was the most straight-forward and logical explanation on the cruise line tipping debate that I have ever heard.
I hit the like button because I really like your channel. It is educating and humorous at the same time. And you and Jenny are beautiful people.
Feel the exact same way. Happened to us as well on our last Royal cruise. Makes me feel like none of the $14.50 actually makes it to Henry if they are asking for additional tips. The tip argument is such a debate. I could go on and on. We always pay the amount that the cruise line charges us and occasionally when we have exceptional service we'll pay some additional money to that individual.
I've only been on 2 cruises in my life but I subscribed to your channel because your intro was only a few seconds long. Thank you for that!!
Wonder how much % of Pre charged gratuities actually goes to cruise staff and how much goes to corporate. I doubt they will remove this method because it ensures extra earnings for cruise liners.
You are right on the money. No envelope needed at the end... all was paid in full
I understand that tipping is mainly a USA and Canada idea, which sadly the UK has bought into. If you go to mainland Europe or Australia or Asia no-one tips - and people are paid by their employers a proper wage. It is the millionaire ship / hotel owners who take your money, and then expect you additionally to pay their staff for them with your tips! The only way this will stop is if everyone refuses to tip ever! Ha, Ha, oh well it is a thought!
You nailed it. They create confusion so we are guilted into over tipping.
I agree with you. My last cruise I got sick with a very bad flu the day before I left ( my first solo cruise) I literally stayed in my cabin bed for the first 3 days. My room steward checked on me , helped me order food now and then even though I didn’t feel like eating ( least room service was free on this ship) and really helped me . I left him a nice tip even though I prepaid. That’s the only time I add to the envelope, extra nice service that went above and beyond.
Thanks Tony for all the great informative videos! I'm going on my first cruise in a couple of months and have appreciated all the useful advice :)
We generally give the room steward $20 and if we had great service in the MDR or at the buffet, we generally make slip them a few bucks as well - all above the pre-paid gratuity. I always feel the cruise lines short change their employees with the pre-paid gratuities, but in truth without the auto gratuities many behind the scenes cruise line employees would never receive extra. For instance, the laundry room employees work very hard every day, but would never receive any extra for “just doing their job”. Unfortunately there is no easy solution to the problem. Just do what feels right to you.
Well, I have always taken issue with the tipping practices of cruising since the early 90's. The tips they ask for go up, service has always been good, great or amazing. I expect amazing, I am sure all of us do. The envelope should not be a manipulative instrument, only you can allow that to be the case. People are always asking for money, even when you order a drink on board they add a tip, that one always gets to me. The other problem comes when the Maitre De wants his share, I know that because as the cruise is coming to an end, he/she shows up at my table. This is part of the adventure!
Before pre-paid gratuities, asst. head waiters used to show up regularly to ask if the service and food were good. Now, they may show up once or twice on a 7-night cruise.
From experience of being a room attendant at Yellowstone National Park...standard work was cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming the carpet, making the beds and replacing towels on a daily basis for visitors that stayed for more than one day. This was what hourly pay covered. Above and beyond was going outside the standard work protocol and maybe doing a little more for the visitors to make their stay hassle free. The majority did leave tips at the end of their stay which was appreciated bit not required. So, Henry was probably doing his normal routine of how he was trained and paid to attend the room...no more and no less. Don't feel guilty for not leaving extra tips if you paid tips up front.
Have a snickers bar. Its ok. If you've prepaid, don't let that envelope guilt trip you. Hotels charge resort fees also. Do you question them? I doubt it. It's all good bro. And, good topic to manipulate us to respond. Lolololol Love it! Seriously, I enjoy your channel!
My son who was three at the time, got sea sick at 3:00am and puked all over his bed, the room floor and himself. The staff definitely went above and beyond that night. The room steward, three other housekeeping staff came to out room at 3am and cleaned the entire suite. They steam cleaned the floors, changed the bedding, and cleaned the bathroom. I wish we could have given them more, but we gave them each $10 because there was no way we were gonna be able to pick up that mess.
I must say after getting off a recent cruise I tried to figure out the math on how much our room attendant and server got and they get a lot of $$. Room attendant had 15 rooms and servers had between 17-20 people each night, they make more money than I do. Tipping has become a huge money grab.
Oh! Oh! Hey cruiser! In case you forgot to acknowledge your steward, here, use this envelope so that we may help you to help us. We usually do tip extra to our room steward. We take long cruises (10 - 15 days) mostly and yes there are "special" things we need, okay I NEED. Extra pillows, 1 extra towel (for my hair), ice and a sharps container. But that's not why we only give our room steward something extra, its because I know what needs to be done to clean (because I clean at home..well mostly) anywho, I have been in the room when they have changed out the sheets on our bed for example. Our room gets done over twice and we appreciate it. When job is well done, I give the envelope. We don't really know how the tipping system works for the employees and its a big black hole somewhere in the ocean. Actually I have heard that its actually a major slush fund that they use and add to on every trip then dole it out at the appropriate time. I am sure its an accountants nightmare.I don't know but if I get the chance I might ask just so I can see an officer dance around the question. Thanks for sharing!!
It's not my fault that the cruise lines don't pay their employees. I already paid my gratuities. I refuse to pay more unless the service was exceptional. It should not be automatically expected.
I always take the auto grat off as soon as I get on the ship; I have heard that all those tips are pooled together and divided evenly amongst the crew, but I believe in tipping personally, in cash, those who have been helpful to me. Last cruise on Allure, my room steward decorated the room for my birthday and the concierge had cupcakes delivered to my room. That kind of service deserved a nice big tip at the end! There have been cruises where I tipped less because I felt the service was lacking, and I feel that's my right as a passenger to tip as much or as little as I want to. People have criticized me for taking the gratuities off, but I prefer to tip in cash, and I don't do it to be cheap or cheat someone out of a well-deserved tip.
Good job speaking out about this nonsense. It's going way too far. The implied guilt in the cruise industry that us rich American are being selfish by not tipping, tipping and tipping some more. I don't feel guilty in other states giving an appropriate tip to wait staff who don't make minimum wage. I shouldn't be expected to feel guilty that the cruise staff chooses to do this job.
You know what I LOVED about my recent sailing on Celebrity Edge (which I didn't think about until I got home)? The lack of tipping pressure! We prepaid gratuities as part of Celebrity's Always Included price. After that, other than automatically added gratuities to not included items (fancy gelato, premium drinks), there's was no additional tipping pressure.
Maybe they switched to this because of the change in the main dining room? In that there isn't one. That has been changed to 4 included restaurants, for which reservations are encouraged. But the point here is that you don't have the same staff taking care of you all week at an assigned table. Therefore there is no last night of the cruise speech in the MDR about how hard your waitstaff has worked for you all week. And there was no envelope in our stateroom from the room steward!
We did give our steward a little present about halfway through the sailing. I had brought some homemade ginger candy for my family, and a gift for the captain - which the room steward had delivered! So it only seemed right to gift him some too. Plus a cash tip on the next to last day. He was very appreciative.
At the end of the video... You guilted me into hitting the Like button! Lol
Thanks, but I hand deliver my “extra” gratuities to THOSE I believe went above and beyond for me. Not me and my cabin mate, but for me. And the amount is how much I feel I want to pay. I got over feeling guilty about leaving tips around cruise #3.
Rosalynne Cole Exactly! I feel better knowing the individuals received the tips.
It's funny. This conversation has been raging on for years since the dawn of hospitality (and yes, cruise ship workers are hospitality industry). Servers and bartenders being at the forefront of this debate. But it's not cut and dry. Example: a local restaurant in my hometown was privately owned and paid the Industry standard 2.13/hr to tipped employees. Employees pressured the owner to pay a livable hourly rate and he agreed. But to cover the cost of labor, menu prices increased by a good amount. Business slowed due to higher prices. Morale and service quality dropped and this man nearly lost his livelihood. Moral of the story... I understand what you are saying about manipulation but be careful what you ask for when you say Royal Caribbean needs to pay them more. They are gonna take that out on you. I would personally rather throw my steward and extra $20 rather than pay RCC more for a cruise. At least I know he(steward)is getting my money and not the cruise line. (Sorry about the long comment)
You missed the point of the video. He already paid $14 per day prepaid gratuities that was supposed to cover tipping the room steward on top of whatever wage the cruise line pays the steward.
Actually I did not miss anything. But what I think is really being missed here is that $14/day is distributed amongst other workers such as bartenders and other service staff as well as the room stewards. I'm not sure what the percentage is but what I DO know is that these room stewards do more for you than any other employee on the boat on an individual basis. They clean up after sick people, drunk people, small children, as well as some people who are just naturally messy. Not to mention all the small things they like remembering your name, towel animals that everyone loves, extra pillows, blankets, etc. So once again... I stand by my statement. An extra 20 from my pocket is well deserved and a better option than having the cruise line increase their wages.
@@ThreeGAdventures I agree with you and I understand your points about this, but since I am a cleaning nut, the cabin steward has NOTHING to do in our room except leave us clean towels, make the bed ( which I also did a few days), empty the trash cans--which I tie up myself--and vacuum. If you walked into our cabin you would never know that anyone is staying there. I clean the bathroom MYSELF--I bring Lysol cleaning wipes that I bought on Amazon (15 in a package for $3.83) and clean the sink, the counters and the toilet.
SO--why do I need the cabin steward? Maybe HE or SHE should be tipping ME!
@@noturningbackever493 that's awesome! And that's a valid point. But remember you are speaking for you and your tidy habits. We try not to be too messy either. But I will tell ya I have seen some horrific things walking down those halls. Yeesh. And I feel for the room stewards
I'm going on my first cruise in December, and from what I've read in other blogs, it's worth it to give your room steward something extra up front, which I plan on doing. I do like the idea of prepaying tips, but if I find a favorite bar & bartender, will slip them a little extra near the beginning of the cruise. I will not add extra to s begging envelope.
I have been on like 30 cruises. Sometimes I see some of the same crew members a few years apart, different ships. I have asked about the pre-paid shared gratuities. The answer I have gotten "the ship/cruise line keeps a rather high % of the pre-paid gratuities". I opt out where I can. Tip cash to crew that renders a service, if deserved. Usually get good service, but some crews stink.
Tisk - tisk - tisk..... by putting money in the envelope, you told the cruise line (or at least Henry) that it's OK to continue begging for more and that you're going to fill the envelope. That equates to positive reinforcement, and it means that the practice will continue. Personally, if they raised my fair by $20 and told me that $20 was going directly to the steward tip, and they were up front about it, then I'd be fine with it. I would have agreed to that when I signed the contract.
We always pre-pay because we can put the gratuities on our RC visa card and get cruise points for the money we pay. We always pay extra too, when we get superior service, but we had to go to guest services and ask for the envelopes. They were not just left in the room. We wanted to tip the ladies who worked in the Cups & Scoops ice cream parlor we frequented quite a lot. They were so thrilled to be tipped, I got the impression they are not on the tip-list much.
Generally pre-pay gratuities and then give $150 exta to the room steward ($50 half way through and $100 at the end) ans $100 to our favourite bar tender (we tend to drink at the same place). Given how much we put into the casino, for example, and knowing full well how hard they work, we feel this little extra is deserved.
I was just thinking about this the other day. I wish cruise lines (and every other service industry) would just pay people the wage they deserve rather than obfuscating the real price of the cruise and leaving their employee’s wages up to the whims of the consumer. Tipping fatigue is real, and it may be somewhat of an unpopular opinion, but that awkward exchange of a tip at the end of service takes away from the experience of good service. I feel the same way about resort fees and other backhanded ways companies hide the real price.
I’m SO excited about going on Virgin which is going to eliminate all this foolishness.
And I'm sure Henry has to hand over that envelope to his boss and sees little if any of the extra tip. never put money in a envelope. just slip it to the person you want to tip and keep it private
And I do it at the beginning of the cruise ;)
Svetlana Shubina huh, great idea!
@@lawsonone6015 works like magic LOL
i did a tip for my cleaning crew every day above and beyond. I also received the best towel animals and a hug when i left. I appreciated their hard work and let it show.
@Gorgon Cordo yes!!!! i totally agree!
Just on a cruise last week and I asked the bartender if they see any of the tip money. He said "yes", because it's used to pay their salaries, it's not a true tip on top of that. He also said they are paid pretty well, so any additional is extremely appreciated as a true tip. He even said a good shoutout for his name on the survey at the end is even more important. On Celebrity cruises passengers need to go to guest services and request envelops, which I requested 5. I gave between $20 to $40 to that many people who took extra good care of us for 12 nights. That's just what I did, everyone has their own opinion on this.
It’s no wonder you and Jenny enjoy DON from DONS Family vacations. I enjoy both vlogs because all of you just are so genuine and inoffensive to others. BRAVO guys, hope to meet you on the trail.
We prepaid gratuities on Liberty if the Seas and received the envelope the last night. My husband tipped at the bars where he purchased drinks, too. We actually tipped the room steward one section down because she did more for us than our actual room steward who we rarely saw the whole cruise. I just looked at it as the prepaid was a base tip and the we gave extra to the deserving staff.
They put the envelope in ALL the cabins because not everyone pays the $14.50 per day "automatic gratuity." You can go down to the customer service desk and tell them to remove the automatic gratuities and that you will give cash tips. Some people do this and some don't so they give an envelope to everyone just in case. Since you paid the $14.50 per day, you didn't need to give the extra $20.
I do agree with you 100% that they should raise the price of the cruise and give THEIR employees a higher wage and not make us do it for them.
Thanks for preparing me...Sunday going on first RC cruise. I do not remember Carnival pulling that the last time I was on.
Position summary: To ensure guests satisfaction through the delivery of a quality and consistent in-suite service. The cleanliness of all Guest’s staterooms in his/her respective section, including passageways as per the Cruise Line Standards.
• Position Title: Cabin Steward
• Department: Hotel Sub-Department Housekeeping
• Reports To: Chief Housekeeper, Assistant Housekeeper
• Direct Reports: Assistant Steward
Essential duties and responsibilities
• Responsible for a station of approximately twenty Guest staterooms.
• Provides personal assistance to Guests and aims to exceed their expectations.
• Must be always friendly and helpful, to all Guests regardless if they are or are not in your section.
• On embarkation day, must meet Guest’s in the assigned section, assist them entering the suites and perform the Welcome introduction as per HKOM.
• Handle all the linen necessary for the daily operation taking care of the necessary exchange in the Ship’s Laundry.
• Takes care of Guest’s personal laundry requests, taking it to and from the laundry and presents laundry bill to the Guests (charged to Guest account).
• Stripping and re-covering of beds as per set schedule and standards.
• Must re-stock the Mini-Bars, complimentary soft drinks and water and fruits (RSSC only).
• Must replenish supplies such as drinking glasses, stationery, ice, and all other amenities.
• Must report and follow up all defective equipment, fixtures, and supplies.
• Must fully cooperate with the Butler (in Butler suites) in order to create a positive atmosphere for the guests.
• Must ensure the cleanliness of the staterooms, coordinating with the Assistant Steward/ess the various daily cleaning tasks.
• Responsible for work, conduct, appearance, and performance of Assistant Steward: must report any deficiencies to the Chief Housekeeper.
• Responsible for safe handling of equipment in the section: vacuum cleaner, stewardess cart, etc.
• Ensures personal appearance and personal hygiene and uniform are at all times in accordance with the Company’s Rules and Regulations.
• Must be knowledgeable and comply with the United States Public Health Rules and Regulations pertaining to his/her working area at all times.
Training & Development
• Participates in all assigned trainings and trains Assistant Stewardess to the desired standard.
Financial
• Takes good care of equipment, chemicals, and linen.
• Controls well his/ her working hours in coordination with Chief Housekeeper.
Safety Responsibilities
•To comply with the safety and pollution prevention regulations and operating procedures at all times, participating in all relevant meetings and training sessions.
•Participate in safety drills, according to instructions.
•Must be in possession of valid STCW certificates.
Resources
• HKOM, USPH manual, SMS, trainings given by Chief Housekeeper, Asst. Housekeeper and Steward/ess.
• Other Duties and Responsibilities (Other duties may be assigned).
• Other duties may be assigned by Chief Housekeeper as per operational need.
Qualifications
Knowledge, experience, skill, and/or ability
Required
• To achieve the primary objectives of the position and comply with the above-mentioned accountabilities in a timely and efficient manner in accordance with Company’s policies,
• Must be knowledgeable and complies with the United States Public Health sanitation standards, rules and regulations Ensure that personal grooming, appearance, hygiene, and uniform are at all times in accordance with the Company’s policy.
• Must be able to communicate effectively and speak clearly in English with supervisors and Guest’s alike. Other languages are considered a plus.
• To keep supervisor promptly and fully informed of all relevant matters.
• To ensure confidentiality when handling sensitive information.
Preferred
•Great attitude.
•Flexible.
•Team worker.
•Outgoing and social skills.
•Ability to perform under pressure (time constraints).
Education/experience/certifications
Requires a minimum of 3 years as a chamber-person (Quality Hotels or Cruise Ships). Standard High School education.
Other Skills:
Knowledge of general office practices, procedures, and equipment; ability to prioritize tasks and work independently; strong organizational, interpersonal and communication skills; ability to interact with senior level management and owner representatives.
Math Ability:
Able to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
Reasoning Ability:
Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
Work Environment & Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions for this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to stand; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; talk or hear and smell. The employee must be able to lift or move up to 55 pounds (20 kilograms) without assistance.
The vision requirements include:
Ability to adjust focus, depth perception, peripheral vision, distance vision, and close vision and to be able to otherwise perform the essential functions of the job in a manner that does not present danger to the employee or others with or without reasonable accommodation.
Most cruises are short duration and folks usually tip the room steward X for those day but if you are on a long extended cruise what then? That $20, $50 or $100 dollar bill you hand the steward at the end of a week would seem like not much after 4 or 5 weeks- This is the trap , we are leaving soon on a 30+ day cruise if I do not multiply by four the standard 4-7 day gratuity the employee looses but if I do multiply my standard 4 to 7 day tip by four . then I loose.... I think all tipping is wrong because it holds down just wages.
Good discussion Tony! This is a pirate's humble opinion on this subject as we are considered Subject Matter Experts on pillaging, plundering, and wenching. Lol! We have sailed on both Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruise ships and our cabin steward experience has been anywhere from adequate to outstanding. We hand CASH to the room steward if they do extra for us that isn't part of their normal duties. Example was on a Carnival cruise on the Valor we asked the cabin steward where the laundry area was as my wife's dress for elegant night needed some ironing. He immediately told us he would take care of the ironing, took the dress, and told my wife she would have the dress back in our cabin in an hour. He did exactly that! He also did other additional things for us that were beyond his normal duties so we tipped him in CASH...no envelope needed! I agree the RCCL official envelope that you received Tony is annoying with it asking for an extra tip for your cabin steward. That should be something to mention on the survey at the end of the cruise.
🤣 you’re guilt tripping me Tony, like button! I agree, it does make it very awkward. Most people would feel too guilty not putting money in the envelope. Some people won’t have cash by the end of the cruise. Also they do sell the idea of the pre-paid gratuity as pay it and forget it, but then there they are bringing it up again. It definitely makes you consider the idea for the passengers to unite and not pre-pay, remove gratuities, and make the money flow where ‘they’ want it. At any rate I guess these are first world problems and at least most cruisers have an extra $20. The cruise line owners and executives have lots more $20’s off of us 🤦🏾♀️.
I received the envelope and ignored it. I paid the assigned gratuity and that’s it. The only time I paid more was specialty dining when the service was exceptional. I gave the waiter $10 extra. When I first went on a cruise, I was convinced by the main dining head waiter to give more. Look, I barely cruise. This matters more when you cruise more. If you can’t let it go, don’t go cruising. It’s just too rough and tough.
We always tip extra but I don’t like the idea of being asked or told too
I've sailed on carnival cruises and on our last cruise we asked our steward what him and his staff would prefer, money, chocolats, soda, whatever. His team wanted postcards and souvenirs from the ports we stopped at more than anything (although they also loved the soda and snacks too). The whole time were in all these ports, they are stuck working while guests and some crew get to get off, so they wanted the souvenirs to send to there families to show where they have been more than money.
Finally a cruise channel that has the courage to tell it like it is. You sir have just gained a sub! Seriously this topic causes so much controversy. I’m all for the workers getting a decent wage. However on the same hand the cruise companies are making billions of dollars a year. I do a combination style of tipping. I pay a small percentage of the recommended daily tipping amount, then the rest I pay out of pocket to my room attendant. I did a personal poll on two different cruises that I have done in the past. I have asked employees directly of the various cruise lines the truth about tipping. I encourage you to do the same. You will find the results to be quite interesting.
Just off Princess. No envelope (unless I missed it) but lots of surveys and places to acknowledge folks who went above and beyond. Since we (I travel with kids) are in/out of our cabin at different times it makes it hard for room steward to get in. I've always tipped our steward extra on last day. I also loved on Princess that there was nothing to sign at bar, so no place to add extra gratuity which I did our previous cruise on RC (not realizing the 18% was already added).. I did appreciate the envelope on our RC trip as I planned on tipping our steward more.
We pay the assigned gratuities and also tip extra. Sometimes if it's an international cruise we leave left over foreign currency.
I know, we're probably too generous.
Absolutely 100% well said Tony. More people need to speak up. You are correct. Either pay gratuities and the leve us alone or no gratuities and we tip how we want. Typical business, they are all about the money. I've been crushing for many years, I see it changing. And it's not good.
I completely agree and share your frustration. Thanks, Tony!
I agree with you. I have never had that problem I have only been with carnival. If someone does extra and I really want to give extra I will but shouldn’t be forced to.
I just got off my cruise on Anthem of the Seas this past weekend. We pre paid our gratuities and during our 9 day cruise I tipped our steward $40 on day 1 and then 2 days before departure we tipped him another $40 and a couple of goodies from the ports we visited. On the night before our last day we also received that envelope. I did not add any additional tip as we feel we really tipped him well.
You're generous. The worst cruise experience I had was on that ship. Awful crew.
Diana D when was this? Wow, we had exceptional service from all the crew on there and everyone was very friendly. We went in October and had two terrible storms to deal with and the Capt kept us I formed and didn’t sugar coat anything as to how rough the seas were and encouraged everyone to take sea sickness medicine and all. Even with those storms our room was super clean everyday and our steward was super nice.
@@michelleluvbeachsunsets4529 August 2019. I found the wait staff in the American Icon to be very rude. Also, there was an Argentinian photographer who was extremely rude. I reported her to her supervisor. The supervisor covered for her by giving me the name of another photographer who didn't do anything wrong.
Diana D sorry to hear. We had dinner o e evening in American Icon but out service was good. The rest of our meals we had in Silk and the service was superb. Sorry your experience wasn’t as good.
All the gratuities are just a forced way of paying for the crew --- it's just an additional cruise fair.
Hi Tony! We always prepay our gratuities and always tip extra to many people on the ship. Mostly if I have had a lot of one on one contact or if they remember my name or my drink. It goes into the guilt I get from many friends of mine who wont cruise because they keep telling me the people who work on the ship are underpaid! I am just used to paying the extra tips I don't even think about it anymore!
This is definitely odd and I think it's good you are addressing it. I also always pre-pay my tips and then I tip extra from there in cash or in the case of my bar tab's automatic 18% if the case merits it which often it does I add extra to the tip line. I really don't need an envelope to "remind" or "suggest" to me that it needs to be done. As far as the room steward goes I do feel since the move was made to pre-paid tipping that the level of service, while still good enough, is nothing like it was in the past where you tipped on the last day based on the service through the week. I can remember leaving my room to go to lunch and coming back to find it straightened up again AFTER THE MORNING SERVICE where the bed was made while I had breakfast! Sometimes it might happen again in the afternoon and of course there was an evening turn down. The joke used to be that they hid under bed so that they could jump out as soon as you left and clean things up again. Now there's typically just a single service either in the morning or evening like a hotel. Overall it's fine and I'm not really complaining but if they returned to that hyper attentive behavior I would gladly tip more at the end. As it is I think the pre-tip amount more than suffices.
Hey Tony, we had the same situation on Disney cruise line. The night before departure we got a printout of where the daily tip amount went along with some envelopes. After looking at division of the money we just felt our room steward work way harder than the wait staff in the restaurant and they were getting the same amount. So we make choices some got only their share of the of the assigned tip where someone else maybe got an extra little something. But I have never felt like I was being forced to give the staff additional funds if I didn't want to. I have no problems just tossing envelopes.
As Aussie’s we get no choice as gratuities are automatically included in our cruise fare. But we are still made to feel that we “have” to tip extra to our room steward and dining room attendants. We absolutely refuse to tip for drinks as they already charge an extra 18% gratuity so why should be tip again. With a poor aussie dollar we are already having to watch our dollars and cents. After seeing this video we have changed our minds and unless a crew member goes over and above, we might just keep the extra to ourselves and write a nice thank you on the envelope that we have already automatically paid our gratuities.
I agree with you with the prepaid gratuities! I just got off of a cruise ship and I feel like staff is overworked. We constantly see the staff working different areas through the day. The one server at one of our dinners seemed actually unhappy. The cruise ship should take care of their staff!
Totally agree tipping should be at the cruiser discretion in the first place ! Tipping has just really been so miscondcrued in many ways, so if tipping was already taken care of before the cruise then an envelope does feel very manipulative !
Here in the UK, we don't have a tipping culture to the extent that you have in North America. So we struggle to know what to do. However P&O, who we are going with next year, have stopped the compulsory tipping, great news! Will Carnival do this on the USA Based Lines in the group?Cheers everyone - Stephen
I agree 100 percent. That envelope seems like theyre cornering u n making u feel bad if u dont. above and beyond for me is them simply remembering the whole trip me and my wife’s name, always asking me if We need anything else., Asking me how my day was…. Little things. I as well usually give $20 bucks cash to my room steward.
My Room steward opened the door on me 4 times, that I know of, could have been more only two woke me up while I was sleeping. Had the privacy lock enable every time. On the last night I was getting ready to shower and had to run and lock myself in the bathroom as he walked in. After the first night he took all the sheets from my bed, never brought them back got stuck with a heavy duvet only. I threw away empty containers and a tube of nasty toothpaste, he took them out of the trash and put then back on the counter. Took me days two days to get ride of the toothpaste. Weird experience, didn’t tip.
Dylan LaRue Wow! That’s just creepy.
WOW!! Scary!
Exactly why I don’t prepay gratuity, if I got paid Monday I wouldn’t work hard on Tuesday 😒
I tip on the very first meeting of the cabin steward, I for that have not been disappointed. Every steward gave exceptional service with my bags, ice, and towels. So always tip the first day.
Hi Tony. Enjoy watching your videos. Tipping. I am pleased that Tui Cruises now include all tips "In The Price". They are a very good cruise company as well. I am going on a Princess cruise next year and there the tips are added to the account. I always go to the reception on the first day now and adjust the amount I pay. I find the tips too high. It is a struggle to save up for the cruise in the first place without added costs. I believe they currently charge about $14 per person per day right now. I'll reduce it to about $7 a day. The cost of drinks is a big enough rip off to subsidise that. However, I do enjoy cruising and keep up the good work with your videos.
I agree with all you said. We are going on our first cruise in January and I was really surprised at the gratuity add on . I love tipping and would rather take control of it myself. We just went to an all inclusive and tipping wasn't expected, but we took 25% of what our trip bill was to tip. Nothing is better than giving a big tip to a hard working person. I feel the auto tip robs me of the joy and also the joy person who receives it. Also, reading Norwegians website the fine print says it partially goes to employee welfare. ( what is that and why are we paying it?) I would go for a smaller amount in auto tips, and then the envelopes would be ok. Thanks for your videos, you guys are great.
You are so right Tony. I really don’t want to see envelope in the room after I paid my gratuities. Anything extra is my choice. I usually give $20. as soon as we meet our Steward and hope that it’s a good week. We like to have ice in the room at night for a Diet Coke. I don’t think that’s above and beyond but we like to make sure it’s there. Enjoy your cruise!
A lot of the staff that receives the gratuity are ones that you would not come in contact with. They work very hard and are not seen usually by the public
One of the tipping issues I don't like is when a purchase a drink package. The price charged for the package includes the tip, 15% I believe, at time of purchase. Each time you get a drink receipt there is a blank spot for a tip. I realize they are trying to use the same receipt for package and non package purchases but they should have a different print out for each. It almost feels like pressure each time you get a drink made at the bar or brought to you.
I agree 100%. However if you forced me to try to find a reason it’s okay it would be this. People who want to tip extra don’t necessarily know how to do so. Cruise lines don’t seem to want you leaving cash in the room they want it in the envelopes. Happened to me the first couple times I cruised, now I know, but didn’t at first. An envelope in the room would have helped. Having said that the envelope should make it abundantly clear that this is tips that are incremental to what you’ve already paid, and I don’t feel like that was done well enough in your situation.
I totally agree. I have news for the cruise lines I hate being demanded to tip or having an assigned tip charged to me.
I agree the envelopes are an attempt at double dipping. Just like when you have a drink package. There’s gratuity automatically added to the price of the package and a lot of times there’s a line on your receipt to add an additional tip over and above that. That is manipulative. If I ask for anything extra and the cabin steward brings it quickly and consistently, my cabin is clean, the supplies stocked, and he or she is generally nice, helpful and doesn’t get an attitude I will leave an extra tip. I am the type of person who would have no problem not leaving extra at all if the service isn’t good either though. I would never take the assigned gratuities off because that effects way more than just the cabin steward.
I preferred the old way of tipping. We were told what was considered appropriate for each person. We always tipped the amount we were "supposed to", but then we'd give extra to the people who made our experience really special.
I feel so manipulated I hit like. Great video.
I agree. Leaving that envelope was just tacky. We have taken a lot of cruises most with the automatic tipping. We
Usually leave a 20.00 dollar tip in addition for the cabin steward just because.
You have put your argument very well.I have to agree with you.I always pay my gratuities and give extra.It really annoys me that envelope!
I don’t recall ever having envelopes left in our cabin by our steward; that would not set well with us either. We usually take envelopes from home and only leave an additional tip for exceptional service. We do the same for our wait staff.
We are so torn over this debate.
Our daughter just talked to me tonight about this. She said that if it's $15 per person PER DAY, which equals $210.00, for what amounts to nothing more than providing your stateroom with clean towels, making your bed, vacuuming and emptying the trash cans (they do NOT clean the bathroom all week!) that hardly rates the $210 for two people--except there are FIVE of them in her family cruising--so that means they paid $525 for one week's cruising, Then they want you to tip above and beyond that? That's a little too much.
PLUS--when the crew staff took the contract, they knew that their salary would not be very much, so why does the cruise ships all expect us to subsidize their paychecks? Take these figures and multiply times each passenger, and the cruise staff is making plenty of money--at least that's how we are to understand it.
And once again--a gratuity in the LEGAL sense is that it is just that: a tip to show your appreciation for a job well done. Why has it become mandatory AND now it's 20%, not 18%?
SO--she got me thinking about this all over again--and our cruise is coming up in about three weeks.
Can anyone help me understand the logic behind this "gratuity" thing, especially when it's basically DEMANDED of us to pay it? If you don't prepay, then they will tack it onto your bill at the end of the cruise. Who are they--the ship owners--to tell US cruisers what we should and should not tip? Do we tip this much at a hotel, or at a restaurant, or to the hair and nail salon, the auto mechanic, the babysitter, etc?
See how far we can go with this issue--and still not get it resolved to the satisfaction of all involved?
(Edited for spacing).
Go to guest services and ask them to remove the tips, or a % of the tip amount. At the end of the day it's what you are happy tipping, not what the cruise line tells you to pay.
Cruise workers often receive pay that is really low when they are in positions that customarily receive tips-I’ve read as low as $50 a month. They work 10+ hours a day, everyday, and are away from their homes (family and children) for 4-6mths at a time. Many are from poor countries and the $20 extra you give can go a really long way to bettering their lives. I don’t trust the auto policy cruise lines have in place so I always give extra money to those who serve me. I also take a gift for my room steward bc I really appreciate the sacrifice they are making so that I can have a nice vacation
@@NYStacey And how do we all get this proof, of getting $50 a month? If they are on a certain ship for NINE MONTHS, they certainly will not go home with the small amount you wrote here!
Do the math: Each two people are giving $210 in gratuities. Now multiply that by the average ship's cruisers--approximately 4,000 people. Then divide that by two, leaving 2,000 people--all paying $210 PER COUPLE on ONE ship!
$210 x 2,000 = $ 420,000.00! That's nothing to complain about! (wish I had that kind of money!).Then they take that and divide it again by how many crew members are aboard.
That is impossible for them to get such substandard wages; the math just isn't there.
I am NOT against tipping--but I AM for tipping on MY terms. After all, it IS a tip, and should never been demanded of us cruisers or made mandatory.
Pentecostal Believer S-R fantastic. WWJD? You want to exploit people from poor, developing countries and use math as your scapegoat be my fucking guest.
@@NYStacey Their employers make mega millions a year exploiting their workers, and have no conscience doing it, but they expect us to have a conscience. If the cruise lines weren't such exploiting bastards to their employees I'd happily tip more than I do already.
Tony, I did as you said and the likes went from 996 to 997 then to 996 and to 997...LOL. I've never run into the envelopes on my cruises and hope I never do. I have two upcoming with Celebrity and hope I won't run into them there. I never take back the $14.00 per day, but I always tip other employees who have gone that extra step for me. I don't need an envelope to tell me that they helped me out. If I know their name, because I've encountered them often, and they helped me then I give them something then and there. I always like to carry a little cash with me during my cruise. I try to find someone to tip every day. On my last cruise, on disembarkation day I gave the "Washy Washy" lady a $20 bill and thanked her for doing her part to keep us all safe. I could tell by the look in her eyes that this was not a common experience for her. Go ahead and try to make someone's day!
I really like this.
More than ten years of working on cruise lines so the dirty little cruise line secret: is pre-paid tips do not all go to the right person you are tipping. The pre-paid in the dining room, as an example, is often skimmed to send some money to supervisor staff, like the maitre d. If you don't mind the hassle, it is best to opt-out of the automatic and just return to the old days of tipping directly. If you want to give an extra tip when you order a beverage because the server has been tracking you and shows up when you first hit the showroom, give them a dollar in cash! If you give an additional tip on the bill it is supposed to go to their account. Key word-supposed.