Toupee or not Toupee?
Sadly not a blog about toupees, but whether or not you should pay gratuities as advised by your cruise line, or do your own thing completely?
The majority of cruise lines will charge an additional amount per person per day as a service charge, if tips aren’t pre-paid in advance of your cruise. This is charged to your on-board account, unless you visit the front desk and have them removed. There are some exceptions to the rule however, such as Marella and P&O Cruises (the latter removing gratuities from May this year).
But do you agree with having to pay a set amount no matter what service you receive? What if you’ve had particularly poor service on your cruise? Maybe the complete opposite and one member of staff has gone above and beyond for you.
Gratuities are pooled and a portion given to those front of house and behind the scenes who have made your stay enjoyable, but you will never see, such as the laundry staff who provide those crisp white sheets for example. So if you didn’t pay your gratuities as recommended, the staff behind the scenes wouldn’t benefit. Could this potentially see a drop in service levels?
Some customers prefer to tip directly if they’ve had good service, this way they can ensure that they are happy the money is going towards the employee who deserves it. On the other hand, there are customers who would prefer that everything is included, as it’s one less thing to worry about. Personally I’m the latter and if I get exceptional service, I ensure that that person is recognised by informing the front desk.
I remember our cabin steward Derek on-board the Harmony of the Seas. No matter what time of day or night, we would be greeted with his huge smile. We began to wonder if he ever slept? He ensured our cabin was kept immaculate and our towels were transformed daily into a variety of animals. He advised us of the best trips, places to see and nothing was ever too much trouble. So not only did we pay the gratuities as advised, we made sure his service was recognised and we tipped him extra!
So has anyone else got any stories of good and bad service, or just your views on tipping as a whole?
Comment away!
My next blog will be featuring the brand spanking new MSC Bellissima. I am lucky enough to have been invited to attend the Travel Industry launch party of this magnificent ship. So keep a look out for lots of pictures and information on this exciting new ship.
43 Comments on “Toupee or not Toupee?”
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Yes I have a story to tell and for people to be aware, I will not mention the Cruise line, but I had locks with myluggage with a code in the locks, I set the numbers and unlocked my cases, put the pad locks on my bedside table, and thought no more about it, I collected my luggage and went home, Only to unlock my luggage and find several items missing,
This could only be done by the cabin staff noting the numbers on my pad lock, and some where between my cabin and Disembark my cases had been opened and good stolen, including a watch bought for my Daughter in her 21st Birthday, There were several hundred pounds in goods stolen,
We complained to our travel agent, but no one was interested to deal with this
So my message is beware not to leave locks keys or codes in View, lock them in your safe until departure,
I Guess this has happened to other people over the years,
My goodness, how appalling. You should have told us which cruise line because they deserve to lose customers
Yes, I have had the same thing happen. I am absolutely certain that my suitcase had the combination lock set when I put it outside my cabin, but when I collected it at the quayside, it was unlocked. They were unlucky though. The case that they chose to open only contained my dirty washing! The one that contained anything of value had a padlock that needed a key to open it!
We are on the ms bellissima in 3 weeks time can’t wait
We are the bellissima from the 3rd of may if I send you my email address could you please let me know what to expect
[email protected]
Thank
Julie
If service was poor then we might ask to reduce the amount that we pay but only if our comments were nit acred on. We think tgat askibg to remove gratiities completeky is outrageous.
In our experience, those that say that they prefer to reward individuals directly actually rarely leave tips anyway.
On a ship, there are so many people working behind the scenes that it is just mean to remove the gratuities.
That said, we only book tip inclusive ships (Seabourn) or cruises where gratuities are included (selected Oceania trips)
Just think if all of those kitchen workers that are up all night preparing your breads for breakfast etc.
We used not to routinely tip but having been on a few cruises and seeing how hard the behind the scenes staff work, we would never remove gratuities now.
Well say no more yorkshire wanderers, you obviously have a bob or two if you can afford to cruise with seabourn and oceana, so for you paying gratuities would be the least of your worries I suspect. My wife and i really enjoy cruising and try to save some money each month to enable us to take a cruise every 2 or 3 years, usually with RCCL, who we think are decent value for the price. However these are not cheap holidays and coupled together with the cost of drinks on board which by the way, come with an 18% gratuity, it can work out quite pricey. I note that you think it is outrageous to ask for gratuities to be removed, well my wife and i both work full time and we don’t and never have received tips from anyone, and we work as hard as all the other people with jobs. How outraged do you feel about that? I think your comments should be addressed to the cruise companies to encourage them to pay their very hard working employees a decent living wage, so as to remove this obnoxious process of trying to cajole and embarrass the fare paying passenger to boost their TITANIC profits even more by paying their staff for them. In my opinion, the whole adventure of cruising would be a much more enhanced experience if this stigmatic outdated added tips culture was a thing of the past. If you feel you want to tip, just tip.
Are tha sure tha from Yorkshire?
There should not be an extra gratuity charge. These payments are just subsidising the companies low wages whilst the directors get their large bonuses. I am going on a Thomson/Marella cruise in April which has no add on gratuity payments. I will tip anyone who goes beyond what I think would be the expected standard. I urge others to protest about these add ons.
George.
I agree with mr mcdonagh there should not be a extra gratuity charge . I didn’t get it in my job as a nurse , so why do we pay people who do service its there job , and one should not expect a tip . rewards should be given by the companies when they hear about staff who have give and gone beyond expectard standards. its a american thing and they are on more money than british people .
the amount they tell you to give can go towards your next holiday .
we are subsidising the companies low wages.
i found it very rude to expect a tip i was left envelopes with a note on how much to give , when i put them in a draw in my cabin went out for our last evening meal they where back on the table our cabin steward had gone into the draw and placed them back on the table. i found this very intrustive into my private things . so do all cabin staff go threw are cupboards and draws ?
I always pay my gratuities as said in the article it gets split between the back stage Crewe as it were. I have no doubt that these go to the staff as I know several people who have worked on ships for many years and they have confirmed this is true.
We have been told by cabin stewards that if they don’t get an excellent mark on our satisfaction questionnaire they don’t get a share of the gratuities We always take them off since the amount increased a lot and we do long cruises I.e. 19 to 35 days and tip individual personnel But P&O are removing them early 2019 whom we always cruise with
Cruise companies pay billions building new ships but will not pay many of their staff a decent wage. Compulsory, or even expected as a right tipping should have no place on a cruise ship.
I have stopped tips on P & O cruises. We are going on Saturday 2 March 19 and am surprised to read that you cannot stop tips. We like to tip the people who have given us service. We think that the daily rate cruises charge for tipping is too high.
Yes you can stop tips we are just back from a P&O cruise and stopped the tips. Just go to the main desk and fill in the form
Yes you can remove tips at Reception by asking for a form We have been doing so since the amount increased a lot But P&O are removing them early 2019
Gratuity – Cambridge Dictionary definition:- a small amount of money for someone who has provided you with a service, in addition to the official amount and for their personal use.
Gratuities are rewards for good service that has been received. I am totally vexed by the concepts of ‘pre-booking gratuities’ or ‘compulsory gratuities’ as they are just completely bizarre!
Its high time to end this nonsense; pay behind-the-scenes staff a decent wage; and let people voluntarily and personally reward those that have given them good service, instead of giving money to the cruise lines to boost their income!
I repeat myself frequently with regard to tipping. I do not, never have and never will tip in advance for a service I have yet to receive. It makes no sense to do this and those who do so perpetuate this ridiculously unnecessary extra cost. In my working life I had choices about whether or not the salary I received was sufficient to compensate me for the work I did. I did not get tips for doing my job. The sooner we all stop paying the sooner this is confined to history. I may, at my discretion, tip for a particularly exceptional service provided outside what would be part of the obligations but otherwise I will not.
I agree 100%!
When we sailed with Princess cruises I would pay the gratuities on my account and my husband’s would have his removed then we would use his tips money to give to the people who we thought had given us good service
If you pre pay they already have your money. Do they pay them back in credit?
We believe everyone on these ships work hard, from entertainment staff right down to the laundry staff. They are doing their jobs for which they get paid a wage and it should be a fair wage. Tipping in my opinion is for receiving service above and beyond what is expected, not to supplement the staff wages. It is not our fault that people behind the scenes do not get the chance to ‘ shine’ in some way to get tips and we shouldn’t be made to feel guilty about it.
We do not pre pay tipping and we do not do the daily onboard automatic tipping either. We remove them on the first day and tip people who we want to tip at the end of the cruise.
Also I can’t understand why some people pre pay their tips, paying all the money upfront before they go on the cruise, which is a lot of money if it is a family. Knowing that once onboard they are going to go to the desk and cancel it and have to get all the money refunded. Why pre pay in the first place? just cancel the daily charge once onboard, you only have to do it once, not every day. I am not having a go at them as it is personal choice, I just don’t understand the logic behind it when they don’t need to pre pay.
This is a subject that will divide cruisers for years to come. At the end of the day it is personal choice and no one should feel guilty which ever way they choice to go. Happy cruising.
Just been on a Royal carribbean ship our cabin staff works hard and we always tip them well but he says he doesn’t get a wage from the cruise line just his board and lodgings and relies on tips for a salary, is this correct?
I have just done a google search on cruise ship wages and they seen to range from $1200 to $1500 with some positions paying $2500 per month. This was just from one website.
Absolute rubbish
That’s not correct. RCI advised me directly when I queried policies and said:
All gratuities are shared between dining room front staff and cabin stewards. Bar staff share gratuities added to drinks. All other staff behind the scenes, main crew, entertainers are paid a wage. Photographers get a wage + commission on sales. Given that tips are used to make up wages and removal of tips can be seen as a level of dissatisfaction this can impact on cabin steward wages especially when read in conjunction with satisfaction surveys
Is it true that on MSC cruise ships, very little English is spoken by crew? Announcements too are brief and so passengers are left confused n uninformed?
I have been on MSC SINFONIA last October and this January, all the crew membersI spoke to spoke English.
I find Costa cruises the worst, I sailed on their old ship last year, service was worst I have ever seen, staff were rude, yet we had to pay the service charge, they will not remove the service charge at any cost. My least favourite cruise liner.
I really do feel ashamed of my fellow countrymen on occasions. If you go on a cruise you are not only looked after by the people with whom you have direct contact but also by an army of people you never see but whose work, often under strenuous circumstances, makes all the difference to any cruise. Are they not also entitled to receive recompense for their hard (unseen) work? We always pay the gratuities so that everyone that works so hard to make our cruise a success feels that their efforts are appreciated. We then personally and additionally tip a small amount to our cabin steward and head waiter (to share among his team) with whom we have had direct contact during the cruise. Likewise tour leaders and coach drivers on excursions.
They DO “ receive recompense ”…….it’s called their wages!
Just curious at your comment, but what the hell do you think you paying for in your holiday cost, you are paying for all these hidden people to look after you and you should not have to tip on top of the cost unless you receive exceptional service, just like in a hotel.
If you were to stay at a large hotel, would you expect to pay in advance a gratuity to all the ‘behind the scenes’ staff? I expect not. Tipping is about personal contact with a person that goes beyond what is expected of them or what they would normally be expected to do. It is not about rewarding every member of the organisation that is behind the scenes. Those people are paid a wage and as such their wage should reflect the fact they they would not normally expect to be in a position to be ‘tipped’. The concept of ‘tipping’ in advance is a complete farce! How can you tip for something you have not yet received? Cruise companies use tipping to supplement paying poor wages! They also withdraw tips to staff very easily if there is any negative feedback. What then happens to those prepaid tips? They go straight into the company coffers!! That’s fair isn’t it? Please don’t feel ashamed on my behalf! If I choose to tip for service then I do. Those who don’t have that right.
They are floating hotels Hotels on land don’t ask for gratuitys. Went on a celebrity x cruise it was 14 dollars a day then had the cheek to charge 20% service charge on everything we bought ask for a bottle of bud at 5 dollars plus 20 %for taking the top off ending up six dollars
Hi Elizabeth,
Think about it. You don’t even know who the so called gratuities go to, if anyone. There has been documentaries on TV about service charges and companies removing half as an admin charge before passing on to staff what is left. Stop paying gratuities and give direct. This way maybe they will raise the wages.
George
We always pay not only pre paid tips but additional to the cabin steward and dining room staff. How stupid are we as these cruise lines should pay the back room staff a wage the same as they would have to pay in their own company, i.e., if they sail from Britain then the crew get British wages, not 3rd world wages. Thats why these skinflints register their lines in places like Nassau. Have you noticed that these companies who do pre paid tips in the fares also do drinks packages and bump up the cost of the cruise so much higher. There needs to be an industry watchdog to stop us the VALUED customer being taken to the cleaners
Tips added to on board account are a con. Cruise companies advertise low prices then sting you for tips which if there are three in a cabin add hundreds to you account. Companies like Thompson and ncl are all inclusive andp&o dispite whatthey say increased prices to cover tips. They therefore apoear more expensive than american lines.
However at least you can book knowing exactly what you are paying nothing hidden. We still gave extra tips on thompson/ MArberra line as service was so good. Dont likeitadded to on board account its not atip its additional charges.
You need to be far more specific. You speak of service charges, tips and gratuities. These three things do not always refer to the same thing.
Service charges in general refer to an additional charge added to the bill on top of the stated price by the company and are not to my knowledge share with the staff. These charges are compulsory and are not removed from payment by requesting that “Tips” are removed from the onboard account.
Tips and Gratuities on the other hand probably refer to a what should be a voluntary donation made by the customer to the member of staff providing the service.
Tips/Gratuities should be a matter between the customer and employee and should be no business at all of the employer. Wages are a matter between the employee and the employer and should be no business at all of the customer.
I do not know what Service Charges are intended to pay for other than a semi hidden charge to increase the revenue of the company.
We also ask for the tips to be removed from our account on the first day of our cruise. We would not expect to tip a hotel on land $20 per day which amounts to $280 dollars for a 2 weeks stay so why do so on a ship when the service is basically the same? We usually have a good cabin steward and we leave a good tip for them, only once did we have a bad one so we adjusted the tip accordingly. Despite a previous comment doubting whether people did leave a tip YES WE DO as do most people. I also agree regarding the service charge which is automatically added to some purchases. Is this not for the service rendered? So why should we pay a tip for service again? I am sure that the majority of people would rather see a small rise in the cost of the cruise to give the staff and crew a better wage, even better, why don’t the directors pass on some of their fatcat awards to the people who actually earn it for them namely the people who work on the ships. On the same note, do the staff who work in the offices and cruise terminals get part of the tips or do they have a decent enough wage?
just come back from Miami and I had to pay $70 plus tax for 2 nights my first night I got to the hotel at 21 30 so you do have to pay in a hotel and that was when we left to go on a cruise (british)
Interested in comments about tipping.
Going on an MSC Caribbean cruise in May with my 6 person family, and tips are coming in approx €470. We went on a Mediterranean cruise last year with MSC and there was no problem removing tips if you wanted….. My question is in America tipping seems mandatory and I’m told they will follow you from a restaurant if the tip is deemed insufficient. What’s the situation on a cruise ship – is it the same when the cruise ends and you haven’t prepaid ?
Interesting comments on the whole gratuities and tipping. We’ve been on a number of cruises and pre-paid, really don’t want to do that again as we have also chosen to tip who we thought deserved extra for their work, this, I think the better option. Staff do get wages, but they do get taken advantage of working extremely long hours. That said my son is an executive sous chef at a 5 star hotel, he doesn’t get tips for his work from the public but is rewarded instead form his employers. Anyone been with Holland America, do they allow you to opt out of the tipping process? Thanks for comments in advance.
The same old tipping debacle again. As I have commented many times before we always have the service charge removed and tip who and by how much we want.
The best way to look at this I think is to compare it to a stay in a good hotel, which basically a cruise ship is a floating hotel.
So, if you stayed for lets say 10 – 14 nights in a hotel would you expect to tip up a couple of hundred pounds or so at the checkout when leaving on top of what you agreed when you booked?
I suspect not, So why do some feel compelled to do so on a ship?