Crew Notification of Tip Removers on Splendor

[Manuel]

Originally Posted by naturist

We always opt out of prepaid gratuities and tip whom ever we feel did a great job at the end of the cruise. If the room steward was just "ok" then ther tip is small and if they are great! well you get the picture. Also we NEVER tip the maitred, since you never see him until the end of the cruise with his hand out. Also they are not a low level employee, I'm sure his paycheck is more than enough!!!!!!!!!!!

I have enjoyed all my cruises, and I like to be generous with hardworking people.
I would not like going on a cruise and having to be cheap.

TM

[Insider]

[QUOTE=lhp;1223226]I know the gentleman that took the picture.

These lists are made AFTER guests get off the ship...so no worries about anyone spitting in the soup or anything.

This particular list was of folks who elected to get off in Long Beach in the middle of this cruise. So these folks were already off the ship.

Why have a list?

As an accountant, it is understandable to me why. These cabin stewards and waiters know exactly how many guests they waited on. And I can assure you that they can calculate EXACTLY how much their tips for a particular cruise should be.

Carnival has to PROVE to these workers WHY their pay is not exactly the amount it should be. Carnival can't just hand them a paycheck for any amount they wish without a "detailed" listing of any shortages.

Posting it in public simply keeps Carnival from having to have 500 copies of the same information.

This list is posted after every cruise.[/QUOT


Beg to differ here. The List, and I also know who took the picture and I was also on that cruise, showed EVERYONE on the ship that had removed their tips on this cruise. Know because a friend of ours who does not believe in pre tipping but tips at the end found their name on the list. They did not get off in Long Beach as you did. They sailed the entire cruise with us.

[Thoth]

This guy removed his automatic gratuities.

open link.../

[Master Chief]

Thoth,

Amen!

[peachcrek]

I find this very disturbing I have only twice out of 16 cruises deducted some money from my tip due to the steward throwing away some personal items in our cabin he should have not touched, I used to take off the tip and pay at the end of cruise but now I leave it on as if the service is exceptional I give to our steward and our waiters extra the last nite of cruise I find it very offensive that people take off the tip and not leave anything at ALL!! the crew work very hard to make your trip comfortable and that you have an enjoyable vacation, mind you there will be times when you may deduct something, mine was on Ncl went to main desk to let them know the steward threw some things away and what were they going to do to replace the items they were not expensive but it was something we needed and got no response to replace or sub the items that were thrown away. so I took the 20.00 off the tip the other time was when we never even used the dinning room we used the buffet the whole cruise so I removed the dinning room tip, since we never set foot in the dining room, I have no problem with them taking a tip as long as we use the facillities we are being charged for. I also resent the Matrie 'DI expecting the tip as The only time you see him at your table is the last 2 nites of your cruise when he makes a point to visit your table to let you know he is there and looking for a tip. The only time I have chosen to tip them is when they go out of their way to move us to better table area or time or if they make an effort to visit us at our tables at 75% of our dining time and makes an honest effort to get around to the tables to greet guests and believe me their are some that visit every table every nite to say hello or ask how your day went!! just my opinion

[Thoth]

Originally Posted by Master Chief

Thoth,

Amen!

I took that photo at the Maritime Museum in Halifax. The crew on the Maasdam thought it was funny when I told them that this was the guy who removed tips.

[ManhattanBeachMike]

I agree that it is a cover to get off with no tip. It is so little people, for these workers who bust their hump to make your vacation memorable -- if someone works especially hard consider giving them an extra tip!

[twoAlaskans]

Originally Posted by punk

I just can't imagine NOT tipping for the wonderful service I've received!! We prepay our tips and then also do something special for the ones who went above and beyond.
Last cruise, in addition to the standard tips prepaid we also gave a bottle of Hennesy to our waiter (his fave), an xtra $20 to his asst, and an xtra $20 plus some books I was reading to our steward (we shared the same likes in authors). All the extras were accompanied by cards telling them how great our cruise was THANKS TO THEM!

We also gave cards and smaller items to our hostess and bar waiter which we don't always do but on that cruise they really went out of their way for us!

That sounds like a wonderful way to show how much they made your trip special, but can they keep gifts like the Hennesy? Woudl hate to give a guy/gal someting and the company take it...does anyone know the rules on that and the extra money you give the special ones? We alway go above 15% to 25% if the wait staff is great (never been on a cruise) at the dinner theater we attend, normally $25.00 on our $55.00 bill

[big apple]

Where do you think the Lido dining room gets their tips?

[Thoth]

Originally Posted by big apple

Where do you think the Lido dining room gets their tips?

From the automatic tips. Many of the same ones also work the main dining rooms.

[flowers]

Originally Posted by Thoth

From the automatic tips. Many of the same ones also work the main dining rooms.

the $1 per day pp of your tips shown as service or something, I'v heard it goes to the buffet workers.

[zydecocruiser]

I think generally the crew isn't notified until AFTER the cruise and there was some snafu when the info was released early.

I do think most of the people who remove tips are just being cheap and either tip nothing or undertip in person.

Some of us try to make up for that.

Crew members rotate around the fleet and it is not unusual for some to remember me from past cruises. I imagine they also remember the cheap ones and I wouldn't be surprised if they had their own social network going where they exchange information about the passengers - good and bad.

[NancyB]

The most precious tip ever was when my 3 pre -teen girls left a note and all their change on the bed the morning we left.(a good amount)

The note said "thank you for keeping our room clean, we had a wonderful time and we didn't have to clean our room', " Amy, Karen and Casey.

My eyes filled with tears. Even young children know the grace of giving when deserved.

"Out of the mouth of Babes."

[Thoth]

Originally Posted by NancyB

The most precious tip ever was when my 3 pre -teen girls left a note and all their change on the bed the morning we left.(a good amount)

The note said "thank you for keeping our room clean, we had a wonderful time and we didn't have to clean our room', " Amy, Karen and Casey.

My eyes filled with tears. Even young children know the grace of giving when deserved.

"Out of the mouth of Babes."

you taught them well !

[colorcrazie]

Kudoes to your daughters and to you, Nancy. I'll bet that cabin steward had a tear or two in his eyes. Many of them have kids of their own. WELL DONE!
Marty

[lhp]

Just did the "Behind the Fun" tour thingy and a list of folks who had removed their tips was posted just inside the kitchen door on the bulletin board as we entered the kitchen.

I had heard this was the case ....as others on this tour on other ships that knew what to look for had reported seeing "the list". Sure enough, it was right where others had said it would be.

The Destiny is the ship with the worst problem of this happening.

And now that the larger ships are going to a 3 person team.....they will get even less of the money that folks give.....

Having cruised almost 50 times since 1998, we have done the pre-paid (paid it with our cruise) tips for the past 4 years or so, with no loss of service at all.

These individuals take pride in their "profession" ... and it shows!!!

We sailed the Triumph and the Elation last month....and the Elation had a group that made no bones about the fact that they were removing their tips (and it wasn't to tip them later in cash).

So I wore my tshirt...

"Can't Afford To Tip
Stay Off Our Ship!"

(and I can say "our" because I am a stockholder and own a sliver of each ship!)

[Fern]

Originally Posted by lhp

So I wore my tshirt...

"Can't Afford To Tip
Stay Off Our Ship!"

(and I can say "our" because I am a stockholder and own a sliver of each ship!)

Love it ! We've talked to Room Steward's who say they do get a list of people who've removed the tips, and we've talked to Room Steward's who've said there is a list, but they don't look at it. I'm pretty sure there's a list .

[Mike M]

I'm actually chuckling and also a bit troubled by this thread.

Yes folks; there is a list posted of people who pull their tips. If you don't like it then too bad but don't stick your head in the sand and say it doesn't exist. It's posted after the cruise or only seen by upper management.

Pulling your tips is your decision but the crew has the right to know who has pulled their tips and if the tips were pulled because of a service issue they have a right to try and correct it.

So: There is a list. The crew sees this list. Get over it.

If you don't like the current tipping policy. Write management and try to get it changed. Otherwise pay the tips and consider it a cost of cruising.

Take care,
Mike

[lhp]

Originally Posted by Mike M

I'm actually chuckling and also a bit troubled by this thread.

Yes folks; there is a list posted of people who pull their tips. If you don't like it then too bad but don't stick your head in the sand and say it doesn't exist. It's posted after the cruise or only seen by upper management.

Pulling your tips is your decision but the crew has the right to know who has pulled their tips and if the tips were pulled because of a service issue they have a right to try and correct it.

So: There is a list. The crew sees this list. Get over it.

If you don't like the current tipping policy. Write management and try to get it changed. Otherwise pay the tips and consider it a cost of cruising.

Take care,
Mike

Very good point. The list we saw in the kitchen was probably from the previous cruise.

I have advocated for years that they change the name to a "service surcharge" and add it at the time of booking (like the fuel surcharge).

That way they could still run the "from $299" ads and put the service surcharge in the fine print like they do the fuel surcharge.


As bad as it is to have a few folks pull their tips, it is far worse when you have a GROUP onboard (staying in adjacent cabins and all sitting at the same group of tables) pull their tips. This means the wait staff and cabin stewards don't get anything that week.

And you have groups that advertising on their website how to remove the tips!

So I suggested that they should at least make the groups prepay their tips at the time of booking.

I have heard that Carnival can't do this because of a "law" that prohibts it. I have not verified that yet.

Sadly it is a growing problem....one cruise on the Destiny in November had 34% of the tips removed! Unfortunately, this is not uncommon for the Destiny....and they wonder why none of the crew want to be assigned to that ship....

[Mike M]

I had a punctuation error in my previous post. It should have read.

"If you don't like it then too bad but don't stick your head in the sand and say it doesn't exist, it's posted after the cruise or only seen by upper management."

It is current and posted during the cruise.

Take care,
Mike

[johnthed0g]

I have to say that firstly WE DO TIP but I have no idea why. The staff are employed to do a job & that is what they are doing, their job, they are not doing you a favour, you don't have a choice on whether you get served or not. The room guy does the room & we seldom see him nor do we want anything, the rest serve you drinks you are paying for or food that is included in the fare.
I think tipping is an outdated system, if the cruiseline want us to pay a surcharge for them to pay their staff with then just build it into the fare. When I explain tipping to non cruisers they are aghast at the amount of money we are expected to donate on top of the fare just to have someone do things that they have to do.

[colorcrazie]

Tipping may be antiquated, but it is a part of how business is done. And not just on cruise ships, but also in restaraunts, hotels, etc.,etc. It makes sense to me in general. Employees are paid a low wage and then the rest is dependent on how well they do their jobs. Hmmm, I would love to see that applied to Congress.
Okay, that's not going to happen. But, a really good waiter or waitress can make a good living. And, I enjoyed the old days when we did it in person on cruises. But, there were people back then who skipped out on tipping meals. So, I'm not surprised that they are still around.
So far as making cruise lines pay better to avoid tipping...not going to happen and I, for one, prefer to have some influence over what money I hand over. I usually overtip, but I have sometimes chosen not to. On one cruise, our cabin steward was a jerk. He made his assistant do all of the work while he chatted with other stewards. I pulled all of his tips and gave them to her.
Marty

[2katz3fsh]

We have our tips taken out automatically and also give those who serve us (including the men who take our luggage to the lower decks the last evening) tips, personally in envelopes. For those who we see regularly, I make a habit of bringing on each cruise a few Thank You cards in which I write our sentiments, along with the gratituity (gratuity being an additional monetary gift other than that which has been automatically deducted daily from our shipboard accounts).

Hub and I are both working people and we know how nice it is that someone recognized and thought about us enough to give us an extra special something. We have also worked behind the scenes and know what it feels like to get left out.

We, as most passengers, do not see those who work in the laundry, cleaning the decks, in the kitchen, etc. and we also utilize their services (even if we do not come into contact with them) as well during our cruise, so a few dollars (or cents) goes a long way to thank them for our clean towels, clean sheets, clean dishes, clean decks, etc... They work hard, deserve it (even if they are not paid well by their parent company), and most of the time, send the money back home to their relatives who are not even fortunate enough to have the money to take a cruise, so do get the fruits of their labors.

I look at it this way: everybody is happy on a cruise and if it improves their lot, then I am happy to make the world a better place, even if it costs a little more out of my pocket.

Humbug NOT!

[johnthed0g]

Cruise lines & those who pay low wages should not be allowed to, the UK is far from perfect but we do have a minimum wage of around £6 per hour & basic minimum conditions of employment & rights.

[Dan40]

Originally Posted by johnthed0g

I have to say that firstly WE DO TIP but I have no idea why. The staff are employed to do a job & that is what they are doing, their job, they are not doing you a favour, you don't have a choice on whether you get served or not. The room guy does the room & we seldom see him nor do we want anything, the rest serve you drinks you are paying for or food that is included in the fare.
I think tipping is an outdated system, if the cruiseline want us to pay a surcharge for them to pay their staff with then just build it into the fare. When I explain tipping to non cruisers they are aghast at the amount of money we are expected to donate on top of the fare just to have someone do things that they have to do.

We have cruised with Brits and communicated with them prior to our sailings. So that when we meet on board, its like we've already met. In talking with these people about booking cruises out of England compared to out of the USA, we have compared prices. Here in the USA we pay our price and are expected to tip at least the recommended amount. The British cruisers pay MUCH more than we do, but their tips are included.
I have cruised when tips were included, I tipped more anyway. Not at the end of the cruise but as served. Most lines have a 15% gratuity added to each drink as well. I leave that in place AND tip $1.00 per drink in cash, for every drink. I tend to avoid waiters and deal with the person making my drink because I'm picky, if the bartender is a pro, I'll leave him $5.00 or $10.00 in cash each day. WHY? When I approach the bar, my drink appears by magic, immediately. I like that and expect to pay for it.

[big apple]

Originally Posted by Dan40

We have cruised with Brits and communicated with them prior to our sailings. So that when we meet on board, its like we've already met. In talking with these people about booking cruises out of England compared to out of the USA, we have compared prices. Here in the USA we pay our price and are expected to tip at least the recommended amount. The British cruisers pay MUCH more than we do, but their tips are included.
I have cruised when tips were included, I tipped more anyway. Not at the end of the cruise but as served. Most lines have a 15% gratuity added to each drink as well. I leave that in place AND tip $1.00 per drink in cash, for every drink. I tend to avoid waiters and deal with the person making my drink because I'm picky, if the bartender is a pro, I'll leave him $5.00 or $10.00 in cash each day. WHY? When I approach the bar, my drink appears by magic, immediately. I like that and expect to pay for it.

Maybe the Brits should buy their cruise tickets thru an American travel or directly with the cruise line.If you are going to cruise out of US ports we would expect you to abide by our customs and if I am in your country I will abide by your guidelines.

[Thoth]

Tipping can be a somewhat confusing practice. I'm always struggling to play by arbitrary unwritten rules. and....That is just in the US !
No wonder international Travelers are guilty of an occasional faux pas. Once in Japan I offended a young lady by attempting to tip her at the restaurant.
For my first few cruises, I was expected to provide a tip to the wait-staff in the dining room. Then the lines instituted automatic gratuities, but I still wished to give something extra. The staff refused my extra tip !
I prefer that hairdressers, massage therapist, waiters, waitresses, and cruise ships charge me up from then I need not worry about tips.
If the cruise is $700 plus $70 gratuity, then just charge me $770 to start with. If that guy who cuts what little hair that I still possess expects $15...then charge me $15, not $12 expecting a $3 tip.
If that lady who massages my sore back expects $40 for a half hour, charge me $40, not $30 expecting a $10 tip.

[Fern]

Originally Posted by big apple

Maybe the Brits should buy their cruise tickets thru an American travel or directly with the cruise line.

Unless things have changed recently, Brits must buy their tickets from British TA's or the British Carnival site. They're not allowed to buy from a TA in the US.

Originally Posted by Thoth

I prefer that hairdressers, massage therapist, waiters, waitresses, and cruise ships charge me up from then I need not worry about tips.
If the cruise is $700 plus $70 gratuity, then just charge me $770 to start with. If that guy who cuts what little hair that I still possess expects $15...then charge me $15, not $12 expecting a $3 tip.
If that lady who massages my sore back expects $40 for a half hour, charge me $40, not $30 expecting a $10 tip.

AMEN! Unfortunately, that's not going to happen . We can dream, though.

[Barryn514]

We always tip extra at the end of the cruise. The only one that I have a hard time tipping is the MD because most times we never see him unless he is standing by the door when we walk in or says something over the mic.

I have always had a problem with pooling tips because the person that doesn't make that effort, why should he/she get the same amount of that person that did a great job. I have seen this happen often at some of the casinos we go to in Vegas, sometime we have a dealer that is flat out rude but still get's his/her % from the tips for that shift. JMO

[Insider]

Originally Posted by lhp

Just did the "Behind the Fun" tour thingy and a list of folks who had removed their tips was posted just inside the kitchen door on the bulletin board as we entered the kitchen.

I had heard this was the case ....as others on this tour on other ships that knew what to look for had reported seeing "the list". Sure enough, it was right where others had said it would be.

The Destiny is the ship with the worst problem of this happening.

And now that the larger ships are going to a 3 person team.....they will get even less of the money that folks give.....

Having cruised almost 50 times since 1998, we have done the pre-paid (paid it with our cruise) tips for the past 4 years or so, with no loss of service at all.

These individuals take pride in their "profession" ... and it shows!!!

We sailed the Triumph and the Elation last month....and the Elation had a group that made no bones about the fact that they were removing their tips (and it wasn't to tip them later in cash).

So I wore my tshirt...

"Can't Afford To Tip
Stay Off Our Ship!"

(and I can say "our" because I am a stockholder and own a sliver of each ship!)

That is so funny because after this picture surfaced after the Swine Flu Cruise Carnival made a big ststement that this was a fluk and would never happen again. Now you see the exact same "list". Seems to me Carnival got caught in a little "lie". They do this as a normal practice and just do not want passengers to know about it.