Thread: Carnival Increasing Gratuity Charges

Frankly, I'm glad I don't have to do the math on 15% thanks to the auto tip. No joke.

I'm a 20% across the board kind of guy - it's just what I know and that on-the-fly math is tough enough. I can feel my wife's eyes rolling as I type this....she's so over being asked what the tip is on the bill.

The auto tip of $12.00 per day for major lines will become more commonplace as the marketplace attracts more international passengers. I sure hope the appropriate percentage of the increase is funneled directly into the pay accounts of those passengers desire to reward with their hard earned cash.

By comparison, competitor Norwegian Cruise Line recommends gratuities of $12 per day, while Royal Caribbean recommends $11.65.

Thanks for all the excellent and passionate responses!

In the end, is this going to drive away any Carnival customers? I don't think so. They've got a great product, with ongoing upgrades and developments (Fun Ship2.0, Guy Fieri, George Lopez, etc) and seemed to really strike a chord with passengers.

Cheers.

I wanted to add a few more hard facts to the conversation, rather than a poor attempt at self deprecating humor.

The new tip breakdown for Carnival staff is as follows:
Stateroom attendant- up from $3.50 to $3.70
Dining room service – up from $3.50 to $5.80
Alternative services (distributed to kitchen, entertainment, guest services and other hotel staff members) – up from $1.00 to $2.00.

So Carnival is the first to start tipping non service personnel?

Looks like they are raising those that take care of you directly, 20 and 30 cents per person, per day, but are now going to tip entertainment, guest services and other hotel staff members? And that's a whopping $1! Looks like they want to take care of those blokes more that the ones that make $50 bucks a month!

They've got to be kidding!

Yep, instead of raising the cruise fare to give them a raise in pay, which is what they should be doing, they're giving them more money in the form of 'gratuities'. And since when were we required to provide a gratuity to kitchen staff and entertainment staff?

As I said, it's the same thing with 'fuel supplements'. Instead of raising the cruise fare in order to pay for higher expenses, they add a supplemental fee. This way they get more money but they get to keep the 'advertised' cruise fare low, which makes the cruise look more financially attractive to start with.

Pete

Originally Posted by MD11F

MSC charges $12 per day per person, $6.00 for kids.

Gosh, folks, I'm probably the only one who feels children should also pay the $12 per day!

They require as much attention from room stewards and waiters as adults do ... sometimes more.

When our girls cruised with us (prior to auto tip), we ALWAYS tipped the recommended for them as well ... plus extra tips for good service.

Originally Posted by LuLu

Gosh, folks, I'm probably the only one who feels children should also pay the $12 per day!

They require as much attention from room stewards and waiters as adults do ... sometimes more.

When our girls cruised with us (prior to auto tip), we ALWAYS tipped the recommended for them as well ... plus extra tips for good service.

Yeah, but you, I and are few others are in the minority!

I'm always surprised by the number of people who do not come to dinner on the final night so they don't have to hand a gratuity to their servers. I got into a really long conversation one time with a steward while we were in a bar in port (it was his day off) and learned alot from him. One of the things was how many people actually don't leave any gratuities. He said it was always the ones who had the most gave the least. The average cruiser appreciated the service, while those more 'well off' either didn't appreciate it or didn't care.

Pete

Originally Posted by timwilloughby

I wanted to add a few more hard facts to the conversation, rather than a poor attempt at self deprecating humor.

The new tip breakdown for Carnival staff is as follows:
Stateroom attendant- up from $3.50 to $3.70
Dining room service – up from $3.50 to $5.80
Alternative services (distributed to kitchen, entertainment, guest services and other hotel staff members) – up from $1.00 to $2.00.

I believe the dining room service was $3.50 for the waiter and $1.75 for the assistant and that is probably combined, with the increase, into the $5.80.

I did not know they had a section for Alternate services. That is a bit of a surprise that these positions now share in the "service charges"

Pete has a very good point. I also feel that these positons should be paid by the cruise fare not service charges.

We have always tiped at least the recomended amount and often extra. I understand that with all the various optional dining and open seating for dinners traditional tipping at the end of the cruise does not work very well but for them to raise the amount and add non-traditional tipping to the pool does not sound right.

Okay, so that it does not appear we're just picking on Carnival, let's look at what other cruise lines recommend. All rates were obtained directly from their website today and are based on a per person per day rate;

RCCL
Waiter $3.75
Asst. Waiter $2.15
Head Waiter $.75
Cabin Steward $5.00
Total $11.65 (including children)

Celebrity
Waiter $3.65
Asst. Waiter $2.10
Head Waiter $1.00
Cabin Steward $3.50
Other Service Personnel $1.25
Total $11.50 (including children)

NCL
Not broken down, but states 'service charge' is for restaurant staff, stateroom steward, and behind the scenes support staff.
Total $12.00 (including children 3 and older)

Princess
Not broken down, but states gratuities are for wait staff, stateroom steward, buffet stewards, and housekeeping staff.
Total $11.50 (including children)

Holland America
Not broken down, but states new 'hotel service charge' is effective 12/2/11 and is for wait staff, galley, and laundry staff.
Total $11.50 (including children)

Disney
Waiter $4.00
Asst. Waiter $3.00
Head Waiter $1.00
Cabin Steward $4.00
Total $12.00 (including children)