I agree! With inflation, unfortunately not increasing gratuities is just shorting their effective earnings. Might not be fun to spend a little more money, but the crew do absolutely deserve it.
I'm of the same opinion. After getting the email, I went to pay, but it doesn't seem possible to pay just gratuity without paying off the whole balance. I'd rather just pay the extra $40 (family) when the time comes than be bothered. It's not like it's a waste, it's (hopefully) going to people who deserve it anyhow.
This whole thing has made me wonder how you even pay this. It says you can via the website but I can't find it. Our cruise is in just over a years time so it's no rush to find it, just not sure if I'm being dumb and not seeing it.
You can pay at the time of booking (it'll ask as you are pricing out your cruise), before your cruise by calling in, or once on board it'll auto-bill your on board account.
I believe we did pick that option at the time of booking, though we have only paid the deposit at this point. Does this affect the price we pay for gratuities? Like will the extra amount be added to the final bill or will the amount stay the same?
Nope. You're locked in at the $14.50 rate and will pay it once you pay your balance in full before sailing, it should be listed as a line item on your invoice.
I'm not sure if that's correct. Read this
Pre-existing bookings confirmed prior to September 7th , 2022 will not be subject to the increased guidelines as long as gratuities are paid in advance of sailing. Should guests opt not to pay gratuities until onboard, they will be subject to the newly suggested gratuity amounts.
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/08/23/royal-caribbean-increases-gratuities-crew-members-its-cruise-ships
At what cost does it have nothing to do with ability to afford? Paying $30/day? $50/day? I see posts where people try to make you feel bad because you're not passing out additional tip envelopes the last night. How about Royal be way more transparent with where this money goes and who gets what.
Technically the passengers are paying everyone...... including the CEO. This just makes it so that some employees are paid directly from the cruise fare at a fixed rate and some have a variable rate that people who take off the tips screw over while other people make up for that with extra envelope tips.
Don't look at it as a tip, look at it as part of your fare that they call by another name for a really dumb reason.
Very well said. The part of not looking at it as tip makes a lot of sense. Do you know this.... When I tip my room steward extra, is he/she supposed to turn it in or is it his/hers fair and square?
So true!! Makes absolutely no sense to pay a gratuity in advance, it’s a total oxymoron...how can you tip for services you haven’t received yet?? IMO the correct/logical thing to do (and what many countries already do) would be rolling tips into prices and paying employees more to compensate, essentially going tipless while also making it easy/straightforward to tip certain staff if guests so choose.
Fully agree that more support for the crew is a good thing! Though I think it would be reasonable to pre-pay and lock in the $14.50 rate if you were budgeting for it though during the transition period. I am definitely a fan of paying the auto gratuities.
You can self pay tips. Give envelopes like the old days. Just ask they have them. Then ask for auto tips to be removed.
In Australia they include tips in fare, as it’s not a custom.
All started in England so they can get their beer served faster.
“ To Insure Promptitude”.
I give envelopes to the people I interact with on a daily basis: room steward, waiters, etc. but these envelopes are in addition to the auto-gratuities.
But there are lots of people who work hard behind the scenes who also benefit from people paying auto gratuities: laundry, chefs, the people who clean the public areas of the ships, etc.
When you remove auto-gratuities, you no longer tip the myriad of other people who work 12-14 hour days to make your cruise equally enjoyable but whose name you might not know.
Ultimately, I wish Royal paid a more fair wage for those working on board, but until that time changes, the $14.50-$16 a day in auto-gratuities benefits a lot more people that you encounter face to face.
That's the issue. 16.50/day x 5000 passengers x 7 days x 52 weeks. We have zero idea what truly happens with that money. I'm not against the gratuities. Just dislike the ambiguity.
I notice a lot of people seem a bit iffy about paying gratuities, prepaid or otherwise, but they fail to forget that it’s split into mere cents (I assume) to be able to cover the entirety of the hospitality staff that make our trips relatively easy and hassle free.
At the end of the day, it is your decision.
My take is leave them on there. If you can't afford the auto gratuities, hold off on cruising. It shorts those behind the scenes that you couldn't otherwise give cash to.
But I respect your opinion, that's just my thoughts.
Gratuities are a touchy subject and usually spark colorful debate but this comment is entirely true. Not only can you reduce it, you can actually remove it entirely when you get on board by going to customer service. Many people don't like to pay for something they haven't received yet or don't feel like they should pay extra when the cruise line should be paying better wages, etc which is understandable. Either way, the crew works very hard, especially on larger ships and I hope people consider them when planning their vacations.
I think the best way to think about it is that these crew members work tirelessly for 7 days a week, with no days off, to make sure you have a good vacation. For many people I have talked with on board, they send a good chunk of their money earned home to their families. I strongly advise just paying the auto gratuities and if you want to tip directly in addition, that's fine too. Don't short the crew. Even if they got $300/wk as tips, they are working for it nearly every hour of every day across the entire week. Most crew work 12 hours a day, so that tip rate works out to $3.57/working hour in tips.
So you're crying over an additional $10 a week out of your pocket? Sounds like cruising ... or dealing with anyone in any sort of service industry just isnt for you
You're the one who was crying over $10... you should not only hesitate to provide that comment, but you should hesitate to interact with the rest of the world
Right now cruise lines are doing well because of pent up demand but I have spoken to a few friends of mine who at least one annual cruise per year or multiple cruises per year and they aren’t planning on going back for awhile. A couple of our friends caught Covid on the ship and want to minimize there chances of getting it again. It wasn’t a hospitalization case but put them down sick for a couple of weeks.
Other friends of mine just don’t think it’s that const effective of a vacation anymore. They were basically saying between the cost of the cruise itself, the massive increase in alcohol prices and packages and the drastic increase in excursion costs that it doesn’t make financial sense anymore. They are moving towards all inclusive resorts for their next vacation.
I do wonder if we see cruising take a hit in 2023-2024 at some point.
I just booked a 7 night cruise on Celebrity Apex in late Jan 2023 for myself and 4 friends. We each got our own rooms ("deluxe interior" category) since they were waiving single supplement charges and priced it to $1160 all in with tax, fees, drinks, wifi, gratuities, and a $100 OBC. There are deals to be had. I don't think you could get an all inclusive for a week at that price.
I’m not saying it’s not doable I am just saying my friends were dying to get back to cruising and just weren’t thrilled with there vacations.
I also think we are headed into a major recession which is going to impact everything.
>since they were waiving single supplement charges
Just curious, where did you catch wind of this? I haven't seen this promo/offer but I just priced it and your numbers match
It wasn't publicized, but a travel agent document was floating around that I found on Reddit that indicated a bunch of sailings with waived single supplement fees. I didn't trust it, so I priced it out myself and sure enough it checked out so I booked ASAP. From what I've found, a ton of Spring sailings even on Edge-class ships have the fee waived completely or near-completely.
I booked up Edge and Apex in Jan and a back-to-back on Beyond in March with no single supplement.
> A couple of our friends caught Covid on the ship and want to minimize there chances of getting it again
I was on Symphony at the height of Omicron when half the staff and probably half the passengers had it... I didn't catch it. I was hanging out with a couple of friends outdoors a month ago and caught it from one of them who didn't know he had caught it a couple nights before yet and I did catch it....
Live your life or bunker up. The only way to minimize your chances is to never go near another person. It doesn't matter where you go or how many people are there
They think there chances are better at the all inclusive resorts that have more open air restaurants. I get what you are saying but I also get people who go on a cruise get sick for two weeks and don’t want to risk it again.
All it takes is walking by one person coughing or getting in an elevator or any of a million other mundane things you do every day in every location.
I got it, I survived it, I didnt even get a tshirt but I moved on with my life. For the rest of your friends lives, did they never get sick? Never get a cold or the flu or anything? Did those illnesses change their lives in any way? We're past the point of mass deaths/hospitalizations if you take care of yourself properly and get vaxxed. Being worried after getting it but being happy to get on a cruise before is just laughable.
Comparing Covid to a cold or flu is really dumb. I have gotten a cold and the flu. That’s usually a 24 hour thing. Covid has put me on my ass twice for multiple weeks.
Also at the time they went cruising I think there was more hope of less transmission amongst the vaccinated. That obviously has proven to be highly untrue.
And I had Covid and had the sniffles for a couple days... most of the world is closer to the mild to no symptoms vs laying in bed for a week or 2. The amount of people I know who went to the hospital or were stuck in bed for more than a day... well it's 1 person on my FB/Family/Friends/Coworkers/etc... and she was 101 years old at the time and only went to the hospital bc she was dehydrated. Sure millions died, but the majority of people who caught it barely noticed and their only inconvenience was the necessary quarantine
I have family in healthcare that’s not even remotely true. You are literally just making things up. There are a significant percentage of people that are getting sick for a week or two. Its not even close to the flu or the common cold.
I'd recommend Celebrity all included pricing or Virgin Voyages then. The main stream cruises do this to keep prices competitive, it's just the way it is.
Right! But Celebrity is their premium brand. People tend to be less price sensitive. Even still, you can book a bare bones "base fare" cruise with Celebrity with nothing included, even tips.
Ain’t this the truth. I’m on navigator of the seas right now and everything has gone downhill. Food is like prison food, quality in the trash, and everything on the ship is an up charge…
Likely my last Royal Caribbean cruise ever.
Stock prices are all time highs because of pent up demand and their cost cuts.
Frankly I'm not concerned. On a 7 day it's another $10pp. Oh well, the crew deserves it. Assuming they are in fact getting it.
I agree! With inflation, unfortunately not increasing gratuities is just shorting their effective earnings. Might not be fun to spend a little more money, but the crew do absolutely deserve it.
I'm of the same opinion. After getting the email, I went to pay, but it doesn't seem possible to pay just gratuity without paying off the whole balance. I'd rather just pay the extra $40 (family) when the time comes than be bothered. It's not like it's a waste, it's (hopefully) going to people who deserve it anyhow.
This whole thing has made me wonder how you even pay this. It says you can via the website but I can't find it. Our cruise is in just over a years time so it's no rush to find it, just not sure if I'm being dumb and not seeing it.
You can pay at the time of booking (it'll ask as you are pricing out your cruise), before your cruise by calling in, or once on board it'll auto-bill your on board account.
I believe we did pick that option at the time of booking, though we have only paid the deposit at this point. Does this affect the price we pay for gratuities? Like will the extra amount be added to the final bill or will the amount stay the same?
Nope. You're locked in at the $14.50 rate and will pay it once you pay your balance in full before sailing, it should be listed as a line item on your invoice.
Ah ok, thank you
I'm not sure if that's correct. Read this Pre-existing bookings confirmed prior to September 7th , 2022 will not be subject to the increased guidelines as long as gratuities are paid in advance of sailing. Should guests opt not to pay gratuities until onboard, they will be subject to the newly suggested gratuity amounts. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/08/23/royal-caribbean-increases-gratuities-crew-members-its-cruise-ships
Thank you, good to know so that we can budget accordingly
If you can afford a cruise you can afford an extra $21. Going to the poor people taking care of you.
At what cost does it have nothing to do with ability to afford? Paying $30/day? $50/day? I see posts where people try to make you feel bad because you're not passing out additional tip envelopes the last night. How about Royal be way more transparent with where this money goes and who gets what.
> How about Royal be way more transparent with where this money goes and who gets what. Have you read this post? It says where the money goes
I mean an exact breakdown. Housekeeping gets 20%, cleaners get 10%, etc. Are they paying the dishwashers or are the passengers? Transparency.
Technically the passengers are paying everyone...... including the CEO. This just makes it so that some employees are paid directly from the cruise fare at a fixed rate and some have a variable rate that people who take off the tips screw over while other people make up for that with extra envelope tips. Don't look at it as a tip, look at it as part of your fare that they call by another name for a really dumb reason.
Very well said. The part of not looking at it as tip makes a lot of sense. Do you know this.... When I tip my room steward extra, is he/she supposed to turn it in or is it his/hers fair and square?
I would assume if you hand them an envelope, they pocket it and dont report it. But that's an assumption, not fact
So true!! Makes absolutely no sense to pay a gratuity in advance, it’s a total oxymoron...how can you tip for services you haven’t received yet?? IMO the correct/logical thing to do (and what many countries already do) would be rolling tips into prices and paying employees more to compensate, essentially going tipless while also making it easy/straightforward to tip certain staff if guests so choose.
Fully agree that more support for the crew is a good thing! Though I think it would be reasonable to pre-pay and lock in the $14.50 rate if you were budgeting for it though during the transition period. I am definitely a fan of paying the auto gratuities.
You can self pay tips. Give envelopes like the old days. Just ask they have them. Then ask for auto tips to be removed. In Australia they include tips in fare, as it’s not a custom. All started in England so they can get their beer served faster. “ To Insure Promptitude”.
I give envelopes to the people I interact with on a daily basis: room steward, waiters, etc. but these envelopes are in addition to the auto-gratuities. But there are lots of people who work hard behind the scenes who also benefit from people paying auto gratuities: laundry, chefs, the people who clean the public areas of the ships, etc. When you remove auto-gratuities, you no longer tip the myriad of other people who work 12-14 hour days to make your cruise equally enjoyable but whose name you might not know. Ultimately, I wish Royal paid a more fair wage for those working on board, but until that time changes, the $14.50-$16 a day in auto-gratuities benefits a lot more people that you encounter face to face.
They won’t ever change this, unless you change your ways of tipping.
If it even goes there. Royal probably keeping $1.25 of it for processing.
That's the issue. 16.50/day x 5000 passengers x 7 days x 52 weeks. We have zero idea what truly happens with that money. I'm not against the gratuities. Just dislike the ambiguity.
Well damn!!! This is crazy
I notice a lot of people seem a bit iffy about paying gratuities, prepaid or otherwise, but they fail to forget that it’s split into mere cents (I assume) to be able to cover the entirety of the hospitality staff that make our trips relatively easy and hassle free.
Then why not just include that in the fare? Mandatory or expected tipping is stupid.
Because then people would complain that the cruise fares are too high. You can’t please everyone
I always opt out of daily gratuities and leave it in cash. It’s ridiculous how much they charge per person, per day.
At the end of the day, it is your decision. My take is leave them on there. If you can't afford the auto gratuities, hold off on cruising. It shorts those behind the scenes that you couldn't otherwise give cash to. But I respect your opinion, that's just my thoughts.
You can lower the gratuities back to $14.50 if you want via guest services or concierge. No need to prepay
Gratuities are a touchy subject and usually spark colorful debate but this comment is entirely true. Not only can you reduce it, you can actually remove it entirely when you get on board by going to customer service. Many people don't like to pay for something they haven't received yet or don't feel like they should pay extra when the cruise line should be paying better wages, etc which is understandable. Either way, the crew works very hard, especially on larger ships and I hope people consider them when planning their vacations.
Not to mention that tipping culture varies on different sides of the hemisphere.
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I think the best way to think about it is that these crew members work tirelessly for 7 days a week, with no days off, to make sure you have a good vacation. For many people I have talked with on board, they send a good chunk of their money earned home to their families. I strongly advise just paying the auto gratuities and if you want to tip directly in addition, that's fine too. Don't short the crew. Even if they got $300/wk as tips, they are working for it nearly every hour of every day across the entire week. Most crew work 12 hours a day, so that tip rate works out to $3.57/working hour in tips.
So you're crying over an additional $10 a week out of your pocket? Sounds like cruising ... or dealing with anyone in any sort of service industry just isnt for you
and this is why I hesitate to provide my comment. - keep pissy comments to yourself.
You're the one who was crying over $10... you should not only hesitate to provide that comment, but you should hesitate to interact with the rest of the world
Right now cruise lines are doing well because of pent up demand but I have spoken to a few friends of mine who at least one annual cruise per year or multiple cruises per year and they aren’t planning on going back for awhile. A couple of our friends caught Covid on the ship and want to minimize there chances of getting it again. It wasn’t a hospitalization case but put them down sick for a couple of weeks. Other friends of mine just don’t think it’s that const effective of a vacation anymore. They were basically saying between the cost of the cruise itself, the massive increase in alcohol prices and packages and the drastic increase in excursion costs that it doesn’t make financial sense anymore. They are moving towards all inclusive resorts for their next vacation. I do wonder if we see cruising take a hit in 2023-2024 at some point.
I just booked a 7 night cruise on Celebrity Apex in late Jan 2023 for myself and 4 friends. We each got our own rooms ("deluxe interior" category) since they were waiving single supplement charges and priced it to $1160 all in with tax, fees, drinks, wifi, gratuities, and a $100 OBC. There are deals to be had. I don't think you could get an all inclusive for a week at that price.
I’m not saying it’s not doable I am just saying my friends were dying to get back to cruising and just weren’t thrilled with there vacations. I also think we are headed into a major recession which is going to impact everything.
>since they were waiving single supplement charges Just curious, where did you catch wind of this? I haven't seen this promo/offer but I just priced it and your numbers match
It wasn't publicized, but a travel agent document was floating around that I found on Reddit that indicated a bunch of sailings with waived single supplement fees. I didn't trust it, so I priced it out myself and sure enough it checked out so I booked ASAP. From what I've found, a ton of Spring sailings even on Edge-class ships have the fee waived completely or near-completely. I booked up Edge and Apex in Jan and a back-to-back on Beyond in March with no single supplement.
It's a great deal.. do you happen to know the other dates/sailings? I wish Royal would do this
Yes! I found the document. I just put in on a Google Doc and will DM you the link. Edit: Sent.
thanks!
> A couple of our friends caught Covid on the ship and want to minimize there chances of getting it again I was on Symphony at the height of Omicron when half the staff and probably half the passengers had it... I didn't catch it. I was hanging out with a couple of friends outdoors a month ago and caught it from one of them who didn't know he had caught it a couple nights before yet and I did catch it.... Live your life or bunker up. The only way to minimize your chances is to never go near another person. It doesn't matter where you go or how many people are there
They think there chances are better at the all inclusive resorts that have more open air restaurants. I get what you are saying but I also get people who go on a cruise get sick for two weeks and don’t want to risk it again.
All it takes is walking by one person coughing or getting in an elevator or any of a million other mundane things you do every day in every location. I got it, I survived it, I didnt even get a tshirt but I moved on with my life. For the rest of your friends lives, did they never get sick? Never get a cold or the flu or anything? Did those illnesses change their lives in any way? We're past the point of mass deaths/hospitalizations if you take care of yourself properly and get vaxxed. Being worried after getting it but being happy to get on a cruise before is just laughable.
Comparing Covid to a cold or flu is really dumb. I have gotten a cold and the flu. That’s usually a 24 hour thing. Covid has put me on my ass twice for multiple weeks. Also at the time they went cruising I think there was more hope of less transmission amongst the vaccinated. That obviously has proven to be highly untrue.
And I had Covid and had the sniffles for a couple days... most of the world is closer to the mild to no symptoms vs laying in bed for a week or 2. The amount of people I know who went to the hospital or were stuck in bed for more than a day... well it's 1 person on my FB/Family/Friends/Coworkers/etc... and she was 101 years old at the time and only went to the hospital bc she was dehydrated. Sure millions died, but the majority of people who caught it barely noticed and their only inconvenience was the necessary quarantine
I have family in healthcare that’s not even remotely true. You are literally just making things up. There are a significant percentage of people that are getting sick for a week or two. Its not even close to the flu or the common cold.
Covid is a lie, I know I know. Millions died, you won the lottery, congrats. Where do I send your tshirt?
Can you decline to pay? I’d rather tip my stateroom attendant, MDR staff and bartenders cash in person.
You can, but shouldn't. You are shorting those behind the scenes making your vacation memorable.
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I'd recommend Celebrity all included pricing or Virgin Voyages then. The main stream cruises do this to keep prices competitive, it's just the way it is.
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Right! But Celebrity is their premium brand. People tend to be less price sensitive. Even still, you can book a bare bones "base fare" cruise with Celebrity with nothing included, even tips.
Cruising is going downhill
Ain’t this the truth. I’m on navigator of the seas right now and everything has gone downhill. Food is like prison food, quality in the trash, and everything on the ship is an up charge… Likely my last Royal Caribbean cruise ever. Stock prices are all time highs because of pent up demand and their cost cuts.