Poll of the Day > Any cruise experts on here? I'm curious about the gratuity.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm going on my second cruise even next year and I was looking over the prices. I'm going with 2 friends, and the price isn't horrid (10 day cruise and after everything it's about $130 a day).

Think is each of us is paying $145 in gratuity charges (Even though we are just staying in 1 balcony room).

That is basically 45$ a day in gratuity, and I'm pretty freaking sure we tipped everyone last time when we went on only a 4 day cruise as well.

That seems like an large amount to me? Don't the people working on the cruise get paid directly as well? Where is all the money ($130) a day going if it's not also paying for the staff etc on the cruise?

I mean over all it's...an ok deal. We are getting a balcony, but only 2 beds and a pull out couch (which I'll probably be sleeping on). Least we will have fresh air this time (last time no windows etc...but only 4 days).

I'm ok with everything else, but.....it would be much closer to only $100 a day or so, if there wasn't the 450$ additional charge for gratuity.
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According to Wikipedia, you legally don't have to pay the gratuity.

The only people I go out of my way to tip on cruises are the room stewards because they usually do an awesome job and the server at the dining hall because its normally the same person for the whole cruise. If Im just ordering some drinks or something I usually dont bother with a tip.

if I do an excursion tour or something off of the cruise Ill normally tip the guide if they do a good job

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Hmmm, yeah I don't really know. I'll ask my uncle (he's who I went with last time). I followed his lead last time as I was new to cruising and I remember we tipped the person who cleaned our room etc at the end.

I didn't realize that a gratuity was part of the costs we paid though. I feel that is wrong, but he said somethign about them not getting paid, or paid very little and often coming from places outside of America etc.

I'm not rich, I tip because I don't want to make people feel bad, but pretty much EVERYONE in a tipping job in my area (in WA you get min wage which is 12$ + tips) makes more then me, and more then I have made most of my life.

As a teacher, I made about $15 an hour at max, now, working at an after school program I'll be making about $14......I don't have tons of money to throw around. I wouldn't even go on the cruise by my uncle paid for the last one and he really wants me to go on this one with him, and I'm not gonna let him pay for it again (it made sense last time, he just needed a bit more to get his platinum card or something and I just had to pay the extra fees for a second person (otherwise he would have to go alone)...so it was like $300 total or something for me).

This is gonna be like $1300+.....which I'll be able to do, but yeah, don't have tons of money to just throw around by tipping and then tipping again. If the gratuity part actually goes to the servers etc, then I'm gonna have to stick to that as my tip, and not tip again on top of it this time.
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You're supposed to just open up your wallet and dump it's entire contents. If you can't afford it just stay home.

dedbus posted...

You're supposed to just open up your wallet and dump it's entire contents. If you can't afford it just stay home.

Not too far off tbh, if you go by what they try and get you to spend lol.

I'm honestly not sold on this cruise thing, but I'm gonna give it another try.

It just seems like AB&B and even hotels if your not going solo are just a way better deal.

While you don't get transportation from site to site, plane flights can be really cheap and fast, and give you way more time to spend at the locations you go to. AB&B is insanely cheap for a single person, and hotels in many places are both more comfy, and not that expensive if your sharring with another person.

We are scheduled to go on a 10 day hawaain cruise...but we have to fly to hawaii to start it already (From Vancouver BC), so we are basically paying to go to hawaii already, then just cruising around there on the ship.

There are plenty of AB&B options for 60-70 on all the islands, per day. Meanwhile you can actually stay at hotels for as little as 40-50$!!! That would actually be only 25$ a person per night with 2 people, and in a sitch like mine with 3, you could end up paying less then 20$ a person (and have more room then on the cruise still, no tipping costs etc).

Honestly though there are incredible deals on renting rooms, literally on the beach for 600-800$ a month.

I could freaking fly to Hawaii, rent a room for a month and pay for all the food I eat the whole month, for the cost of the 10 day cruise.
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Oh, I was wrong, we are LEAVING from vancouver BC, and cruising to Hawaii, that makes more sense (I was like, why do we need to fly there?).

So it's a 10 day cruise with most of the time on the sea getting to hawaii.

I may look at ways to stay in Hawaii a bit longer then before flying back, as I think we would all be flying to different locations. So no reason for me to fly back with the others.

That would make it a bit more cost effective for the trip as a while. Fly to VC the night before, stay over at a hotel etc, then get on the cruise, go to Hawaii etc, and then stay at a hotel/ab&B for a bit while there to explore some more....before flying back to seattle.

Maybe make it a 2 week vacation all together, 1 day in VC, then 10 days on the cruise, then 3 days in Hawaii before flying back.
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dedbus posted...

You're supposed to just open up your wallet and dump it's entire contents. If you can't afford it just stay home.

Cruises are actually a great value as far as vacations go. You can often enjoy an all inclusive cruise somewhere exotic for less per day than youd usually spend on a hotel

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was thinking you meant a different kind of cruise...

i hate when people say gratuity when they mean fee.

if it's required then it isn't a tip, it's a service charge
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Mead posted...

dedbus posted...

You're supposed to just open up your wallet and dump it's entire contents. If you can't afford it just stay home.

Cruises are actually a great value as far as vacations go. You can often enjoy an all inclusive cruise somewhere exotic for less per day than youd usually spend on a hotel

I heard that, and in some cases I can see it, but I'm not really sure if that is the case, especially considering how small the rooms are etc.

My cruise had a bunch of specials that we got BoGO50% etc, and my uncle has the platinum thing that reduces the price even more. Initially it would have been almost $6000 for 10 days, for 3 people. That is about $200 a day base....which is way more then I would spend on most vacations especially If I was sharing a room with 2 other people.

I mean we could get the best most luxurious hotels just about for $400 and still have $200 to spend on food (The grand hyatt is a bit more at $530 or so, but honestly most are under $300...and even the $200 ones are probably way nicer/more spacious etc then the cruise room).

I remember once hearing a good deal/price to aim for on a cruise is about $100 a day, but I think those prices went up. We got a very good deal, way less then normal price, but it's still over $130 a day each (somewhere around $136 I believe).

And since you can't book solo (or it costs as much as 2 people pretty much if you do), it's pretty much always cheaper to stay at hotels (let alone AB&Bs).

So either things have changed drastically, or i'm seriously missing something cause cruises do not seem like a good deal at all anymore.

The food btw, isn't horrid for all you can eat, but that is really useful for younger people. One plate is usually enough for me at this point, and I would rather go to ahigh quality place, then eat at a buffet (and even if you go to the sit down dining area, it's still food from the buffet that is served to you pretty much).

Now, I like good food, and I'l pay for it on a trip for sure, but I generally only eat one big meal a day. I might have a bagel for breakfast/lunch (maybe a slice of pizza or a small sandwich for lunch if I got up early etc), but I generally focus on dinner, and a good dinner is usually not more then $30 a person (with minor exceptions here or there).

So yeah, in Hawaii for instance even paying $50 each for a good hotel ($150 total) and 33$ each on average for food, your spending less then 1/3rd as much per day. Seriously trying to wrap my head around why a cruise is better then just renting a place on the beach and kicking it while you explore the islands and try all the best places to eat.
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With ya on goin the hotel route.

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The tips go to the wait staff and stateroom attendants. They probably make something similar to tip wage in the US, which is pretty low pay so they rely on gratuities for much of their income.

In the old days, you put cash in several envelopes and at the end of the cruise handed them to each staff member in the dining room that worked for you on the cruise. And left an envelope in your stateroom for the attendants. These people probably got the shaft more often than not, so cruise lines have made it easy for guests by adding it automatically to the bill.

We typically eat breakfast and dinner in the dining rooms, so for us $45 per day for everyone seems about right. If youre only eating dinner in the dining room, Id have the amount adjusted by the purser at the end of the cruise to reflect that. $30 per day for the stateroom would be more reasonable IMO. I sort of mentally split it three ways - breakfast wait staff, dinner wait staff, and stateroom attendants.

Thanks Redline,

Yeah, I would only be eating dinner in the stateroom and maybe not every night either.

In addition there are 3 of us in 1 room, and it's tiny (or will be), so while I get tipping some each day for the person who cleans it etc, $45 seems a bit excessive.

I'll talk to my uncle about it and then possible talk to them on the cruise about reducing it...but...I probably will leave it and just not tip additionally at the end (like last time). Admittingly I believe we tiped just $20 each (40$ total) last time, for 4 days....so it wasn't too bad, but I didn't realize that was on top of already having tipped.

I'm down for tipping the wait staff at the sit down dining about $10 though (each), and $4.50 each which a bit high for the person actually cleaning our room (15$ total a day) certainly seems like a bit much (it honestly can't take someone more then 5 minutes to clean/change the sheets etc such a small room), it's probably not worth reducing.

I will probably talk to the consierge people though and find out how much they are making base as well. If they live on tips (which is basically what my uncle said last time), then yeah, the cruises suck for doing that, but I get tipping them that much. If they get paid a decent base wage though, then that seems excessive (the amount tipped), especially since I had at least some idea how many rooms the person in charge of ours was covering. I mean 2 people min per room, almost 5$ a day per person, and at least 20 rooms means over $200 a day just from the automatic tips (that is saying they just get $5 of the tips from each person).
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Mead posted...

The only people I go out of my way to tip on cruises are the room stewards because they usually do an awesome job and the server at the dining hall because its normally the same person for the whole cruise. If Im just ordering some drinks or something I usually dont bother with a tip.

if I do an excursion tour or something off of the cruise Ill normally tip the guide if they do a good job

This right here. Room stewards are typically tipped. When I worked on the cruise line they got tipped about $1 / day from the crew. The waiter is usually tipped because you will have the same waiter every day of the cruise (assuming you eat the standard meals).

The rest is pretty much as needed. All drinks are extra (alcoholic) and not included in the price. This is what trips up most cruise-goers. Most don't bother to tip since they already pay extra.

I don't recall 100% - but the cabin crew pretty much lives off tips and the waiters as well. The bartenders / etc are paid decent apart from tips.

Hmmm, they better get more then $1 a day if we are all paying $450+ each for a 10 day cruise. I'm not tipping on top of that, so they BETTER get it, or I'm going to tell them to take it off the bill and tip them directly.

I mean honestly min of 2 people a room, so thats at least 90$ per tiny cabin, per day, and even if you include whoever serves you for the sit down meal each day, that is still a ton.

I honestly don't think they actually give that money to them, or perhaps they pay ALL the staff with the tips, and pay them nothing themselves?

That is freaking rediculous if that is the case.

The food, at least on my last cruise was not even as good as most random buffets in towns, or not even equivalent to a $10-15 meal at applebees. The sit down meal was a bit better over all (the buffet was pretty bad), but yeah, it certainly wasn't anything to look forward to.

I mean, they are making serious bank, how are they not paying the employees?
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wolfy42 posted...

I mean, they are making serious bank, how are they not paying the employees?

Companies claim the cruises are a loss an the only money made is through the spa massage part.

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FrndNhbrHdCEman posted...

wolfy42 posted...

I mean, they are making serious bank, how are they not paying the employees?

Companies claim the cruises are a loss an the only money made is through the spa massage part.

Companies seriously lie, cause yeah, I don't know how much it costs to move the cruise ships, but they charge alot per person, per amount of space. I don't see how it's possible for them not to make quite a large profit honestly. Also if they actually made a loss, they wouldn't keep doing it (or try so hard to get people to go on cruises etc).

So I looked it up, and they say they only make about 20% of the total spent by passengers (for the base costs of the cruise) as profit. Which for like Carnival is still 2 billion a year.

I personally think they are making more then that, especially since they are not talking about all the extra costs people spend (for drink packages, excursions, gambling on board, entertainment etc etc) which I am quite sure they make bank off as well.

The article I read used a $1500 cruise as an example btw, but it also does not really factor in that 2 people use the same freaking room, so they are really getting $3000, not $1500...and most of the costs are the same.

In that case, even if you actually believed them that they only make 20% of the profit from a $1500 cruise, if the SECOND $1500 is almost all profit....that means it's actually more like 60% profit per 2 guests....not 20%, which would drastically change the numbers.
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I'm with ya. Ya know they aren't completely honest about the books. The fact they got busted dumping sewage at a port speaks to the constant corner cutting prolly happening. The only person punished was the staff who got caught.

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