Carnival Cruise Tipping Policies (Scotland: hotel, restaurant, food)

[CanTex]

The Cruise Critic web site already mentioned here is an excellent resource. The discussion forum there is a very active one, and there are separate sections for each cruise line as well as for Gulf Coast ports such as Galveston.

You will see this question about tipping discussed there frequently. Cruise lines differ from one to the other on gratuities and whether these are charged automatically, but in all cases you have the opportunity to remove these and offer your thanks with tips offered directly to your room attendant, dining wait staff and others. Whatever you do, don't shaft those who made your vacation a wonderful experience by not tipping them anything or an insultingly amount. They depend on tips for most of their income and 99% of them really work hard to make your vacation enjoyable.

Note that most if not all cruise lines DO add a mandatory gratuity (usually 15%) to all beverage purchases.

[Reivax]

reading the word gratuity in this thread reminds me of the line in the movie Princess Bride... "You keep using that word. i don't think it means what you think it means."

Merriam Webster definition of gratuity: : something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service; especially : tip.

So mandatory gratuity is kind of a stupid concept.

Instead of sell me a $7 drink and add 15%, how about you just sell it to me for $8.00 and not bother me with the fact that you gave the dollar to the bartender. Why is it that only in service industry we have this forced artificial transaction where consumer gives a "gratuity" for services? it's time to put that concept to bed.

[jflores]

We used Carnival about two years ago for our honeymoon. My wife loved it, at the end of the day that is all that matters.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

First, I think it is classless to charge a mandatory gratuity. On the flip side, some people are just too cheap and take service for granted, so I see the point.

My wife and I took a cruise a few years ago from Venice to Turkey, Greece and Croatia. There was an option for automatic gratuity, but as a guest, one had to agree to it. I suspect it was illegal to charge a mandatory gratuity in Europe, though the idea certainly was not new as many thought this was being done automatically, usually Americans. Still, mandatory gratuity is an oxymoron.

For what it is worth, we ended up tipping our room staff, bar and restaurant staff about $300. And we then opted to give $100 for the 'ship'. In the end, we paid more than the ship would have received had we opted for the full automatic payment. Plus, the tips went directly to the people who made our trip enjoyable. I'm sure some will argue that it is not fair to everyone on board the ship, and rightfully so, I mean there are people that are not seen that make the trip possible.

So, how legal is a mandatory gratuity, and is it mandatory in the US?

actually many places throughout the world, UK being one have a mandatory service charge, basically it is the same thing, only with a different name. Now, mandatory on ships, you can discuss the gratuity situation with the pursers office, if service is really bad and you have tried to correct the problems usually the tips can be removed. What you can not do is get them removed and then tip servers individually. They do have to report this and share. It hurts them more than helps them.

Nita

[fordlover]

The gratuity can be adjusted if you so desire. They must charge the tip automatically because otherwise many cruise passengers wouldn't tip a penny. My sister and Brother in law adjusted their tips for their stay, way up in some cases where they requested special service like room cleaning and dining (she has very special dietary needs) and down in areas where they feel they got less than satisfactory service. I thought everyone did about what they were expected to do, so we never adjusted our gratuities.

I went on the carnival conquest and had a really good time, I also went on an alaskan cruise aboard the princess diamond, and I would say the two were very comparable in terms of the ship and the quality of service. There is lots of emphasis on the 'fun' with carnival.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by Reivax

reading the word gratuity in this thread reminds me of the line in the movie Princess Bride... "You keep using that word. i don't think it means what you think it means."

Merriam Webster definition of gratuity: : something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service; especially : tip.

So mandatory gratuity is kind of a stupid concept.

Instead of sell me a $7 drink and add 15%, how about you just sell it to me for $8.00 and not bother me with the fact that you gave the dollar to the bartender. Why is it that only in service industry we have this forced artificial transaction where consumer gives a "gratuity" for services? it's time to put that concept to bed.

This is what they have in Europe (my wife is from Spain); they love Americans because they tip all the time. All restaurants have the service fee, sort of a forced gratuity, but you at least know about it up front, and the percentage it will be. Times are changing though, more and more Europeans are now leaving good tips, not just coins.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Not to deviate too much from this thread... when my wife and I were planning our honeymoon, we first found our cruise online, and the cost for our suite/cabin and our itinerary was about $2700.00 per person. My wife decided to call an agent in her hometown of Barcelona... she gave her the dates, and cruise information, and guess what? We got the same exact cruise, and suite for only $1300.00 per person! The exact same cruise.

I've heard of needing to make a profit, but come on, that is a huge mark up only because one books it in the US. I'm not accusing all agents of doing this, but we shopped around the US sites, and that was the best we found. We did not bother calling anyone else in Spain once we got the price we liked.

[texas7]

I've only gone on Royal Carribean - sort of middle of the road, I guess. Not upscale but not low-budget. However, had family member in his mid-20's go on Carnival Ecstacy out of Galveston for honeymoon and he said it was okay but there were too many loud and very drunk people all over the place. Surprised to hear that from a young guy but to each his own.

[CanTex]

Originally Posted by texas7

I've only gone on Royal Carribean - sort of middle of the road, I guess. Not upscale but not low-budget. However, had family member in his mid-20's go on Carnival Ecstacy out of Galveston for honeymoon and he said it was okay but there were too many loud and very drunk people all over the place. Surprised to hear that from a young guy but to each his own.

Carnival Ecstasy does shorter (4 and 5 day) cruises only, and with any cruiseline on cruises less than 7 days you'll tend to get a lot more new cruisers, spring-breaker types, weekend getaway people on the short cruises. Carnival Conquest does only 7 day cruises so you will find it isn't so much a "party" atmosphere and a lot more relaxing since people aren't trying to cram their vacation into a long weekend.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by texas7

I've only gone on Royal Carribean - sort of middle of the road, I guess. Not upscale but not low-budget. However, had family member in his mid-20's go on Carnival Ecstacy out of Galveston for honeymoon and he said it was okay but there were too many loud and very drunk people all over the place. Surprised to hear that from a young guy but to each his own.

Had clients that did the Ecstacy for their honeymoon last year, they had both cruised before and said they wouldn't return to Carnival, but others i know love the line. Each line has something good and something not so good.
And yes, the shorter cruises do attract a totally different crowd as a rule.
Nita