crew salaries on cruise ships

[Tony Wilding]

in the news Carnival pay 75 pence per hour to Asian and Philippino employees, now they want to have there tips paid direct to the company in advance when u book the cruise at the daily rate they stipulate. slavery still exists.

[John Pruden]

tony so really its the passenger not the company that are paying the crews wages through the tips? they should put that in the glossy adverts travelers should embarrass the operators ask before you book a tip is a tip and should not be mandatory?JP

[happy daze john in oz]

It would appear that there are different rules with cruise companies depending on where they are opperating. All Princess Cruises out of Australia are gratuity free, it is up to you if you want to tip or not. Spoke with a number of the wingers and they say the pay is good. They are paid overtime once they have completed about 240 hours per month. I have put the total figures up beforte on the cruise ship thread. With Royal Caribean you can choose to include gratuities as part of your package, or opt out if you wish, they do not force it.
Somehow I do not believe the 75 cents per hour, as no company can force you to pay gratuities. P&O almost had a riot on one ship in European waters the other year when they attempted to impose gratuities on the bloods.

[Captain Kong]

Cunard charge 11 to 13 US Dollars a day per person, so a couple will be charged 22 to 26 US Dollars a day.
Which is rather expensive after a long cruise.
You can cancell the gratuities by going to the Pursers Office and singing a paper.
When I sailed on Queen Elizabeth from Frisco to Sydney this year, I cancelled.
I was Not impressed by the behaviour of the Catering Staff. Most were Eastern Europeans who were very surly and any request was unhelpful. I think Cunard must have got them Centre Point Homeless Hostel in London.
Two men on the counter in the Lido Restaurant, one a black African and one from Eastern Europe both Sneezed together all over the food without making any attempt to cover up, I declined lunch that day, In the Britannia Restaurant I saw a waiter at the station, who was preparing the cups of coffee, sneeze directly into all four cups, again no attempt to cover up, then he served to coffee to another table.
I ate a piece of BAD fish, it tasted revolting , unfortunately I had swallowed some, two hours later I was sick.
The Nurse came , gave me an injection and then charged my account $75 US.
So I went to the Pursers Office and cancelled all my gratuities.
I gave my Filpino Cabin Steward a big dropsy as he was good and and always helpful and cheerful, also my table waiter, a Filipino, got a big dropsy as he also was cheerful and gave good service.
The Filpinos have always been good and cheeful.
. Total, 2000 Passengers for 365 days @ $12 a day, for a year equals, 8,760,000 US Dollars, 8.76 MILLION DOLLARS. I think, so that is a few bob to whack out for the Crew, Catering Department only , not deck or engine room. So Carnival must make a BIG Profit on that
Cheers
Brian

[Tony Wilding]

my brother has done 5 cruises with the Oasis Of the Seas fleet. the Captain rold him there was 40 different nationalities working, and he was Norwegian, said an American Captain would cost a more, my brother said the Philippine crew were excellent, could not be faulted, so helpful, eastern Europeans are not in the same league, this compulsory is totally wrong.

[robpage]

gra·tu·i·ty A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for service. [French gratuité, from Old French gratuite, from Medieval Latin gratuitas probably from Latin gratuitus, voluntary; see gratuitous.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

Now that is a dictionary definition , Shipowners since the Press gangs roamed the docks looking for volunteers have had a different definition of voluntary , I once diid voluntary service on a King Line ship , I once did some voluntary weekend work in Southampton whilst working by , I did a voluntary extra couple of months on a Gulf Oil Tanker . Voluntary in the Shipowners dictionary means YOU and NOW !!!!!

[happy daze john in oz]

my brother has done 5 cruises with the Oasis Of the Seas fleet. the Captain rold him there was 40 different nationalities working, and he was Norwegian, said an American Captain would cost a more, my brother said the Philippine crew were excellent, could not be faulted, so helpful, eastern Europeans are not in the same league, this compulsory is totally wrong.

You will find the Norwegian ships have American captains for the same reason.

[j.sabourn]

Tipping to me was what one always did for satisfactory service and was up to the individual. However more and more this appears in different spheres of occupations. Tipping as such nowadays I can only think came from America and to a certain extent Canada. When over there a couple of years ago it was mandatory on Bus Trips and were signs up that the driver expected 35 percent of the tours price. Also in restraunts a percentage was requested. As these employed people were taxed on their assumed income with tips, I can only assume this was another way of subsidizing certain industries, and keeping the wage bill down. Up to now such tipping is not expected in Australia and hope never to see it become mandatory. As most of these Passenger Line Companys are mainly American I can see where there thinking comes from, the stories one used to hear about when I was a boy was that America was the place to be for wages etc. On the few occassions I have worked on american ships, I found their seamans wages were well below Australian rates with certainly harsher conditions of service. Know this may upset those members living in the U.S. but this is the way I saw it. Cheers John Sabourn.

[Tony Wilding]

what Cunard ask for in pre paid tips more than covers the salaries they pay there foreign workers, the crew have no guarantee of receiving what has been added to passenger bills, or even aware of the amount, only one reason a company does this is because they can syphon off what they think, just a way of making money, i wonder how transparent the account of tips is , ? most likely never made public. what a pathetic excuse they give for doing this, saying people dont know how much to tip. just more ways of milking the system to there advantage. at the expense of the lowest paid.

[Captain Kong]

This from Cunards web site, on Tips...........
.
On Board Staff Tips During your cruise, you will experience excellent service from many members of our crew in a variety of locations. In addition, many more crew behind the scenes support those who serve you directly. For your convenience, a Hotel and Dining charge will be automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis.

The Hotel and Dining charge will be shared amongst those staff that helped provide and support your luxury cruise experience, including the restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and accommodations staff, buffet stewards and others. Casino and Spa personnel do not share this charge, as not all guests utilise these services.

The amount charged varies by stateroom category. Naturally, you are free to tip any member of crew over and above these amounts at your discretion.

Ship
Accommodation Booked
Hotel and Dining Charge
Per Person Per Day

Queen Mary 2
Grills (Q1-Q7, P1-P3)
$13

Britannia (AA-A4, B1-B4, C1-C4, D1-D8) $11

Queen Victoria Grills (Q1-Q7, P1-P4)
$13

Britannia (A1-A7, C1-C5, D1-D8) $11

Queen Elizabeth Grills (Q1-Q7, P1-P4)
$13

Britannia (AA, A1-A7, C1-C5, D1-D8) $11




Bar and Wine Service Charge – A 15% charge is automatically added to your bar charges and dining room wine account. This is shared amongst the beverage staff and their support staff.