Interesting read.
Not Disney specifically, but interesting that the automatic tipping seems to becoming an industry standard:
http://elliott.org/what/tipping-lies-cruise-lines-like-to-tell/
Tipping lies cruise lines like to tell
What Do You Know About Travel? By Christopher Elliott on Monday, August 19th, 2013
If you thought tipping was out of control in the United States, try heading out to sea.
Thats where Jane Greene discovered the tipping economy isnt just alive and well, it apparently sustains the crew of major cruise ships. Thats a particularly interesting revelation in light of the U.S. governments plans to regulate the cruise industry.
Prior to our most recent cruise, we always tipped generously above and beyond what was recommended for individuals who showed extra initiative, says Greene, an author from Pensacola, Fla.
But on her latest cruise on Oceania, she found a surprise charge on her final bill: it included a hefty, and automatic, tip for the crew.
Oceanias tipping policy is spelled out in its frequently-asked questions section: For guests occupying staterooms, gratuities of $14.50 per guest, per day, will be added to the final bill. Plus, an 18 percent service gratuity is automatically added to all beverage purchases, spa services and dinner at its signature restaurant, La Reserve, it says.
That didnt bother Greene as much as the behavior of the crew did.
Virtually all of these people came with hands out, expecting more, she says. I was told by two different staff persons that what we had been charged on our final bill was for gratuity, not for tip. Like other passengers, we felt obligated to ante up once again but it seemed wrong, and left us with a bad taste.
Shes not alone. Ive been a tipping critic for years (heres my latest rant against this fundamentally unfair way of compensating employees). Seems I have at least one reader who agrees with me. But land-based tipping is really nothing compared to the automatic tips you encounter at sea.
By the way, a gratuity and a tip are more or less the same thing. Greene says she had to pay even more than regular passengers, because she had booked a suite. Customers in one of Oceanias Penthouse, Oceania, Vista or Owners Suites where butler service is provided pay a mandatory gratuity of $20.50 per guest, per day.
Ouch.
Not a new policy?
Greene contacted Oceania, asking for an explanation of these fees. She received what appeared to be a personal response from a vice president, explaining the cruise lines tipping policy.
The entire hotel operations staff on board our ship share in the gratuities paid by our guests, he wrote. This ensures that each and every member of our staff embraces our service commitment to the guests. As a convenience to our guests and in order to avoid the feeling of having to constantly tip staff members, Oceania Cruises has had in place since its inception the policy of adding the suggested gratuities to guests shipboard account.
Thats even more damning. Greene certainly didnt feel as if the tips were discretionary, so if this policy has been in place since the beginning, doesnt it make you wonder how many other cruise passengers have been broadsided by it?
And then theres this: Starting with the 2013-14 winter cruise season, Oceania is raising its automatic gratuities to $15 and $22, depending on your cabin class. The only way to eliminate them is to stand in a long line at the end of the cruise, to request their removal. How convenient.
How it should be done
Years ago, when I started covering the cruise industry, I remember meeting with the president of a cruise line and asking him why he paid his employees less than the minimum wage.
Actually, he said, wagging his finger at me, they make great money!
How? I wondered.
Tips, he replied, matter-of-factly. They can make enough money to support their families back home.
That struck me as fundamentally unfair. Not only did it rely on the largesse of passengers something you cant always depend on but it also allowed the cruise line to pay the equivalent of slave wages while also hiding the true cost of a cruise.
Restaurants are running charities by comparison.
Can it get any worse? Sure. NCLs Pride of America had a $12 per passenger, per day auto gratuity before it headed to dry dock for renovations. At one time, the gratuity couldnt be removed, but in recent years, passengers were allowed to adjust it at their discretion. Still, you should have seen the complaints about that one.
If you add those tips to the bill at the end of a cruise and try to guilt your passengers into paying it, thats almost as bad as hitting you with a surprise mandatory resort fee at the end of their stay, which some hotels still do.
Cruise lines should be paying their staff a living wage, not forcing them to rely on handouts voluntary or otherwise from guests. The only beneficiaries of such a pricing policy are cruise lines, who can legally pay their employees chicken scratch. It might be useful to dodge a few bucks on taxes, too. And the only reason anyone can continue to get away with this deceptive pricing is because we allow them to.
We shouldnt.
Its time for the cruise industry to do what it says to make its product all-inclusive. And that should include their employees wages.
Should cruise lines automatically add tips to your bill?
Not Disney specifically, but interesting that the automatic tipping seems to becoming an industry standard:
http://elliott.org/what/tipping-lies-cruise-lines-like-to-tell/
Tipping lies cruise lines like to tell
What Do You Know About Travel? By Christopher Elliott on Monday, August 19th, 2013
If you thought tipping was out of control in the United States, try heading out to sea.
Thats where Jane Greene discovered the tipping economy isnt just alive and well, it apparently sustains the crew of major cruise ships. Thats a particularly interesting revelation in light of the U.S. governments plans to regulate the cruise industry.
Prior to our most recent cruise, we always tipped generously above and beyond what was recommended for individuals who showed extra initiative, says Greene, an author from Pensacola, Fla.
But on her latest cruise on Oceania, she found a surprise charge on her final bill: it included a hefty, and automatic, tip for the crew.
Oceanias tipping policy is spelled out in its frequently-asked questions section: For guests occupying staterooms, gratuities of $14.50 per guest, per day, will be added to the final bill. Plus, an 18 percent service gratuity is automatically added to all beverage purchases, spa services and dinner at its signature restaurant, La Reserve, it says.
That didnt bother Greene as much as the behavior of the crew did.
Virtually all of these people came with hands out, expecting more, she says. I was told by two different staff persons that what we had been charged on our final bill was for gratuity, not for tip. Like other passengers, we felt obligated to ante up once again but it seemed wrong, and left us with a bad taste.
Shes not alone. Ive been a tipping critic for years (heres my latest rant against this fundamentally unfair way of compensating employees). Seems I have at least one reader who agrees with me. But land-based tipping is really nothing compared to the automatic tips you encounter at sea.
By the way, a gratuity and a tip are more or less the same thing. Greene says she had to pay even more than regular passengers, because she had booked a suite. Customers in one of Oceanias Penthouse, Oceania, Vista or Owners Suites where butler service is provided pay a mandatory gratuity of $20.50 per guest, per day.
Ouch.
Not a new policy?
Greene contacted Oceania, asking for an explanation of these fees. She received what appeared to be a personal response from a vice president, explaining the cruise lines tipping policy.
The entire hotel operations staff on board our ship share in the gratuities paid by our guests, he wrote. This ensures that each and every member of our staff embraces our service commitment to the guests. As a convenience to our guests and in order to avoid the feeling of having to constantly tip staff members, Oceania Cruises has had in place since its inception the policy of adding the suggested gratuities to guests shipboard account.
Thats even more damning. Greene certainly didnt feel as if the tips were discretionary, so if this policy has been in place since the beginning, doesnt it make you wonder how many other cruise passengers have been broadsided by it?
And then theres this: Starting with the 2013-14 winter cruise season, Oceania is raising its automatic gratuities to $15 and $22, depending on your cabin class. The only way to eliminate them is to stand in a long line at the end of the cruise, to request their removal. How convenient.
How it should be done
Years ago, when I started covering the cruise industry, I remember meeting with the president of a cruise line and asking him why he paid his employees less than the minimum wage.
Actually, he said, wagging his finger at me, they make great money!
How? I wondered.
Tips, he replied, matter-of-factly. They can make enough money to support their families back home.
That struck me as fundamentally unfair. Not only did it rely on the largesse of passengers something you cant always depend on but it also allowed the cruise line to pay the equivalent of slave wages while also hiding the true cost of a cruise.
Restaurants are running charities by comparison.
Can it get any worse? Sure. NCLs Pride of America had a $12 per passenger, per day auto gratuity before it headed to dry dock for renovations. At one time, the gratuity couldnt be removed, but in recent years, passengers were allowed to adjust it at their discretion. Still, you should have seen the complaints about that one.
If you add those tips to the bill at the end of a cruise and try to guilt your passengers into paying it, thats almost as bad as hitting you with a surprise mandatory resort fee at the end of their stay, which some hotels still do.
Cruise lines should be paying their staff a living wage, not forcing them to rely on handouts voluntary or otherwise from guests. The only beneficiaries of such a pricing policy are cruise lines, who can legally pay their employees chicken scratch. It might be useful to dodge a few bucks on taxes, too. And the only reason anyone can continue to get away with this deceptive pricing is because we allow them to.
We shouldnt.
Its time for the cruise industry to do what it says to make its product all-inclusive. And that should include their employees wages.
Should cruise lines automatically add tips to your bill?
