DCL Mandatory Gratuities??

[mizcolon]

I just received this email from my agent:

Disney Cruise Lineis introducing the auto-application of gratuities on all Disney ships.
The process will create a more seamless experience by automatically charging folios on embarkation day with the suggested gratuity amounts for the Server, Assistant Server, Head Server and Stateroom Host/Hostess.

Below are the effective dates:

• Disney Dream - Date to be announced
• Disney Fantasy - April 21, 2012
• Disney Magic - Already in place
• Disney Wonder - April 22, 2012

If you wish, you can add pre-paid gratuities at the time of booking or when processing final payment. If the pre-paid gratuities have not been added prior to boarding, you will receive a letter upon check-in explaining the automatic charge to your onboard account. You will still have the option to modify or add additional gratuity amounts, or pay in cash, by stopping by the Guest Services Desk onboard.

As a reminder, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to any bar, beverage, wine and deck-service receipt.

DCL is charging suggested gratuity amounts on embarkation now???? What is that all about????

 

[sissy_ib]

I just received this email from my agent:

Disney Cruise Lineis introducing the auto-application of gratuities on all Disney ships.
The process will create a more seamless experience by automatically charging folios on embarkation day with the suggested gratuity amounts for the Server, Assistant Server, Head Server and Stateroom Host/Hostess.

Below are the effective dates:

• Disney Dream - Date to be announced
• Disney Fantasy - April 21, 2012
• Disney Magic - Already in place
• Disney Wonder - April 22, 2012

If you wish, you can add pre-paid gratuities at the time of booking or when processing final payment. If the pre-paid gratuities have not been added prior to boarding, you will receive a letter upon check-in explaining the automatic charge to your onboard account. You will still have the option to modify or add additional gratuity amounts, or pay in cash, by stopping by the Guest Services Desk onboard.

As a reminder, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to any bar, beverage, wine and deck-service receipt.

DCL is charging suggested gratuity amounts on embarkation now???? What is that all about????

There have been a few threads about this. As stated in the info from your TA if you want or need to change the amount of gratuities or the way in which you pay them you just go to GS and let them know.

 

[kcashner]

There is a 15+ page thread on this.

Bottom line--if you do not go to GS and ask that the "suggested" tip amounts be automatically added to your onboard account, they will be. This was started on the Magic during the Med cruises because the servers were being stiffed so often by people who didn't understand the tipping process.

The GUEST is still in full control of the tipping process and amount, but the "default setting" has changed. If the guest does nothing, the suggested tips are charged to the account. If the guest wants to increase, decrease, tip in cash, or whatever, they have only to go to GS to make the arrangements.

 

[mizcolon]

Yes, I did email my agent and ask if the gratuities was mandatory and this was her response:

Yes, DCL will be charging your onboard account the suggested dollar amounts

You can modify or add by stopping by Guest Services once you are onboard

So, my assumption is it can be taken away, lessened or added onto by my choice...still I sont particularly care for this process.... But hey, what can I do other than just remember to go to GS to change anything that needs to be changed....

 

[clten]

I look at the change this way:
Years ago, DCL introduced a system where people who didn't want to hand out cash could fill out a little piece of paper and go to Guest Services and have the tips added to their onboard account. This was very popular. I'm sure at some time, there was a tipping point. Someone said "We have 950 cabins on this ship and 500 of them stand in line or drop off forms for us to charge the tip. If we did it automatically, only 450 people would have to come visit us to remove the automatic tips. That would be less work and less people standing in line." (My numbers are rhetorical so please don't post just to correct me.)

So they haven't really changed the system, they've just changed who is standing in line at Guest Services. And they probably reduced that too. We didn't have them charge our gratuities to our onboard account before. But since the change on the Magic, we have left the suggested tips charged to our account and just added to them in cash.

 

[kcashner]

Nice thought...but the real issue happened when the Magic was in the Med with many non-US cruisers. Many countries have different tipping cultures than the US does, and the servers/hosts were getting stiffed on a regular basis. DCL instituted the tip charging on those cruises, and then continued them when the Magic returned to Port Canaveral. The staff was happy. Most of the guests were happy...so they expanded the automatic charging to the other ships.

Having done it both ways, I find the charging easier.

 

[lwake]

I cruised on the Dream 9/2011 and didn't have gratuities automatically added to my acct. DH and myself used the supplied envelopes and handed them out on the last day of our cruise. I'm confused by all of the "fuss" about gratuities being added. The recommended amounts per person per cruise are not much at all. In fact, we added more to each. Think about it, when you eat out you should leave at least a 20% tip and when you stay in a hotel you should leave a minimum of $5 per day. The suggested gratuities don't add up to this amount. I don't mean to sound negative, but as we say in our family, "if you are fussing about the money involved to take this vacation then maybe this isn't the vacation for you."

 

[Namsupak]

The tips are not mandatory. They are voluntary but you do not have to go to guest services any longer. A large portion of people leave the recommended amounts so for them it is going to be 1 less thing that they have to do during the cruise.

 

[TDC Nala]

Mandatory is not the correct word. By going to guest services you can ask to have them increased, reduced or removed. But the recommended gratuity amounts will be charged to your account automatically at embarcation.

 

[sambycat]

I've never been one who understood tipping in hotels (I thought housekeeping was part of the deal) but after coming to understand the tipping thing around cruising and the fact that some positions on board are essentially tip only,im fine with this. Not that I don't still wish they just raise their rates equivalent to the tips and be done with it...

 

[sayhello]

The thing is, when any company says "all you have to do is xyz to stop abc" most people never bother to do 'xyz'. That's why stores do 6 months same as cash as long as you pay it off before 6 months is over. That's why companies give you "free introductory periods" on their services. Most people won't bother, and they'll end up paying the interest, or auto-renewing the dues, or whatever.

If they say you have to go to GS to remove the tips, *most* people are not going to bother to stand in line to remove them. So the servers and the room stewards get their tips, and the guests don't have to think about it. I'm sure it works better for the servers than when guests had to go to GS to *add* the tips.

Sayhello

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I've never been one who understood tipping in hotels (I thought housekeeping was part of the deal) but after coming to understand the tipping thing around cruising and the fact that some positions on board are essentially tip only,im fine with this. Not that I don't still wish they just raise their rates equivalent to the tips and be done with it...

I don't really get tipping in hotels either. The only time I usually ever leave one in a hotel is if it is a Disney one or I have left it in a bit of a mess. Where as the stateroom host. hostess on a cruise ship they not only clean the cabin but turn down the beds. I've even had them fold a pair of shorts I left on the couch, I can perfectly understand them getting a tip as they do so much more then the average housekeeper in a hotel.

Ps love "those darn cats"

 

[MrsMas]

I think this is great!

 

[super mike b]

...Not that I don't still wish they just raise their rates equivalent to the tips and be done with it...

If that was done I would bet that the quality of service would go way down.

 

[sissy_ib]

I don't really get tipping in hotels either. The only time I usually ever leave one in a hotel is if it is a Disney one or I have left it in a bit of a mess. Where as the stateroom host. hostess on a cruise ship they not only clean the cabin but turn down the beds. I've even had them fold a pair of shorts I left on the couch, I can perfectly understand them getting a tip as they do so much more then the average housekeeper in a hotel.

Ps love "those darn cats"

Housekeeping in hotels, including Disney, is not a tipped position. You can leave a tip if you wish and they can keep it but they are paid a full wage. A very different system than on a cruise ship. And I agree, the room host does way more than housekeeping on land.

 

[EcbLovesMickey]

I am not to bothered by it. It does mean no long lines at GS on the last night, so I am happy about that

 

[MisterOJ]

I hope this means the dining room servers will stop schmoozing and fawning over me in order to get their tip at the end of the cruise. That's one of the biggest annoyances of being on a Disney cruise.

 

[Never to old]

According to my TA this is standard protocol on other cruise lines. So it just sounds like Disney is following the standard.

 

[missjudit]

I hope this means the dining room servers will stop schmoozing and fawning over me in order to get their tip at the end of the cruise. That's one of the biggest annoyances of being on a Disney cruise.

I agree

 

[justmestace]

Yes, I did email my agent and ask if the gratuities was mandatory and this was her response:

Yes, DCL will be charging your onboard account the suggested dollar amounts

You can modify or add by stopping by Guest Services once you are onboard

So, my assumption is it can be taken away, lessened or added onto by my choice...still I sont particularly care for this process.... But hey, what can I do other than just remember to go to GS to change anything that needs to be changed....

This is completely in line with all of the other cruise lines. It's an industry standard.
I could go on and say that it might be because too many people weren't tipping...but that would only be assumption on my part.

There were several theories, complaints, and some "no big deal" comments on the recent, longer thread about this.