Employees getting paid by DCL

[Kimber1963]

We just returned from the 9/28 Magic cruise. We were horrified when our server and assistant server were stiffed by a table of 8 (six adults and two kids). They were always dressed very well--expensive dresses and tuxes and expensive jewelry. They didn't show up the last night of the cruise or the next morning at breakfast. My husband overheard our server talking to the head waiter about it. We thought it was just horrible. Our servers were absolutely fantastic and definitely deserved some type of compensation for their work. We tipped over the suggested amount but of course not enough to make up for a table of 8. I don't know how some people live with themselves.

 

[wee-haggis]

Originally posted by peg2001
I apologize if my response seemed harsh and I certainly did not mean to horrify anyone. Please understand that the cruisers are going to pay either tips or a higher cruise rate to cover the employees. Either way, you are going to pay.

The employees consider what they are making good wages. So, yes, DCL has the right to pay them $58 a month to work long hours 6 days a week for 4 to 6 months at a time.

Instead of feeling sorry for someone who is enjoying their job and making good money to send home to their family, share your compassion with those who really need it.

Peggy

I hope you don't think I was picking on you Peg ,but sometimes when I read certain comments my back gets up and I send off thread messages while I'm hot.
Your first paragraph response is actually correct.
The cruisers are going to pay either through =
1)Cruise Costs + Tips To staff
or
2)Cruise Costs + an added standard gratuity.

The main difference is, that if we choose option 2 ,at least the staff will be making a near to decent wage.
The staff do consider themselves to be making a fair wage (compared to what they would make in their home country) but while working for a US company, you should be making the same minimum standard the law dictates on the mainland.
(Its no different than the example of a friend of mine who worked for a U.S. company as a Mechanic in Bermuda...he was paid U.S. Rates comparable to mechanics in the Georgia area).
Lastly, I think its unfair to assume that every employee "loves" their job. In many cases its "just a job" and their doing it through necessity. Can you put yourself in their position and actually try to imagine working 6 days a week for 6 months for $58/month listening to whining kids and passengers, week after week????
I think you may be seeing their jobs through rose colored glasses.

 

[jellymoon]

Originally posted by Kimber1963
We just returned from the 9/28 Magic cruise. We were horrified when our server and assistant server were stiffed by a table of 8 (six adults and two kids). They were always dressed very well--expensive dresses and tuxes and expensive jewelry. They didn't show up the last night of the cruise or the next morning at breakfast. My husband overheard our server talking to the head waiter about it. We thought it was just horrible. Our servers were absolutely fantastic and definitely deserved some type of compensation for their work. We tipped over the suggested amount but of course not enough to make up for a table of 8. I don't know how some people live with themselves.

DH and I wondered about that. We were on the late seating in AP the last night of the trip, and noticed a significant "absence rate" in the dining room. We couldn't decide if people were just busy packing, or they simply didn't show up so they could weasel out of tipping their servers!!!

 

[garyss7]

You have to remember the Disney ships are not registered in the United States and most of the
CM's are not US citizens. Giving them guaranteed tips as part of the price of the cruise wouldn't solve the problem because why work hard if your money is locked in? Waiters and waitress's work in the US for less than minimum wage and basically work for tips. It's part of the job and you know it up front. I think the current arrangement works fine. If you don't like it then don't work for a cruise line. And you know as a passenger how the tipping works before you step foot on the boat. Cheers, Gary

 

[Cruise]

Originally posted by wee-haggis
Lastly, I think its unfair to assume that every employee "loves" their job. In many cases its "just a job" and their doing it through necessity. Can you put yourself in their position and actually try to imagine working 6 days a week for 6 months for $58/month listening to whining kids and passengers, week after week????
I think you may be seeing their jobs through rose colored glasses.

As other's have stated, I find it hard to believe they would do this as "just a job" if they hated it so much. Some CMs sign up over and over again. I just found out that the asst. server we had two years ago is still on board. If he had hated it, he could have left after his first contract was up.

There are plenty of people that do jobs they don't like...true. But no one forces someone to keep that job. It's a matter of weighing the pros and cons... apparently the CMs think the pros of these jobs outweigh any cons there are or else they would seek other employment.

Julie

 

[prymsu]

on the past four cruises i have been on, it is always noticable how many folks don't come to dinner the last night, or breakfast on the last morning to avoid tipping. this is sad...

I know on our last cruise, Eddie from Turkey said that in his country unemployment was running at almost forty percent. he said DCL was a terrific cruise line to work for compared to some of the others, but he does greatly miss his wife and daughter. In order to support his family, his is 'forced' to work away from home.

 

[LadyLt]

Originally posted by prymsu
on the past four cruises i have been on, it is always noticable how many folks don't come to dinner the last night, or breakfast on the last morning to avoid tipping. this is sad...

LOL On my one and only cruise, on DCL of course, I became ill on Castaway Cay. I went back to the cabin with a 101 degree temperature and felt horrible. I did not make it to the last night's dinner. I wonder now if people thought I was trying to get out of paying my tips. LOL

I did make it to breakfast the next morning (still ill) and handed out my tips at that time. Maybe that is why they were so enthusiastic in their thanks. They thought I wasn't going to show up.'

Bianca

 

[Gillian]

Even if you didn't give them the envelopes & tickets, wouldn't they still get the money? When you fill out the form, they know who your servers are. I couldn't remember how to spell 2 of the names, but the info was in the computer. I would think it gets to them somehow.

 

[LadyLt]

Come to think of it, I did charge the tips to my credit card. So I guess that they would have received them even if I didn't show up. Luckily, I had taken care of that with Guest Services on Thursday evening, before I got sick.


So I guess that they would have received the money, but maybe not known that it was me who paid it.

Bianca

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

So what can DCL do (beyond what they already do) to encourage passengers to tip their stateroom host/hostess, server, assistant server, and head server?

When passengers don't tip, is it because they genuinely didn't feel the host/hostess and servers deserve it? Or because they genuinely don't understand the system? Or because they can get away with it (nobody will arrest them) and they don't feel any shame about essentially stealing the services of these people?

 

[tstobb]

Originally posted by LadyLt
Come to think of it, I did charge the tips to my credit card. So I guess that they would have received them even if I didn't show up. Luckily, I had taken care of that with Guest Services on Thursday evening, before I got sick.
So I guess that they would have received the money, but maybe not known that it was me who paid it.

On the tickets that they give you at guest services, it has your name so it probably shows your name on their statement when they get paid.

 

[peg2001]

Originally posted by Horace Horsecollar
So what can DCL do (beyond what they already do) to encourage passengers to tip their stateroom host/hostess, server, assistant server, and head server?

When passengers don't tip, is it because they genuinely didn't feel the host/hostess and servers deserve it? Or because they genuinely don't understand the system? Or because they can get away with it (nobody will arrest them) and they don't feel any shame about essentially stealing the services of these people?

Beyond making the tips automatic, I don't think there is much DCL can do to encourage passengers to give the tips. The documentation is very clear on the suggested tipping amounts, but perhaps most people do not understand that their tips are the main income for the employees. I would guess that most people that don't tip are doing it because they don't have to and they'd rather keep the money. If the service was substandard, most people who intended to tip will still tip, but perhaps a lesser amount.

I think stiffing the employees and not tipping is cold, cheap, and selfish. However, it is not stealing as someone wanted to call it. The tips are NOT mandatory.

I also disagree with the fairly common practice on these boards of calling the recommended DCL tips "minimums." If you want and can afford to tip more, GREAT!! But the recommended tipping amounts are just that, recommended.

Peggy

 

[trishy]

I hope people don't assume that those who don't have dinner the last night in their dining room or have breakfast the morning before disembarkment are cheating their servers. We didn't go to dinner the last night because we were in Palos - we didn't do the Sat. a.m. breakfast because we had early seating and 3 kids followed by a long day of preparing for a very long flight home, followed by a long drive home ... We are very good tippers and would never cheat these hardworking people out of their rightful wages. Maybe they can provide us "proper tippers" with color-coded labels to wear on our backs as we're walking off the ship Maybe a 4-tiered system:

Yellow/Over & above tipping min.
Blue/Recommended tipping
Green/Tipped but under the min. due to bad service
Red/Cheapskates that didn't tip at all. (with a flogging)

Just an idea. I'll run it by the suits at DCL

 

[4nana]

OMG Trishy.....LOL

 

[wee-haggis]

"but perhaps most people do not understand that their tips are the main income for the employees."

The above is a true but sad statement nonetheless from Peg.
How many jobs can you name that the main income is from tips (as opposed to salary)....I'm speaking about legal ,tax paying jobs by the way.(even waitressing has to abide by the minimum wage rules...unless of course its part time)
It still amazes me that absolutely nobody on this thread can see that the company is getting away with murder by not paying a salary that befits their workload (by all accounts these poor souls work like trojans).
Its a simple case of taking advantage of desperate folk who are enticed by the steady work and ...yes ,extra money (definately more money than most jobs in their home country).
Has anyone considered what is must feel like to be alone at sea for several months with your family seeing you once or twice per year....Thats a life?
Have you ever wondered why non-Americans are in the majority working on these ships?..........because the company knows that no U.S. citizens would touch the job with a ten foot pole!

 

[4crusinransiers]

wee-haggis I could have not said it better! When we were on our Aug 31st cruise we were talking about this whole thing with our waiter at Palos. He told us that in the past when they completed thier 6 month contract with Disney they were given a BONUS~~~he said they ranged from 100.00 to 500.00 depending on how long they had worked with DCL. He told us that since 911 that DCL had discontinued the bonus program.
Funny....aren't most of the ships still pretty full?

 

[tstobb]

Originally posted by wee-haggis
Have you ever wondered why non-Americans are in the majority working on these ships?..........because the company knows that no U.S. citizens would touch the job with a ten foot pole!

No, actually it's because US citizens would have to pay income taxes while non US citizens do not.
You make it sound like slavery - did you talk to the staff and find out how many of them are on their 3rd, 4th, or more contract? No, I wouldn't do it either but nobody is forcing them to work on these ships. If it was THAT horrible and the pay really was that meager to them, they would not be doing it and the cruise lines would have to change the system in a hurry. Does the above mean I agree with the system? No, I don't in most cases.

even waitressing has to abide by the minimum wage rules...unless of course its part time

this is, to an extent, true - the wage must meet the federal minimum but the wage may include tips as long as the hourly rate does not fall below the specified minimum (from http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/index.htm). Same as above, doesn't mean I agree with it but that's how it is. Can it be changed? Sure, stop cruising untill the lines change their policies.

 

[wee-haggis]

No, actually it's because US citizens would have to pay income taxes while non US citizens do not.

lol...pay income taxes ....on what ..$60/month????



You make it sound like slavery

mmmm....thats a close call!

 

[LadyLt]

Originally posted by wee-haggis
"How many jobs can you name that the main income is from tips (as opposed to salary)....I'm speaking about legal ,tax paying jobs by the way.(even waitressing has to abide by the minimum wage rules...unless of course its part time)
It still amazes me that absolutely nobody on this thread can see that the company is getting away with murder by not paying a salary that befits their workload (by all accounts these poor souls work like trojans).

'


I have to disagree with the above. First of all, Disney is not the only company doing this. It is the standard in the field. And if these crew members did not want to work for Disney, they do not have to sign the contract.

Disney (and other lines) do provide room and board and a small stipend before the tips. Using the example above by wee-haggis, waitresses in the U.S. do not receive room and board from their employers. And minimum wage is NOT paid to wait staff by most restaurants or hotels. The average worker in that field recieves $2.00 to $3.00 plus their tips. They are exempt from federal minumum wage laws.

I know quite a few of my daughter's friends who are working as waiters and waitresses while they attend college. They would be thrilled to recieve free room and board and $600-900 a week in tips.

Disney also pays to fly them from the home countries and to fly them back and forth for their vacations, or if they decide not to renew their contracts. This is not slave labor and the crew members do decide to do this on their own.

 

[wee-haggis]

First of all, Disney is not the only company doing this. It is the standard in the field.

True...but because other companies do it...Does it make it right?


The average worker in that field recieves $2.00 to $3.00 plus their tips.

You'll have to excuse my ignorance,but unfortunately as a Canadian I.m not as familiar as some of you with Labor laws.But,here in Canada if you work 35 hours or less ,it could be considered part time and therefore be exempted from various rules and regulations.I assumed it was similar in US.