NEW ~ Automatic Tipping on the Magic

[peg2001]

I don't now how you can not tip at all...

Some folks know why they should provide the suggested tip and just don't. I won't "namecall" on here but you can insert your own name for this type of person.

However, I believe that many folks just do not understand that the tips make up the vast majority of the income for the CMs in tipped positions. I know that I didn't when I was planning our first cruise. I thought the suggested tips were outlandishly high. It was the DIS that educated me on this subject and we ended up tipping at the suggested level and above.

Disney makes it clear to cruisers what the suggested tipping level is. However, they don't come right out and say "We pay almost nothing so your tips are most of their income." I think that is what is needed to for everyone to understand the tipping suggestions.

Peg

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

They have a very basic wage of around $10/week from DCL.

Ex Techie

Wow. They only are paid around $10/week in basic wages from DCL? Is this why the disney ships call Nassau their home port instead of a U.S. one to avoid U.S. minimum wage labor laws?

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

"We pay almost nothing so your tips are most of their income."
I really don't think the Marketing or PR department's at DCL (or any other cruise line will run with that! But agreed that is the situation.

Also Big with "I won't "namecall" on here but you can insert your own name for this type of person."

I felt for the servers on the Magic whilst they were in Europe after the reports, as they could only gauge their income as an average over a few cruises and repeat performance, so the introduction of the Auto Tipping must have been a relief for them, despite those that reduced their tip's due to thinking it was included.

That said, it wasn't the first time the Magic was in the Med, and all of the CM's, paid or tipped knew well in advance that the Magic was going there, and knew their basic wage, and what they predicted their tip wages might be, and for those non-tip positions, they would be able to predict their extra hours as per the previous tour, with new ports and activities.

No one is forced to be on there, but they should receive adequate monetary compensation for their effort if in a tipped position.

But without being as blunt as ""We pay almost nothing so your tips are most of their income." in an pre-booking info pack, there will alway's be those that chose not to tip for one reason (think finding a problem when there isn't one) or just being a tight a**.

Ex Techie

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Wow. They only are paid around $10/week in basic wages from DCL? Is this why the disney ships call Nassau their home port instead of a U.S. one to avoid U.S. minimum wage labor laws?

I think you will find the polite term is "sailing under a flag of convenience" plus tax breaks, and having a company trading as the Magical Cruise Company registered in the UK.

DCL are not alone at all though. It is very common practice.

Ex Techie

 

[insureman]

You are free to raise or lower the suggested tip amount's by visiting GS.

Ex Techie

Yeah, but you know how crazy GS can be at times, I liked the old way where we fill out the tip sheet, I really don't need the hassle of going down to GS to adjust a tip. Just my opinion.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

And it's a fair one.

Not sure how they can suit everyone however.

Ex Techie

 

[redheadtove]

No worries, yes, you can still pre pay - we just did!!

PERFECT!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

I think you will find the polite term is "sailing under a flag of convenience" plus tax breaks, and having a company trading as the Magical Cruise Company registered in the UK.

DCL are not alone at all though. It is very common practice.

Ex Techie

Common practice or not, it definitely resonates with me to read the $10ish a week rate in your post. I had no idea -- so thank you for posting the information! My family started cruising on DCL in 2010 and we have prepaid our tips and added to it on all 3 cruises. Switching over to something that is automatic but you can still add to (or in some instances deduct from) is something that sounds better to me if it means that people working for DCL will probably receive better wages because the body politic will be contributing in a more sustained fashion.

 

[extechie rbd/wdt]

Cruise ship wages are pretty much alway's low, and nearly non-exsistant in tipped positions.
Given my responsibilities, $6.80/hr wasn't enough for me and why I left.

It's also worth mentioning that the ship's that sail out of PC tend to have certain states cruising on weeks, and the tip's go up and down depending on which state from what I heard. (I can't verify that as it was hearsay in the crew bar)

So as I said earlier, no one is forced to be there, it is their choice ultimately, and taking the rough with the smooth is part of it unfortunately. And some people from some countries, when they get tipped well, have enough money to buy land on a contract, and build a house after 1 or 2 more.

But the most important thing is that everyone working there is doing it because they want to be there, and want to make your cruise magical.
They have bought into the Disney philosophy of how to behave, how to treat a Guest, how to go above and beyond.

Ex Techie

 

[cmwade77]

Bottom line is I do not like people automatically billing anything like this, I don't even like the automatic 15% tip, in most cases, I would probably tip more, but if it's already there, I don't add more generally when a tip has been automatically added. For me it's just a matter of respect, automatically adding or charging gratuity shows a lack of respect.

As for what other guests are doing, to be honest, it is no one else's business how much I choose to tip or not tip and I am not going to discuss it with others and I am not going to judge based on what they are tipping or not tipping, if I am aware of it.

Honestly, I am sick of hearing the argument about low wages, it is NOT my responsibility to make up for their low wages. My responsibility is to tip them what their service was worth to me.

Now some might say that i just do not tip, this is not true. I will tips, based on the value of service and that isn't limited just to our regular servers, state room host/hostess, etc. We have been known to tip servers at other meals that have gone above and beyond in various ways. We did so with one server in Parrot Cay on our firs cruise on the Wonder, it was a 2 day cruise to nowhere and that server remembered us several months later when we came back for a Mexican Riviera cruise and had him as our server for breakfast, he was also on our dining rotation and after he realized it made it a point to try to come say hi each night, even though we weren't at his tables. Although apparently CMs tend to remember (and like) us, we had a couple beg pleaded with us to come back on the Alaskan cruise this year (2011), which as we told them wasn't in the cards, but we would have loved to do so, but we are going to try for 2012.

Just to make it clear, we usually tip above and beyond the minimum recommended amount on Disney cruises, because they deserve it. Please note that the extras don't always come in the form of money, last time we gave our stateroom host, server, etc. some candy and a POC lithiograph left over from our FEs. We also gave them to other CMs that went above and beyond that we knew couldn't take money as tips.

I really just want everyone to remember that tipping is up to each individual and not something that should affect you in any way.

 

[inhousemouse]

We heard that they were just charging it to the room so we prepaid our tips. So happy we did. Now we don't have to think about it or carry that much cash. All ready charged and paid for.... and it was nice because we're Canadian so we were able to do it when the exchange was higher.

No I don't have to think keeping money aside for tipping I can just budget for excursions and shopping... LOL

 

[Tinkerbell 99 Mom]

Thank you for your comments ... This policy just concerns me because other travelers took tips off and the gave nothing. I now it is not my responsibility and none of my business what others do, I just worry about those CM who get nothing.

 

[CruznLexi]

Carnival has done this for a while and is nice not to worry about it. I did hear a group on Carnival remove all of thier tips. Most people not from the US do not tip and cruises have lots of international guest.

 

[cmwade77]

Thank you for your comments ... This policy just concerns me because other travelers took tips off and the gave nothing. I now it is not my responsibility and none of my business what others do, I just worry about those CM who get nothing.

I don't, if they get no tips, then it probably reflects their service. The few times that it doesn't will be made up for by others that tip better, because those CMs will be trying harder with the next guests, as they will figure that they did something wrong.

Honestly, I know that sounds harsh, but really, if they give good service, they will get tips, even if it is after that one cruise. Remember they do numerous cruises, it wil be made up for in the long run or the bad CMs will not come back, as they are not making money. Either outcome is good in the long run.

I feel bad if I have to give a smaller tip for any reason. For example, on our first cruise (which was a two day cruise to nowhere), Disney sent the wrong information out about what customary tips should be for a two night cruise, so we budgeted less than we should have. Since it was our first cruise ever, we had no idea what was normal, we have since learned. We did let all that we tipped know what happened, so that they wouldn't think they did something wrong and we felt bad about it, but really, we had no choice. This is the exception to the rule that we usually tip above and beyond the recommended amount, but we were not told, so we had to do the best we could at the time.

Again, I do not like the idea of automatically adding tips in any circumstance, so this idea to me is a very bad one.