Tom

Just got back from a 7 day cruise on the Paradise. Carnival announced numerous changes that started with this ship and will be introduced to the entire fleet over the next few months. <BR> <BR>Here are the changes: <BR> <BR>Change #1 - Tipping is no-longer (really) at your discrection. All tips will be charged to each passenger in your cabin (at Carnivals recommended rate) upon activation of your sign and sail card. Your only option is to go to the pursers desk, request a change form (you must do this for each person in your cabin), and then explain to Carnival why you want to increase or decrease your tips for each of the people they have deducted tips for. (By the way, Carnival says they are doing this "For your convenience") <BR> <BR>Change #2 - Carnival has now added another catagory of worker that they expect you to tip, it's the workers in the casual dining area (self serve buffet). They deduct 75 cents per person in your cabin, per day for this new tip. <BR> <BR>When you add up all tips they total about $70.00 per person in your cabin on a 7 day cruise. <BR> <BR>Change 3 - Since Carnival is now collecting all the tips on the ship, they also will be keeping a portion of these tips as their charge for collecting them and then destributing them to the staff. <BR> <BR>Change 4 - Carnival has reduced the number of people working in main seating dining. Our waiter told us that prior to this change he and one assistant waiter would serve about 16-20 guests at a meal. They now must serve 32 and have been told that it is possible to do if they don't take time to talk about anything that is not related to the food. <BR> <BR>The staff and passengers on the ship were not pleased with these changes. What are your thoughts?

Liz

Hi, Tom. We must have been on the same cruise. I was not pleased that the tips are charged to the Sign & Sail cards either. My husband and I wanted to tip in cash so we filled out the forms (for all 4 of us- kids included) to remove the charges from our account. We then tipped the amounts we wanted and made sure that the appropriate individuals received the money. The whole process was irritating to say the least.

Alex

Typical Carnival!

Parrot Mom

Okay, I've experienced this pre-payfor tipping on NCL and at the end gave extra $$ to our waiter and room steward.. Now, let's play devil's advocate...$70.00 per person for the week is pretty cheap..$10.00 per day for tips...three meals anyhow per day...included are the people who work the buffets who according to Carnival don't get tipped.. I believe that some of these same people are working in the dining rooms but get changed around in their schedule... Think of what it would cost if you were going out to eat at a fine restaurant..breakfast, lunch and supper..and the include the steward/stewardess who is cleaning up after you at least twice a day.. that I think at $70.00 per week per person is a bargain..kids or not.. What I do object to.. is Carnival taking their cut... My objection is usually to the Maitre d's.. who don't work the tables.. If you really feel that's too much change the situation..but the way the waiters cater to kids and bend over backwards I notice.. If you can't afford that much $$ don't cruise or go on another line... They will all be changing policies...including open seating..

liz

Hi, Parrot Mom- I didn't say tht I didn't want to tip the $70/day. What you failed to mention is that the cruise is already thousands of dollars before you even set sail. It's not a cheap vacation! I simply wanted to express that I wanted control over how much each person got tipped and didn't like Carnival doing that on my behalf.

Jill

I am a fan of Carnival cruises and I am real sorry to hear this. IMHO they ought to just stop pretending it's a tip then and just add the $70 per person to the stated price of the cruise and have a "no tipping required" policy. That would be more upfront and honest. I remember in the early 80s a few restuarants in my home town tried this (adding 15% automatically to the bill unless you protested) and it went over like a lead balloon because the service declined a bit. Oh well, hope Carnival changes its mind about this.

Tootie

Think of it this way... why would anyone working on the ship be motivated any longer? They get the same tip if they do a good job, or a lousy one, unless, like Liz, people go out of their way to make Carnival adjust the tip! Boo on you Carnival! I too don't think $70.00 in tips is too much, it's Carnivals usual greed that bothers me.

Uggghhh

Next they'll ask you to tip the Captain.

Parrot Mom

Hi..talked to my TA who does alot with Carnival and she was very unhappy about this too. What she will do if she goes on one is to tip herself.. As for "cheap" vacation...many years ago when I went on my first cruise I was amazed at what a great bargain they were..cabin, entertainment, ports not to mention the warm weather all for one price.. and my opinion went from anti cruising to pro-cruising..it was such a positive experience.. Then again we went on budget cruises although our first by accident was the NCL Sea..I think on the whole they are bargain vacations..seriously.. Don't stop cruising, but insist you not have to pay in advance even if it means protesting by filling out the forms...

Laura

It's not just CCL. NCL's been doing this for awhile now. It's only a matter of time before the other's follow suit.

Parrot Mom

NCL does not charge for people working the buffet or a service charge for them handling this which I think is outrageous.. I've been on two NCL ships in less than a year where this policy has been instituted..On the first which was a repositioning cruise we handled the tips...on the second we allowed them to be charged and gave an extra envelope to our waiter and steward. On the first ship we had a waiter from hell and a Maitre d who did nothing when we complained about this for TWO weeks..

Kate

I am going on a cruise in May, so I sent a message to carnival regarding the new tipping policy, and this was the reply.... <BR>"You will have the discretion to adjust these gratuities based upon the level of service received during the cruise. This includes the option to adjust gratuities (up or down) for any individual on the Dining or Housekeeping staff. In order to do so, the guest will need to contact the Information Desk in person." <BR>More time we will have to spend at the information desk in lines. Not a good idea Carnival. <BR>

David

I'm not happy. My family has been on many cruises and we rarely eat in the main seating dining room. With this change I'll be forced to either pay tips to servers I never used or, stand in line to take these tips off. Bad idea Carnival. <BR>An no offense to Parrot Mom, but $70 is not cheap considering I pay $2000-$3000 to take my family of four on a cruise, then pay another $400-500 for "excursions", then more "$" for pictures, services on board, drinks, etc., and then have to pay another $280 in "tips". The more that people rationalize that this type of "tipping" is OK the more we all end up paying in extras.

Vickie

I just returned from 2 weeks on the QE2 and now that they're owned by Carnival, they've changed their tipping policy also. $10-13 per person/day (depending on your cabin) is charged automatically to your account and can be changed only by visiting the pursers desk. I overheard someone who wanted to reduce the amount of tips getting the third degree, plus the lines on the last 2 days were HUGE! I agree with the poster who said that this policy removes all incentive for personnel since I suspect very few people give additional tips now that it's "automatic". QE2 doesn't describe how the tips are divvied up, so I don't know if the buffet staff, maitre d', etc. are getting anything from there - I hope not!

Cathy

An additional comment to this tipping policy. 1st, does anyone know what the cut is to Carnival. We are taking the Destiny next week on the 21st and when I called Carnival, they told my that the new tipping policy is going into effect on that cruise. Will comment about this when I get back

Ron

We just got off the "Victory" Jan-14th. <BR>Have been on many cruises, including 10 <BR>with Carnival. Their new tipping policy was not in effect on Victory and good thing!! I will never go on another Carnival cruise, even if they "tipped" me!I never saw a more crowded, louder, noiser,ruder conglomeration of people in my life!---SO LONG CARNIVAL!!!

Robi

We just returned from a very disappointing 5-day cruise on Carnival's Jubilee, where, thank goodness, the new tipping policy is not yet in effect (although there was an automatic 15% gratuity included in each and every drink purchase, which definitely annoyed me - no one I know has ever tipped a bar tender for each and every drink consumed). All disatisfaction with Carnival aside, I think this policy defeats the purpose of what a gratuity is supposed to constitute - a tip should be a voluntary monetary 'reward' for good service rendered. But I guess this new 'forced tipping' policy is directly in keeping with the rest of Carnival's hurculean efforts to separate each of its passengers from as much cash as possible while they're trapped on the ship. In fact, the disembarkation briefing our Cruise Director gave us was yet one more pushy and pointed effort to encourage tipping - in fact, she made it sound mandatory. Perhaps Carnival doesn't pay its employees enough so that they're forced to squeeze tips out of its guests to compensate - which would explain why we encountered so many disgruntled employees on our cruise. Personally, they'll never get another cent out of me.

Paul Therault

<BR>I will attempt to explain the new Carnival tipping policy which will be initiated on all ships by the end of this year. <BR> <BR>Granted there will be quite a few irate passengers and I am sure Carnival understands this but they have no alternative. <BR> <BR>The main reason for this new policy is that most of the crew were getting stiffed. <BR> <BR>The last night of the cruise when the tips were to be handed out the dining rooms were almost half empty. <BR>This is not right, the crew works extremely hard for their tips and do deserve at least the amount that is pre-determined by the cruise line. <BR> <BR>Carnival has now closed the alternative restaurant on the last night of the cruise. They will now re-open it. <BR> <BR>One could always state (has been stated here on this forum) the line should pay the crew more. Do you all know what this results in ..... yes, higher prices for the cruise. And a higher amount than the $9.50/day since they would have to pay us travel agents more. <BR> <BR>You must prepay tips on the following ships at this time: Paradise, Imagination, Spirit, Destiny and Triumph on the 10th of February. <BR> <BR>Granted this standard should be industry wide and it soon will be. <BR> <BR>Sure the upscale cruise lines have a "no tipping" policy but do not forget you are paying much more to sail on these lines. <BR> <BR>The pre-pay amount is $9.50 per day. This includes $3.50 for the cabin steward, $3.50 for the waiter, $2.00 for the busboy (a mere pittance) and 50 cents for the head waiter/maitre'd. <BR> <BR>I hear from this forum "hey, the head waiter/maitre'd do nothing." You must realize these people must train the new employees and keep them in line, listen to all the complaints and supervise up to 16 hours per day seven days a week. <BR> <BR>Think about how many meals a passenger eats each day and compare it to the 15% tip that one should leave (I say "should" since I doubt that those who complain leave little or nothing) in the restaurants at home. <BR> <BR>Robi complained about the 15% added to the drink tab. Think about this. Who carries money in their bathing-suit? No money, no tip? Is this right? <BR> <BR>If this works for Carnival it will be intiated on all cruise lines. You'll see. <BR> <BR>I hear passengers that do not leave a tip for the entire week if they <BR>are missing a fork or their water glass is not filled. Go figure. I wonder if they ever make mistakes. <BR> <BR>Paul <BR>

o perez

I have read your comments which are interesting. I agree that this policy is no good because it defeats the essence of tipping, which is the personal recognition of a service received. Tipping by definition is always an option, not an obligation. Of course, if the the service is good, you can give more, if it is lousy you can give less, maybe minimal. But, if the owners are going to charge you the so-called tip, then it is actually part of the boat fare and, in a restaurant, it would be part of the salary. If the people at Carnival decide to continue this policy, then they must assume the quality of the service and be responsible for it. Eventually, if the whole program does not work, the customers, ourselves, will go someplace else and Carnival will have to file under Chapter 11.

dana

Nobody tips me for a job well-done in my job, and I haven't had a raise in years. NOw, I wish to reply that I'm a very fair tipper where ever I go, as I appreciate a job well-done. However, do not MAKE me do something that I do not want to do, i.e., tipping for poor service, et cet, and I think that this will contribute to a pompous attitue among certain personnel on the ship, as if something is automatic, then there's no incentive to be nice, and as for the maitre d? I've heard for years that they make a whopping salary? Does anyone have input as to what a maitre d's true salary is, sans the tips? Because just like a hairdresser who owns their own shop, you're not supposed to tip them, well, now, if the "waiter d" is getting a huge chunk of the salary, then they do not deserve a tip UNLESS they do that extra special thing, such as birthday cake, anniversary and the like, then i believe in a tip for them. But just to tip because, well, that's ridiculous, and <BR>my husband and I are contemplating going on a cruise this calendar year, and no way will we go Carnival as long as this policy is instituted. <BR>I 'd feel better if they just "added" 70 per person to the price of the cruise and had a "no tipping" policy. <BR>I guess it's a psychological thing.