I know this has been covered before, especially the pros and cons. Are all Carnival ships going this route? In particular, the Inspiration? And I saw that forms had to be filled out?! Why? Can't you just say I want to tip personally without a hassle? Exactly what transpires when you go to the pursers counter to have tips removed from you cruise account? <BR>Thanks!

Elaine: <BR>Here's some info. Yes, all Carnival ships are now doing this. They say it's "for your convienience". I posted a simalar concern and was rebuffed for saying so. Many responses came back about how "tipping is everywhere" "it pays wages in restaurants" "I shouldn't complain since it's been going on for years in hotels, etc. etc." <BR>Anyway, as soon as Carnival activates your "Sign and Sail" card you will be charged for all tips for you cabin steward, wait staff in the main dining, assistance in the casual dining, etc. <BR>If you want to add to or reduce (or totally remove the tip so you can hand it directly to the person ... heaven forbid) you must go to the pursers desk and ask for a form FOR EACH PERSON IN YOUR CABIN. That means if you have two adults in your cabin you must fill out and sign 2 forms and they must all match! Then, you have to go back to the pursers station (to be embaressed again) and place the form(s) in a large container with a big sign on top that says "Place your tip adjustment forms here". <BR>If you're going to do this it's best to stop by and pick up the forms during off hours like after the late show, etc. or you'll stand in long lines. <BR>Anyway, to be fair, most lines now do something like this, its not just Carnival. And as long as people justify this nonsense it will continue. Tipping should be just that, a reward for extra service, not automatically deduced to pay their underpaid and overworked staff. <BR>Don't let this stop you from enjoying the cruise. I've sailed Carnival many times and always had fun, in spite of issues like this. Sal

Elaine, if what Sal says is correct, I would go right up to the pursers desk and tell them that I am now on vacation and I'm to busy to fill out forms. I would tell to remove that charge at once or I will dispute it as an unauthorized charge when the bill comes to my home. I would also tell them that I will tip the people directly, when and how much, at my convenience.

To the last poster, Good Luck!!! C'mon this is Paul's favorite line. They can do no wrong. If I remember correctly tipping is an added value response. That means that did a better than average job and you want to reward them for their actions. It is not Carnival doesn't pay their employees enough so they defer payments to you. <BR> <BR>What a great system. You notice how difficult they make it for you to remove it. Just one more way for Carnival to show their true colors. <BR> <BR>And to the response everybosy is doing it. You have got to be kidding me. So that makes it okay? When your child comes up and says everybody has the new toy in town do you go out and buy it if they have not merited it (if you do, shame on you). No, you don't. How is this any different. You earn a tip. It's not supposed to be automatic!

BRAVO to Sal, Sid, and XXXXX! I've been shocked to see the posters do what Sal said and defend the lines for this nonsense. Tipping is between me and the person giving the service, no one else! Sal is correct about the process. On our last cruise on the Paradise there were lines that wrapped completely around the atrium of people waiting to get the forms and the pursur desk refused to put them out for people to take...each person had to publicly state that they wanted them. By the way, what Sal didn't mention is that you have to declare on the form why you are changing the tip! Keep up the good comments!

I see..Well, it's our daughter and son-in-law taking their first cruise next month, at our urging. They are a little leery about a cruise anyway and a long line might deter them. But I will tell them my thoughts about this and tell them to get the forms!! I know they are very generous tippers and appreciative of good service and they are aware of the tipping recommendations and have no problem with it. But how can it be called a tip if you can't give it to the recipiant along with a 'thank you'! We've been on several cruises and actually tipped all the mentioned parties a little more, plus the wait staff on deck..the ones that pick up your mess and refill your coffee cup because we saw the same couple of fellows every day and the wine lady on the last night since we'd had a couple of bottles during the trip. I remember some of the (pro)reasoning behind this and couldn't agree less. For one thing, I have never seen the wait staff get stiffed because people stayed away the last night, ours and every other table I saw was full! And if Carnival keeps a portion for themselves (as was also mentioned) for their having collected it, I'm sure the involved parties would much prefer to go back to the old way. Maybe if enough people object, they will stop this nonsensical practice. <BR>If you just state on the form that you would rather give the tips out yourselves, do you get any static? <BR>I appreciate the replies and enjoy reading your responses. Thanks again!

Elaine, Have your ask her travel agent to be sure if this is the policy on the Inspiration before you get too worried about it. Contrary to what Sal said, i don't believe that all of Carnival's ships are doing this. I know that I just checked for some clients on Victory for next Spring and was told that they are NOT one of the ships that is having pre-paid tips. I'm not sure which ones are. The next time I call in I'll ask but that won't be for a few days.

<BR>I was on a Carnival ship two months ago and at that time only two ships had automatic tipping. Last month I was on Ren and they did automaticly place the tip on my acct. And it was higher than Carnivals.

Beth, did you approach Ren about reducing or increasing or re-distributing the tip amounts. The last RCCL cruise gave us the option of putting the tips onto our account or using cash. We liked the idea of putting them on the account, since it was that much less US cash to carry. We are Canadians. We did make a point of telling our servers what we had done and wrote a note to the purser advising that NO tip was to given to the Head Waiter since over a 17 day cruise he never introduced himself to us or even said "Hello". We did instruct the purser to ensure that any monies remainging be allocated to the servers in the alternate dining room. I can't remember the name right now. It was on Legend of the Seas.

This prepaid method is one way for the lines (and it is not limited to Carnival) to spread the risk of the cheapskate nontipper amongst the staff. Amounts charged to your account are pooled and then each tipped employee gets an equal share (depending on their job title); if you want to single out someone, I think extra cash given directly will insure that they get 100% of it and it won't be "pooled". <BR> <BR>Hey, I kinda like it (the charged amount now earns me ff miles). I have never had bad service (always at least adequate), and imo that qualifies for the suggested tip. I will generally tip more to anyone who exceeds the adequate standard.

<BR>The reason why the dining rooms are now full on the last night of the cruise is due to all mass-market cruise lines eliminating alternative restaurant dining for that evening. <BR> <BR>Now those that do not wish to tip can just walk out or sit in their room and order that delicious room service food. <BR> <BR>Paul

Jack Jack Jack, you really aren't that naive are you? It has nothing to do with spreading anything out except less for them to pay out. <BR> <BR>As a large multi- national corporation I want to make sure they get tipped better. They are just trying to offset their fixed costs to their employees. It also helps them to hide the true cost of their cruises to you. They are automatically imposing tips therefore your trip is automatically more than you expected. And now, the employees no longer have an incentive to work for a better tip. Economics 101 is a good place to start. <BR> <BR>Also Paul, make up your mind. I thought the room service was great. By the tone of your comment your saying it's not? Which one is it?

Eliane, most people on the Fodor's site now know to take what Paul Therault says with a grain of salt. He promised, too many times to count, he would abandon this site and go elseware because he ususally aggitates everyone. I urge you to look at other postings in which he always has an opinion. <BR> <BR>As for charged tipping...I hope this will be the last straw for Carnival. If travel agents do their job, they will advise clients of Carnivals new tipping policy and hopefully this will push cruisers to sail on another line. Carnival has a long history of poor service. A previous poster said it best, "where there's smoke, there's fire" and Carnival is blazing. I sailed with Carnival for the last time in 1999. I refused to sign up for the "Sign & Sail' card and paid cash. This eliminated questionable charges that showed up on previous Carnival sign and sail bills. But the sign and sail card may now be mandatory, I don't know. <BR> <BR>It's worth going to your local bookstore and picking up a book on cruises and reading some professional reviews. But read between the lines. Most of those reviews will not publically slam Carnival, but will give you enough information that you can make an educated dicision. <BR> <BR>Happy sailing.

xxxx man, so you don't think you can adjust tips upward?? we can see that you never even considered that!?! You talk about econ 101, don't you consider the suggested tip amount part of the true cost of the trip?? Or do you tip that minimum amount when the staff "walks" on the water, which has not happened yet? <BR> <BR>The incentive to provide excellent service is two fold now! They still have the opportunity to get additional tips directly from passengers (unless they are serving Mr. xxxx) and there will also be an amount of peer pressure since bad service from anyone could affect everyone... <BR> <BR>Its really no problem xxxx, now you have to justify why you are stiffing someone rather than being a coward and doing it anonomously. This is not a Carnival issue, it is a cheapness issue.

Hey Mr. "tipmore@theydeserveit" <BR> "Its really no problem xxxx, now you have to justify why you are stiffing someone rather than being a coward and doing it anonomously. This is not a Carnival issue, it is a cheapness issue." to quote you. Talk about anonimity, Mr.tipmore@theydeserveit. <BR> RIGHTBACKAT YOU. <BR>

Jack can you be any more naive. You are just what the cruise lines ordered. if this is such a great system why do the cruise lines make it near impossible for you to adjust the tops downward if their is a charge that you don't like. <BR> <BR>In my experience they usually want you to show up at 5am on you last leg of the cruise to make any financial adjustments and fill out forms they won't provide you with. The last thing I want to do on my vacation is get up early let alone fill out forms at the butt crack of dawn. <BR> <BR>As far as being frugal. Yes I am, but cheap, no I'm not. If the waiter or staff warrants a tip then I want to decide how much or little they get. <BR> <BR>On my last cruise I did not see the head waiter at all throughout the entire cruise. On the last day of the cruise he was everybody's friend. I'm supposed to tip him. Uh uh. I tipped the waitress that waited on me with exceptional service. <BR> <BR>Also, most places have a pooling system based on a percentage of their employees involvement. The waiters or bartenders have to "tip out" their support team (bus boys, bar backs etc...) This system has worked quite well in the restaurant and bar industry for eons. It supports everyone that did a good job and does not for those that haven't (i.e. my head waiter). <BR> <BR>If you use your system (Carnival and others) then it becomes a domino effect and those truly deserving don't get the compensation they are entitled to and the slackers get rewarded as well. This is now all at your expense. This saves the cruise lines untold amounts of money and now puts the burden of income on to you. <BR>So tell me again how this is such a great system?

Here is what I do now with Carnival, I stop at the pursurs desk on the way back from the midnight buffet, etc. and pick up the forms (no-lines), we fill out and sign the forms and check the box "I prefer to give me tips directly" and have ALL tips removed from our bill. I then discard their "suggested" tipping guidelines and tip people who made our trip special such as waiters in the self serve line, security staff I noticed doing their job well and if the busboy was nicer to us then the waiter, guess what, he gets his tip and the waiters too! This kind of tipping has a GREAT impact on staff. <BR>Suggested guidelines identify staff that you should tip which is nonsense, what about the cooks in the kitchen or people working down in the engine room...without them doing their job you'd really have a bad cruise. <BR>You tip who you want, as much as you want, when and how you want, its none of the cruise lines business. <BR>Finally pooling tips is a crock, the staff that works hard don't get their reward and the staff that are lazy get rewarded for being lazy.

Bottom line here is that forced tipping is a crock. Is it that hard to think on your own who is good or bad? If you have never had to make money on a tipping system don't bother to open your mouth. It's like talking about anything you don't no about. It just sounds like you know nothing about it, Jack! <BR> <BR>If you really don't want to think and travel to far away places the armed forces are always looking for more people. And just think you can stand in line and fill out as many forms as you want at no cost to you!

xxx, ok I agree, forced tipping is a crock when you want to stiff the staff!! <BR> <BR>Why don't you answer my questions? Specifcally, don't you consider the suggested tip amount part of the true cost of the trip?? What is your service threshhold for tipping the suggested amounts? If you have never tipped the suggested amount what is your methodology? Or are you just a taker?

Just got off the Ren 2. They automatically bill $12 per person per day to cover dining staff and stewards. They are clear in letting you know that you can adjust or eliminate this. If you eliminate - simply by asking that they remove it from your account, you will find left on your door, 2 envelopes, 1 for dining staff and 1 for stewards plus a small card to fill out with name, cabin number and amount you are putting in each envelope. Ren also distributes a sheet explaining that none of the monies goes to the company, and that in the case of the Ren 2, 8.50 of the daily $12 goes to the 70 dining staff, maitre d' and assistant maitre d', in a pooled amount, and that the steward gets 3.50 on an individual basis. Frankly, even though I started out intending to adjust the amount, the service by every single staff member I came in contact with was so excellent, I just let it be. So glad to dispense with filling those envelopes and dealing with the extra grovelling I experienced on other cruises in the final days of the cruise.