Originally posted by peter42:
The amount of tipping required on cruises for instance is that ridiculous, if I pay $500 for a cruise and the "required" tips amount to $200, than the relation is just wrong, as it means that the $500 is just fake, since it does not include the wages.
Except that it's not "required" and, as such, there's no way I'm going to pay 40% extra for something which touts the all-inclusive nature of a cruise as one of its main advantages!
Unfortunately, US businesses have got used to trying to con the consumer by being allowed to add taxes, surcharges, tips, etc, on to the amount they advertise, and some of them wish to push this as far as possible.
If something is advertised as $X, that should be what I pay, in total. It's as simple as that. Anything else is fraud.