I agree!
 

and why would you expect his to tell you the truth? Too little and he looks like a fool and too much and you won't tip!

My sister in-law was a cabaret dancer on Carnival cruise ships for 3 or 4 years. She made a very good tax free living with all expenses covered.

How many languages do u have to speak to be considered skilled? Ask most middle class americans...

I would like to go on a cruise but the internet and labor policies freak me out!

Obviously I have offended a couple of folks to receive such vitriole. The $50 was per month. I'm just a gullible world citizen. In the US, waitrons do not get paid minimum wage because of tipping standards. Cruise lines catering to mostly Americans probably operate under similar policies. I do know that the workers on cruise ships work very hard with long hours. Yes, they may make more than they would in their home countries. So do the "illegals" working in the fields of California. And they also work "voluntarily".

These rates are a little higher than what I've heard from cruise ship staff. Room Attendants were making about US$800 per month and waiters about US$1200 per month including tips. Engineers could be as high as US$ 4000.

One important consideration was that they worked 9 - 10 months straight, 7 days per week with very little time off. The 2 - 3 months off in between contracts was unpaid. If a ship was scheduled for dry dock repairs during their contract, they stayed on board but were either not paid or significantly reduced as the bulk of their wages was made up of tips.

I think the main thing is that all the crew are aware of the benefits and drawbacks of the position. Many stay for several years with the same cruise line. Some change cruise lines for more money, or to see other places.

Each crew member is free to stay or leave. If they do not like the job or the money, they can go home. What they earn must be good enough to keep them as an employee. They have free accommodations, free food, and free medical care while in the contract. if they could not afford to live between contracts then I doubt any would sign a new contract.

Hi,
My family and I did a 17 night HAL cruise last Dec-Jan. It was our first. It was superb in every respect! Our six and ten year olds cried saying farewell to the cabin and wait staff. In discussing with our favourite waiter, we discovered he was a teacher. He was earning between four and five times what he would have been earning if he had stayed teaching in Bali. HAL gives you the choice of removing the enforced tips on your account at the end of the cruise. These get shared around the Philipino and Indonesian crew members according to a preset formula. You can also tip individuals directly. However, the American kids' club staff told us that the ratings/comments on the evaluation forms carry a great deal of weight in terms of contracts, promotions, conditions etc for the Indonesian/Philipino crew.

My sister works for a Scandinavian cruise company and she makes about 1200USD a month base salary.
She works as a waitress and she makes about 1000 USD extra with tips.

I just completed a 7 day HAL cruise. $11 per person per day is added for gratuities. I inquired at the desk and was told $4 went to the cabin attendant, $4 to the dining staff and the remaining $3 was divided by back of the house staff. One of my dinner companions said that her cabin boy claimed to care for 28 cabins-- which would put his daily tip earnings at $224 per day..... Now, I think this can't really be possible in that 1) I can't see how one attendant could manage 28 cabins a day and 2) 6k a month seems like way more than I have heard of cabin boys making.

Only four to five times? Foreigners get paid from $500/month to teach English in Indonesia (admittedly this is the salary for teachers without professional qualifications). An Indonesian teacher in a 'Plus' school (prestigious) could expect $300-$500/month, and as for a teacher in a local village school (i.e. most of them) about $150/month.

From all reports, the cabins are not being well-attended on a lot of HAL lines. What is interesting is whether this was a choice of management to increase the number or cabins served or the choice or the cabin attendents to mzximize the amount of tips per room earned.

Whatever, there are now a lot of customer complaints about a fall-off of service levels in cabin maintenance and most think it is management that is the bad guy. Now, I am not so sure.

Certainly the consistent problems with this increased cabin load is adding up to tarnish HAL's otherwise excellent service reputation.

It has been nothing major, but a lot of little things that recently started happening: delayed cabin cleanups until afternoon, missing standard items like breakfast door hangers, no chocolates on the pillows, tardy responses for room request items, no towel animals, making up the bedroom before guests departed on disembarkation days because HAL still allows passengers to stay in their cabins until their group i called.

Nothing that is a deal killer, but just a difference from earlier HAL cruise expectations.

The wages are hard-earned money. The ships are hiring from countries where there is high unemployment and our $$ is worth more. -- The employees not only have demanding jobs, they need to have the personality to cope with living in close quarters with different nationalities for extended periods of time, and provide service to demanding passengers.

Does anyone think passengers themselves are getting more demanding and harder to work with?

How does the crew describe an ideal passenger in terms other than size of tip?

One of the main reasons almost every cruise ship is flagged in a foreign country is so they do not have to comply with United States Labor laws on wages, hours, and conditions. If you Google you will find NCL flagged some ships under the United States for Hawaii and hard time providing good customer service. As to tipping.....cruise lines have tips included,or very very strongly suggest tips and the amout...For example RCL has a form you fill out that atomatically tip your state rm, waiter, matire de, etc and bills all in total about $10 per person per day (more for suites)... so a couple on a seven day cruise would pay $140 and it would show up on the folio at disembarkation.

Compare what they make to young enlisted Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen make
 

Compare what they make to young enlisted Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen make. The cabin, wait staff, make equal or even greater than what most lower enlisted make in service to this country.

http://www.dfas.mil/army2/militarypa...yPayTables.pdf

Look at what a brand new Private E-1 makes $1,399.50 a month, both have equal benefits: Health care, room and board, etc. Both volunteered, and both work long hours.

But think about this. Those Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen put their lives in harms way. Endure extremes most of you will never have to experience, and ask for little in return. Some endure harsh living conditions while deployed that would make your skin crawl. Spend a year in the KOP (Korangal valley) in Afghanistan and it changes your perspective on what proper living conditions are.

I find this argument senseless, with people saying the cruise staff are "slave laborers" or indentured servants.

Point is, tip what you can afford to tip them. The crew on these ships are happy to have the jobs. They work hard for every dollar they earn. But stop saying these people are working against their will. Also they are not saints so lets not make them out for Mother Teresa either. Use common sense in your statements.