i just booked a 2bm-12 day suite on royal carib. it is one of their std nowhere to nowhere(from balt and back) trips. the offer states "tips paid". areas staff really paid at 18%, or does RC just shaft the staff?

i agree with randy. we have been on the same boat 4 times this year. the same crew stays trip after trip.

Just to be clear, with foreign flagged ships, such as Royal Caribbean, federal law requires that cruises either are "round-trip" (i.e., from Baltimore returning to Baltimore); begin or end at a foreign port (i.e., Vancouver, Ensenada, Barbados, etc.); or visit a distant foreign port sometime during the cruise (Aruba, Curacao, Vanatu, etc.)

With regard to the tipping issue, folks have summed up the reality, above: They're paid what they're paid; the jobs are highly-sought-after; so we can presume that they view it as an attractive deal for them as employees. As long as you fund the tips as recommended by the cruise line, you can feel comfortable that you've done well by them. If you want to give them more, feel free to do so, though. However, leave the automatic tips intact; on some cruise lines removing the automatic tips complicates things for the crew, in terms of whether they can keep what you give them directly.

Cruise jobs are highly sought after in developing countries where there are few better alternatives. Cruise companies can therefore pay wages below what would appeal to first world job applicants. It's why cruise ships are not registered in the U.S. or other country with first world labour and minimum wage laws. I would certainly suspect a "gratuity fee" discount would in some way impact employees.

I like the gratuity charge because it relieves me of the tipping decision on board. I can and do tip over and above to those employees who provide good service sometimes to the chagrin of the "cruise community." A passenger who removes the automatic gratuity is worthy of complete contempt and best described in words well outside the FT terms of conduct.

Tips for cabin attendants and dining waiters are a fixed amount, not a percentage (see here). These are the tips that offers usually include and each drink (alcoholic or not) will be assessed 18% gratuity for the bar staff unless you also have a drinks package. Those packages include a separate gratuity (if you pay, it's 18% of the package, if it's included in your offer then it's paid by RCCL).

Haha, totally. I'm sort of trolling a guy on cruisecritic on the Norwegian board because Norwegian uses ever changing vague language on the issue. I'm mainly just riling him up for laughs because the Norwegian language makes him think there's some grand conspiracy. Still, it's an issue that's been debated for decades. Norwegian is probably screwing around with the "service charge" as they're currently calling it, but it's quite possible other lines do as well (via "administrative fee" or whatever they want to call it). Still, I always like to talk to staff and I'm somewhat familiar with incomes from some of their home countries. It's really hard work, but compared to what's available back home, it's a really good deal. However the cruise lines want to call it, some low base wage plus the "tips" or "gratuities" or "service charge" still adds up to a good income compared to what you can find back in their home countries. Just pay the "tips" even if it's not the custom in your home country (to make a point or whatever) and you won't be screwing all the crew. It's not just the money they lose out on. They can get in trouble or lose their jobs as management can view the removal of the "service charge" as a complaint against their work.

I really haven’t questioned staff about their circumstances but have had some discussions with a few. I know one couple who both worked for Holland America years and years ago for several years. Their dream was to save enough money to go back to the Philippines and start their own business. They were both bar staff and well known by Holland America regulars some of whom are still in contact with them. The “happy ending” story is that they opened a successful restuarant and bar back home. Forward to a little over two years ago and my wife and I are having a beer in a sidewalk cafe in Kotor, Montenegro. Our server is a young lady about thirty who speaks pretty good English. She is curious about if we’ve come off the cruise ship docked across the street. We say yes and she asks if we like it but more importantly do we think the crew and staff like it. Our answer was that it appeared they liked it but honestly didn’t know for sure. She went in to say she had an appointment to interview for a job with Norwegian Cruise Line and was very nervous about it. She wanted the job as they were telling her she minimally make about 1,500 Euros a month. She was only making 300 Euros a month in Kotor and sharing a one bedroom apartment with two other girls. So we go back to Kotor a year or so later and back to the same cafe. Struck up a conversation with the manager and asked about the young lady. He grumbled that indeed she got the job and has proceeded to recruit three of his best servers over the past few months. Obviously it works for her or misery loves company.