TXcruzer

That is an excellent thought thread, and makes perfect sense. In America, your examples of department store worker, car salesman, and insurance agent are all commission based jobs, so in many ways there compensation is tied into performance just like a tipped position. ( I do not know if commission based salaries exist in Europe). With regard to the other positions, I am sure we have the same amount of sub par performance from certain individuals as you do. Generally speaking, firing someone in this country is a relatively easy thing to do.

not from me, they wouldn't

Hmmmmmm! First post, ridiculous unbelievable accusations.................................

I was on Allure for Super Bowl this year. They showed the game in the Theater as well as the Aqua-Theater. There were small munchies around the venues.

They will take home 1.5X-2X the average annual income of their home country on each contract. That's a pretty great wage

If you talk frankly to any professional waitstaff here in the states, or any forward facing crew on cruise ships, they will agree with you 100%. They all do better in a cash based gratuity system (not the Royal Caribbean scam of auto daily gratuity)

If gratuity is included by default on a service, there is no reason to feel awkward by not tipping any further

Exact same process here; I really like having the card, it’s new for me since my last renewal.

Charging for popcorn is not a recent change, and most mainstream lines charge for it.

I hope that Heald's statement is true

Understood. Thank you for the clarity.

The question that really needs asked, and that interests me the most is this. Does Royal use the auto gratuity monies to meet the minimum payment required by the contract OR are these monies distributed in addition to the minimum? Because this is not clear, and I do not wish to start a debate, but I do not participate in the auto gratuity program. It is important to me that those that serve me get money ON TOP OF their contracted salary.

Am I missing something? I have never seen differing deposits amounts for RD and NRD

Everyone on the ship receives, contractually, a guaranteed salary that is governed by International Seafarer Convention.

I guess we will never know

You can absolutely bring your own hair dryer, and hair straightener, and curling iron. Food for thought, if your hair appliances are a Dyson product, they have a spotty history of not working at some times due to the electrical system on the ships and the digital circuitry in the appliances.

If they weren’t cleaning up (by their countries standards) you wouldn’t see so many crew members returning contract after contract for YEARS Depending on the country of origin, many of these crew-members in one 9 month contract will make several years worth of equivalent wages in their home country.

Heck, I have done online banking from the ship WiFi

"Low rate of returning customer"?? You are joking. Right?

Surrendering your passport is commonplace on many itineraries outside of North America, I can’t ever remember being asked to bring extra passport photos; it is indeed a curious line item in the documents.

Spectrum of the Seas is sailing in southeast Asia. The information about birth certificates is not applicable. The information equating the passport photos to check in pictures is also not applicable. I DO NOT have the answer to the OP question, butI encourage them to contact the proper channels so as not to have a disappointing result. My assumption is that the 2 passport photo requirement is valid and the photos will be needed for applicable Visas in the region, and without them there may be trouble. Again, i can't say for certain, but this could potentially be a big deal.

I am more interested in the “bigger issues”. What happened??

I read somewhere that NCL was charging for mini golf on the Prima class ships

There has always been a charge for popcorn. You may want to read up on what is happening in the cruise industry, $2.50 for popcorn is small change (pun intended) "sail with them at your own peril", that's a little dramatic anyway, welcome to the blog!

My renewal in May took about 13 weeks