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Service Charge


Guest toodle68

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Guest toodle68

I have obviously missed the news.. but I see I am getting charged a 'service charge' for items ordering on the website.. ie, coffee card.  A $5.58 charge just for being given a piece of paper? 

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29 minutes ago, toodle68 said:

I have obviously missed the news.. but I see I am getting charged a 'service charge' for items ordering on the website.. ie, coffee card.  A $5.58 charge just for being given a piece of paper? 

Wait... so besides the $31.00 for the coffee card, you are being charged an additional $5.58 service charge? Did you call RCCL CS to ask? 

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Guest toodle68

Well, it's new because It was not on my March sailing.. and it was the same for bottle water delivery to cabin.  When I am on the ship, I get it.. but not pre-purchase for them to either hand it to you at checkin (coffee card) or delivery whilst they are still making up the room before arrival.

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1 hour ago, mworkman said:

I've noticed that the room service of $7.95 now includes gratuity also..i didn't see this added on my last cruise..now its $9.38 for the American breakfast ?

 

You ain't seen nuttin yet!! Just got back from JotS and on the last day there was a looooooong line at GS as the major concern/questioning weird charges which were grats on practically everything. A handful of individuals expressed their disgust to GS and that they will be canceling future cruise bookings they made onboard. Everyone is wise to the refund policies. I couldn't believe the swearing and cursing. Have you ever seen loud and nasty people going crazy in Spanish? LUCY, JU GOT SUM SPLAININ TO DO !! 

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On 11/24/2018 at 8:52 AM, toodle68 said:

I have obviously missed the news.. but I see I am getting charged a 'service charge' for items ordering on the website.. ie, coffee card.  A $5.58 charge just for being given a piece of paper? 

When you order the coffee that comes with your card, that is what the gratuity is going towards.  Same thing with a drink package.

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3 hours ago, Matt said:

When you order the coffee that comes with your card, that is what the gratuity is going towards.  Same thing with a drink package.

And yet, when you get the receipt to sign off on your coffee purchase, RCCL inserts "TIP" on the receipt so in essence, double-dipping AND the cruiser ends up paying the salaries of their employees instead of RCCL.

  image.png.e3b47ec067ee9fee3320181988a87429.png

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3 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

And yet, when you get the receipt to sign off on your coffee purchase, RCCL inserts "TIP" on the receipt so in essence, double-dipping AND the cruiser ends up paying the salaries of their employees instead of RCCL.

  image.png.e3b47ec067ee9fee3320181988a87429.png

No comment Just LOL ?

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4 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

And yet, when you get the receipt to sign off on your coffee purchase, RCCL inserts "TIP" on the receipt so in essence, double-dipping AND the cruiser ends up paying the salaries of their employees instead of RCCL.

That's not true.  If you have the coffee card or drink package, gratuity is included so when you buy a drink with either, there is no additional tip assessed.

There is a line for additional tip, but it clearly states that it is gratuity above and beyond what's already included.

 

Screenshot.png

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1 hour ago, Matt said:

That's not true.  If you have the coffee card or drink package, gratuity is included so when you buy a drink with either, there is no additional tip assessed.

There is a line for additional tip, but it clearly states that it is gratuity above and beyond what's already included.

 

Screenshot.png

That's what I was referring to....the "additional tip" also known as double-dipping being optional. Thanks for the validation Matt !! 

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Its probably been covered here before so sorry if this is a repeat question. Does the "included" tip go the the person that served you? At the coffe shop I had mazing service. I added a buck each time because I wasnt sure. Same for a bartender or two. I wanted to reward that person and I wasnt sure if the18% went into some sort of pool to be split (and taxed!) amongst the varying servers.

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On 11/29/2018 at 5:44 AM, whenismynextcruise said:

Its probably been covered here before so sorry if this is a repeat question. Does the "included" tip go the the person that served you? At the coffe shop I had mazing service. I added a buck each time because I wasnt sure. Same for a bartender or two. I wanted to reward that person and I wasnt sure if the18% went into some sort of pool to be split (and taxed!) amongst the varying servers.

I'm not sure anyone here knows the precise answer.  Lots of speculation, but the exact answer is unknown.  

Most servers at any counter such as a bar or coffee shop on board will place any cash tip into a jar that is pooled and shared.  I suppose some individuals servers might pocket the tip but I imagine they wouldn't be popular with their coworkers who contribute to the shared tip jar.  The gratuity or 'service charge' applied to beverage packages including the coffee card works in a similar fashion.  

I've heard but can't confirm that bartenders receive a portion of the pooled pre-paid gratuity with each swipe of a card.  The more wipes, the more share of the pie they get.  That system is designed to motivate them to want to serve beverage package holders, otherwise if they got nothing, they wouldn't be interested in serving you.   Hard working bartenders who try to serve as many drinks as possible will, at the of the cruise, get a bigger chunk of the pooled pre-paid gratuity.  Work hard, make more money.  Slack off, make less money.  This system is in place to motivate and drive a hard work ethic which is what tipping is all about.  Tip good service, tip less for poor service.  

A bartender explained this to me once.  Each swipe isn't a lot of money to them, but hundreds of swipes add up.  Several hundred swipes add up even more.     However some crew tell guests stories and not always the absolute truth trying to illicit additional tips so I can't confirm this is accurate.  

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2 hours ago, whenismynextcruise said:

Its probably been covered here before so sorry if this is a repeat question. Does the "included" tip go the the person that served you? At the coffe shop I had mazing service. I added a buck each time because I wasnt sure. Same for a bartender or two. I wanted to reward that person and I wasnt sure if the18% went into some sort of pool to be split (and taxed!) amongst the varying servers.

Last week on Anthem OTS I gave the 2 people that working in the morning at La Patisseries $10 cash before I left. They knew me by name and made my coffee everyday while I on the ship. I knew they got some tips from my refreshment package but I want them to get extra. So it is really great you give them extra.  

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@Susie   I was also on Anthen at the same time and probably served by the same 2 people! I am an early bird and was first in line at 6:30 daily! After day 2 they had my order down and were so so so friendly! I was asking for a recipet easch time so I could add a couple bucks. I like your idea of the cash tip at the end of the cruise. I will try that next Thanksgiving which we booked on board.

@twangster   as usual you have the knowledge. I appreciate your response. It all makes good sense to me.

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