Now I was thinking if you can share with me your side of a story...I would like to know what did you like about your cabin steward/ess, what you didn't like...I only worked for Carnival, I was wondering if service is better on some other companies...tell me about your experiences...

The crew really earn their money and then some. I have walked past some cabins that had the door opened and could not imagine having to clean those cabins. I can't believe the way some people live. Even on a cruise.

I would like to know something. Would you rather have the tips placed on the sail n sign card or the cash given to you personally by the guest? This seems to always be a huge debate on other cruise boards on which the crew members would rather have.

Gordon

[ 02-03-2006: Message edited by: Atlcruiser ]

quote:

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Originally posted by crew member:
Hi Gordon,
I could tell you so many things about tipps, what I saw, what I heard, what I experienced...
but let me tell you only my thinking...I prefer to get money from sail n sign twice per month, that money I can send home, and from extra tips wich I get in my hands I could use for my living on board. Yes it's true that we have bed and food, but you still need money to get phonecards, internet cards, to go out...
But I must say that most of a crew are not happy, they think company is leaving some money for themselfes from sail n sign. Strange thing is that we get money every 2 weeks but we can never find out which cabin payed and wich cabin took out the money...we only get an ammount but we never know who payed us and how much...
so I guess if you are ok with your cabin steward, the best thing is to ask him/her what they preffer...

I hope you could understand what I wanted to say as my english is not that good....

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Your English skills are very good. It is sad that the crew members are not made aware of who pays and who does not. On Royal Caribbean they still do it the old way where you tip each crew member on the last night in cash. I like that. I know that the deserving ones are being taken care of. I also have to ask, do you have to pool the tips? We hear this from crew members too.

Gordon

[ 02-04-2006: Message edited by: Atlcruiser ]

quote:

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Originally posted by crew member:
Forgive me Gordon but you will have to explain to me what does it mean "pool the tips"?

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It was my pleasure to answear your questions, even though I am not sure if I am allowed to talk about things like this (tips, sail n sign)...

Anyway I once figured out how much a typical waiter on a 7-day cruise ship would make in tips. It went something like this:

One waiter probably has three tables. One table for 8, one table for 6, and maybe a table of 4. That would be 18 people. There are two sittings so times that by 2, so a total of 36 people that will tip out at the end of the cruise.

36 people x $25.00 (average tip for 7-day cruise)
= $900.00
x 4 wks in a month
= $3600 per month.

My understanding is waiters typically gets paid $50 per month in salary from the cruise line. We can add that.
=$3650 per month.

Sounds pretty good right? Now lets figure out the hourly rate.

I'm going to be generous and figure the rate based on working a 12 hour day. I know many work more than 12 hours a day. Of course they work every day of the month (30 days).

That is 360 hours a month based on a $3650 month salary. We are looking at an hourly rate of about $10.14 (and really it is probably less). It doesn't sound so great anymore.

At least room and board is included, and the money is probably not taxed. That helps. Of course we have learned that Carnival makes "tipped" crew pay their own way to/from the ship and also for uniforms. Air to Eastern Europe and many other places that crew is sourced from is not cheap. Also the waiter probably has to "tip out" to some of his helpers, or "team". That will decrease the salary as well. Basically, Carnival and other cruise lines truly benefit from "free labor". You as the customer are subsidizing the vast majority of the crew's salary. Before you complain, just remember this is a major reason that cruises are so cheap! Personally I would rather see higher prices if it meant better working conditions for the crew. Of course you know that any increase in price is only going into the pockets of the cruise companies as increased profit.

Ernie

[ 02-05-2006: Message edited by: eroller ]

It's another matter entirely if the cruise line is honest enough to provide the crew member the actual tip that was left for them by the passenger. As we have read, the crew member has little way of knowing and I imagine little recourse should a discrepancy be found.

quote:

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Originally posted by tazza:
On my last cruise I tried to find out as much as I could about the wages earned by the staff onboard. Most said that they received A$250 per month. That is slave labour.

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[ 02-06-2006: Message edited by: jff1 ]