flynnibus
Premium Member
Try asking Disney to pay you in advance for all your reservation bookings.. you work hard and all
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Disney is going to begin autocharging tips on all of its ships
- Thread starter Disneyfalcon
- Start date
Try asking Disney to pay you in advance for all your reservation bookings.. you work hard and all
Try asking Disney to pay you in advance for all your reservation bookings.. you work hard and all
Alright, it's worth a shot.
:lol:Just to clarify, the servers aren't getting paid any earlier than they normally would. They are just getting paid.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
Isn't it true that even if you prepay your gratuities months in advance, it's still not written in stone & you still have the option to reduce a tip if need-be on that final night?
True, you would just need to visit Guest Services.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
Thanks, Joe. Wanted to be sure I had that straight. :wave:
flynnibus
Premium Member
The system just breeds complacency... in guests for tipping beyond the predefined amount... and servers for pushing for better service because they know as long as they are 'good enough'.. they will likely get the default and even if they work harder... its now less likely people will tip them beyond the pre-expected amount.
It's bad for everyone.. except the lazy.
They must have really been getting stiffed by a lot of people.
It's bad for everyone.. except the lazy.
They must have really been getting stiffed by a lot of people.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
I got the impression they were getting stiffed a good bit from reading different things in different places. I know as a first time cruiser I had no clue about gratuities. Thankfully i had a great TA to clue me in. I knew nothing about the different positions and the way things worked as far as their pay, etc. That's all stuff I picked up from reading but I'm sure of people who don't obsess the way I do. Lol!
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
Wow. I didn't know I am lazy. :shrug:
If the server knows, and they do, that they can still have their tip reduced it will still be incentive for them to do a good job. And I imagine that when you go through the process of paying for the tips up front you get informed about being able to tip more, or less. That knowledge would be incentive for the server to do a better job. Of course, I do understand the "complacency" issue you described. While I do think that there will be some complacency happening the reason for this is the typical guest that does not tip going in and stiffing the server even after good service. Before this up front tipping the server may or may not give good service and regardless of a good server some guests did not tip at all. I see this as a balancing of the tipping issue.
Jseven
Member
You are saying there are a lot of lazy people stiffing service workers. This is exactly why this system has been put into place.
flynnibus
Premium Member
The premise made here is 'it makes it easier for guests as they don't have to goto GS'. Ok, if that's the real problem we are solving.. why not make that transaction easier.
If you pay Disney to make a ticket... and the only way the person can cash the ticket is with Disney.. and the person gets paid by Disney directly anyways because they are a direct employee. Why bother with the ticket at all? Just take the customer's inputs.. and pay the staff directly. The staff doesn't look at the ticket when the customer gives it to them (which would be rude).. so its not essential to the interaction between the customer and the staff. It's simply a token passed.
Why not make a way to collect the tip info directly from customers without a trip to GS, and not relying on prepay?
If that's the real problem - fix that problem. Defaulting to prepay comes with all kinds of bad baggage.
But they didn't solve this problem.. they instead chose the default prepay.. which suggests the core problem is people not tipping.
If you tip today.. prepay only improves your life in one scenario.. which is where you don't tip based on your service/experience.. but purely based on a assumed number. If you decide to change your numbers... the prepay didn't make anything easier for you.. as changing your tips requires the same customer action as it did to setup tips on board. So what does prepay get you?
This is why I say prepay is bad... all it does is create all these incentives to influence people to not Tip based on their experience.. but to default to numbers before you've experienced anything.
For those that prepay today? Why? What does it benefit you?
Maybe people do it to payoff their balances earlier?? But this is a small portion of your bill.
Think about it... lets say a server deserves less tip. You withhold some from them... but out of a 100 people.. if 3 out of 4 don't take the extra steps to knock his tips down off the prepay value.. the employee doesn't get knocked as bad because the majority don't take that extra step to commit the change.
The same problem happens if the server does extra well.
By making personalizing tip amounts an 'extra' step instead of the 'standard' step.. it devalues the incentive tips have on staff.
I think there are more focused ways of addressing people that stiff staff completely, rather than erroding the impact of tipping overall.
I think the premise made here AND the problem Disney is trying to solve is that people weren't tipping.
An added benefit for some people is that it makes it easier, but that's definitely not the point.
Also, just to clarify, what Disney is doing is not making people prepay. It's still charged to your onboard account the last night. What Disney is doing is making people automatically pay. Or take steps to change it.
Since you asked why people would prepay, I'm one of those that prepays usually. I've done it for several reasons. One is convenience. It was easier than going to guest services to take care of it.
Another reason is to keep my onboard bill from looking quite as heartstopping that final night. :lol:
And I'll admit, another reason I have done it is because of the Disney Visa 6 month free financing. On our Alaska cruise, for example, we did several Disney excursions so I knew our onboard bill was going to be crazy high. I prepaid my tips a couple of weeks before we left and also gave myself a large onboard credit to pay for the excursions. By paying that beforehand, it qualified as a payment on a Disney package and I received 6 months free financing. Once you're onboard, charges show up differently on your Visa bill and they don't qualify.
I just enjoyed having a couple of extra months to pay for it all.
An added benefit for some people is that it makes it easier, but that's definitely not the point.
Also, just to clarify, what Disney is doing is not making people prepay. It's still charged to your onboard account the last night. What Disney is doing is making people automatically pay. Or take steps to change it.
Since you asked why people would prepay, I'm one of those that prepays usually. I've done it for several reasons. One is convenience. It was easier than going to guest services to take care of it.
Another reason is to keep my onboard bill from looking quite as heartstopping that final night. :lol:
And I'll admit, another reason I have done it is because of the Disney Visa 6 month free financing. On our Alaska cruise, for example, we did several Disney excursions so I knew our onboard bill was going to be crazy high. I prepaid my tips a couple of weeks before we left and also gave myself a large onboard credit to pay for the excursions. By paying that beforehand, it qualified as a payment on a Disney package and I received 6 months free financing. Once you're onboard, charges show up differently on your Visa bill and they don't qualify.
I just enjoyed having a couple of extra months to pay for it all.
devoy1701
Well-Known Member
I think the premise made here AND the problem Disney is trying to solve is that people weren't tipping.
An added benefit for some people is that it makes it easier, but that's definitely not the point.
Also, just to clarify, what Disney is doing is not making people prepay. It's still charged to your onboard account the last night. What Disney is doing is making people automatically pay. Or take steps to change it.
Since you asked why people would prepay, I'm one of those that prepays usually. I've done it for several reasons. One is convenience. It was easier than going to guest services to take care of it.
Another reason is to keep my onboard bill from looking quite as heartstopping that final night. :lol:
And I'll admit, another reason I have done it is because of the Disney Visa 6 month free financing. On our Alaska cruise, for example, we did several Disney excursions so I knew our onboard bill was going to be crazy high. I prepaid my tips a couple of weeks before we left and also gave myself a large onboard credit to pay for the excursions. By paying that beforehand, it qualified as a payment on a Disney package and I received 6 months free financing. Once you're onboard, charges show up differently on your Visa bill and they don't qualify.
I just enjoyed having a couple of extra months to pay for it all.
Can I still do this even though my actual package is already paid in full? That is a great tip and since this is both my first cruise and our honeymoon, it would be nice to have a little extra cushion with 6 months of free financing just incase!
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
I might be beginning to rethink this whole cruise thing. If I pay for the cruise up front, pay for the tips up front, other than spending money what else will I need money for? Will they hide charges or subtly charge me and then I get hit with a huge bill at the end? I mean, will they tell me before I start to get charged for something?
Yes you can! You can do it up until a few days before you leave. Always check your credit card statement in case Chase ever changes this somehow, but its worked for a few years now.
They definitely wont hide any charges! Sadly, I knew what every single one of those charges were. :lookaroun:lol:
If you're being charged for something you will sign a bill.
In general, extra charges you may come across are alcoholic and specialty drinks like smoothies and some pre packaged snacks and drinks from room service and outside the movie theater.
Everything else would be even more obvious like things in the shops, pictures from Shutters, and excursions.
I have been on cruises where my onboard charges were 0 and I have been on some where it was several hundred. It was totally up to me every time, and I knew when I was spending.
There are even some cases where the specialty drinks and champagne are free, like at the Captain's reception. If you're ever in doubt, just ask.
G00fyDad
Well-Known Member
Yes you can! You can do it up until a few days before you leave. Always check your credit card statement in case Chase ever changes this somehow, but its worked for a few years now.
They definitely wont hide any charges! Sadly, I knew what every single one of those charges were. :lookaroun:lol:
If you're being charged for something you will sign a bill.
In general, extra charges you may come across are alcoholic and specialty drinks like smoothies and some pre packaged snacks and drinks from room service and outside the movie theater that there are charges for.
Everything else would be even more obvious like things in the shops, pictures from Shutters, and excursions.
I have been on cruises where my onboard charges were 0 and I have been on some where it was several hundred. It was totally up to me every time, and I knew when I was spending.
There are even some cases where the specialty drinks and champagne are free, like at the Captain's reception. If you're ever in doubt, just ask.
Whew. Okay. Thank you. I am still very nervous about a cruise. 1st time and all... :wave: Thanks again.
I've been on cruises where I've seen hundreds of people in line for guest services on the last night of the cruise - I believe this was they pain they are trying to fix - NOT just making sure the servers get tipped.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Your big expense (potentially) for your onboard account is your excursions. They don't charge those in advance. Beyond that it's just specialty drinks, alchohol, and stuff you buy in the shops.
Any charge to your account basically flows like a credit card transaction.. so no worries about 'hidden' charges.