We have been cruising since the early 1990s, and one of our favorite things to do is interview cruise staff members. Having considered and almost embarking upon a career on cruise ships, Tim is still fascinated by life on the seas. One of the more disturbing trends we’ve uncovered is the migration of your automatic daily gratuities from an extra few dollars in staff member pockets to a multi-million dollar profit center on a cruise corporation’s books to help drive shareholder wealth. Cruise companies are quite silent about your gratuities and how they’re really used, and decline to comment on this delicate subject. However, for the past several years, cruise lines voluntarily allow the removal of automatic daily gratuities. That is suspect – leading us to believe these are voluntary contributions that may not go where you hoped they might. Since they’re voluntary and their descriptions are vague at best, it’s not quite fraud. But nonetheless, something is definitely wrong.
All we want is the truth.
Here is a copy of a pay stub we found on social media which was later removed. The worker’s identification has been completely obscured, and we do not have any verification this document is real. For all we know, it may have been forged. But if it is real, the information on it is damning.
Most cruise ship employees work as contractors through a third party agency that secures employment on various cruise lines worldwide. Thankfully, several associations offer protection for these contractors through agreements with various cruise lines that do business in the United States and Europe, who also offer protection for workers. The most important protection is a guaranteed minimum salary. This means that regardless of passenger numbers, purchases, or profits, each staff member is guaranteed a minimum salary throughout their contracts. There are some unfair practices that still persist, including housekeeping fees for staff quarters and overpriced internet access, but salaries are guaranteed no matter what.
Here’s the issue. According to the sample invoice pictured above, there is an indication that gratuities earned by contracts are deducted from the guaranteed salary paid by the cruise lines. So, instead of going home with some extra cash, employees leave with the same amount, regardless of passenger intention. That means if you think your automatic daily gratutities are somehow magically split up and distributed evenly among back-of-house employees as a bonus added to their guaranteed salaries, you’d be wrong. Your automatic daily gratuities may be subsidizing the guaranteed payments, allowing cruise corporations to avoid paying guaranteed salaries, and adding more profits to their books.
The truth is – we don’t know the truth. We reached out to all the major cruise companies in early November and asked them to comment on this practice. Not a single cruise company responded to our request. What I can tell you is that if my automatic daily gratuities are not going where I thought they were, there’s no way in hell I’m paying them. I have removed my automatic gratuities from my room charges on my last three cruises, and redistributed those gratuities in cash to the crew members who directly affected our stay. If the dishwashers, launderers, and cleaners aren’t getting my tips anyway, at least someone whom I think deserves them is. How those crew members distribute my cash is up to them. Hopefully, they’re not reporting them to have those tips reduce guaranteed salary obligations.
Have you any information that confirms or denies this practice? We’d really like to button this up.
