Tiny pools means less people wasting time in a pool....and more people spending money around the ship.

The principle of prepaid gratuities is such an American thing. In other countries workers are actually paid and don't rely as heavily on the mercy of their patrons.

When tipping is mandatory is not a tip, you are paying their salary

Nope, we crew members don't receive the prepaid tips. It all stays with the company, at least the company I worked with, we never saw the color of that money and we were also not allowed to share this info with the guests.

As former crew member I can guarantee you that more money was made with the old time envelope system than prepaid. Cruise companies are not sharing 100% of the tips with the crew

Why not pay the staff a living wage and charge the cruisers accordingly, and eliminate expected tipping? I’m all for giving a tip for exceptional service, but if someone gives good service - that’s their job. That’s how it works in my country.

Another reason stays in port are short: when in port, you're not spending money on the ship!

Weirdest thing to me was the evening magician served me bacon the next morning.

My idea a a great cruise would be crawling through the engine room and other mechanical spaces.

I've only taken 1 cruise, 7 days, 6 islands in the Caribbean, and one of the things I liked best about it was exploring an island, go to bed, and next day you're at a new location.

Tipping should be removed in all forms. Outstanding service and paying employees should be the owners responsibility, works in other countries and they have the best service. Tipping just invites prejudice. When you have outstanding service and get no tips that day it can be tough.

I would have thought the reason there’s no cash onboard ships is because a ship has lots of different people from different nationalities, if a waiter only had Euros but you paid with dollars, the money exchange would be more difficult.

The American tipping culture is just that, a thing particular to the US. Thank god I cruise with a European company where you don't have to do this mandatory gratuity thing. We tip after we get could service :-).

We were on one Mediterranean cruise and while on land we tasted some delicious wines, bought two bottles which only cost 10 euro each, and couldn't wait to have them with our dinner. When we asked our server, that evening, to open our wine for us we found a $30/US corkage fee added to our bill, we were shocked and unhappy. At the next port we headed for a grocery store and bought a corkscrew for 2 euros and enjoyed our wine without any fees attached. From that day forward we always pack a corkscrew/bottle opener in our checked luggage.

We do a one week cruise and only put $200-300 on our cruise card and about $20 for tips to the room service waiter that delivers my coffee to the room about 3 times a day. We also rarely get off the ship because we are seniors and the excursions don’t interest for us, and never eat in speciality dining.

"Automatic gratuities" go against the meaning of gratuitous; done without good reason; uncalled for. It's a stupid system, as with tipping in general, especially in the US.

"I didn't know they had a wave machine in the pool". They didn't , rough seas.

Fun fact: Many places outside of the US a cruise ship docks actually do allow the Casino to be open. The cruise lines opt to leave it closed as they would need to pay local taxes, which is both lost revenue potential and a pain in the ass to deal with.

Actually the pools are shallow all around to eliminate water from splashing on the sundeck when the seas get a little rough. It has nothing to do with the optics of making it look bigger, although it does accomplish that too.

Man I miss cruising so much! Can’t wait to finally be able to cruise again!

I was working on a cruise ship that based on tipping sistem for 10 years. That's mean my money comes from tips. The company did pay salary only USD$70 per month. If the guests remove their gratuities, I don't get money. No matter how good our service was there ware always some cold blooded people whose already planned ahead that they will remove gratuities and then disappeared early morning to be the first to disembark. This kind of people contribute most of the hard time for us. Lucky they just small number. Thanks for those who cruising for real and make me to have a job and earn money for my family 🙏

Its hard to blam karen for demanding perfection when forced to pretip

Went on a 7 day cruise...spent MAYBE $100 total. We didn’t drink anything that had to be paid for. There’s tea, coffee, juice, milk...free. When we went onshore, I found a small store selling soda, which I took back to the ship with me. If you get stomach ache or nausea, you can get FREE meds for it at guest services desk. You can eat FREE in the dining room, too. You can cruise on a budget!

This is fascinating :). I love videos like this. They make some things really clear -- and I find understanding why something is how it is makes it easier to follow a rule or instruction.

Cruise ship I went on for the first time was unreal . Loved it so much . Couple of rookie mistakes for my first time . Yes could not believe how big the ship was when 1st seen it mind blowing . God Bless

The 'laying out' was definitely more popular than the pool, especially in the no-children section. It was difficult to find a lounge chair at times, and anyway, I preferred the pools and waterslides and the constant refreshing 'waterfalls' that were part of the largest pool area's setup. My husband and I have only been on one cruise; it was a Carnival package with a larger cabin (his boss's treat) for three nights. And even though we liked seeing Ensenada, our favorite 'full' day was the third day that was spent entirely on the boat. We didn't do much shopping at all! Just wandering from room to room dining, socializing, dancing, watching risque standup comedians, and even playing mini golf.

I guess I'm getting old. I enjoy sea days sometimes more than port days so I can simply relax by the pool and take it easy.

5 foot deep pools on ships aren’t necessary. The majority of people on cruises just want to sit in the water, so 3 feet is perfectly fine.

actually a few years ago, i went on a Norwegian cruise from new-york to Bermuda. and the ship stay 3 nights at the same port, which was pretty nice, you have time to visit

My favorite ship was the carnival valor. I especially liked the way the theater was laid out. It wasn't a typical theater but more like a club like setting with wide isles, bench like seats, and little tables. Very easy to walk around and either leave early or arrive later without disturbing anybody to get a seat.

I still don’t get why we have to pay gratuity the cruise I should just pay the decent wage

One recent trend I dislike with Caribbean cruising is the “private island” stops. Basically all they usually are is just some formerly desolate island that the cruise company has filled with a handful gimmicky attractions that aren’t even included in your cruise fare. I mean I realize that cruise lines do this because it’s a very cheap, high profit margin option. They own the island, so they don’t have to pay docking fees. They also make a bunch of money, since there’s literally nothing to do on the island unless you pay for it. Still, it’s a shame that almost all Carribean itineraries from the major lines have replaced one of the real destinations with these nothing islands.

The small pools is definitely due to the movement of water. The movement of water in the maritime industry is known as the free surface effect.

Thanks for posting, now I know why I never ever wanted to go on a "cruise"

another point to note on the gratuities is that cash paid envelopes leave out all the back room staff working as hard as the front end staff, who would otherwise be left out - porters, maintenance crew, kitchen staff etc.

Lots of small pools = easier to shut one down when someone poos in it and for people to use other pools.

Cruising will always be my favorite and preferred form of vacation. There’s nothing like it. ❤😊

My first cruise was on the Carla Costa it was a small ship, the workers and the performers were the same people and it was so much fun. Went on several more after that but never as much fun as the first one.

For all the folks complaining about gratuities, keep in mind that its not that much money. On most cruise lines its $13 per day per person. Look at this way your $13 is traditionally divided among 4 people: the cabin steward, head waiter, assistant waiter, and the Maitre d'. Aprox $3 per day goes to each of those folks. That's a small price to pay considering you're getting your room cleaned twice a day, and the dining room staff is giving excellent service. If you take a land based vacation your gratuities just for dinner would be much higher. If you and your partner go to steak house in LA, Vegas or Miami, the gratuities would be close to $40 for a single meal. So $3 to your waiter per night is not a bad deal... I know alot of folks dont like all the shopping on board the ships either. But this is a major source of income for the cruise ship. Look at it this way, your local gas station does not make a profit off gasoline. Gas stations make their money of soft drinks, beer, snacks, and cigarettes. So the cruise ships applied the same concepts. Remember you're not obligated to buy anything. There are lots of folks who manage not to spend a dime on cruise ships. They dont shop, they dont gamble, they dont drink, they dont book shore excursions. Nor do they eat at specialty restaurants. They only eat in the MDR. I know its their money but where's the fun in that....

Let's be honest, the REAL reason the casino's are closed when they aren't in international waters is because the cruise company doesn't want to pay the taxes on the operation of them while in their waters. Those are the "regulations" that keep them closed.

You could never pay me enough to go on one of these cheeseball 'vacations'.

Im from England 🇬🇧 and tipping for good service was learnt from my american friends. Years ago we Brits would never have thought of tipping waitresses and our house keeping staff. I might pay tips in my cruise prices but i always tip my favourite staff the extra in their hands on my last night onboard and always in £ sterling. And they seem to quite like it

Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.

This was the one time to adopt metric measurements. 1KG of Water = 1 Litre of Water. I would say that is so much easier to visualise than pounds and ft cubed

I actually like the mega ships, but I hate things like go karts take up such valuable real estate on the outdoor decks.

Having experienced a little of both, I prefer river cruising: far smaller vessels, a group of staff you can actually get to know over the longer time period, top quality food etc.

I had 2 cruises cancelled this year. I can’t wait to go back, it’s like my second home. 😩😭♥️

NCL gave me a hard time when I tried to pay my shipboard account with cash. after 15 minutes of argument with the front desk supervisor and the burser they took the money. On Princess they took the cash without blinking an eye and said thank you.

I must be cheap when we went on our last cruise we might have spent maybe $100 and that’s a big maybe. I do like a small ship.

I think it was Norwegian that offers (offered?) a cruise between the Hawaiian islands. A seven day cruise with three overnight locations. A great way to experience three islands, and a single day port of call on another. Overnights at Kahului, Maui, Hilo, Hawaii (big island), and Nawillwili, Kauai with a singe day at Kona, Hawaii. Long excursion, experience the night life, whatever...

A small pool also means that there is a much higher concentration of urine per litre.

Went on my first cruise November 2019 with my husband while 9 weeks pregnant. I totally want to go on another cruise in the future, just not pregnant. Lmao!

The free surface effect is why pools are kept small & shallow on ships. The more volume of water the more unstable the vessel in a storm.

Pool: waves, not weight. (Free surface effect)

Not to mention if the ship docks for a shorter period of time, the guests have less time to spend money off the ship. They have to pay to have dinner on the ship if they leave at 4pm

One of the best cruise explanation type videos from a new cruiser 14 years old. As someone who knows a lot about cruises you explained some very interesting stuff and used real facts and said it in a very delightful way. One of the best cruise videos ever

Cruises departing out of New Orleans have casinos that open immediately after the Muster Drill.

Do cruise lines actually pay out the tips to the crew on top of their base pay? I find it hard to believe that they do. They probably either pocket the money or use it to pay the salaries of the crew, which is NOT the same thing. Tips are supposed to be in addition to base pay.

Port stays - thy are EXTREMELY expensive. Also, there are no revenue centers allowed to be open while in port so Ships lose money every minute it is moored. Restaurants, shops, casino, most of the bars - closed. Ships need passengers to make money.

No idea why I got this recommended - still wachted it, but at 1.25 speed, he talks way too slow

A giant hotel with a mall, tiny pool, all about consumption, why do people like cruises?! I'm really curious

In regard to the item about ship sizes: The two times I sailed were on Holland America ships that have about 2500 people. These seemed to be nice because less people means it’s not overwhelming and more concentrated guest attention whereas 5000 person ships are a little much.

What doesn’t make sense to me is the environmental impact of cruising

The physics you are talking about in regards to the pool. Is called free surface effect.

i go to the pool in evening , alwaays empty , all for myself , i ofter hear people why that guy inside ? isnt it cold ? lol

2:55 the wright itself isnt the main issue, its actually a thing called free surface moment. It simply means that water moves as the ship rolls which will make rolling worse.

There are tourists and there are travelers. Tourists don't know where they've been. Travelers don't know where they are going. The most amazing, awe-inspiring, and life-changing of my travels have been when I surrendered myself to the place I am visiting and with no itinerary or schedule just let myself be drawn into what it has to offer. I've had dinner at people's homes while wandering the backroads of rural Kansas. I attended a retirement party in a town of 200 people in Wales where even the little old ladies were so drunk they could hardly stand up. I've awoken to discover myself surrounded by Tarahumara indians while hiking the Copper Canyon of Mexico. I spent a winter month including Christmas with a family in Ukraine. I've shared tears with a Bosnian man who lost his family to civil war by way of his artwork despite having no common language. I had a taco thanksgiving dinner at a roadside park with 30 migrant workers while in California. I've been on the Ganges River at dawn watching 10's of thousands of Hindus praying to the morning Gods in rituals unchanged for 1000's of years. Truly life altering experiences. But I've never driven a go cart on a cruise ship.

Why make the pool massive when there’s only ever going to be 2 people that aren’t just hanging out on the edge? When I go I only ever go in the pool at night, swimming under the stars at night on a ship is a vibe of immaculate proportions.

It is not just the weight of water in the pools that is a problem. The sloshing of the water also affects ship stability, google free surface moment if you are interested.

As a Brit, one of the first things I do is go to the service desk and ask for automated tips to be removed / not charged. I prefer putting cash in envelopes, so that I can reward staff as I see fit if they've gone above my expectations. I do appreciate that this favours front of house staff, but I just don't like automated tipping or tipping culture. Also, I'm not sure who really gets money if I tip the company, I can imagine it just gets consumed by either the company or senior management who don't need it.

I love cruising and I've had 9 but I still can't get over the fact that I can never get into the hot tubs because they are kept too hot especially when the sun is already heating them up and the fact that the kids are allowed in them when signs clearly state they are for adults. Also, on the Carnival line they used to have serenity for adults with a pool. Now the pool is gone and tiny hot tubs took its place. Im over 65 and want a pool without a bunch of kids. I did my kid time i want a pool. And no stairs to get to serenity. I cant do stairs

My understanding was the gratuities are not distributed at all to the crew. The cruise line just pockets them. The crew are all salaried contractors.

A few things about tipping. What started to happen is people who only went to the buffet thought they shouldn't have to tip the wait staff. So a lot of people were leaving without tipping at all. That's just gross. Additionally, I hate the freestyle cruising. I never get the same waiter twice, nobody knows what I want, and the service is sub-par. Yet I feel stuck with the automatic tips in that circumstance because I can't tip every waiter every night. Now that we stopped using norwegian, we always tip our Steward at the beginning of the trip, mentioning to him that we're planning to also give the automatic tips. Then if he's particularly good, we leave in even more at the end. We do something similar with the wait staff.

Having lived in a few countries, the tipping system in the US is annoying, and even more so on these ships. I wonder how much of these obligatory tips actually make it into the servers pockets. That being said, servers often earn way more with tips in the US than they could otherwise. I knew several waitresses and bartenders that used to take home as much or more than a full time employed tradesperson. They had little to no secondary schooling and only worked 30-40 hrs week. That's why no one is pushing for it to change. The owners can pay their staff less and the staff often makes more than they would in any other low skill job.

Look at the videos of pools on a cruise ship in a storm, alot of weight that move around.

To your first point, pools are small for stability reasons on cruise ships. It doesn't have to do with weight specifically. It has to do with an effect called free surface. This effect changes the rolling action of the vessel and is most impacted by the width of the pool. Having pools as high up as they are increases the impact of this effect on the vessels stability when it is rolling as the entire weight of the water can be considered to be placed near the extreme edges based on the roll direction. There's a few videos out there that explain this effect including one of people driving box trucks with water tanks in the back (probably the best examples)

This video makes it seem like cruises are not fun but they are the opposite. I have been on about 5 cruises and they are so fun! You never want to leave! You just need to go on one to see what I mean.

Can't wait to sail again

Sad to hear that many guest think that stuff gets tips as “a tip”, the company I used to work for ( can’t say the name ) payed bar staff 50$ per month + “tips” , so basically 15% , on your check is our salary. Some guests would remove the gratuities, and company would take it out from crew accout. When we were in US, premium cocktail would coast $8,95 ( including $1,15 tip ) the same drink on the land was worth $11-12 +tips and tax! What else to say 🤷🏻‍♀️

As far as "prepaying gratuities", I don't see a problem with it. After all, these people typically depend on gratuities (as in, literally make $0 from the cruise line). To me, it's just a hidden fee of cruising you must take into account when booking.

Auto Grat has been super common in restaurant chains in the US since the 90s, especially if the party size is more than a couple or small family.

I've been on 10 cruises and have never been on a ship that closed the casino for no reason. The only times they're closed is when in port and then when they leave that port the casino will be open for business when it gets a certain distance from the shore. Otherwise it's open 24/7 The lines i'm talking about were HAL, NCL, Carnival and Princess

I understand that there may be different customs in the US but tipping in the rest of the world is quite unusual. Could be one of the reasons why it didn't catch up on ship where only a small minority of the crew is American. Said so, I don't think crew is paid more than the average waiter in the US, and perhaps could use the tips. But it is the employer who should ensure a fair wage and not the customer to supplement it.

Wow all that makes taking a cruise seem aweful!

I've never been on a cruise ship before, but it looks like a mini Las Vegas resort 😉

Just for the newbies, keep in mind that they they say a ship is 164,000 gross tons, that has nothing to do with weight. This is a measurement of volume in the ship industry. Each ton = 100 cubic feet. Gross tonnage = total volume of enclosed space where as Net tonnage = usable "cargo" space in the ship. That is why you can actually have a shorter ship that has more gross tonnage as the overall volume is bigger. Here is a decent link for largest ships by GT: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_ships_by_gross_tonnage You see cruise ships starting at 228,000 tons. This is why the Symphony of the Seas is actually shorter than the Harmony of the Seas, but its a bit wider and taller so it has more GT.

I remember when I was in Singapore at the Hotel Marriot, there you paid 10% tip automatically on the room-price, the only ones that did not get a dip on those money where the ones that carried your baggage and such .. I felt bad for them, so I paid them well.

Lol, this is so true bro, when we think about it lol. Glad you pointed this out to us. Magnificent 7 lol. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. Stay safe and catch up again real soon God bless.

I remember when I was a kid and we tipped our waiter at the end of the 7 day cruise with cash and it was so fun he was amazing and now I’m 22 haha

I still don't understand why gratuities aren't included into the fare. Just pay the staff better.

Gratuities. You'd think that the cruise line would simply pay the staff, right? Unless... including that cost in headline price - versus it leaching away from you in the background - would make the cruise price look less competitive or appealing. Roughly $15/day gratuity over 14-day cruise = $210 || Paying by card - is awesome :) Just note that while docked at some ports, you will get tax applied to alcoholic drinks. || Shop sales. If you can stand not to immediately buy things you don't want or need, wait until the last couple of days of the cruise. In my experience, best reductions happen then

Cruzely - Now it's your turn. Let us know in the comment section and we'll try to get an answer for you. Also Cruzely - *never looks at comment section / video ever again*

"Where else have you heard of leaving a tip BEFORE your served??". Well, that's actually how "tipping" began. TIP is actually an acronym shortened from "To Insure Promptness". So, to insure that you received prompt service, you would give your server/hotel/bartender/whatever an amount of money beforehand. Your service would reflect the amount given, generally speaking.

Love the vids but i have a suggestion, if you want you should put the name of the ship at the bottom of the clip so we know what ship it is. That be kind of cool.

The First Class Pool on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA can never be filled again, contract required removal of the Queen's boilers, one used to support the great weight of the generous sized pool.

Cruise lines also don't favor tons of overnights because when the ship is in port, they don't make nearly as much money. People staying out later means less spending in the specialty restaurants, onboard spas, and of course, no opening of the shops or casinos.

Great vid! I HATE the tipping system as it takes away incentive for them to go above & beyond. Sometimes I give more because it just feels right. But I also know not to fall prey to the onboard sales pitches. Bingo? No thanks. My first cruise was a megaship and I swore I'd never do it again. After taking a smaller ship I swore I'd never do it again. It was just so boring. Now I prefer the larger ones because there's just so much more to do, especially on a longer cruise with more sea days.

If you take a Hawaii Cruse that travels from island to island... there is no casino at all

The pools are small for 2 reasons. Pools are on the top deck. The amount of weight that all the floors below the pool area have to support for safety is big. Water weighs a lot. So to help keep the weight down on the structures below. A small pool is perfect. And don't forget all the people around the pool also adds a lot of in that area also. The pool is alway in the centre to help balance the boat from the top down. Some boats have pools / hot tubs at the side of the ship also. But again to help with the balance of the ship there are always one on each side of the ship. The other reason is that most people like to sunbath more than go swimming (right girls)!

For all the people talking about a living wage, why not prepay gratuities and still give extra in an envelope on the ship? We did this on our honeymoon. Save up some extra cash so you can tip extra to those who do extra. Also the idea of "living wage" is different depending on what country you are from. If a person thinks they will get a tip from doing above and beyond with their job then they are more likely to do so.