Who really gets the tips that I leave in personal envelopes to the my Waiter, Assistant Waiter, Head Waiter and my Stateroom Attendant Team on the Voyager of the Seas cruise ship?

A percentage of the tips goes to all the hidden workers, who made your stay comfortable, but whom you never knew about… such as the dishwashers, linen cleaners, and others.

Also, some overactive “good citizen“employers require all employees to turn in tips for purposes of determining the tax on them to pay, thus deducting such tax from the tip before it is returned.

P.S.
Now I’m not sure at all that my money is going to the people I gave them personally in hand envelopes, maybe his boss taking it all to himself? I do not like injustice when I see and feel it myself. Something feels wrong. I’m sorry for the long words, but I really want to express my opinion and maybe understand it better, so I will not feel bad that my money is not going to who I wanted it to go.

A lot of restaurants pool tips or check to make sure that people are reporting all of the tips they get because it’s so easy to not report tips.

theichibun I think the servers themselves should pool the tips if they wish, but not the manager; it’s too easy to palm a few bucks.

Incidentally, it’s not the restaurant’s business to be working for the IRS.

@ItsAHabit: the IRS is not a factor here as the majority (probably all, in fact) of the ships are not from the US, they’re from other countries, so even though the business may be American, the ship itself is from some weird countries that have their own laws regarding tax, tips, etc.

It’s also easy for the servers to palm a few bucks away from the server that nobody likes. The manager seeing the money =/= the manager getting money.

@Ranimi23, your cruise was from where to where? This is a side question—I’m just curious.

@Jeruba , from Barcelona to Italy and Franch and back to Barcelona.

Ditto they spread it around to the people you do not see. In similar circumstances, I have taken certain excellent service people aside privately and quietly handed them some cash. Now, I do not know if they spread it around later, but I assume that they do not. If not good. If so, so what?

I always put the bill(s) in my palm and then shake their hand.

@ItsAHabit , Old School, the way it should be. :)

Voyager Cruises is an American-based company. Unless the rules have changed, tips are required to be reported in America so that they can be taxed. It cannot be reported unless it is turned in.