Disney Dream cruise

[j.sabourn]

In 1967 we carried 12 passengers for 6 week round trips. Cost to them $100 US a day. Certainly paid my wages $ 700 U.S. a month, probably all the rest of the midships crowd as well,if not most of all the others also. Total income from passengers every 6 weeks $50,400. Plus what they drank. I was their mine host. JS

[Richard Simpson]

In 1967 we carried 12 passengers for 6 week round trips. Cost to them $100 US a day. Certainly paid my wages $ 700 U.S. a month, probably all the rest of the midships crowd as well,if not most of all the others also. Total income from passengers every 6 weeks $50,400. Plus what they drank. I was their mine host. JS

In those days carrying 12 passengers was quite common, particularly on vessels that had a reasonable turn of speed such as refrigerated cargo ships as operated by Blue Star line etc. and the banana boat companies such as Geest. Any more than 12 and the ship was required to carry a doctor so the limit was kept to 12. When my father left the sea he worked in shipping ashore and one company he worked for was Blue Star Line. One day he brought some large photographs home which were internal shots of the passenger areas of one of the ships. I was surprised at the standard of luxury in the passenger lounges with beautiful wood panelling and a lounge that opened out onto an aft lido deck around a pool. As you say, there was obviously good money in those 12 passengers.

[Richard Simpson]

Sorry but no offence intended , the days of decent wages are long gone.
Ask a seafarer this question , do you get overtime(yes ) how much are you paid for your overtime? if you do not want to work over time we will find someone who will.
Do not know if this is trueon some cruise ships certain crew members are not paid a salary, they are paid from the gratuities added to passengers bills, this funds their salaries.
Perhaps those that cruise can verifiy this? Joh Oz perhaps.

That practise has now generally been stopped however the smaller, less scrupulous companies, might still be engaging in such practises. My own experiences are only with larger companies, who, I can assure you pay all crew a salary and state very clearly in passenger documentation that gratuities are included in the ticket price. If anyone wants to pay a gratuity above and beyond that is entirely up to them and it goes directly to the crewmember whose name is on the envelope.

And just to redress the balance slightly, in my last company the deck and engineering crew lost thier overtime. This was because they wanted a consolidated salary, like the officers, that included overtime so consequently they now earn a good salary without having to be in the machinery spaces cleaning floor plates or hanging around scrubbing decks until ten at night just to take home a good wage. Its always easy to tar companies with the same brush but employers vary quite significantly. As this thread is supposed to be about a Disney Dream Cruise I thought it might be appropriate to try to get it back on track to referring to the Disney Dream.

[Michael Black]

I have only cruised on Disney ships so have no experience with any other cruise line, but on Disney cruise line the tips are,
Server.......$4.75
Assistant server......$3.75
Head server.......$1.25
Stateroom host.......$4.75

These are per person per night. They are added to your cruise folio automatically during the cruise
, they can be added to or removed on request. We always put something extra in the tip envelopes as they do look after you well.
An 18% gratuity is automatically added to any alcohol you buy, although you can take 2 bottles of wine or 6 cans of beer each on-board at every port if you want. We usually take the 4 bottles of wine. As Richard says this is on top of their wage.
Regards Michael

[Keith Tindell]

Micheal, am i reading this right, a 10 day cruise would have a deduction for tips of approx £120, and then you give some extra, plus the extra at the bar ?

[Michael Black]

Keith, yes a ten night cruise would be $145 each person approx £115. This will be added to your bill automatically , although you can deduct some or all if you feel the service is poor. The servers are usually very good, on disney you have the same servers in each dining room every night and we have requested for our favourite servers to be at our table in the past.
We usually give an extra $15 on a longer cruise, $10 on a shorter one. The bar gratuities are automatically added and we usually round up the bill to the next $., so if the bill is $14.25 we sign for $15.
Regards Michael

[j.sabourn]

#31 ref.my post of having passengers as cargo. The vessel was a C. 1A built in 1944 and capable of 18 knots in 1967.passenger cabins were double berthed and if you didnt want company you paid $200 US a day. The only one I ever heard of getting a sizeable tip was one of the two stewardesses. He was a retired Dr. and paying $200 a day,so maybe there was method in his madness. JS.

[James Curry]

#33 Richard as a new member you had best get used to people wondering off the topic now and again. Frustrating at times but that is how it is.
I have never been on a cruise and to be honest I have no great desire to do so, be it Disney or any other company.
In my early years I sailed on one 12 passenger cargo liner ED's Ebani. We ran down the West coast of Africa and usually the 12 passengers were Priests ,South bound.
Not sure if they were Transgenders as we only ever brought back 12 Nuns
The great thing about the priests, mostly Irish , there was always someone in the bar when you came off watch.

[j.sabourn]

As an additive to #37 , the main thing wrong with passengers they had no constant stowage factor, and as individuals it constantly changed .JS

[Richard Simpson]

#33 Richard as a new member you had best get used to people wondering off the topic now and again. Frustrating at times but that is how it is.
I have never been on a cruise and to be honest I have no great desire to do so, be it Disney or any other company.
In my early years I sailed on one 12 passenger cargo liner ED's Ebani. We ran down the West coast of Africa and usually the 12 passengers were Priests ,South bound.
Not sure if they were Transgenders as we only ever brought back 12 Nuns
The great thing about the priests, mostly Irish , there was always someone in the bar when you came off watch.

While a new member here I have moderated on a couple of other forums in the past so have a fair idea of what is required to keep things on track.