ONT-CA

17 hours ago, Pinboy said:

The Cruise Line is only providing a " guideline " --- Not " extorting " anything from you.

They will not know what you leave or don't leave .

However, the staff members that did their best to ensure you had a good time will.

You are free to do whatever you think is fair .

 

In no longer falling for the collection game, we decline upon embarkation.  Our gratuities are we feel appropriate and adequately appreciated by the recipients.  Those who have declined the collection game will find at the foot of their beds a notification that says; "Tipping with cash is also a great way to say thanks to the crew for making your vacation special". This notification recommends an amount of $5.19 per day for Housekeeping Services and is placed there by the room steward at turn down.  Extortion might be too strong a word, but not by much

A gratuity is a gift from a customer to a server

The amount of the gift  is determined by the customer

There can be no suggestions as to the amount of gratuity without the knowledge and appreciation of service

There cannot be a rate applied to a gratuity nor a charge 

There cannot be a collection of a gratuity by the third party without knowledge of final distribution

There cannot be a collection of gratuity for distribution without first having the service rendered.

...OTHERWISE  IT  IS  NOT  A  GRATUITY.

2 hours ago, Pinboy said:

 ...as a " reminder "  ?????

 

Try extortion

 

What we leave in the way of a gratuity is a matter between the staff individual and ourselves and is of no concern nor business of the line.  It is a GRATUITY

 

And yes, we are currently in the first of a b2b2b

2 hours ago, Pinboy said:

 

 

Adding insult to injury, upon returning to our cabin we find on our bed an envelope and printed notification as to the "suggested" amount of cash tip we should leave the staff upon our departure.  If it is your objective to have we the customers pay your labour expense, we would gladly do so when you pay our flight costs to get to your ship including the night's hotel cost in stopover..  Does that sound like a fair "suggestion"?  Talk about killing of the goose that lays the golden eggs.

We too are currently aboard the Summit and other than the airport arrival and transfer it was the easiest boarding we have ever had. The now comic moment at the airport of someone grabbing our luggage and running off with it and being told not to worry it would be on the truck and I thought, they are taking us to the ship on a truck?.  Weary travellers are not the best witnesses of boarding but we were delighted with our welcome. 

Now would be a good time to clarify some details of the handicapped room 6107.  Yes, it is on the other side of the elevator shafts' wall and no, we could not hear a sound from them.  And revellers gathered awaiting elevators while more than audible in the corridor could not be heard inside the cabin.  So our fears were put to rest and too should those to follow us.

When expressing my dislike for passengers who roam about the bar, deck, everywhere really chatting away on something attached to their ear and totally misunderstanding the meaning of long distance in their use of volume of speech, one shipmate simply said "Oh the turret callers".  Seemed definitive 

While the Medallion device can locate you, so too a cell phone.  I do want to point out that the person on the desk did not reveal the cabin number, only that they were "in their cabin"

Most new passengers are taken back when approaching an unknown employee behind a monitor who suddenly says, "Good evening...." adding your given name.  Or passing a monitor to see your photo on screen.  All this from a battery operated device designed to be worn around the neck on a lanyard or as a piece of Jewelry (which it resembles)  your full name engraved on the circumference.   

Fortunately it does not emit any sound.....yet

The Princess Medllion:

We overheard a woman ask the desk to advise her where her friend were at that moment so she could join them.  The desk did something and said they were in their cabin.  The woman replied that they couldn't be because she had knock on their door multiple times and there is no answer.  The desk person silently stood there with a her customary smile.  After a long silence the woman said "Oh", and left

But to the point of today's sailing.  Perhaps it is time for a cruise line to offer us tranquil passage with no golf, no race cars, no tennis, no water slides, no wall climbing, no zip lines and no electronics?  As two who do not have cell phones nor ever will, we would be aboard.  Anyone else?

As you say, " "tips'" are generally distributed and generally accepted as being accurate..."  So too is the generality of my figure.  I based it on 3,000 passengers being "charged" $15.00/day. There are both smaller and larger ships with larger charges as well as cancellations. This 'tip' is by no means a gratuity but rather a service charge and should be identified as such. I do not challenge the distribution of this money, only the discretion of the allocation. After all, it is the passengers' money until such time as it is designated a cruise charge. 

In a competitive economy mentioning alternates seems holistic.  My posting was on subject and although my position is known to you, there are others who venture into this realm who might take from my comments.  It would be pointless printing one copy of a book.  I think that considering that each day of a cruse there can be upwards of $45,000 of passenger's "tips' being distributed at the discretion of the ship management bears open discussion.

8 hours ago, guest26 said:

 

 

 Tips - can I just skip it and pay directly to employees?

 

 

 

I assume from your comment regarding UK cruises that you are familiar with P&O where "tips" are not added to your account. Great idea!  I am one of those "cheapskates" who believes that Celebrity should pay wages and I the gratuities and to whom and in an amount that I garner appropriate.  

1 hour ago, MamaFej said:

 

We interrupt this thread to say that I smile every time I see a post by you. 

 

I live not far from ONTario, CAlifornia. Indeed, our local airport code is ONT.

 

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

Then you would not be surprised to hear that at the "Meet & Greet" get together I am always introduced as being from ONTario CAlifornia.  

35 minutes ago, jelayne said:

If you are referring to Canadian Club, & Seagrams VO those liquors are in the Classic package so would be priced at $9 or below,.  Jack Daniels is on the Premium package so that could be at least $10.

Thank you for your assistance and information.  Cheers

There seems to be ample cocktail names and ingredients which I'm sure are delicious but I have yet to find a pricing for simple alcohol beverages such as JD, VO or CC on the rocks.  Anyone?

39 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I suspect that your assumption is incorrect.  If you chose to remove the auto gratuities, your cabin steward will be required to turn in the full amount that you give him. (No matter the amount) Only if you leave your auto gratuities on does your cabin steward get  to keep the cash. Your cabin steward is not likely to have a smile IMO.

Have you never seen the lineup of crew members at the Western Union counters sending home the much needed and well earned cash received?  But I will give you this, your comment (No matter the amount) says volumes.  I won't say that these smiles say it all, but a lot is said, believe me.

I will use the room Steward as an example.  He/She is earmarked to receive a portion of the "tip" purse.  Should everyone on board wish not to offer any daily charged amount,  he/she will receive their allotted portion from the purse that contains a minimum amount supplied by the agency.  For every amount added to the purse by the passengers, the allotted percentage of that will go to, in my example, the Steward. True gratuities given directly to the Steward are said to be destined for the purse.  I see no example of that.  So:  should I chose to not pay/ prepay the tip "charge", but rather to give a handsome gratuity to a deserving Steward, he/she will receive their portion of the purse plus my gratuity minus their portion of prepayment I choose not to make. Smiles all around

1 hour ago, killsport said:

Well, sort of... it was a short cruise. And we originally were in anytime dining... I figured I'd get some helpful feedback (either reinforcement or correction).

As the line publishes "Rates" for gratuities perhaps you should address your question directly to them.

I see that my post, #218 was edited and taken out of context .

6 minutes ago, OuiOnboard said:

Choices. Celebrity has chosen ways of compensating people who toil on their ships. The crew have chosen to work on these ships and be compensated in ways prescribed by Celebrity. Passengers choose to participate in the compensation of the crew in various ways and to different degrees. Yes, choices. 

I reiterate, the staff aboard ships work for an agency.  The line pays that agency for it's labour requirements and they in turn pay their clients wages.  The agency also distributes the "tips", specified to a minimum amount with additional amounts above that as collected from the passenger's tip charges.  It is like contributing to an employee fund and has nothing to do with gratuity, gift, tip or reward 

We have enough exposure to cruising to have a fundamental understanding of "tipping".  The pool of charged tips are distributed in some format to specific crew members.  Who we do not know but have heard from those on the lower eshelon that those on the upper have been taking a larger mount since the installation of this ruse. The total amount varies from cruise to cruise but there is a minimum that the agency who supplies ship's labour (yes they are not employees of the line) will pay by making up the difference should we not all be so generous.  If and I say if staff are meant to give up actual tips to the fund then there is little question that that is not being done. The sleight of hand in receiving cash is truly amazing. Since sailing with P&O we have reclaimed our tipping rights and without question expend more currency than that charged by other lines.  No one delivers anything to our cabin without receiving a tip. It is an exhilarating experience retuning to the concept of giving rather than paying. I find those opposed to our way of thinking tend to be more of the shareholder class.  We will be so happy to hear that all lines will follow the P&O example.  Yes, this current service "charge" will only be added to the fare but that is where it should always have been.

On 12/30/2019 at 3:29 PM, mdpa said:

 

"Shouldn't be...since a 20% gratuity is already included...."

I doubt anyone could tell us just where the added tips for anything go.  One posting tells us that their waiter asked that additional tips not be added to the account bill as he/she is not the recipient.  It s said that personal additional tips must go into the general fund (whatever that is) and yet any of us who tip additional can see how guarded a personal tip is handled by the recipient.  In that we make sure it is most discrete.  Who among us have walked into a restaurant walked over to the waiter and presented him/her with a cash tip before even being seated. Prepaying tips is an oxymoron.  And as to the "bribe" connotation, the level of gratuity is dependent on service received not that expected.

We chose the itinerary, we chose the cruise line, we chose the level of accommodation we chose the airline and the seats and we will choose how much gratuity we will give and to whom.

21 hours ago, Beanb41 said:

A folded note in the palm of ones hand passed with the shaking of hands keeps any additional gratuity private in my experience. This is especially relevant if giving an additional gratuity to MDR staff

Well said !

What bothers us is the lines' presumptuous position of not only telling us how much to tip but to whom.

We can well imagine that the dishwasher resented the fact that the waiter got the tip or the person who vacuums the halls resented the room steward getting the tip but that falls under initiative and ambition.  As it becomes more difficult to recruit staff at the low wages, the lines' answer seems to have been increase their tips.  Sorry, your tips.  Like P&O, the (sic)"tips" should be included in the fare, period.  And as we are firm believers in actual tipping, we can get on with rewarding those who we think have well deserved it.

21 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

"...they offered le petite chef at 50% off for the 1st night!!! 

also, while on board, you can get other speciality restaurants at 20% off.

ie: $45 lawn grill for $35."

 

Thanks for this.  As we will be on a B2B2B we can learn from the first segment, applying the information to the next two.  That is assuming each 7 day segment commences with a new slate.  Sorry, not sure about the 4 package.