Celebrity Gratuities

[dkjretired]

What's the difference between pre-paying tips and just having them added to your OBA? Until I began to read these boards, I didn't even know pre-paying was an option; I was just told that the tips would be added to your account.

 

Is there a benefit to either side (other than budgeting ease) to pre-paying the tips?

 

There is really no benefit either way unless you have On board credit which can then be used for tipping. Also, if you choose Select Dining, it is required to pre pay tips. Pre pay is simply paying for them before you get on the ship.

[nandl2009]

I'm from the UK and have prepaid my tips (just so you know ;))

 

I'm actually shocked at the two tier minimum wage system, I didn't realise that's how it worked in the US and the level of wage for those who receive tips is shockingly low. $11.50 per day is just £7.25 which is 3 coffees to me so I actually don't think that is that much considering the amount of staff that must have to be split between and the work that goes into running a ship like that.

 

I personally am glad it can be prepaid, tipping in America makes me uncomfortable and it's one of the things I had reservations about with a cruise as I'm never sure what to give to whom.

[navyrotorhead]

American corporations are taxaphobic (not a real word). RCI (Celebrity's parent) paid less than 1% in Federal corporate taxes last year. How do they do this? Keep the number of Americans working for the corporation to a minimum; hire dozens of tax lawyers; foreign flag your ships; hire foreign workers and let them deal with tax issues with their own country; tip salaries never hit the books of RCI. Last year, Richard Fain, the CEO of RCI made $8,615,185.00 -- which is pretty modest compared to most American CEOs. That's 259 times the amount the average American makes.

 

Even though I am not a corporation, I AM taxaphobic. (And I think it's a great word!) I want to pay the minimum tax possible, (commensurate with a stable society and an unobtrusive government) as do most individuals AND Corporations. The really INTERESTING thing is, NO corporation EVER has, DOES NOT now, and NEVER WILL, pay a single penny in income taxes. ANY and ALL of a corporation's taxes are passed to and paid buy the customer through HIGHER PRICES on the goods/services sold.

 

Keeps cruise prices really low, but of course, the United States is almost bankrupt.

 

There is no "almost" about it, we ARE NOW bankrupt. Check out the end of the fiscal year financial statement published by OMB where they admit (in a buried paragraph near the end of the document) That the debt is NOT the 15,000,000,000,000 (TRILLION) on the books, but 120 TRILLION due to unfunded liabilities in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and assumed pension liabilities. We are in WAYYY worse shape than Greece!

 

We want the biggest and best military; our Social Security system was raided of all it's money early on; we won't fund a social program unless there is a herd of corporations that benefit from the program. As long as you embrace denial, we live in the best country in the world. Having said that, "it's really cheap to cruise" and we love it.:)

 

"denial" has, (since the 1960's at least, when social security taxes were pirated to the general fund and started to mask out of control spending) been most politician's FAVORITE (highly polluted) river!:D

[icat2000]

I've just booked my first Celebrity Cruise. I prepared the gratuities at time of booking. So what other tipping costs would I likely have to pay. I find the whole tipping concept a little bit confusing at times.

[excitedofharpenden]

I've just booked my first Celebrity Cruise. I prepared the gratuities at time of booking. So what other tipping costs would I likely have to pay. I find the whole tipping concept a little bit confusing at times.

If you have pre-paid your gratuities there are no other tipping costs other than if you decide to give any extra to deserving crew, but that is your choice. With pre-paid gratuities it is much simpler than it used to be.

 

Phil

[maxsales]

I think it is a damn cheek a cruise line telling you how much you should tip & automatically charging it to your on board account! You can ask to have it removed & that is what we will do.

 

I think $11.50 a day is far too much.

 

I wish cruise lines would include the tips in the price of the cruise, I believe a few do.

 

jenpet

 

Unbelievable!

[maxsales]

Perhaps one way round this 'problem' is for the cruise lines to pay their staff a proper wage that doesn't need 'topping-up' by the passengers; or is that too simplistic?! Whilst it would almost certainly raise the price of the cruise we would at least then have the option of tipping those members of the crew who we wanted to.

 

That policy doesn't work so well for ships sailing the Hawaii cruises, they constantly are at the bottom of the surveys for service on board

 

Does anyone thing that the good service received on board Celebrity ships is an accident? Cruise workers know where the best income opportunities are (tips) and that is why lines like Celebrity have first pick of staff. It's no accident that we receive good service, and those who don't tip will affect the future service for all of us.

[maxsales]

and as i understand, there is a big difference between the level of service between the p&o and celebrity. I'd suggest you experience the celebrity service before you decide it's not worth it. And please explain how you plan to tip those you don't have direct contac with who are providing the service that makes your cruise so special. I'll not make assumptions, but it sounds a bit like, you plan to tip those that can give you 'thank yous' and you get direct acknowledgment.

 

Since all of you that find this cheeky and are bothered by lines not adding it to the crews' pay as they do in your country/culture, next time you go to a country that doesn't have the same payscale as yours, you should make up the difference. You know, if your barenders and waitsaff get twice the pay of those in another country, you should double your check.

 

Funny, you want the low cost benefits, but then grouse about gratuities. I find that cheeky.

 

Den

 

b r a v o !

[maxsales]

Well said Lizzy. I get really upset when US cruisers start on us assuming we will not pay the tips. It's time the cruise lines just accepted that some people won't tip and made it a booking condition that tips are paid upfront as per Select Dining. Ok, let the flaming begin. Its better than having people assume we are non-tippers when they hear the accent.

 

If it walks like a duck, quakes lika duck ...

[maxsales]

One of the lovely things about Celebrity's connected brand Azamara is that all tips (including drinks) are included in the fare and no member of the crew expects more. There is of course no risk the crew member might think you have not prepaid. All are genuinely surprised and delighted if more is given at the end of the cruise but you have to hunt out people to do so - no more of the room stewards hanging around outside your door on the last day

And the service on board is exceptional

I would like, as others have said, to see Celebrity take this step as well

 

And the price differance between Azamara and X is? Would you like X to use the Azamara price model as well?

[Linz48]

I'm from the UK and have prepaid my tips (just so you know ;))

 

I'm actually shocked at the two tier minimum wage system, I didn't realise that's how it worked in the US and the level of wage for those who receive tips is shockingly low. $11.50 per day is just £7.25 which is 3 coffees to me so I actually don't think that is that much considering the amount of staff that must have to be split between and the work that goes into running a ship like that.

 

I personally am glad it can be prepaid, tipping in America makes me uncomfortable and it's one of the things I had reservations about with a cruise as I'm never sure what to give to whom.

 

I am pleased our tips are included in our cruise price as tipping makes me very uncomfortable too as we are not used to it.

[BKFlowerMound]

I've just booked my first Celebrity Cruise. I prepared the gratuities at time of booking. So what other tipping costs would I likely have to pay. I find the whole tipping concept a little bit confusing at times.

 

You are not the only one that finds tipping confusing. One thing that often gets lost in these tipping discussions is that, cruise ship tipping isn't "normal" to Americans either. Moreover, within the US the tipping culture varies slightly by geography too. (higher percentage on the coasts compared with the rest of the country). So, what I'm saying here applies only to cruise ship tipping on a line like Celebrity and isn't completely reflective of North American tipping and wage norms.

 

- you've prepaid your tips for the cabin steward and wait staff. Please note that the wait staff tips cover all of the people who serve you in any venue at any time. (The only exception to this is a suite guest who dines in Blu.) You can tip more but it is not expected. You will not be thought of as cheap if you do not tip more.

 

- every time you order a drink, there is a 15% tip added to the bill. This is true with the drink packages. There is an extra line for an additional tip. Again, you will not be thought of as cheap if you don't add an additional tip. Drink packages include the 15% as well. (you almost never see this sort of mandatory tip in the US)

 

- Bottled wine. I don't recall if there is an included tip. It's customary to tip 15% on a bottle of wine unless it's an uber expensive bottle, when you can tip less.

 

- room service. It's free but a small tip, $1, 1€, etc., is customary

 

- specialty dining. There's debate about whether to tip at specialty dining venues. The amount charged is supposed to include the service charge but I think most guests probably leave something additional for exceptional service.

 

- spa. Most tip 15% or so.

 

- porters at the pier. A couple of dollars a bag. Our 4 bags usually get $10. If you have something really heavy or something that requires extra care, tip more.

 

- excursion guides and drivers. This is a tough one. The more private and individual the tour, the closer you should get to a 15% tip for what you paid.

 

Hope this helps. Have a great cruise.

[soapstar]

The excursion would probably depend on where the excursion is. For example in Japan, the Japanese are actually insulted if you give them a tip. We tried to tip a taxi driver once and he actually shouted at us.