New to Celebrity ...Tipping question.

[Painter]

I had the gratuities taken off when I booked a cruise on Celebrity. I like to give my own tips especially to my cabin attendant and dining staff.

Will I still be charged for gratuities at the end of the cruise?

Thanks.

[4774Papa]

I had the gratuities taken off when I booked a cruise on Celebrity. I like to give my own tips especially to my cabin attendant and dining staff.

Will I still be charged for gratuities at the end of the cruise?

Thanks.

 

You will be charged 11.50 dollars per day per person for grats. We usually tip attendants, waiters, etc extra for great service. I gave our waiter (two week cruise) a twenty and his assistant a ten. Also, the cabin attendant, I gave a ten.

[Lsimon]

I had the gratuities taken off when I booked a cruise on Celebrity. I like to give my own tips especially to my cabin attendant and dining staff.

Will I still be charged for gratuities at the end of the cruise?

Thanks.

 

Unless you are in select dining you can have the tips removed from your account once you are on board. I'd encourage you not to do this as the staff we've talked to prefer the tips to be charged. If they receive them in cash they are required to turn them over to a tip pool so you'd just be creating extra accounting work for them.

 

In order to personally thank the staff on board we now give them a short note of thanks, sometimes on a thank you card we bring from home, at the end of the cruise. If we feel they've provided exceptional service we include a extra tip in cash in addition to the automatically charged tips.

 

Also there are various people included in the auto tips, that for better or worse, rely on your tips for their basic compensation for the long hours they put in on the ship. These include all the workers in the buffet's and other special dining events as well as some people that indirectly serve you.

 

I know that for many outside the USA, the tip/gratuity practice on the ship seems very unusual and almost inappropriate. This is because in most areas of the world workers like those on the ship receive a decent wage so that tips, if any, are something extra. But on the ships they receive an extremely small token wage and rely on the tips for their real pay. I'd encourage you to think of the auto tips more as a service charge that is part of the base cruise cost and not as a true gratuity. That line of thinking is more accurate of the actual situation on the ships.

[Kwenz]

You will need to go to the customer service folks and request that the tips not be charged to your account otherwise Celebrity automatically adds them to your inboard account.

[TravelerThom]

I had the gratuities taken off when I booked a cruise on Celebrity. I like to give my own tips especially to my cabin attendant and dining staff.

Will I still be charged for gratuities at the end of the cruise?

Thanks.

I assume that your concern is fairly compensating the people who make your cruise enjoyable. I see that you are from Australia, and "rules" vary from country to country, but I'll answer as best I can. From the US no up-front gratuities are charged unless you select My Time Dining (then non-adjustable full gratuities will be charged in advance). If I do not have MTD, Celebrity will automatically add "suggested gratuities" to my ship bill on a daily basis. This may be modified by me through Guest Relations on-board.

 

I think that the default position booking from some countries, including Australia. is pre-paid gratuities. It seems that you have over-riden this default. I ASSUME that you will now be treated the same as I am as a US booker [ie tips will be automatically added (see above)].

 

Having always received great service, I leave my auto tips in place and if I have had "above and beyond" service will also give some extra cash to that individual, who then gets to keep the extra cash. I am not sure of Celebrity's policy, but on some cruise lines if you remove your automatically billed tips, ALL cash that you disperse has to go into the general ship pool to be shared, and will not be directly kept by the individual.

 

Note that the vast majority of income for waiters and stewards comes from your tips [i have seen documentation (admittedly several years old) that these individuals receive only $50/month from the company, the rest of their income being from tips]. I don't think this is a good way for these people to be compensated, but I didn't design the system.

 

Thom

[Painter]

Thank you all for your help. Much appreciated.

This is much the same as Cunard and Princess.

 

My cabin attendant on my cruises become like family and are always well rewarded. They tell me that if I give them money they would have to share it with others. I fix that... I put money in an envelope with a small note and address it to their children. I tell them...it's not for you only for your children.

I let one attendant use my blood pressure monitor...and he was so overjoyed I purchased one for him.

[Kellie Poodle]

I have always believed that the tips charged to the sea pass go into a pool, but if you put cash in an envelope the crew member can keep them. We always put extra cash into envelopes for the cabin attendant, the dining room staff and the crew who serves at the Elite evening event. We have also tipped the sommalier in the dining room for extraordinary service.

[boogs]

I have always believed that the tips charged to the sea pass go into a pool, but if you put cash in an envelope the crew member can keep them. We always put extra cash into envelopes for the cabin attendant, the dining room staff and the crew who serves at the Elite evening event. We have also tipped the sommalier in the dining room for extraordinary service.

 

This is correct only if you leave the auto tip in place. Otherwise, the people you give cash tips to are required by their contract to turn in all cash tips to be added to the pool. If you leave the auto tips in place, then the cash tip is considered an "over and above" tip and they can keep it.

[Kellie Poodle]

This is correct only if you leave the auto tip in place. Otherwise, the people you give cash tips to are required by their contract to turn in all cash tips to be added to the pool. If you leave the auto tips in place, then the cash tip is considered an "over and above" tip and they can keep it.

 

 

That's the way we understand it to be. We leave the auto-tips in place. On Royal Caribbean cruises, we put the recommended amount on the sea pass then put extra into the envelopes with the vouchers.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thank you all for your help. Much appreciated.

This is much the same as Cunard and Princess.

 

My cabin attendant on my cruises become like family and are always well rewarded. They tell me that if I give them money they would have to share it with others. I fix that... I put money in an envelope with a small note and address it to their children. I tell them...it's not for you only for your children.

I let one attendant use my blood pressure monitor...and he was so overjoyed I purchased one for him.

 

Well if your cabin attendant wants to keep his/her job, he/she will have to turn that cash in to be split with all the staff you have stiffed by taking your tips off. So you may tell yourself you're doing a good thing and are being generous, but in reality, you're not.

[boogs]

One question that I always want to ask the people who only tip in cash is how much do they the give to their cabin attendant and waiter. For a 7-day cruise, at $11.50 per person, double occupancy, the auto tips are a total of $161 for the full 7 days. I would be willing to bet that many people who insist on giving only cash tips consider $50, and maybe even less than that, to be plenty to give each to the cabin attendant and to the waiter. That is much less than the $161 they should be tipping!

[Lsimon]

... I fix that... I put money in an envelope with a small note and address it to their children. I tell them...it's not for you only for your children. ...

Unfortunately while you might think this "fixes" the system, and I'm sure the attendants are very gracious and thankful for it, it does not change anything. No matter what you call it they must turn in any cash tips up to the amount of the base recommend tips, if the base tips haven't already been charged or prepaid. They only get to keep the excess greater than the base amount. They then receive their share of the tip pool like all their other peers on the ship.

[Suzy Smith]

I know that for many outside the USA, the tip/gratuity practice on the ship seems very unusual and almost inappropriate. This is because in most areas of the world workers like those on the ship receive a decent wage so that tips, if any, are something extra. But on the ships they receive an extremely small token wage and rely on the tips for their real pay.

 

The Celebrity ships are not registered in the US, but in Malta, so surely they have to pay their staff the Malta minimum wage and cannot use the US system of paying only a token wage?

[hawkers2008]

One question that I always want to ask the people who only tip in cash is how much do they the give to their cabin attendant and waiter. For a 7-day cruise, at $11.50 per person, double occupancy, the auto tips are a total of $161 for the full 7 days. I would be willing to bet that many people who insist on giving only cash tips consider $50, and maybe even less than that, to be plenty to give each to the cabin attendant and to the waiter. That is much less than the $161 they should be tipping!

 

I start with their daily numbers.

 

Plus or minus a bit depending on service. I might reduce MDR staff if I didn't patronise the MDR that much.

 

Typically the outcome is I handout roughly the auto tip amount in cash might be in AUD rather than USD

 

room steward will be up a bit

the MDR staff will be square or down a bit

the general pool gets nothing

[Lsimon]

The Celebrity ships are not registered in the US, but in Malta, so surely they have to pay their staff the Malta minimum wage and cannot use the US system of paying only a token wage?

 

From everything I've read or heard, the cruise line service staff don't even get anything near the US token minimum wage or working conditions in terms of hours, breaks, overtime, etc. So apparently they do not have to pay them a fair wage before their share of the 'tips. The bottom line is that they rely on the "tips" for their base compensation.

 

The system Celebrity uses is the same as all of the other US based cruise lines including RCL, Carnival, Princess, HAL, NCL, etc. I guarantee you that Celebrity wouldn't choose a place to register their ships if that required them to pay higher compensation than the rest of the industry.

 

I start with their daily numbers.

 

Plus or minus a bit depending on service. I might reduce MDR staff if I didn't patronise the MDR that much.

 

Typically the outcome is I handout roughly the auto tip amount in cash might be in AUD rather than USD

 

room steward will be up a bit

the MDR staff will be square or down a bit

the general pool gets nothing

Since anything they receive up to the base tips has to be pooled, this might not work like you think it does. And if does work then how about the guy working in the buffet or other dining areas - they rely on your 'tips' for their basic compensation too. Most of the dining room service staff work as many hours, or more, in the buffet and other dining areas of the ship as they do at dinner. Haven't you ever noticed that your dinner waiter or assistant are the ones serving food or clearing tables at breakfast and lunch in the buffet? They get no extra wages for this. Do you think that just if you don't go to the MDR for lunch these people should get lower pay?

 

I know none of this sounds right. The system stinks. But it is what it is and just because we don't like the system is no reason to stiff the staff.

[4774Papa]

I consider the gratuities that are added as part of the cost of cruising. Prior to the policy of the cruise lines adding daily grats, people had to go through a somewhat painful process of paying out many envelopes for various persons.

 

Since I have always found the service on NCL and Celebrity to be very good to excellent, I have no problem with the added grats. I even add an extra tip from time to time and at the end give a special tip to some wait staff that I get to know well.

[TravelerThom]

I consider the gratuities that are added as part of the cost of cruising...

Yes! My starting point for cruise pricing is the advertised price + Taxes/Fees + Suggest Gratuities [which in my opinion should be called "Service Fee"]. Taxes/Fees and Suggested Gratuities add approximately $200 per week to the advertised price to arrive at what I consider the "real price" for my cruise. Drinks, etc, etc plus extra tips are on top of my real price.

 

Thom

[tfrcal]

Yes! My starting point for cruise pricing is the advertised price + Taxes/Fees + Suggest Gratuities [which in my opinion should be called "Service Fee"]. Taxes/Fees and Suggested Gratuities add approximately $200 per week to the advertised price to arrive at what I consider the "real price" for my cruise. Drinks, etc, etc plus extra tips are on top of my real price.

 

Thom

 

I totally agree with you and do not understand why people have such a problem with this. The tips, service charge, whatever you want to call it is a part of the cost of the cruise. If the crew was paid a "fair" wage the additional cost of the cruise would likely be far more than we now pay in tips. Tips are part of the cruise price, just accepted it.

[k9x8]

Minimum wage in Malta is €680 a month (a bit over USD10,000 annual).

However, and I absolutely don't know for sure, the system may work as it does here in the US. The employee is guaranteed minimum wage, but that is achieved through tips and service charges.

[Lsimon]

I totally agree with you and do not understand why people have such a problem with this. The tips, service charge, whatever you want to call it is a part of the cost of the cruise. If the crew was paid a "fair" wage the additional cost of the cruise would likely be far more than we now pay in tips. Tips are part of the cruise price, just accepted it.

I think the biggest problem is for those who come from areas of the world where wages and tipping are culturally different from the situation here. That and the fact that the tipping/gratuity/compensation system really doesn't make sense - especially when you consider the pooling aspect of it. Unfortunately, the system is what it is.

 

Minimum wage in Malta is €680 a month (a bit over USD10,000 annual).

However, and I absolutely don't know for sure, the system may work as it does here in the US. The employee is guaranteed minimum wage, but that is achieved through tips and service charges.

We also don't know how Malta laws apply to employees on cruise ships. Clearly the minimum wage doesn't apply to their base compensation as everyting I've read or heard indicates that the type of cruise ship employees we're talking about have a base salary, before tips, of only a small fraction of the €680 a month.

[k9x8]

Right, much as servers here may be paid a base wage as low as $2.30 an hour. I suppose if no one tipped, the employer would have to cough it up.

[jackdiamond]

We do not concern ourselves with all of the nuances of different cultures when it comes to gratuities. We simply allow the auto tips to reman; and, then we tip extra whenever we feel it is proper, which is most of the time.

But, then, we are not cheap.

[boogs]

Right, much as servers here may be paid a base wage as low as $2.30 an hour. I suppose if no one tipped, the employer would have to cough it up.

 

And he wouldn't pay that out of his profits. He would pass that along to his customers, who would end up paying for it anyway.

[k9x8]

We do not concern ourselves with all of the nuances of different cultures when it comes to gratuities. We simply allow the auto tips to reman; and, then we tip extra whenever we feel it is proper, which is most of the time.

But, then, we are not cheap.

 

Neither do I, nor am I cheap.

Indeed, my husband often says, "You're just like your father," who taught me to appreciate good service.

 

Even in countries where I'm told tipping is not customary, I do, and no one's been insulted yet.

[k9x8]

And he wouldn't pay that out of his profits. He would pass that along to his customers, who would end up paying for it anyway.

 

Exactly, so I don't understand the aversion to the daily gratuity.

 

Then again, it was an American we overheard pitching an absolute hissy fit about the €2 service charge in a restaurant in Assisi.