Question about Prepaid Tips

[Mysteryreader]

Pls forgive me if all this has been asked and answered in the past. It's new to me.

 

I've had to register for select dining (see my Help! thread). In order to do that, I had to prepay tips. Does this cover all the tips (cabin steward etc) or only dining staff? It's my understanding that if we're able to switch to regular dining, our prepaid tips will still be applied to our waiter etc. Is all this correct?

 

M/R

[kenevenpar]

Yes it covers all of your tips. If you switch, you are still covered. Have a great time and I hope you get the early dining time you were looking for.

[Phxazzcruisers]

you are exactly correct. You tips are for all of the staff, generic for wait staff, including housekeeping. If you go to set dining they will be applied to your specific waiter and assistant waiter

[Gig103]

I'd like to piggyback since my question in the "Tipping" thread was ignored in favor of the hotter topic of "tip or not".

 

Dining in Blu did not require prepaid gratuities, but is the Celebrity system smart enough to know who to pay for my service each night at the end? What about if I dine at a specialty restaurant?

[ghstudio]

I'd like to piggyback since my question in the "Tipping" thread was ignored in favor of the hotter topic of "tip or not".

 

Dining in Blu did not require prepaid gratuities, but is the Celebrity system smart enough to know who to pay for my service each night at the end? What about if I dine at a specialty restaurant?

 

The celebrity system and the words "smart enough" can not be used in the same system....

 

If you are in Aqua, your dining gratuities go to Blu whether or not you eat any meals there. The specialty restaurant extra charge includes tips for their staff. If you are Aqua and eat in the main dining room, there is no adjustment of tips.

[KirkNC]

I have never understood why you have to prepay tips for "select dining". I find it insulting like if you select it you must be a cheapo that is not going to tip properly.

[maximus217]

Does the prepay tips includes the specialty restaurants, ex. Qsine? If not, how much tip do you need to leave at the end of your dinner and to whom?

 

Thanks.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We are going on our second Celebrity cruise next month so I do not know anything about the inner workings of their system. My suspicion on the prepaying of tips for select dining, which we are doing, is that for those who have chosen it, their tips go to those waiters in the select dining area just as if you chose regular dining the tips would go to those waiters in the regular dining area. This of course assumes, there are two separate areas which I don't know as yet. Just a big guess on my part. Barbara

[BKFlowerMound]

I have never understood why you have to prepay tips for "select dining". I find it insulting like if you select it you must be a cheapo that is not going to tip properly.

 

I believe that the experience on other cruise lines was that select/anytime diners zeroed out tips at a greater rate than regular diners. While you aren't a cheapo, others are.

[Lsimon]

I have never understood why you have to prepay tips for "select dining". I find it insulting like if you select it you must be a cheapo that is not going to tip properly.

 

I'm guessing that it is because of Celebrity's accounting system. Celebrity's system allows one to opt out of the auto tipping on board. Ostensibly, this is set up that way so one can tip in cash if they prefer and not just to make it easy to stiff the staff completely. But with select dining it is impractical to tip everyone in cash as you'd have to carry a wad of cash around to tip every meal or on the last night you'd need to track down everyone who waited on you throughout the cruise. I'd speculate that because of this Celebrity decided to make the prepaid tips mandatory for select diners as this was easier for them than changing their accounting systems.

[Mulege]

Your the man Larry. Always full of good information! Thanks.

[Algebralovr]

From what I understand, pre-paid tips in Select Dining are pooled and all shared out equally to the servers in Select based on their status. Many of them may get less in extra tips, since patrons may have multiple waiters, however the hostess does try to seat people in the same section each evening if requested. Additionally, since there is actually turnover in Select, they can book more people into Select than Early/Late since the meals can be a little faster and they can seat additional patrons. I got the impression that a number of the servers liked working Select because they could potentially make more than traditional dining. I noted that the hostess was keeping track of what rooms were seated at which table each evening.

 

I love Select. I can eat at 6pm daily (which I generally prefer) but if I'm running late I don't have to worry about my table waiting on me. If I'm seated with people one evening that I don't care for, I'm free to ask to sit with someone else the next evening. On a port intensive cruise, I'll choose Select every time.

[isdoo]

Does the prepay tips includes the specialty restaurants, ex. Qsine? If not, how much tip do you need to leave at the end of your dinner and to whom?

 

Thanks.

 

The cost to dine in the restaurants includes your tip.

[Lsimon]

To the OP, Mysteryreader's, original question: Once you've covered the basic tips through either prepayment or the automatic charges on board then you never have to tip anyone else during the cruise as anything you do which an additional tip is needed will have that added in automatically. For example a portion of the specialty restaurant cover charge is for gratuities and all drink prices have a 15% service charge added.

 

So the only additional tipping you need to even think about is if any staff member provides service at a level where you personally think an additional gratuity is appropriate. We frequently do provide additional tips to several staff but that is our personal choice.

[DogLover45]

I also would prefer 6:00 dining - even though we'd be eligible for select. Right now, I booked the 6:00 seating. Do you know if I can change that once on board? I'd like to make sure that if there is a particular evening that we want to come later, that we still have the option of doing that once we prepay tips.

[Lsimon]

I also would prefer 6:00 dining - even though we'd be eligible for select. Right now, I booked the 6:00 seating. Do you know if I can change that once on board? I'd like to make sure that if there is a particular evening that we want to come later, that we still have the option of doing that once we prepay tips.

 

You can always request a change once on board and you will generally be accommodated unless the seating you are asking about is full.

 

If you have 6PM traditional dining and want to dine late one particular evening you can ask the maitre d' if it is possible to dine at the late seating that night (ask the night before), or dine at one of the specialty restaurants or other alternatives.

[Gig103]

The celebrity system and the words "smart enough" can not be used in the same system....

 

If you are in Aqua, your dining gratuities go to Blu whether or not you eat any meals there. The specialty restaurant extra charge includes tips for their staff. If you are Aqua and eat in the main dining room, there is no adjustment of tips.

 

Thank you