Tipping Guidelines?

[brucert]

we need some help here. my wife and i are taking our first trip with celebrity. i looked at their site to find out about tipping and was amazed to see the following:

 

On the last night at sea, it is customary to offer gratuities to staff members you feel have given you exceptional service and personal attention. We suggest the following guidelines:

 

Assistant Chief Housekeeper $0.75

Stateroom Service $3.50

Stateroom Service Concierge Class $4.00

Assistant Maitre'd $0.75

Waiter $3.50

Assistant Waiter $2.00

 

(Rates Per Person, Per Day)

 

Note: Bellboys are tipped as service is rendered.

 

 

on other cruise lines we have used, all the gratuities were combined into a $10 per-person/per-day charge that appeared on your bill. if you were particularly impressed with the services of a certain crew member, you were encouraged to give him/her an additional gratuity. this seems like a much easier way to handle the tipping procedure than by doing your own math and then seeking out each individual to tip him/her on the last day. are we missing something here, or do others feel the same? all input is appreciated.

 

bruce and pat

[fireguy091]

They do it the same as all the others. If you want to charge your tips they will add them to your bill.

[Sekhmet]

It might also be worth pointing out that you will not have to "seek out each individual" on the last night - they will be quite prominent and available! (LOL) to receive your envelopes.

[catmommy]

Hi Folks!

 

Just off the Zenith today. :mad: They offered the chance to add the tips to your seapass account. You could also add extra for those listed staff who you felt gave you extra service.

 

The only catch is that you must tip the same way for all of the folks who serve you. That is you cannot have just the waiter's tips added to your account and tip the room steward in cash; it must be the same for everyone.

 

My room attendant told me he didn't care how he got the tips but my waiter said he preferred cash so I gave everyone cahs. (I asked them what would work better for them.)

 

You had to inform Guest Relations by 11 am on Thurday, the next to last day, if you wanted to add tips to the account. (I think that is what I recall.)

 

Calm seas,

Caroline

[Shirley and Les]

...on other cruise lines we have used, all the gratuities were combined into a $10 per-person/per-day charge ...

If you do a little bit of math, Celebrity is suggesting $10.50 per day for someone in a standard cabin compared to the $10 you mentioned. The difference is the Celebrity allows you to tailor your tips in accordance with the service received. Extra good service=extra good tip, poor service=poor tip. Personally, I think the option of a cash tip at a percentage at the discretion of the customer promotes better service.

Les

[cgehrke]

we feel that it's nice to personally hand a tip to someone who personally served you for a week or two rather than just anonymously adding it to the account.

[katiel53]

I guess I don't see a big difference between $10 on other lines and $10.50 per day on Celebrity. The extra 50cents a day for Concierge Class is worth it to me for bringing of the canapes daily. If you don't want to tip the Ass't Maitre D or the housekeeper, then Celebrity is cheaper than other cruise lines. Guess I am confused as to your question. Sorry.

 

Katie

[hdawson]

I'm with the poster above that prefers to tip the traditional way on the last night It seems much more personal and sincere in my book.

[TEXASMUNK]

if you are tipping via your sea pass account, you will get a nice gratuity card taht you can present to your cabin steward, waiter, etc..So NONE of the personal touch is lost. You are also not restricted from adding additional cash to any envelope (provided free at the persur's desk) for any particular employee

[TPKeller]

For help with the math (which is a bit irritating to have to do, especially on the last day of the cruise) visit the Cruise Tip Calculator.

 

It will do the math, and also tell you how many of each type of bill you need for the envelopes. You can collect and group them before you even walk out the door!

 

Theron

[sorock]

Thanks for the fabulous tip:D and link to using the calculator. I'm all set now, without even having to think! I love vacations!

 

jbb

[mikiew]

We tip the cabin steward, butler (if we have one) waiter and his assistant. We do not tip the assistant housekeeper, or Assistant Maitre'd We have given the wine steward a nice chunk when they did not charge us a corkage fee when we brought our own wine to the dining room.

 

On the other hand, we have........the cruise line will not be mentioned, not tipped anyone but the cabin steward.

 

Tipping is for exceptional service, and when it is below par..........there wasn't one.

 

I do not like putting it on my ship's account, as the old fashion way of handing it to them is IMHO much better.

[frbob]

As it has been explained to me, the $10/day tipping policy insures a tip pool (part of the employee compensation program) that is distributed to service personnel behind the scenes as well as those in direct service contact with passengers. Cash tips given directly to waiters, stewards, etc. may not find their way to the "pool".

 

All cruise lines could eliminate this problem by charging a bit more and paying their employees better. That way, a "tip" for extra service would be more meaningful. Some already operate this way and it seems to work well for shipboard personel and passengers alike.

[cechase]

We much prefer personally delivering our tip envelopes to the employees. The reason for this is that we do vary the amounts from those suggested by Celebrity. On our last cruise on Century, we gave a reduced amount to the Asst. Waiter - because his service was spotty and inattentive. We gave almost double the amount suggested to our butler Lawrence, because he gave us superlative service and made our cruise very special.

 

Like a number of the posters, we do not give a tip to the Ass't Matre'd [although on one cruise we did give him a tip] or to the Ass't housekeeper.

 

Since we cruise on c-class vessels and have a cocktail every night at the bar in rondevous square, on the last night we give a nice tip to our bar tender. That was Erol Gray on Century.

[newmexicoNita]

We like the convenience of the set tip be it $10 or $12 or whatever per day, but like has been said by others, it is nice to hand it to the person plus there are some on the list we do not tip, others we may want to give more to. I think we will try to have enough cash to do it the old way. Both ways have good and bad points, but I think the day is coming when tipping will become a service charge and we will have no options. NMNita

[Lyn2005]

In our case we gave our assitant housekeeper an extra tip because he did more for and and we saw him more than the cabin steward. We gave extra to our waiter and also the the assistant waiter who really deserved to be upgraded to waiter. We mentioned the fact to the maitre d' who told us he was very close to being promoted. Those two fellows were one of the highlights of our trip and we'll never forget them

[dkjretired]

Do not know about the Asst. MaitriD but it is common knowledge that if you do not tip the Assisitant Chief Housekeeper, his tip is taken from your room steward. Don't condone it just passing it on to those who don't tip those individuals.

[Geoff in Wales]

We much prefer personally delivering our tip envelopes to the employees. The reason for this is that we do vary the amounts from those suggested by Celebrity. On our last cruise on Century, we gave a reduced amount to the Asst. Waiter - because his service was spotty and inattentive. We gave almost double the amount suggested to our butler Lawrence, because he gave us superlative service and made our cruise very special.

 

Like a number of the posters, we do not give a tip to the Ass't Matre'd [although on one cruise we did give him a tip] or to the Ass't housekeeper.

 

 

I have booked for Constellation on July 2. My travel agent asked if I wanted to pay tips in price or not. I queried the tipping pilicy with the Celebrity UK helpline. I said how would the individidual know that someone had already paid tips in advanace and this envelope was for extra service given or if it was just a miserly tip. They said that the policy was that anyone who did not pay the standard tipping rate with the initial booking would be charged the standard rate to their onboard account, therefore everyone on bard would have paid this in one way or another. Therefore any individual would know that the standard tip had already been paid in advance by all on board. The travel agent did not mention gratuity cards at all. I have in fact paid the standard tipping with my booking. On another subject I am not happy that the cruise itinerary has been changed and we will now have 4.5 days at sea instead of the 3 advertised in brochure.

[Gimpster]

"They said that the policy was that anyone who did not pay the standard tipping rate with the initial booking would be charged the standard rate to their onboard account, therefore everyone on bard would have paid this in one way or another."

 

Your TA is incorrect - or, at least, this isn't how its structured outside of bookings made in Wales. ;)

 

You have the option of pre-payment of tips, or paying in cash at the conclusion of the cruise. If you elect to pre-pay your tips, you'll be provided cards stating that the tip has been pre-paid and envelopes for the cards. If you want to include cash with the card (to recognize exemplary service) you may do so.

 

Onboard personnel have access to the pre-paid tip information. They are aware of who's pre-paid and who hasn't.

 

A general comment, not directed to anyone in particular: Please don't 'stiff' (not tip at all) these service providers to whom tips are the lion's share of their compensation. Stiffing them is a mean thing to do. :mad:

[TPKeller]

It has long been observed that bookings in Europe tend to include (add) the tips. Speculation is that it is because of the cultural differences in tipping in general, despite the fact that what is called "tipping" on a cruise ship is in fact no way related to "tipping" on land in the USA, and should not be called "tipping" at all.

 

Theron

[DeltaOne]

Like a number of the posters, we do not give a tip to the Ass't Matre'd [although on one cruise we did give him a tip] or to the Ass't housekeeper.

A previous poster says the tips are pooled and divided between the stewards, servers and other behind the scenes people.

 

If you don't tip the matre'd and housekeeper it sounds like you're just screwing the entire crew out of income.

[Andym]

RTT

 

Geoff in Wales is not wrong.

 

In the UK the tips are added to the account on the invoice. I have mine in front of me. I have instructed my TA to have celebrity remove this charge. We prefer to give our tips out personaly.

 

The same thing happened last year, and we also had them removed. When we boarded the ship, the 'standard' tips had been added to our on board account without asking. We visited guest services and had them removed.

 

We tipped everyone over the standard tip who gave us the great service that we have always had with Celebrity.

 

Most cruises booked in the UK seem to have tips included or added automatically.

 

The UK does NOT have a tipping culture, but we are starting to get there.

[TPKeller]

Is there an echo in here?

 

:D

 

Theron

[Gimpster]

Theron said, "It has long been observed that bookings in Europe tend to include (add) the tips."

 

And Andy said, "In the UK the tips are added to the account on the invoice."

================

 

I love it when I learn something!

 

I wouldn't like it if a TA didn't give me an option. I guess we tend to be independent cusses on this side of the Atlantic! My modus operandi is to add the 'standard' tips to my account and augment those amounts with cash as merited. In my mumblin' opinion, the 'standard' amount is the portion of the crew wages that the general custom of the industry expects me to pay separately from the 'base price' of the cruise. Whatever I tip beyond that is truly a 'tip' in the sense that U.S. culture views the concept of tipping. As I've previously stated, I think its mean to stiff anyone. :mad:

 

Of course, your mileage may vary. :D

[dfhnis]

Prepaid tips are a nice convenience However, Last cruise we signed the prepaid card early to get it out of the way. We had an obnoxious Asst Maitre d' and I wish I could have taken his back