Celebrity additional gratuity "request" cards?

[Kevnzworld]

I am a frequent Celebrity cruiser. I have sailed two other times in AQ before now. I was eating in Blu the other night, when the waiter handed me an additional tip request card.

It read that additional gratuities are appreciated, and Celebrity " suggests " an additional $5 per person as being " appropriate ".

I was in a suite with prepaid gratuities.

I was slightly offended, but paid the additional $10. I am now on the second leg of a B2B, and am in AQ. I have avoided that waiter and have not received any other gratuity requests.

Has anyone else experienced this? The card was an official Celebrity document.

[grayjay]

I am a frequent Celebrity cruiser. I have sailed two other times in AQ before now. I was eating in Blu the other night, when the waiter handed me an additional tip request card.

It read that additional gratuities are appreciated, and Celebrity " suggests " an additional $5 per person as being " appropriate ".

I was in a suite with prepaid gratuities.

I was slightly offended, but paid the additional $10. I am now on the second leg of a B2B, and am in AQ. I have avoided that waiter and have not received any other gratuity requests.

Has anyone else experienced this? The card was an official Celebrity document.

The only explanation I can think of is the fact that you were in a suite and thus not ASSIGNED to Blu as "your" restaurant as usually AQ guests are. Suite guests can eat in Blu when space is available but I remember darkly having read something about a 5$ fee ( or gratuity??).

[Orator]

I am a frequent Celebrity cruiser. I have sailed two other times in AQ before now. I was eating in Blu the other night, when the waiter handed me an additional tip request card.

It read that additional gratuities are appreciated, and Celebrity " suggests " an additional $5 per person as being " appropriate ".

I was in a suite with prepaid gratuities.

I was slightly offended, but paid the additional $10. I am now on the second leg of a B2B, and am in AQ. I have avoided that waiter and have not received any other gratuity requests.

Has anyone else experienced this? The card was an official Celebrity document.

 

I have been in AQ many times and have NEVER received a "request for an additional tip". I would report this to the Maitre 'd and express any concerns.Will be in AQ on Reflection this saturday and will do some checking.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Addition:

I just read the post prior to mine.I must have been typing as it was posted. Probably the reason. When you are comped in many of the Specialty Restaurants they will give such a note. If this is the case (and it probably is) ignore my comments.

[Starry Eyes]

I seem to recall that suites guests were originally charged $5 pp to dine in Blu (vs MDR), later changed to suggested gratuity. Now that you are in Aqua, you probably will not see that card again.

[Ma Bell]

It is absolutely because you were in a suite.

[4cats4me]

We were just on the cruise with you for 10 days and no one in our party received anything of the kind at BLU. we had 18meals there between breakfasts and dinner. Although we all had excellent service AND even wanted to leave extra tips, we had no idea who to tip since we had so many waiters. The maitre d basically told us that a good recommendation on the comment cards at the end of cruise is what matters the most, so we rated everything as excellent.

Weird.

[Kevnzworld]

Maybe it was because I was in a suite. I never received the " card " any of the other 6 times I ate in Blu on that cruise. I thought it may be the waiter's discretion as to whether or not to ask the guest for a gratuity.

What surprised me is that it was an official Celebrity document.

[Cruising89143]

It was due to being in a suite. There is now a "suggested" gratuity for dining in Blu.

[AlaskaGolden]

It was due to being in a suite. There is now a "suggested" gratuity for dining in Blu.

 

Same "charge" as eating in Bistro on Five and the Porch. Do those $5 per persons go for gratuities as well?

[Orator]

Same "charge" as eating in Bistro on Five and the Porch. Do those $5 per persons go for gratuities as well?

 

Not a mandatory charge as in Bistro. You tip if you wish.

[hulamoon]

This happened to us last year. We were in a suite and eating in Blu. They seem to like it better if you have not signed up for traditional dining. But we received this card five evenings. WE paid it and then it didn't come anymore. We wondered if it was because they transferred our tips to Blu.

 

Will be in a suite and hoping to eat in Blu later this month. so if you get the real scoop, let us know. I have been wondering about it all year!

[jackdiamond]

Possibly, a more refined idea would be to simply present the suite guests with a card stating that a five dollar gratuity per person is merely permissive and not mandatory. I would guess that most suite guests would be charmed to leave such a gratuity. In the past, when we had the same waiter and assistant waiter we always presented them with an additional gratuity. As a matter of fact, on a Christmas cruise, we placed the gratuities in Chrismas cards.

[hulamoon]

We leave additional gratuities too, but it was implied that the mdr got our gratuities even though we never ate there and it was the only way they would get something from us as we were crashing Blu.

 

Later when they realized we were select, the waiter had a sigh of relief. I have no idea if it meant he could switch our tips or not.

 

Ask three staff and get three different stories.

[HopefulCruiser123]

Wow....I am glad I saw this. We were in a sky suite in Feb and were aware that we would be welcome in Blu if space was available. At all other specialty restaurants we had to give them our sea pass, a receipt was signed (and a space for additional gratuities was on the slip, which we always added an additional tip on that slip). We never found time to try Blu but have booked another Sky Suite for next year. I am glad to know ahead of time that there is an expectation of something extra (not just a suggestion). Could save me from feeling foolish for not knowing better.

[ghstudio]

It would be nice to know what Celebrity's policy is on this. I can find nothing in writing that indicates if the $5 is a new policy, a remnant of an old policy or something that they printed up on ship because someone thought it was a good idea.

 

One of the things I dislike more and more about celebrity is the lack of any consistency.....and the lack of having anyplace to go to see what the policy is. Near as I can tell, this is a ship by ship thing...maybe due to some officer on board or maybe it's the Blu Maitre d' who decides.

 

One reason we like celebrity is that we know what to expect on a cruise. The more we cruise, the more we realize that there is less and less consistency.

[ghstudio]

We leave additional gratuities too, but it was implied that the mdr got our gratuities even though we never ate there and it was the only way they would get something from us as we were crashing Blu.

 

 

Perhaps it would be better if when Aqua guests dined in the MDR, tips were withdrawn from the "pool" in Blu to compensate those other waiters. I bet the Blu waiters wouldn't like that too much....but tit for tat seems pretty fair.

[HopefulCruiser123]

Maybe they should put a card in all suites inviting them to try Blu, if space is available and mention that a $5.00 per head gratuity is suggested. Gives you a little preparation for the experience.

[ghstudio]

Maybe they should put a card in all suites inviting them to try Blu, if space is available and mention that a $5.00 per head gratuity is suggested. Gives you a little preparation for the experience.

 

If it is Celebrity's policy to solicit a $5 tip from suite guests who dine in Blu, this is an excellent suggestion. Of course the question is whether it really is Celebrity policy....

[hulamoon]

An extra gratuity is one thing, but we were left with the impression that they did not get our tips for dining and the 10 per couple charge was the only way they got anything. so rather than it being something we could feel good about, it was irritating that they couldn't transfer the tips prepaid.

 

I love suites and Blu, and i figured it was the price of admission.

 

It was a great cruise but anytime I looked behind the curtain to try to get the policy i got many different answers.

[Cruising89143]

It would be nice to know what Celebrity's policy is on this. I can find nothing in writing that indicates if the $5 is a new policy, a remnant of an old policy or something that they printed up on ship because someone thought it was a good idea.

 

One of the things I dislike more and more about celebrity is the lack of any consistency.....and the lack of having anyplace to go to see what the policy is. Near as I can tell, this is a ship by ship thing...maybe due to some officer on board or maybe it's the Blu Maitre d' who decides.

 

One reason we like celebrity is that we know what to expect on a cruise. The more we cruise, the more we realize that there is less and less consistency.

 

Please read under "Specialty Restauant Policies". Second paragraph.

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/tabLanding.do?pagename=onboard_dining

[ghstudio]

Please read under "Specialty Restauant Policies". Second paragraph.

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/tabLanding.do?pagename=onboard_dining

 

Thanks for the reference...but this is the wording that has been there for a couple of years now. We know that the $5 was in effect when they started to allow suite guests to dine in Blu, but then it disappeared. The web site is notoriously erroneous and not up to date so my question is still whether Celebrity has "reinstated the policy", "never changed it, but ships ignored it" or ?

 

Just to illustrate: That same page says the following under specialty restaurants:

 

Additionally, onboard our Solstice® Class ships, children that are booked in suites that are at least 12 years old will be accommodated in Blu when dining with an adult, based on availability only. Please note a $5 per guest gratuity is recommended for any suite guests dining in Blu.

 

Then it goes on to say, again under specialty restaurants:

 

Please note that advanced reservations are limited to parties of six persons or less in all Specialty Restaurants. In order to preserve the intimate atmosphere of the restaurant, we cannot combine or rearrange tables.

 

As those of us who have booked and cruised in aqua know, there are no reservations in Blu...they don't accept them except for larger parties. That's a direct conflict with the web statement.

[cherylroslyn]

Hey Kev, since you are still on the ship why don't you just ask the maitre 'd. I'm sure you will get a good answer....just tell him you are curious since you didn't get the card the six other times you dined in Blu......

 

 

Keep having fun.......

[hulamoon]

I hope he can get the real scoop.

[wallie5446]

On The 22nd the Celebrity VP in charge of the Web will be 'Live' on CC. Hummmm

[Kevnzworld]

Hey Kev, since you are still on the ship why don't you just ask the maitre 'd. I'm sure you will get a good answer....just tell him you are curious since you didn't get the card the six other times you dined in Blu......

Keep having fun.......

 

Ok, I don't want to " upset the apple cart " in Blu. I have four more weeks there! Sunella, ( sp ) is a gratuitous host, so I'm not going to ask her about it. They lost the $127 bottle of Malbec that I bought last night. They found it when we were finished with dinner. ( aargh ). The manager came over, and they were very sorry, and nice about it...kudos.

So I did go to guest relations this morning to ask about the specialty restaurants that I never received while was in a suite. They credited me back the $170.

I also asked about the " card " I was handed. The guest relations guy still thought that there was a $5 charge for suite guests. I told him that policy changed a long time ago...he called someone , and said he had no idea what the card was about, but the said " adding a gratuity is always appreciated " .

As Ghstudio said...there is no consistency in policy. The employees aren't sure what the policies are.