Drink package gratuities

[Spender Nui]

How are the servers compensated (tips) when someone orders with a drink package? Or are they stiffed?

[johnritt]

I know that 15% is added to the package for tips. I do not know how that 15% is distributed to the staff.

[hughdm]

I have ASSUMED that the money paid for the 15% gratuity goes into the same tip pool that individual drink sales 15% gratuity goes into. It would seem logical and they would not serve as cheerfully as we experienced last year otherwise. No server on the ship batted an eye. All that being said, it's an opinion on my part. Maybe someone who posts later can add more info.

[cruisestitch]

Bar servers wouldn't work very long without receiving gratuities, you can be sure!

[dwhe]

I had a package, if anything I got a more positive response and many unsolicited but welcome approaches from waiters for top ups than when I had to charge a drink for my wife who didn't have a package. Maybe they didn't like all that paperwork.

[Spender Nui]

I had a package, if anything I got a more positive response and many unsolicited but welcome approaches from waiters for top ups than when I had to charge a drink for my wife who didn't have a package. Maybe they didn't like all that paperwork.

 

I find it interesting that would happen. I thought the 15% went to the server you ordered from, not pooled. If the 15% is already paid out there is no individual incentive for a server. No paper work, no 15% ... unless I'm mistaken on the pooling.

[Moobaby214]

I was told by a bar server that by the time all is said and done, they get 15-20 cents per drink. I'm not a mathematician, but I know that's not 15% of the drink price.

 

 

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[Gordoncruickshank]

I asked on our first cruise with the package but didn't get a definate answer just that they received enough to keep them happy.

[cruzsnooze]

15% is added to the drink package. Nobody knows what happens after that but apparently the staff are happy enough to keep working for Celebrity for many years. It's really none of our business how much people earn, it's our business to pay the 15% and leave it at that.

[cruisestitch]

spender nui -- a little math will show that the server couldn't possibly get 15% of the drink price when you are on a beverage package. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you pay $50 for the package per day, plus 15%, and that a special coffee costs $5 and a martini costs $10 if bought at a bar. You have essentially paid for the gratuity on 2 coffees and 4 martinis. But what if you order a third coffee and a beer and a glass of wine in addition? The tips would get progressively smaller and smaller. So that can't be the formula used by the cruise line, or no server would ever want to bring you your beverage package drinks.

[AlbertaCruisers]

I find it interesting that would happen. I thought the 15% went to the server you ordered from, not pooled. If the 15% is already paid out there is no individual incentive for a server. No paper work, no 15% ... unless I'm mistaken on the pooling.

 

We were told by a server that the auto 15% is pooled but if you leave an extra tip on the line your server gets that. I'm thinking there must be some sort of incentive based on the number of drinks they serve. Maybe they get a larger percentage of the pool. Doesn't make sense that if someone sits there and does nothing they would get an equal share to someone who ran hard and served tons of drinks.

 

The service is still great with the drink package so whatever Celebrity did they did it well. We were on Carnival and once the servers found out you had the package they treated you like you had the plague. I specifically asked two people why and they said because they didn't know what the package meant to their tips. If they served paying people they understood where their money was coming from. Carnival is new at this but I think Celebrity has a done a better job of getting their staff to buy into it.

[cl.klink]

All this adds fuel to my thought that it's better not to get a package. If I order a handful of drinks a day, it'd be lose o the daily cost of a package, but dans package I'd be getting better service.

[cruisestitch]

There really haven't been reports of those with the package receiving inferior service, that I have seen. If you think it make financial sense for you, given what you are likely to order, go for the package.

[Moobaby214]

All this adds fuel to my thought that it's better not to get a package. If I order a handful of drinks a day, it'd be lose o the daily cost of a package, but dans package I'd be getting better service.

 

If Dan's package is better... I might be in. Any pics of Dan?

 

 

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