Beverage Package Gratuities Update: 15% to 18%

[The_Big_M]

What?

The statement said the auto grat is being increased from 15% to 18% not the price of the item being purschased. Just what is so hard to understand?

 

The Celebrity rep understood, and said they were checking into it.

[The_Big_M]

While it is indeed true that the percentage of U.S. customers is declining and that the global market is growing, the point is irrelevant to the general topic of tipping on Celebrity. Except for possibly a microscopic handful of speciality markets or specialty cruises where there are few North Americans aboard, the subject of this thread pertains to the majority (or is it all?) of X's cruises now and for the foreseeable future. If and when Aussies and other fill 51% of MOST Caribbean, Alaska, Europe and Pacific cruises, then perhaps the day will come with X and other lines will switch to a no-tipping system. But until then, because it's a majority-rules world, the majority "customer base" to which you refer still sets the baselines and customs for the minority "customer base" in which you are one. Sorry! :rolleyes:

 

Actually, the number of international pax exceeded US pax a couple of years ago. Sorry! :rolleyes:

[hammo]

I know this is a very old theme but why do we have to "tip" extra for being served? I suggest 95% of the people reading this do not expect a gratuity for doing their job. Do you, yes you reader, expect to receive a gratuity?

 

I'm not trying to deny the cruise staff a decent wage. I'm simply suggesting that's what they should get in the first place and then "tips" for extra special service are just that. Some cruise lines understand this. Sadly most of those also include free booze as well as a living wage so it gets complicated.

 

Put-up the prices and pay the crew properly so they aren't reliant on charity - even if it is added automatically.

 

Maybe this is a subject for the United Nation's committee on ... sorry, I forgot UN stands for Usually Not-interested.

 

Agree

[The_Big_M]

Also, and just for discussions sake, please consider the question you asked. What IF for Australia cruises, they implemented a system whereby there was no tipping per YOUR local custom? You would pay for everything at face value and no stupid tipping. What would likely happen? Well, you'd have to bake in a much higher wage into the base stateroom fares. Demand from US and other customers would decline substantially because some Americans would almost certainly factor tipping in anyhow with the higher fares. Cruise lines would lose money, fewer ships would sail, and you and your economy would lose in the end. This is precisely why you have American-style customs, including tipping, on ALL cruises. Because, right or wrong, like it or not, good or bad--it's the Americans who dictate how, when and what happens on cruise ships.

 

Actually, as I alluded to in an earlier post, they _do_ change their arrangements based on the region, as do a number of cruise lines.

 

For example, "for Australian cruises", drink prices ARE adjusted for tips so that they are not added.

 

However, the disastrous consequences you purport will come about have not been evidenced. :rolleyes:

[Adidas4fun]

Also, and just for discussions sake, please consider the question you asked. What IF for Australia cruises, they implemented a system whereby there was no tipping per YOUR local custom? You would pay for everything at face value and no stupid tipping. What would likely happen? Well, you'd have to bake in a much higher wage into the base stateroom fares. Demand from US and other customers would decline substantially because some Americans would almost certainly factor tipping in anyhow with the higher fares. Cruise lines would lose money, fewer ships would sail, and you and your economy would lose in the end. This is precisely why you have American-style customs, including tipping, on ALL cruises. Because, right or wrong, like it or not, good or bad--it's the Americans who dictate how, when and what happens on cruise ships.

OMG, what a load of twaddle. Ships cruise Australian waters year round where it is explicitly stated there are no tips as these are built in to the fare. The sky has not fallen and it seems the ships continue to make a profit.

 

Like so much other rhetoric that tries to argue reasons for tipping this too is false, and proven to be so.

[Pushka]

And I'll say again. Tipping is not part of a culture. It is a business model used in the service industry.

[GazW]

I get your frustration but at the risk of beating the proverbial dead horse,...

 

I wholeheartedly agree - the horse is dead, it is no more.

 

...my point again is that there is no point in rendering your opinion HERE on what you and others think of the concept of tipping in general.

 

I would, however, argue that this is exactly the correct forum for voicing such opinion, as it is about the practise in the cruise industry.

 

I feel that the fact that a lot of cruise-lines are "including" gratuities, one-way or another, is an indication that, perhaps, change is inevitable? BUT....

 

...it's just that they are irrelevant and tangential to this thread.

 

Again I agree...I guess I got carried away with the momentum of the thread which was ultimately an informational post.

 

So please don't shoot the messenger and hate me for saying the obvious--I didn't invent it nor have any say in implementing it. :rolleyes:

 

No shooting (don't do guns) and there's certainly no hatred coming your way from me.

 

Regards.

[hamrag]

We cruise tomorrow, 1st February, and will therefore be subject to this extortion from Celebrity! Everything I read, and contracted for, before booking the cruise indicated my required tipping would be $12pppd; 15% for drinks; 18% for spa treatments.

 

Having always paid the autotips, I am seriously considering working out what the additional 3% on drinks costs me over the cruise and deducting that amount from autotips on final night. That way, my contract is honoured and I suffer no loss from this ill thought out increase....apparently acceptable to USA passengers.

 

For future cruises, not yet contracted, because I know that 18% is now the norm then that will be acceptable. What is unacceptable is a change in policy, following contractual agreement and final payment!

[MR_T]

we cruise tomorrow, 1st february, and will therefore be subject to this extortion from celebrity! Everything i read, and contracted for, before booking the cruise indicated my required tipping would be $12pppd; 15% for drinks; 18% for spa treatments.

 

 

 

Having always paid the autotips, i am seriously considering working out what the additional 3% on drinks costs me over the cruise and deducting that amount from autotips on final night. That way, my contract is honoured and i suffer no loss from this ill thought out increase....apparently acceptable to usa passengers.

 

 

 

For future cruises, not yet contracted, because i know that 18% is now the norm then that will be acceptable. What is unacceptable is a change in policy, following contractual agreement and final payment!

 

 

wow

... 😱

[Gracie115]

wow

...

 

I "ditto" that "wow".....:eek:

[20pluscruises]

We cruise tomorrow, 1st February, and will therefore be subject to this extortion from Celebrity! Everything I read, and contracted for, before booking the cruise indicated my required tipping would be $12pppd; 15% for drinks; 18% for spa treatments.

 

Having always paid the autotips, I am seriously considering working out what the additional 3% on drinks costs me over the cruise and deducting that amount from autotips on final night. That way, my contract is honoured and I suffer no loss from this ill thought out increase....apparently acceptable to USA passengers.

 

For future cruises, not yet contracted, because I know that 18% is now the norm then that will be acceptable. What is unacceptable is a change in policy, following contractual agreement and final payment!

 

I am going to wait to upgrade to premium package onboard so the crew get the extra 3% AND still tip extra in cash for each drink, special coffee, soda, etc.

[K.T.B.]

I am going to wait to upgrade to premium package onboard so the crew get the extra 3% AND still tip extra in cash for each drink, special coffee, soda, etc.

 

Same here.

 

Heck if I find a bartender I really like, I'll keep going to them and tip them throughout the cruise. I really do not see the problem in tipping an additional 20 to 25 cents per drink. (MOST people will be spending $7 to $8 for their drinks.)

 

If that is such a hardship, how the heck can they afford to cruise??? :rolleyes:

[20pluscruises]

Same here.

 

Heck if I find a bartender I really like, I'll keep going to them and tip them throughout the cruise. I really do not see the problem in tipping an additional 20 to 25 cents per drink. (MOST people will be spending $7 to $8 for their drinks.)

 

If that is such a hardship, how the heck can they afford to cruise??? :rolleyes:

 

ITA!

 

I wonder if most don't understand staff make as little as $400 per month. When the hours and days are calculated, this can amount to as little as $1.25 an hour or thereabouts. High-end lines might pay more. All cruise lines do everything possible to reduce the cost of operations, including registering ships to nations with lax labor laws that allow for long hours, low pay and few if any benefits. They also pay for their own medical, visa's, transportation to and from the ship, etc....and yes, I realize they do get free room and board (2-4 to a cabin) and meals...but still...

[Gracie115]

Same here.

 

Heck if I find a bartender I really like, I'll keep going to them and tip them throughout the cruise.

 

 

We do the same.........

[20pluscruises]

ITA!

 

I wonder if most don't understand staff make as little as $400 per month. When the hours and days are calculated, this can amount to as little as $1.25 an hour or thereabouts. High-end lines might pay more. All cruise lines do everything possible to reduce the cost of operations, including registering ships to nations with lax labor laws that allow for long hours, low pay and few if any benefits. They also pay for their own medical, visa's, transportation to and from the ship, etc....and yes, I realize they do get free room and board (2-4 to a cabin) and meals...but still...

 

I should add....all cruise lines could pay the crew a fair wage and your cruise cost would be double, triple or even more. The 18% is more than fair... in my humble opinion

Edited January 31, 2015 by 20pluscruises

[richsea]

We cruise tomorrow, 1st February, and will therefore be subject to this extortion from Celebrity! Everything I read, and contracted for, before booking the cruise indicated my required tipping would be $12pppd; 15% for drinks; 18% for spa treatments.

 

Having always paid the autotips, I am seriously considering working out what the additional 3% on drinks costs me over the cruise and deducting that amount from autotips on final night. That way, my contract is honoured and I suffer no loss from this ill thought out increase....apparently acceptable to USA passengers.

 

For future cruises, not yet contracted, because I know that 18% is now the norm then that will be acceptable. What is unacceptable is a change in policy, following contractual agreement and final payment!

 

Surely you jest.:eek:

[RickT]

Has this thread ever taken a sharp turn...

 

I applaud Celebrity for announcing the upcoming increase on this forum. Like it or not, advance notice is always appreciated.

 

And to avoid further discussion on the cultural or business ethics of tipping, the main point to consider is that the cost of drink represents what Celebrity needs to charge in order to cover their cost of the drink, the fixed costs (ship/bar/etc), a small (very) portion of the servers wages plus a profit for Celebrity.

 

The tip portion provides additonal wages for the servers. Given the extremely low monthly wage many earn, this is required in order to get people to work on ships knowing their actually pay will be the base wage plus an expected $X in tips.

 

If, for whatever reason, Celebrity decided to stop charging tips then the tip portion currently showing as an optional amount will be suddenly buried in the cost of the drink resulting in the exact same total due.

 

In either scenario your drink will still cost $X.

 

I suspect that as more and more passengers come from countries that are not accustomed to tipping and when more and more itineraries go to places where tipping is not the customer that you may see Celebrity or one of the other lines remove tipping from the whole revenue stream. When this happens you can be sure that all costs will increase accordingly.

 

Sort of like Death and Taxes, neither of which you can avoid.

 

And lastly, to put this in the "don't sweat the small stuff category", if you haven't already done the math. The impact this 3% increase would have a $500 bar bill is a whopping $15 :eek: OMG, cancel my cruise, I can't afford it :D

Edited January 31, 2015 by RickT

[wwcruisers]

Since today is the last day before the increase, I have a question: Has anyone upgraded from classic to premium, at the old rate yet? I know one poster said she upgraded as soon as she saw CelebrityCruises' post, but she thinks they charged her the new gratuity rate (18%).

 

I'm asking, because we have two cruises booked this year, both through the 123-GO promo. We had planned on upgrading to premium (like we usually do) when we made final payment. But, thinking about going ahead and doing that today, IF we can get it done at the old rate.

 

And, a big "thank you!" to Celebrity Cruises for letting us know about this! :cool:

[RickT]

Since today is the last day before the increase, I have a question: Has anyone upgraded from classic to premium, at the old rate yet? I know one poster said she upgraded as soon as she saw CelebrityCruises' post, but she thinks they charged her the new gratuity rate (18%).

 

I'm asking, because we have two cruises booked this year, both through the 123-GO promo. We had planned on upgrading to premium (like we usually do) when we made final payment. But, thinking about going ahead and doing that today, IF we can get it done at the old rate.

 

And, a big "thank you!" to Celebrity Cruises for letting us know about this! :cool:

A quick call to purchase will let you know. Using 15% the total cost per day will be $11.50, after the increase $11.80. I assume it's 15% today but who knows. When I purchased my upgrade last week it was definitely 15%.

[A Sixth?]

At the risk of getting flamed, I'd like to remind everyone how fortunate the hard working people who crew aboard cruise ships are.

 

Many seem fixated on attaching monetary values based where they live and not in line with where most crew call home.

 

The average monthly wage in most countries on the planet are tiny.

 

 

Most crew send much of their pay home.

 

I think the problem is that we are a very lucky and privileged bunch and forget that the bulk of the people on this planet are by our measure, poor.

 

Global median salary is only $1,225 a year!!!

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082385/We-1--You-need-34k-income-global-elite--half-worlds-richest-live-U-S.html

 

 

Here's another list of the monthly wages for the TOP 72 countries (the other 200 are lower)

 

Rank Country Average Wage (USD)

1 Luxembourg 4,089

2 Norway 3,678

3 Austria 3,437

4 United States 3,263

5 United Kingdom 3,065

6 Belgium 3,035

7 Sweden 3,023

8 Ireland 2,997

9 Finland 2,925

10 Korea (Republic of) 2,903

11 France 2,886

12 Canada 2,724

13 Germany 2,720

14 Singapore 2,616

15 Australia 2,610

16 Cyprus 2,605

17 Japan 2,522

18 Italy 2,445

19 Iceland 2,431

20 Spain 2,352

21 Greece 2,300

22 New Zealand 2,283

23 South Africa 1,838

24 Malta 1,808

25 Israel 1,804

26 Czech Republic 1,786

27 Croatia 1,756

28 Turkey 1,731

29 Qatar 1,690

30 Hong Kong (China) 1,545

31 Poland 1,536

32 Slovakia 1,385

33 Hungary 1,374

34 Macedonia 1,345

35 Bosnia & Herzegovina 1,338

36 Estonia 1,267

37 Russian Federation 1,215

38 Jamaica 1,135

39 Lithuania 1,109

40 Argentina 1,108

41 Latvia 1,098

42 Serbia 1,058

43 Chile 1,021

44 Botswana 996

45 Malaysia 961

46 Belarus 959

47 Romania 954

48 Bahrain 917

49 Panama 831

50 Mauritius 783

51 Brazil 778

52 Macau (China) 758

53 Kazakhstan 753

54 Bulgaria 750

55 Colombia 692

56 Ukraine 686

57 China 656

58 Mexico 609

59 Georgia 603

60 Azerbaijan 596

61 Egypt 548

62 Thailand 489

63 Armenia 471

64 Dominican Republic 462

65 Moldova (Republic of) 438

66 Mongolia 415

67 Syrian Arab Republic 364

68 Kyrgyzstan Republic 336

69 India 295

70 Philippines 279

71 Pakistan 255

72 Tajikistan 227

Edited January 31, 2015 by A Sixth?

[chamima]

Since today is the last day before the increase, I have a question: Has anyone upgraded from classic to premium, at the old rate yet? I know one poster said she upgraded as soon as she saw CelebrityCruises' post, but she thinks they charged her the new gratuity rate (18%).

 

I'm asking, because we have two cruises booked this year, both through the 123-GO promo. We had planned on upgrading to premium (like we usually do) when we made final payment. But, thinking about going ahead and doing that today, IF we can get it done at the old rate.

 

And, a big "thank you!" to Celebrity Cruises for letting us know about this! :cool:

 

A quick call to purchase will let you know. Using 15% the total cost per day will be $11.50, after the increase $11.80. I assume it's 15% today but who knows. When I purchased my upgrade last week it was definitely 15%.

 

 

 

I just had a totally random thought.

Let's say you upgrade your package today at 15% and I upgrade on board Monday (which is what I plan on doing) at 18%.

Won't it be a nightmare trying to figure out internally what the crew members get ?

(I'm still the person who thinks the increase may not be passed on to crew. :rolleyes: )

[wallie5446]

ITA!

 

I wonder if most don't understand staff make as little as $400 per month. When the hours and days are calculated, this can amount to as little as $1.25 an hour or thereabouts. High-end lines might pay more. All cruise lines do everything possible to reduce the cost of operations, including registering ships to nations with lax labor laws that allow for long hours, low pay and few if any benefits. They also pay for their own medical, visa's, transportation to and from the ship, etc....and yes, I realize they do get free room and board (2-4 to a cabin) and meals...but still...

 

Take what some staff say with the old grain of salt.

 

Our DD worked on ship for RCCL, there are NEVER 4 to a cabin, 2 is the max. And if an employee ever comes close to only making $400 in a week pay period, it is an indicator of a SLACKER not doing his/her job. If it happens often they are replaced.

 

An average cocktail server does 15+ drinks an hour, at an avg of $8.00 each, on a 10 hour shift that = 150 drinks with a 15% grat = $180.00 before tip out PER DAY.

 

Dont fall for the sad sob song n dance line. They do very very well, which is why they can afford to take 3 months vacation every yr.

[wallie5446]

I just had a totally random thought.

Let's say you upgrade your package today at 15% and I upgrade on board Monday (which is what I plan on doing) at 18%.

Won't it be a nightmare trying to figure out internally what the crew members get ?

(I'm still the person who thinks the increase may not be passed on to crew. :rolleyes: )

 

Karen the grat can not be kept by the employer. That is a labor law violation, period. Everything is 'coded' into the micro chip/strip tied to the big computer in the sky thru our sea pass card. The only time anything shows up on our statement was when we bought a drink over the limit. Which is why we had a slight:eek: balance last cruise!

[chamima]

Take what some staff say with the old grain of salt.

 

Our DD worked on ship for RCCL, there are NEVER 4 to a cabin, 2 is the max. And if an employee ever comes close to only making $400 in a week pay period, it is an indicator of a SLACKER not doing his/her job. If it happens often they are replaced.

 

An average cocktail server does 15+ drinks an hour, at an avg of $8.00 each, on a 10 hour shift that = 150 drinks with a 15% grat = $180.00 before tip out PER DAY.

 

Dont fall for the sad sob song n dance line. They do very very well, which is why they can afford to take 3 months vacation every yr.

 

 

Agree Wallie

We became pretty close to our waitress on our last Princess cruise.

She told us she LOVES working for Princess because she has free health care, they pay for her flights to and from the ship and there are only 2 people max to a cabin. She used to work for NCL and they had 4 -6 people in each cabin. :eek:

She sends money home to her 2 small children and misses them but is happy to provide a living for them.

No sob story there. Really nice woman and really hard worker!

[wallie5446]

Since today is the last day before the increase, I have a question: Has anyone upgraded from classic to premium, at the old rate yet? I know one poster said she upgraded as soon as she saw CelebrityCruises' post, but she thinks they charged her the new gratuity rate (18%).

 

I'm asking, because we have two cruises booked this year, both through the 123-GO promo. We had planned on upgrading to premium (like we usually do) when we made final payment. But, thinking about going ahead and doing that today, IF we can get it done at the old rate.

 

And, a big "thank you!" to Celebrity Cruises for letting us know about this! :cool:

 

Our next cruise is 10 days, and at the .30 cents per day incerase it is not worth the $6.00 total savings for both of us:eek: to not wait and use our OBC to pay for our upgrade.:D