Helpful hints for tipping in Sky Suite

[Mr&MrsBee]

Please give hints on tipping in sky suite. Who do you tip. The butler how much? The steward who makes up the room? All the staff in the Lumina? We are fairly generous in tipping the room steward and MDR staff. Some wrote $300 for the butler, $100 for maître'd and$40 for all the lumina staff. Any thoughts? Thank you.

[cruzzzinma]

I am interested in the answers for a 7 day cruise.

[El Crucero]

From Celebrity's FAQ:

 

For your convenience, we automatically add gratuities for your restaurant and stateroom services to your onboard SeaPass® account on a daily basis in the following amounts, which may be adjusted at your discretion:

• • $12.95 per person, per day in standard staterooms
  
• • $13.45 per person, per day in Concierge Class and AquaClass® staterooms
  
• • $16.45 per person, per day in Suite Class
  

This gratuity is shared by your Dining & Culinary Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants, Other Housekeeping Services Personnel, as well as staff from other departments who work behind the scenes to enhance your cruise experience.

At your discretion, the gratuity payments may be adjusted onboard at Guest Relations, in which case they will not automatically be added to your onboard SeaPass® account.

An 18% gratuity will be automatically added to all beverages, mini bar purchases, spa and salon services. Additional gratuities may be added at your discretion.

[Mr&MrsBee]

I know how gratuities are divided. I am referring to tipping extra. How much to the butler? do you tip all staff in Lumina? Any suggestions? Thank You.

[bonapart5]

If you wish to tip extra it is entirely up to you. As your tipping is included there is no need to feel obliged to add more. When we had a Celebrity Suite last cruise we tipped the butler $50 when we had our friends in for dinner plus another $50 at the end as he was absolutely wonderful. We also gave our cabin attendants an extra $20 each I think.

[jules815]

What about staff in Luminae? Do you usually have the same waitstaff at dinner for the entire cruise? (I'm also talking about tipping above the included gratuities.)

[Wj420]

On the two trips that we dined in luminae we did have the same wait staff. We happily gave them each $20 at the end of the trip. We base our room attendant and butler extra tip based on service. We have friends that never add anything. Whatever you choose! Enjoy.

[bEwAbG]

I tipped nothing extra last trip because I didn't feel that anyone warranted it (I might have left a tip for one of the Murano guys). Service was fine but no one did anything above and beyond. This is the first trip that I did that and I had no special requests of anyone. I think people get hung up on the idea that they MUST give something extra, but that is not the case at all. Hence: it is entirely up to you as to how much you think they deserve for exceptional service.

 

The Luminae staff do tend to work in a team, but there can be a few head waiters and several more assistant waiters in any one section who stop by to do something for you. I also had service from several different waiters because we didn't sit in the same section every night. It would have cost $200 to give an extra tip to the 10 people I saw over the course of a week if I was following some arbitrary $20/person guideline. That would be excessive considering that they provided adequate service and nothing more. The price of the suite covers their expenses already.

Edited March 3, 2016 by bEwAbG

[ClaudiaB]

We tend to tip the butler about $40 or so after a couple days in, and then again once or twice during the cruise. This is on a 14 day cruise. We give the room steward/assistant about $60.

 

We've only had Luminae once but we had the same servers and sat in the same general area whenever we went there, no matter what time or meal. That made for a great rapport with the team. We tipped our waiter about what we tipped the butler but not until the last day. We also gave something to the maitre d' of Luminae and the sommelier who was outstanding.

 

We also tipped the michael's club concierge.

 

But almost better than that ---- please please fill out the comment card that comes to your room. Fill it out after about 3 days, and then fill out another one on the last day. Mention people's names and write something specific about how they did their job well, things you notice about them. Believe me, this is valuable and the rewards are immediate. On our last cruise the people I commented on came up to me and told me how they had been given an extra shift off or internet time or a long phone call home. Just because of my comments about them.

 

Have fun. We love the sky suites.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I really feel your numbers are way, way off, OP. Most people talk big but don't really give that much extra on top of the automatic tips.

 

For Luminae, I would only tip extra if they were really superb. In that case, it's still subjective. $40 extra to one person is a very generous amount and to the next guy, it's nothing.

[Mr&MrsBee]

Thank you for the comments.

[4774Papa]

We were upgraded to a Sky Suite on Millennium last October. We hardly used our butler for anything, but he brought tea and snacks every 4pm. I tipped him $50 for the two weeks. Left the room steward $20 and Luminae staff (in envelope) $50. This was in addition to the standard gratuities.

[Cruise a holic]

We also tip the concierge at Michael's if he/she provides us with exceptional service. In addition, we have tipped the captains club host or hostess when exceptional service is provided. And the butler. We do not tip additional in Luminae as they are in the tip pool or the cabin attendants. On the Silly or Reflection, if we use the alcove we also tip additional. We sometimes tip the bartenders at the icebar as we spend a lot of time at that facility! Sometimes we tip the specialty restaurant wait staff also.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I really feel your numbers are way, way off, OP. Most people talk big but don't really give that much extra on top of the automatic tips.

 

For Luminae, I would only tip extra if they were really superb. In that case, it's still subjective. $40 extra to one person is a very generous amount and to the next guy, it's nothing.

 

How is it that you know what most people tip???

 

If you feel that $40 to one person is a very generous amount, you are entitled to your own, personal opinion about that. Others may have different ideas about that.

 

[love2cruiseLadies]

Are you people serious?! You spend thousands of dollars on a suite and can't tip the people who serve you a few hundred dollars? Wow. Just wow.

 

OP: thanks for bringing this up. I think if you can afford a suite, you can afford to tip! I'd factor in 10-20% of the cost of the trip to spread around the people who serve you. They will seriously appreciate it!

[Swissmiss6253]

As an Australian where tipping is largely foreign and people are paid a generally liveable wage anyway this sort of thread worries me. It seems that it used to be that you tipped the staff. Then, for convenience, the pre paid gratuities came in, so now you tip on top of that. The staff will now expect tips on top of the gratuities or the lines will lower wages based on the staff getting more tips. Or the line will, for convenience, increase the prepaid gratuities as people are tipping more anyway, so you will tip on top of that and the cycle continues! As someone who has just paid over $1,000 AUD in prepaid gratuities for an upcoming cruise, the idea that I will be expected by the staff to pay even more boggles my mind. And I know that I am free to remove the prepaid (I won't) and I know I am free not to tip on top of that but I will be left with the horrid feeling that the people who have worked hard to look after me will feel I feel they didn't do a good job! Tipping is really a pain in the arse. Why can't we just pay people what the job is worth?

[bEwAbG]

Are you people serious?! You spend thousands of dollars on a suite and can't tip the people who serve you a few hundred dollars? Wow. Just wow.

 

OP: thanks for bringing this up. I think if you can afford a suite, you can afford to tip! I'd factor in 10-20% of the cost of the trip to spread around the people who serve you. They will seriously appreciate it!

 

I can afford it, but I am already paying gratuities. Why should I pay even more if they did the minimum amount of service? I don't pay $20 for something that has a $10 price tag on it, and I don't tip 30% on a meal in which the server simply ran dishes all night.

 

And to be clear, I have given extra tip money before, but that was to people who went above and beyond the basic duties.

Edited March 3, 2016 by bEwAbG

[MEcruzr]

We pay the gratuity that is added to our account. Sometimes we leave extra in the cabin on the last night if the service has been extra attentive or personal. Clean towels and a smile I expect. Extra chairs brought for the balcony, an extra delivery of ice at 4PM daily or finding my lost suitcase in the storage room on the 2nd day... those are reasons to tip extra. If I get extra, they get extra. I don't think it should matter which category cabin you are staying in whether or not you give more than the customary amount.

[4774Papa]

Are you people serious?! You spend thousands of dollars on a suite and can't tip the people who serve you a few hundred dollars? Wow. Just wow.

 

OP: thanks for bringing this up. I think if you can afford a suite, you can afford to tip! I'd factor in 10-20% of the cost of the trip to spread around the people who serve you. They will seriously appreciate it!

 

If throwing money around like that works for you, but I think tipping 10% -20% of the cost of the cruise (not sure how you factor in the mandatory gratuities) is way overboard.

 

Some people may pay $10000 or more for a Sky Suite for 14 days. That would entail up to $2000 in tipping.

I can only guess that you put a lot of demands on your butler, room steward, and wait staff.

 

We normally stay in a balcony and a typical 14 day cruise will cost $5-$6000 for us. We pay the mandatory gratuities and tip the staff some extra cash, but no where near your suggested percentage. We were upgraded to our Sky Suite for $800 total and enjoyed it, but frankly, we would never pay the standard rate for a suite. We generally stay in the cabin only to sleep or on sea day, enjoy the balcony.

 

Each to their own.

[AZNative2000]

Please give hints on tipping in sky suite. Who do you tip. The butler how much? The steward who makes up the room? All the staff in the Lumina? We are fairly generous in tipping the room steward and MDR staff. Some wrote $300 for the butler, $100 for maître'd and$40 for all the lumina staff. Any thoughts? Thank you.

 

For our 18-day cruise on the Solstice, in addition to leaving the "auto-tip" alone (some people actually lowered or eliminated theirs :eek::eek:) we tipped our room steward, his assistant, and our butler. We always tip extra but for those crew members that we feel go above and beyond or we think of as special (yes, arbitrary). The butler was given $50 and would have been given more but we asked nothing special from him and, as a result, didn't see him very much. Steward and assistant were given $150 total (again, that's 18 days) but they do get most of the auto-tip and weren't required to do "extra stuff" for us. We did enjoy their personalities and how cheerful they were at all times.

 

For Luminae, we seemed to get the same two or three waiters/assistants most of the time as we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner there some days and always requested the same table. So, at the end, we tipped those folks ($20 or $50 each I think). The staff members we saw only once or twice were not tipped by us as they had their own "regulars". The Maitre'd was an officer, I think, and as they are salaried at a much higher rate than the crew, it never occurred to me to tip as they did nothing more than wave over a waiter to seat us.

 

As so many have said, you are not required to tip but we never remove the "service charge" and always find some people we want to gift with a bit extra.

 

I hope this helps you Mr&MrsBee.

 

Cheers!

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by AZNative2000

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Are you people serious?! You spend thousands of dollars on a suite and can't tip the people who serve you a few hundred dollars? Wow. Just wow.

 

OP: thanks for bringing this up. I think if you can afford a suite, you can afford to tip! I'd factor in 10-20% of the cost of the trip to spread around the people who serve you. They will seriously appreciate it!

 

Are you serious? 20% of our cruise fare for 14 nights in a RS with everything factored in is an additional gratuity of $4,000. Looking at total trip cost, with pre cruise hotel and air, we would be looking at $4,500 minimum.

 

We do tip extra but no where close to 10%, let alone $20%.

[groryjm]

As an Australian where tipping is largely foreign and people are paid a generally liveable wage anyway this sort of thread worries me. It seems that it used to be that you tipped the staff. Then, for convenience, the pre paid gratuities came in, so now you tip on top of that. The staff will now expect tips on top of the gratuities or the lines will lower wages based on the staff getting more tips. Or the line will, for convenience, increase the prepaid gratuities as people are tipping more anyway, so you will tip on top of that and the cycle continues! As someone who has just paid over $1,000 AUD in prepaid gratuities for an upcoming cruise, the idea that I will be expected by the staff to pay even more boggles my mind. And I know that I am free to remove the prepaid (I won't) and I know I am free not to tip on top of that but I will be left with the horrid feeling that the people who have worked hard to look after me will feel I feel they didn't do a good job! Tipping is really a pain in the arse. Why can't we just pay people what the job is worth?

 

+ from England

[4774Papa]

As an Australian where tipping is largely foreign and people are paid a generally liveable wage anyway this sort of thread worries me. It seems that it used to be that you tipped the staff. Then, for convenience, the pre paid gratuities came in, so now you tip on top of that. The staff will now expect tips on top of the gratuities or the lines will lower wages based on the staff getting more tips. Or the line will, for convenience, increase the prepaid gratuities as people are tipping more anyway, so you will tip on top of that and the cycle continues! As someone who has just paid over $1,000 AUD in prepaid gratuities for an upcoming cruise, the idea that I will be expected by the staff to pay even more boggles my mind. And I know that I am free to remove the prepaid (I won't) and I know I am free not to tip on top of that but I will be left with the horrid feeling that the people who have worked hard to look after me will feel I feel they didn't do a good job! Tipping is really a pain in the arse. Why can't we just pay people what the job is worth?

 

Your post states contradictory statements. On one hand, you laud the Australian policy of paying a livable wage, then you go on and ask "Why can't we just pay people what the job is worth?"

 

We have been to Australia and loved it. We were told that there was a minimum wage of $18 per hour. At that time the US dollar was equal with the Aussie Dollar. I would venture to say that even in Australia, unless you have a huge labour shortage pushing up wages that an $18 an hour minimum wage is above what would be a fair market wage.

 

By fair market, I say, in the absence of any minimum wage, what should the person be paid. That would depend on the labor market, skill, education and productivity of the individual worker.

 

In the USA our minimum wage is less than half the Aussie wage. However, only a small fraction of people make that wage. It is an entry level wage for largely unskilled persons.

 

I would contend that many of the workers on cruise ships are probably paid very well compared to the third world countries from which they originate. Also, I have been told by many workers that the jobs are competitive and desired by others from their countries.

[JEDIKNIGHT]

If I went to other places and said "We in America do it this way" I'd get eye-rolls, sighs, cries of 'ugly american'.

 

So i wonder - what does it mean when people from elsewhere complain about American tipping and wages?

 

Better yet lets ask the crew.

[goody1]

+ from England

 

+ from Scotland.