First Suite

[Sam.Seattle]

I am SO excited to have stumbled upon this thread. We have not cruised Celebrity since our son was born 14 years ago and have been cruising with RCI. Booked a royal suite in June for our 10 night Mediterranean and can’t wait. The advice has been wonderful. Only question I didn’t see asked, was do people tip the waiters in Luminare? We have done that in the past in RCI’s Coastal Kitchen, but never know how much, how often (for each meal eaten, dinner only, etc). We also typically tip $2-3 dollars per drink ordered in the suite lounge. Is this still standard? Thanks for any advice.

 

I was not going to weigh in, but after reading the other replies, I want to share too. We have only sailed Celebrity once, but on other cruises in excess of 60-times.

 

You will be traveling in the Med and Europeans have seem to have different tipping standards than Americans do.

 

Also, at our Meet & Mingle the Officers were very open that they read CC and encourage their staff to also read CC so I feel the need to share what I do.

 

When in Michaels or any other lounge, I tip as I go. $2.50 per drink and I just leave cash on the table when we leave.

 

Luminare Waiter $150.00 7-day cruise

Assistant $50.00

Maitre D $50.00

Hostess $25.00

 

In addition to the pre-paid gratuities I pass my cash tips to the staff by way of a hand shake the last night. It is then up to them to share if they want.

Edited March 18, 2018 by Sam.Seattle

[PostcardJar]

I am SO excited to have stumbled upon this thread. We have not cruised Celebrity since our son was born 14 years ago and have been cruising with RCI. Booked a royal suite in June for our 10 night Mediterranean and can’t wait. The advice has been wonderful. Only question I didn’t see asked, was do people tip the waiters in Luminare? We have done that in the past in RCI’s Coastal Kitchen, but never know how much, how often (for each meal eaten, dinner only, etc). We also typically tip $2-3 dollars per drink ordered in the suite lounge. Is this still standard? Thanks for any advice.

 

 

 

Which Med cruise are you on in June? We are June 29 on Reflection from Rime to Greece...

 

Tip at the end if you feel service was excellent (you will). To my knowledge, Luminae staff does pool extra tips. We give an envelope to the Maitre’D on the last night with a handwritten thank you to the staff.

 

 

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[babydoc71]

Thanks for everyone’s feedback. Much appreciated!

[George C]

I asked concierge if Micheal staff pooled tips and was told no

[PostcardJar]

I asked concierge if Micheal staff pooled tips and was told no

 

 

 

Good to know. This is good information to have.

 

 

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[rollie]

Darn, I’m going to have get a summer job to pay for all these extra tips.

 

Rollie

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Darn, I’m going to have get a summer job to pay for all these extra tips.

 

Rollie

 

Not to worry, I doubt that many tip the amounts or the people mentioned by the gentleman who gave specific numbers. You basically only have one additional person to tip from those you normally tip--your butler. Remember, we're talking extra tips here. The basic tips are covered by the auto tips.

[George C]

Not to worry, I doubt that many tip the amounts or the people mentioned by the gentleman who gave specific numbers. You basically only have one additional person to tip from those you normally tip--your butler. Remember, we're talking extra tips here. The basic tips are covered by the auto tips.

 

I agree I thought tips mentioned were on th high side , but I think servers bartenders in micheals were so good they deserved extra , also staff at luminae deserved extra

[FLOURTOWN]

We did a b2b in a Celebrity suite on the Infinity years ago. We kept the same cabin for both. The butler was great who wanted to run my bath water & unpack for us. We had dinner in our dining room, got a message looking out the floor to ceiling windows & had our picture taken there. It went through the Panama Canal & it was so hot outside to watch that we went to our room & watched it on the big screen tv. It was a memory that we will never forget on all our cruises!

[Gordoncruickshank]

I agree I thought tips mentioned were on th high side , but I think servers bartenders in micheals were so good they deserved extra , also staff at luminae deserved extra

 

 

 

I also agree. I have a rule of thumb that says my extra tips will not exceed $200 per week plus the regular gratuities .

 

The distribution depends on what I get in return. Last cruise the butler got nil as we saw him so few times over the 2 week cruise and when we did he kept messing up. First time ever but deserved.

 

Butler on next cruise got something but barely saw him as well.

 

We are not heavy users on butlers but we do like them to get into our cruise cycle and it didn’t really happen on the last couple of cruises.

[swigso]

I also agree. I have a rule of thumb that says my extra tips will not exceed $200 per week plus the regular gratuities .

 

The distribution depends on what I get in return. Last cruise the butler got nil as we saw him so few times over the 2 week cruise and when we did he kept messing up. First time ever but deserved.

 

Butler on next cruise got something but barely saw him as well.

 

We are not heavy users on butlers but we do like them to get into our cruise cycle and it didn’t really happen on the last couple of cruises.

Hi Gordon, good to put a face to a name, at last.

Hope you had a good second leg, just a quick ?

I see your butler service was lacking, did you notice

Any other reductions in overall service?

I thought that the atmosphere was sometimes a bit

deflated and some staff seemed to not be in a happy place.

We still had a fantastic time but felt something was missing

Regards

Steve

[George C]

I also agree. I have a rule of thumb that says my extra tips will not exceed $200 per week plus the regular gratuities .

 

The distribution depends on what I get in return. Last cruise the butler got nil as we saw him so few times over the 2 week cruise and when we did he kept messing up. First time ever but deserved.

 

Butler on next cruise got something but barely saw him as well.

 

We are not heavy users on butlers but we do like them to get into our cruise cycle and it didn’t really happen on the last couple of cruises.

 

That is very reasonable , we have only exceeded that a couple of times

[Gordoncruickshank]

Hi Gordon, good to put a face to a name, at last.

Hope you had a good second leg, just a quick ?

I see your butler service was lacking, did you notice

Any other reductions in overall service?

I thought that the atmosphere was sometimes a bit

deflated and some staff seemed to not be in a happy place.

We still had a fantastic time but felt something was missing

Regards

Steve

 

Hi SteveIt was good to meet up at last albeit for a couple of minutes. It is amazing how people move in different paths over a cruise. We were in Luminae/Michaels and everything there was good. Met Anita as Maitre in Luminae who was in Blu and Bistro a few yers ago as a host. Luminae was good. Still have some nights when we don’t like the menu but no real changes from normal.

 

I think the butler on Eclipse was a one off. We had invited a couple we met for drinks and he forgot to bring the extra champagne glasses I asked for. It was our 25 anniversary which he twigged from the cards and did well that night. The bottle of bubbly they gave us was to be opened with friends we met in ship. He appeared 40 minutes late with them but we had necked the bottle by then. That was the last straw with him.

 

Suite manager called to say it was his fault but no excuse. Ruined the whole thing.

 

I don’t need a butler to get me towels or extra food. We try and avoid eating outwith mealtimes so we are probably difficult guests for the butlers but it is up to them to learn what we need and this one didn’t.

 

Few issues with bar guy in Michael’s who would not listen to what we asked for but redeemed himself later in cruise. Overall I would not say that quality had reduced.

 

How was your trip? Did you win your money back?

 

 

 

 

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[Gordoncruickshank]

That is very reasonable , we have only exceeded that a couple of times

 

 

ThanksWe tend to leave $10 a day in Luminae as a single amount at the end of the cruise. All the staff look after us and we could not single anymore out for special attention.

 

After that it depends on who looks after us elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

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[Sam.Seattle]

Not to worry, I doubt that many tip the amounts or the people mentioned by the gentleman who gave specific numbers. You basically only have one additional person to tip from those you normally tip--your butler. Remember, we're talking extra tips here. The basic tips are covered by the auto tips.

 

 

Talking about me... :D:D

 

I also provide an extra cash tip to the room tip the butler and the room steward, but that was not the discussion.

 

I really thought what I tip was more the norm and not the exception. So many times I have read threads about tipping and how much. This time I decided to just be candid and direct and specifically answer the question.

 

Wondering now if I should re-think my tipping habits? Nah, I will continue as I have in the past. I feel good about tipping such hard working folks.

[Mialias]

enjoy!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Talking about me... :D:D

 

I also provide an extra cash tip to the room tip the butler and the room steward, but that was not the discussion.

 

I really thought what I tip was more the norm and not the exception. So many times I have read threads about tipping and how much. This time I decided to just be candid and direct and specifically answer the question.

 

Wondering now if I should re-think my tipping habits? Nah, I will continue as I have in the past. I feel good about tipping such hard working folks.

 

Good on you if you can afford those generous tips. Appreciate the fact that you share your good fortune with others. I'm sure the staff appreciate them. They really do work hard.

[Gordoncruickshank]

Good on you if you can afford those generous tips. Appreciate the fact that you share your good fortune with others. I'm sure the staff appreciate them. They really do work hard.

 

 

 

 

 

Good Answer

 

 

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[swigso]

Good Answer

 

 

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Hi Gordon,

We had a great cruise, we love Celebrity but there were

a few incidents that were not as they say modern luxury

See you on the Silhouette next year 👍🏻😎

We are on the March 3 sailing,

My brother is trying to persuade us to try Silversea but we tried Azamara last year and felt the ship was too small

and the service no better than what we are used to on Celebrity,

Take care

[zgscl]

Just booked a sky suite on Eclipse for Hawaii next year. This will be our first time on Celebrity and we have done Holland America Neptune suites for the past 8 cruises. Looking forward to trying Celebrity for the first time. They had a great Go Best promotion including premium drinks, prepaid gratuities, complimentary internet and an onboard credit (not sure if this is all standard or not).

[George C]

Just booked a sky suite on Eclipse for Hawaii next year. This will be our first time on Celebrity and we have done Holland America Neptune suites for the past 8 cruises. Looking forward to trying Celebrity for the first time. They had a great Go Best promotion including premium drinks, prepaid gratuities, complimentary internet and an onboard credit (not sure if this is all standard or not).

 

Perks are so much better on celebrity than Hal, we had same perks on our next cruise

[zgscl]

Perks are so much better on celebrity than Hal, we had same perks on our next cruise

 

We can't wait, have wanted to try X for a while but for various reasons it didn't work out until now.

 

We have early seating on this trip. Is that automatically in Lumine or do we make reservations for seating there onboard?

[Gordoncruickshank]

Luminae is your assigned dinning. It is open seating all night. No bookings needed.

 

They always give everyone a 6.30 time but turn up when you want.

 

 

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[cruzzzinma]

We can't wait, have wanted to try X for a while but for various reasons it didn't work out until now.

 

We have early seating on this trip. Is that automatically in Lumine or do we make reservations for seating there onboard?

 

Early seating is an artifact of the wonderful Celebrity website.

 

There is no early or late seating in Luminae and they do not take reservations. They will be able to accommodate you whenever your arrive.

[cruzzzinma]

Well, I don't read minds and would not want to assume his knowledge. The mini bar includes your choice of spirits which he did not provide. Just water, beer, soda and sparking water.

 

He did say that he has been a butler for Celebrity for years. Let us know what your Butler does for you on your next sailing.

 

Thanks for the chat...

 

I think the shore-based policy for non-alcoholic minibar is that you have to pay for them.

 

However, my shipboard experience in lower level suites has been that they stock once they see what you are drinking.