Extra Gratuities and OBC

[doublin9]

Looking for experiences people have had using their OBC for extra gratuities. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

You can get a form at guest relations and specify how much to various crew; waiter, stateroom attendant, etc. You need to do it before the last few days of the cruise.

[twoflyers]

We were going to do this on one of our recent cruises using "leftover" OBC credit. However, we learned that the $$ cannot be designated to an individual server of steward, it goes into a "pool" for the entire crew.

We would up using the OBC in the casino, pocketed our winnings and giving cash to those who went "above and beyond".

[cruisestitch]

Not quite true. The extra can go straight to your steward. If you have Select Dining, extra for them is pooled. You can also designate specific people at Cafe al Bacio and it will go straight to them.

[Gonzo70]

This is one of those things where Celebrity is inconsistent and it depends on the ship. Two cruises ago (Summit) I was told OBC could not be used for extra gratuities at all. Last cruise (Infinity) I was told I could use OBC to give extra tips to my butler and stateroom attendant, but if I left extra for dining room personnel it could not be allotted to individuals, but only pooled.

[Luvcrusn]

We have often done it. The only time we were told that it would go into a pool was on Eclipse in 2016. The OBC that was remaining was OBC-R (refundable) and they gave it back to us in cash the last night of the cruise and we gave the cash to the deserving crew member we wanted to give extra to. They'll also refund it to your credit card on file if you wish. If it's non refundable, I guess you'd have to use it or lose it. In that case, you'd have to decide for yourself whether you want to chance the pool rewarding those you'd want to have it, or hand additional cash to them and use up the rest.

[cruisestitch]

" Last cruise (Infinity) I was told I could use OBC to give extra tips to my butler and stateroom attendant, but if I left extra for dining room personnel it could not be allotted to individuals, but only pooled."

 

 

Here's a bit more information from Eclipse last month -- pretty much in line with what you were told.

The Guest Relations desk had a form for extra tips. They said that only people who normally receive tips can get them through this form -- for instance, if for some reason you wanted to give some to a security guard, that can't be done because the accounting department isn't set up to give them tips at all.

For stateroom attendant and butler, the tips would go directly to that person. For dining room it would go into the pool.

I was able to write in the names of several people who I wanted to receive tips -- four servers from Cafe al Bacio, one from the Elite breakfast in Tuscan Grill, and a sommelier from the dining room.

All of them received an email from their supervisors indicating that some extra tip money would be seen in their upcoming pay (they are paid every two weeks). The kicker was, they didn't know who the money was from.

I found this out in talking to Alexandra at breakfast in Tuscan a couple of days later. I said "did you see extra tips from me?" and she said "oh, that was from you? Thank you so much. I knew I was getting some money, but didn't know who sent it".

So that morning I stopped in Cafe al Bacio as was my custom, and asked my favorite waitress if she had seen money from me and she told me the same thing. She had gotten an email from her supervisor that there was some tip money coming to her, but not from whom. So I told her what I had done and she passed the word to the other waitresses who all thanked me over the coming days.

I agree that Celebrity is woefully inconsistent in this ship by ship -- but at least on Eclipse it was a terrific way for me to use some non-refundable OBC instead of tipping in cash. It was a little awkward having to ask the waitresses what was going on, but once I understood it, it all worked out.

[doublin9]

Thank you so much for your input!