Tips

[Calton]

We booked our cruise before the introduced the all included package.

Can you opt out of tips and if you do are any charges put on drinks, dining etc ?

[cruisestitch]

Oh dear.  Why would you want to stiff the staff who work so hard to serve you.

 

But to give you a little more insight, the auto tips do not cover tips on drink, nor on specialty dining, nor late night room service. 
 

I will let others chime in with the

Problems you might encounter if you remove the auto tips.

 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

You certainly can opt out by visiting customers service.  We have done that once when we had a big issue in the MDR and ended up not eating there. Thus redistributed the $$ and added a couple hundred extra.

Agree that 99.99% of the staff are incredibly hard working wonderful people

[Ken the cruiser]

10 minutes ago, Calton said:

We booked our cruise before the introduced the all included package.

Can you opt out of tips and if you do are any charges put on drinks, dining etc ?

This may help.

 

What is Celebrity’s automatic gratuity program?

Guests that booked prior to Nov. 17, 2020 (without Always Included) or booked Simply Sail pricing:
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:

• $15.50 USD per person, per day for standard accommodations
• $16.00 USD per person, per day for Concierge Class and AquaClass® staterooms
• $19.00 USD per person, per day for guests of The Retreat

This gratuity is shared by Dining Services Staff, Stateroom Attendants, and other Stateroom Services Personnel that work to enhance your cruise. A 20% gratuity will be added to all beverages, mini bar purchases and beverage packages. An 18% gratuity will be added to all spa & salon purchases onboard.

Effective November 17, 2020, with the Always Included℠ Pricing Package:
Beverage package gratuities and daily gratuities for Dining Service Staff, Stateroom Attendants, and other Stateroom Service Personnel are included as part of Always Included pricing. An 18% gratuity will be added to all spa & salon purchases onboard.

 

FAQs: Gratuity & Tips for Onboard Staff | Celebrity Cruises

[LGW59]

25 minutes ago, Calton said:

We booked our cruise before the introduced the all included package.

Can you opt out of tips and if you do are any charges put on drinks, dining etc ?

why would you want to opt out of tips before you even cruise?  

[Calton]

17 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

why would you want to opt out of tips before you even cruise?  

I'm not opting out before the cruise. I am just enquiring about the difference between my booking and what you receive now.

[Ken the cruiser]

Just as a side note. The dining staff, to include the waiters and support staff, get a very large portion of their pay from "The Pool" based largely on an algorithm which mainly focuses around the ratings given in the End of Cruise surveys. The portion of the gratuities for the dining staff pulled from a cabin's account are placed in The Pool. However, if there are only 900 passengers on a cruise that means the contents of The Pool will be significantly less than if there were say 1800 passengers on the cruise. Just some food for thought ...

Edited January 10, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Denny01]

17 minutes ago, Calton said:

I'm not opting out before the cruise. I am just enquiring about the difference between my booking and what you receive now.

Don’t understand how this tracks with your original question asking can you ‘opt out’ of tipping.

 

To answer the question above,, The difference is, you probably paid a lower SR charge and will get your gratuities added to your daily charges that show up on the bill. the one’s who booked with the current AI have that covered, but paid more for their SR. 

 

As to your real question. You seem to be mixing up gratuites and tipping. Gratuities go to the team supporting you such as at the dining venues and the SR staff. Tipping is usually defined as giving money to waitstaff, or to your dining and SR staff as extra, and a ‘tip’ is included when you order a drink as part of its cost and is on the bill for the drink. Again, those that booked with AI had drinks up to a set cost covered and won’t have that, but again they paid more for their SR.

 

I don’t give advice on how to opt out of removing gratuities, and how to not tip. And again, why are you interested in that? The gratuities and the ‘tip’ on the drink bill is a major part of what the staff gets and is important to them.

 

Den

Edited January 10, 2022 by Denny01

[Guindalf]

To be fair, the OP is not looking to avoid tipping. Merely asking about the difference between booking pre-AI and now.

 

Also, the OP Is a Brit and is probably not used to the concept of tipping in the same way as Americans are. It’s also the use of the term ‘tipping’ that can be confusing. 
 

The daily fee that is added to your account is a ‘gratuity’ or ‘staff incentive’ and it goes a long way to the salaries of the people that make your trip so memorable. A tip is also part of that overall salary, but it is added to the cost of your drinks, etc., at the rate of around 20%. 
 

FTR, I’m a Brit too, but I’ve lived in the USA for the past 24 years!

Edited January 10, 2022 by Guindalf

[cruisestitch]

I will politely disagree .  The OP didn’t ask “If you have always included and I don’t, what is the difference between us?’”

 

the question was, “can you opt out of tips.”

 

 

 

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by cruisestitch

[emmas gran]

As a Brit we are not used to tipping the American way, Celebrity will add the charge to your bill each day. Please do not cancel these charges it is very frowned on as you will see from earlier posts. I hope you have a good cruise , we have done over 23 with Celebrity and never stiffed the crew by not tipping

[Jim_Iain]

I have removed tips before for a specific purpose.   We were dining in Murano's every night and was told by guest services that our tips would go to the dining room (Luminae) of our assigned room and there was no way to re-direct to Murano's.    We could however remove them and then fill out a form to  direct the tips to all the same places except have them go to Murano's instead.  

 

On our last cruise I was told the new policy is if you charge room tips to a specialty restaurant  they go to the general pool of all restaurants but if you leave cash it goes to the specific dining room.  

 

We always over tip so no intention of stiffing anyone.   We love to direct tips to those that have given us exceptional service.  

[Calton]

I should have worded the original post better.

 

It is our first cruise with Celebrity. We usually cruise with Marella. Tips are already included. 

I wasn't sure how it would work from my original booking, of tips not included to tips included.

I always tip, even back in blighty but if someone wanted to opt out, surely it is up to them. 

[emmas gran]

7 minutes ago, Calton said:

I should have worded the original post better.

 

It is our first cruise with Celebrity. We usually cruise with Marella. Tips are already included. 

I wasn't sure how it would work from my original booking, of tips not included to tips included.

I always tip, even back in blighty but if someone wanted to opt out, surely it is up to them. 

It is only done for extremely bad service and before doing that you would discuss any bad service with Guest relations.. Celebrity has probably given on board credit with your booking ,use that for the tips. You really need to think is Celebrity for you if you are thinking of not tipping.

[Ken the cruiser]

13 minutes ago, Calton said:

I should have worded the original post better.

 

It is our first cruise with Celebrity. We usually cruise with Marella. Tips are already included. 

I wasn't sure how it would work from my original booking, of tips not included to tips included.

I always tip, even back in blighty but if someone wanted to opt out, surely it is up to them. 

Just a suggestion. But if you booked this cruise quite some time ago, have you done a fake booking recently just to see what the price is now with All Included? Celebrity has been known to drop their prices on occasion.

[asnaleah]

Good idea Ken. I will check to see if there has been a price drop for Jan 24. Thanks! Also, thanks to the OP who reminded us that the crew gratuities are from a much smaller pool. And, great idea to use excess OBC to add to the pool.

[keesar]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

I have removed tips before for a specific purpose.   We were dining in Murano's every night and was told by guest services that our tips would go to the dining room (Luminae) of our assigned room and there was no way to re-direct to Murano's.    We could however remove them and then fill out a form to  direct the tips to all the same places except have them go to Murano's instead.  

 

On our last cruise I was told the new policy is if you charge room tips to a specialty restaurant  they go to the general pool of all restaurants but if you leave cash it goes to the specific dining room.  

 

We always over tip so no intention of stiffing anyone.   We love to direct tips to those that have given us exceptional service.  

 

The name of the specialty restaurant  on Celebrity cruise ships is  Murano.   The restaurant you are thinking of is the famous Italian restaurant in North Carolina called Murano's.  Both offer very good food and service.

[dkjretired]

I really want to be polite but most  of the tipping scenarios are probably not true.   These comments almost change monthly based on who people talk to on a particular cruise.   Been hearing this for 25 years on this board so be careful what "guidelines" you follow.    I just tip what are taken out of my account and give extra tips  to those I choose.   Where those tips go are not my problem and quite frankly none of us have any control over them.    

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, keesar said:

 

The name of the specialty restaurant  on Celebrity cruise ships is  Murano.   The restaurant you are thinking of is the famous Italian restaurant in North Carolina called Murano's.  Both offer very good food and service.

All I will say is -  if all you can do is correct someone typo.   I'm sure you have made one -ONCE in your life.

 

 

 

[bucfan2]

5 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

We have done that once when we had a big issue in the MDR and ended up not eating there. Thus redistributed the $$ and added a couple hundred extra.

 

Nice.  We’ve given some nice tips, but a couple hundred extra redistributed after a big issue?  Nice. 

[RichYak]

57 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

All I will say is

You, sir, are far more of a gentleman than I am. Kudos to you.

[dkjretired]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I have removed tips before for a specific purpose.   We were dining in Murano's every night and was told by guest services that our tips would go to the dining room (Luminae) of our assigned room and there was no way to re-direct to Murano's.    We could however remove them and then fill out a form to  direct the tips to all the same places except have them go to Murano's instead.  

 

On our last cruise I was told the new policy is if you charge room tips to a specialty restaurant  they go to the general pool of all restaurants but if you leave cash it goes to the specific dining room.  

 

We always over tip so no intention of stiffing anyone.   We love to direct tips to those that have given us exceptional service.  

 

Just curious but when you directed the tips to Murano where did you eat lunch and breakfast..

Edited January 11, 2022 by dkjretired

[bucfan2]

55 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

Just curious but when you directed the tips to Murano where did you eat lunch and breakfast..

Curious as well. 

[cruisestitch]

7 hours ago, bucfan2 said:

Curious as well. 

And who changed the sheets and towels in your room?

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, cruisestitch said:

And who changed the sheets and towels in your room?

I believe his post stated that all tips were to be distributed the same  except for Luminae, which would be redistributed to  Murano.  He was not snubbing anyone. Jim, am I correct?