Gratuity added to specialty dining?

[39august]

During our May 6 Equinox cruise we were automatically charged 18% gratuity in Tuscan Grill. Is this happening on other ships?

[Moby Jones]

It was on Reflection last week. 

[Laurab23]

It was on Summit last week.

 

Laura

[Seacrab]

51 minutes ago, 39august said:

During our May 6 Equinox cruise we were automatically charged 18% gratuity in Tuscan Grill. Is this happening on other ships?

Did you have a reservation made before sailing, and before mid April? I’m aware of a change to this, but trying to understand if your reservation was made before or after the change. 

[39august]

Made on the ship during cruise. There were no discounts available for any night or time I was told when  I booked. That is a first for me!  I have always gotten a minimum of  20% off when I asked for a discount on previous cruises since 2017. 

[jelayne]

That change around .4/22.  In the Cruise Planner on some ships they increased the price 18% on others the added a 18% gratuity at checkout.  Either way price up 18%.  Dining packages also increased 

[dgoz]

Did you find this charge on your tab at the end of the cruise or did they hand you a receipt at the restaurant?

[chemmo]

Has anyone in a RS/PH with unlimited speciality dining had a slip for the 18% gratuity? We don’t mind paying, we always tip anyway, just interested in if the system has changed.

[39august]

It was on the receipt.  I guess no more cash extra tipping for us. Apparently I missed the notification of the increase.  Really no biggie. We always have lots of nonrefundable OBC. 

[BettyCruiser]

45 minutes ago, 39august said:

It was on the receipt.  I guess no more cash extra tipping for us. Apparently I missed the notification of the increase.  Really no biggie. We always have lots of nonrefundable OBC. 

 

At least you received a receipt. We were on EQ May 6th and ate at LPC. No receipt, tipped in cash as usual later to discover when checking account that they had charged us the tip. When making these changes Celebrity should be transparent by providing the receipt. Seemed very sneaky to me. 

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

That change around .4/22.  In the Cruise Planner on some ships they increased the price 18% on others the added a 18% gratuity at checkout.  Either way price up 18%.  Dining packages also increased 

 

Just as a data point:  recently, when we used Cruise Planner to book a first night specialty restaurant dinner for our cruise on the Silhouette in October, an 18% gratuity was added at checkout.   (No notice until you got to checkout that this was going to happen, but having read about the recent $$ hike here on CC, I wasn't surprised by it.  But it sure is making the cost of specialty dining pretty expensive, even without counting the cost of the included meal you've already paid for in your cruise fare.)

[jelayne]

My first reaction was much the same,  very expensive.  In thinking about it the prices for the restaurants have not changed in about 8 years.  We went out for pizza the other night in our small town. A 3 topping pizza and 1 salad ( nothing to drink) was $34 with tip. Last night chicken Caesar salad, BLT & fries, 1 glass of wine each with tip $55.

Food at home or eating out is expensive.

[D C]

That's how they snuck in an 18% price increase without changing the price. 

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, D C said:

That's how they snuck in an 18% price increase without changing the price. 

We have booking on 5 different ships 1 M class, 1 S class & 3 E class.  
Some ships in the Cruise Planner they have changed the price of the meal so for example, Murano is $59 and no gratuity added when you check out other ships the meal is the same as before but the gratuity added at check out.  Maybe they decide on 1 approach. 

[Cruising89143]

I booked specialty dining for three nights for our December cruise. This was prior to the price increase. No gratuity was charged at checkout. I fully expect to be charged for the gratuity once we dine onboard. As stated above, this will end our tipping in cash if this is the case. 

[ROYALBOY]

We have always put a 20 in the bill folder for the waiter, but I am not going to pay 40% tip.

[D C]

We've already talked about our next sailing, which is a 9n.  We MIGHT do 1 or 2 specialty dinners where we would normally do 3 or 4 on a 7n.   The sneaky price increase is putting us off. 

[Ipeeinthepools]

Yep, that was the practice on the Summit last week.

[Ken the cruiser]

I just checked on our upcoming Summit cruise and the price for Le Petit Chef has jumped to $65 per person which I’m guessing now includes this additional 18% gratuity. Sorry, we were informed on each of our 4 B2Bs since cruising restarted by the SD maitre that the gratuities were included in the price, which made sense considering how much they charged. Now they’re in effect raising the price of the SD meal by adding the 18% gratuities without reducing the base price of the meal.
 

No thanks. The SD meals just aren’t that great when compared to the meals served in the MDR, Blu or Luminae, depending on the cabin category we’re in.

[keesar]

5 hours ago, ROYALBOY said:

We have always put a 20 in the bill folder for the waiter, but I am not going to pay 40% tip.

Actually, you have been paying close to that all along.  The 18% tip had already been included as noted on the receipt at the restaurant.  So you have to look at it as there has been a 18% increase in the cost of Specialty Dining.  

  

 

[Redking]

15 hours ago, chemmo said:

Has anyone in a RS/PH with unlimited speciality dining had a slip for the 18% gratuity? We don’t mind paying, we always tip anyway, just interested in if the system has changed.

I was wondering the same thing. I just had our invoices updated for our next three cruises because the codes for the speciality dining hadn't been included on the original invoice - better to avoid any confusion. 

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, Redking said:

I was wondering the same thing. I just had our invoices updated for our next three cruises because the codes for the speciality dining hadn't been included on the original invoice - better to avoid any confusion. 

Many cruises ago when we were in RSs we used to ask for a slip at the end of the evening when dining in the speciality restaurants to add a tip. One waiter (very politely) did inform us that if we tipped on the slip the money went to the general pool, if we tipped in cash the speciality staff shared it. Since then we have always tipped cash…I do hope the new18% add on actually does go to the staff who earn it…

 

To add another complication it could be different for RS/PH in different regions….In regions where the price has gone up no add on but in regions where the price has stayed the same the % slip…Definitely guaranteed to cause confusion! 
 

Hopefully we will find out on CC before our next cruise!

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, Redking said:

I was wondering the same thing. I just had our invoices updated for our next three cruises because the codes for the speciality dining hadn't been included on the original invoice - better to avoid any confusion. 

My best guess is they are charging the 18% on cruises where they normally add a service charge on drinks paid for (Med and Caribbean) and are simply upping the meal charge on regions where there is usually a higher base drinks charge but no added service charge (Southampton and Australia/NZ).

 

I could be wrong but that to me would be the easiest explanation…So if you cruise from NZ or Australia this year and we cruise from Southampton we would not pay a service charge but if we both fly to the Caribbean we may pay an 18% surcharge on a meal costing us $0!!!??? The mind boggles.

[quicklabs]

Just booked Eden on the Apex.  They showed the separate line item gratuity and added it to the cost of the meal upon checkout.  

[Vectorboy]

I wonder how long before they charge for a second plate of prime rib or any other main.

 

It's coming.