Gratuities

[Guest Cruisenewbie20181]

If I already prepaid gratuities why is an additional gratuity added to specialty dining cost? Is the extra gratuity shared just amongst the staff in the specialty restaurant? Who shares the prepaid gratuity of $18.00 per day?

[RichYak]

7 minutes ago, Cruisenewbie20181 said:

If I already prepaid gratuities why is an additional gratuity added to specialty dining cost?

Because your prepaid gratuities don't cover specialty dining. You'll also be charged additional gratuities on things like beverage purchases and spa visits.

Edited January 18 by RichYak

[cruisestitch]

1 hour ago, Cruisenewbie20181 said:

If I already prepaid gratuities why is an additional gratuity added to specialty dining cost? Is the extra gratuity shared just amongst the staff in the specialty restaurant? Who shares the prepaid gratuity of $18.00 per day?

The prepaid daily goes to housekeeping staff and MDR staff.  It does not cover specialty restaurants’ staff, spa staff, babysitters, or bar and wine staff when you are ordering something outside your drinks package

[Galaxy2004]

Celebrity used to post how tips would be shared, but this is the most they provide on their site now: https://www.celebritycruises.com/faqs/gratuity-program

[Guest Cruisenewbie20181]

Thank you. I don’t mind paying just was curious about the process. 

[hcat]

could not open the FAQ or locate the  list which details who gets what.

 

Here's all I could  find:

 

"How are cruise gratuities split?

 

 

If you are paying gratuities you may want to know how they are broken down and split between the staff members. Stateroom attendants receive approximately 25% of cruise gratuities paid by guests. Dining room staff receive 43% and the remaining 32% is split between other hotel services."

Edited January 18 by hcat

[paulh84]

3. Are all guests required to pay gratuities?

The daily gratuity is shared by dining, bar and culinary services staff, stateroom attendants, and other hotel services teams.

 

 

4. Why is Celebrity Cruises include a 20% gratuity for Specialty Dining and room service?

The 20% gratuity collected will be disbursed to our restaurant staff. Most importantly, it recognizes the exceptional work of our restaurant staff to deliver unforgettable luxury vacations every day.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Cruisenewbie20181 said:

If I already prepaid gratuities why is an additional gratuity added to specialty dining cost? Is the extra gratuity shared just amongst the staff in the specialty restaurant? Who shares the prepaid gratuity of $18.00 per day?

Tips for the specialties is a separate pool.    They do get an allocation from the daily tip. They receive their gratuities from both the 20% added to the bill and extra that are left..      I was told by a Maitr'D if you leave additional  a tip in Specialty on your Room Key it goes to all the ships restaurant staff but if you leave cash it just goes to the Specialty Dining Room Pool not the individual waiter. 

[hcat]

When grat was much lower, we used to leave extra cash, but then  maitre d said add to bill so restaurant gets  credit for good service..

 

Now this required grat is  up to  20% . We will not leave extra unless something very special is done!  

 

Tipping in general is getting out of control

[LB_NJ]

54 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Tips for the specialties is a separate pool.    They do get an allocation from the daily tip. They receive their gratuities from both the 20% added to the bill and extra that are left..      I was told by a Maitr'D if you leave additional  a tip in Specialty on your Room Key it goes to all the ships restaurant staff but if you leave cash it just goes to the Specialty Dining Room Pool not the individual waiter. 

We usually leave a small cash tip to the waiter and a separate cash tip to his helper in the MDR. Not big money but just to acknowledge the usually excellent service we get.

 

Do you know if they get to keep it or if it is distributed?

[markeb]

15 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

We usually leave a small cash tip to the waiter and a separate cash tip to his helper in the MDR. Not big money but just to acknowledge the usually excellent service we get.

 

Do you know if they get to keep it or if it is distributed?

 

Does it matter? Even if they pool it, they're getting more than if you hadn't left extra.

 

The stock answer on CC for years has been that if the customer leaves the auto tips in place, the individual can keep the extra cash gratuity. The flaw in that logic is the customer could remove the auto tips up until 10:00 pm or so the last night and the individual with a cash tip would have no idea they now owed the pool. I just choose to accept that what happens to the gratuity is between the employee and their employer.

[LB_NJ]

49 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Does it matter? Even if they pool it, they're getting more than if you hadn't left extra.

 

The stock answer on CC for years has been that if the customer leaves the auto tips in place, the individual can keep the extra cash gratuity. The flaw in that logic is the customer could remove the auto tips up until 10:00 pm or so the last night and the individual with a cash tip would have no idea they now owed the pool. I just choose to accept that what happens to the gratuity is between the employee and their employer.

To me it matters.

 

If they don’t get to keep the whole amount I won’t bother leaving anything.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, LB_NJ said:

We usually leave a small cash tip to the waiter and a separate cash tip to his helper in the MDR. Not big money but just to acknowledge the usually excellent service we get.

 

Do you know if they get to keep it or if it is distributed?

My understanding is if you hand them cash, they're supposed to pool it. If you hand them an envelope with their name on it, whatever is inside is theirs to keep.

[CruisinRoxy]

22 minutes ago, RichYak said:

My understanding is if you hand them cash, they're supposed to pool it. If you hand them an envelope with their name on it, whatever is inside is theirs to keep.

I was wondering that too.   In days gone by, you’d have a few envelopes on the last day, and personally hand it to your stateroom attendant, or butler, in the case of a suite.  Or a waiter or maitre d if the service was exceptional.  Does anybody do that anymore? Leave cash dollars?  I’d really like to know, as I kind of like that whole thing.  

[cruisestitch]

1 hour ago, CruisinRoxy said:

I was wondering that too.   In days gone by, you’d have a few envelopes on the last day, and personally hand it to your stateroom attendant, or butler, in the case of a suite.  Or a waiter or maitre d if the service was exceptional.  Does anybody do that anymore? Leave cash dollars?  I’d really like to know, as I kind of like that whole thing.  

If you like it do it.  It doesn’t matter what others do.

[markeb]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

My understanding is if you hand them cash, they're supposed to pool it. If you hand them an envelope with their name on it, whatever is inside is theirs to keep.

 

That's a twist I've not heard before. There are too many urban legends on what's done and how. I just tip and let them figure it out. Which is what I do on land.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, CruisinRoxy said:

I was wondering that too.   In days gone by, you’d have a few envelopes on the last day, and personally hand it to your stateroom attendant, or butler, in the case of a suite.  Or a waiter or maitre d if the service was exceptional.  Does anybody do that anymore? Leave cash dollars?  I’d really like to know, as I kind of like that whole thing.  

You can do this for extra gratuities or just thank you notes if you like. Just don't remove your auto gratuities.

[RichYak]

4 minutes ago, markeb said:

I just tip and let them figure it out.

I put extra tips in an envelope with the waiter's name on it in the hopes that it keeps them out of the decision-making process. I don't what them figuring it out.

[ambrtonj]

To me required gratuities equals service fee. I still would never consider removing them, but I don't believe you should attempt to call any required additional monies as a gift of appreciation. 

 

And no I'm not against tipping additional for service. I do this almost every time I order a drink from a bar. I also do when I attend specialty restaurants. Not the fault of the staff that the service fees pay their meager salary. (Only speculating on the last comment)

[markeb]

3 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I put extra tips in an envelope with the waiter's name on it in the hopes that it keeps them out of the decision-making process. I don't what them figuring it out.

 

They already have. That's how this works in almost every establishment in the world. And the employees agreed to the process when they accepted employment. 

 

And them may be the employees themselves, who are probably tipping out others if they're not mandatorily or voluntarily pooling. The ship isn't a mom and pop restaurant where one person does everything for you. Your really good waiter appears really good partially because he or she is taking care of those that take care of him or her...

[serene56]

who gets the tip when we do not go to the main dining room?   I often wondered if these tips are pooled     But wait staff get different tables.   some will get three   some get 4   doesnt sound very fair if its pooled 

[markeb]

9 minutes ago, serene56 said:

who gets the tip when we do not go to the main dining room?   I often wondered if these tips are pooled     But wait staff get different tables.   some will get three   some get 4   doesnt sound very fair if its pooled 

 

The wait staff works multiple venues. Your MDR waiter for dinner is taking turns carrying trays and drinks in the OVC for breakfast and lunch. If done correctly, the workload should balance out. And the pooling would cover that as well. I've never seen anyone leave a tip at the OVC. I'm sure some people do, but not many.

 

I don't know how they're pooled and split. In some venues it does seem they track who works what tables. But odds are the front of house people you see are getting help from other front of house people you didn't see. That's why they pool. And there's some formula for splitting. In land based restaurants that don't pool, the waiter (the one who took the order and presented the bill) is going to be "tipping out" the other staff that worked your table. On a credit card transaction that may be handled by the POS system, although they may have to select people and their roles. For cash, they're literally dividing the cash and giving it to the busboy, the bartender, etc. It would be incredibly rare for one person to keep the entire tip. It's part of the culture of the restaurant.

 

Back of house is a black hole. That was never part of a traditional tip pool in the US. You still can't mandate sharing pooled tips with back of house personnel if you take a tip credit against salaries; everyone has to be earning at least minimum wage. They might get tipped out if there's no mandatory tip pool. It's complicated. I think most of us assume the ship's follow some version of the US model  though they don't have the same legal obligations. But I don't know of anyone on Cruise Critic who's actually worked as wait staff on Celebrity and would have a definitive answer.

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, CruisinRoxy said:

I was wondering that too.   In days gone by, you’d have a few envelopes on the last day, and personally hand it to your stateroom attendant, or butler, in the case of a suite.  Or a waiter or maitre d if the service was exceptional.  Does anybody do that anymore? Leave cash dollars?  I’d really like to know, as I kind of like that whole thing.  

I always tip extra in cash

[marieps]

We were told extra cash is pooled, but I'm now mot sure if it's pooled intra-venue or inter-venue.  I would hope Luminae $$ stays in Luminae, but I'm unsure.  I was also told the drink tips go to wait staff, but not bartenders.  That may be another urban legend, but I always leave a buck or two on the bar, especially in the evening.  Each passenger has a different view on this and as long as the daily gratis is fulfilled there should be no judgement, IMHO, on how each passenger deals with the issue.

[MISTER 67]

6 hours ago, Cruisenewbie20181 said:

If I already prepaid gratuities why is an additional gratuity added to specialty dining cost? Is the extra gratuity shared just amongst the staff in the specialty restaurant? Who shares the prepaid gratuity of $18.00 per day?

Only the shadow knows.