Paying for drinks and tipping as we go

[swimming wiv da fishes]

Our 2nd cruise booked with Celebrity 

Our last one was on Eclipse, Australia and New Zealand. 

We have booked Apex for Oct 2025 Transatlantic out of Southampton. 

We 50s and 60s yr old couple from UK.

We have cruised a few times and always included the drinks package.

Nowadays, our drinking alcohol,  has dwindled significantly,  due to medication and we really don't see the benefits of getting the drinks package, even the soft drinks one would be wasted on us.

So, a glass of wine each night with our meal and 1 or 2 drinks at the bars, plus the odd latte 

We're thinking to just pop a wedge of dollars onto our onboard credit account.

Also, will it be acceptable to pay as we go with cash, regarding tipping?

We haven't ticked the box to pre pay for gratuities but if this is really frowned upon, we won't go to guest services to get them to remove. 

Again, this is something we've always paid upfront for but then we find ourselves extra tipping,eg, bar staff, stewards, restaurant staff.

What's everyone's opinion.?

 

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I believe a gratuity is automatically added to each drink you buy individually (not as part of a package). Around 18% for most cruise lines. If you want to add a cash tip on top of the automatically included tip - be my guest. 

 

You do not need to prepay your daily gratuities. They will simply be added to your onboard account and settled against the cash or credit card you apply to it. If you wish to tip certain individuals in addition to the automatic gratuity, you are welcome to do so with cash.

[markeb]

So, a couple of different questions here.

 

Paying as you go on drinks is fine. Do the math and be sure it's the best deal, but it sounds like it probably is for you. The gratuity on drinks will be added automatically. Totally on you if you want to give extra (which you can do directly on the tab, BTW). You certainly can carry cash, but it's unnecessary. 

 

As far as daily gratuities go, I assume you plan to pay them? And are asking how best to do that? You can pre-pay before you board or they'll be added on to your shipboard account each day and settled to your account at the end. I really wouldn't try to tip people on a daily basis. The gratuities get pooled and distributed. If you want to give extra, that's fine, but the baseline gratuity gets distributed beyond the person you're tipping and they almost certainly have to pool those baseline cash tips. It may actually be more work for them.

[cruisestitch]

Here are some things to consider regarding removing the tips

 

1. You won’t directly see all of the people who would be sharing in the auto tip. You will see your room steward and your dining room waiter and assistant waiter, of course, but the rest of the staff would be impossible to find to give cash tips to.

 

2. when you remove the auto tips, it goes as a black mark against those staff who are most directly taking care of you. That isn’t your intent, of course, but that is what happens.

 

3. after having removed auto tip, any cash tips you give to the housekeeping and wait staff must be turned into the pool so they don’t get to keep those directly anyway. Only if the auto tips are in place can they keep any cash tips that you give above the standard gratuity.
 

 

[marieps]

It sounds like you plan to tip, as we all should.  As the above poster has stated, please use the auto tip, whether you pre-pay or are billed daily.  It's much easier for the crew and assures all servers get their share.  Have a great cruise.

[miched]

I find that the prepaid tip option lets me know how much extra the cruise will cost.  I never prepay it as it will be added daily onto the folio.   I don’t like giving money away ahead of time.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[swimming wiv da fishes]

Thank you everyone. 

You've basically answered what I was thinking about the people we don't see and my conscience regarding the fairness.

I had no idea removing the gratuities was classed as a black mark against the staff!!

Also, didn't know that by removing would mean the person I have tipped would need to pool it. !!

I'll  just leave the gratuities on my bill.

Thanks again

[manmachine]

54 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Here are some things to consider regarding removing the tips

 

1. You won’t directly see all of the people who would be sharing in the auto tip. You will see your room steward and your dining room waiter and assistant waiter, of course, but the rest of the staff would be impossible to find to give cash tips to.

 

2. when you remove the auto tips, it goes as a black mark against those staff who are most directly taking care of you. That isn’t your intent, of course, but that is what happens.

 

3. after having removed auto tip, any cash tips you give to the housekeeping and wait staff must be turned into the pool so they don’t get to keep those directly anyway. Only if the auto tips are in place can they keep any cash tips that you give above the standard gratuity.
 

 

 

[Pushkin]

BTW - the tipping percentage for individual drinks is now 20%. It is including on the slip they give you to sign.

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, swimming wiv da fishes said:

Thank you everyone. 

You've basically answered what I was thinking about the people we don't see and my conscience regarding the fairness.

I had no idea removing the gratuities was classed as a black mark against the staff!!

Also, didn't know that by removing would mean the person I have tipped would need to pool it. !!

I'll  just leave the gratuities on my bill.

Thanks again

great that everyone was able to help. The attached that shows how the auto tips are distributed.

20% added to all drinks and spa treatments.

It's better to register a credit card to cover all the above as otherwise X will require a hefty cash deposit. Make sure you sign for your credit card company to do the conversion not X  and use a card with no currency conversion costs - we use Nationwide 

Have a great cruise.

[marieps]

4 hours ago, the penguins said:

great that everyone was able to help. The attached that shows how the auto tips are distributed.

20% added to all drinks and spa treatments.

It's better to register a credit card to cover all the above as otherwise X will require a hefty cash deposit. Make sure you sign for your credit card company to do the conversion not X  and use a card with no currency conversion costs - we use Nationwide 

Have a great cruise.

Thanks for that, Geoff.  I haven't seen that breakdown before.

[the penguins]

35 minutes ago, marieps said:

Thanks for that, Geoff.  I haven't seen that breakdown before.

a pleasure - it's available on request at Guest Relations on every ship.

[locksley10]

10 hours ago, the penguins said:

great that everyone was able to help. The attached that shows how the auto tips are distributed.

20% added to all drinks and spa treatments.

It's better to register a credit card to cover all the above as otherwise X will require a hefty cash deposit. Make sure you sign for your credit card company to do the conversion not X  and use a card with no currency conversion costs - we use Nationwide 

Have a great cruise.

I have never seen this before!

Excellent information.

[gold1953]

20 hours ago, swimming wiv da fishes said:

Thank you everyone. 

You've basically answered what I was thinking about the people we don't see and my conscience regarding the fairness.

I had no idea removing the gratuities was classed as a black mark against the staff!!

Also, didn't know that by removing would mean the person I have tipped would need to pool it. !!

I'll  just leave the gratuities on my bill.

Thanks again

everything posted here is not fact. Cash tips are not pooled

[Hawkstar33]

26 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

everything posted here is not fact. Cash tips are not pooled

I'm not sure about the pooling of cash either.  I think it would be too hard to track, and prove how much was given to an individual.  I work my butt off cleaning up after you, you hand me a cash tip, IT'S MINE.   I have heard that they pool tips in Specialty restaurants, but not 100% sure.

Edited January 23 by Hawkstar33

[cruisestitch]

1 hour ago, gold1953 said:

everything posted here is not fact. Cash tips are not pooled

Extra cash tips over and above the auto tips are not pooled but if the auto tips are removed then that’s a different story