Celebrity Cruise Suite tipping

[canderson]

38 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 I always thought it went to Celebrity and that the sommerlier gets some portion of it.  How did you find out they received it all? 

 

Just a further thought upon what you might be insinuating there (or not?)...

 

If it EVER got out that the company was taking a cut of the tips to add to the bottom line, they'd have a PR nightmare on their hands.  It's more or less universally understood, at least in Western countries, that the company grabbing a share of the tips is EXCEPTIONALLY bad form, and is actually unlawful in many places. 

 

I doubt RCG would ever risk the fallout from doing that.

 

That's not to say that RCG doesn't cheat and enjoy the "float" between the time the tip is gained (typically from credit cards) and a somewhat delayed payment to the crew, but it's very hard to imagine they'd take the risk of taking any % off the top.

[IDL]

7 hours ago, canderson said:

Just a further thought upon what you might be insinuating there (or not?)...

 

If it EVER got out that the company was taking a cut of the tips to add to the bottom line, they'd have a PR nightmare on their hands.  It's more or less universally understood, at least in Western countries, that the company grabbing a share of the tips is EXCEPTIONALLY bad form, and is actually unlawful in many places. 

 

I doubt RCG would ever risk the fallout from doing that.

 

That's not to say that RCG doesn't cheat and enjoy the "float" between the time the tip is gained (typically from credit cards) and a somewhat delayed payment to the crew, but it's very hard to imagine they'd take the risk of taking any % off the top.

Not saying this is the case with cruise lines but if you book a ballroom in a hotel for a wedding let’s say the hotel adds a service charge and it is made clear that is not a tip as the hotel is allowed to add tax to the service charge amount.  I have no idea what amount, if any,  out of the service charge is distributed to the employees who work the event but the expectation is you tip on top of the service charge. 

[ExArkie]

Question for those who express concern over the distribution of tips/gratuities amongst the cruise staff - when you eat at a land-based restaurant, does the same issue concern you, specifically whether and how much of a server's tip is split with the back of the house (kitchen crew, etc.) or those who bus tables?

 

I ask because that never enters my mind when I'm on land, and I have just adopted that same attitude on ships. The expected gratuity is automatic, anything else is at my discretion and generally only for exceptional service, the same as a "service included" restaurant.

[canderson]

4 hours ago, IDL said:

Not saying this is the case with cruise lines but if you book a ballroom in a hotel for a wedding let’s say the hotel adds a service charge and it is made clear that is not a tip as the hotel is allowed to add tax to the service charge amount.  I have no idea what amount, if any,  out of the service charge is distributed to the employees who work the event but the expectation is you tip on top of the service charge. 

Yes, that's often done, and is a separate business model - totally opaque, as you say.  But tipping where it's clearly a 'tip' on the receipt is another thing altogether. 

 

Here in the U.S., it's strictly verboten for a business or a manager to pull any amount from an employee's tips.  The Department of Labor is always interested in hearing about these incidents when they occur.  Here's a decent article on the topic re the law here in the U.S.:

 

https://natlawreview.com/article/dol-cracks-down-and-opens-cracks-employers-keeping-tips

 

And yes, before anyone reminds me that these cruise lines don't play by any rules out  there on the sea, no, it's not a legal question for them, just a potential PR nightmare.  I only point out the U.S. situation to provide an example of how the practice is not only considered really bad form in most of the civilized world, it's even outright illegal in some countries as well.

 

As I say, I really doubt Celebrity (or any of the other well known lines) is doing this. Just too much risk to the brand.

[Buccaneergirl]

We were just in our first sky suite on Eclipse for 12 nights. Our butler, Jose, was terrific and always had such a positive attitude. He brought our room service breakfast every morning and asked if we needed anything for the day. The only extra thing he did was bring us coffee and danish on disembarkation day and we did appreciate it.

We ended up tipping him an additional $10 a day. Our room steward was nothing great and we hardly ever saw him, so we didn’t tip him any extra.

 

We did tip our waiter and asst waiter in Luminae extra(I think $5 a day).

 

We also tipped the two bartenders in the World Class Bar because we were there every night before dinner and they were so entertaining and made great drinks. 

[DaKahuna]

13 hours ago, canderson said:

Don't know.  Guess one or two people associated with the service might get a piece, but it's the somm's incentive to sell. 

 

 I do not know either.  I know bartenders get a cut of the gratuity for any packages or upgrades they sale. I expect it is the same for the sommelier's.  I honestly do not know. I do know that the sommelier in Luminae does not share in the added gratuities and so we always tip the sommelier individually. 

 

[canderson]

8 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I do not know either.  I know bartenders get a cut of the gratuity for any packages or upgrades they sale. I expect it is the same for the sommelier's.  I honestly do not know. I do know that the sommelier in Luminae does not share in the added gratuities and so we always tip the sommelier individually. 

 

If we haven't ordered enough paid-for wines from the Sommelier, and he/she is doing a really good job, I've been known to ask the sommelier for a net $0 receipt to which I add a tip if we're not carrying cash.  I'm sure it looks really goofy to the accounting department, but it works.  Normally, though, we're ordering enough of the higher end stuff by the bottle that the sommelier is getting good money that way every day or two. 

 

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, ExArkie said:

when you eat at a land-based restaurant, does the same issue concern you, specifically whether and how much of a server's tip is split with the back of the house (kitchen crew, etc.) or those who bus tables?

 

 Most of the places that I have eaten the wait staff all pool their tips and it is not shared with the back of the house.  

 Are we saying tips and gratuities are the same?  Gratuities are a daily charge and are distributed by the cruise line as indicated in the literature you can request at guest services.  Tips, at least to my understanding, are handled differently than gratuities and I do not believe that any tips I give to the wait staff or to an individual server at a bar go to anyone other than the pool of tips that are distribute among the servers for that bar.  Same as the money in the envelope we give the Luminae Maitre'd - that's only shared with the wait staff in Luminae. 

 I may be wrong and if I am someone please tell me. 

 

 In either case, I do not believe Celebrity Cruise Lines get any portion of either. 

 

[DaKahuna]

22 minutes ago, Buccaneergirl said:

Our room steward was nothing great and we hardly ever saw him, so we didn’t tip him any extra.

 

 One of the best room steward's we had was similar - the room was always immaculate, towels replenished, floor vacuumed, trash emptied, etc. etc. and all without disturbing us whatsoever.  We hunted him down on the next to last day and gave him a nice tip.  We loved that we hardly ever saw him but saw lots of evidence that he was really good at his job. 

 

[CaroltheB]

16 hours ago, canderson said:

We had such an experience in Dec 2021.  His name was Anu.  An individual you'd really want to spend your time with in a more normal setting.

 

He set a really high bar for all that have come after. 

Oh, that is so funny. In March 2022 we also had Anu! And you are right, he was great. Very professional. He was our first Butler experience and there has only been one since that even came close.

[Buccaneergirl]

7 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 One of the best room steward's we had was similar - the room was always immaculate, towels replenished, floor vacuumed, trash emptied, etc. etc. and all without disturbing us whatsoever.  We hunted him down on the next to last day and gave him a nice tip.  We loved that we hardly ever saw him but saw lots of evidence that he was really good at his job. 

 

I should have also said that on our sea days(we had 6) we left our cabin around 11am and came back an hour and a half or two hours later and he had not made up our room.

Not a big deal to me, but thought he would have had time to clean it.

 

We have also had room stewards like the one you mentioned you had and loved them too. They are the “stealth” room stewards.

[canderson]

11 minutes ago, CaroltheB said:

Oh, that is so funny. In March 2022 we also had Anu! And you are right, he was great. Very professional. He was our first Butler experience and there has only been one since that even came close.

That on top of seeming to be just a genuinely nice human being.

 

Where did you run across him?  Which ship?  He was on Constellation for the restart, but we've lost track of him.  Wonder if he's 'retired' from the business or moved to another line?  We do periodically put out a call here to see if anyone has seen him, but have had no word for a long while now.

[DaKahuna]

@canderson & @CaroltheB  I have met Anu but we have never had him as our butler.  The best butler we had was "Hilario the Host"  - the singing butler on one of our Silhouette sailings.  He was amazing and very funny as well.  

 

[wrk2cruise]

We had both Anu and Sebastian during that same time frame on Constellation. Both were excellent.  We ran into Sebastian again on Equinox about a year later.

[goldsmip115]

Anu was an absolutely amazing butler.  We still talk about him to this day!  Our first cruise after Covid in the PS on the Constellation.

[canderson]

26 minutes ago, goldsmip115 said:

Anu was an absolutely amazing butler.  We still talk about him to this day!  Our first cruise after Covid in the PS on the Constellation.

Were you next door to Schmoe on that one?  This was the first two Connie cruises out of Tampa after the restart.  I waited one day too many to drop the hammer on the cabin you got!  We were just down the hall.

 

Here's my own contribution.  Who was that masked man??? 😄

 

 

 

[goldsmip115]

We were on the next cruise after Randy and Connie sailed.  We finally met them on a Millenium cruise from San Diego to Vancouver where we had both Penthouses.

[CaroltheB]

20 hours ago, canderson said:

That on top of seeming to be just a genuinely nice human being.

 

Where did you run across him?  Which ship?  He was on Constellation for the restart, but we've lost track of him.  Wonder if he's 'retired' from the business or moved to another line?  We do periodically put out a call here to see if anyone has seen him, but have had no word for a long while now.

For us is was also the Constellation. We have not sailed that ship again and also have not ever run across him again.

[canderson]

14 hours ago, goldsmip115 said:

We were on the next cruise after Randy and Connie sailed.  We finally met them on a Millenium cruise from San Diego to Vancouver where we had both Penthouses.

If we ever hope to see the inside of another one, we're going to have to start booking a whole lot sooner again.  There's nothing left at all in Retreat, and hasn't been for a while, for the Fall 2025 Connie WB TA.  Will probably jump back to Silversea.

[CaroltheB]

On 8/30/2024 at 6:55 PM, goldsmip115 said:

Anu was an absolutely amazing butler.  We still talk about him to this day!  Our first cruise after Covid in the PS on the Constellation.

Thank you for the mostly maskless photo. We only saw the top half of his face

[Traveling Fools]

On 8/30/2024 at 1:36 PM, DaKahuna said:

I know bartenders get a cut of the gratuity for any packages or upgrades they sale. I expect it is the same for the sommelier's. 

 

Butlers also get a commission from any Tastings you sign up for thru them.

[CNSfromHI]

On 8/29/2024 at 5:29 PM, Jim_Iain said:

We usually tip extra... based on above and beyond service.

If someone just does their job then we do not tip extra...

 

This is how we handle gratuities, as well, i.e., "above-and-beyond service." This can include anyone, from the butler to the adult-bevvy server in the Ocean View Cafe, and anyone in between. We've been uber-impressed with our room attendant (more than our butler) on our last two cruises, so we've made a point of tipping them extra.

 

Our upcoming cruise next week will be the first without prepaid gratuities but I don't expect any significant difference from past experiences, other than paying that bill at the end of the cruise.

 

cjr

[SusieAV8R]

On 8/30/2024 at 1:36 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 I do not know either.  I know bartenders get a cut of the gratuity for any packages or upgrades they sale. I expect it is the same for the sommelier's.  I honestly do not know. I do know that the sommelier in Luminae does not share in the added gratuities and so we always tip the sommelier individually. 

 

DaKahuna is correct.  We confirmed with both the Maitre D and our very helpful sommelier on our cruise last week on Summit that the sommelier does not share her additional tip with any other crew member.  I also confirmed with the Maitre D' that tips to  Luminae staff is pooled.  (I like to stay current. 😃 )

[IggleDoer]

Does the staff know if we have pre-paid tips?

[canderson]

4 minutes ago, IggleDoer said:

Does the staff know if we have pre-paid tips?

They have no visibility to this.  For all they know, you booked prior to Oct 2023 and tips are covered in an AI package.  Or you could have included them as pre-paid with the booking after Oct 2023.  Or you could be having them added as daily debits to your folio.