auto tipping - not removable ?

[ourlol]

I too will be sailing with Celebrity for the first time this August. Personally I jumped at the chance to pre-pay my autotip in advance since, rightly or wrongly, I view the gratuities as part of the cost of my cruise. When working out my final costs on previous cruises (on other cruise lines), I have always mentally factored in the additional costs that will be added to my onboard account in lieu of tips, so when given the opportunity to "choose" if I wanted to pay in advance I felt it was the right way to go (for me).

 

I am certainly not wealthy and in the past have travelled as a party of 6 (my husband and I plus 4 teens/young adults) so we are not talking about insignificant sums of money being set aside for tips. It's not a cheap vacation so more often than not we can only afford to cruise once every two years. I really do understand the various arguments for and against, the merits of whether a tip is deserved, the rights and wrongs of salaries in general, but I think service would have to be pretty bad for me to ask from the autotips to be removed. I am just grateful that someone is there cooking my meals, washing up behind the scenes, making my bed etc and greeting me with a friendly smile whilst on board.

 

When service is over and above my expectations I love nothing more than to give a "little" bit extra on the night before disembarkation. It's also reassuring to know that because I kept my auto-tip in place then anything given at that point doesn't end up in the pool (as would be the case if I had removed them).

 

I suppose it's what you feel comfortable with 'inside' that matters, but alongside the people I meet, it is also my encounters with staff who, often, make my cruise complete... and maybe realise exactly how lucky I am to be going on the cruise in the first place.

 

Laura

[Albert Ross]

we are from Uk and cruising next year on the Eclipse this will be out first time with this line, but i have had removed all auto tips allready as i prefer to tip those who deserve personally !. We had all-ways done it this way on other cruise lines ....happy hols folks :cool:

Principles aside - any good TA should be advising their British clients to prepay the grats because of the favourable exchange rates at the moment which X are using.

For your cruise I believe to prepay the tips it is around £80pp.

To pay the RECOMMENDED amount on board is $11.50pp pd which is $161pp which converts back to around £115pp.

Simple economics to me says you save £35 per person.....this to me, is not a sum to be sneezed at

 

If you are in a suite the margin is even larger.

If I were your TA I would advise you to prepay and save yourself a considerable sum of money. But as I am not I will leave the decision to you!

[sheilauk]

we are from Uk and cruising next year on the Eclipse this will be out first time with this line, but i have had removed all auto tips allready as i prefer to tip those who deserve personally !. We had all-ways done it this way on other cruise lines ....happy hols folks :cool:

 

 

What you have done is removed the pre-paid tips option, the auto tip will still be added to your on board account, but in dollars. So if you want to tip personally, you will still have to go to guest relations and get the auto tip removed.

[spearmint]

I wrote last week to Celebrity about our last cruise. But, I did ask about the auto tipping as well. I was called to day from Corporate Guest Relations, and in answer to any questions I had posed, included the one on auto tipping. One can have it removed by going to onboard guest relations. They will give one envelopes that can be used as was previously done. Hope this helps answer the original poster's original question.:)

 

And P.S.

I don't give a damn why anyone wants to remove the auto tipping feature and tip the old-fashioned way. To make inferences and take off on a tangent as to anyone else's motives is probably erroneous and downright, disgustingly rude. If I choose to do so, then it is absolutely no one's business why.:p

[safari njema]

I wrote last week to Celebrity about our last cruise. But, I did ask about the auto tipping as well. I was called to day from Corporate Guest Relations, and in answer to any questions I had posed, included the one on auto tipping. One can have it removed by going to onboard guest relations. They will give one envelopes that can be used as was previously done. Hope this helps answer the original poster's original question.:)

 

And P.S.

I don't give a damn why anyone wants to remove the auto tipping feature and tip the old-fashioned way. To make inferences and take off on a tangent as to anyone else's motives is probably erroneous and downright, disgustingly rude. If I choose to do so, then it is absolutely no one's business why.:p

 

Thank you very very much for sharing this information. I hope this info is consistent among Guest Relations onboard the X fleet.