First Time Celebrity Cruiser - Select Dining and Prepaid Gratuities

I've got my first Celebrity cruise booked for April 2016. We've cruised many times with Princess but felt it was time to mix it up a bit. I'm curious about one thing that is very different from Princess. Why are people that have selected "Select" dining required to pre-pay the gratuities and others are not? I'm not at all opposed to paying the gratuities but we are wondering, and can't come up with a sound rationale, why Celebrity does this.

Does anyone know?

Royal Caribbean does this too, but as they are Celebrity's sister company that makes sense. I assumed all lines did this for select/anytime dining.

Perhaps it's because in the days of tips or vouchers in envelopes, there's no guarantee that you'd be able to find your waiter team on the last night; say if you dined at a different time? Therefore your wait staff may have missed out on their tip? I don't know for sure. :confused:

Personally I prefer to pre-pay grats and have never received anything less than excellent service, so I anticipate that we'll receive the same great service on Celebrity.

dems da rules.:)

And you have to pay them 3 months before you even step foot on the ship!!:confused:

The way it was explained to me, when you are on select dining you will, more than likely. have a different wait staff each night, so gratuities divided between all of them and by ore paying the staff is sure to receive their proper gratuity. I'm not sure why this can't be figured out at the end of the cruise but, what do I know?

But, the folks serving you do NOT get the tips until your cruise is over!

And you have to pay them 3 months before you even step foot on the ship!!:confused:

More likely 45 days in advance.

The way it was explained to me, when you are on select dining you will, more than likely. have a different wait staff each night, so gratuities divided between all of them and by ore paying the staff is sure to receive their proper gratuity. I'm not sure why this can't be figured out at the end of the cruise but, what do I know?

Correct - and easy to figure out - select dining pre-paid gratitudes shared by the select dining waiters.

Personally I'm only using MY Time Dining / select Dining and have always pre-paid gratitudes

Thanks for the replies. Appreciated.

On Carnival, Princess, Holland America, the eat anytime does not require prepaid tips that are non refundable so it is strange to see that Royal and Celebrity has this requirement and when we have chosen that we have been lucky so far that tips have been included in our fare thru our travel agency. I don't understand why they require it in advance and non refundable since when you enter the dining room, you have to give your cabin number so the tips should be able to go to the servers and teams that served you. I truly think you will enjoy your Celebrity cruise much more than Princess. We were Princess lovers until we got hooked with Royal. :)

We are also first-time cruisers on X, booked for Feb/Mar 2017 (!!). Since it is so far out, our only choice for dining was select, which required the pre-paid grats. After reading this thread, I am now concerned that if we cancel the cruise before the final payment date, we will lose the pre-paid grats. Is that true or I am just reading non-refundable wrong? Is it non-refundable after you board or non-refundable at any time?

I also think it's odd that X charges these in advance--aren't these the tips for room steward, dining personnel and other ship crew? Why do I have to pay all of this in advance when only a portion goes to the dining staff? I have no problem paying it (as long as it is refunded if we cancel before final payment) but it does seem odd to make me pay the full grats upfront just so the dining staff is covered.

Thanks for any help

ML

We are also first-time cruisers on X, booked for Feb/Mar 2017 (!!). Since it is so far out, our only choice for dining was select, which required the pre-paid grats. After reading this thread, I am now concerned that if we cancel the cruise before the final payment date, we will lose the pre-paid grats. Is that true or I am just reading non-refundable wrong? Is it non-refundable after you board or non-refundable at any time?

 

I also think it's odd that X charges these in advance--aren't these the tips for room steward, dining personnel and other ship crew? Why do I have to pay all of this in advance when only a portion goes to the dining staff? I have no problem paying it (as long as it is refunded if we cancel before final payment) but it does seem odd to make me pay the full grats upfront just so the dining staff is covered.

 

Thanks for any help

ML

Grats for Select Dining aren't required to be paid until Final Payment is due. If you cancel after final payment and before you board the ship you will get back your grats as well as anything you purchased pre-cruise such as specialty dining, excursions, drink packages etc.

Doesn't make sense to me why Select Dining cruisers have to pay up their gratuities up front. What does the type of dining have to do with the timing of payment for gratuities - neither will be distributed until the cruise is completed.

Celebrity also requires that you pay up front for specialty dining and excursion reservations, while others don't. I think that collecting as much as they can as soon as they can is beneficial to their business, and the prepaid tips is just another reason to justify early collections. Meanwhile, Celebrity gets to use that money before distributing it.

Perhaps there was also worry when they started the flexible dining that dining staff might receive less tips because they were not as able to establish relationships with the passengers. Also, some passengers might cancel the auto tips because they ate in the buffet or specialty dining more instead of in the MDR every night (because they weren't expected at the table) and didn't understand the tipping distributions. In order to keep the staff satisfied, perhaps Celebrity started this prepay business in order to keep up the money in the tip pot. You have to admire a company that takes care of its employees.

I guess we'll never know and it is what it is.

Grats for Select Dining aren't required to be paid until Final Payment is due. If you cancel after final payment and before you board the ship you will get back your grats as well as anything you purchased pre-cruise such as specialty dining, excursions, drink packages etc.

Well this may be your experience, and again, we are first time cruisers on X, but when we booked our 2 B2B cruises to SA in Feb/Mar 2017, our TA ( a major big box store that rhymes with bosco) said that because we could only get select dining so early in booking, we had to pre-pay grats. So, it was required as part of our cruise deposit. But it seems reasonable to assume it will be refunded if we cancel before final payment. I am going to call and see what the deal is.

Celebrity also requires that you pay up front for specialty dining and excursion reservations, while others don't. I think that collecting as much as they can as soon as they can is beneficial to their business, and the prepaid tips is just another reason to justify early collections. Meanwhile, Celebrity gets to use that money before distributing it.

 

Perhaps there was also worry when they started the flexible dining that dining staff might receive less tips because they were not as able to establish relationships with the passengers. Also, some passengers might cancel the auto tips because they ate in the buffet or specialty dining more instead of in the MDR every night (because they weren't expected at the table) and didn't understand the tipping distributions. In order to keep the staff satisfied, perhaps Celebrity started this prepay business in order to keep up the money in the tip pot. You have to admire a company that takes care of its employees.

 

I guess we'll never know and it is what it is.

This makes sense from X's side, except that we have to pre-pay grats that go to more than just dining room staff. Unless I have this wrong? Do the grats only go to dining room staff or are they distributed among room stewards, dining room staff, people in the laundry and other support functions? If so, why do we have to pay all the grats to all the staff just for the 'privilege' of select dining? Not trying to argue, I just don't understand this policy. And yes, we booked anyway, but it still seems rather odd to ask for tips for the whole crew just to be sure the dining room staff is taken care of.

ML

I truly think you will enjoy your Celebrity cruise much more than Princess. We were Princess lovers until we got hooked with Royal.

In my opinion, as long as it's already paid, it's one less thing to think about!! I would much rather pay it in advance that have it added daily. Even if I used traditional dining, I would prepay the gratuities...but That is just me. :D

I've got my first Celebrity cruise booked for April 2016. We've cruised many times with Princess but felt it was time to mix it up a bit. I'm curious about one thing that is very different from Princess. Why are people that have selected "Select" dining required to pre-pay the gratuities and others are not? I'm not at all opposed to paying the gratuities but we are wondering, and can't come up with a sound rationale, why Celebrity does this.

 

Does anyone know?

I am new to Celebrity and have been asking the same question on other threads. No good answer. I even called Celebrity Customer Service yesterday and all they would state is that it is their policy. Whether you are fixed or select dining you pay the same tip; $12.50/day for standard cabin. I was told by Celebrity all waiters in fixed and select are paid the same salary. So why do select pay prior to boarding. The daily tip of $12.50 goes to other staff including you cabin steward. Also I told by Celebrity that you do not have the same waiter each night so the tips are pooled. That sounds absurd. Would the logic be the same if we changed cabins everyday so we had different cabin stewards and the tips are pooled.

This question pops up here on a regular basis and to me it is straightforward. You are required to prepay gratuities at final payment if you choose Select because you may not have the same restaurant staff each evening. Prepaying makes it easier for the guest in distribution of gratuities and ensures that all of the restaurant staff receive their tips (these are pooled). The fact that it includes all tips including those of your cabin stewards is just the way it is, to work in as easier way as possible than splitting them out when you are on the ship.

In my opinion, as long as it's already paid, it's one less thing to think about!! I would much rather pay it in advance that have it added daily. Even if I used traditional dining, I would prepay the gratuities...but That is just me. :D

+1.

Phil

Well this may be your experience, and again, we are first time cruisers on X, but when we booked our 2 B2B cruises to SA in Feb/Mar 2017, our TA ( a major big box store that rhymes with bosco) said that because we could only get select dining so early in booking, we had to pre-pay grats. So, it was required as part of our cruise deposit. But it seems reasonable to assume it will be refunded if we cancel before final payment. I am going to call and see what the deal is.

 

This sounds like it's your TA that's asking for the grats $ upfront because Celebrity policy is to pay Select dining reservations grats at final payment. Our TA has never required anything upfront other than the regular deposit. Since Celebrity doesn't require the grats $ until final then your TA may be holding onto it until then, for whatever reason. Even if you cancel your cruise after final payment but before boarding you will get all your grats $ back in whatever form you paid. I have a b2b booked next Feb and have only paid my deposit but no grats yet. Good luck!

Another question might be why Celebrity always books you into Select dining even if you request traditional dining a year ahead of time. Your grats will be on the booking until you get set dining and call to have them removed.

J.

Well this may be your experience, and again, we are first time cruisers on X, but when we booked our 2 B2B cruises to SA in Feb/Mar 2017, our TA ( a major big box store that rhymes with bosco) said that because we could only get select dining so early in booking, we had to pre-pay grats. So, it was required as part of our cruise deposit. But it seems reasonable to assume it will be refunded if we cancel before final payment. I am going to call and see what the deal is.

 

This sounds like it's your TA that's asking for the grats $ upfront because Celebrity policy is to pay Select dining reservations grats at final payment. Our TA has never required anything upfront other than the regular deposit. Since Celebrity doesn't require the grats $ until final then your TA may be holding onto it until then, for whatever reason. Even if you cancel your cruise after final payment but before boarding you will get all your grats $ back in whatever form you paid. I have a b2b booked next Feb and have only paid my deposit but no grats yet. Good luck!

 

The TA is definitely not holding the money but perhaps they charged me in error. I will call and ask. Or, perhaps your TA is one who gives you free grats--I have read that on other threads. When you booked, were you given the option of dinner seating? Yours is less than a year out, ours is just under 2 years. Maybe there is a time limit as to when preferred dinner seating can be selected?

 

Thanks for confirming that we will get them back if we cancel. It's starting to look like we will cancel this trip.

 

ML

I am new to Celebrity and have been asking the same question on other threads. No good answer. I even called Celebrity Customer Service yesterday and all they would state is that it is their policy. Whether you are fixed or select dining you pay the same tip; $12.50/day for standard cabin. I was told by Celebrity all waiters in fixed and select are paid the same salary. So why do select pay prior to boarding. The daily tip of $12.50 goes to other staff including you cabin steward. Also I told by Celebrity that you do not have the same waiter each night so the tips are pooled. That sounds absurd. Would the logic be the same if we changed cabins everyday so we had different cabin stewards and the tips are pooled.

You were given the answer by a number of people, you then contacted Celebrity which is the right thing to do. They essentially gave you the same answer that a number of posters provided. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not a good answer.

 

The TA is definitely not holding the money but perhaps they charged me in error. I will call and ask. Or, perhaps your TA is one who gives you free grats--I have read that on other threads. When you booked, were you given the option of dinner seating? Yours is less than a year out, ours is just under 2 years. Maybe there is a time limit as to when preferred dinner seating can be selected?

 

Thanks for confirming that we will get them back if we cancel. It's starting to look like we will cancel this trip.

 

ML

 

Yes, our TA does pay our grats but it still shows on our invoice and I know she doesn't pay until final is due. When we booked we were given the option of set or select dining and chose select, just our preference. I am among those who question why only select is given as an option when a cruise is booked so far out, as yours is....can't possibly be that set dining is all full. In the past, we've booked cruises almost two years out and had the choice but it seems lately that bookings all have to take Select if they're booked far out. Does seem strange. Our upcoming Alaska cruise in September was booked onboard the Silhouette last June so that's 15 months and we were offered set or select.

 

Hope you don't cancel just because of this issue. Celebrity does have it's quirks on the website but once onboard I'm sure you'd find a very enjoyable holiday. Good luck with all the planning...should be exciting but sometimes can be frustrating too!

We use the same travel agency and I have never paid "pre-paid" gratuities before final payment (we always have select dining). I think the problem is the travel agency's invoice which doesn't list the individual charges, but just the total price less deposit. I think if you call them you will see you did not pre-pay them.

Also I would see if you can get one of the promotions that Celebrity is always running that includes gratuities (depending on the type of cabin).

Well this may be your experience, and again, we are first time cruisers on X, but when we booked our 2 B2B cruises to SA in Feb/Mar 2017, our TA ( a major big box store that rhymes with bosco) said that because we could only get select dining so early in booking, we had to pre-pay grats. So, it was required as part of our cruise deposit. But it seems reasonable to assume it will be refunded if we cancel before final payment. I am going to call and see what the deal is.

 

 

 

This makes sense from X's side, except that we have to pre-pay grats that go to more than just dining room staff. Unless I have this wrong? Do the grats only go to dining room staff or are they distributed among room stewards, dining room staff, people in the laundry and other support functions? If so, why do we have to pay all the grats to all the staff just for the 'privilege' of select dining? Not trying to argue, I just don't understand this policy. And yes, we booked anyway, but it still seems rather odd to ask for tips for the whole crew just to be sure the dining room staff is taken care of.

 

ML

Hi. With pre-paid gratuities can the wait staff tell that you have paid in advance? We are select dining and have pre-paid our gratuities but I would hate the wait staff to think we are trying to avoid tipping.