Ladesign

Well, now you know that the staff are barely paid anything by their employer and the recipients of the daily gratuities (more a service charge really) receive 95%+ of their pay via these gratuities. It is sad that you were so misinformed that you stiffed these hardworking people in the past; hopefully now that you know the gratuities are their pay you will not stiff them going forward - if you do that says a lot about your character. No tipped staff on a Celebrity cruise ship took the job based on the salary offered; they took it based on the expectation that the vast majority of customers are decent people who would not turn them into their unpaid servants.

The point is I do not know what their salaries are . I initially thought that no one else on this forum does either - I do not resile from this view.

Can someone explain why posters on here seem to think they are compulsory when Celebrity clearly does not. My view of tips/gratuities/bribes is it is one big tax evasion .

I neither receive nor offer tips. Others are free to do whatever they want.

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Because that is how the hard working staff are paid! Removing Auto-Grats is a horrible thing to do (unless in the highly unlikely event one receives very poor service, reports this to the appropriate supervisor and continues to receive poor service). Otherwise you are turning the hard working staff into your unpaid servants.

The remuneration of staff is not my concern. I dont know how much the Captain or a Barman earns - it is only a concern of the Staff and their employer. As far as I know all the staff volunteered to do the job at whatever salary and terms were offered.

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To the best of my knowledge and unless something has changed in the last couple weeks, Simona will be going on leave when the current cruise completes (the 11th). She was hoping to get extended for the holidays but did not :(. She's the best!!! I'll find out for sure when we embark on Sunday.

I think her leave should be postponed until Mid-February - or she has to return by Jan 21st. [emoji41]

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Different strokes for different folks.....as long as you don't remove the auto tips (unless of course you received horrible service....I mean REALLY horrible service) do what YOU are comfortable with....:)

I am comfortable with removing the Auto-Grats. This is my choice that Celebrity is completely OK with ( do it every time).

Why is it that other people seem to think it is their concern ?

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I've concluded that if you give the master of the vessel a $1,000 tip at the beginning of the cruise you will have better weather and smoother seas. ;)

if only there was a cc 'like' button

[emoji41]

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anyone know if the best GRM , ( by a mile IMHO) Simona, will be on duty late January on Eclipse ?

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4774Papa - tipping is not the norm in the U.K. There is a minimum wage and some staff get more - tips are always nice, but not expected. Note, unlike in the US the price you see, is the price INCLUDING taxes

Ps, some eating places have in small print that they will auto add x% as a tip, but then also have an option on the bill to add additional, or, if there is more than 6 in the group, they may add an additional tip to the bill

 

In short - no tip expected, but gratefully received, just make sure that your not double tipping unless you explicitly mean to

Not the full story. In the UK any 'service charge' ( same as a tip) may be mentioned on the menu , often for parties of over x people.

However this can only be compulsory if clearly stated outside the restaurant AND must be declared as part of the VAT return . This means HMRC would get £2 for every £12 of 'service charge received' but is rarely declared because in most restaurants the service charge is not really compulsory.

If a restaurant person says it is compulsory demand a VAT receipt and tell them to expect a visit from HMRC to check that the service charges have been going through the EPOS system . Have always found that the Manager 'waives' the charge as s gesture of 'goodwill'

Service charges ,gratuity , tip . All just tax dodges IMHO

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We have the premium beverage package & the prepaid tips.

 

 

 

What other services should I be prepared to tip? I want to bring enough cash. Below are the items I could think of. What are the acceptable amounts for each? Is 3-5 a percentage like at a restaurant?

 

 

 

1) Extra for On board staff that does great job

 

2) Porter when arriving at ship

 

3) SAS driver from airport to hotel

 

4) driver from hotel to port

 

5) Excursions

 

 

 

Thanks

None.

In my view they are only doing the job they applied for. Their renumeration is a matter between them and their employer , plus the tax people.

I dont give tips nor receive them - a perfect balance IMHO

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Funny isn't it a few a day "How much should I tip....." yet let someone else (say from Aus or UK) say anything about the issue, just watch for the abuse to start.

And lo the abuse continues, but the moderators allow it. Yet if it were in reverse?

A tad harsh but based on evidence probably very true !

Only a few weeks until my trip to Guest Relations to remove my 'auto-gratuities' - are we saying this may be a wasted journey ?

Presumably I will still be able to get a supply of 'Attention to Detail ' cards ? Find them far more influential than tipping/gratuity/bribery.

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You seem to have missed the real reason they are doing this. It is because so many Australians removed the tips that the crew ended up with much less than typical income in the Australian market. In an act of compassion, or maybe simply to retain good employees, the cruise lines have been forced to come up with a system that blocks the removal of tips by certain - ahem - cultures. It has nothing to do with bending to the will of Australians. It is only about taking care of their employees. I'll bet if the typical Australian knew they were still paying the tips, but now could not remove them for whatever reason they conjure up, they would be quite displeased.

 

You are giving yourselves way too much credit. :rolleyes:

 

There is a member here who is very familiar with the cruise industry, having worked in many different capacities on several different cruise lines. He in the past has shared posts that have been quite specific about which countrymen are generous with tips and which aren't. From his experience, your countrymen don't make a good impression at all. :eek:

 

Personally, I have enjoyed my two vacation visits to Australia and New Zealand, and hope to visit again. But, when in your country, I follow the customs in the establishments that I visit and don't tip - ever. It's a shame that you can't see fit to do the same when cruising on an American owned cruise ship. Yes, AMERICAN. It is owned by an AMERICAN company, run by AMERICAN executives, and traded as an AMERICAN company on stock exchanges. As the saying goes: If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. It is an AMERICAN cruise ship. Period. No matter where it happens to be at the moment.

All of Celebrity ships are , in law, Maltese.

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Today we had our second Man Overboard Announcement in two months.

.

 

Today, a Summit passenger fell into the harbor as he got too close to the water beside a bus in the port of Barbados.

 

Fortunately, only his pride was hurt.

Was he on a package ? possibly classic but the barbados harbour water is not included on either [emoji848]

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I'm going to throw out the middle ground that I see often and has not been addressed by this thread. There are some of us who actually go to the pool to swim and we do need a place to leave our towels and gear while we are in the pool.

 

 

 

What do you want us to do, Just leave it on the deck for someone to trip over? I wear glasses and I definitely need somewhere safe to leave them since there aren't too many tables. There is not anyplace safe to leave gear if you are in the pool other than the chairs.

 

 

 

So yes, my butt might not be in the chair, but I'm at the pool. I don't consider that being a chair hog, just using the pool. So don't forget, a chair with gear on it doesn't always mean the person has left.

 

 

 

Particularly in the Caribbean, you will find a lot of people sitting on the edge of the pool talking. Don't forget to factor those people in before going off on the chair hogs.

we need a like button [emoji41]

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Lucky is wasn't me! That pax would have been fish chum!

OMG [emoji32]

Threatening violence is the answer ?

Wait a minute - are you related to the poster who threatened to shoot a non tipper and also arranged a vote to eject another non-tipper from the Dining Table ?

[emoji848]

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Like anything. There are different levels of quality. How can Celebrity staff know every brand and quality of each. They can start fires or melt.

A little knowledge [emoji848]

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we have always taken a 'power strip ' with 6 UK 13A sockets but NO surge protection onboard without any issues. The strip is protected by a 13 A fuse.

I fail to see what safety hazard these devices can pose

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Is this in reference the the KJ Vintner Reserve?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No

 

 

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I'm sure you mean you never tip extra. Your 18% is built in to any package or ala carte drink tab for which you pay.

whatever

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KJ is only sold in the UK at very downmarket establishments.

We encountered a slight issue in obtaining reasonable Marlborough Sauv. Blanc in January - but the Bars Manager sorted it out with the able assistance of Nigel the best Barman we have ever encountered.

By the tone of other threads this is Amazing - given that we get such great help - we never ever tip.

We do treat the staff as equals though, treat them with respect and always polite [emoji848]

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straight for bar on deck 14 (back of the boat ) grab a drink or 2 and then people watch whilst waiting for my pals to turn-up.

Always find it amusing to hear peoples moaning that the room isn't ready and / or the bags haven't arrived. As my friend from Canadia once said (out loud) "lets hope they dont have a happy-hour - these yanks will get really angry [emoji12]

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In my experience the Celebrity GR staff are superb - perhaps the attitude of the staff reciprocates the attitude of the passenger(s) with the issue ?

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Formal gang.....:confused::confused::confused:

 

 

 

Bob

Dress Code militia usually co-members of the Tipping Police [emoji12]

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My experiences of this gathering is rather mixed.

We have become rather tired of the snobbiness of some of the attendees.

One in particular asked the GRM to have me removed because I had said it was my first boat ⛵️ trip paid for by the UK government to celebrate 25 years unemployment benefit.

The GRM managed to keep a straight face ( in public [emoji41]) but the Cruise snob continued to rant as we left the lounge.

Too easy to wind these people up & the 'elite' tag seems to attract a lot of intellectually challenged boat trippers [emoji33]

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only Thursday night football I know if is Europa League - cannot see much demand for that. Been on Celebrity when Monday Night Football is broadcast by Sky but not shown on the boat[emoji35]

Think the issue is the American based cruise companies dont realise that the beautiful game we invented in England has massive worldwide appeal .

Pity we are useless at said beautiful game.[emoji33]

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Love people from Canadia !!!

The best [emoji41]

Most descend from Brits but dont have our more stupid tendencies- wonder who inherited them [emoji33]

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/turkey-issues-travel-warning-us-cites-protests-191525510.html?ref=gs

One of our group has experience in construction inc building walls . We are in Miami 2 days pre- cruise - are we / him in danger of sequestration ?

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