upcoming 1st cruise next week

we booked Celebrity Reflection, Sky Suite or our 1st cruise...quick question, should we tip the butler or not? and do folks tip the bartender/wait staff? We've been to Sandals, where they said tipping was not "allowed" but human nature, if you tip a bartender, your drink was NEVER empty..

any advice?

thanks!

You might get more replies by posting this on the Celebrity forum. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28

Each cabin has a daily gratuity automatically added to their shipboard account which is shared by their room attendants and dining room servers. You are certainly free to tip over and above this in cash for excellent service. Exceptions are servers in the specialty restaurants and servers delivering room service. You should tip these.

A gratuity is automatically added to all drink orders. Extra tipping is up to you, but not necessary.

Beyond the automatically billed tips that the cruise line adds to your bill each day, you can offer an extra tip for very special service. I bring a few small envelopes to discretely hand to a deserving crew member at the end of the cruise--usually the last night.

I have heard that these tips are supposed to be shared, but I am not certain of those rules.

One of my favorite cabin stewards, several years ago, explained that the extra tip was appreciated, but that his promotions dpended on our mention of his name on our end-of-cruise survey form. Since then, I am very certain to name anyone who gives excellent service.

You may want to check to see if the butler and/or concierge is included in the general tipping pool. Sometimes, they are not.