Service charge on drinks package???

Just been reading a review of someone writing about The Eclipse. She mentioned having to pay Service charges on all the drinks she bought with her drinks package, despite also having having pre-paid gratuities. This was a surprise to me. Have others had to pay?????

The drinks package price includes a service charge. Prepaid gratuities are for wait and room staff and does not include beverage staff.

The person mistyped, misunderstood, or is spreading misinformation. You pay a 15% service charge on the price of the package and do not pay any extra service charge per drink. Period. End of story.

 

One thing that's a little confusing is that Celebrity has adjusted pricing on Eclipse and Eclipse only to accommodate the fact that it's based in Southhampton and has a larger than typical for Celebrity British clientele. Instead of adding the gratuity to the drink on the invoice, it's been built into the price. Thus, and this example is an invention, a piña colada might be $10 on the Solstice drink menu, it's $11.50 on Eclipse. Guests on both end up paying the same - $11.50 - as $1.50 is added to the check on Solstice and it's no on Eclipse. Drink package thresholds are adjusted upward by 15% too so that guests on all ships are treated the same. This may be the source of the confusion.

We've just checked with our TA who has confirmed that if we buy a drink within our classicpackage service is included, but if we buy one that is a higher price then we do pay.

If you exceed the price point of your classic package you have to pay the entire price of the drink plus gratuity

 

If you exceed the price point of a premium package you only pay the excess and they do charge a gratuity on that excess

The person mistyped, misunderstood, or is spreading misinformation. You pay a 15% service charge on the price of the package and do not pay any extra service charge per drink. Period. End of story.

 

One thing that's a little confusing is that Celebrity has adjusted pricing on Eclipse and Eclipse only to accommodate the fact that it's based in Southhampton and has a larger than typical for Celebrity British clientele. Instead of adding the gratuity to the drink on the invoice, it's been built into the price. Thus, and this example is an invention, a piña colada might be $10 on the Solstice drink menu, it's $11.50 on Eclipse. Guests on both end up paying the same - $11.50 - as $1.50 is added to the check on Solstice and it's no on Eclipse. Drink package thresholds are adjusted upward by 15% too so that guests on all ships are treated the same. This may be the source of the confusion.

 

 

The concept is right, the prices aren't.

We were on the Eclipse both on the TA (US prices) and immediately thereafter, sailing from Southampton (UK prices). Don't recall anything raised by 15%--the least was around 25% and some considerably more than that. Even soft drinks jumped (here is an example, the menu is in my hand: Coke $2.50 before, $3.50 after--40% increase). A beer and wine that we had been paying a tab of around $16 with grat went to over $20 with the new pricing. A 15% increase should have pegged it around $18.50

Both are correct. Fleet wide there was a drink price increase in March/April, everything went up. Then you factor in the 'special' structure for the Eclipse and the increase was more than just adjusting for the 15% grat.

We've just checked with our TA who has confirmed that if we buy a drink within our classicpackage service is included, but if we buy one that is a higher price then we do pay.

This is why we do the upgrade to the Premium pkg, so we only pay the difference if the cost is over the limit. One glass of the red wine the wifester and I have at dinner cover's the $11.50 per day cost.

The concept is right, the prices aren't.

We were on the Eclipse both on the TA (US prices) and immediately thereafter, sailing from Southampton (UK prices). Don't recall anything raised by 15%--the least was around 25% and some considerably more than that. Even soft drinks jumped (here is an example, the menu is in my hand: Coke $2.50 before, $3.50 after--40% increase). A beer and wine that we had been paying a tab of around $16 with grat went to over $20 with the new pricing. A 15% increase should have pegged it around $18.50

 

But, but, but I don't want to pay a tip they should add it into the price. Looks like they did and even with the price increase it's a lot more than 15%.

 

Looks like you can't have your cake and eat it without a price.

cardcrafter, can you point us to that review please?

We've just checked with our TA who has confirmed that if we buy a drink within our classicpackage service is included, but if we buy one that is a higher price then we do pay.

 

Yes, that's correct. You probably got the Classic package as a perk, and the 15% charged on the package is picked up by Celebrity as part of the perk. If you upgrade to Premium package it will cost you an additional $10 per day, + 15% for a total of $11.50 a day. So yes, the service is out of your pocket, but only on the increase price.

 

Now if you were talking individual drinks like most people think you were, then not only would you be paying the service you also are going to be paying for the drink.

 

I've seen this argument on other lines also that if you have PPG then you shouldn't have to pay any grats on beverages, this is with no package. It's a bit amusing.

 

If you exceed the price point of your classic package you have to pay the entire price of the drink plus gratuity

 

If you exceed the price point of a premium package you only pay the excess and they do charge a gratuity on that excess

 

Also what she said.

If you exceed the price point of your classic package you have to pay the entire price of the drink plus gratuity

 

If you exceed the price point of a premium package you only pay the excess and they do charge a gratuity on that excess

Just back off Reflection , We had the premium drinks package and sometimes exceeded the top limit we paid only the difference , i.e. if the drink was $1.50 more than the top limit of $13.50 thats what we paid $1.50 no gratuity on top,, as was quite rightly stated gratuity is built into the price of the drinks package why on earth should you pay any more !!!

If you exceed the price point of your classic package you have to pay the entire price of the drink plus gratuity

 

If you exceed the price point of a premium package you only pay the excess and they do charge a gratuity on that excess

 

Agree. Just off the Solstice with Premium Package. Each evening DH had a glass of port after dinner. Price exceeded the Premium by $1.50- we were charged $1.73; the $1.50 plus the .23 for the 15% gratuity. We have always been charged the 15% on any charge over the package limit.

Edited September 28, 2014 by jelayne

We selected the free beverage perk for our upcoming winter cruise. Since we didn't pay for the package, will tips be added?

You were actually given the drinks package and its associated tips

"Just back off Reflection , We had the premium drinks package and sometimes exceeded the top limit we paid only the difference , i.e. if the drink was $1.50 more than the top limit of $13.50 thats what we paid $1.50 no gratuity on top"

 

You got lucky

 

"as was quite rightly stated gratuity is built into the price of the drinks

package why on earth should you pay any more !!!"

 

For the same reason that you had to pay extra for the drink you ordered, it exceeded the price allowed in the premium package, and therefore the gratuity also exceeded the gratuity allowed.

 

"Just off the Solstice with Premium Package. Each evening DH had a glass of port after dinner. Price exceeded the Premium by $1.50- we were charged $1.73; the $1.50 plus the .23 for the 15% gratuity. We have always been charged the 15% on any charge over the package limit"

 

This is the way it is intended to work.

We selected the free beverage perk for our upcoming winter cruise. Since we didn't pay for the package, will tips be added?

 

They are included.

Edited September 28, 2014 by wallie5446

We selected the free beverage perk for our upcoming winter cruise. Since we didn't pay for the package, will tips be added?

 

No they will not be added. The "free" beverage package also includes a "free" gratuity add on that you'd only have to pay out of pocket if purchasing a package as opposed to getting it as a perk.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Lsimon

"Just back off Reflection , We had the premium drinks package and sometimes exceeded the top limit we paid only the difference , i.e. if the drink was $1.50 more than the top limit of $13.50 thats what we paid $1.50 no gratuity on top"

 

You got lucky

 

"as was quite rightly stated gratuity is built into the price of the drinks

package why on earth should you pay any more !!!"

 

For the same reason that you had to pay extra for the drink you ordered, it exceeded the price allowed in the premium package, and therefore the gratuity also exceeded the gratuity allowed.

 

"Just off the Solstice with Premium Package. Each evening DH had a glass of port after dinner. Price exceeded the Premium by $1.50- we were charged $1.73; the $1.50 plus the .23 for the 15% gratuity. We have always been charged the 15% on any charge over the package limit"

 

This is the way it is intended to work.

Correct!!!! my mistake !!! my Beloved corrected me seems as i never pay for anything how would i know how much it costs !!!! sorry again for any confusion

OP-

Prepaid gratuities are for your dining room staff and cabin steward only, and don't apply to bar staff, and that's true no matter how you pay for your drinks.

So when you buy drinks you pay a separate 15% service charge for them. If you buy a drink package the service charge is added to the package price. If you don't get a package and you pay for drinks as you go, the same service charge is added to each individual drink price. Can you clarify if your friend was saying that she was charged something else on top of that? If so, it sounds like she had the premium package which does allow you to go above the per drink price limit and just pay the difference along with (apparently) the additional service charge on that difference. (We always get the premium and often order glasses of wine above the limit and just pay the difference, but we've never paid attention to the tab to see if they added additional service charge or not so I'm going by what others posted here)

furthermore, the pre-paid gratuities don't cover the spa, nor the hairdresser.

 

I think that the confusion comes when someone reads "pre-paid gratuities" and infers that ALL gratuities are included, when that is not the case.

 

It would be helpful if the cruise lines would word the phrase differently, amending it to read "pre-paid gratuities to food service and stateroom service staff". But they won't.

 

So some people will be shocked to see a gratuity added to a beverage purchase, or to a massage, declaring "but I pre-paid my gratuity!!!"

cardcrafter, can you point us to that review please?

 

Members Reviews

 

Select Ship (Eclipse)

 

3rd Review - from Wobbler 24

Thank you for finding it.

 

Here's what the reviewer wrote:

 

 

We bought the Classic Drinks package which I think we made good use of. This allowed us to have bottled water, beer up to $8, wine up to about the same and cocktails in abundance. It also allows for speciality coffees, freshly squeezed orange juice etc if that's what you like. The staff will advise you if you are going to incur an additional charge for a drink not included in the package so we were fine with this. I was a bit annoyed at having to pay a service charge for the drinks package when I had already paid gratuities, but I was assured by Celebrity that this is normal practice. I still feel that I paid two lots of tips for my trip though.

 

I think it's pretty clear that they didn't understand that the paid gratuities were for the food service staff and the housekeeping staff, not for the beverage staff, so it was a misunderstanding on their part. They felt like the paid two lots of tips, because they did, and that is the way it works. You pay one amount for the food service and housekeeping combined, and a separate amount for the beverage. They would have also paid a separate amount if they had used the spa services, or purchased a wine tasting, or gone to a specialty restaurant.

Edited September 29, 2014 by cruisestitch