Question related to Pre-paid Tips

[jman101]

Hi,

We have not sailed for a few years. One of the Go Best Perks is pre-paid tips. While we like that we also like to tip bartenders and wait staff with cash when they do a great job. Especially at the beginning of the trip so hopefully they remember us. Is this still accepted? Handing a staff person cash?

 

Thanks for any comments.

[dkjretired]

8 minutes ago, jman101 said:

Hi,

We have not sailed for a few years. One of the Go Best Perks is pre-paid tips. While we like that we also like to tip bartenders and wait staff with cash when they do a great job. Especially at the beginning of the trip so hopefully they remember us. Is this still accepted? Handing a staff person cash?

 

Thanks for any comments.

 

Yes, if you don't have a drink package you will be charged and 18% gratuity on drinks purchased.  You may tip as much extra as you wish.   The Prepaid tips cover the regular people that are tipped, waiters, room steward. 

[cb at sea]

Pre-tipping really isn't necessary...you will get great service without doing that.  Tipping on cruises is done on the last evening.

[cruisestitch]

Personnel covered by the pre-paid tips or the standard auto-tips:

 

Housekeeping 

Waitstaff

 

 

Not covered by the pre-paid tips:

 

Wine stewards

Bartenders

Bar Servers

spa staff

babysitters

[Palms2Pines2Sea]

29 minutes ago, cb at sea said:

Pre-tipping really isn't necessary...you will get great service without doing that.  Tipping on cruises is done on the last evening.

The first sentence, taken literally, is in my experience, 100% accurate.

The second sentence, taken literally, is in my experience, 100% ancient history.

😎

 

Edited November 23, 2018 by Palms2Pines2Sea

[cruisestitch]

"Tipping on cruises is done on the last evening."

 

this used to be the custom on Celebrity, but is seldom seen anymore.  the vast majority of passenger use the auto-tip method where their tips are deducted from their SeaPass account on a daily basis, if they're not all pre-paid at the time of booking.

 

 

[m8zenblue]

Just a little story about my tipping.

On our last cruise we had pre paid tips, we generously tipped our cabin steward, upon meeting him and bringing our bags in the cabin.

For the remainder of the 10 day cruise he was excellent, in my opinion he went way beyond being just courteous and efficient.

We also generously tipped our wait staff and sommelier small amount on first night at dinner.

We also gave them all tip on the last night of the cruise.

I also gave a $1 tip each time I ordered beverages.

All the staff knew us by name, knew what we liked to drink and even went as far as to make us a special desert on the last night.

I can honestly say in my opinion we got much better treatment and service than others.

Now, you will say that you don't have to tip like that if you pre paid your tips, I'm not a wealthy guy, but I like good service.

This is just my 2 cents on the subject.

I would love to hear from others on their tipping habits.

[hcat]

Drink package that is  purchased or taken  as a perk includes the  standard tip.  But extra cash is always appreciated by bartenders and servers...

 

We tip out  stateroom attendant for bringing in the luggage, any extra service..also tip for room service

 

We also tip extra at the end of the cruise for  an attentive cabin attendant, BLU staff, sommelier,,.

 

Folks are working hard away from home and family deserve it !

Edited November 23, 2018 by hcat

[Manchester is blue]

If you are tipping staff prior to them even giving you service, in order to ensure that you get better service than fellow passengers, by definition you are hoping to deprive others of service / staffs time, in order to monopolise that time / service for your self.

If we all resorted to the same tactic, where do you think it would stop?

I prefer the British/ Aussie system.  I.e. Pay a decent wage, eliminate the race to pay the biggest tip to deprive others of the service we all deserve......just my opinion...shoot away.

 

[jelayne]

We don’t tip our cabin steward, Butler, wait staff or sommelier any extra  until the end if the cruise.  When we leave an extra tip we leave it with a thank-you note mentioning some thing they did to make our cruise better.  

 

[Phxazzcruisers]

we have ALWAYS received excellent service aboard Celebrity ships.  That being said, even with pre-paid gratuities, when we have received beyond excellent service we tip, in cash, at the end of the cruise also. We hand the butler, the room steward, the sommelier, the waiter and asst. waiter an envelope with a note of thanks and some cash.  we also tip the bartenders and bar servers in Michael's Club and other bars at the end for their excellent service.  we have never had to tip upon arriving to get excellent service. We personally do not feel it is necessary or appropriate to bribe the staff at the start of the voyage...just our opinion.....

 

[SoberJulie]

3 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Personnel covered by the pre-paid tips or the standard auto-tips:

 

Housekeeping 

Waitstaff

 

 

Not covered by the pre-paid tips:

 

Wine stewards

Bartenders

Bar Servers

spa staff

babysitters

Wait....so they charge an 18% gratuity on my massage.....and give it to cabin stewards and wait staff?

somehow I don’t think that’s accurate 

[cruisestitch]

You are misreading this.  The personnel covered in the  standard auto tips are your room steward and waitstaff. Auto tips don’t cover spa staff,  a gratuity will be added to the price of your treatment.  The auto tips don’t cover the sommelier.a gratuity will he added to the price of your bottles of wine.  Etc.  No where was I trying to state that the spa gratuity will be given to your stateroom attendant.

[SoberJulie]

27 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

You are misreading this.  The personnel covered in the  standard auto tips are your room steward and waitstaff. Auto tips don’t cover spa staff,  a gratuity will be added to the price of your treatment.  The auto tips don’t cover the sommelier.a gratuity will he added to the price of your bottles of wine.  Etc.  No where was I trying to state that the spa gratuity will be given to your stateroom attendant.

Oops. I re-read.....and indeed misinterpreted. My apologies. 

 

[jman101]

4 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Personnel covered by the pre-paid tips or the standard auto-tips:

 

Housekeeping 

Waitstaff

 

 

Not covered by the pre-paid tips:

 

Wine stewards

Bartenders

Bar Servers

spa staff

babysitters

Great information thanks!

[jman101]

2 hours ago, m8zenblue said:

Just a little story about my tipping.

On our last cruise we had pre paid tips, we generously tipped our cabin steward, upon meeting him and bringing our bags in the cabin.

For the remainder of the 10 day cruise he was excellent, in my opinion he went way beyond being just courteous and efficient.

We also generously tipped our wait staff and sommelier small amount on first night at dinner.

We also gave them all tip on the last night of the cruise.

I also gave a $1 tip each time I ordered beverages.

All the staff knew us by name, knew what we liked to drink and even went as far as to make us a special desert on the last night.

I can honestly say in my opinion we got much better treatment and service than others.

Now, you will say that you don't have to tip like that if you pre paid your tips, I'm not a wealthy guy, but I like good service.

This is just my 2 cents on the subject.

I would love to hear from others on their tipping habits.

Fantastic. I am not Mr. Wealthy either but I have worked as a bartender and the tips, even small ones are appreciated.

[ipeeinthepool]

Do many people tip the waiters in the Select Dining at the end of the cruise?  If we have the same waiter most of the nights we will usually tip a little extra.   However on the last couple of cruises, the waiters have almost seemed shocked that anyone would tip any extra.  Any thoughts?

[jman101]

6 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

Do many people tip the waiters in the Select Dining at the end of the cruise?  If we have the same waiter most of the nights we will usually tip a little extra.   However on the last couple of cruises, the waiters have almost seemed shocked that anyone would tip any extra.  Any thoughts?

Probably depends on the level of service I think. After reading the comments in this section I think I am going to take some $5US bills and pass out as service determines. Like it was said, these people give up their families to be on this job and if they go out of the way they deserve extra I think.

[Turtles06]

13 hours ago, Phxazzcruisers said:

we have ALWAYS received excellent service aboard Celebrity ships.  That being said, even with pre-paid gratuities, when we have received beyond excellent service we tip, in cash, at the end of the cruise also. . .We personally do not feel it is necessary or appropriate to bribe the staff at the start of the voyage...just our opinion.....

 

I totally agree with you about not giving tips at the start -- it does feel inappropriate to me, as though you don't expect these folks to do their jobs without that little "bribe."   (Do you tip a waiter on land before the meal is served?) 

 

We just returned from the Silhouette's 15-night TA, and we had excellent service just about everywhere (Tuscan Grille was the exception), including one of the best cabin attendants we've ever had.   Like you, we give cash tips at the end to those folks who have helped make our trip special (this is in addition to the daily service charge on our accounts).  We carry thank you notes for this purpose, so that we can write out a personal note as well.

[Mynki]

14 hours ago, Manchester is blue said:

If you are tipping staff prior to them even giving you service, in order to ensure that you get better service than fellow passengers, by definition you are hoping to deprive others of service / staffs time, in order to monopolise that time / service for your self.

If we all resorted to the same tactic, where do you think it would stop?

I prefer the British/ Aussie system.  I.e. Pay a decent wage, eliminate the race to pay the biggest tip to deprive others of the service we all deserve......just my opinion...shoot away.

 

Having experience of both systems I can say that It is a much better system without question. However due to cultural differences and what people grow up with and come to expect etc, it is what it is. 

I'm a big believer of 'when in Rome....' so we'll happily tip staff who I believe deserve it at the end of the cruise or during when a crew member has gone above and beyond etc. I have experienced a small number of surly bar tenders onboard and as a result of their poor attitude would not tip them. Though as we always have beverage packages I guess that's academic! 

As for tipping in an attempt to gain favour I'd say that if you have a pleasant attitude and treat crew members with the respect and courtesy they deserve you'll not need to. 

[RetiredCruiser2015]

We always take a decent supply of small denomination bills on our cruise. With our premium beverage package, we like to tip the bar servers a buck or so, especially if in the casino and the servers come to you at a table or machine. We tip the sommelier either the first or second night, especially if they have taken the time to understand our tastes and make subsequent wine recommendations based upon the meal. We have discovered some great wines this way, ones we may not have normally selected ourselves. We also tip in Michaels Club as early as our first visit and sporadically throughout the cruise, really depends on how often we are served by the same staff.

 

[rubydoobydoo]

We normally pay the tips before we cruise

last cruise however they were added to our account daily 

 

I didn’t realise that it was only the cabin attendant and the other cabin attendant you don’t  see and the waiters you have in the MDR, we had the same table each day, that get your tips, I thought they went in a big pot and we’re split amongst all the staff 

 

We decided to remove tips last time and use cash for tipping instead , we had 4 envelopes left on the bed with the amount we should put in each one and who it was going to and it added up to the exact amount of the tips we removed from the account 

 

We actually tipped more in cash than we would have pre paid and when I asked our waiter how the prepaid tips worked he told me that they get paid out according to the score they get not how much people have paid in pre paid tips 

that’s why they are so keen for you to mark them 10 in the survey

 

Its all very confusing to me 

 

 

[Wine-O]

1 hour ago, rubydoobydoo said:

We normally pay the tips before we cruise

last cruise however they were added to our account daily 

 

I didn’t realise that it was only the cabin attendant and the other cabin attendant you don’t  see and the waiters you have in the MDR, we had the same table each day, that get your tips, I thought they went in a big pot and we’re split amongst all the staff 

 

We decided to remove tips last time and use cash for tipping instead , we had 4 envelopes left on the bed with the amount we should put in each one and who it was going to and it added up to the exact amount of the tips we removed from the account 

 

We actually tipped more in cash than we would have pre paid and when I asked our waiter how the prepaid tips worked he told me that they get paid out according to the score they get not how much people have paid in pre paid tips 

that’s why they are so keen for you to mark them 10 in the survey

 

Its all very confusing to me 

 

 

It's best to leave the automatic tips on and not removed.  That way the ship can sort it out, and everyone gets their due amount.   I think your waiter told you a big fat story in order to get you to mark a 10 on the survey.  They get paid, no matter what.  Some people do not even fill out the survey.

[ipeeinthepool]

4 minutes ago, Wine-O said:

It's best to leave the automatic tips on and not removed.  That way the ship can sort it out, and everyone gets their due amount.   I think your waiter told you a big fat story in order to get you to mark a 10 on the survey.  They get paid, no matter what.  Some people do not even fill out the survey.

 

I think both you and the waiter are correct.   If you are on a cruise and have pre-paid tips the waiter gets the same share of your pre-paid tips impendent of your ranking on the survey.  However, the waiter's survey results are used to determine how many tables he/she are assigned.  They lose tables if the ratings are poor and gain tables if the ratings are good.  The number of tables does affect how much the waiter gets in tips.

[rubydoobydoo]

24 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I think both you and the waiter are correct.   If you are on a cruise and have pre-paid tips the waiter gets the same share of your pre-paid tips impendent of your ranking on the survey.  However, the waiter's survey results are used to determine how many tables he/she are assigned.  They lose tables if the ratings are poor and gain tables if the ratings are good.  The number of tables does affect how much the waiter gets in tips.

So will the waiters still get paid the same if tips are removed assuming they get a good score

I was under the impression that he would still get his full wage from celebrity whether I removed tips or not

and then if I gave him cash he would infact be getting extra