Tipping question

[trvlwrld]

We’ve only sailed Princess so want to know about Celebrity’s tipping policy.  Is it automatic?  Are you allowed to remove the automatic tips and give cash to individuals?  Are drink tips automatically applied?  Any info would be helpful!

[Langley Cruisers]

This is a hotly debated subject here and the threads tend to get heated, but I will answer your questions. Yes, the gratuities are automatically charged to your daily account unless you pre-pay them. This way, everyone who is supposed to get tipped, does so and you don't even have to think about it. Yes, you may remove the auto grats and give cash, but what we like to do is to leave them in place and if we feel an extra tip is warranted for outstanding service, we do that in cash to specific crew who have made our cruise special. Yes, drink tips are applied on the bill you sign.

 

Have a good cruise. I hope you enjoy Celebrity. 🙂

[cruisestitch]

If you are considering removing the auto tips you should know that this will be seen as a black mark against the servers who have been working so hard to take care of you.

 

If you remove the auto tips and then give your room steward and your waiter cash tips, they have to turn them over into the tipping pool.   That rather defeat your purpose of giving them cash directly. If you leave the auto tips in place and then give cash on top of that they are allowed to keep the extra cash.

[Banjo]

I always leave the auto-tips, it shows appreciation to the many staff you do not even see that make your cruise special.

 

Something else to consider:

 

On our last Solstice cruise I had a converstion with one waiter who served us in the Ensemble Lounge during the Elite Cocktail hours. We would usually hit that lounge most evenings and this one particular waiter was very attentive to us. Really took care of us. During the last evening I was handing him a cash tip (I always do it in a envelop which Guest Relations more than happy to provide) he said, you don't have to do that but please say something about my service to you on the evaluation.  

Edited December 12, 2019 by Banjo

[woody14h]

30 minutes ago, Banjo said:

I always leave the auto-tips, it shows appreciation to the many staff you do not even see that make your cruise special.

 

Something else to consider:

 

On our last Solstice cruise I had a converstion with one waiter who served us in the Ensemble Lounge during the Elite Cocktail hours. We would usually hit that lounge most evenings and this one particular waiter was very attentive to us. Really took care of us. During the last evening I was handing him a cash tip (I always do it in a envelop which Guest Relations more than happy to provide) he said, you don't have to do that but please say something about my service to you on the evaluation.  

Good advise.  BTW, these small tips are not part of the pooling but are retained by the recipient. We always do the same. Mentioning particular staff members are most appreciated.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Agree 100%.  The auto tips make life easier.  Is we get special service from butler, room steward, waiter, etc, we always give them an extra tip at the end of the cruise.  They individually get to keep these extr tips, we have verified this with them.  Most important for them is to have their names mentioned on the survey you will receive right after the cruise.  That is how they are rated and get rewarded.  We also mention them, by name, on the survey we receive mid cruise and know that management lets them know as they always thank us personally for the kind words.  ENjoy your cruise

[sound_guy0918]

11 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

We’ve only sailed Princess so want to know about Celebrity’s tipping policy.  Is it automatic?  Are you allowed to remove the automatic tips and give cash to individuals?  Are drink tips automatically applied?  Any info would be helpful!

Just one other point - if you have (or are planning to buy) a drink package, the 20% automatic bar gratuities are included.  Thus, when you order a drink via the package, there are no receipts to sign or tips to worry about.  We have tipped some extra cash for exceptional service but we have never encountered a bartender who wasn't more than happy to serve us via the package.

[cruisestitch]

Naming a server on the med cruise “attention to detail “card and or at the end of the cruise on the evaluation means so much to them. It’s the basis for their promotions. If they get good evaluations they get extra time off.  Sometimes they get extra internet or a phone card.   Be sure to write down their name and where they work. For instance don’t just say bartender John, say bartender John in ensemble. There may be more than one bartender named John !

[Cruise a holic]

We always leave the tips- in the event we have wonderful service, we tip additionally- at the bar with each drink- or at the end of the cruise for our cabin attendant, wait staff etc.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Cruise a holic

[RealBatman]

We are doing our first B2B (Back-to-back) Celebrity sailing in February! 😁 👏🏻

Rather than create a new thread perhaps someone will offer advice about tipping on a B2B? (I've noticed a few folks have some opinions! 😁 )

 

Should we tip at the end of the first week? Or wait until the end of the cruise (second week). 

(This will be in addition to our prepaid gratuities which we always subscribe to).

We have always tipped extra to the staff in Blu, and our room steward... but it might be uncomfortable to not tip at the end of the first week. TIA.

[wrk2cruise]

On B2B we do any extra tipping at the end of each cruise.  The staff can sometimes change between cruises.

Edited December 12, 2019 by wrk2cruise

[Phxazzcruisers]

25 minutes ago, RealBatman said:

We are doing our first B2B (Back-to-back) Celebrity sailing in February! 😁 👏🏻

Rather than create a new thread perhaps someone will offer advice about tipping on a B2B? (I've noticed a few folks have some opinions! 😁 )

 

Should we tip at the end of the first week? Or wait until the end of the cruise (second week). 

(This will be in addition to our prepaid gratuities which we always subscribe to).

We have always tipped extra to the staff in Blu, and our room steward... but it might be uncomfortable to not tip at the end of the first week. TIA.

We have done it both ways.  We usually keep the same suite and ask if the butler and room steward are staying for the next cruise as well as the wait staff.  If anyone is leaving or changing stations we will do the additional tip after each leg of the cruise.  If it a staff member we know from before and they are staying with us, we will sometimes also wait until the end of the 2nd or 3rd leg.  But again, we mention them, by name and position on each of the surverys and mid cruise questioners !

[DENIE]

11 hours ago, Banjo said:

I always leave the auto-tips, it shows appreciation to the many staff you do not even see that make your cruise special.

 

Something else to consider:

 

On our last Solstice cruise I had a converstion with one waiter who served us in the Ensemble Lounge during the Elite Cocktail hours. We would usually hit that lounge most evenings and this one particular waiter was very attentive to us. Really took care of us. During the last evening I was handing him a cash tip (I always do it in a envelop which Guest Relations more than happy to provide) he said, you don't have to do that but please say something about my service to you on the evaluation.  

We always do this as well, and leave leave extra for those few people around who have really provided great service.  And...we always mention them by name on the surveys.  Totally agree!

[terrydtx]

Since X offers pre paid gratuities in their sale Perks Package, do these gratuities actually go into the tipping pool? I would hope they do but then again who would know if they didn't? We have the prepaid gratuities perk for our 2021 cruise and I have always believed that the hard working staff on a cruise ship deserve every dime of the gratuities.

 

We also have the CBP Perk and how do the gratuities go to the servers in the bars and MDR?

[Cruise a holic]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

Since X offers pre paid gratuities in their sale Perks Package, do these gratuities actually go into the tipping pool? I would hope they do but then again who would know if they didn't? We have the prepaid gratuities perk for our 2021 cruise and I have always believed that the hard working staff on a cruise ship deserve every dime of the gratuities.

 

We also have the CBP Perk and how do the gratuities go to the servers in the bars and MDR?

Thought that the CBP perks were discontinued a few months ago and replaced by $50 credit?  Did you opt for the perks to remain- that option was offered.

[terrydtx]

7 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Thought that the CBP perks were discontinued a few months ago and replaced by $50 credit?  Did you opt for the perks to remain- that option was offered.

No we received 2 Perks for our 2021 Infinity booking, we chose the CBP and Prepaid Gratuities, we also got a $200 OBC as part of the deal. We booked during the Black Friday sale the week of Thanksgiving. This is a 10 day cruise so the CBP is worth $590pp and the Gratuities another $150pp so we got a great deal. Our TA negotiated this for us with our AQ Class cabin for only $200pp more than the website price of the cabin. 

[fstuff1]

On 12/11/2019 at 9:43 PM, trvlwrld said:

Are you allowed to remove the automatic tips and give cash to individuals? 

 

For removing tips, you can't select partially removal. It was either all or nothing on the Edge so I assume it's fleet wide.

 

On ncl, I can do partial removal.

Ie: I tip my cabin Steward $30 cash, I remove 2 days of cabin tips from my bill and just write down 'leaving cash' as the reason.

 

So on celebrity, I leave the automatic tips in place

[fstuff1]

On 12/12/2019 at 7:34 AM, Banjo said:

" please say something about my service to you on the evaluation.  "

 

Yes, I was surprised by the emphasis by multiple crew in different positions for mentioning their names in the online survey.

 

I usually hand in comment cards but I'll start using the online survey from now on.

Wonder if there's a difference between the comment cards and the online survey?

 

[wpgcycler]

9 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

 

Ie: I tip my cabin Steward $30 cash, I remove 2 days of cabin tips from my bill and just write down 'leaving cash' as the reason.

 

 

 

Um, why?

[fstuff1]

17 minutes ago, wpgcycler said:

 

Um, why?

 

My belief:

It's a shell game by ncl.

 

Yes, all cabin tips go to crew but I believe ncl lowers the amount of $ they pay the crew such that they only get the amount of$ specified in their contract and nothing extra.

 

 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

6 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

My belief:

It's a shell game by ncl.

 

Yes, all cabin tips go to crew but I believe ncl lowers the amount of $ they pay the crew such that they only get the amount of$ specified in their contract and nothing extra.

 

 

You realize you are on a Celebrity board, right?

[Phxazzcruisers]

39 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

Yes, I was surprised by the emphasis by multiple crew in different positions for mentioning their names in the online survey.

 

I usually hand in comment cards but I'll start using the online survey from now on.

Wonder if there's a difference between the comment cards and the online survey?

 

We always do both.  They get immediate recognition from their supervisors on the attention to detail cards and then again from home office and the captain of their ship from the on line surveys.  Both are important to them

[fstuff1]

4 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

You realize you are on a Celebrity board, right?

Yes. I don't remove anything on celebrity.

 

In my op,I was explaining to the author of this thread the differences in tipping between lines

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, fstuff1 said:

Yes. I don't remove anything on celebrity.

 

In my op,I was explaining to the author of this thread the differences in tipping between lines

Understood. 🙂

[Pickels]

On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 9:43 PM, trvlwrld said:

We’ve only sailed Princess so want to know about Celebrity’s tipping policy.  Is it automatic?  Are you allowed to remove the automatic tips and give cash to individuals?  Are drink tips automatically applied?  Any info would be helpful!

Regarding the automatic gratuities... We've always considered them as a starting point and never remove them.  If the service from the crew is above and beyond, we add to the tips and the end of the cruise.  If the service for whatever reason was not good, then the automatic gratuities are the ending point, that's all they get but, we would never remove them.  And I know this has been a hot issue, removal of the automatic gratuities is found out by the staff.