Tips in envelopes?

[Jo and Rob]

I would like to know if tips are in envelopes? Do you get guided suggestions about how much to give like RCI? When do you give the envelopes to staff? Do they open it straight away or put it in their pockets? If they put them in their pockets the wouldn't the head waiter have envelopes coming out of his ears by the end of the evening!

[cruie4ever]

I would like to know if tips are in envelopes? Do you get guided suggestions about how much to give like RCI? When do you give the envelopes to staff? Do they open it straight away or put it in their pockets? If they put them in their pockets the wouldn't the head waiter have envelopes coming out of his ears by the end of the evening!

 

You can still do the envelope system & there are tip guide lines . However, most folks place it on their accts ;as it is easier than paying cash . The management in the dining room ,lido ie are assigned $1.00 from each pax on their tip bill . The waiter is $3.65 ,ass't waiter 2.50 .cabin steward is 3.50 & I think there is something for the general crew . We are in Conceierge Cabin & we pay $12 per day per pax .

[rjscott]

Gratuities are automatically assessed to your onboard acct unless you ask to have it removed. There will be a sheet placed in your cabin detailing the amounts charged per day per person and how that amount is broken down by service member. If, at the end of the cruise, you would like to give additional gratuities for exceptional service, the guest relations desk will provide envelopes for you to do so.

[bobbyleduck]

A person with 500+ posts knows how the tipping works, so why the question, unless someone is just trying to start another tipping argument?:mad:

 

Don't bite!

 

Happy cruising to all!

 

Bob

[A Sixth?]

I would like to know if tips are in envelopes?

 

No the envelopes are delivered empty. :p:D

[dkjretired]

Here is a link to all the info you will need on the gratuities, it is rather long. The tips will automatically be placed on your account daily. Being that you are from England, I know it is common to prepay tips, I would check and make sure you havent done so yet.

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/beforeyourcruise/heroSingleTxtSub.do;jsessionid=0000b7JVX07hVI6EUuacjFHP-E-:12h3rnd1c?pagename=payment_and_gratuities&cS=SIDENAV

[dkjretired]

A person with 500+ posts knows how the tipping works, so why the question, unless someone is just trying to start another tipping argument?:mad:

 

Don't bite!

 

Happy cruising to all!

 

Bob

 

I don't know why you would even hint at anything other than a legitimate question. They just booked a cruise with their kids and have been asking a lot of good questions on this board recently. Their previous experience was not on Celebrity....I have probably 50,000 posts on this board and I am still learning.....

[Jo and Rob]

A person with 500+ posts knows how the tipping works, so why the question, unless someone is just trying to start another tipping argument?:mad: Bob

 

What a shame that once again we have to have an arrogant and sarcastic response to an innocent question. Get a life Bob :mad: For your information the number of posts has no correlation to how many cruises we have done which is only one at present...I ask a lot of questions!!!

 

To everyone else, thank you for helpful responses. :) My only experience as yet is with Princess and that was added to the on board account and paid automatically on our credit card at the end. My next cruise is with Royal Caribbean and I am informed (thanks to cruise critic)that the envelope system is in place.

 

I was merely enquiring which system Celebrity has, it is such a shame that there are some people who make asking a simple question a crime!

[Jo and Rob]

I don't know why you would even hint at anything other than a legitimate question. They just booked a cruise with their kids and have been asking a lot of good questions on this board recently. Their previous experience was not on Celebrity....

 

Thank you.

[librarylady19]

Hmmm...can't help but notice that "Bob" has only sailed on Carnival so why is he on the X board anyway. Just trying to start a problem???

As to your original - very legitimate - question. I would add that if you choose Select Dining you must prepay gratuities, otherwise they are added to your onboard account. We were so impressed with our stateroom attendant that we gave her an extra tip in cash (just used our own envelope) as we were leaving on the last day.

Please ignore the grumps and stay on the X board!

[STEVE-O]

DO you get some type of voucher you can pass along to those who provided the service....with or without additional monies?

 

OR.....do these folks already know you're doing auto-tipping so they won't feel bad when you don't hand them an envelope.

 

For the record....I think I have over 500 posts, too, but have never opted for auto-tipping so I really don't know the answers to these questions.....

 

Thanks!!!

[dzcruisers]

We leave our tips on our account. Then if I want to tip extra I've just handed them the money subtlely if I had no envelope. It works either with or without envelope.

Yes unless you are prepaid for your tips then tips are added to your account daily and charged to your credit card upon check out. I have over 1700 posts and can tell you very little about RCCL where we plan to cruise in 2011. I hope my questions are answered more politely than some have answered here. Isn't X supposed to be a step up? I would hope that would be with manners also.

[dzcruisers]

DO you get some type of voucher you can pass along to those who provided the service....with or without additional monies?

 

OR.....do these folks already know you're doing auto-tipping so they won't feel bad when you don't hand them an envelope.

 

For the record....I think I have over 500 posts, too, but have never opted for auto-tipping so I really don't know the answers to these questions.....

 

Thanks!!!

The staff gets a list of who has auto tipped and who removed tips. If tips are removed staff is questioned as to why, bad service??? why???

If one removes auto tips then any cash tips you give out are put into a pool to be shared with those who are on the tipping list. If you leave auto tips on and tip extra, they can keep that.

[Dale]

A person with 500+ posts knows how the tipping works, so why the question, unless someone is just trying to start another tipping argument?:mad:

 

Don't bite!

 

Happy cruising to all!

 

Bob

Don, thanks for your reply to that post. It was much more polite, than mine would have been.

 

I don't know why you would even hint at anything other than a legitimate question. They just booked a cruise with their kids and have been asking a lot of good questions on this board recently. Their previous experience was not on Celebrity....I have probably 50,000 posts on this board and I am still learning.....

[jackdiamond]

I don't know why you would even hint at anything other than a legitimate question. They just booked a cruise with their kids and have been asking a lot of good questions on this board recently. Their previous experience was not on Celebrity....I have probably 50,000 posts on this board and I am still learning.....

I agree; and, we are experienced cruisers (about 25-30 in eleven years); and, I still ask questions.

[jackdiamond]

What a shame that once again we have to have an arrogant and sarcastic response to an innocent question. Get a life Bob :mad: For your information the number of posts has no correlation to how many cruises we have done which is only one at present...I ask a lot of questions!!!

 

To everyone else, thank you for helpful responses. :) My only experience as yet is with Princess and that was added to the on board account and paid automatically on our credit card at the end. My next cruise is with Royal Caribbean and I am informed (thanks to cruise critic)that the envelope system is in place.

 

I was merely enquiring which system Celebrity has, it is such a shame that there are some people who make asking a simple question a crime!

I concur.

[jackdiamond]

Hmmm...can't help but notice that "Bob" has only sailed on Carnival so why is he on the X board anyway. Just trying to start a problem???

As to your original - very legitimate - question. I would add that if you choose Select Dining you must prepay gratuities, otherwise they are added to your onboard account. We were so impressed with our stateroom attendant that we gave her an extra tip in cash (just used our own envelope) as we were leaving on the last day.

Please ignore the grumps and stay on the X board!

Your comments are right on the money. By the way, you might inquire of that fellow as to how he feels about auto tipping.

[willie2845]

What a shame that once again we have to have an arrogant and sarcastic response to an innocent question. Get a life Bob :mad: For your information the number of posts has no correlation to how many cruises we have done which is only one at present...I ask a lot of questions!!!

 

To everyone else, thank you for helpful responses. :) My only experience as yet is with Princess and that was added to the on board account and paid automatically on our credit card at the end. My next cruise is with Royal Caribbean and I am informed (thanks to cruise critic)that the envelope system is in place.

 

I was merely enquiring which system Celebrity has, it is such a shame that there are some people who make asking a simple question a crime!

 

:(I Agree !!!!!!! Get a life Bob!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cisco333]

Looks like Bob has sailed on Celebrity a couple of times...and is quite a nice fellow.

[bubbie617]

Some people bring note cards from home to write a note to the staff member who is being given an extra gratuity thanking them. It's not required, but it's a nice touch. I always plan to bring them, but I usually forget. In that case, I just pick up envelopes and stationery at guest services.

 

I'm sure you will enjoy your cruise on Celebrity. Have fun.

[Cruz4Sun]

Hmmm...can't help but notice that "Bob" has only sailed on Carnival so why is he on the X board anyway. Just trying to start a problem???

As to your original - very legitimate - question. I would add that if you choose Select Dining you must prepay gratuities, otherwise they are added to your onboard account. We were so impressed with our stateroom attendant that we gave her an extra tip in cash (just used our own envelope) as we were leaving on the last day.

Please ignore the grumps and stay on the X board!

 

Hello,

 

We just booked our first Celebrity cruise today. We have always enjoyed the freedom of anytime dining on Princess and decided to give Celebrity a try now that the Select Dining is available. I booked directly with Celebrity via phone and was so surprised to see the gratuities added to my cruise fare which means I will be paying it two months prior to my cruise with the final payment. This was not mentioned when I said I wanted Select Dining. It seems odd that I have to prepay both the dining and room staff gratuity because of the dining choice I made.

 

Hopefully there won't be many more surprises. I'm looking forward to the experience of a different cruise line.

[rjscott]

Cruz4Sun, we sailed Celebrity once in '04 and have sailed mostly Princess since then until we sailed the Equinox last month. One other change you may notice, if you book shore excursions through Celebrity, is that you will also be charged in advance for those excursions. I had thought that, like Princess, the bookings would be charged to my onboard account, but no, the costs were immediately charged to my credit card. That irritated me at first, but then I found that I liked knowing that I could step onboard the ship and know that my cruise was virtually paid for, other than the independent shore excursions I had planned(and any purchases I made in port or on the ship). Just an FYI.

[A Sixth?]

Hello,

 

We just booked our first Celebrity cruise today. We have always enjoyed the freedom of anytime dining on Princess and decided to give Celebrity a try now that the Select Dining is available. I booked directly with Celebrity via phone and was so surprised to see the gratuities added to my cruise fare which means I will be paying it two months prior to my cruise with the final payment. This was not mentioned when I said I wanted Select Dining. It seems odd that I have to prepay both the dining and room staff gratuity because of the dining choice I made.

 

Hopefully there won't be many more surprises. I'm looking forward to the experience of a different cruise line.

 

 

We too are Princess fans but went to Celebrity because of their clean air policy and now are really sold with select dining.... yes it seems very odd that we have to prepay the tips at final payment. :confused:

 

Like not having to deal with tip envelopes and such by having the stuff added to my tab, but like you said, paying it all up at final payment is to my knowledge an industry first...

 

Still worth is so we can dine when we want to:D

[jackdiamond]

Pre-paying your tips for select dining is perfectly proper and fair, and convenient.

[Cruz4Sun]

Cruz4Sun, we sailed Celebrity once in '04 and have sailed mostly Princess since then until we sailed the Equinox last month. One other change you may notice, if you book shore excursions through Celebrity, is that you will also be charged in advance for those excursions. I had thought that, like Princess, the bookings would be charged to my onboard account, but no, the costs were immediately charged to my credit card. That irritated me at first, but then I found that I liked knowing that I could step onboard the ship and know that my cruise was virtually paid for, other than the independent shore excursions I had planned(and any purchases I made in port or on the ship). Just an FYI.

 

Thanks for the FYI. I always pre-book shore excursions and wasn't aware that Celebrity and Princess handled this differently.