Celebrity asking to prepay gratuities

[dalitos]

If this is correct' date=' why can't the Select diners also be charged daily? It makes sense to me.[/quote']

 

Completely agree!

 

If you answer that the Traditional diners can remove their daily-charged gratuities and (for argument's sake) "stiff" the crew' date=' then why should pax be allowed to "stiff" if they are traditional diners, but not if they are select diners?[/quote']

 

Again, completely agree. We would never stiff any of the crew, and I guess would have to receive horrible service to even consider lowering the amount of our tips, but hey, terms need to be equal for all passengers. Either we all prepay, or we all don't.

As for those saying that with Select it's easier to stiff because 1) you don't know whom to tip or 2) you don't receive service from the same person every night.. I really don't get those reasons.

1) You don't have to tip (directly) anyone, it's added to your account, so no need to bother looking for the waiters you had a few nights ago. Also if you want to extra tip someone because of great service, well, then you know who they are.

2) It really doesn't matter who you receive service from.. does it have to be the same person and became your friend so you tip him? Probably most of us eat out in restaurants all the time and it's usually not the same waiter and you will never see him again, and still you leave a tip as you should. It's not different on a cruise, you are eating dinner, someone served you, you tip him. It is much more common on land to receive bad service, and still most of us tip.

[Sail Girl]

Or they just like the escrow. It does seem odd that they now want the money up front for the tips, rather than having them auto added to your shipboard account.

 

I am sure that it was a decision made the by the finance people and not the customer loyalty side of the house.

 

smoosh

I agree with you that the decision to have gratuities paid up front was a financial one. Aren't most business decisions made with an eye to the bottom line?

Then why not charge all gratuities up front? Want to really stir up a hornet's nest?

I've been over on the NCL (gasp!) boards as we'll be sailing with them in Nov. (children traveling with us this time). There is a lively discussion there about the Daily Service Charge and whether it should be charged up front or on a daily basis as it is done now. NCL has only anytime "Freestyle" dining so the difference between traditional and anytime dining doesn't mattter on that line.

Oh, well, IMO, where would we be - and where would chat rooms be - if there were no issues to discuss?

[Can'tstopcruising]

And to add insult to injury, Canadians are charged a premium of 25% on prepaid gratuities. In case some of you don't know, the exchange rate today is about 7%. Do you thin that is fair? Ethical?

[marinerq]

Yes, when we wanted to get Select our TA quoted a rate (for 14 day cruise) a 200PP CAD! Thats 190 USD, even with credit card conversion charge of 2.5% it is 185 USD, that is a 25% higher than US citizens pay. Is there a Canadian Liberal MP on Celebrity Board of Directors ???:)

We will try to prepay for Select while boarding, if at all possible.

[jd1966]

And to add insult to injury' date=' Canadians are charged a premium of 25% on prepaid gratuities. In case some of you don't know, the exchange rate today is about 7%. Do you thin that is fair? Ethical?[/quote']

Now THAT sux!!!!

[ter1050]

This is my first cruise and didn't understand all of the dining options. The TA talked me into the 8:30 traditional, said it would be best, we could order room service for a snack and so on. I then found this board and decided we did not want to have to wait until 8:30 to eat. I e-mailed my TA and told her I'd like to choose the select dining so we could eat when ever we wanted. She said we'd have to pre-pay tips for that and said 8:30 woud be better since we'd be coming in from ports late. So I said okay just leave it like it is. I didn't know tipping was the same, I don't mind pre-paying for it. I would rather have the select dining. But we plan on doing something else on the formal nights, eating in our room or something else. So how do the tips work if you do not go to the dining room every night? I'm just not sure about my TA, don't understand why she kept on wanting us to choose the 8:30 traditional. Any thoughts on this? Thank you.

[KruzPrincess]

they imposed it b/c they do not bill tips daily & staff were being stiffed on their tips...

 

I'd rather they not bill daily-one more thing to go wrong with the bill.

 

.by the time we step onboard almost everythng is taken care of-- tips, excursions, specialty restaurants...etc... by contrast we will be taking our first Princess cruise & we will expect a much larger bill after the cruise since nothing much is billed in advance..

 

But it's my understanding that Celebrity DOES bill auto tips daily to those who are signed up for traditional dining. There's no feasible reason to dun people who choose Select Dining except to discourage it or, as another person stated, to use my money before I go on the cruise. Personally, I like to be billed for charges when I purchase them. I don't want to pay for everything in advance. You pay all these things in advance and then it doesn't seem like you're spending that much on the cruise, so why not spend more. You see all the extras on your current billing and you maybe don't spend as much. They're trying to trick you into thinking you're not spending much by requiring all that prepayment.

[lvcruiser]

This is my first cruise and didn't understand all of the dining options. The TA talked me into the 8:30 traditional, said it would be best, we could order room service for a snack and so on. I then found this board and decided we did not want to have to wait until 8:30 to eat. I e-mailed my TA and told her I'd like to choose the select dining so we could eat when ever we wanted. She said we'd have to pre-pay tips for that and said 8:30 woud be better since we'd be coming in from ports late. So I said okay just leave it like it is. I didn't know tipping was the same, I don't mind pre-paying for it. I would rather have the select dining. But we plan on doing something else on the formal nights, eating in our room or something else. So how do the tips work if you do not go to the dining room every night? I'm just not sure about my TA, don't understand why she kept on wanting us to choose the 8:30 traditional. Any thoughts on this? Thank you.

 

I am a bit surprised that your TA would insist on you going to the late seating since, if you are going to do traditional dining as opposed to Select, the early seating is the one that books up first and is the most difficult to get as the cruise date approaches. On cruises that book up completely, early seating may be taken as early as six months out. She may be trying to make sure you don't have to rush to dinner after your day's activities as she said, or if your cruise is coming up soon, she may not have been able to get early seating for you and didn't want to tell you. No matter the reason, your TA should book your cruise as you dictate, not as she sees fit. You're the one paying the bill and it's your vacation, not hers.

 

You brought up a couple of points in your post; I will try to address all of them.

 

As you have read on this thread, if you choose Select Dining, you will be required to prepay your gratuities along with your final payment for the cruise. If you choose Traditional Dining, your seapass account will be billed daily for the tips. They will be in the same amount in either event. The differences are paying them up front as opposed to daily while on the cruise, and having absolutely no say on any amount you may wish to change if they are prepaid as opposed to being able to alter amounts or completely delete a day's gratuities if paid daily onboard the ship. This may be an important consideration to those who do not wish to tip certain employees that Celebrity has decided are worthy of grats, such as behind the scenes service personnel, asst. head housekeepers or asst. maitre 'd's. Of course, if you feel that someone has earned more than the tip that is billed or prepaid, you may tip that individual at the end of the cruise in any way or amount you deem appropriate. If you plan on tipping the suggested daily billed amounts, prepaying for Select Dining should have no consequence to you, other than the fact that Celebrity is earning interest while holding your money for an extra 75 days before paying it out to the individuals who have earned it. Select dining will provide you with the most flexibility for your daily schedule, so if you don't mind prepaying the grats, I would suggest changing your status if it still can be done. Call your TA - it's faster than email in some cases - and tell her you want it changed if it's not too late. Select books up next after early traditional because they only reserve a certain amount of tables for that status.

 

Regarding dining in venues other than the MDR - You should plan on paying a gratuity to the wait staff every night, whether or not you dine there. I am not sure if the staff pools all tips regardless of prepay or daily, but they are there waiting to serve you regardless if you are there or not. It is proper to tip them for each day you are cruising. If you dine in a specialty venue, you will pay a surcharge, part of which will go to the wait staff for the added service they provide. If you order room service, it is customary to tip whoever delivers it a couple of bucks since they will also set it up for you as though you were dining in a regular restaurant. If you dine in the buffet, there must still be a wait staff to assist you and bus your tables, and they will get a portion of the tip pool.

 

I hope this helps you understand your options a little better. If you have any other questions, feel free to post them and someone will be happy to assist you.

[dkjretired]

I am a bit surprised that your TA would insist on you going to the late seating since, if you are going to do traditional dining as opposed to Select, the early seating is the one that books up first and is the most difficult to get as the cruise date approaches. On cruises that book up completely, early seating may be taken as early as six months out. She may be trying to make sure you don't have to rush to dinner after your day's activities as she said, or if your cruise is coming up soon, she may not have been able to get early seating for you and didn't want to tell you. No matter the reason, your TA should book your cruise as you dictate, not as she sees fit. You're the one paying the bill and it's your vacation, not hers.

 

You brought up a couple of points in your post; I will try to address all of them.

 

As you have read on this thread, if you choose Select Dining, you will be required to prepay your gratuities along with your final payment for the cruise. If you choose Traditional Dining, your seapass account will be billed daily for the tips. They will be in the same amount in either event. The differences are paying them up front as opposed to daily while on the cruise, and having absolutely no say on any amount you may wish to change if they are prepaid as opposed to being able to alter amounts or completely delete a day's gratuities if paid daily onboard the ship. This may be an important consideration to those who do not wish to tip certain employees that Celebrity has decided are worthy of grats, such as behind the scenes service personnel, asst. head housekeepers or asst. maitre 'd's. Of course, if you feel that someone has earned more than the tip that is billed or prepaid, you may tip that individual at the end of the cruise in any way or amount you deem appropriate. If you plan on tipping the suggested daily billed amounts, prepaying for Select Dining should have no consequence to you, other than the fact that Celebrity is earning interest while holding your money for an extra 75 days before paying it out to the individuals who have earned it. Select dining will provide you with the most flexibility for your daily schedule, so if you don't mind prepaying the grats, I would suggest changing your status if it still can be done. Call your TA - it's faster than email in some cases - and tell her you want it changed if it's not too late. Select books up next after early traditional because they only reserve a certain amount of tables for that status.

 

Regarding dining in venues other than the MDR - You should plan on paying a gratuity to the wait staff every night, whether or not you dine there. I am not sure if the staff pools all tips regardless of prepay or daily, but they are there waiting to serve you regardless if you are there or not. It is proper to tip them for each day you are cruising. If you dine in a specialty venue, you will pay a surcharge, part of which will go to the wait staff for the added service they provide. If you order room service, it is customary to tip whoever delivers it a couple of bucks since they will also set it up for you as though you were dining in a regular restaurant. If you dine in the buffet, there must still be a wait staff to assist you and bus your tables, and they will get a portion of the tip pool.

 

I hope this helps you understand your options a little better. If you have any other questions, feel free to post them and someone will be happy to assist you.

 

You cannot delete a days tipping or adjust the tips downward, you may only do it up or remove them from your account altogether from the beginning of the cruise.

 

If you really want Select Dining then choose it, the TA works for you not the other way around. If you have late ports that may be more of a reason to have Select..

[ter1050]

Thank you both for your answers. lvcruiser, you explained it to me very well. We don't go on our cruise until May 2011, so there should be plenty of time. But I am going to call TA today. Thanks again

[Chicago Boy]

My question is why we have to pay for the whole cruise before we cruise?

 

 

Hi There.

 

I am not an accountant for Celebrity but I would imagine the costs associated with operating a cruise ship are huge. Fuel, Insurance, payroll, food, ship maintenance, port charges etc. The list goes on and on so you get the drift. You cannot fly without pay for your tickets up front and lots of hotels expect payment in full payment when guests check in so why should the cruise lines be any different.........Enjoy your cruise!:)

[lvcruiser]

You cannot delete a days tipping or adjust the tips downward, you may only do it up or remove them from your account altogether from the beginning of the cruise.

 

dkjretired - Thank you for your clarification on this issue. Since I have never tried to adjust or remove a tip from the shipboard account, I was unaware of the limitations and certainly would not want to provide inaccurate information. Your follow up is appreciated.

[lvcruiser]

Hi There.

 

I am not an accountant for Celebrity but I would imagine the costs associated with operating a cruise ship are huge. Fuel, Insurance, payroll, food, ship maintenance, port charges etc. The list goes on and on so you get the drift. You cannot fly without pay for your tickets up front and lots of hotels expect payment in full payment when guests check in so why should the cruise lines be any different.........Enjoy your cruise!:)

 

Hey Derf - you had your line in the water for almost three months and you finally reeled one in!

[dkjretired]

dkjretired - Thank you for your clarification on this issue. Since I have never tried to adjust or remove a tip from the shipboard account, I was unaware of the limitations and certainly would not want to provide inaccurate information. Your follow up is appreciated.

 

Your post on that subject was excellent...

[green1]

We dont' agree with paying gratutites prior to service. My travel agent said when we first board, we can tell the purser we want to take care of gratutites at the end of the cruise. But you have to do it first thing. I may have misunderstood, I will have to check with her.

[lvcruiser]

We dont' agree with paying gratutites prior to service. My travel agent said when we first board, we can tell the purser we want to take care of gratutites at the end of the cruise. But you have to do it first thing. I may have misunderstood, I will have to check with her.

 

If you have traditional seating in the MDR, you will be allowed to do what you said - tell them you do not want the daily charges on your seapass account as soon as you board. They will be removed and you will be expected to tip at the end of the cruise. However, if you have chosen Select Dining, you will have no choice - your tips will be included in your final payment for the cruise 75 days prior to sailing.

[joramrose]

I wish ALL gratuities were done away with and the cruise ships paid staff adequate fair wages and priced accordingly.

Then if anyone wanted to show appreciation for a service beyond call of duty, OK, but not expected on either side.

 

I know that there are cruisers who stiff the waiters and cabin attendants too. I've had staff tell me about them. But I also know there are others who are very generous, and maybe it all evens out for the crew but not for the passengers.

 

I just don't like the tipping practice, at sea or ashore. My sons and grandsons have been in the restaurant business and I am well aware of how entrenched the practice is, and at present how necessary. I just don't like it. Add 15 percent or 20 percent or whatever to overall pricing and pay the worker what he is worth.

 

love

joan

[Can'tstopcruising]

I wish ALL gratuities were done away with and the cruise ships paid staff adequate fair wages and priced accordingly.

Then if anyone wanted to show appreciation for a service beyond call of duty, OK, but not expected on either side.

 

I know that there are cruisers who stiff the waiters and cabin attendants too. I've had staff tell me about them. But I also know there are others who are very generous, and maybe it all evens out for the crew but not for the passengers.

 

I just don't like the tipping practice, at sea or ashore. My sons and grandsons have been in the restaurant business and I am well aware of how entrenched the practice is, and at present how necessary. I just don't like it. Add 15 percent or 20 percent or whatever to overall pricing and pay the worker what he is worth.

 

love

 

joan

 

I share your sentiments entirely. I find there are so many negatives regarding tips. It is rather demeaning for the tipee and it can create a power trip for the tipper. If the 15% (or whatever) was added to the bill (whatever the venue). tipping could be abolished entirely. Service would be normal because that would be the custom.

[lvcruiser]

I wish ALL gratuities were done away with and the cruise ships paid staff adequate fair wages and priced accordingly.

Then if anyone wanted to show appreciation for a service beyond call of duty, OK, but not expected on either side.

 

I know that there are cruisers who stiff the waiters and cabin attendants too. I've had staff tell me about them. But I also know there are others who are very generous, and maybe it all evens out for the crew but not for the passengers.

 

I just don't like the tipping practice, at sea or ashore. My sons and grandsons have been in the restaurant business and I am well aware of how entrenched the practice is, and at present how necessary. I just don't like it. Add 15 percent or 20 percent or whatever to overall pricing and pay the worker what he is worth.

 

love

joan

 

It doesn't even out for the crew or the passengers. There are two sayings among the casino dealers in Las Vegas: 5% of the dealers make 95% of the tips, and 5% of the players give 95% of the tips. That may sound like an extreme exaggeration, but believe me, it isn't. Most people simply do not want to tip. Restaurant service personnel do not fare quite that bad, but as a host of a national chain restaurant at the present time, I can say that it makes me sick to see some of the tips my servers are being given - $3.50 for a $56.50 bill, $6.00 for a $98.00 bill, etc., when I know the servers are providing service that should command a 20% tip. It has become considerably worse in the past three years with the economy in the pits. Now take that attitude as a foundation and build upon it the old fashioned thought that a cruise is supposed to be all-inclusive. Add to that the fact that it's going to be a once in a lifetime experience for most of the cruisers who will never see their wait staff again, and you have all the makings of a situation where those who are going to be hesitant to give adequate tips for service provided in a land based scenario are going to try to stiff their service personnel onboard a ship completely.

 

I agree that it would be better for the passengers and the crew if they simply made the gratuities a service charge that was added to the initial cost of the cruise, just like port fees and taxes. But then arises the question, are the service staff going to get all of it, or is the company going to put some of it in their pockets?

[basejump]

This is my first cruise and didn't understand all of the dining options. The TA talked me into the 8:30 traditional, said it would be best, we could order room service for a snack and so on. I then found this board and decided we did not want to have to wait until 8:30 to eat. I e-mailed my TA and told her I'd like to choose the select dining so we could eat when ever we wanted. She said we'd have to pre-pay tips for that and said 8:30 woud be better since we'd be coming in from ports late. So I said okay just leave it like it is. I didn't know tipping was the same, I don't mind pre-paying for it. I would rather have the select dining. But we plan on doing something else on the formal nights, eating in our room or something else. So how do the tips work if you do not go to the dining room every night? I'm just not sure about my TA, don't understand why she kept on wanting us to choose the 8:30 traditional. Any thoughts on this? Thank you.

 

Essentially you tip the dining room staff regardless of whether you turn up for dinner or not - they have to be there regardless and dont get reallocated another table as they would in a normal resturant. With room service, although it is free, they recommend (and it is good practice) to tip the steward who brings the meal - say $5 would do it I would suggest.

[dkjretired]

I wish ALL gratuities were done away with and the cruise ships paid staff adequate fair wages and priced accordingly.

Then if anyone wanted to show appreciation for a service beyond call of duty, OK, but not expected on either side.

 

I know that there are cruisers who stiff the waiters and cabin attendants too. I've had staff tell me about them. But I also know there are others who are very generous, and maybe it all evens out for the crew but not for the passengers.

 

I just don't like the tipping practice, at sea or ashore. My sons and grandsons have been in the restaurant business and I am well aware of how entrenched the practice is, and at present how necessary. I just don't like it. Add 15 percent or 20 percent or whatever to overall pricing and pay the worker what he is worth.

 

love

joan

 

I wish they could add the tips in also however I would be concerned that it would all start over again and people would start tipping. At some point we would then be back to where we are now... If I remember correctly Holland America had a no tip policy years ago but it really wasn't because people tipped anyway...

[KirkNC]

I have never liked this prepay practice that X uses. Somehow it makes me think that Select Dining customers are considered pikers that will for some reason not tip. It becomes even more bizarre when you realize that you are also prepaying your cabin steward all because of your dining preference.

 

Kirk

[TenerifeSharon]

With room service, although it is free, they recommend (and it is good practice) to tip the steward who brings the meal - say $5 would do it I would suggest.

 

Everyone tips as they deem appropriate, but if we are talking about room service for breakfast or a sandwich etc., I must admit that I will generally only tip $2.00, not $5.00 or so. (We generally bring about $50 in singles with us for this purpose.) We have never had a full lunch or dinner served us in the cabin, so maybe that is the discrepancy with your suggestion.:)

[Lovincruisin1321]

I have traditional dining.

 

Can I pay all my gratuities before the cruise? Personally, if it is automatic I rather get the pain over with and enjoy the cruise instead of the dreaded bill the last night.

[sandancer]

We dont' agree with paying gratutites prior to service. My travel agent said when we first board, we can tell the purser we want to take care of gratutites at the end of the cruise. But you have to do it first thing. I may have misunderstood, I will have to check with her.

If you remove the auto-tip (added daily) your waiter and room attendant will be advised. We always choose Select Dining and pay the gratuities upfront, one less thing on the shipboard account. I am not syaing that this should be compulsory or that it is the best way to do it for everyone, but it suits us.