Summit Concierge Class - Etiquette/Dos/Donts/Expectations?

[wakar13]

First time cruisers on our honeymoon. Landed the absolute last available Concierge Class stateroom (yay for Costco). Now a few questions for clarity

- Is tipping mandatory? Do you tip ahead on day 1 or tip on Day 7? Is 20% considered normal?

- What can you expect from your attendant - or what requests are considered "usual"

- What should we NOT be expecting or asking for?

 

We have never been waited on our entire lives and we dont want to go overboard (no pun intended) or come across as cheap. We also would like to maximize the benefits.

 

Thanks a ton.

[Essiesmom]

Gratuities in the amount of $11/per day/per person will automatically be added to your onboard account. You do not have to tip any more unless you are thrilled with your service. These gratuities include your cabin staff and your dining room staff, plus some behind the scenes people you may never see.

You can expect your cabin attendant to 'clean' your cabin twice a day, which includes making the bed and evening turn-down service, filling your ice bucket, emptying trash, clean towels, etc. If you have a request of your steward that is 'not his job', he will find someone whose job it is to get it done.

When the steward turns down your bed at night, he will leave chocolates on you pillow and the next days program in your cabin. EM

[kitty9]

Tipping isn't "mandatory" but it's considered very bad form not to tip. These hard workers can work for as many as 14 hours a day and rely on your tips for their livelihood----cruise lines pay their workers crappy wages. You do not tip every night, you have a choice of how to handle tipping. First, if you choose Select Dining on Celebrity, you will pre-pay your tips. It runs around $11 per person, per day and will be added to your total cost of the cruise. If you do Traditional Dining, they will add the daily tip to your sign and sail card. FYI, you tip your room steward, your assistant waiter, your waiter, the head waiter for your table-----Celebrity also recommends tipping the chief housekeeper. When you purchase drinks on board, they automatically add a 15% tip to your bill. If you purchase a drink package, they automatically add 15% of the total cost of your package. If you order room service, you tip the delivery person $2 to $5 depending on how much food they deliver.

 

Here's the tipping amount from Celebrity's website:

 

Waiter $3.65

Assistant Waiter $2.10

Dining Room Management $1.00

Stateroom Service* Per Person Per Day

Butler (Suites Only) $3.50

Stateroom Service $3.50 ($4.00 for Concierge Class and AquaClass staterooms)

Alternative Service*

Other Service Personnel $1.25

 

Beverage Service personnel are acknowledged with a 15% service charge which will be automatically added to the bill.

 

*Please note that gratuities may be shared with other crew members depending on the particular service requirement.

 

 

 

Your room steward will clean your cabin twice a day and that's basically their job. They really don't do much more than that, but when you realize they have to clean 16 or more cabins, twice each day, they earn their money. I'm not sure what you're asking about with regards to the cabin steward, but personally, I've never asked him to do anything more than keeping my cabin clean. You can ask for things like extra towels, certain fruit for your fruit bowl, keeping your in cabin refrigerator stocked with the beverages you prefer, (but all those items cost extra----the refrigerator beverages and snacks are not free). But anything other than that, I really don't know what you can ask him to do. Now, if you had a butler, that's a different story because butlers do a lot more than cabin stewards. The main duty of your cabin steward is to keep your cabin clean.

[spny84]

I'm afraid your expectations may be a tad too high already. As people have already said you will be tipping as long as you leave the automatic gratuities on (or have Select Dining) so you do not need to tip anyone unless you feel they have done something special for you. After saying that most people tip a few dollars if they have room service delivered but it is not mandatory and no one will be standing there with their hands out.

 

The things we usually ask our room attendant are for things like extra pillows, extra towels, cleaning the glass on the balcony, certain time of day for ice, etc. I usually do this by leaving a note mainly because I figure if they have any trouble understanding english then they can always ask someone if it is written down. If there is anything ever wrong with your room (think a/c or toilet) then you can tell your room steward and/or call guest services. I've found historically it gets fixed faster when the room steward is involved.

 

If you feel someone has done something special for you, you can leave/hand them an extra tip which we have done before. But I've been told they appreciate the cards you can fill out telling the bosses how they went above their jobs. These cards supposedly help them move up the job ladder, get them extra time off, etc.

 

Have a great honeymoon!!

 

First time cruisers on our honeymoon. Landed the absolute last available Concierge Class stateroom (yay for Costco). Now a few questions for clarity

- Is tipping mandatory? Do you tip ahead on day 1 or tip on Day 7? Is 20% considered normal?

- What can you expect from your attendant - or what requests are considered "usual"

- What should we NOT be expecting or asking for?

 

We have never been waited on our entire lives and we dont want to go overboard (no pun intended) or come across as cheap. We also would like to maximize the benefits.

 

Thanks a ton.

[JanineM]

I guess I must be a bit of a brat because I tend to ask our stateroom attendant for a few different things, especially in Concierge Class:

 

- I am allergic to shellfish so always ask to have crackers and cheese in place of the standard appetisers each afternoon,

- I'll ask for extra Diet Coke in the fridge (which is not free --- but they normally only pack one or two Diet Cokes in there)

- We like to have our ice bucket filled full-to-the-top all the time (for those Diet Cokes)

- I always send some clothes out for pressing or cleaning and the stateroom attendant takes care of that (I either hand to him/her or leave in the bag on the bed)

 

There is a good sized table on your balcony and it is suitable for meals, so if you take advantage of Room Service, please know that most people give a tip to the server of approximately $2 to $5. If the room steward brings your food then some don't give an extra tip.

 

Enjoy your honeymoon! We've had CC cabins on Summit a couple of times and have had only wonderful experiences.