Eating in Blu while staying in a suite

[Cruising Bonnie]

We are booking an aqua class room on silhouette. If we want to dine in Blu as well as several speciality restaurants, do we get the prepaid gratuities or do we do it at the end. Also, the web site said we do not have to make reservations at Blu that it is open seating. Can this be? Is every ship different?

Thanks.

[ghstudio]

We are booking an aqua class room on silhouette. If we want to dine in Blu as well as several speciality restaurants, do we get the prepaid gratuities or do we do it at the end. Also, the web site said we do not have to make reservations at Blu that it is open seating. Can this be? Is every ship different?

Thanks.

 

You do not have to prepay gratuities if you are in Aqua....just don't choose select dining when you book the cruise (it's a glitch in the celebrity billing system)...just book early or late seating. No matter what you pick, you will eat anytime you arrive in Blu. You can not reserve a table in Blu unless you have a large party. It is not dependent on the ship...all ships handle Blu the same way.

[Cruising Bonnie]

You do not have to prepay gratuities if you are in Aqua....just don't choose select dining when you book the cruise (it's a glitch in the celebrity billing system)...just book early or late seating. No matter what you pick, you will eat anytime you arrive in Blu. You can not reserve a table in Blu unless you have a large party. It is not dependent on the ship...all ships handle Blu the same way.

 

So we are not actually assigned an early or late seating, we show up. Are we given envelopes at the end of the cruise for tipping or can they be charged to our account? What about the speciality restaurants, do we tip or does the service charge include the tip? What about the room steward, etc? This is a very confusing system.

[Phxazzcruisers]

So we are not actually assigned an early or late seating, we show up. Are we given envelopes at the end of the cruise for tipping or can they be charged to our account? What about the speciality restaurants, do we tip or does the service charge include the tip? What about the room steward, etc? This is a very confusing system.

 

If you are booked in AquanClass the tips are just added to your on board account. If you feel that you got exceptional service, as we always do, we bring thank you nots and give our servers something extra at the end of the cruise.

At the specialty restaurants the "fee" you are charged covers the tip for the staff. The other staff, your room steward, etc. the tips are all charged to your account. Again, if you feel the service was excellent feel free to give them something additional. They live on tips, not salary, so they really appreciate it.

On a separate note, if they were really exceptional, be sure to name them on your end of cruise survey. That is how they get promotions.

I hope this helps. Enjoy your cruise.

[cruisestitch]

Yes, it is confusing.

 

If you eat in a specialty restaurant there is a fee assessed. Call it gratuity, service charge, or tip. This will go on your SeaPass account. You can still add further tip if you wish.

 

Otherwise you pay a flat amount which will cover your servers (whether they are the MDR or the ones on the buffet or Aqua Spa or and the hamburger grill) and your stateroom attendants.

 

This flat amount can be paid ahead of the cruise or can be put on your SeaPass account. If you put it on your account, you'll see a daily charge added each day to the account.

 

It is possible to have the auto-tips removed and to pay everyone in cash. This is problematic because if you go to Guest Relations to ask that the tips be removed, management jumps to the conclusion that someone has displeased you and it becomes a black mark against your servers and stateroom staff. But some do it anyway, preferring to give cash rather than using the AutoTip system, and part of this is cultural, part is because they have been doing it that way since they started tipping, part because of currency conversion issues.

 

If you eat in the MDR, and you choose traditional dining, you will sit at the same table each night, and the tip will go to those waiters (whether you are there one or more nights or not).

 

If you eat in the MDR and you choose Select Dining, you may or may not have the same waiter. Thus, they have a regulation that if you do Select Dining, you must have the tips paid ahead of the cruise, with your booking. This is so all of them can benefit, whether you get the same waiter each night or not.

 

If you are in Blu, your tips will go to the waiters who serve you there. There is a bad glitch in the Celebrity system where it comes to Blu that makes it look like you must pre-pay your tips if you are in Aqua Class, just the same as Select Dining must. That isn't so. You need to do the work-around already described.

 

You are always free to add more tip to any server, at the time of service or at the end of the cruise.

 

There once was a time when you received an envelope and a card to hand the server, indicating that the tips had been put on your account or pre-paid, or into wish you put your cash tips before the computerized systems began to be used, but now they have done away with that to save paper. You can still pick up envelopes at Guest Relations if you want to use them, or to write a server a note to go along with any extra tip you might want to leave him/her.

 

Have I forgotten anything?

[Cruising Bonnie]

Thanks everyone for explaining this process to me. Thank goodness the days of envelopes are over. I just want to make sure I take care of the people who make my cruise wonderful. They work so hard and should be rewarded.

[SilverDollarDoll]

We also upgraded to a sky suite from AQ and I'm happy to hear we can probably get into Blu as we eat early. My question is about the 2 free specialty dinners: can we wait until we board to book them? We want to check the menus for Blu and/or MDR before we choose the nights. Will we still get in to the specialties if we wait? Also, we will be dressing formal for the 2 formal nights, should we go to the MDR to get a really special dinner or does Blu also go over and above for their menu on formal nights? After 7 cruises, this is our first on Celebrity.

 

How do you get to see future menus ahead of time?

[Aloha 1]

How do you get to see future menus ahead of time?

 

The Maitre D' will have the menus.

[RPPerkins]

As I said we arrived most nights before 7PM and had our butler call ahead to be sure. I think if you are willing to do that OR arrive after 8:15 or so you should be fine....if you want to arrive at 7:30 you should expect to be turned down more often than not...they are very busy at that time...so be flexible and you should be fine.

Thanks for the advice.