Blu Restaurant

[Cruising89143]

every night a few aqua class guests dine in the MDR...and every night a few suite guests dine in Blu. That's reasonable and generally it's pretty fair. Now there is a suite guest every so often that eats all or most of their meals in Blu....and that's where I think the $5 pp charge is appropriate.

 

I agree.

[Gonzo70]

every night a few aqua class guests dine in the MDR...and every night a few suite guests dine in Blu. That's reasonable and generally it's pretty fair. Now there is a suite guest every so often that eats all or most of their meals in Blu....and that's where I think the $5 pp charge is appropriate.

 

Sometimes they are able to adjust your daily service charge/gratuities to go to the Blu staff if you are a suite guest who dines regularly at Blu. On Millennium in May of 2012 the Blu Maitre 'D was able to officially make Blu our assigned dining room (we were in a Sky Suite that cruise) and transfer our service charge/gratuities to go to the staff there instead of the MDR.

[Cruising89143]

I would like to try Blu in March. We usually dine about 90% of the time in a specialty restaurant. We are booked in a suite so that option "may" be there if there is availability. Maybe we will try it for breakfast as that seems to be the easiest way to get in. :)

[gracecarmo]

Is the $10 for two just for dinner,(suite guest), or is breakfast also $10? It is my understanding that suite guests could eat breakfast in blu, and a space available for dinner.

 

Who is in charge of the fee, the MD or hotel mgr?

 

We will be on the Summit.

[ghstudio]

I would like to try Blu in March. We usually dine about 90% of the time in a specialty restaurant. We are booked in a suite so that option "may" be there if there is availability. Maybe we will try it for breakfast as that seems to be the easiest way to get in. :)

 

Suite guests are always welcome in Blu for breakfast....no $5 charge. No one really knows who decides if they charge a fee or not.

[Gonzo70]

Is the $10 for two just for dinner,(suite guest), or is breakfast also $10? It is my understanding that suite guests could eat breakfast in blu, and a space available for dinner.

 

Who is in charge of the fee, the MD or hotel mgr?

 

We will be on the Summit.

 

There is never a charge to dine in Blu. For breakfast there never even used to be a fee; for a period of time there used to be a $5 fee per suite guest for dinner at Blu, but approximately a year ago Celebrity changed this policy and no longer ever charges anybody for dining at Blu (though apparently some Blu personnel have not learned of the policy change and occasionally charge suite guests this fee at dinner).

[Cruising89143]

Suite guests are always welcome in Blu for breakfast....no $5 charge. No one really knows who decides if they charge a fee or not.

 

Thanks. I think breakfast will be a good time to try it.:)

[galavant3]

There is never a charge to dine in Blu. For breakfast there never even used to be a fee; for a period of time there used to be a $5 fee per suite guest for dinner at Blu, but approximately a year ago Celebrity changed this policy and no longer ever charges anybody for dining at Blu (though apparently some Blu personnel have not learned of the policy change and occasionally charge suite guests this fee at dinner).

 

I don't doubt what you say but the suggested $5 still appears on the Celebrity website...I'm sure this contributes to the confusion.

 

Additionally, onboard our Solstice® Class ships, children that are booked in suites that are at least 12 years old will be accommodated in Blu when dining with an adult, based on availability only. Please note a $5 per guest gratuity is recommended for any suite guests dining in Blu.

[turkeysmoker]

breakfast is good in blu but a must have for dinner(awesome)

[jackdiamond]

We do not prepay gratuities. We pay for quality of service.

Do you leave the auto tip in place?

[jenniebnyc]

JACK DIAMOND

 

Not anymore. We are usually in a suite and eat in specialty restaurants, BLU and maybe only one or two times in MDR. Easier to pay as we go.

 

Same goes for butler, stateroom attendant and anyone else who helps us. We decide how much tip they should get 20%, 15%, 10% or none depending on their service and attitude.

[Lois R]

JACK DIAMOND

 

Not anymore. We are usually in a suite and eat in specialty restaurants, BLU and maybe only one or two times in MDR. Easier to pay as we go.

 

Same goes for butler, stateroom attendant and anyone else who helps us. We decide how much tip they should get 20%, 15%, 10% or none depending on their service and attitude.

 

Hi, so you go to Guest Relations at the beginning of your cruise and tell them to remove everything?

And you mentioned "paying as you go"? So if you eat in the main dining room? (as you mentioned), you bring cash with you to dinner? And

give your wait staff cash at the end of your meal?

 

Just curious......

[jackdiamond]

Sad, the euphemisms some folks utilize to justify stiffing the staff.

[Christine Frances]

JACK DIAMOND

 

Not anymore. We are usually in a suite and eat in specialty restaurants, BLU and maybe only one or two times in MDR. Easier to pay as we go.

 

Same goes for butler, stateroom attendant and anyone else who helps us. We decide how much tip they should get 20%, 15%, 10% or none depending on their service and attitude.

 

20-15-10% of what? Did you eat in the buffet? The MDR for lunch or breakfast? What about all the people you don't see that make your cruise special? And I may be wrong, but if you remove your gratuities, you are on the list and any tips you give have to be turned in. If you leave the gratuity on, the staff can keep any extra you might want to give. Don't know what kind of point you are trying to make but you are impacting alot of people.

[disneydave]

Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

 

Is the $10 for two just for dinner,(suite guest), or is breakfast also $10? It is my understanding that suite guests could eat breakfast in blu, and a space available for dinner.

 

Who is in charge of the fee, the MD or hotel mgr?

 

We will be on the Summit.

[jackdiamond]

Christine, you are correct. Some day all of the tips will be mandatory, which will to be to the benefit of the staff and to we cruisers who are not stiffers.

[Gonzo70]

J

 

Same goes for butler, stateroom attendant and anyone else who helps us. We decide how much tip they should get 20%, 15%, 10% or none depending on their service and attitude.

 

I am not sure what those percentages reference. FYI, the daily gratuities are essentially a service charge for basic, expected service and are how the hard working staff is paid! Please do not remove this - it is like turning the hard working staff into your unpaid servants. Pay this basic gratuity and then tip in cash at the end of the cruise to anybody who went over and above expectations and made your cruise special (as well as acknowledge them by name in the comment card).

[Lois R]

I am not sure what those percentages reference. FYI, the daily gratuities are essentially a service charge for basic, expected service and are how the hard working staff is paid! Please do not remove this - it is like turning the hard working staff into your unpaid servants. Pay this basic gratuity and then tip in cash at the end of the cruise to anybody who went over and above expectations and made your cruise special (as well as acknowledge them by name in the comment card).

 

Hi Gonzo, always pleased to see your posts:)...I was going to say

the same thing but thought someone else would probably say it better.

(you did indeed). I was also told if the all the tips are removed at

the start and cash given...that cash has to be turned in......:eek:

 

Hope you are both doing well.:)

[dkjretired]

Christine, you are correct. Some day all of the tips will be mandatory, which will to be to the benefit of the staff and to we cruisers who are not stiffers.

 

However, if all the tips are part of the cost or mandatory then this whole discussion will start over. Twenty years from now someone else will be having this same discussion. Same thing occurred in the 90s with Holland America.

[happy 2 b cruising]

I am not sure what those percentages reference. FYI, the daily gratuities are essentially a service charge for basic, expected service and are how the hard working staff is paid! Please do not remove this - it is like turning the hard working staff into your unpaid servants. Pay this basic gratuity and then tip in cash at the end of the cruise to anybody who went over and above expectations and made your cruise special (as well as acknowledge them by name in the comment card).

 

Thank - you for this Post! I was just on the Royal Caribbean Thread regarding the same issue. What I read was really very sad, people took off the tips before the final bill was posted, this way they had good service and stiffed the staff and didn't have to face them. Very, very sad:(.

[Kwaj girl]

...just include them in the cruise fare to begin with - then those 'stiffers' will no longer get away with it and the staff will get their hard-earned money.

[Gonzo70]

Hi Gonzo, always pleased to see your posts:)...I was going to say

the same thing but thought someone else would probably say it better.

(you did indeed). I was also told if the all the tips are removed at

the start and cash given...that cash has to be turned in......:eek:

 

Hope you are both doing well.:)

 

Thanks for the kind words. :)

[jenniebnyc]

On our cruise, we tip everyone who has serviced us in the MDR, BLU and Specialty restaurants. When we go to a bar, there is a gratuity already on the bill. We usually tip more. We tip the bathroom attendants frequently when the bathroom is clean. We tip the person who clears our plate at the buffet. We tip our stateroom attendent, butler. We tip the restaurant director if we feel service was good. We tip the MD in each restaurant we dine is if the food and service is deserving. There have been too many times we we had auto tip where the service was not up to par or we were not using the venue that was being tipped. For example, we do not eat in MDR every night so why should we auto tip people in MDR when we are not even there? For those insinuating that we "stiff", I hardly think this is an accurate statement. If you would like to nicely explain why you feel this way, please do.

[2ashevillesailors]

That is a very dated policy - it is no longer the case. The maitre d' was mistaken.

 

We did the Solstice a year ago and did Aqua Class, we had to prepay the gratuities. We are doing Infinity and will also have to prepay gratuities for Aqua. Can go in when we want. Love Blu restaurant. Mary

[Jade13]

There is never a charge to dine in Blu. For breakfast there never even used to be a fee; for a period of time there used to be a $5 fee per suite guest for dinner at Blu, but approximately a year ago Celebrity changed this policy and no longer ever charges anybody for dining at Blu (though apparently some Blu personnel have not learned of the policy change and occasionally charge suite guests this fee at dinner).

 

They charged Suite guests $5.00 per person on our Silhouette transatlantic.