Dining on Celebrity - Qs

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

What if you go to the buffet? Do you actually have to tell the MDR you won't be there?

 

I'm still confused. For Select you have to pre-pay all of your gratuities - even though only a part of it goes to Dining Room Staff? Where's the logic?

 

I'm not opposed to tipping - quite the opposite, but I'd like to have my gratuities paid out of my OBC and still have flexible dining. Guess it's not to be.

 

The logic is that those who like to stiff the staff and remove the gratuities are more likely to do so if in Select dining. Plus they had difficulty getting waiters to work in Select since they so often got stiffed.

 

I agree, I like the gratuities to come out of my OBC. The way around this is to book traditional dining when booking and switch to Select once on board. The tips will then be charged to your seapass account daily.

 

[lakelivin2]

The logic is that those who like to stiff the staff and remove the gratuities are more likely to do so if in Select dining. Plus they had difficulty getting waiters to work in Select since they so often got stiffed.

 

I agree, I like the gratuities to come out of my OBC. The way around this is to book traditional dining when booking and switch to Select once on board. The tips will then be charged to your seapass account daily.

 

Do you know this for a fact? I've always done select dining and "never" stiff staff. How do you know this information?

I'm with previous posters that believe everyone should have to pay gratuities and not have the option of removing service gratuity.

Just don't like to think that servers or others think I've chosen "select" to get out of anything!

[miataman19]

Just another thing to add :D. We are traditional cruisers, always book 1st seating. Like meeting new people and have the same staff all week. Booked our Reflection cruise 7 months out and was told by my TA that first seating was already "not available" :confused:. I get that they hold some tables for suite guests as this is a perk for booking a suite. We are on the wait list and will most likely get 1st seating but goodness 7 months out and not available :eek:. Oh, BTW, had to pay the gratuities up front because we are in "Select" :rolleyes:. Just one of those things that has been bugging me for 2 months...lol...thanks for listening. ;)

[johncaribbean]

WE ALWAYS HAVE MIXED FEELING ABOUT GIVING TIPS , there are lots of times when staff go out of their way to make your vacation cruise to be extra special , and i think it always right to tip them in person , and then again some cruiser is going to reply to my message ,"why not give an extra trip to the staff who does more", because it add up in the end. if we are on a 7 day cruise you pay 7 days x 2 people x 12 = 168 dollars ,we give 50 to each waiter and and to the 2 peoples cleaning our another 50 each and total of $200 its hard for me to pay both

and in all my cruises we have been lucky to always have good waiters and only once had a bad cleaning staff. So i really perfer to pay tip in person to hard workers.

[Sloop-JohnB]

Do you know this for a fact? I've always done select dining and "never" stiff staff. How do you know this information?

I'm with previous posters that believe everyone should have to pay gratuities and not have the option of removing service gratuity.

Just don't like to think that servers or others think I've chosen "select" to get out of anything!

 

Yes, sadly some Cruisers (far too many) without just cause stiff crew on the Daily Grats by asking to have part or all of them removed. :mad:

 

A fact that anyone can witness by hanging around Guest Relations the last day of the cruise (lol, ok in our case we weren't hanging around just to discover this... We were there for another reason)

 

But it happens waaaaay too often which is why I strongly support that Celebrity change the line item from Grats to Service Charge and just have everyone pay it up front like we all have to do for Taxes & Port Fees etc

 

 

Just another thing to add :D. We are traditional cruisers, always book 1st seating. Like meeting new people and have the same staff all week. Booked our Reflection cruise 7 months out and was told by my TA that first seating was already "not available" :confused:. I get that they hold some tables for suite guests as this is a perk for booking a suite. We are on the wait list and will most likely get 1st seating but goodness 7 months out and not available :eek:. Oh, BTW, had to pay the gratuities up front because we are in "Select" :rolleyes:. Just one of those things that has been bugging me for 2 months...lol...thanks for listening. ;)

 

Traditional Dining Early Seating is listed as Often as full long before a cruise sails for a variety of reasons

 

1- Cruise Itinerary... Port intensive trips, and the more people want to eat early so they can get to bed early (Traditional Late for many concludes around 10 PM)

 

2- Demographics.... Cruises where there are a lot of kids or older people

 

3- Not Familiar wit Celebrity... Plenty of Pax never answer the Dining Question properly (or understand it)... The default is set as Traditional Early

 

Which tends to account for long line ups for to see the Maitre D to make a switch on E-Day

 

Hope this helps,

 

Cheers!

Edited August 28, 2014 by Sloop-JohnB

[flag fan]

The problem with the entire concept of tips is that passengers/customers think of them as a little added payment for exceptional service when in fact/practice the tips are just a means for having service people get basic pay.

 

A better system would just be to have the cruise line/hotel/restaurant pay the full salary for cabin attendants/housekeepers/waiters but for some reason a custom developed that certain types of employment are paid not by the employer but (at least in part) by the patrons of the employer directly to the employees (with variations in different countries). A ridiculous system but that is the world will live in. I think the "tips" should be mandatory for all passengers (with the option of passengers giving extra if they want).

 

Because the mandatory tips are really just the basic wage of the staff members, I think the appropriate response to for poor service is to notify management; it is really unfair to withhold the worker's wages.

 

One poster mentioned that tips could not be lowered in Select dining. Can they be raised (meaning through charging one's onboard account). I sail solo and prefer to tip extra just to make up for taking up a full cabin (why should the staff get paid less because there is only one person in the room). Can this be done or is my only option to hand out envelopes?

Edited August 28, 2014 by flag fan

[Sloop-JohnB]

The problem with the entire concept of tips is that passengers/customers think of them as a little added payment for exceptional service when in fact/practice the tips are just a means for having service people get basic pay.

 

A better system would just be to have the cruise line/hotel/restaurant pay the full salary for cabin attendants/housekeepers/waiters but for some reason a custom developed that certain types of employment are paid not by the employer but (at least in part) by the patrons of the employer directly to the employees (with variations in different countries). A ridiculous system but that is the world will live in. I think the "tips" should be mandatory for all passengers (with the option of passengers giving extra if they want).

 

Because the mandatory tips are really just the basic wage of the staff members, I think the appropriate response to for poor service is to notify management; it is really unfair to withhold the worker's wages.

 

One poster mentioned that tips could not be lowered in Select dining. Can they be raised (meaning through charging one's onboard account). I sail solo and prefer to tip extra just to make up for taking up a full cabin (why should the staff get paid less because there is only one person in the room). Can this be done or is my only option to hand out envelopes?

 

Agree whole heatedly.

 

Tipping tho is not "the world" we live in.

 

It is primarily a US / North American driven economy element.

 

And that is because it historically worked / caught on in the USA after the Civil War when previous Slaves became Servants for the rich, and were required to be paid by law. Many negotiated that they would pay based on the service, after the service was rendered dependent on their amount of satusfaction (vs the previous concept from Europe where tips were paid for exceptional & prompt attention)

 

Sadly tipping culture and how it plays in the North American Economy has changed very little in the last 150 years.

 

The Service industry is still dominated by the face of colour and those less fortunate being taken advantage of due to circumstance (low pay, no benefits, little job security) and trying to make up the difference / living wage in tips

 

Yes it is time to change.

 

And that will take legal & well as social change... Not an overnight process... Canada has a 10 year plan to bring about a True Living Wage to go a long ways towards getting rid of tipping here. But it will still be an uphill battle cause of the lenghty history of this in our economics & culture too.

 

IMO, it s time that Celebrity took a step in the right direction. They should stop making Grats an "alternative" for their Customers. All Pax, Select & Traditional should be treated equally... Grats should be renamed Service Charge, and be applied same way as Taxes & Fees, just part of the cruise cost. Period

 

Cheers!

Edited August 28, 2014 by Sloop-JohnB