Gratutities

[beautifulbc2]

I believe that Celebrity charges US $12.95 per day per person for the gratuties on your shipbaord account.

 

Does anyone know if one can go to the purser's desk and sign a form , saying that you will tip on your own ? (that way they will not charge your shipboard account)

 

Another question, does anyone know if the crew actually receive the amount of tips, that Celebrity charges the guests ?, or does Celebrity take a cut first, and then distribute.

 

Then how do they distribute the tip ?

[cruisestitch]

What is your dining assignment? If you have Select Dining you cannot remove the auto tips.

Edited August 2, 2015 by cruisestitch

[Phxazzcruisers]

As stated, if you have select dining you cannot remove the tip. If you do not, you can. And YES, the entire amount of the tips is paid to the staff. Celebrity does NOT take a cut. They are distributes by your stateroom number and dining room table number and server. If you only ate in buffet it is distributed among all workers in buffet.

[cle-guy]

You CAN go to the desk and remove tips, unless you chose Select Dining, then they are permanent but for very extreme circumstances and after talking to multiple levels of management to discuss the egregious actions causing you to do so.

 

Do be aware that when you do remove tips, affected individual staff are made aware of that fact, so you may see service slip. They are made aware so they have a chance at "service recovery". After all, why would anyone remove the charge just to give it back to them - staff know people who remove tips are there to screw them. It's just illogical to remove and repay.

 

Yes, staff get tips. There have been so many lawsuits about gratuities and tip distribution, that no company that collects them is going to deal with the legal challenge that comes if it.

 

Staff are also required to "pool" tips, that is if they get cash they have to turn it in to be equally distributed. I tried additionally tipping the assistant cabin steward once, and he informed me that I had to give the the lead steward who was in charge of accumulating the cash tips. Of course there is little way to police this, but the staff watch each other and know whats up and will readily report another skimming cash tips.

 

It's not worth the hassle to remove your tips, if you are one of those who says "I like to top above the norm" then do so, give them extra cash at the end, above their standard fixed amounts.

 

As to who gets what, here is the breakdown before the recent increase:

 

Dining Staff

• Waiter - $3.65 pp/per day
  
• Ass't. Waiter - $2.10 pp/per day
  
• DR Mgm't. - $1.00 pp/per day

Stateroom Service - Amount varies based on cabin category occupied:

• Suite Butler $3.50 pp/per day (cabin steward ALSO gets $3.50)
  
• Aqua Cabin Steward - $4.00 pp/per day
  
• Concierge Class Cabin Steward - $4.00 pp/per day
  
• Regular Stateroom Cabin Steward - $3.50 pp/per day.
   
  
• Other service personnel: $1.25 pp/per day
  

Edited August 2, 2015 by cle-guy

[I&J Cruisers]

As stated, if you have select dining you cannot remove the tip. If you do not, you can. And YES, the entire amount of the tips is paid to the staff. Celebrity does NOT take a cut. They are distributes by your stateroom number and dining room table number and server. If you only ate in buffet it is distributed among all workers in buffet.

 

 

They don't know where you've eaten. The collected gratuities are distributed between all service personnel both those that are visible and those behind the scenes that you never see.

 

 

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[Phxazzcruisers]

They don't know where you've eaten. The collected gratuities are distributed between all service personnel both those that are visible and those behind the scenes that you never see.

 

 

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They do know, as when you enter the dining room or any specialty restaurant you give them your stateroom number. We have been told by several of the staff on many of our cruises that these are tracked.

 

Curt, your comment "Staff are also required to "pool" tips, that is if they get cash they have to turn it in to be equally distributed. I tried additionally tipping the assistant cabin steward once, and he informed me that I had to give the the lead steward who was in charge of accumulating the cash tips. Of course there is little way to police this, but the staff watch each other and know whats up and will readily report another skimming cash tips."

is very interesting to me. We have always given extra tips to our butler, waiter, asst waiter, stateroom attendant and their assistant. They have always accepted them with a thank you and a smile. We had asked if they pool those and have also been told no they do not. They took care of us, so they were allowed to keep the extra tip. We will ask again on our next cruise.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Phxazzcruisers

[jelayne]

They don't know where you've eaten. The collected gratuities are distributed between all service personnel both those that are visible and those behind the scenes that you never see.

 

 

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They do know where you eat. If you have Select dining, eat in a Speciality restaurant, bistro on 5, Blu or Luminae or order from Room Service you provide your cabin #. If you have traditional dining your are assigned a table and they know if you are there or not. So if you never show up to dine at any of the above they can pretty well determine you are dining in the Oceanview cafe.

[cle-guy]

They do know where you eat. If you have Select dining, eat in a Speciality restaurant, bistro on 5, Blu or Luminae or order from Room Service you provide your cabin #. If you have traditional dining your are assigned a table and they know if you are there or not. So if you never show up to dine at any of the above they can pretty well determine you are dining in the Oceanview cafe.

 

I have just walked in to Select dining and sat at a table full of friends, not checking in (especially when I know someone may not be at the table at night). Unless ordering a drink, they don't even take a card.

 

It's definitely not a fine science, and why tips are pooled. I imagine they work like most land based restaurants do and have a hierarchy published to staff to know how the pool is split, MDR waiters get 5% Ocean view 2%, dishwashers 1% that sort of thing to add to 100% - I have no idea about breakdown, but having worked in restaurants understand all about splitting a tip pool to all staff.

[cruisestitch]

Or not eating dinner at all, what about that possibility? Late lunch so no dinner, evening in port, didn't feel well, lots of other possibilities

[Phxazzcruisers]

That is why, we were told, the ones without table numbers for those meals were just split among the staff. I would not want to be the one in charge figuring the allocations, however they are done

[springfire]

I believe that Celebrity charges US $12.95 per day per person for the gratuties on your shipbaord account.

 

Does anyone know if one can go to the purser's desk and sign a form , saying that you will tip on your own ? (that way they will not charge your shipboard account)

 

Another question, does anyone know if the crew actually receive the amount of tips, that Celebrity charges the guests ?, or does Celebrity take a cut first, and then distribute.

 

Then how do they distribute the tip ?

 

Yes you can have your tips removed (unless you are in select dining or prepay your tips). It is easy to do and no big deal for a passenger to have the tips removed. Celebrity allows you this option. You do need to know that Celebrity requires their employees who receives cash tips, to turn their cash tips in if the auto tips have been removed.

 

As far as I know Celebrity does not take a cut but have heard they can delay payment if any issues with an employee. This gives Celebrity more control when to give an employee the money.

 

The main thing to remember is to leave a tip, that is the only way they get paid. How you tip, is up to you!

[gimletgal]

Yes you can have your tips removed (unless you are in select dining or prepay your tips). It is easy to do and no big deal for a passenger to have the tips removed. Celebrity allows you this option. You do need to know that Celebrity requires their employees who receives cash tips, to turn their cash tips in if the auto tips have been removed.

 

As far as I know Celebrity does not take a cut but have heard they can delay payment if any issues with an employee. This gives Celebrity more control when to give an employee the money.

 

The main thing to remember is to leave a tip, that is the only way they get paid. How you tip, is up to you!

 

This is the important part of the statement. If you give cash over and above the auto tips (in other words, did not remove the auto tip) the employee is allowed to keep that. When auto tips have been removed, then they have to turn in the money to be split amongst all. This is why removing auto tips makes no sense if you really want the employee to be rewarded for service rendered.

[I&J Cruisers]

They do know where you eat. If you have Select dining, eat in a Speciality restaurant, bistro on 5, Blu or Luminae or order from Room Service you provide your cabin #. If you have traditional dining your are assigned a table and they know if you are there or not. So if you never show up to dine at any of the above they can pretty well determine you are dining in the Oceanview cafe.

 

 

They may know but I don't think they care other than to statistically determine how much food is needed in each venue

 

 

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[george35]

On our recent cruise with RCL we decided not to eat in the MDR but went to CHOPS for 2 dinners & the rest of the cruise eat in the Windjammers at our leisure. We went & removed our tips from everywhere & tipped the room steward & of course the waiter in Chops, were we wrong in doing this??

 

george35

[dkjretired]

On our recent cruise with RCL we decided not to eat in the MDR but went to CHOPS for 2 dinners & the rest of the cruise eat in the Windjammers at our leisure. We went & removed our tips from everywhere & tipped the room steward & of course the waiter in Chops, were we wrong in doing this??

 

george35

 

Where did you eat Lunch and Breakfast, same people who serve you in the restaurants serve you at those meals. You also screwed the people who served you dinner out of tips in the Windjammer which I guess is the buffet.

[dkjretired]

As stated, if you have select dining you cannot remove the tip. If you do not, you can. And YES, the entire amount of the tips is paid to the staff. Celebrity does NOT take a cut. They are distributes by your stateroom number and dining room table number and server. If you only ate in buffet it is distributed among all workers in buffet.

r

 

You cannot remove some of the tips, it is all or none so doing so removes your room personnel tips also.

[cle-guy]

r

 

You cannot remove some of the tips, it is all or none so doing so removes your room personnel tips also.

 

I suppose they can remove them all (and I can see how their system may require this) but I have filled out a form at front desk in the past that had something like 3 or 6 boxes to tip extra to my SeaPass account, to direct to MDR, cabin staff and I forget who else. To tip my butler extra there was a second form for butlers.

 

So one could have them removed, then ask to add back on the individual ones they wanted to. But it would take a whole lot of pain for me to want to adjust tips down for anyone.

Edited August 2, 2015 by cle-guy

[george35]

In an answer to your question "where did I eat Breakfast & Lunch" I dont belive that comes into the question about tipping. I Tip for the service I receive not for the service that is offered & not used.

 

george35

[cle-guy]

In an answer to your question "where did I eat Breakfast & Lunch" I dont belive that comes into the question about tipping. I Tip for the service I receive not for the service that is offered & not used.

 

george35

 

Wow...you have no idea how hospitality workers earn their wages, even in buffets. Someone wiped your table off, someone took your dirty dishes. Someone washed those dirty dishes, someone served the food on the buffet. Someone cooked that food on the buffet

 

Tips for service staff are $3.25 a day. On land that's equivalent to a standard tip on a $16 meal. Tier dinner in MDR should tip more than that, let alone the rest of the day's food. Daily waiter grats should be more in the $10 range to be honest, $3.25 a day is a steal for a waiter's tip (plus other staff).

 

wow....just wow.

 

If you were not from the USA I'd have a LITTLE more sympathy for ignorance of the tipping custom, but...wow. :eek:

Edited August 2, 2015 by cle-guy

[Nachosdelux]

In an answer to your question "where did I eat Breakfast & Lunch" I dont belive that comes into the question about tipping. I Tip for the service I receive not for the service that is offered & not used.

 

george35

 

It is relevant because the staff in the buffet (or wherever you ate breakfast/lunch) are serving you but not getting gratuities from you.

 

And to answer your original question, yes, it is wrong (in my opinion) to do what you did.

[Fish Lover]

They do know, as when you enter the dining room or any specialty restaurant you give them your stateroom number. We have been told by several of the staff on many of our cruises that these are tracked.

 

Curt, your comment "Staff are also required to "pool" tips, that is if they get cash they have to turn it in to be equally distributed. I tried additionally tipping the assistant cabin steward once, and he informed me that I had to give the the lead steward who was in charge of accumulating the cash tips. Of course there is little way to police this, but the staff watch each other and know whats up and will readily report another skimming cash tips."

is very interesting to me. We have always given extra tips to our butler, waiter, asst waiter, stateroom attendant and their assistant. They have always accepted them with a thank you and a smile. We had asked if they pool those and have also been told no they do not. They took care of us, so they were allowed to keep the extra tip. We will ask again on our next cruise.

 

They do not know where everyone eats. If you have assigned seating you go to your assigned table and no one takes attendance. If you eat in select you are asked for your cabin number but again, if only 1/2 your parth goes..no one asks who or takes attendance. No one knows whether you have dined at the buffet or not. In specialty dining, other than for the purpose of reservations your stateroom number isn't recorded for tipping puposes.

 

Tips are pre-paid for select because you aren't assigned to any pafrticular wait staff. Traditional dining doesn't prepay because you are assigned tpo the same wait staff every night. It is up to you to tip. Which I think is unfortuante because there are a signifcant number of passengers who stiff the staff.

[Beanb41]

I come from a culture where tipping is discouraged because quite frankly staff should be paid a reasonable wage for doing a reasonable job. Where I consider tipping staff it for exceptional service or for someone doing something extra special, not for doing the job once expects them to do. On my three previous cruises on Celebrity I have found few staff members who go the extra mile to get extra remuneration. That said we have considered the "auto gratuities" to be part of the cruise cost and have left them in place. I find it quite incredible why a bar tender should get an 18% gratuity for turning around and getting a beer from the fridge and placing it on the bar when the price of said beer is ratcheted up to more than cover cost of service.

I have heard comments about how poorly paid many cruise ship workers are paid yet there are thousands and thousands of such workers coming back time and time again to continue to work on these ships. If life was so hard I am sure they wouldn't stay for upwards if 16 - 20 years in some cases.

[sloopsailor]

I come from a culture where tipping is discouraged because quite frankly staff should be paid a reasonable wage for doing a reasonable job. Where I consider tipping staff it for exceptional service or for someone doing something extra special, not for doing the job once expects them to do. On my three previous cruises on Celebrity I have found few staff members who go the extra mile to get extra remuneration. That said we have considered the "auto gratuities" to be part of the cruise cost and have left them in place. I find it quite incredible why a bar tender should get an 18% gratuity for turning around and getting a beer from the fridge and placing it on the bar when the price of said beer is ratcheted up to more than cover cost of service.

I have heard comments about how poorly paid many cruise ship workers are paid yet there are thousands and thousands of such workers coming back time and time again to continue to work on these ships. If life was so hard I am sure they wouldn't stay for upwards if 16 - 20 years in some cases.

 

First, I thank you for doing the right thing and not removing the gratuities as so many of your countrymen do. That is commendable.

 

As for their wages, it is really non of our business how they get paid, nor how much. This is strictly between the cruise company and the employee, not us. If they didn't think they were being paid fairly, you can bet that they would not return over and over again, some for many years in a row.

 

Yes, the gratuities make up for the lower salary they make. But, as in all business, it is the customers who pay ALL expenses, whether in up front costs or additional fees or charges. If the pay was raised to what you consider a "fair" wage [which should not be determined by your country's standard of living, but by the standard of living where the employee is from], you would be paying those wages in increased fares.

 

So what is the difference? You pay a lower fare and then pay the gratuities, or you pay a higher fare and you don't pay the gratuities. You end up paying THE SAME AMOUNT, either way!

 

In fact, it can be argued that you would have to pay more in total because as it now stands, the gratuities are not considered corporate income, so no taxes or other fees have to be paid because of this income. That the gratuity amounts go directly to the employees means the cost of doing business is lower for the cruise lines, and they can pass those lower expenses to the customers.

 

Bottom line - if wages were included in the base fare, you would be paying their salaries, and your total cruise costs would be higher than they are today for the exact same product due to additional costs on the additional income earned by the cruise corporations.

Edited August 2, 2015 by sloopsailor

[cle-guy]

 

In fact, it can be argued that you would have to pay more in total because as it now stands, the gratuities are not considered corporate income, so no taxes or other fees have to be paid because of this income. That the gratuity amounts go directly to the employees means the cost of doing business is lower for the cruise lines, and they can pass those lower expenses to the customers.

 

This is exactly why US Airlines have gone a-la-carte with luggage fees and all the little fees, instead of all-in pricing. If they offered all-in pricing, all the taxes that are levied on air travel would be levied on all that. But the tax rules allow these "fees" that are "reimbursements" to be sheltered from those taxes.

 

So it is honestly saving all of us money. :D

 

There was a recent push in US Congress to waive the exemption on these types of fees and tax them, in hopes airlines would stop the a-la-carte pricing to make fare comparisons more meaningful, but of course nothing came of it. :rolleyes:

[SantaFeFan]

I come from a culture where tipping is discouraged because quite frankly staff should be paid a reasonable wage for doing a reasonable job.

 

I have traveled all over the world and my experience has been that in non-tipping cultures, the service staff is not as interested in providing excellent service as in cultures where that extra service level usually results in larger tips. Service levels in those countries would be considered barely adequate (and that is being generous!).

 

The surliest waiters, taxi drivers, and porters I have ever had the displeasure of having to deal with were in the UK, and especially Scotland. My guess is they know they will make the same money whether they treat their customers well or not. There is zero incentive to provide better service since the culture doesn't reward such higher levels of service. And that is understandable. Why work harder if there isn't any benefit for doing so?

 

So my personal opinion: for customers, your culture does not have the better approach to salary and gratuities. Not even close!

Edited August 2, 2015 by SantaFeFan