Confusing Gratuity Question

[offtopic]

Hello again, I can't seem to find any clarification on my gratuity question.

 

We had a CC cabin and prepaid gratuities. When the AQ cabin price dropped we upgraded for a small amount, but changed to a set time and had our prepaid gratuities refunded. Here is where my understanding gets confused.

 

Now that we have no "pre-paid" gratuities it was my understanding that each day the gratuities will be posted to my account and at the end of the cruise I will have that same amount I didn't "pre-pay" charged to my onboard ship account and everyone will get their fair share of gratuities. I will still give cash to my favorites, but I just want to make sure that no one is getting stiffed here.

 

I have been reading threads saying that if you don't pre-pay gratuities you have to tip in person? Then I read it just gets posted to your account? Please clarify for me!

Edited March 3, 2016 by offtopic

[Fouremco]

I have been reading threads saying that if you don't pre-pay gratuities you have to tip in person? Then I read it just gets posted to your account? Please clarify for me!

Not so. Instead of being billed in advance you will be billed daily, but the ship takes care of the distribution of the gratuities. You can, of course, give additional gratuities to your favourites, as you've indicated, and you would be responsible for handing those out.

[Moonlitherial]

You are correct - if you don't prepay, they are applied to your account during the cruise.

 

The only reason you'd need to pay all in cash is if you go to customer service and have the automatic gratuities removed.

[offtopic]

Ok thank you both for the clarification. You put my mind at ease!

[Fouremco]

You are correct - if you don't prepay, they are applied to your account during the cruise.

 

The only reason you'd need to pay all in cash is if you go to customer service and have the automatic gratuities removed.

Just to be clear, if you have the automatic gratuities removed, you don't "need" to pay anything. Besides, it would be a silly exercise to cancel your automatic gratuities and then go around and pay them all in cash.

[marieps]

Your original post also mentioned a "set time" In AQ there is no set time in Blu Restaurant, even though your documents may say 6:00 or 6:15. It's open seating from 5:30 til 9.

[Rob the Cruiser]

I hope you don't mind my question but I'm curious. Why would a person pre-pay gratuities? Is it because they don't want a bill at the end of the cruise?

[offtopic]

Your original post also mentioned a "set time" In AQ there is no set time in Blu Restaurant, even though your documents may say 6:00 or 6:15. It's open seating from 5:30 til 9.

 

Great! Thanks for confirming. I was going to ask the host/hostess this the first day, but now I don't have to.

[offtopic]

I hope you don't mind my question but I'm curious. Why would a person pre-pay gratuities? Is it because they don't want a bill at the end of the cruise?

 

When we first booked our cruise a few months ago we were not AQ and wanted anytime dining in the MDR so they required us to pre-pay gratuities. Now after the apparent policy change I would imagine that having no bill at the end to be the only reason to pre-pay.

[kenevenpar]

I hope you don't mind my question but I'm curious. Why would a person pre-pay gratuities? Is it because they don't want a bill at the end of the cruise?

 

Up until recently, if you wanted select (any time) dining, you had to pre-pay gratuities. No choice.

[dkjretired]

I hope you don't mind my question but I'm curious. Why would a person pre-pay gratuities? Is it because they don't want a bill at the end of the cruise?

 

Up until a couple of months ago, if you had Select Dining you were required to prepay gratuities, they originally had a CC cabin with Select dining therefore had to prepay. Thankfully this rule is gone now. Also, there are some countries I believe in Europe whose rules require pre-payment of tips.

Edited March 3, 2016 by dkjretired

[dkjretired]

Great! Thanks for confirming. I was going to ask the host/hostess this the first day, but now I don't have to.

 

When you get to your room there should be a letter there telling you that Blu is anytime dining every night with the hours listed. They will also request on the first night you go to one of the set traditional times. This is not necessary first night, go when you want.

[offtopic]

When you get to your room there should be a letter there telling you that Blu is anytime dining every night with the hours listed. They will also request on the first night you go to one of the set traditional times. This is not necessary first night, go when you want.

 

Thank you!

[jefffrompawpaw]

As a person who is new to cruising I am not a fan of automatic gratuities. On our 2 cruises it's me my wife and 2 children. Gratuities are charged for all 4 of us but being charged for the children seems excessive. That's 48.00 a day. We also like to hand out cash to the people who make the cruise special for us.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I hope you don't mind my question but I'm curious. Why would a person pre-pay gratuities? Is it because they don't want a bill at the end of the cruise?

 

Since Celebrity ships cruise all over the world but always have an onboard currency of USD, some of us that don't live in the US prefer to prepay the gratuities in case our respective exchange rate worsens during our cruise.

[goodycruising]

We have liked to prepay as we are booking in AUD and with our dollar falling against the US over the last few years, it locks in our budget for grats. Recently we have had some OBC, so we have used that and let the charges get put in every day.

 

In future though, we might go back to prepaid, as that charge every day was just annoying to be honest, as we had to work out how much was still to come against what it looked like we still had for credit to spend. When you prepay, it is done and dusted and you don't think about it any more.

 

You need to do what works for your own situation and personal preferences.

[PartyAllDaTyme]

As a person who is new to cruising I am not a fan of automatic gratuities. On our 2 cruises it's me my wife and 2 children. Gratuities are charged for all 4 of us but being charged for the children seems excessive. That's 48.00 a day. We also like to hand out cash to the people who make the cruise special for us.

 

This raises an interesting question.

 

I'm trying to think of a service that requires less effort to provide service for, just because the person is smaller or younger than an adult. While they don't eat as much and the cost of tipping for dining would otherwise be less based on a percentage of the bill, if there was one, it still requires the same effort (and maybe more) for the waitstaff to take the order, bring the food, and clear the dishes. OK, the kids don't require the sommelier's service. The linens still need to be changed and the cabin cleaned, and in general children tend to be a bit messier in the cabin making the steward's job a bit more difficult. I don't know if the staff in Fun Factory shares in the tip pool or not, but if so there's an example of where the tips for the kids should be more than the adults, not less. An infant may warrant a break on tips, maybe toddlers, but older than that, I don't think so.

 

Jeff doesn't say he only would provide cash tips, but for those people who disable the auto-pay in favor of cash, they are inadvertently stiffing many behind-the-scenes people who depend quite a bit on that income from the tip pool.

[MommaBear55]

As a person who is new to cruising I am not a fan of automatic gratuities. On our 2 cruises it's me my wife and 2 children. Gratuities are charged for all 4 of us but being charged for the children seems excessive. That's 48.00 a day. We also like to hand out cash to the people who make the cruise special for us.

 

You won't ever meet a lot of the people who make the cruise special for you, as they work behind the scenes. It is also awkward to carry money into the buffet to tip the person who brings the drinks and clears your table. While I appreciate auto gratuities are in some ways counter intuitive, they actually take the stress off you trying to figure out where the person is who gave you that great service three days ago.

 

And as far as paying for four, there are four of you, so pay for four.

[Jem 12]

As a person who is new to cruising I am not a fan of automatic gratuities. On our 2 cruises it's me my wife and 2 children. Gratuities are charged for all 4 of us but being charged for the children seems excessive. That's 48.00 a day. We also like to hand out cash to the people who make the cruise special for us.

 

 

Hi, I know the gratuities do add up for four we treated our family of 11 to a cruise last year ouch!!!!! But I am sure during your cruise you will appreciate how wonderful the staff are especially to your children, if you are sharing a room with yours it does make extra work as they fold beds away etc each day.

 

Our dining room waiter and asst were wonderful so we gave a little extra on top, but at least we didn't have to worry about everyone that we came across as we had pre tipped.

 

We try to factor in the cost of the gratuities into the cruise price and then forget about them.

We hope you enjoy your first cruise as much as we always do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We

[jefffrompawpaw]

This raises an interesting question.

 

 

 

Jeff doesn't say he only would provide cash tips, but for those people who disable the auto-pay in favor of cash, they are inadvertently stiffing many behind-the-scenes people who depend quite a bit on that income from the tip pool.

 

 

Thank you for pointing it out that I would like it to be less automatic so I could really take care of the people who make it a special trip, or who go above and beyond my expectations. At every meal whether it's a buffet or MDR I leave a cash tip, every meal. So i make it a point to have cash on me at all times. I will never leave a table without a tip on the table. So even though I know I am getting charged gratuities by the ship I still tip at all meals. And I tip our room steward at the beginning and the end. These are the automatic tips I leave.

 

I believe that if you are a behind the scene employee it is no longer my responsibility to provide your wage, they are employees who should be paid by their employer who has in turn charged me for a service. How many times have you tipped a dishwasher, or cook? Have you ever been to a show on Broadway or in Las Vegas and tipped the performers? You just don't tip those people, you just tip the persons who are in front of you.

 

So Instead of getting a invoice for all my charges that include gratuities on a ship I would prefer an option to write in an appropriate amount.

Edited March 14, 2016 by jefffrompawpaw

[MommaBear55]

I know in the restaurants that my kids and I have worked in it was the waitstaffs job to tip out the bus boy, bartender, hostess, etc. I cannot remember ever tipping the chefs or their staff or the dishwashers...

 

So, who do you think will be the first major cruise line to roll all fees into the price of the cruise? I do believe they do not do that now because people who are shopping for cruises are looking for the bottom line price. Reality is that the price of the cruise essentially doubles if you add taxes, fees, drink packages, tips/daily service charge. I think the major lines are afraid to do that because it would make their cruises look more expensive when in reality it would just expose the real price.

[dkjretired]

I know in the restaurants that my kids and I have worked in it was the waitstaffs job to tip out the bus boy, bartender, hostess, etc. I cannot remember ever tipping the chefs or their staff or the dishwashers...

 

So, who do you think will be the first major cruise line to roll all fees into the price of the cruise? I do believe they do not do that now because people who are shopping for cruises are looking for the bottom line price. Reality is that the price of the cruise essentially doubles if you add taxes, fees, drink packages, tips/daily service charge. I think the major lines are afraid to do that because it would make their cruises look more expensive when in reality it would just expose the real price.

 

Hal did it years ago but the whole tipping thing started over again so back to normal.