Suite Tipping and other Random Questions

[bertrande]

Update on comment cards: I asked a separate Guest Relations officer for those cards. Apparently Constellation has done away with them completely. Other ships may still have them but not the Connie anymore.

 

 

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[groryjm]

Has anyone got a scan of these cards so we could perhaps print up our own on light card pre cruise to pack in luggage?

[vtcruising]

Has anyone got a scan of these cards so we could perhaps print up our own on light card pre cruise to pack in luggage?

 

 

Great idea! They still had them on Eclipse on Feb 4th if anyone is onboard.

[WonderMan3]

This is probably all a question of corporate wanting to control the feedback from passengers. If the ships provide surveys or comment cards then some people may be less likely to fill out the email surveys.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

It is not necessary to use the comment cards. If the ship refuses to provide them, go to guest relations and acquire stationery and envelopes. Write your message on the stationery, put it in an envelope addressed to the hotel director, and deliver it to guest relations.

Quite frankly, I find the current post-cruise questionnaire to be quite lame and not in search of real feedback. Plus, if one is on a B2B, it is difficult to return it before it expires. If I have had exceptional service from someone, I will mention that person by name on it. Otherwise, many times I don't bother to fill it out.

[KyRoamer]

Who and how much? We plan on eating in Luminae often for breakfast and for some dinners and will use Michael's from time to time. We understand tips are pooled but want everyone covered. Our cruise is 7 days on the Reflection.

[scanditaly]

Who and how much? We plan on eating in Luminae often for breakfast and for some dinners and will use Michael's from time to time. We understand tips are pooled but want everyone covered. Our cruise is 7 days on the Reflection.

 

 

I would like to piggyback on this comment by asking about the "pooled" tips. This is the second time I have seen this comment about Luminae. Does this mean that if I tip my waiter extra in Luminae, the amount will go into a pool? Also for Michael's Club. Same pool? Different Pool?

Thanks, Scanditaly

[scanditaly]

I would like to piggyback on this comment by asking about the "pooled" tips. This is the second time I have seen this comment about Luminae. Does this mean that if I tip my waiter extra in Luminae, the amount will go into a pool? Also for Michael's Club. Same pool? Different Pool?

Thanks, Scanditaly

 

 

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[KyRoamer]

Who and how much? We plan on eating in Luminae often for breakfast and for some dinners and will use Michael's from time to time. We understand tips are pooled but want everyone covered. Our cruise is 7 days on the Reflection.

 

 

Getting close to departure time and I would really like some advice on this. My thought is too tip about $20 first night in Luminae and $10 first time in Michael's and then nothing more.

 

Not sure about bartenders, room stewarts, etc.

[cynbar]

I'd like to add a contrasting opinion here. We were in a suite on Silhouette in January. We tipped extra to our butler, stewardess, and the 2 bartenders in Michael's. The concierge was pleasant but did nothing for us, nor did we ask her to. But we did not tip extra in Luminae, although we are usually enthusiastic additional tippers. The service was fine but not extraordinary, no one offered to go out of their way for us nor did they remember our preferences. Please remember that all of the above staff members are already tipped from your daily gratuities (or per drink/wine for bartenders or sommeliers.) If they provide you exceptional service that is over and above, they deserve additional tips. But if they don't, please don't feel that it is obligatory.

[docmark]

Yes, the prepaid gratuities cover the basic tips. I am not here to shame anyone as tipping is a very personal issue. On our last cruise, on Equinox, we tipped an additional amount to the butler, cabin steward, his assistant (no longer a position), the Michael's Club bartenders and server, the Luminae hostess, our preferred server and the wine steward/sommelier.

 

Here is why. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY, when we returned to our cabin after breakfast, it was made up- never had that happen before. Our butler quickly learned our preferences for tea (no longer served en suite) and there were chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies in our cabin every day, even if we were not there. In Michael's Club, my SO's preferred drink magically appeared with minutes of our arrival. I was a little harder as I changed my drink routinely.

 

In Luminae, we quickly found a server we loved. He found walnuts for our oatmeal, he quickly got our preferences for salads, always brought the SO a larger steak. Even when he was super busy, he acknowledged our arrival. The hostess was very personable and always seated us in our preferred server's station. On the nights we choose to dine in a specialty restaurant, she came by to check on us. The sommelier made sure, when we sat down, that my glass of white wine and the SO 's beverage of choice arrived very quickly. Yes, sommeliers do not serve alcohol, but if the cocktail server was busy, she (the sommelier) went and got it.

 

It is my understanding that the Michael's Club Concierge is considered an officer and, therefore, should not be tipped. He was wonderful.

 

Having said all this, my stepdaughter worked on RCCL for several years. She said that the singularly best tip you can offer a staff person is to praise them, by name, on the comment card/survey.

 

 

Michael' club concierge SHOULD be tipped if you feel he did an outstanding job for you..in our last 2 cruises,I was happy(specially 2 back when we had Anca ,who ,unfortunately has left Celebrity) and tipped the concierge,and they were grateful.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Getting close to departure time and I would really like some advice on this. My thought is too tip about $20 first night in Luminae and $10 first time in Michael's and then nothing more.

 

Not sure about bartenders, room stewarts, etc.

 

Well, if you really want advice, here goes. My advice would be to wait until the end of the cruise to decide who you want to give extra tips to. Some of the crew members find it insulting to be tipped up front. This advice presumes that you leave the auto tips in place.

[bigbenboys]

Well, if you really want advice, here goes. My advice would be to wait until the end of the cruise to decide who you want to give extra tips to. Some of the crew members find it insulting to be tipped up front. This advice presumes that you leave the auto tips in place.

I agree with the above. We do extra tipping the last 2 days of the cruise. The only place we tip at random is at the evening elite happy hour. Last cruise we only went 1 evening. We had met some great people in Michael's Club so we had drink at MC before dinner instead.

 

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[Ranasa]

I'm happy to share my thoughts on this as my husband and I go round and round on this every cruise and I find reading everyone else's comments to help me reevaluate what I'm doing re: tipping.

 

We always wait to tip extra on the last night. We always give our stateroom attendant and butler an extra $20 each - usually just because we feel like we should - they're always very pleasant and do what's expected but not sure we ever felt like anyone went above and beyond. And we do this whether the cruise is a 5 night or 14 night (and maybe that's totally unfair but that's what we do).

 

We never go to Michael's Club - we prefer the livelier atmosphere in the bars and since we always have the premium drink package, there's no reason to get free drinks at Michael's (in our opinion).

 

When Eclipse still had the Molecular Bar, we gave George - who was truly a great bartender - $20 at the end of the cruise. In my view, a really great bartender is one you recognize at the end of the trip because he treated you the entire trip as if you had tipped him at the beginning! The idea of greasing the wheels ahead of time just doesn't make sense to me and I've never felt like we got less than good service waiting to tip at the end or not at all.

 

Contrast that with service we got on the World Class Bar on the Reflection which was prompt but not memorable. We did not tip extra then and generally don't tip the bartenders extra.

 

We always tip our 2 waitstaff in Luminae an extra $20 each (and we tip the sommelier $20 too). But these guys have been uniformly fantastic - remembered our likes and dislikes, poured us wine off the menu and treated us extremely well. We never thought to tip the hostess...she's just seating us so it seems strange to give her something when the waiters work so much harder (this is the same struggle I have with giving the butler what I give to the stateroom attendant but the butler is always popping up the last night so he gets a tip because I feel like he expects it).

 

At specialty restaurants, we add on a couple of dollars extra, if warranted. At Qsine, for example, I feel like the waiters work extra hard since there's so many more courses than at a usual restaurant.

 

We also recognized the outstanding service members in the survey following the cruise (like the instructor at the gym who we didn't tip but taught a mean spin class).

 

Maybe this isn't enough? Maybe for some it would be too much? Who knows? No one ever seemed slighted and always seemed appreciative. Personally, I hate the stress of dealing with this and wish that Celebrity would just add an extra couple of hundred dollars to our bill and call it all-inclusive and make tipping forbidden. We went to an all-inclusive that had this policy and it just made the whole trip less stressful!

[jules815]

Personally, I hate the stress of dealing with this and wish that Celebrity would just add an extra couple of hundred dollars to our bill and call it all-inclusive and make tipping forbidden. We went to an all-inclusive that had this policy and it just made the whole trip less stressful!

 

I would be okay with this too! Are there any other cruise lines (the smaller, higher end lines perhaps) that follow this?

[KyRoamer]

Personally, I hate the stress of dealing with this and wish that Celebrity would just add an extra couple of hundred dollars to our bill and call it all-inclusive and make tipping forbidden. We went to an all-inclusive that had this policy and it just made the whole trip less stressful!

 

 

Automatic tips and tips included as part of all inclusive provide little incentive for good service. Not sure what the answer is. Until someone comes up with something better I too would like a strict no tipping policy.

 

As far as extra tips go, tip pooling turns me off. I'm not sure if the pools are ship wide, restaurant by restaurant or what? Are bar tenders and waiters in the same pool? Too confusing. If I establish a relationship with a staff person and he or she is extra-ordinary, I'll likely slip them some cash and not worry what they do with it. But if I want to tip $20 I'll give them two $10's and hope they keep at least one.

[Ranasa]

I would think that incentives for good service should include (1) pride in one's work and (2) fear of repercussion if failing to provide good service. I don't like the idea of "buying people off up front" which I've heard many times on these boards. It's just not fair for people who have stretched to take a cruise to then have to suffer less than great service because some guy at the end of the bar dropped the bartender a $50 on the first night.

 

That's why I like the idea of a strict no tipping policy (all gratuities included in the upfront fare). At the all-inclusive we went to, if the staff was caught accepting a tip, they were reprimanded. It kept the guests honest - no one wanted to tip if the staff would get in trouble and I think the whole feeling was a lot friendlier. The guests were verbally and demonstrably extra appreciative for the good service because there was no other way of communicating one's gratitude.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know that we'll ever get there on the cruise lines; tipping is so ingrained in the cruise culture. That said, other changes have come over the years so maybe, someday, we'll move to a different model.

[jessandarnie]

I would think that incentives for good service should include (1) pride in one's work and (2) fear of repercussion if failing to provide good service. I don't like the idea of "buying people off up front" which I've heard many times on these boards. It's just not fair for people who have stretched to take a cruise to then have to suffer less than great service because some guy at the end of the bar dropped the bartender a $50 on the first night.

 

That's why I like the idea of a strict no tipping policy (all gratuities included in the upfront fare). At the all-inclusive we went to, if the staff was caught accepting a tip, they were reprimanded. It kept the guests honest - no one wanted to tip if the staff would get in trouble and I think the whole feeling was a lot friendlier. The guests were verbally and demonstrably extra appreciative for the good service because there was no other way of communicating one's gratitude.

 

Unfortunately, I don't know that we'll ever get there on the cruise lines; tipping is so ingrained in the cruise culture. That said, other changes have come over the years so maybe, someday, we'll move to a different model.

 

 

 

So what is the point of getting all 4 Perks when booking and paying for a suite? Coming from a non tipping culture, it is a relief for us to not have to work who to tip, by how much, when to tip, start, beginning, or end of cruise. We certainly will compliment anyone who ensures we have a great cruise, that is only good manners, even do it in writing, which hopefully gets noticed.

But, surely all the Perks are all calculated in the cost of the cruise to the passenger, and to then tip as one would do normally as if they are not included defeats the purpose of the gratituties in the Perks, doesnt it?

 

If one does tip in Luminae it is fair that this is shared, due to our gratitities are already included and goes to everyone, all the crew.

[Ranasa]

I don't disagree with the premise that if gratuities are included or paid for (if a non-suite guest), no additional tipping should be required. I could take a stand and not tip anything incremental anymore but, I guess, I'd just have some guilt knowing that others still do it and that I would be disadvantaging the staff who supports me (relative to their peers servicing guests that do tip extra) because of a philosophical view...and so, the cycle continues.

[jessandarnie]

I don't disagree with the premise that if gratuities are included or paid for (if a non-suite guest), no additional tipping should be required. I could take a stand and not tip anything incremental anymore but, I guess, I'd just have some guilt knowing that others still do it and that I would be disadvantaging the staff who supports me (relative to their peers servicing guests that do tip extra) because of a philosophical view...and so, the cycle continues.

 

Yes the cycle of opinions does go round and round.

This will be our first cruise in a higher suite category, all perks are included, BUT on booking this on-line there were options to NOT have the Perks included, (not with Celebrity) as a result that cost of the cruise cost was heaps cheaper. Our choice was to go to all included costs then taking the stress out of our up'n coming cruise in relation to drinks, interent cost, gratititues, and bonus of OBC. As previously mentioned, we come from a non tipping enviroment, we are certainly NOT against tipping in countires that work this way though. One previous cruise was in a suite and we tipped accordingly, and to people that ensured we enjoyed our cruise.

Also bear in mind, some countires that do not have a tipping culture, some cruise lines will include pre- paid gratitues in the total fare per passenge to be paid. So there is that one total cost inclusive of cruise, taxes and gratitues.

 

We are looking forward to our cruise in a suite on the basis of these inclusions.

[groryjm]

..... higher suite category, all perks are included, BUT on booking this on-line there were options to NOT have the Perks included, (not with Celebrity) as a result that cost of the cruise cost was heaps cheaper.......

 

Which suite are you booking?

The upper suites have premium beverage package, unlimited Internet and unlimited speciality dinning for all pax in the suite along with a bottle of Perrier-Jouët, fully stocked fridge, two bottles of spirits[emoji41] and unlimited laundry included with the suite. There is no option to not include these benefits for a lower price as they are part of the suite.

 

 

 

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[uktog]

I would be okay with this too! Are there any other cruise lines (the smaller, higher end lines perhaps) that follow this?

Whilst I totally agree there are always some who want to give more.

Whilst we did give some extra to some people we only do so if they do more than their job. Good service or efficient concierge is their job. Going beyond that and yes we give extra.

[jessandarnie]

Which suite are you booking?

The upper suites have premium beverage package, unlimited Internet and unlimited speciality dinning for all pax in the suite along with a bottle of Perrier-Jouët, fully stocked fridge, two bottles of spirits[emoji41] and unlimited laundry included with the suite. There is no option to not include these benefits for a lower price as they are part of the suite.

 

 

 

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Yes we realise what the higher suites include, we are a couple up from the lower suites. Some on-line TA's gives one the option to select all 4 Pertks, or just suite cruise cost.

[JaneStarr]

Here is a photo of the tip breakdown sheet given to me by the MC Concierge on our 2/10/17 Equinox Sailing.

 

Sorry for the poor quality. I intended to scan it at home, but the sheet has been misplaced.

 

Note that the breakdown is based on Celebrity Gratuity rates "paid" on or after 6/14/16 on cruises sailings after 7/1/16.

The current daily rates are 55 cents/person higher, but this gives a good idea of how the tips are allocated.

 

Jane

 

 

 

 

 

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