Tipping in Upper Level Suites

[BunnyLebowski]

To all who have had the good fortune to sail in a Penthouse Suite, I'm looking for guidance for tipping the staff.

 

It seems like taking up so much cabin space necessitates something beyond the prepaid gratuities. Would anyone be willing to share what they give the butler, wait staff, cabin crew, etc?

 

Interested in Royal Suites opinions too.

 

Also, would prefer not to get answers such as "it depends" (I'm a lawyer and I say that to clients all day) or "whatever you want is fine". Really interested in guidelines for what is average/standard/appropriate.

 

If it helps, we usually get coffee and breakfast delivered most mornings (but left in the pantry and not set up), have a couple of lunches and maybe 1 or 2 dinners if we can eat during sail away.

Finally, there are 2 adults and 2 children in the cabin, so the auto grats are already doubled.

 

Thank you so much!

[Project_gal]

I know that you do not want an 'it depends' answer but it does depend on both the service you receive and the services you use more so in the PH than any other suite.

 

We find, it a PH, each cruise they try to exceed not only our expectations but what has been done for us in the past. The crew involved will be different each time.

 

In addition, depending on who we hook up with on the cruise, we do more or less entertainment in our suite. The crew involved will vary.

 

The only way we can calculate what we will give is to start with the amount of basic gratuity for each crew member or group of crew members and for each ask the question 'how many times the basic should we give'. It has never been just the basics. Looked at this way, we can decide what to pay everyone in about 15 minutes.

 

It is meaningless to decide in advance what you should pay but, having paid the standard gratuities in advance we budget to take sufficient cash to pay an additional 3 or 4 times that amount if service merits.

 

If we eat in the specialty restaurant, we will tip at the end of the meal outside the above budget. We will also budget to have some additional cash for individuals outside the normal gratuities - e.g. an exceptional restroom attendant, etc. Just one additional point, do not bother breaking down to individual level in Luminae, the envelopes will be collected together and pooled.

[CEOofVacation]

Regarding pooled vs. Non-pooled gratuities at Luminae, I got clarification from guest services from the cruise that we just got off. As long as you leave auto grat in place, then there are 2 options for additional grat. 1. If you fill out the form for additional grat, those tips will be pooled according to how you want tips split between dining, stateroom attendant etc. 2. Individual envelopes given to individuals are not pooled.

 

We used individual envelopes for various staff at Luminae, stateroom attendant and Michaels' staff.

 

Also, MDR tips on those forms go to Luminae for suites and Blu for Aqua. They correlate the dining room staff with the stateroom number.

[WonderMan3]

It's funny but on our Eclipse cruise in January when we went to give the Luminae maitre'd tips for herself and two staff members she told us they would be shared among the staff but each individual would be notified that they were called out.

 

As to the OP's question it honestly really does depend. We were in the Penthouse in January on Eclipse and our butler George really did go above and beyond like even wheelchairing my mother-in-law all the way from the ship out of the terminal to the tourist trolley in Aruba (we did not ask for that) and arranging set up for little get togethers with our companions in our suite, plus a variety of other things. Because of that we tipped him $500. And we gave the maitre'd, our server and the sommelier each $100 at Luminae for amazing service. Contrast that to 2016 when we were in a Royal Suite and tipped nothing extra to anyone as our butler did nothing special for us beyond his required duties and the Luminae staff were very nice but did not go above and beyond.

 

Remember that you are already paying a gratuity to the butler and to Luminae staff that covers all their basic service job requirements. Don't feel guilted into tipping extra if you feel there was no outstanding service that would warrant it.

 

 

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[johhnnyt]

To all who have had the good fortune to sail in a Penthouse Suite, I'm looking for guidance for tipping the staff.

 

It seems like taking up so much cabin space necessitates something beyond the prepaid gratuities. Would anyone be willing to share what they give the butler, wait staff, cabin crew, etc?

 

Interested in Royal Suites opinions too.

 

Also, would prefer not to get answers such as "it depends" (I'm a lawyer and I say that to clients all day) or "whatever you want is fine". Really interested in guidelines for what is average/standard/appropriate.

 

If it helps, we usually get coffee and breakfast delivered most mornings (but left in the pantry and not set up), have a couple of lunches and maybe 1 or 2 dinners if we can eat during sail away.

Finally, there are 2 adults and 2 children in the cabin, so the auto grats are already doubled.

 

Thank you so much!

 

In addition to normal gratuities

I did $30/day additional to the butler

$20/day additional to cabin attendant

$10/day Luminae and Michaels club host

I didn't do much entertaining, but they all went out of their way to make the voyages superb

[bigbenboys]

We book Sky Suites. We normally give our Butler a extra $100 and Luminae staff a extra $20 each. Last cruise we have staff in Michael's Club each $20. Our cruise now we really have not used MC.

 

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[jelayne]

Regarding pooled vs. Non-pooled gratuities at Luminae, I got clarification from guest services from the cruise that we just got off. As long as you leave auto grat in place, then there are 2 options for additional grat. 1. If you fill out the form for additional grat, those tips will be pooled according to how you want tips split between dining, stateroom attendant etc. 2. Individual envelopes given to individuals are not pooled.

 

We used individual envelopes for various staff at Luminae, stateroom attendant and Michaels' staff.

 

Also, MDR tips on those forms go to Luminae for suites and Blu for Aqua. They correlate the dining room staff with the stateroom number.

 

We we were in Blu last month and we told by the maître'd that all extra tips, whether given to one individual or to her or the hostess were pooled. The exception was the sommelier who was not part of the pool. This is exactly what we were told by the Head Waiter in Luminae in February.

[CruisersTimesThree]

We (3 of us) sailed in the Summit PH last summer and tipped as follows.

Our butler, Jesus, was wonderful, but we didn't ask for more then afternoon snacks, an occasional burger brought to the suite and he took care of a few items to be pressed.

He served us one breakfast on the balcony in the entire week, kept the fridge restocked with our likes, and served tea at 4pm. He also had set up the dining room table with some snacks and champagne for a small sail-away get together we had with my family (they were traveling in Sky Suites)

Just about his normal duties.

We tipped him $300. I felt 100pp was adequate.

Our room attendant was a disappointment, never left fresh washcloths and I had to ask for many things from him. He never even came and introduced himself until 3 days into the cruise, but wtv...didn't sweat it. He got $25, but would have had $50 if I felt he was better.

Our waiter in Luminae (wish I could remember his name!) was fantastic! I am not an adventurous eater, so he made sure I was happy with every meal that was served. One night I didn't like anything on the menu so I picked the every night sirloin off the MDR menu (they will give you that in Luminae if you ask) and he said, "I will get you filet mignon!" He went above and beyond for meals, so we tipped him $100.

His asst: $25

The sommelier:$50

Luminae Maitre d' Her name is Gozde and shes a doll. She was very kind to my slightly disabled son, also heard my family discussing veal chops one night at dinner and made sure the next night they were served to them. We tipped her $50.

Michaels Club: The concierge, Maja, is one of the loveliest people we have had the pleasure to deal with. She was always around for any help, visited the dining room nightly to be sure everyone was happy, called our suite to be sure we had all that we wanted on occasion and was just a sweetheart. I understand she is considered an officer, and you don't normally tip them, but we did give her an envelope with $100,what she did with it, I don't know.

Michaels Club bartender, we rarely used him, but gave him $25.

[CEOofVacation]

We got off Reflection and was assured by guest services that as long as we used the envelopes and kept auto grats, they were not pooled. The staff at Luminae was happy when they received the envelopes from us. The assistant maitre d also received one from us. There was no hint of any pooling from their reaction.

[Chunky2219]

I see that you are in Boston, presumably the one in Massachusetts not the one in Linclonshire, which means that you are almost certainly trained by the American custom to not pay people properly, to assume that even when a cruise line charges you gratuities and tells you they are going to do it, you still feel the need to hand over more notes.

 

I'm a Brit, which means that the likelihood is that the butler and the cabin steward will assume I won't be paying more than on the invoice. Despite that, whenever we've been in a Royal Suite or indeed any other suite the service has been everything we could hope for and more and the tip at the end was gratefully received.

 

I'm absolutely astonished at the suggestion that, "Our room attendant was a disappointment, never left fresh washcloths and I had to ask for many things from him. He never even came and introduced himself until 3 days into the cruise, but wtv...didn't sweat it. He got $25, but would have had $50 if I felt he was better."

What does it take to make some people tip for genuinely good service rather than just handing over free money? As for the idea of tipping $30+$20+$10+$10 per day on top of grats, well, I despair.

 

The best tip I ever gave was to send an envelope into the kitchen with a note to say thank you for all the wonderful food. The maitre d' was so pleased when I put it in his hand that I swear, he couldn't have been more grateful if I'd pressed $1000 in used notes into his palm.

 

Bottom line - there is no norm. Even among cultural or national divisions, there are no norms. My advice is to assume that what you're charged is all you need to pay unless someone goes above and beyond. A warm smile might be all it needs but then give whatever you feel meets the situation.

If you're paying top dollar for a Penthouse you can be certain that much of your cruise fare is pure profit, so if you have reason to believe that the staff are under paid there's no need to indirectly support that policy.

 

 

.

 

 

[jelayne]

We have only sailed in suites a couple of time and tipped extra but not at some of the rates quoted.

 

A little quick math: cabin attendant @ $20 per day X 12-14 cabins could get$ 1700- $1900 in gratuties for a 7 day cruise and the butler around $2,500 for a 7 day cruise.

 

This is in addition to the auto-gratuties and compensation from X, be that $ and/or room & board.

[iSailor]

We have only sailed in suites a couple of time and tipped extra but not at some of the rates quoted.

 

A little quick math: cabin attendant @ $20 per day X 12-14 cabins could get$ 1700- $1900 in gratuties for a 7 day cruise and the butler around $2,500 for a 7 day cruise.

 

This is in addition to the auto-gratuties and compensation from X, be that $ and/or room & board.

I do suite most of the time,I did my fair share.

This is the math system that I use to figure extra tips.

I even tip a dollar a drink at Al Bacio coffee house.

I do tipped the MC Concierge and a lot of people do.

[sippican]

We have only sailed in a Sky Suite (the lowliest on the totem pole), but I still feel I need to step in here and agree with Chunky.

We sometimes need to remind ourselves that the gratuities are already paid, and you are charged more if you are in a suite for those services.

No one should feel there is a norm for tipping above and beyond. The norm is automatic gratuities that are charged to your account. Above "the norm" is anything you, and only you, determine might be warranted if you feel the service was above normal. Our butler did nothing that was exceptional, we asked very little of him, he was responsive and we had no complaints (exactly as we would expect).

That being said, we always recognize exceptional service with personal envelopes handed to those crewmembers who we feel went above and beyond. We do not figure it out per person per day (the cruiseline has already done that for us). We just determine what we feel is an appropriate token of our appreciation for those who delivered extraordinary service. (And FWIW, it's nowhere near what has been suggested.)

[flyingv4me]

Like! Couldn't agree more, Sippican.

[Westyone]

I, too, agree with Seppican.

 

We have been staying in Royal suites and will be in our first penthouse next cruise. We generally do the automate gratuities and do not feel obligated to tip any more for good and expected service. On several occasions we have given extra when someone surprises us with service above the norm. They always seem grateful when we do give extra. As Seppican has said very well, we have never given nor have felt obligated to give, anywhere near what some have suggested.

[watchdiva]

We stay in suites and tip our butler and others not according to a preset $$ amount pp/per day but based upon how the individuals enhanced our cruise. We never remove auto-tips...maybe we're lucky but in 15 years we have never had a less than stellar butler, concierge or cabin attendant.

 

 

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[wrk2cruise]

We sailed Equinox twice within a few months and were lucky enough to have the same Luminae staff. We became quite friendly and I did ask about tipping at the end of the second cruise. He did tell me that they did pool the envelopes they receive. While I was a bit disappointed I can certainly understand it given the way they all help each other to provide exceptional service.

 

My wife has special dietary needs and our waiter had mentioned on the second cruise when the cook saw the order he asked if it was the same guests and insisted on doing all the cooking for her. As someone else said when we sent a small token back to this cook you would have thought we had given him the world.

 

I spend quite a bit of time in MC because I just like the ambiance. I'm not a big drinker but the bar staff has been so friendly I tend to tip them very well (on my scale). I haven't tipped the concierge as I don't ask them to do anything other than maybe 1 reservation per cruise.

[CEOofVacation]

A fellow passenger asked us on how much more to tip in Luminae. We were both in sky suite. Here was my reply, for the same type of food/restaurant that if we had while on land, the total tip for 2 to 3 meals a day for the 2 of us would have been about $30 to $40 per day. The staff gets $16 per day for 2 at Luminae through auto grats. We multiplied 16 nights against the difference of the 2 amounts and split that between the assistant maitre'd, waiter and 2 assistant waiters. We felt that was equitable.

 

Butler and stateroom attendant each received $7 per day in tips from auto grat. The butler we had was horrible. I called him about room service, which we only used once, and he said to call room service directly. I did and food was delivered by a regular room service guy - whom we tipped. That and many other things, the butler was a joke. He got nothing and I was tempted to go to guest services to remove him from the auto grats. The stateroom attendent was amazing and he got quite a bit of additional tips from us plus 2 bottles of sparkling wine from us.

 

Michaels club concierge did not go above and beyond, and he got nothing. We hardly used MC anyway but we tipped the 2 bar hostesses on the last day as they were very peasant.

[SeaPeaInn]

I find that when I am on Cruise Critic I tip very generously.

When I am on a ship not so much.;)

[hvbaskey]

The best tip I ever gave was to send an envelope into the kitchen with a note to say thank you for all the wonderful food. The maitre d' was so pleased when I put it in his hand that I swear, he couldn't have been more grateful if I'd pressed $1000 in used notes into his palm.

 

We had one waiter (Luminae) tell us that the best “tip” that he could ever receive was filling out the Celebrity Guest Questionnaire at the end of the cruise and sharing our experiences - including the mention of “specific” names of staff that we were impressed by. Much weight is put in these questionnaires and he said that their value (contract renewals and promotions) is far superior than any cash awards.

[hvbaskey]

We have only sailed in a Sky Suite (the lowliest on the totem pole), but I still feel I need to step in here and agree with Chunky.

We sometimes need to remind ourselves that the gratuities are already paid, and you are charged more if you are in a suite for those services.

No one should feel there is a norm for tipping above and beyond. The norm is automatic gratuities that are charged to your account. Above "the norm" is anything you, and only you, determine might be warranted if you feel the service was above normal. Our butler did nothing that was exceptional, we asked very little of him, he was responsive and we had no complaints (exactly as we would expect).

That being said, we always recognize exceptional service with personal envelopes handed to those crewmembers who we feel went above and beyond. We do not figure it out per person per day (the cruiseline has already done that for us). We just determine what we feel is an appropriate token of our appreciation for those who delivered extraordinary service. (And FWIW, it's nowhere near what has been suggested.)

 

WELL SAID!

 

In addition to what you have brilliantly said, we have sailed in Sky - Celebrity - Penthouse suites and we have never gauged how much “extra” to tip (or not to tip) based on what type of suite we have sailed in. We determine any “extras” IF we felt the service was above normal for what was expected. My husband & I have practically choked on the # of envelopes flying around on the final night; as if people feel they are obligated to spend more in addition to paying premium prices - just because they are sailing in a Suite.

 

To each his/her own, of course! but people should not feel “obligated” to pay more when they are receiving the service that they should just because they are sailing in a certain class. I’m not saying that I haven’t tipped extra to certain staff (be it a Butler or a Waiter) - but we would only do so, if we felt that person went above and beyond expectations of his/her expected job service/duties.

 

As a comparison - I certainly don’t tip the Flight Attendants when flying Business ;) vs. Economy!