Who do you tip?

[ClaudiaB]

Honestly, the ones who make your cruise special will occur to you when you're on the cruise. We only tipped the Michael's Club concierge when she did something for us personally, not in her routine job description. The one we tipped for sure was the bartender in zMichael's because he knew our drinks and made special ones for us on request. Luminae sommelier made our cruise special one time, as did a butler, and a particular bartender in the martini bar.

 

An even BETTER thing to do is what I've mentioned a number of times here on CC. That is, while you are on the cruise, fill out an attention to detail card (or whatever it's called now). If you can't find one in your cabin, get one at guest relations or just get some paper and write it down. I always take the time to make specific comments and compliments about various employees. Sometimes it's someone ELSE'S cabin steward who is down the hall and always always is smiling and humming and greeting people with a smile. Get the name of the person and where they work. It can be an amazing waiter or sommelier or bar tender or whoever. Let me tell you how I know this works: I turned in one of those forms to guest relations on about day 7 or 8 of a 14 day cruise. The sommelier in Luminae came to me and said that because of the nice things we said to her that she was given an extra shift off work. Our cabin attendant said he was given some internet minutes and a call home. These go in their file and work towards promotions.

 

Sure the $$ speaks well in any language. But the written word is invaluable too.

[Lunenburg]

Have you already prepaid gratuities? If so, you don't really need to add more. Folks from the US seem to tip much more than many other countries.

[champagne123]

Have you already prepaid gratuities? If so, you don't really need to add more. Folks from the US seem to tip much more than many other countries.

I actually agree with you (in the US). I have pre-paid my gratuities...and unless someone goes above and beyond normal duties....I do not tip extra. Why would I tip extra for someone doing their job?

[Redking]

We are from a country where tipping is NOT part of the culture and hence we always struggle to decide how much is appropriate to tip. Our currency is always behind US$ hence it is also the matter of “compromise” I.e. what is appropriate vs still reasonable in our currency. I do understand that some people tip very generously, others may not at all and this is personal choice (or could also be a matter of what one can afford). The reason we struggle is that we usually rely on guides for different countries to see what’s appropriate eg 10%, 15% of the bill etc. But there are no bills from waiters, stewards etc. Please, anybody, can you share how to decide what is appropriate?i do not want to offend a person I want to tip by giving too little , but also need to consider our means. Thank you in advance.

 

Thanks KiwifromKiev. We suffer from the same "anxiety". We had excellent service on our last cruise which we wanted to recognise with additonal tips. We did however struggle to balance an appropriate amount that relfected our paying in $Aus. I enclosed a thank you note with each of the tips and gave each of these crew members a good account in the survey (which they asked me to do - aligns with a previous post on this). Maybe I got the wrong impression, but I felt that we perhaps hadn't provided an appropriate tip and hence caused offence or offended those that we hadn't tipped. Maybe a thank you note and good feedback in the survey are the best option for those of us from cultures that don't tip? I don't won't to spend the last days of my cruise stressing over this tipping isue.

[korryp]

The wife and I did a b2b last year and here are rough estimates of the tips we left after our 24 days on the ship:

cabin steward - $50 each cruise

bartenders - A couple of bucks for each drink. $20 when we left the ship for a special bartender than took care of us at night.

maitre d - $20 for each cruise

waiter - $25 for each cruise

assistant waiter - $20 first leg and 30 second part.

sommelier - $20 each leg and then a extra tripp one night when he opened two bottles for us and did nt charge the corkage fee.

room service - $5 per person per order for breakfast.

[DENIE]

We agree about leaving something extra for those who make a difference. Of course, we do NOT adjust the automatic gratuity. We do not travel in suite accommodations - just ocean view or standard veranda, typically. However, we always leave between $20-$40 to our cabin steward, spread throughout the cruise. We are always well cared for, and we know they appreciate it. On our last cruise, our cabin steward on the Infinity, Mimi, brought down a "suite level" beach bag for my wife, and thanked her personally for the extra gratuity. Don't even need to mention that her service was exceptional.

 

We try to find favorite bars, and bar staff, and leave $1 or $2 on a frequent basis. Again...we always get great service and never seem to wait. Along the way we leave some extra $$ for others as well. It means a lot to them.

 

Something else we discovered... When wait/cabin staff is not busy or otherwise overwhelmed, we enjoy asking them about where they are from and about their homeland. Many of these younger staff are on first contracts, and seem to like that someone cares about them. We are fortunate to be able to have the income to cruise, and really enjoy the personal side of the staff when they have a moment. They may be there to wait on us, but we enjoy the interaction.

[phoenix_dream]

We tip those employees who have gone above and beyond for us, or generally do a better than average job. On some cruises that means we tip a lot of people, on other cruises that might mean only one or two. Being Celebrity, it is usually a good number of people. I have even tipped the restroom attendant as I made the same pit stop every day and she was always kind and attentive (and they have the worst job of anyone IMHO!). We of course never take away the automatic tips that are applied.

[Carole2313]

DH and I sail in Suites so the people we tip are mostly not part of the standard gratuities. Standard Grats and premium drink package are “free” so the Butler, MC staff and Suite Concierge and the Laminae staff are tipped well for the services they provide. The room steward is tipped an extra $75 per week for very good service, and if we drink at any of the bars onboard, we tip extra $5 a round. On the pool deck, we introduce ourselves to the bartender, tell him/her how we like our drinks and ask who our server will be by the pool. We tip the bartender $10 or $20 or so per day and tip the server $5 a round. Our drinks are always served quickly with generous pours. We want great service and as Americans we are pleased to show our appreciation for it.

 

 

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[bEwAbG]

Paying the standard gratuities is enough in most cases, but of course giving more to those who go above and beyond (ones you build a real rapport with) are the ones to focus on. I've found most room stewards to be excellent though I did have one who just wanted to chat with everyone and made her assistant do everything (in which case we gave the assistant a larger tip). Butlers have been hit or miss for us, and you're already paying an additional charge per day for those services. The maitre d' in the MDR provides a different level of service than the one in Luminae, and I've only had one who rose about the level of their job. I've not had a MC Concierge do anything other than check on reservations for us. I, too, have tipped a bathroom attendant. It's very situational.

 

For those worried about what and how much, I will say that some of these lists and amounts are pretty outrageous. As an example, drinks have 18% added automatically. So if you tip $2 on a $10 drink, you'd be tipping almost 40%. That is excessive and not expected.

[Silkroad]

Thanks KiwifromKiev. We suffer from the same "anxiety". We had excellent service on our last cruise which we wanted to recognise with additonal tips. We did however struggle to balance an appropriate amount that relfected our paying in $Aus. I enclosed a thank you note with each of the tips and gave each of these crew members a good account in the survey (which they asked me to do - aligns with a previous post on this). Maybe I got the wrong impression, but I felt that we perhaps hadn't provided an appropriate tip and hence caused offence or offended those that we hadn't tipped. Maybe a thank you note and good feedback in the survey are the best option for those of us from cultures that don't tip? I don't won't to spend the last days of my cruise stressing over this tipping isue.

 

I am in the US, consider myself a generous tipper, and I can’t believe some of the tips I see listed on this thread! I’m assuming you leave the auto gratuities as is. If so, you absolutely shouldn’t feel obligated to tip one cent more unless (a) it’s within your budget and comfort level, and (b) you receive exemplary service from one or more persons.

 

When I want to give extra tips to my cabin steward or regular waiter, I try to figure out how much of the auto gratuities go to that person. I then consider what I’d tip that person for excellent service at an equivalent venue in the US and calculate the difference. I’m sure the crew realize which of us come from tipping cultures and which do not. Given the tipping figures tossed around on these boards, I can only assume the crew must think we Americans have large “cash cow” emblems emblazoned on our backs!

 

You’re absolutely right in thinking the survey is important to the crew. Mentioning excellent staff and crew by name in the survey can help their careers. I sometimes also fill out the little cards to recognize crew members while still on board, or personally speak to their management about their excellent work. However, other than paying the auto gratuities, the survey is the most important thing you can do to recognize excellent service.

[Silkroad]

We are from a country where tipping is NOT part of the culture and hence we always struggle to decide how much is appropriate to tip. Our currency is always behind US$ hence it is also the matter of “compromise” I.e. what is appropriate vs still reasonable in our currency. I do understand that some people tip very generously, others may not at all and this is personal choice (or could also be a matter of what one can afford). The reason we struggle is that we usually rely on guides for different countries to see what’s appropriate eg 10%, 15% of the bill etc. But there are no bills from waiters, stewards etc. Please, anybody, can you share how to decide what is appropriate?i do not want to offend a person I want to tip by giving too little , but also need to consider our means. Thank you in advance.

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Celebrity charges set gratuity amounts to our onboard account automatically (unless we have them stop). Do they do the same when you book in New Zealand?

[verizon]

On my previous cruise on Eclipse,a few days before the cruise end,I went to the guest relation office to add extra tipping of $250.00 to the butler,room steward and the Luminar Dinning crews.

Never receive a thank you note from any one.L was wondering they receive the tipping.

I felt a little disappointed.I will be back on the 18th of next month,I don’t think I will do the same as my last cruising.

[Fouremco]

On my previous cruise on Eclipse,a few days before the cruise end,I went to the guest relation office to add extra tipping of $250.00 to the butler,room steward and the Luminar Dinning crews.

Never receive a thank you note from any one.L was wondering they receive the tipping.

I felt a little disappointed.I will be back on the 18th of next month,I don’t think I will do the same as my last cruising.

When providing extra gratuities, most people do so directly. Put it in an envelope and hand it to the deserving recipient. You won't receive a written thank you note, but you will be given a warm verbal thank you. If you increase the gratuities in the manner you chose, they might have no idea of who provided the extra.

[Carole2313]

I think the OP asked about tipping those Outside the standard gratuities when staying in a Suite. The Luminae staff, Butler, MC staff and Suite Concierge not covered by the standard gratuities. All standard gratuities are included when staying in Suites. We have two cruises booked, one for the South Pacific Islands and one for New Zealand/Australia. Of course the tipping practices would be the same. Why wouldn’t it? The crew isn’t from New Zealand or Australia.

 

 

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Edited January 28, 2018 by Carole2313

[Silkroad]

I think the OP asked about tipping those Outside the standard gratuities when staying in a Suite. The Luminae staff, Butler, MC staff and Suite Concierge not covered by the standard gratuities. All standard gratuities are included when staying in Suites.

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I believe suite gratuities are currently $18 per person, per day. Are you saying that if you receive prepaid gratuities as a perk, the staff you mentioned are not covered by those gratuities? Incidentally, prepaid gratuities are NOT always included as a perk for suites. They’re certainly not included on repositioning cruises.

[Phxrunner]

X

 

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[Kiwifromkiev]

Celebrity charges set gratuity amounts to our onboard account automatically (unless we have them stop). Do they do the same when you book in New Zealand?

 

 

 

Yes they do, we usually prepay these for cruises and land (bus) tours. We usually have the option to prepay. I also try avoiding leaving negative comments on specific staff even if this might be justified as I can’t be responsible from affecting their livelihood.

 

Somy question is really about extra tipping

 

 

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[oskarNZ]

Celebrity charges set gratuity amounts to our onboard account automatically (unless we have them stop). Do they do the same when you book in New Zealand?

 

Sorry, I know the question wasn’t aimed at me, but I just wanted to add that when booking from NZ or Australia the gratuities are included in our fare.

I imagine that it would be very difficult for us to remove them (not that we’d want to) as they are charged as part of a total fare, like what is standard for our service industry e.g. a $25 steak meal is priced to cover food costs, overheads and to pay the server a working wage.

If we were to choose the GO BEST promotion, 2 options are for OBC since the gratuities are already costed out.

 

 

I really like it that way and will probably only tip a little bit on top of this if someone (such as our room steward) really makes a big impact on us.

[Gordoncruickshank]

I believe suite gratuities are currently $18 per person, per day. Are you saying that if you receive prepaid gratuities as a perk, the staff you mentioned are not covered by those gratuities? Incidentally, prepaid gratuities are NOT always included as a perk for suites. They’re certainly not included on repositioning cruises.

The staff still get their share of tips when we don’t pay the gratuities by Celebrity discounting these. These perks are just marketing tools but if you get a beverage package free or buy one on board the bartenders still get their share of tips based on the number of drinks they serve as does the MC bar person and those that serve drinks in the Elite drinks time.

 

You just need to look at thes as discounts from the overall cost of the cruise. You are not depriving anyone of their tips.

The butler still gets his share as does the room attendant.

[Kiwifromkiev]

Maybe I got the wrong impression, but I felt that we perhaps hadn't provided an appropriate tip and hence caused offence or offended those that we hadn't tipped. Maybe a thank you note and good feedback in the survey are the best option for those of us from cultures that don't tip? I don't won't to spend the last days of my cruise stressing over this tipping issue.

 

We have had a very similar experience on Connie in 2016 - had a fantastic waiter and a superb sommelier in the MDR . We have tipped each of them USD 50 for the 11 night cruise, included a handwritten note and a nice/useful NZ souvenir. My DH and myself got the impression that these people were not happy. Hence my question here - what amount (as a ball park figure) is appropriate.

 

 

With land trips they often indicate what is appropriate and we go above if the service was great, or stick with the recommended if the service is OK.

[excitedofharpenden]

.

 

Thanks KiwifromKiev. We suffer from the same "anxiety". We had excellent service on our last cruise which we wanted to recognise with additonal tips. We did however struggle to balance an appropriate amount that relfected our paying in $Aus. I enclosed a thank you note with each of the tips and gave each of these crew members a good account in the survey (which they asked me to do - aligns with a previous post on this). Maybe I got the wrong impression, but I felt that we perhaps hadn't provided an appropriate tip and hence caused offence or offended those that we hadn't tipped. Maybe a thank you note and good feedback in the survey are the best option for those of us from cultures that don't tip? I don't won't to spend the last days of my cruise stressing over this tipping isue.

I'm over this stressing about extra tips now. I know that all the tips are included in my cruise fare so don't need to worry about stiffing the crew. I give extra tips to people because I want to, not because I think I have to or read it here that I should. Sometimes on a cruise I'll give no extra tips. Other times there maybe four or five. No right or wrong. They'll let you book another cruise if you didn't tip extra! And a mention on your post cruise questionnaire of someone who you felt gave great service is a super way to recognise. Just do what you feel is right.

 

Phil

[Kiwifromkiev]

I'm over this stressing about extra tips now. I know that all the tips are included in my cruise fare so don't need to worry about stiffing the crew. I give extra tips to people because I want to, not because I think I have to or read it here that I should. Sometimes on a cruise I'll give no extra tips. Other times there maybe four or five. No right or wrong. They'll let you book another cruise if you didn't tip extra! And a mention on your post cruise questionnaire of someone who you felt gave great service is a super way to recognise. Just do what you feel is right.

 

Phil

Phil, I totally share your sentiment. The "anxiety" is from not wanting to offend people by giving too little (as some of us have felt in the past) but within one's means.

[Cebse]

It’s certainly harder for us the other side of the pond who are not expected to tip. When we go to restaurants in England we always tip but how much depends on the service quality as tips are certainly extra as in England people are paid right to there position.

In bars I don’t tip at home as it’s just something you don’t see, more of maybe buy the bar person a drink.

This makes judging tips while abroad difficult to judge and at times justify.

I’ve been to restaurants in the US where the service has been terrible and they still expect approx a 20% tip.

I do understand the gratuities are for the staff you don’t see in the background but some people on here pay gratuity and then tip on top of that.

We have saved for years to make our first cruise a reality and the way some people tip on some of these posts we simply could not afford.

Different cultures for tipping makes it a split camp for people who are used for tipping just about everyone to others who don’t tip at all.

I’ve been in Mexico and please don’t take offence but some I said some people from Canada and the US tip but then think that gives them a right to shout or demand a service/drink instantly not one thankyou given. Sometimes it’s just nice to be actually nice and treat these people as equals which they certainly are.

[Kiwifromkiev]

 

Sometimes it’s just nice to be actually nice and treat these people as equals which they certainly are.

 

hat off and thumbs up! :)

[trucker den]

Thank you for all the responses. I do have pre paid tips. I feel that these people work very hard for very little money. I have heard that some people working on a cruise ship make as little as $200/month. I just don't want to forget anyone but don't want to be like Dangerfield in caddyshack either.