Extra tipping for a suite Butler?

[Mythbuster]

Just curious, for those of you who tip in advance on a cruise, do you also tip your land based restaurant waiters/waitresses or bartenders in advance of your meal. If not, what is the difference?

[chicagopaul]

We always tip our butlers extra and the amount is commensurate with how much extra we’ve asked from them. We’re very low maintenance but do ask for shoe shines here and there, the occasional button repair and some breakfast / coffee delivery. If we have any issues with bookings or want to cancel a reservation we will use them for that, but that is typically the extent. Even if we barely use them we still tip a “standard” amount. I feel that I don’t want to penalize them because we chose not to use them.

 

We always tip at the end. However, for bartenders, specifically martini bar where we are so much we do tip a little as we go. I do this because they always have gone out of their way to take care of us and I think it also encourages others around us to tip when they otherwise wouldn’t.

 

One thing we always enjoy doing is bringing stationary and when we tip at the end of the cruise we write a nice thank you note. Several crew have told us they have still kept these to this day. I think that goes a long way especially when they’re so far away from their family.

 

I realize each culture is different when it comes to tipping. We are very fortunate to live the lives we do and for us it feels good to take care of those who take such great care of us in all aspects of our lives. Whether it is our door staff at home, our bartenders at our regular restaurants in Chicago, or our butlers/wait staff/ room attendants, etc on the cruise.

 

But I would like to add, as someone else mentioned before, that kindness, respect, and sincerity is so important. The money is great, but if it comes minus the true gratitude then it’s not well received.

 

Cheers and Happy Cruising!

 

 

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[Carole2313]

I don’t believe the Suite Butler is included in the paid gratuities so you wouldn’t be giving the Butler an extra tip. A 1% tip is about right for excellent service. Your room attendant is included in the paid gratuity and can keep his extra tip for great service as long as you don’t take away the paid grats. Luminae isn’t included either so a 1% tip is standard and generous, to be shared by the servers. In Michael’s Club, the bartender should know your choice of drink after a day or two and have it ready when you sit down, so we tip a dollar or two each drink and a small tip at the end of the cruise.

 

 

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[jagoffee]

We always tip our butlers extra and the amount is commensurate with how much extra we’ve asked from them. We’re very low maintenance but do ask for shoe shines here and there, the occasional button repair and some breakfast / coffee delivery. If we have any issues with bookings or want to cancel a reservation we will use them for that, but that is typically the extent. Even if we barely use them we still tip a “standard” amount. I feel that I don’t want to penalize them because we chose not to use them.

 

We always tip at the end. However, for bartenders, specifically martini bar where we are so much we do tip a little as we go. I do this because they always have gone out of their way to take care of us and I think it also encourages others around us to tip when they otherwise wouldn’t.

 

One thing we always enjoy doing is bringing stationary and when we tip at the end of the cruise we write a nice thank you note. Several crew have told us they have still kept these to this day. I think that goes a long way especially when they’re so far away from their family.

 

I realize each culture is different when it comes to tipping. We are very fortunate to live the lives we do and for us it feels good to take care of those who take such great care of us in all aspects of our lives. Whether it is our door staff at home, our bartenders at our regular restaurants in Chicago, or our butlers/wait staff/ room attendants, etc on the cruise.

 

But I would like to add, as someone else mentioned before, that kindness, respect, and sincerity is so important. The money is great, but if it comes minus the true gratitude then it’s not well received.

 

Cheers and Happy Cruising!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Well said, Paul.

[philpcruiser]

I don’t believe the Suite Butler is included in the paid gratuities so you wouldn’t be giving the Butler an extra tip. A 1% tip is about right for excellent service. Your room attendant is included in the paid gratuity and can keep his extra tip for great service as long as you don’t take away the paid grats. Luminae isn’t included either so a 1% tip is standard and generous, to be shared by the servers. In Michael’s Club, the bartender should know your choice of drink after a day or two and have it ready when you sit down, so we tip a dollar or two each drink and a small tip at the end of the cruise.

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The suite butler and Luminae staff ARE included in the paid gratuities.

[jelayne]

In January of this year someone posted a document from the Silhouette that showed the breakdown of the daily gratuties. This document was from before the Suite gratuties were increased from $17pp per day to $18. That breakdown had the Butler receiving $3.50pp per day and the cabin attendant receiving $4.09pp per day. So I guess X recognizes the cabin attendants job isn’t as glamorous and with a butler to handle things like laundry, ice, delivering afternoon snacks, etc that a cabin attendant would do for other guests, the cabin attendant might get the short of the tip$

[Gordoncruickshank]

I don’t believe the Suite Butler is included in the paid gratuities so you wouldn’t be giving the Butler an extra tip. A 1% tip is about right for excellent service. Your room attendant is included in the paid gratuity and can keep his extra tip for great service as long as you don’t take away the paid grats. Luminae isn’t included either so a 1% tip is standard and generous, to be shared by the servers. In Michael’s Club, the bartender should know your choice of drink after a day or two and have it ready when you sit down, so we tip a dollar or two each drink and a small tip at the end of the cruise.

 

 

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I don’t know where you received this misinformation.

 

Your assigned dinning place is also included in the auto tip so Luminae is already covered. When we were in our first suite, before Luminae was built, we used Blu every night. After two days the host asked us if we wanted to move our auto tips to them from the main dinning room, which we did and did every other suite pre Luminae.

 

The bar tender in Michaels and those in the Elite lounge also get a share of tips based on how many drink the serve as do When Celebrity introduced the beverage packages they had to find a way to make up the tips the bar staff used to get and it is based on the number of servings and that applies in every bar. If there is no Elite lounge and vouchers are used it is based on the number of vouchers they collect. Again this has been checked over the years.

 

We do tip extra to Luminae, the Butler, the room attendant and the MC bar tender, so long as there have been no issues and they have done what they are supposed to do. We do not use the Butler much. We like to go out for breakfast, if I want a coffee I will go and get it myself, we have rarely had room service - possibly once in 17 Celebrity cruises. We leave our room tidy every time we leave it and do not leave a mess for the room attendant.

 

 

 

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[fleckle]

Q. What is Celebrity’s automatic gratuity program?

 

A. For your convenience, we automatically add gratuities for your restaurant and stateroom services to your onboard SeaPass® account on a daily basis in the following amounts, which may be adjusted at your discretion:

 

 

 

• $14.50 per person, per day in standard accommodations
  
• $15.00 per person, per day in Concierge Class and AquaClass® staterooms
  
• $18.00 per person, per day in suites
  

This gratuity is shared by your stateroom attendant, dining services staff, and housekeeping staff members who help enhance your vacation experience. At your discretion, the gratuity payments may be adjusted onboard at Guest Relations, in which case they will not automatically be added to your onboard SeaPass® account. An 18% gratuity will be automatically added to all beverages, mini bar purchases, spa and salon services. Additional gratuities may be added at your discretion.

 

 

Gratuity Program

[Gracie115]

In June on the Equinox we tipped at the end of the week. We were a family of four in two Sky Suites. My father is a very slow eater and going back to days of old, expects food to be served course by course without appetizer and soup arriving together. Rightfully so in my mind, but surely open for debate. ;)

Not having sailed Celebrity in a few years we were a bit unsure what to expect service wise. To ensure there were no problems (in other words to make my life less stressful), once we were seated and had ordered lunch on our first day, I excused myself and went and greeted the maitre 'd with a "handshake" of $20. I explained to her, unlike most others, we enjoy leisurely meals and do not like to feel rushed through our courses. Our service every single meal was nothing less than perfect.

I also slipped the butler Singh an extra $20 mid trip. We were leaving my father alone on the ship while the rest of the family went on a snorkel excursion. Without that I would not have been able to go on the excursion so in my life, well worth $20. :hearteyes: I pre-ordered lunch to be delivered to my father's cabin and again, wanted to ensure that my diabetic father received his meal in a timely manner. Singh was a busy guy and with the exception of that one lunch all we asked from our two suites was a tea time snack for my dad, let yourself in and leave it on the table if he is napping, and without fail daily, there was a delightful variety of offerings.

I "think" we would have received the same service without the additional gratuities, but I wanted to have that bit of insurance. In my life, well worth $40. We also still tipped Singh, two Luminae waiters, assistant, sommelier, and cabin steward at the end of our week as well. We did not tip the concierge, we did not use her services. Hopefully this was not a faux pas.

 

 

I would have done the same and agree well worth it. We had Singh as our butler on Eclipse a few years ago, a truly nice man and so helpful. If you didn't use the MC concierge no need to tip so not a faux pas....

[LMC]

Thanks for all of your valuable opinions! We are generous tippers when service warrants it, and have always experienced outstanding service on all of our Celebrity cruises. I expect nothing less for our upcoming October cruise on the Equinox. Cheers to all....and happy cruising!

[hvbaskey]

The stateroom attendant is the one who actually does all the hard and dirty work, scrubbing the bathroom, dusting and vacuuming, changing the bedding and towels, emptying the trash.

The butler is more of a social host, someone who brings you food and beverages and makes appointments or plans parties for you -- the types of functions that most of us perform for house guests in our own homes.

Being a cruise ship butler is certainly a much more pleasant and easier job than being a stateroom attendant, despite the fact that some suite passengers can be quite demanding.

But other suite passengers are do-it-yourself types who hardly ask their butler for anything at all.

 

Yet many people will tip their butler a lot more than they tip their stateroom attendant.

 

Then there are even a few who claim to tip the Michael's Club Concierge, an officer who holds a salaried position.

I wonder if they tip the captain as well.

 

Agreed! Most (not all) of the time, IF we have any special requests (extra pillow, blankets for balcony, tea kettle, etc); the butler writes it down on a piece of paper and then we see him/her hand over that same piece of paper to the state room attendant who graciously provides all said items. In those instances it is the stateroom attendant who has enhanced our experience, not the butler.