1. Late Port Days. 2. Tipping

[CruisinRoxy]

Hi All! 

Going on Equinox next weekend and so excited for our first time on Celebrity.  The 2 questions I have are:  

What do folks do when your ship is in port later than  dinner hour? Do you stay in port and dine there? Or do you dine on the ship and go back to the port after? We are in San Juan until 11 pm and just trying to figure out how to handle it.  Hate to waste a good dinner on board. 

Also, with the current prepaid gratuities, does anyone ever tip extra if the service is particularly outstanding? Like your stateroom attendant or a special waiter. Thanks for your input!  

[PoolSlider]

Everybody is different. Cruise ship food is hotel food. It's designed to appeal to thousands of people in a short time frame. If that is your comfort zone that's great and stay with the included food. That said, do a little research and learn about Puerto Rican food. There is some local food out there. San Juan is lovely and lively at night. There are some romantic vistas to view from Old San Juan or along the beautiful beaches. 

 

Tipping is a personal choice above the daily service charge. You know excellent service when you experience it; and you reward it based on what you would hope for if you were offering it. 

[NCHPcruiser]

Since you don't arrive until 11pm I would expect many would stay in port for dinner (we did).  

 

Tipping is very individual.  We usually leave extra tips where we feel we received above average service which has in the past included quite a few people.  

[jelayne]

 

Its always fun to check out a local restaurant or bar.  Sometimes we eat local when in port late other times we go out after dinner.  In San Juan you will be docked right in Old San Juan area, so easy to go out after dinner for a drink or stroll after dinner if you prefer having dinner on the ship.

 

We tip extra to the staff that has made our cruise more enjoyable. That could be the cabin attendant, waiter and assistant waiter, sommelier, bartender,  restroom attendant, etc. 

[miched]

You say it is your first time on  Celebrity  so apparently you cruised before.   Tit and dine like you did on your other cruise(s).  You will find that Celebrity isn't  much different when it comes to those things.

 

Personally I would look into the current status of safety in San Juan.  Things have changed since the hurricane and not for the better.  You many not want to be out very far from the ship in the late hours.  I know every city has the same problem but why risk it and ruin a cruise?  

 

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[George C]

For staying in port past dinner , we almost always eat dinner on ship, do not care for San Juan been there many times, do like doing lunch at local restaurants. We tip extra normally for room steward, waiters and bar tenders , many do not. 

[Redtravel]

We like sailing out of San Juan late. Not all cruises leave late. On some late cruises in San Juan, we went to dinner and went off the ship to have fun.  On some, we ate dinner in town. Since the hurricane, I am not sure what is open. If you plan a dinner in San Juan, make a reservation.  You also can just stay on the ship, have dinner, and relax.  It's your cruise. It's your choice. There ARE NO BAD CHOICES.

[Decpl]

We always try to eat dinner on ship. If we miss our scheduled dinner time. we just head to the buffet .

We are not big fans of San Juan, been there enough times, that we don't need to see rain forest or forts again.

 

And yes for tipping, we had some great service for room attendants to servers, a little extra is always

appreciated by them.

 

Kand J

 

[DENIE]

Can't speak to the late evening in San Juan, as we have not been there. 

 

However, here is what we do for tipping.  We do believe in giving those who provide excellent service some extra money in the form of tips. But, we may do it a bit differently. 

 

Cabin Steward:  We often leave a $10 or $20 the first full morning aboard.  Then a bit more in the middle and the end.  We have always had excellent service and attention the duration of the cruise.

 

MDR Waiter/Wine Steward:  If we have dined a couple times in their section and enjoyed their service, we leave extra tips at that time, rather than wait until the end.  Last cruise my wife got a big hug from our MDR waiter, and his appreciation was obvious!  They work hard, and we were always assured of awesome service!

 

Lounges (like Ensemble Lounge):  Every 2 or 3 days we gave our usual waitstaff $5 or so.  He always spotted us arriving and stopped by for drink orders immediately.  We often stayed for 2-3 hours at a time listening to the entertainment...so he always checked on us throughout the night.

 

Martini Bar:  we tipped our favorite waitstaff a couple of times.  We upgraded our package from Classic to Premium with him, so understand he got a benefit from that.  But...often he found us before we had a chance to look for him.  GREAT service through the whole cruise!

 

We've become a believer in tipping throughout the cruise, not just at the end.  This means a lot to the staff, and really, it is not a lot of money for us.  If it makes our cruise more enjoyable, we are happy to do it

 

A side note....we also like to ask the staff about where they are from (unless they are really busy).  They miss their family, and do enjoy talking about their home.  We just love all the staff!!

 

Edited January 23, 2019 by DENIE
grammar correction

[Zoedokey]

We always tip extra for people who we felt did a nice job.  For us, this would be the cabin steward and dining room servers and wine steward,  and a handful of bartenders as well.  On our last cruise, we tipped the team from Cellar Masters extra the last night, as they were just wonderful. 

[miched]

We asked the host in Michael's about the TIP breakdown in the auto grats.   She provided us with a printed sheet.  

 

We asked how how we could use SBC for the Butler and Cabin attendant.   She said she could provide us with a form and we could add extra tips on it.  She then added that when adding a tip anywhere it is put into a pool that is shared by that group.   If we give them cash they can keep it for themselves.  

 

This was from the host host and we didn’t ask about the sharing part.  We just wanted to know how much each got.   I know there has been a lot of discussion about sharing/pooling  tips and tips in general.  Just something to consider between giving them money directly or adding to the receipt.    She also said many will  share all of the extra monetary  tips if they are working at the same bar and etc.  

 

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

[George C]

Summit concierge in micheals told us staff there did not share tips.

[Luvcrusn]

Think of your ship as your hotel and do what you like in port. As for dining options, PR has many good ones but if you'll have FOMO for dinner onboard, that's always an option. 

As for tipping, we almost always tip extra in addition to the regular gratuities. We've found the service we've received on X ships to be excellent, the staff to work exceptionally hard to please guests, and deserving of extra.

[Mike981]

On 1/21/2019 at 8:26 PM, NCHPcruiser said:

Since you don't arrive until 11pm I would expect many would stay in port for dinner (we did).  

 

Just a note, they are 'leaving' at 11pm. Not arriving. 🙂

[GoodScout]

We were on Equinox in November. 

 

In addition to the prepaid gratuities, we personally tipped our cabin steward and regular waiter additionally. Their service was just so above what was expected we knew we wanted to.