Specialty Restaurants Gratuities

[nicknack]

Are gratuities included in the cost of a specialty restaurant as in Royal Caribbean, or does it work differently on Celebrity? If not included, how much is recommended? Cash or added to the check?

[oneputt18]

Gratuities are included in the upcharge. 

I have tipped extra depending on the waiter. 

Normal service, nothing extra, but some waiters just go that little extra and I reward them for that. 

[George C]

Yes same as rccl, we tip extra 5 to 20 depending on service.

[yorky]

We don’t tip extra, the gratuity added is already very generous.

[true45]

We have done extra if service was extra good

[keesar]

7 hours ago, nicknack said:

Are gratuities included in the cost of a specialty restaurant as in Royal Caribbean, or does it work differently on Celebrity? If not included, how much is recommended? Cash or added to the check?

 

On the bill/receipt at the end of the meal, you will be asked to sign.  At the bottom, there has been a statement that a gratuity has already been included.  I think it said 18%.  We typically add $10 or more.

[cynbar]

I agree with the other posters. Sometimes we tip extra if the service as been exemplary, but most of the time we don't.

[maggieq]

We always tip extra in cash $10-20 

[oneputt18]

On 6/12/2019 at 4:06 PM, yorky said:

We don’t tip extra, the gratuity added is already very generous.

Since the amount of gratuity included is not public knowledge, how do you know is "quite generous"

[LINGBER]

We always tip an extra $10 - $20 depending on the size of our party  as we never knew the amount of the gratuity going to the server. I will look on this upcoming Reelection sailing to see if our receipt shows 18% of the upcharge has been earmarked as gratuity and if so decide based on service 🤨

[gerelmx]

The tip is included as it's mentioned in the above posts, if you give a extra tip in CASH it is for the waiter, if you add the extra tip to the bill it will be shared.

[yorky]

3 hours ago, oneputt18 said:

Since the amount of gratuity included is not public knowledge, how do you know is "quite generous"

Because we have eaten in there before and it pretty much is public knowledge.

”Other onboard gratuity policies remain the same: an 18% gratuity is automatically added to bar service beverages, specialty dining reservations, and mini bar items—and will be itemized on your receipt.”

[Luckiestmanonearth]

On 6/12/2019 at 4:06 PM, yorky said:

We don’t tip extra, the gratuity added is already very generous.

 

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[Globehoppers]

These young people, and some not so young, work very hard for their salary and gratuities.  We like to get to know them a bit and will add $20-plus in cash to the bill (two of us).  More if we come back and eat at their table again.  Note that we do not frequent the MDR at all a anymore.  So its specialty restaurants or the buffet for dinner.

[fizzy1]

On 6/12/2019 at 9:06 PM, yorky said:

We don’t tip extra, the gratuity added is already very generous.

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[srdancer]

We usually negotiate a discount on the specialty restaurants.  This means the automatic gratuity is a smaller amount. If the service is good we add another $10 to gratuity.

[Suite Susie]

We've never given any extra, as I know the gratuity is included.  But we are from the UK and 18% is already way more than we would pay here, so have always considered it enough.  Different culture, I'm afraid over here.  Max we have ever paid in the UK is 15%, normally 10%, but only if the service is very good.  I guess the answer, is it is up to you.  

[Seville2Cabo]

I guess I look at it different.  If we get a package or negotiate a better price, we have gotten the cost down to about $20 per night.  18%  is $3.60.  Not sure how you call that very generous.  We try to look at the overall service and since our waiters usually have only 2 or 3 tables, we usually consider what we would tip in a land restaurant if we were paying a normal bill.  $20 for the 2 of us is our norm.  

[yorky]

14 minutes ago, Seville2Cabo said:

I guess I look at it different.  If we get a package or negotiate a better price, we have gotten the cost down to about $20 per night.  18%  is $3.60.  Not sure how you call that very generous.  We try to look at the overall service and since our waiters usually have only 2 or 3 tables, we usually consider what we would tip in a land restaurant if we were paying a normal bill.  $20 for the 2 of us is our norm.  

For us 18% is very generous and at the top end of what’s expected in the states. We usually tip around 10% in the UK. We don’t look at the cost of the meal when in the states but tip the percentage of the meal that’s recommended. We would not tip to something like 30% levels.

[Cruising89143]

We always add more for the gratuity. Usually the service has been great.