ADDITIONAL Tips/Gratuities - How much do you give and for who?

[DYKWIA]

9 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Maybe it will give a few of them some pause to think about it going forward???

 

Hope Springs Eternal...

 

bon voyage

 

Not sure what you mean by this -  your way is the right way?

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, DYKWIA said:

 

Not sure what you mean by this -  your way is the right way?

What I mean that for those who waver on tipping extra may decide by the time this thread plays out, some passengers may decide to do so.

 

If not, that is fine. Again, it is a personal choice to do so or not.

 

The information posted in this thread is totally voluntary and no one has demanded or asked to know who tips or tips extra as a condition to post here.

 

Actually, My Way is generally the Left Way and not right... LOL

 

bon voyage

[sippican]

ghstudio - 

I'm still confused.

You criticized other such threads as basically giving no information to the reader.

I'm curious, do you now having an idea of what others tip additionally?  I sure don't.

Should we add them all together and divide to get the norm?  I've concluded that people are still all over the place.

Basically, people tip nothing or they are incredibly rich and generously share their fortune regardless of the level of service.  Of course, there is every possible configuration in between these two extremes, which leaves me with your introductory politically correct statement.

 

[Gordoncruickshank]

12 hours ago, M&Msmom said:

I have never heard of using onboard credit as an additional gratuity. Could someone please explain how you would go about doing this? Thank you

There is a form at guest services that you need to complete. If they tell you that they can’t do it persist and tell them you want the form to allow you to do this. You can only do it for the room attendant, butler or dinning room. If we are in Luminae everyone helps us over the course of a cruise and we like to make an overall tip rather than individual ones. They pool all the tips there anyway.

[Gordoncruickshank]

11 hours ago, Shadow9612 said:

 

Last cruise, I was told by guest services that the only person you could do this with was your stateroom attendant.  Has anybody been able to specify other crew members?

You can do the room attendant and butler and also add a tip to a restaurant. We do this for Luminae and I always they’ll the maitre’d to make sure they get it, usually in the hearing of some of the waiters. They all make sure that they get it that way.

[Buckeye94]

12 hours ago, M&Msmom said:

I have never heard of using onboard credit as an additional gratuity. Could someone please explain how you would go about doing this? Thank you

If you want to tip someone in a venue that charges (bartenders, Cafe Bacio, sommelier in MDR), you can ask for a charge slip. If you're on a drink package, they can still print a zero charge slip so you can add a tip that will go against any OBC in your account. For others (cabin attendant, restroom attendants, etc.) Guest Relations can handle it. At least that's how it worked on my Celebrity cruises last year.

[Gordoncruickshank]

3 hours ago, Pushka said:

 

I agree with all that and I’ve found it helpful. It’s our first trip in a suite and we’ve never had a butler before. We have tipped additionally to some great stewards but not others. 

We have had some very good ones and some who have been absolutely useless. The last cruise we took was on MSC in one of two Royal Suites on the ship. We met the butler on the first day and they next time we saw him was 5 days later - no tip, but we did tip our friends butler who looked after us much more than our own. Also had one on the Eclipse who was only asked to do one thing by us. To get us 2 extra champagne glasses as we had friends coming. Didn’t appear so neither did our tip.

 

unless you have the Butler running around the ship for you $30 to $50 is plenty. You probably won’t ever see him again (although we keep bumping into our old butlers over the years so you may see them if you keep using suites). You will find others who will give multiples of that but it is down to what you want to do. For every one who tips extra there are probably 3 who work on the basis that they have already paid enough.

 

 

[C-Dragons]

9 minutes ago, Buckeye94 said:

If you want to tip someone in a venue that charges (bartenders, Cafe Bacio, sommelier in MDR), you can ask for a charge slip. If you're on a drink package, they can still print a zero charge slip so you can add a tip that will go against any OBC in your account. For others (cabin attendant, restroom attendants, etc.) Guest Relations can handle it. At least that's how it worked on my Celebrity cruises last year.

Yes, any crew member can be listed on the form, you just need to list their position and name. 

[Bo1953]

I do apologize to g (who started the thread here) as I Am responding as if I was the one who started it, and that is clearly not the case... LOL

 

Perspective, is my approach, to this particular thread and nothing more (or less)!

 

Everyone's input is valuable here, even if minimal input, on a topic which does come up a great deal and each of can evaluate where we fall between the high and the low amounts and to whom.

 

If the case is that we need to adjust up or down based on the comments made thus far, so be it, if not, so be it....

 

There is no correct or incorrect response to the question, IMO.

 

G, I do apologize for taking it over, please let us know your thoughts as you are the OP.

 

May we all continue to look forward to excellent service aboard a X ship by all of the Crew, regardless...

 

bon voyage

[Buckeye94]

24 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

Yes, any crew member can be listed on the form, you just need to list their position and name. 

I wish I had remembered to tip the gentleman making all the baked goods in the open bakery on Edge. It was fun watching him roll, twist, and shape dough into the delicious creations we enjoyed each day. You could see his passion for baking. We had some great chats. I did remember to mention him in the post cruise survey! 

 

Sorry to go seemingly off topic, but the point is that anyone can be recognized. He made my days on board brighter, and whether through a tip or mention in the survey or comment cards, it's nice to recognize those who work so hard.

[mafig]

I found this thread very helpful.  

Thank you to the OP for starting it.

 

🤩🤩🥰🥰

[ghstudio]

27 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

I do apologize to g (who started the thread here) as I Am responding as if I was the one who started it, and that is clearly not the case... LOL

 

Perspective, is my approach, to this particular thread and nothing more (or less)!

 

Everyone's input is valuable here, even if minimal input, on a topic which does come up a great deal and each of can evaluate where we fall between the high and the low amounts and to whom.

 

If the case is that we need to adjust up or down based on the comments made thus far, so be it, if not, so be it....

 

There is no correct or incorrect response to the question, IMO.

 

G, I do apologize for taking it over, please let us know your thoughts as you are the OP.

 

May we all continue to look forward to excellent service aboard a X ship by all of the Crew, regardless...

 

bon voyage

 

That's funny....no apologies needed.  Glad you're posting....

[jelayne]

13 hours ago, Shadow9612 said:

 

Last cruise, I was told by guest services that the only person you could do this with was your stateroom attendant.  Has anybody been able to specify other crew members?

We have used the form for the Butler and also for a tip for the staff of Blu.  We had multiple servers and assistants in Blu and rather than try and tip them Individually the tip went into the tip pool for Blu.

 

We were going to use the form for our Sommelier but Guest Services told us if we tipped him via the form it would go into the tip pool for all sommeliers. Don’t know if that is accurate but we now tip Sommelier in cash.

[Jim_Iain]

16 hours ago, sunonfire said:

I have a question about Celebrity Cruise. If you have unused onboard credit can you designate “x” amount of dollars to a specific crew member as an extra gratuity? We were able to do this on a Royal Carribean Cruise. I had to fill out a form with the crew members’ names and where they worked. I made a duplicate copy and handed it to the crew member so they had proof. Hopefully it showed up in their paychecks.

Yes you can but need to go to the Front Desk.   I have heard for years differing opinion about leaving a tip using the extra tip form whether the individual received the tip.    I was even getting conflicting information when asking the front desk and the MCC Concierge so I asked the Suite Manager.   She told me she knows for sure as she is the one who has to put it into their pay file.

 

She said that if you just check the box e.g. Waiter, or Stateroom Attendant it goes to a pool.   If you write the Person's name on the form then the tip goes to the person you designated. 

[George C]

1 hour ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

We have had some very good ones and some who have been absolutely useless. The last cruise we took was on MSC in one of two Royal Suites on the ship. We met the butler on the first day and they next time we saw him was 5 days later - no tip, but we did tip our friends butler who looked after us much more than our own. Also had one on the Eclipse who was only asked to do one thing by us. To get us 2 extra champagne glasses as we had friends coming. Didn’t appear so neither did our tip.

 

unless you have the Butler running around the ship for you $30 to $50 is plenty. You probably won’t ever see him again (although we keep bumping into our old butlers over the years so you may see them if you keep using suites). You will find others who will give multiples of that but it is down to what you want to do. For every one who tips extra there are probably 3 who work on the basis that they have already paid enough.

 

 

Totally agree, we also recently did msc yacht club, did not see butler much first day but it really did a great job , he checked on us in lounge , carried drinks from lounge to restaurant etc. our tipping depends on service we get. As for luminae even if they pool tips I want to give our tips to the main one serving us. 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

20 hours ago, Pushka said:

And if on a European cruise, people would give US or Euros? Coming from Australia we’d have access to Euros but USD I save for trips to the States. 
 

I like the idea of tipping the washing attendant or someone who wouldn’t normally get recognised. There was a delightful girl near Aqua on Equinox who did a great job. Maybe better for her would have been a mention on the feedback form assuming these are actually read. 

 

I assure you that Celebrity reads the feedback forms.  I've seen them brought to the restaurant to give to the maitre d', I've been thanked by those I've mentioned, and I've received thank you letters from the hotel director.  An assistant waiter that many of us recommended for promotion informed us the next time we saw him that he was promoted because of our positive comments.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

14 hours ago, Shadow9612 said:

 

Last cruise, I was told by guest services that the only person you could do this with was your stateroom attendant.  Has anybody been able to specify other crew members?

You can do it for your stateroom attendant and your butler.  If you dine in Luminae or Blu, you can add to the communal pot for those people.

[cruise kitty]

1 hour ago, mafig said:

I found this thread very helpful.  

Thank you to the OP for starting it.

 

🤩🤩🥰🥰

 

I too, found it very useful.   Never realized that our OBC could be specified as extra tips, this would have been helpful last cruise...  & definitely will be helpful moving forward.

[Bo1953]

I just remembered that on our Edge sailing in November, a few Service Staff requested that we Do Not Leave ANY cash but mention them by name on our comment cards.

 

I obliged, of course when it was warranted.

 

bon voyage

[sunonfire]

I always take a picture of their name tags to properly identify them. This way I know I have the correct name (and spelling) and job title even if they don’t hand out business cards. It definitely helps me when completing the survey after the cruise.

[sunonfire]

To Jim_Iain.
 

Thank you that was exactly what I was hoping for.

[Fouremco]

5 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

Quick Question: are your guidelines the same for non-Caribbean sailings or are most responses non-Caribbean sailings?

 

bon voyage

The cruise venue has no bearing on our approach to additional tips. While we cruise more in the Caribbean (we need to escape the Canadian winter, Eh?) we pay in the same manner. The one possible variation is the currency of the tip; for example, we might use Euros at the end of a European cruise.

[Alsmez]

5 hours ago, yorky said:

We are all adults my friend and the level we chose to reward should be personal and not dictated or influenced by others.

 

While this is true, many adults who travel try to familiarize themselves with the cultural norms of the places they are visiting so that they can tip according to the local custom. Cruises are something of a location unto themselves, with people from all over the world visiting the same ship. The cruise lines have established a basic minimum through the institution of auto-grats, but first timers will still have questions about the local custom. There is nothing wrong with having an open and honest discussion about it!

 

[yorky]

5 minutes ago, Alsmez said:

 

While this is true, many adults who travel try to familiarize themselves with the cultural norms of the places they are visiting so that they can tip according to the local custom. Cruises are something of a location unto themselves, with people from all over the world visiting the same ship. The cruise lines have established a basic minimum through the institution of auto-grats, but first timers will still have questions about the local custom. There is nothing wrong with having an open and honest discussion about it!

 

I’ve honestly never heard of a local custom on a cruise ship. The cruise line make it perfectly plain that the auto grants are to cover tips, I’ve never seen them described as the “ basic minimum”. Yes people can pay extra if they so wish but again in 25 years of cruising I’ve never known people discuss the level these extras should be, it’s a personal and private choice.

[Bo1953]

17 minutes ago, yorky said:

I’ve honestly never heard of a local custom on a cruise ship. The cruise line make it perfectly plain that the auto grants are to cover tips, I’ve never seen them described as the “ basic minimum”. Yes people can pay extra if they so wish but again in 25 years of cruising I’ve never known people discuss the level these extras should be, it’s a personal and private choice.

As I do agree with you, I also can say that there is no need to reiterate that 'extras' are personal and private choice, UNTIL those who choose to disclose it, makes it public.

 

I do not believe you nor anyone else was directly asked to disclose anything private, it is a 'Personal Choice' to disclose that information on this thread and most of us respect your privacy enough not to even ask how you approach this, yet since you have posted it in a public forum, all is fair? Right?

 

Our sensibilities are obviously very different in many respects than yours and that is fine... and respected. Please respect those who choose to contribute to the thread, is all I ask.

 

If the discussion is offensive in any sense to you, as I can understand how it might be, please pass it by, if you can.

 

Thank you for your contribution, regardless.

 

bon voyage