Pay Gratuities Before Sailing?

[Djptcp]

We are new to Celebrity (will be our 76th cruise overall) and are used to paying the staff gratuities before we sail on other cruise lines. I have searched our reservation and cannot find that opportunity. If it is possible, where do I find the link? Thanks.

[lasekeye]

We ask the travel agent / Customer Service to add them when we book.

[Jim_Iain]

We had the choice to add them when making a reservation (after dropped from All Included).   You can have Celebrity or Agent add them after booking.  

I really don't worry about it and they add it automatically daily and it is applied to NR OBC first.

[PTC DAWG]

8 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

This..^^^agreed, why pay early if you don’t have to. 

Edited February 2 by PTC DAWG

[prmssk]

If you booked the cruise on your own, there usually is a spot to prepay on the website when you go to manage your cruise (same spot where you can see your balance due and request beds together or apart).

 

If you booked with a travel agent, your travel agent can take care of it for you. 

[Mangrove Snapper]

53 minutes ago, Djptcp said:

I have searched our reservation and cannot find that opportunity. If it is possible, where do I find the link? Thanks.

 

When you are in your reservation (in Manage Reservation), click on the Add-Ons section.  This is where you will find the prepaid gratuities and cruise care travel protection. 

[Jim_Iain]

56 minutes ago, Mangrove Snapper said:

 

When you are in your reservation (in Manage Reservation), click on the Add-Ons section.  This is where you will find the prepaid gratuities and cruise care travel protection. 

 

I just checked mine and since my booking is with an Agent it requires me to contact my TA to add gratuities.   I presume if you are direct with Celebrity you can do it yourself on line.

[Mangrove Snapper]

1 minute ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I just checked mine and since my booking is with an Agent it requires me to contact my TA to add gratuities.   I presume if you are direct with Celebrity you can do it yourself on line.

 

Yes, that's correct.  My instructions would be if you book directly with Celebrity - either online or on the ship at the Future Cruise desk. 

Edited February 2 by Mangrove Snapper
added FC desk

[patty1955]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

This..^^^agreed, why pay early if you don’t have to. 

Because the gratuities might go up in price between now and the cruise.

[jean87510]

2 hours ago, Djptcp said:

We are new to Celebrity (will be our 76th cruise overall) and are used to paying the staff gratuities before we sail on other cruise lines. I have searched our reservation and cannot find that opportunity. If it is possible, where do I find the link? Thanks.

I believe it's under manage your reservation.  Or you can call.

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

This..^^^agreed, why pay early if you don’t have to. 

Once paid or on the booking then you are not subject to increases in the rate.  

[prmssk]

13 minutes ago, jelayne said:

Once paid or on the booking then you are not subject to increases in the rate.  

If you wait until you board the ship to pay gratuities regardless of when you booked or paid, you pay the current rate. You have to pre-pay to avoid any increase. 

[Jim_Iain]

4 hours ago, patty1955 said:

Because the gratuities might go up in price between now and the cruise.

 

They usually announce a change like that at least a month in advance and give an effective date.  If I did see an announcement like you I would be inclined to prepay prior to the effective date.

[Houli58]

On 2/2/2024 at 1:23 PM, prmssk said:

If you wait until you board the ship to pay gratuities regardless of when you booked or paid, you pay the current rate. You have to pre-pay to avoid any increase. 

We are cruising next week on Ascent.  We pre-paid the gratuities up front.  Do we tip cash to the bartenders when we order drinks or is this part of pre-pay?  Also what about housekeeping.  Do we leave daily cash tip in stateroom?

[PTC DAWG]

On 2/2/2024 at 1:11 PM, patty1955 said:

Because the gratuities might go up in price between now and the cruise.

I could see that, but they usually give a warning in that case...

[PTC DAWG]

1 minute ago, Houli58 said:

We are cruising next week on Ascent.  We pre-paid the gratuities up front.  Do we tip cash to the bartenders when we order drinks or is this part of pre-pay?  Also what about housekeeping.  Do we leave daily cash tip in stateroom?

You owe nothing else for housekeeping for sure.  You may leave extra if you desire. If you have a drink package, the tips are included..you may tip extra if you choose.  If you go over your drink limit you will be charged the difference plus 20% for the gratuity.  

[Houli58]

1 minute ago, PTC DAWG said:

You owe nothing else for housekeeping for sure.  You may leave extra if you desire. If you have a drink package, the tips are included..you may tip extra if you choose.  If you go over your drink limit you will be charged the difference plus 20% for the gratuity.  

Thank you.  We are upgrading to the premium drink package today.  Seems to be worth the extra $100 for the week.

 

 

1 minute ago, PTC DAWG said:

You owe nothing else for housekeeping for sure.  You may leave extra if you desire. If you have a drink package, the tips are included..you may tip extra if you choose.  If you go over your drink limit you will be charged the difference plus 20% for the gratuity.  

 

2 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

You owe nothing else for housekeeping for sure.  You may leave extra if you desire. If you have a drink package, the tips are included..you may tip extra if you choose.  If you go over your drink limit you will be charged the difference plus 20% for the gratuity.  

 

2 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

You owe nothing else for housekeeping for sure.  You may leave extra if you desire. If you have a drink package, the tips are included..you may tip extra if you choose.  If you go over your drink limit you will be charged the difference plus 20% for the gratuity.  

 

[horseymike]

10 minutes ago, Houli58 said:

We are cruising next week on Ascent.  We pre-paid the gratuities up front.  Do we tip cash to the bartenders when we order drinks or is this part of pre-pay?  Also what about housekeeping.  Do we leave daily cash tip in stateroom?

Any beverage service will have a 20 % gratuity added to the charge. If you have a beverage package you have already paid the gratuity for your beverages ( unless you order a drink that costs more than your package allows ,)  in which case you will be charged the difference plus a 20 % gratuity on the difference only.

With regard to your cabin steward you have already paid for those gratuities, should you choose to pay additional gratuity in cash is totally up to you.

Edited February 5 by horseymike
Grammar

[LandLockedInAZ2]

On 2/2/2024 at 9:12 AM, Djptcp said:

We are new to Celebrity (will be our 76th cruise overall) and are used to paying the staff gratuities before we sail on other cruise lines. I have searched our reservation and cannot find that opportunity. If it is possible, where do I find the link? Thanks.

 

On 2/2/2024 at 11:56 AM, jean87510 said:

I believe it's under manage your reservation.  Or you can call.

I have also been looking and unable to find this option, though I know it was there before! 
I've searched all over, both on the website and the app. I booked back in November and recall seeing it, but decided to wait. Now it's gone, apparently. 
It's fine. I'll just let them add it to my onboard account, but I do find it odd that the option disappeared. 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

7 hours ago, LandLockedInAZ2 said:

 

I have also been looking and unable to find this option, though I know it was there before! 
I've searched all over, both on the website and the app. I booked back in November and recall seeing it, but decided to wait. Now it's gone, apparently. 
It's fine. I'll just let them add it to my onboard account, but I do find it odd that the option disappeared. 

You can call Celebrity or your travel agent to pre pay 

[Relaxinginthesun]

Now that gratuities are no longer included in the cruise fare for RS and above, can you have the automatic gratuities removed from your on-board bill?  It is not that I am not going to tip, but when I started cruising many years ago you tipped the crew members who provided you service directly in cash either on the last night or when the service was provided, I figure if I am being asked to pay the gratuities on top of the cruise fare I am going to go back to the way it was and give my gratuities to the crew members who I personally interact with.   

[cruisestitch]

There are a couple of difficulties with that idea. One is that when you remove the auto gratuities, it goes as a black mark against your housekeeping staff  and your dining room server. You probably don’t mean to hurt them, but it does. Another difficulty is finding the people you would like to tip and then how much will you give them. The person who clears your table at ocean view café, as an example. You might have a different person every day. How do they get tipped?  
 

and finally, there is one last difficulty. As it is, all tips go into a tip pool. If you remove the auto gratuities, and you give your waiter and assistant, waiter and housekeeping staff, cash tips, they have to turn them into the pool. The only way they can keep cash tips is if you leave the auto tips in place and give them money over and above the auto tips. So in fact you’re not helping the situation at all and you’re not actually able to tip the people you want to tip.

[hcat]

we always pre pay.. much more convenient than having them added each day

 

next 2 cruises  we have booked were

"all included"  so pre paid

 

extra tips are now all "cash in hand"..not required to pool!  In BLU ( Ascent) we had same serving team..and sommllier so easy peasy!, 

 

tipped  Cabin attendant, bar staff and Specialty dining additional  as well

.(although; dining res all pre paid,)

 

As mentioned,  next cruise we have prepaid grats but will book Specialty Dining each night..pre paid grats..and leave extra..not much!

[the penguins]

On 2/2/2024 at 6:11 PM, patty1955 said:

Because the gratuities might go up in price between now and the cruise.

not an issue. If grats increase X gives a warning of when the increase will take place so you will always have time to pay at the old rate.

[the penguins]

23 hours ago, Relaxinginthesun said:

Now that gratuities are no longer included in the cruise fare for RS and above, can you have the automatic gratuities removed from your on-board bill?  It is not that I am not going to tip, but when I started cruising many years ago you tipped the crew members who provided you service directly in cash either on the last night or when the service was provided, I figure if I am being asked to pay the gratuities on top of the cruise fare I am going to go back to the way it was and give my gratuities to the crew members who I personally interact with.   

as it's impossible to individually tip all the people covered by Autograts doing this would result in a lot  of staff getting less money. How for example would you tip the staff in the laundry or the public restrooms all of whom are included in the Auto Grats system?

The current split of Auto Grats is shown below: