Crew Appreciation

[imescaping]

I have a stupid question. Stupid because it seems obvious, but I have been burned by wording before. Is the “crew appreciation”that is included in the plus package the same as what used to be called gratuities? If so which gratuities are included (housekeeping, per drink, dining??) 

[Arizona Wildcat]

24 minutes ago, imescaping said:

I have a stupid question. Stupid because it seems obvious, but I have been burned by wording before. Is the “crew appreciation”that is included in the plus package the same as what used to be called gratuities? If so which gratuities are included (housekeeping, per drink, dining??) 

Yes.  Includes everything.  

[Ombud]

Yes, daily gratuities included (room, dining, drinks, all items in the package). I believe that spa and hairdresser / barber gratuities are not included

 

Edited March 18 by Ombud

[Wonders By Wallis]

36 minutes ago, imescaping said:

I have a stupid question. Stupid because it seems obvious, but I have been burned by wording before. Is the “crew appreciation”that is included in the plus package the same as what used to be called gratuities? If so which gratuities are included (housekeeping, per drink, dining??) 

Everything included in the package has crew appreciation (i.e., gratuities) included. Other items will have gratuities added (e.g., if you buy a drink that is more than the $15 Princess Plus limit, you will be charged the amount over $15 plus an 18% gratuity on top of that).

[MacMadame]

16 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Yes, daily gratuities included (room, dining, drinks, all items in the package). I believe that spa and hairdresser / barber gratuities are not included

They add an 18% service charge to spa services.

 

To the OP, Crew appreciation is replacing the gratuities that we used to put in the envelopes. Other services such as Specialty Dining, drinks, spa, any other food that cost extra, etc. add an 18% service charge automatically.

 

If you have a package, you may not see the SC. For example, if you buy a drink for $15 or less and have the Plus package, the 18% service charge is added but the drink is free so you aren't going to see it. But if you buy a drink for $17 (for example), you get charged $2 + an 18% SC on the $2.

[imescaping]

Thank you everyone for the quick replies! Cruise Critic members are awesome. 

[Steelers36]

22 hours ago, imescaping said:

I have a stupid question. Stupid because it seems obvious, but I have been burned by wording before. Is the “crew appreciation” that is included in the plus package the same as what used to be called gratuities? If so which gratuities are included (housekeeping, per drink, dining??) 

To be precise, Crew Appreciation is the former auto gratuities billed to the cabin account nightly and you had the option to pre-pay via the Cruise Personalizer.  These monies are for cabin stewards, dining waiters and other behind scenes personnel.  The daily CA is included in Plus & Premier.  If a guest doesn't have Plus or Premier, they pay directly, but there is the option to remove all or a portion of CA in this case (not with packages).  Most of us on here frown at a suggestion to remove CA if allowed to do so.

 

For bar service and other similar, there is 18% automatically added to every item and this is not optional and cannot be removed.  If a guest has purchased a beverage package, then every ordered beverage under the package comes with no extra gratuity charge because the package cost has 18% added to it.  If a guest has Plus or Premier, they have a beverage package included and therefore the bar gratuity of 18% has been included.  Notice this is something separate from the CA.

 

Finally, if a guest orders a beverage outside the package coverage, then they pay the full  cost and the 18% (example would be ordering a beer when guest has a non-alcohol package).  If they order a beverage that would fall in the package, but is over the maximum cost allowed (e.g. $15), then they pay the difference between the max limit and their drink, plus 18% on that cost difference.

 

[beshears]

I have not read the different replies, and we (8 of us) did purchase the Premier package. It included what you are asking about, and I know for myself, I did NOT use everything that was available to me, but that was MY choice. This package covered all the gratuities, but I decided I wanted to give a little more, and this was my choice. So I did this for our room steward who was very good and also in the MDR people who took care of us for some of the dinners.

[mpdog42]

On 3/18/2024 at 12:19 AM, Ombud said:

Yes, daily gratuities included (room, dining, drinks, all items in the package). I believe that spa and hairdresser / barber gratuities are not included

 

And Security...Unfortunately!!

[Esprit]

1 hour ago, mpdog42 said:

And Security...Unfortunately!!

Neither do all the Activities team members. A fact, as my DD was one of them for almost ten years with Celebrity!

[flying boat]

And you can still get envelopes from guest services if you want them.

[memoak]

3 hours ago, flying boat said:

And you can still get envelopes from guest services if you want them.

We get envelopes all the time to top out extra to our servers, bartenders and steward 

[ldubs]

On 3/17/2024 at 10:43 PM, MacMadame said:

They add an 18% service charge to spa services.

 

To the OP, Crew appreciation is replacing the gratuities that we used to put in the envelopes. Other services such as Specialty Dining, drinks, spa, any other food that cost extra, etc. add an 18% service charge automatically.

 

If you have a package, you may not see the SC. For example, if you buy a drink for $15 or less and have the Plus package, the 18% service charge is added but the drink is free so you aren't going to see it. But if you buy a drink for $17 (for example), you get charged $2 + an 18% SC on the $2.

 

Just to understand.  Let's assume someone with the package stays under the included $15 drink.  Do they add an 18% grat for each drink ordered based on the actual cost of those "free" drinks?  Or, is the package priced up front to include an amount for those gratuities?  

Edited March 20 by ldubs

[memoak]

19 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Just to understand.  Let's assume someone with the package stays under the included $15 drink.  Do they add an 18% grat for each drink ordered based on the actual cost of those "free" drinks?  Or, is the package priced up front to include an amount for those gratuities?  

Every drink within the price of the package has no grat added   If you order something over the limit you only pay the grat on the amount over the limit 

[ldubs]

34 minutes ago, memoak said:

Every drink within the price of the package has no grat added   If you order something over the limit you only pay the grat on the amount over the limit 

 

Thanks.  It would seem a logical assumption an amount is included in the package pricing for gratuities.  If so, everyone contributes the same gratuity amount regardless of how many drinks are consumed or the price of those drinks.   Not something to keep me awake at night.  Just an observation.