Tipping - Crass Question...

[AnthonyF]

Do people in suites tip more? I aspologize, we followed the guidelines and tipped properly, but we are 4 in a small stateroom, who clean up after ourselves. Will tip properly in the future, but do those in larger cabins tip more?

 

Just curious...

[jerseygirl3]

I don't believe you are expected to tip "more" per se, but if you have a butler, then you would give him a tip as well as your cabin attendant.

[CaribbeanBound]

And tips are based on a "per guest", not "per cabin" basis.

[Muushka]

While we are on the subject, I have a question.

 

We are cruising for the first time on X. We have a CC , but no butler. Do we tip extra for the CC? Is it a daily tip (did I read $4?) or do you tip each time they do something for you? Just a little confused, all new to us.

[CAKER]

We always (twice) tip per the "automatic charge" to our account. Our service on both Constellation CC cruises was excellent. We selectively tipped for "special service" at the end of the cruise by placing $$ in small white envelopes we brought with us.

 

We deleted from the "automatic charge" the "suggested" tips for the maitre'd and wine steward because they didn't provide any service for us, or anyone else at our table. They were invisible, except for the courtesy "is everything ok, I'm the ..... intro?

[alcpa1]

In addition to your recommended tips I always tip anyone who brings room service before they leave our cabin. It is not always the cabin attendant so I carry $1's with me just in case.

Have a great cruise

[caviargal]

When I have had a suite on other lines (RCI included) the suggested daily gratuities are indeed higher.

[Keith1010]

As is the case throughout the ship there are recommendations on how much to tip each person. When you are in a suite there is an additional tip which is for the butler. The other amounts on Celebrity are the same regardless of whether you are in a suite or a cabin.

 

In terms of how much you tip, I always say do what you think is right. As such, If you want to tip what is recommended do that and do not worry about what others say and likewise if you want to tip more do it if you want, not because of how others would view this. There is no right or wrong on this and again it really is a personal decision.

 

Keith

[Brucemcdou]

Do people in suites tip more? I aspologize, we followed the guidelines and tipped properly, but we are 4 in a small stateroom, who clean up after ourselves. Will tip properly in the future, but do those in larger cabins tip more?

 

Just curious...

 

Hi, Anthony - I think you did exactly the right thing in following the guidelines, assuming your cabin steward, etc. did a competent job. To answer your question just from our experience, we always tip a little more than recommended to virtually everyone (rounding up to the nearest $10) if they were pleasant and efficient. I can count on one hand the number of people who we thought didn't meet that standard on Celebrity, whereas we've had numerous experiences on other cruiselines where cabin stewards, waiters, etc. weren't really pleasant, or could barely do the minimum.

 

We tip significantly more if we make special requests that are accomodated, such as a butler setting up for and cleaning up after a party in our cabin/suite, or a cabin steward finding a larger table or lounge chair for our balcony or leaving us extra towels every day. So while there is no need to tip above the recommended amounts if you happen to be in a suite, in my experience we'll be asking for more services if we are, so we tip extra accordingly. Does that make sense?

[svetas74]

I found this cite to be very helpful...

 

http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

[Jarronwood]

I have only cruised once with RCCL but the principle is the same, either you arrange for your account to be deducted the "required" amount per day per person or you leave it in the small white envelopes which are left on your bed the last night of your cruise.

 

My husband and I proceeded to put the "required" amount in each designated envelope and then left the cabin steward's one for him and took the rest with us to the dining room.

 

I then thought to myself, hold on a sec, "does the maitre d deserve this tip?, does the wine/water deserve his"? and to be honest with you, (a) we never saw the matire d, except on the last night, holding her hand out to every table, so she did not get our little envelope and also the waiter who brings us our wine. Every night it took an age to order a bottle of wine to be delivered to our table so he did not get anything. However, our actual table waiter was extremely good so we gave him the maitre'd's money and the other envelope we gave to our room attendant.

 

My motto is that if the service if good I will tip, if its excellent and above what I consider good, then I will tip more but why should I tip someone who I had never even seen?

 

I do understand that the staff are not paid very much by the cruise line and they make up their salary through our tips but those tips have to be deserved.

 

Its the same in any walk of life.

 

If my hairdresser does a good job she will get a tip, the same goes for my nail technician. And again in a restaurant, if the service has been over and above then the tip is much more than what is usual.

[chasetf]

Do people in suites tip more? I aspologize, we followed the guidelines and tipped properly, but we are 4 in a small stateroom, who clean up after ourselves. Will tip properly in the future, but do those in larger cabins tip more? Just curious...

And tips are based on a "per guest", not "per cabin" basis.

And not per square foot. They still have to make up the beds and clean up the bathroom whether its an inside or mini suite. ;)

[Host Anne]

Muushka ~ no need to tip more than recommended because you are in a CC cabin unless you have exceptional service and you'd like to tip more (which we often do regardless of our cabin type). No need to tip everytime something is done for you, either (except for something like room service delivery and the crew member wouldn't normally get a tip from you at the end of the cruise).

 

Enjoy your cruise experience. Hope you love it as much as the rest of us.

[AnthonyF]

The larger the room the more work involved, be it cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, windows, verandas.... Also allows you to throw stuff around. In a small stateroom, trust me, you are not leaving things all around, there is absolutely no room. I would have hoped people said they tipped above the guidelines not below.

 

To be honest while we are talking why do we double the tip if we are 4 in a stateroom (2 more beds to make, though usually we make them and put them away), vs. 2? We do, but why?:confused:

[Keith1010]

I go back to what I said on this earlier. Just do what you think is right. If you want to tip more than what is recommended do that and if you want to tip what is recommended do that as well. There is no right or wrong here and what you'll find is that some people tip above the recommended guildelines while others tip either at the recommended guidelines or even below if service was bad.

 

Keith

[Andym]

Over in the Uk we seem to have no choice now. We have two X xruises booked for 2007 and the invoice has the tips already added. We asked the staff about this in August and they told us that they know exactly who has pre tipped and who hasn't. they are given a printout. They told us that they are often stiffed on the last night by guests. We had never really noticed before how many empty seats there were in the dining room on the last night!

[middy]

Hi Andy, we noticed that the tips were added at booking for our December X cruise, same thing occured with our RCI cruise in August. Think it might be to do with differing attitude to tipping in our country.

[Muushka]

Muushka ~ no need to tip more than recommended because you are in a CC cabin unless you have exceptional service and you'd like to tip more (which we often do regardless of our cabin type). No need to tip everytime something is done for you, either (except for something like room service delivery and the crew member wouldn't normally get a tip from you at the end of the cruise).

 

Enjoy your cruise experience. Hope you love it as much as the rest of us.

 

Why, thank you very much Anne. I have a feeling we will enjoy this cruise! And thanks to all who answered our questions. Very helpful.

[agabbymama]

Muushka ~ no need to tip more than recommended because you are in a CC cabin unless you have exceptional service and you'd like to tip more (which we often do regardless of our cabin type). No need to tip everytime something is done for you, either (except for something like room service delivery and the crew member wouldn't normally get a tip from you at the end of the cruise).

 

Enjoy your cruise experience. Hope you love it as much as the rest of us.

 

I may be wrong here, but I just returned from Constellation New England/Canada cruise 9/24/06 and the suggested CC cabin rate is $4.00 per day per person while other cabins are $3.50. So there is definitely a difference.:D

[mamapickle]

We always (twice) tip per the "automatic charge" to our account. Our service on both Constellation CC cruises was excellent. We selectively tipped for "special service" at the end of the cruise by placing $$ in small white envelopes we brought with us.

 

We deleted from the "automatic charge" the "suggested" tips for the maitre'd and wine steward because they didn't provide any service for us, or anyone else at our table. They were invisible, except for the courtesy "is everything ok, I'm the ..... intro?

I was told by Celebrity that you can not delete any thing from the "automatic" tip charge. Is this not true? How were you able to do this?

[bplazo]

We just tip on the last evening.

[CaliforniaDreamin]

I was told by Celebrity that you can not delete any thing from the "automatic" tip charge. Is this not true? How were you able to do this?

 

I seem to remember when autotipping a few cruises ago that an option on the form was to reduce/increase any tip.

 

The last couple of cruises that option, I think, has been changed to increase tip only.