Pre-paid gratuities.

[terrierjohn]

The US Celebrity website recommends tipping a total of USD 10.5 pp/day, this compares with the UK brochure of £6.65 pp/day. I assume the difference is down to exchange rate, although why X have chosen to use $1.58/£ in a brochure printed in June 2006, instead of something closer to the current $1.88/£ rate I fail to comprehend.:confused:

However, guess what exchange rate they use if you decide to pre-pay the gratuities, that's right $1.58/£. :mad: Somehow I think I will using the envelopes or waiting to see what the rate is on board.;)

[tabarber99]

I hesitate to do prepaids since I don't know if crew actually gets the whole thing -- at hotels required gratuities for bellpersons, etc. that are added to bill do not always make it into the right hands. Anyone know about what actually happens to the $$ if you prepay?

 

I would definitely wait as pound seems to be strong.

[excitedofharpenden]

John, I've always worked it on the US $ amount. I haven't seen it quoted in sterling before. If you add it to your account as pre-paid it will go down on your bill as dollars so aside from a small difference in the exchange rate between getting the cash and your credit/debit card there won't be much in it. I much prefer doing it the pre-paid way and then if extra is felt appropriate to any of your staff, I use the cash I have obtained at the casino (which also goes on your account).

 

Oh, and in answer to the previous poster, any pre-paid tips go to the staff concerned and you get a little card to hand to them to let them know.

 

Phil

[excitedofharpenden]

John, you've got me thinking now. I remember that a lot of UK travel agencies now add the tips to your invoice before your trip. Mine don't, so if your TA does then I would most definitely opt out of this and if you want to do the pre-paid thing, go to Guest Relations when you board the ship and complete a pre-paid tip form.

 

Phil

[pringle8]

Is it just me or what but I really don't understand this "pre-paid tips" business!! Surely, tips should ONLY be given for good service received......and certainly NOT AUTOMATIC!

 

In the past I've tipped wine waiters for their above board excellent service. I have done many cruises and experienced one or two really bad waiters & I have actually tipped the "busboy" (assistant waiter) MORE the the waiter as they have done more for me than the waiter ever did! Had the tips been pre-paid, the waiter receives more than his assistant, which in a couple of cases, is totally wrong.

 

Anyone else agree will me on this?

[TWELVEOHONE]

I hesitate to do prepaids since I don't know if crew actually gets the whole thing --.

 

The designated person get the whole pre-paid tip in their paycheck.

You get a voucher which you then put into the envelope that you give the waiter, cabin person, etc. With the voucher in hand they know what is coming to them. Be hard for cruise line to cheap them out it.

[Eliger]

John, you've got me thinking now. I remember that a lot of UK travel agencies now add the tips to your invoice before your trip. Mine don't, so if your TA does then I would most definitely opt out of this and if you want to do the pre-paid thing, go to Guest Relations when you board the ship and complete a pre-paid tip form.

 

Phil

On our last cruise - Galaxy - we received a form in our cabin a couple days into the cruise indicating that if we wanted to pre-pay the gratuities, we needed to fill the form and drop it at Guest Relations prior to a certain day, which was a couple of days before the end of the cruise. We had not indicating one way or another if we wanted to pre-pay.

 

Gerry

[junglejane]

We went on a family reunion cruise on the Infinity to Alaska in August. We had a party of 16 and therefore had two tables of 8 for dinner. We wanted to be able to do a "round robin" dining arrangement where we could change who sat at which table each night. Our TA told us that Celebrity required that we prepay the gratuities (pre-cruise) so that the dining staff could be sure that they would get their tips. We did that, and as others have said, you get your tip envelopes delivered to your cabin with vouchers inside them. Apparently the vouchers are "proof" for the staff to make sure they get the tip in their paychecks.

 

The only problem we had was that one of my brothers didn't check his envelopes to make sure the vouchers were inside. The rest of us had our vouchers, but for some reason, his envelopes were empty. He didn't realize this until we were actually at the dinner table for the final evening (which was a formal night due to an itinerary change). It caused some awkwardness and confusion. He ended up going to guest relations to straighten it out. I actually don't know what happened in the end. I certainly hope the staff got their tips, because I handled the prepayment and I know for a fact we prepaid for all 16 of us. Moral of the story is that if you prepay, make sure your envelopes have the vouchers enclosed!

[tabarber99]

I have always wondered how it actually works on cruise ships. Bear with me, but does anyone ever tip well going in to ensure that extra special treatment and good service throughout your stay (staff knows you are generous and won't stiff) ??? I have found this works well at hotels when we are staying for an extended period.

[Eliger]

I had a different experience with the vouchers. In our case, we got all the vouchers, but no enveloppes. At dinner, I forgot to bring the vouchers with me, so I asked the waiter if he wanted me to go to my cabin to get them. He said don't bother. The money had already been deposited in his account. So I guess there is no need to give anyone the vouchers. It is mainly proof for the person giving and not for the receiver:) .

 

Gerry

[mountainmare]

On our recent Med cruise we prepaid so that we wouldn't have to have an assortment of dollars on hand, most of our cash was in euros.

This was our first Celebrity cruise and they did make it easy to prepay your tips.

Here is an interesting slant on tipping that was explained to me by an officer on a HAL ship as we were lounging on a beach in Columbia.

HAL went to automatic tipping (you have to cancel it if you want to tip directly) to use tipping as a bonus- or overall suppliment to the crew. Many of the crew, like the assistant waiters or general cleaning people or engine maintenance people are at about the same salary rate--but the assitant waiter who is face to face with the passengers will get a tip (sometimes generous) while the engineroom worker or the guy painting the railing will not. When was the last time you tipped a painter? I usually don't even notice them.

Anyway--bottom line is that this was creating some inequities and resentment, so part of the tips are spread to everyone.

BUT---you say, I love my waiter and he should get more!!!

I don't know what the answer is, but the fair thing would be to include tips in the basic cruise fare, go to a no tipping policy period (like on some of the lux lines) and raise the pay of the workers across the board so that they would be loyal to the company and the company would get the reputation of being a good place to work--attracting even better people.

This is just my totally off the wall opinion.

[osiebosie]

mountainmare,

 

I agree with you about the tips being included in the price. Just be done with it.

 

We got off of the Constellation yesterday. Halfway during the cruise, they gave us a form to sign if we wanted to automatically tip and have it charged to the account. We chose to do so. There were vouchers and envelopes at the end of the cruise to give to the staff, but they already knew that they were being tipped by us. We still put the voucher in the envelope, and added some extra for those we felt deserved it. I also put in a personal thank you card for the room steward, waiter, and waiter assistant. They really appreciated those.

 

I like the way it is set up. They do get their tips this way. I asked point blank.

 

Shay

[spearmint]

The US Celebrity website recommends tipping a total of USD 10.5 pp/day, this compares with the UK brochure of £6.65 pp/day. I assume the difference is down to exchange rate, although why X have chosen to use $1.58/£ in a brochure printed in June 2006, instead of something closer to the current $1.88/£ rate I fail to comprehend.:confused:

However, guess what exchange rate they use if you decide to pre-pay the gratuities, that's right $1.58/£. :mad: Somehow I think I will using the envelopes or waiting to see what the rate is on board.;)

 

On our last cruise, I chose to use the automatic deduction for tipping. It simply saved us from bringing wads of cash for a 14 day cruise. Next time, though, I will be using the envelopes, but for a different reason. I prefer to tip people who actually do something for me. If you choose Celebrity's automatic tipping, you must tip all the people that they recommend. I never see the chief housekeeper, for example, so why should I tip him?

[ASue]

Just returned from a 11 day cruise on the Zaandam. Your accout is charged $10.00 a day for tips. My mom got really sick on the cruise and was in bed for 4 days. We didn't eat in the dinning room except for 3 days. I went down to adjust our tips so I could tip the people in the Lido for taking good care of us. I was told I couldn't do that. I had to either adjust the amout per day or adjust the days off I didn't want to pay for. The only tip I wanted to adjust was the waiter. The front desk explained to us that the waiter and the room stewart get 30% of the tips and the rest go into a pool to be shared between other crew working on the ship. I couldn't believe it. We went back to our cabin and refigured it and came out that the waiter and room stewart were only getting $2.00 per day per cabin. I went back to the front desk and asked again for them to tell me exactly how this worked. Again I was told they only get 30%. I said what if I pay them myself. If you pay them cash yourself they have to turn it in so that it can all be put in the pool. I asked the room stewart if this was the case and he said yes. He could not take cash from us and not report it. I asked about if I gave him a phone card if he would have to report that? He said no. Needless to say we were upset that this is how our tip money was being used. I like to pay my own tips.

[BobBeaSea]

Is it just me or what but I really don't understand this "pre-paid tips" business!! Surely, tips should ONLY be given for good service received......and certainly NOT AUTOMATIC!

 

In the past I've tipped wine waiters for their above board excellent service. I have done many cruises and experienced one or two really bad waiters & I have actually tipped the "busboy" (assistant waiter) MORE the the waiter as they have done more for me than the waiter ever did! Had the tips been pre-paid, the waiter receives more than his assistant, which in a couple of cases, is totally wrong.

 

Anyone else agree will me on this?

 

Nope! :)

[Nurse Bambi]

I would have to agree with Pringle8 on pre-paid gratuities

I am not a fan of pre-paid gratuities. I always pay in cash at the end of the cruise. In the event of poor service I would tip less than the recommended amount (this has never happened to me) or I tip over the the recommend amount for great service (I have been fortunate, this has always been the case). I know the pre-paid gratuity can probably be changed, but cash just seems easier.

[ocngypz]

I hesitate to do prepaids since I don't know if crew actually gets the whole thing -- at hotels required gratuities for bellpersons, etc. that are added to bill do not always make it into the right hands. Anyone know about what actually happens to the $$ if you prepay?

 

I would definitely wait as pound seems to be strong.

 

Each employee who receives gratuities receives a receipt with stateroom number or table number. They in turn cash them in with the Crew Purser.

[wa.mama]

We asked our room steward and waiter if they wanted cash or on account; the answer received was on account, as it is easier for them to transfer it back home, something like direct deposit. This time we prepaid and will tip extra for good service. Since I am the room steward, waiter, and maitre'd at home I definitely appreciate what they do!