Tipping for Children

[jerseygirl3]

We have always tipped for our children because they were already teens when we began taking them on cruises. But my brother, SIL, and their three kids (ages 8, 12, and 14) will be with us on the Century in April, and I could swear on our last cruise on Celebrity, I read somewhere that recommended tipping was half price for those under a certain age (for some reason, 12 and under is sticking in my head). It's no problem for them to tip full fare, but am I mistaken about this, or was it another cruiseline I am thinking of?

[kitty9]

IF they are sharing the same cabin, you tip half, but if they are in their own cabin, you tip the full amount. Personally, I think if you're in a cabin that fits 5, and the kids are older, meaning they're teenagers, they should tip the full amount. Teens can be really messy and cleaning for 5 people takes a lot more work on the part of the cabin steward.

[cruzin4us]

I agree with Kitty 100%........just cuz they are kids doesn't mean they create 1/2 the work for the stewards, waiters etc.

[jerseygirl3]

As I said in my previous post, tipping the full amount is not a problem. I just knew I read it somewhere that recommended tipping was half for children under a certain age. I wasn't sure if it was on Celebrity or a different cruiseline (we cruise fairly often, so I get confused at times!).

 

Anyway, my brother and SIL have 2 Sky Suites booked; my SIL in one with the 9 and 12 year old and my brother in the other with the 14-year-old son.

 

I just wanted to know so I can pass along the info to my brother. One more question; is the tipping the same amount when you stay in a Sky Suite, with the only add'l tip being for the butler? But the cabin steward receives the same?

[Deb C.]

You are right, JerseyGirl.

Just got back from my Zenith cruise and the cruise documents said "half the amount offered as tips from children under 12 years of age accompanying adults as the 3rd or 4th persons in a stateroom."

Butler: $3.50

Stateroom Attendant: $3.50

Ass. Chief Housekeeper: $0.75

Stateroom Attendant (Concierge Class): $4.00

Hope this helps! :D

[kitty9]

Tell your SIL, that for her and one child she should tip the full amount and half the amount for the other child. For her husband, full tip for both of them.

[jerseygirl3]

Tell your SIL, that for her and one child she should tip the full amount and half the amount for the other child. For her husband, full tip for both of them.

 

Gotcha. Thanks a bunch.

[Rev22:17]

jerseygirl3,

 

We have always tipped for our children because they were already teens when we began taking them on cruises. But my brother, SIL, and their three kids (ages 8, 12, and 14) will be with us on the Century in April, and I could swear on our last cruise on Celebrity, I read somewhere that recommended tipping was half price for those under a certain age (for some reason, 12 and under is sticking in my head). It's no problem for them to tip full fare, but am I mistaken about this, or was it another cruiseline I am thinking of?

 

You do remember Celebrity's "suggested" practice correctly, but I don't agree with it. The waitstaff in the dining rooms go to great pains to cater to the demands of young children and, often, to clean up after them, and young children often also make more work for the cabin stewards as adults. I should also mention that other cruise lines "suggest" the same gratuities for children as for adults. Here, I think that that the other lines that "suggest" the same gratuities as for adults have it right.

 

Norm.

[rebeccalouise]

Not only do I tip the full amount for my children, I also tip the youth staff ( $100 to be pooled). Children are messy and there are so many things that they use on board- pools, activities, organized programs. You'll see.

[Keith1010]

Remember this is a recommended tip so for those of you who want to tip more that is fine. For many years we took our children with us on cruises each year, and several on Celebrity. For us it was good to know what the guidelines were and then we adjusted them accordingly. And, yes, we also provided a tip to the youth counselors during the years that our children were in these programs. We always thought the programs on Celebrity were wonderful and both our children have wonderful memories of them, and there parents do too. So, we would always leave a generous tip for the wonderful counselors.

 

Keith

[Tuna]

It's perferctly OK to follow the guidelines. It's up to Celebrity to change the guidelines if they deem that it's not enough. For normal, expected level of service, you should tip the suggested amount and more if you're provided with superior service or if you just feel like it. Don't let others guilt you into tipping more just because they do.

[jerseygirl3]

Thanks for everyone's input. We'll do as we've always done in the past and I'll recommend the same to my brother and SIL. We always tip our cabin steward an add'l tip up front. Don't know if it makes a difference, but it's just something we've always done. Other than than, we tip the recommended amount unless the service is above what is expected. When it is, we tip higher. Only once (on a different cruiseline) did I decrease the tip. The cabin steward's service was beyond mediocre, it was pretty much absent. Missing a life jacket and had to request over and over again for the other life jacket. Did not clean our rooms on two occasions (no excuse, we're out of the room early and pretty much gone all day). I could go on and on. As I said, there is a certain level of service I expect and I don't set my expectations very high. If service is over and above the norm, we tip higher.

[Rev22:17]

Tuna,

 

It's perferctly OK to follow the guidelines. It's up to Celebrity to change the guidelines if they deem that it's not enough. For normal, expected level of service, you should tip the suggested amount and more if you're provided with superior service or if you just feel like it. Don't let others guilt you into tipping more just because they do.

 

I don't agree. If a restaurant in the United States "suggests" that the waiter's gratuity should be fifty percent of the bill, would you actually leave that much? I certainly would not! Indeed, such an obnoxious "suggestion" probably would ensure that it would be my last visit to that restaurant!

 

There are accepted standards of tipping in our society, and the proper gratuities on a cruise are those of the cruise line's primary market -- which is North America (and, more specifically, the United States) in the case of Celebrity Cruises. It's actually somewhat tacky for a cruise line to "suggest" amounts of gratuities, as passengers theoretically should know the proper amounts (just as they should know other aspects of social etiquette...), and it's a sad reflection on our society that many people actually don't know what is or is not proper. That said, gratuities that are fixed amounts do require periodic adjustment to compensate for inflation -- but gratuities calculated as a percentage of a bill do not require adjustment because it's built into the underlying amount of the bill.

 

Now, what are the usual and customary gratuities on a cruise, and who gets them?

 

>> 1. On bar beverages, spa services, and hairdressing services, the ship adds an automatic gratuity of 15% of the purchase to the bill. This is the proper gratuity, and it is quite sufficient. If a bar server or a member of the staff of the spa or the beauty salon provides exceptional service, it's properly recognized with an additional gratuity in cash at the end of the cruise rather than with an additional amount on the charge for the service. Celebrity's recent addition of a line for "additional gratuity" on bar charge slips is really about as obnoxious as it gets, from a standpoint of social etiquette.

 

>> 2. Gratuities to casino dealers, etc., are completely discressonary, and made in the customary manner at the time of service.

 

>> 3. In most ports of call, it's customary to tip the bus driver and the tour guide at the end of each tour. The amount of the gratuity should be proportionate to the length of the tour.

 

>> 4. For room service, tip in cash at the time of delivery as you would at a hotel of comarable quality.

 

>> 5. The waiter and assistant waiter in the dining room customarly receive a fixed per deim, given when leaving the dinner table on the last evening of the cruise. the current expected amount is $3.50 per person per day for the waiter and $2.00 per person per day for the assistant It's acceptable to give an additional amount for exceptioanl service.

 

>> 6. The room steward customarily receives the same amount as the waiter, given when one vacates one's cabin on the last morning of the cruise. Celebrity is the only line on which I have seen assistant cabin stewards so I'm not sure that there's an extablished custom, but it's certainly consistent to tip the assistant steward the same amount as the assistant waiter.

 

>> 7. The maitre d'hotel and head waiters ("assistant maitres d'hotel" on Celebrity) customarily receive gratuities only if they provide special services beyond their normal duties. On Celebrity, this typically includes handling special orders. Nonetheless, Celebrity's "suggestion" of a fixed per deim for one's "assitant maitre d'hotel" is shaky at best.

 

>> 8. It most assuredly is NOT customary to tip somebody whom one usually does not see during the course of one's stay in a hotel or onboard a cruise ship, so Celebrity's "suggestion" of a per deim gratuity for the assistant chief housekeeper is completely out of line -- and I am not aware of ANY other cruise line that "suggests" a similar gratuity.

 

And I'll consider using Celebrity's option to charge gratuities to my shipboard account when the line stops insisting that those who do so tip individuals that it simply is NOT customary to tip. Until then, my tips are strictky in cash and strictly to those who, by accepted social etiquette, deserve them. For better or for worse, Celebrity seems to have decided that they can make passengers tip people who do not rightfully deserve tips simply by "suggesting" it, and thus pay those people lower salaries. We, as consumers, should not go along with such tactics.

 

Norm.

[dkjretired]

8. It most assuredly is NOT customary to tip somebody whom one usually does not see during the course of one's stay in a hotel or onboard a cruise ship, so Celebrity's "suggestion" of a per deim gratuity for the assistant chief housekeeper is completely out of line -- and I am not aware of ANY other cruise line that "suggests" a similar gratuity.

 

Norm:

 

How do you handle this situation since it has long been known that if you do not tip the HH, his tip is taken from the Steward's. I don't agree with it but that is apparently what is done.

[Rev22:17]

dkjretired,

 

How do you handle this situation since it has long been known that if you do not tip the HH, his tip is taken from the Steward's. I don't agree with it but that is apparently what is done.

 

Such "tip sharing" is customary in many businesses, including restaurants where waiters and waitresses frequently "tip out" the busboys and sometimes also the cooks.

 

That said, the gratuity that I give to my assistant cabin steward more than exceeds the gratuity that I don't give to the assistant chief housekeeper, so the cabin steward -- who now does NOT have to "tip out" the assistant -- comes out well ahead even after such a "tip out."

 

Norm.