A memorable and enjoyable maiden voyage

If you look at the question from Dibden on 18 July (search under Celebrity Cruises), you will see how I and others travelled from Ciampino to Civitavecchia via Rome. Unless you have a problem with baggage handling – a half-mile walk from port entrance to Civ station and around the concourse at Roma Termini (trolleys available) – I strongly recommend taking the train and coach, efficient and economical. Why pay around e100 for a taxi right into Rome when two can travel on the train (half-hourly service, 70mins journey) for e9? (You might need a taxi from Termini to your hotel; we walked the 0.7m to ours quite easily.) The Terravision airport transfer coach can be booked at the airport or at the office at Termini, or in advance on line. (Celebrity told everyone that there were very few taxis available at the port; probably true but a lovely excuse for them to then offer to arrange one – at an enhanced price!) I do hope your cruise on Galaxy goes as well as ours and look forward to your review. But do keep in mind that opinions on things like food and entertainment are subjective – you can take heart from knowing that, although I do not insist on 5* standards, I do not tolerate poor quality, delays or sloppiness. (And don’t worry about the tips – see below – just do what you think is right.)

How rude!it is up to each cruise company to pay their employees a decent wage.I am very happy to give a good tip to anyone who goes that little bit further in making our holiday enjoyable, but mandatory tipping doesnt encourage good service.

Well, Aldrich, that is both interesting and worrying. I should like to know the source of your info about crew wages; our waiter gave no indication that he was primarily reliant on tips when he told us in some detail about his work for Celebrity over several years and the good service conditions. If you are right, he surely would have dropped at least a broad hint to gain our sympathy (and cash)? The system you describe is dishonest in that the advertised cruise price does not reflect any more-or-less mandatory gratuities; I am not surprised that Celebrity (or other cruise lines) do not admit to expecting passengers to pay the crew’s wages for them. If there was a full and clear explanation of the gratuity system, I am sure that passengers would feel less concerned and embarrassed than most clearly do whenever this difficult subject comes up. It was certainly a deterrent to us before and during our first cruise and does nothing to encourage future cruises. And I fail to understand why Celebrity, when it is readily able to charge one’s account for all ship spending incurred up to the last night, refuses to allow a passenger to determine his own level of gratuities near the end of the cruise (when service overall can be measured properly) and get them charged at that point to his account. I interpret gratuities in this or any other situation as being a special reward to (in the words of the Celebrity brochure) ‘staff members who you feel have given you exceptional service and personal attention’, i.e. who have done something worthwhile outside their fundamental duties. Our waiters were excellent and I cannot fault the almost invisible stewards (although we neither asked for nor received any ‘extra’ services such as special food, room service, etc). So, we were happy to say ‘thank you’ but not to the extent ‘suggested’ by Celebrity. I paid the full amount via my account and my wife paid about 60 – 65% of the suggested sum to the two waiters and the stewards (in euro notes on the last night); she did not reward the head waiter (whose manner we disliked) or the unseen housekeeper (whom you do not mention). So, overall, we paid about 80% of the total amount ‘expected’ and feel that to be both fair and adequate. Others to whom we spoke (most of whom were seasoned cruisers and disliked both the Celebrity scale and its mechanism for extracting payment) opted out of the system and did their own thing in cash at the end, generally selectively and for less than the full amount. I’m sure you mean well, Aldrich, but I do take exception to your implied rebuke regarding our level of tipping and your ‘instruction’ to toe the (still unclear) line in future.

I apologise - but I feel that the blame should lie with your travel agent who obviously did not explain the 'customs' of cruising and that gratuities are expected and are payable on board. In fact most UK travel agents should quote the prices including the gratuities and most passengers prepay so they do not come as a nasty surprise or unexpected expense when on board. On some lines the grats are automatically added to your on board account and are not removable - at least Celebrity give you the option to adjust up or down! These staff work 7-days a week for 7-8months and rely on tips for their wages. Here is the breakdown from the FAQ on Celebrity's website: How much do I pay in gratuities? Subject: Payments It is customary to offer gratuities to staff members you feel have given you exceptional service and personal attention. Celebrity suggests the following guidelines for all guests: • Waiter: $3.50 per day • Assistant Waiter: $2.00 per day • Assistant Maitre'd: $1.00 per day • Stateroom Service: $3.50 per day • Assistant Chief Housekeeper: $0.50 per day Once again I apologise and wish you happy future cruising.

Your apology accepted, but I do not accept that a ‘gratuity’ is anything more than an ex gratia payment for exceptional service (as the details you and I have both quoted clearly indicate); it does not form part of any contractual obligation. If the general position is truly as you suggest (and I am keeping an open mind in the absence of clear proof), then it is a nonsense for gratuities to be treated as a separate, seemingly non-mandatory, element of the total price for the cruise. And I don’t see why the travel agent (or anyone else) should me telling me that I must pay something that is extra-contractual. However, I do accept that in the catering and hotel trades it is usual to tip waiting staff and some others – but not if they perform badly or a service charge is levied – so I fully expected to tip on the cruise but at my discretion and not what many would regard as an excessive amount. (I won’t bore you with the maths but the total daily tip suggested by Celebrity for the three waiting staff is rather more than I would expect to give my restaurant waiter on land after a decent dinner.) And I would not dream of pre-paying any part of my cruise expenditure unless there was a clear advantage in doing so, e.g. a discount or the probability of adverse currency movements – why on earth should I let the cruise company have even more of my money up-front? There is too always the possibility of a cruise cancellation, curtailment or other problem which would justify withholding gratuities. It is high time that this whole degrading and uncertain gratuity business is put to rest; the cruise companies should be honest about charges and wages and not expect us to second-guess them and then feel either mean or cheated, as the case may be.

And this is taken directly from an ex- Celebrity employees comments on life on board: (to back up my $50 statement) On average, a Waiter on X can make upwards towards $3300 (give or take) per month. This is strictly based on 16 guests per seating, two seating's, $3.50pp/pd, 30 days per month. During my time on board, most servers had an average of 12 to 16 guests per section per voyage. Some evening all guests would come in, and other evenings just a handful. My best guess from working with them and having personal conversations with them during off time is that they make about $3000/month. Waiter's have a monthly stipend of approximately $50. They get paid bi-monthly in USD (cash), and then can have the cash direct deposited into their bank accounts, or wired to specific persons. Celebrity pays for all hotel/travel arrangements to and from the ship (some cruise lines do not). Prior to be hired, the individual must pay for their Pre-Employment Physical, which ran me about $200 Food and accommodation is included. I am not too sure about their uniforms. As a member of the Management Team, I did not have to pay for my uniforms. As far as expenditures once on board, it was virtually nil. Internet Cards were $30, pre-paid, and gave us a lot of time - something to the effect of $0.08/minute... the $20 card gave you $0.12/minute... Calling Cards were $10... not sure how much time would be on it as I had my Blackberry Pearl (AT&T) with me on board... A drink at the crew bar would run $1/beer and $2/mixed drink. Bottled water ran $1, as well as Red Bulls, Gatorade, and snacks. Un-tipped Management made more or less wages that would be comparable to land based hotels... My salary as an Assistant Food Manager was a little less than what I was making on land. The bonus on my end (As an American) was that I had NO living costs whatsoever, no gas to pay (we know how expensive it is right now), food, laundry, the list goes on... that was great when I was single... but now with a family, it does not benefit me to be onboard...