Pre paying gratuities question NOT a debate on tipping PLEASE

My question is on PRE PAYING the gratuities. I realize I asking for people's opinions but PLEASE don't turn this into ANOTHER auto gratuities debate , please.

I didn't pre pay the gratuities earlier this year for my Dec cruise, at the lower price because I didn't see the merits in having princess hold my money for a year just to save 20 bucks BUT I have started to consider pre paying the gratuities for this dec , it's not a matter of getting the charge over with but more so, a matter of NOT having a cluttered up bill.

The only time I ever pre paid the gratuities (on RCCL) was the only time I feel i got subpar service.

I would love to hear anyone thoughts / pros and cons , on PRE paying.

The crew on Princess does not know whether you have prepaid gratuities or not. I've read that they do on some other lines.

We've not noticed a difference in service. The benefit to pre-paying is that your bill is not cluttered with the daily charge, you may save a little money since tips are increasing, and it is one less thing for you to think about. The benefit to waiting is that you may have a lot of OBC and plan to use this for tips--can't do that if you pre-pay.

We don't pre-pay, primarily because our CC usually takes a bit of a hammering when we pay for the cruise and airfares, etc... so by the time the gratuities (aka "tips") work their way onto the statement, we're usually back in the Black...

We don't pre-pay. By having it charged to our onboard account, we can use OBC to pay it.

I just started pre-paying the gratuities and I like it. Like you said doesn't clutter up your bill. We never have that much on board credit and what we do have always gets used. Once on board I check to see what credit we do have and what is refundable or not and for me it's easier to plan what we will use the OBC for. Weather for specialty dinners, tours, purchases. And not a worry about what will be taken out for tipping. For us the service has always been consistent so we are happy.

TY for the comments , I appreciate to pros and cons . Don't think i can go wrong either way :) but I am glad I throw the subject out there. Ty again

One additional charge per day doesn't seem to me like "cluttering up the bill;" and I'd rather keep my money where it is doing some good instead of giving it to Princess before I have to.

At home I never go into a restaurant and tip the waiter before dinner; I want to see what kind of service I receive. To my thinking, the same goes for cruising.

My question is on PRE PAYING the gratuities. I realize I asking for people's opinions but PLEASE don't turn this into ANOTHER auto gratuities debate , please.

I didn't pre pay the gratuities earlier this year for my Dec cruise, at the lower price because I didn't see the merits in having princess hold my money for a year just to save 20 bucks BUT I have started to consider pre paying the gratuities for this dec , it's not a matter of getting the charge over with but more so, a matter of NOT having a cluttered up bill.

The only time I ever pre paid the gratuities (on RCCL) was the only time I feel i got subpar service.

I would love to hear anyone thoughts / pros and cons , on PRE paying.

It's all in your mind that you got sub par service because they don't know you pre paid and what does that got to do with it since you did pay the gratuities.

It's all in your mind that you got sub par service because they don't know you pre paid and what does that got to do with it since you did pay the gratuities.

The crew don't know when you remove the tips either

It's all in your mind that you got sub par service because they don't know you pre paid and what does that got to do with it since you did pay the gratuities.

You may be right, as it was my one and only RCCL cruise, that may be there normal service. It was my only experience in a full suite and I have had far better service in balcony to inside on other lines ( ncl & princess )

Rccl stewards MAY know who prepays :) but since were on a princess board ???

If you do not have extra OBC to assist in paying the hotel charge then there is no difference if you pre-pay or have the charge posted daily to your on board accounts. You can pre-pay in the cruise personalizer up to 2 days before the ship sails.

I have done it both ways and there was absolutely no difference in the service level of the cabin steward or the dining staff. The crew has no idea how you are paying your charges.

You have to do the math before deciding whether or not to pre-pay the gratuities. First add up all the onboard credits you will have when you cruise. Then determine if you will be likely to use them up if you pre-pay. If that is the case then move to the next math problem. Add up how much more you will pay if you wait until the cruise to pay. Then divide that amount by the amount you will pay if you pre-pay before the increase goes into effect. That will give you a percentage. Now ask yourself if you can invest the amount of the pre-payment for a year and get a net yield greater than the percentage you came up with.

I did this math for a cruise I have booked a year from now. I found that my savings by paying now was 11% of what I would pay. It is not realistic to think I could invest the pre-payment amount and get a net yield of 11%.

We don't pre-pay. By having it charged to our onboard account, we can use OBC to pay it.

Anyway we can use our on board credit to prepay?

Anyway we can use our on board credit to prepay?

Sorry, no.

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Anyway we can use our on board credit to prepay?

You can't prepay with OBC. You can use the OBC to pay gratuities once you are on board.

My question is on PRE PAYING the gratuities. I realize I asking for people's opinions but PLEASE don't turn this into ANOTHER auto gratuities debate , please.

I didn't pre pay the gratuities earlier this year for my Dec cruise, at the lower price because I didn't see the merits in having princess hold my money for a year just to save 20 bucks BUT I have started to consider pre paying the gratuities for this dec , it's not a matter of getting the charge over with but more so, a matter of NOT having a cluttered up bill.

The only time I ever pre paid the gratuities (on RCCL) was the only time I feel i got subpar service.

I would love to hear anyone thoughts / pros and cons , on PRE paying.

As a rule we always pre-pay and have NEVER felt the service was anything different - we feel we get the same standard as when pre-pay did not exist. We are on Regal in Dec and the ONLY reason we are not pre-paying is b/c we have a ton of OBC to use up so will use it to pay the tips.

We always pre-pay on Royal and have never had anything but stellar service, so maybe it was just your cruise.

The crew don't know when you remove the tips either

Actually they might. I was at the passenger service counter and a person asked this very question. He was told the crew member's team leader was informed of removal and it was up to him/her as to whether the steward was told.

Thanks OP for asking the question. We wont have enough OBC to pay so was thinking of paying in advance for this and the drink package in early December.

Anyway we can use our on board credit to prepay?

There is a reason it is called on board credit. Can only be used while you are ON the ship.

I agree with Pushka. We have been told by a customer services director that a list is prepared of those passengers who remove the gratituties, given to housekeeping supervisors and table captains, and disseminated to their subordinates. This has been their procedure for years. We were also told years ago that the same list is posted in the galley area of the dining rooms. The crew knows more about us than you think!! So, nothing surprises me, especially when waiters ask for cabin numbers for ATD and when extra cash is given to them at cruise end.

There is a difference between knowing who has removed the tips and who has pre-paid the tips.

Sometimes people remove the tips due to poor service. Thus, there might be a reason for supervisors to be aware of this. Other times tips are removed because people choose to tip in cash...or because they are jerks.

There is no benefit to knowing who has pre-paid and who is paying the daily charge. That should make no difference to any level of crew member.

We don't pre-pay. By having it charged to our onboard account, we can use OBC to pay it.

I do the same. Because I always have plenty of OBC. $30.or $40. is not going to make a difference to me. I was on a cruise a few years back the service in the dining room was so bad. I canceled my tip. Yes I did complain nothing happened the service was still bad. I gave all the money to my cabin steward and told him why. I told him to do whatever he wanted with the money it was up to him.

Tony

Unless I have an OBC to use up, I always prepay and I have not noticed any correlation between prepayment and service levels.

I pre-pay gratuities and have never received sub par service. I also gift myself OBC and casino credit because I like having less to pay after the cruise.

Denise

My question is on PRE PAYING the gratuities. I realize I asking for people's opinions but PLEASE don't turn this into ANOTHER auto gratuities debate , please.

I didn't pre pay the gratuities earlier this year for my Dec cruise, at the lower price because I didn't see the merits in having princess hold my money for a year just to save 20 bucks BUT I have started to consider pre paying the gratuities for this dec , it's not a matter of getting the charge over with but more so, a matter of NOT having a cluttered up bill.

The only time I ever pre paid the gratuities (on RCCL) was the only time I feel i got subpar service.

I would love to hear anyone thoughts / pros and cons , on PRE paying.

I will always pre-pay them. My method is to wait until after payment of final balance until two weeks before the cruise and then pay them as by then I know for sure that I am going on the cruise and almost nothing can stop me.

The cost does not bother me at all. I am more worried about paying them and then having to change cruises and waiting for the money to come back.

I find it is convenient because in the present day Princess is now doing authorisations on credit cards on a daily basis and this effects spend limit so having the bill paid up front and also purchasing on board credit prevents Princess from placing authorisations on my card making transactions while travelling easier to track to determine if they are legitimate of if the card has been scammed.

For the sake of gratuity change of price I am not worried at all. I look at it as part of the cruise fare.

I pre paid last cruise. Was short 500 points on princess visa credit card to attain another $50 in OBC. So paid it to get the 2x points and get the extra obc at the time.