Pre-paid tips

[carolinesmom]

Hi, I saw somewhere that you can pre-pay most of the tips. How does this work? Is it billed to your credit card before the cruise starts? Is it a set amount per person per day? Any clarification would be appreciated!

thanks.:)

[spearmint]

I don't know whether it is to your advantage to pre-pay tips, or not. As a Canadian, it turned out to be advantageous to us; after having paid our cruise in full, I then did the tips. The charge ($11.50 per person per day) was the same whether it was Canadian or American funds. That's a plus for us. But, when we book our cruise, Celebrity gives our TA our costs in Canadian dollars; I don't think it would be advantageous to include pre-payment in the original booking from that point of view.

 

However. Bringing the cash for tips for the cruise days (which is our usual method) is not a good idea when you are in the embarkation city for three days prior to the cruise, and your hotel room does not have a safe. Not good from that point of view as we were on a back-to-back for 28 days which amounts to some bucks!

 

The other thing that I found that I liked was that I paid my credit card before I left, and that much money was not on my on board account (there's enough on that little document after every cruise as it is!)

 

Other stuff? Well, since I had not included the tips with the original payment, it would not be covered by the cancellation insurance should that be necessary; and I understand from these boards that Celebrity will not refund those moneys.

 

The only time that I did not bring the necessary cash in envelopes for the staff, was on our Baltic cruise for the same reasons as noted above. In that instance, we opted to have the tips put on our on board account in American funds and paid the difference on our Master Card.

[njhorseman]

Celebrity automatically adds the suggested gratuities to your on board account, so there's no need to bring a lot of cash with you for tipping at the end of the cruise.

 

Personally, I would never prepay anything that I wasn't required to.

 

The standard gratuity is $11.50 per person per day...but slightly more ($12) for Concierge and Aqua class rooms, and even more ($15) for suites.

 

In addition, 15% is automatically added to bar purchases.

[Can'tstopcruising]

I just prepaid for a b2b, 21 days, for the same reason as Spearmint. I didn't realize that cancellation insurance doesn't cover it. Are you sure? Who benefits? The cruiseline? The crew? Not the poor person who has to cancel, that's for sure.

[spearmint]

I just prepaid for a b2b' date=' 21 days, for the same reason as Spearmint. I didn't realize that cancellation insurance doesn't cover it. Are you sure? Who benefits? The cruiseline? The crew? Not the poor person who has to cancel, that's for sure.[/quote']

 

As I said, I prepaid after having made final payment for the cruises. I had purchased cancellation insurance when I booked the cruise with the downpayment.

 

I actually just assumed the total would be covered if I had included the prepayment with the cruise and then just covered that whole amount on the insurance.

 

I also am assuming that the whole thing would have been charged in a converted rate (more expensive) by Celebrity rather than my credit card. But, in actual fact, I just don't know that.

[carolinesmom]

Thanks so much for clarifying. I will not pre-pay, but at least I know how much it is now. I'll just plan to have it charged to our account each day.

[crp3]

Hi,

I have been on 30 cruises and I have (recently) been told by staff on RCL and HAL that the Cruise Line takes 10 - 15% off the top before they receive the money. I don't know if this is true or not --- but I can't think of a reason why 3-4 staff would say this if it wasn't true. Honestly, it would NOT be a surprise to me if the Cruise Lines's did take some off the top for having to do the "work" of dividing up the money and giving it out.

 

 

I just think that if I hand it to them -- then I know for sure that they receive all the money !

 

Oh, I do not have the problem of carrying a lot of cash --- what I do is bring either a few or many Travelers Checks - which I can get free at AAA or at my bank and the night before I plan on giving out the tips - I go to the desk and cash them. Have never had any problem cashing them.

 

 

Cheryl and Ray

On a beautiful mountain ridge in WV

[margeg]

Hi, I saw somewhere that you can pre-pay most of the tips. How does this work? Is it billed to your credit card before the cruise starts? Is it a set amount per person per day? Any clarification would be appreciated!

thanks.:)

 

If you choose the anytime dining optiion, you MUST prepay tips. I dont know why, but thats what we were told. It was billed to our credit card at the same time we paid for the cruise.

[spearmint]

If you choose the anytime dining optiion, you MUST prepay tips. I dont know why, but thats what we were told. It was billed to our credit card at the same time we paid for the cruise.

 

If you did not have the same waiter/assistant waiter in 'anytime dining' (which you do have in the normal dining assignment) to whom would you give the tip? Would tips even be given? I would assume that is the reason for pre-paying.

[njhorseman]

If you did not have the same waiter/assistant waiter in 'anytime dining' (which you do have in the normal dining assignment) to whom would you give the tip? Would tips even be given? I would assume that is the reason for pre-paying.

 

I don't understand why they would have to be prepaid, because Celebrity automatically charges tips to your onboard account anyway. NCL doesn't require prepayment, and everyone on the ship uses "Freestyle" dining...there is no fixed seating dining. The same holds true for Celebrity's sister line, Azamara. It's entirely open seating, but gratuities are not paid in advance, they are automatically added to your onboard account.

[uktog]

Hi,

I have been on 30 cruises and I have (recently) been told by staff on RCL and HAL that the Cruise Line takes 10 - 15% off the top before they receive the money. I don't know if this is true or not --- but I can't think of a reason why 3-4 staff would say this if it wasn't true.

 

 

We have asked many of the staff on Celebrity and they ALL have confirmed

1. They receive the prepaid tip IN FULL

2. They know from a list given to them a few days before the end of the trip that you have paid your gratuities

 

Sometimes staff tell you otherwise to try maybe for their own personal gain

And like many others we do also hand small additional sums to those who have really looked after us

 

The way I see it, the gratuity has to be paid in any event so I add it to the cost of the trip up front as it is part of the total cost of the trip,

[spearmint]

I don't understand why they would have to be prepaid, because Celebrity automatically charges tips to your onboard account anyway. NCL doesn't require prepayment, and everyone on the ship uses "Freestyle" dining...there is no fixed seating dining. The same holds true for Celebrity's sister line, Azamara. It's entirely open seating, but gratuities are not paid in advance, they are automatically added to

your onboard account.

 

You are correct; it's a relatively new thing, and I never gave it a thought, let alone used it. So then, I have no idea why pre-paid is a must for anytime dining.

[dkjretired]

I don't understand why they would have to be prepaid, because Celebrity automatically charges tips to your onboard account anyway. NCL doesn't require prepayment, and everyone on the ship uses "Freestyle" dining...there is no fixed seating dining. The same holds true for Celebrity's sister line, Azamara. It's entirely open seating, but gratuities are not paid in advance, they are automatically added to your onboard account.

 

They are prepaid for the reason someone mentioned above, you have different waiters. If you have the tips placed on your account under the current system, you may remove them entirely . They are just trying to ensure that the waiters get their tips.

[margeg]

They are prepaid for the reason someone mentioned above, you have different waiters. If you have the tips placed on your account under the current system, you may remove them entirely . They are just trying to ensure that the waiters get their tips.

 

If this is the case, why did we not have to prepay on Princess or Norwegian? We always had anytime dining with them; the tips were just added to the bill at the end.

 

No big deal . either way is okay with us.

 

But one thing with celebrity which I really am not crazy about. What's with prepaying for shore excursions? You have to pay for them when you make a reservation on line before the cruise. That becomes a hassle if you have to cancel them. All the other cruise lines we were on charged you for the excursion when you actually took it.

[Lois R]

If this is the case, why did we not have to prepay on Princess or Norwegian? We always had anytime dining with them; the tips were just added to the bill at the end.

 

No big deal . either way is okay with us.

 

But one thing with celebrity which I really am not crazy about. What's with prepaying for shore excursions? You have to pay for them when you make a reservation on line before the cruise. That becomes a hassle if you have to cancel them. All the other cruise lines we were on charged you for the excursion when you actually took it.

 

If you cancel it after you board the ship your on board account will be

credited.

If you cancel within 4 days of your cruise whatever credit card you used

will be credited back.

No hassle really. Personally, I prefer paying for my excursions ahead of

time.

[dkjretired]

If this is the case, why did we not have to prepay on Princess or Norwegian? We always had anytime dining with them; the tips were just added to the bill at the end.

 

No big deal . either way is okay with us.

 

But one thing with celebrity which I really am not crazy about. What's with prepaying for shore excursions? You have to pay for them when you make a reservation on line before the cruise. That becomes a hassle if you have to cancel them. All the other cruise lines we were on charged you for the excursion when you actually took it.

 

Because that is the way Celebrity chose to do their Select Dining. They are totally different than Norwejian or Princess. Choice is yours which line to cruise on....

[snow bunny]

My only complaint is that we were "requested" to provide the M'aitre D with a tip despite never ever seeing him during our 10 day cruise. I asked on the last night if the gentleman would be kind enough to come to our table so we would have a clue who we were giving this tip to!!!

 

Missy

[donaldsc]

My only complaint is that we were "requested" to provide the M'aitre D with a tip despite never ever seeing him during our 10 day cruise. I asked on the last night if the gentleman would be kind enough to come to our table so we would have a clue who we were giving this tip to!!!

 

Missy

 

"requested" or "required". There is a major difference.

 

DON

[smeyer418]

My only complaint is that we were "requested" to provide the M'aitre D with a tip despite never ever seeing him during our 10 day cruise. I asked on the last night if the gentleman would be kind enough to come to our table so we would have a clue who we were giving this tip to!!!

 

Missy

 

you are of course free to do what you want but remember that the Maitre D is responsible for your dining experience. He trains and supervises the wait staff. He assigns them too. He is a lead position not a management one. He/she works as well. So if he isn't at your table and you have had no problems he is responsible for that too.

[cruisingdelt]

On our recent cruise the $11.50pp gratuity was added to our stateroom account daily. It was not prepaid. When I booked the specialty restaurant pre-cruise I was required to pay the fee with my credit card.

[smeyer418]

I don't understand why they would have to be prepaid, because Celebrity automatically charges tips to your onboard account anyway. NCL doesn't require prepayment, and everyone on the ship uses "Freestyle" dining...there is no fixed seating dining. The same holds true for Celebrity's sister line, Azamara. It's entirely open seating, but gratuities are not paid in advance, they are automatically added to your onboard account.

For what ever reason Celebrity requires that if select select dining you have to prepay your gratuities. Why they don't do by adding it to the account on the ship, I don't know. Yes Princess and NCL put it on daily and you pay on the ship.

 

Royal Caribbean has an opt in system that is you opt into auto pay on the ship. As far as I know ALL those monies with no diminution go to the employees- the cruise line even absords your credit card charge. I don't know about HAL. I do know that the auto tip is shared among the normally tipped crew and the tipped out crew-which includes the kitchen staff and the laundry. So if you remove the auto tip and tip directly(on the cruise loines which allow the crew to keep that money-some require it all to be turned in)... the tipped crew would be expected to share with the tipped out crew as they were in the past. So its possible this 15% reduction goes to the tipped out crew and not management.

 

The tipped out crew is those people who provide services to the wait staff and room staff and includes the laundry and the line cooks and dishwashers- just like on the land. Tradition has included the asst housekeeper/head waiter/maitre d in the tipped out people too. So even if you don't tip the maitre d/head waiter your waiter will.

[brfan]

For what ever reason Celebrity requires that if select select dining you have to prepay your gratuities. Why they don't do by adding it to the account on the ship, I don't know. Yes Princess and NCL put it on daily and you pay on the ship.

 

Royal Caribbean has an opt in system that is you opt into auto pay on the ship. As far as I know ALL those monies with no diminution go to the employees- the cruise line even absords your credit card charge. I don't know about HAL. I do know that the auto tip is shared among the normally tipped crew and the tipped out crew-which includes the kitchen staff and the laundry. So if you remove the auto tip and tip directly(on the cruise loines which allow the crew to keep that money-some require it all to be turned in)... the tipped crew would be expected to share with the tipped out crew as they were in the past. So its possible this 15% reduction goes to the tipped out crew and not management.

 

The tipped out crew is those people who provide services to the wait staff and room staff and includes the laundry and the line cooks and dishwashers- just like on the land. Tradition has included the asst housekeeper/head waiter/maitre d in the tipped out people too. So even if you don't tip the maitre d/head waiter your waiter will.

 

Royal Caribbean requires you to prepay tips if you choose their version of anytime dining. Since Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity it makes sense that they too require prepayment.

[smeyer418]

Royal Caribbean requires you to prepay tips if you choose their version of anytime dining. Since Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity it makes sense that they too require prepayment.

 

Thanks I haven't been on RC since they have started anytime dining.

[njhorseman]

Royal Caribbean requires you to prepay tips if you choose their version of anytime dining. Since Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity it makes sense that they too require prepayment.

 

 

But Royal Caribbean also owns Azamara, where all dining is open seating, and Azamara does not require prepayment of gratuities.

[lais]

I just prepaid for a b2b' date=' 21 days, for the same reason as Spearmint. I didn't realize that cancellation insurance doesn't cover it. Are you sure? Who benefits? The cruiseline? The crew? Not the poor person who has to cancel, that's for sure.[/quote']

 

If you cancelled you would get a refund for the tips and port charges and taxes from the cruise line