Selet dining Prepay gratuities odd..But OK

[etc1etc1etc1]

I recently switched from traditional to select. I knew I had to prepay gratuites but assumed these would be for the MDR staff. When I got my final payment info I noticed that when you book select dining you must prepay all gratuities for all staff (ie..room steward etc..) and just not MDR. I thought this was kind of odd because the philosiphy of the prepay is that you will have different wait staff every night. I guess it just saves me from having to bring extra cash (or I can spend that cash somewhere else) to put in all the envelopes.

[hannibal54]

I really like the pre paid tips, saves you at the end trying to figure out who gets what. Plus less sticker shock at the end of the cruise.

[Denny01]

OP - there is a thread titled: "it's just not rigth' with over 200 posts discussing the pros/cons and many other related/unrelated issues on Select Dining Prepay. You might step over there and read through all of them. Last time it was updated was yesterday afternoon so you probably won't see it easily and it's definitely an off title for the subject.

 

Anybody interested can read that thread.

 

Denny

[cb at sea]

It's just easier for the ship if EVERYTHING is paid in advance....who cares, anyway...you pay, they get...not a big deal one way or the other!

[Johnthed0g]

I just think why pay anything before you have to?

[fernem]

If I had selected Select Dining when I booked my 14 day TA in the sky suite, I would have had to incur $420.00 on my credit card up front. If I wait until I get on the ship and switch, as per Celebrity's advice when I asked, the $420. will go on my ship account and my OBC can be used to offset most of it. Otherwise, I have lots of OBC to spend, but ultimately I think my cruise will cost more.

 

So when I get on board, I will head to the Maitre d' area and declare I want to switch then. The downside is I cannot make reservation times in Select Dining beforehand and it might be true that I may not get my preferred times and table size. That's the trade off ... which is worth it to me for the cruise not to start off costing more.

 

fern