Why pre-paid gratuities?

[kyriecat]

TheGenie,

 

You can pay your tips with your onboard credit if you have fixed dinner seating. There is usually a form left in your cabin the first or second day of the cruise. You simply fill out the form information (stateroom #, # of passengers, etc.) and turn it in at the guest relations desk or, in some cases, they have a drop box for it. The form must be returned by the second to last night of the cruise so they have time to process the tips to your account. That is my preferred method for paying tips. By that time, you usually have a good idea of the service. I have never had poor service when I waited to pay my tips onboard. Most of the time, the service has been so good that we gave some cash in addition to the normal gratuity amounts charged the the stateroom account.

 

I don't blame you for not wanted to pay the tips before you board. I won't prepay the tips (pay them before I get onboard) either. I prepaid the tips once so I would have that paid for before the cruise, expecting the normal level of service. It was a mistake because prepaid tips are non-refundable. Occassionally a crew member will take advantage of knowing the tips are already paid. I'm certain the cabin steward knew that we had prepaid the tips because she was also the steward for a couple we ate with at dinner who hadn't prepaid their tips. She cleaned their cabin every day, brought towels, etc. They thought she was surly but she took care of the normal services for them.

 

For us, the cabin steward "forgot" to clean our cabin for 5 days of 13, "forgot" to bring new towels when she took the used ones, wouldn't bring ice unless I specifically located her to ask for it (then she made a big production of how that wasn't part of her job and she was doing us a favor :rolleyes:), and "forgot" to turn down the beds every night (it didn't matter to me whether she did or not so that wasn't a big deal). If I hadn't already prepaid the tips and got that level of service (the guest relations personnel and head of housekeeping knew on a daily basis how upset I was about the service), I would have "forgot" to leave her a tip.

 

On the positive side, we had the best assistant waiter ever on that same cruise. We made two stops in Croatia (his home country) so he was kind enough to make several recommendations of places to see. We left him extra cash because he was so helpful and friendly. The waiter was rude (everyone at the table thought the same thing). It wasn't bad enough that I would have removed his tips, but definitely nothing extra for him. We only saw our head waiter a couple of times so I assume he was with other tables.

[TheGenie]

Everyone - Thank you so much for the responses. I'm relieved.

 

Take care!

[Swath]

 

I heard once on here that they were doing it because of the increased of Europeans on cruises these days. Tipping isn't as ingrained in their culture as it is ours. So many of them didn't tip at all.

A bit more on this in Europe the Waiters & Housekeeping staff get paid more than their counterparts in CAN & USA doing the same work in a land based setting.

So your tip makes up some of the difference IIRC

So its not reflex for MANY/SOME? Europeans