MTD and prepaid gratuities

[bazan]

Hi ,

 

We chose my MTD onboard the Allure of the Seas and therefore have to prepay all gratuities prior to sailing. Anyone know if you can adjust the gratuities prior to final cruise day? I don't think it will seldom happen just but just in case we have really bad service from some of the staffs. (We had one experience where we had a very bad experience from the MDR staff... and am wondering this time). Anyone actually did this ? and did you have problem when doing this at the purser's desk? I totally understand the reason behind the prepaid gratuities and that it is important to the staffs, but am asking this if this is at all an option.

 

Thanks

[Merion_Mom]

No, you cannot.

 

If you have a problem with service, you need to call it to the attention of someone who can remedy the situation. If it's a waiter or assistant waiter, speak to the headwaiter. If it's a cabin attendant, speak to the head of housekeeping.

 

They can't fix a problem if you don't tell them about it.

 

I have never (ok, once) had service so bad from anyone that I would leave less than the suggested gratuity.

[dz9yvr]

RCCL allows everyone to adjust the pre-paid gratuities prior to the end of the cruise. You are permitted to give additional dollars into any of the servers that provided the best service to establish a differential for excellent service. ;)

[kpatrick74]

Yes, you can make changes to your pre-paid gratuities. I had to go to Guest Services for luggage tags so we could depart with our and saw their list of "complaints" and how they had remedied them. They enter every complaint into their computer and then there are responses as to how the complaint was handled, a follow-up with the guest, etc. The first page I saw was all about people wanting to change pre-paid gratuities. Granted, most of it was "I am not eating in the MDR and don't want to pay them".

 

As a previous poster had stated, make sure to let the correct dept know what is happening. We had an issue with our table arrangements on our last cruise (32 family members 60th anniversary) We were suppposed to be seated in private dining, we were but it was semi-private with one table of 10 and one table of 4 thrown in the middle of us and not enough seats at our tables. I spoke with the dining room staff at the front when I realized this upon boarding and they basically blew me off. Well, that night we were still short two seats for our family and the service was not what I was used to.

 

Since my earlier complaint had been basically blown off, I went to guest services right after dinner. They called our stateroom around lunch time the following day and asked if we could go downstairs and meet with the maitre'd. We did and the problem was solved and everyone was happy the rest of the cruise.

 

My advice is this -- if you have a problem and it isn't corrected after going to the head of the dept get guest services involved. It worked for me. In fact, we ended up leaving extra tips for our dining room staff:)

[kyriecat]

If RC allows the pre-paid gratuities to be adjusted onboard, then it is a recent change. I tried to have prepaid gratuities adjusted once due to extremely poor service from the cabin steward. I will overlook alot but she was horrible. She didn't clean the room for 5 of the 13 days, on several occasions she removed every towel from the cabin and didn't replace them, and she was rude. I complained about the service 3 times to the front desk and once at a meeting with the head of housekeeping. Nothing improved.

 

Since I got absolutely no cabin service for 5 days, I thought the gratuities for those days should be returned. I was told by the front desk that pre-paid gratuities were non-refundable, even if service is poor. I wrote a comment about the lack of service on the comment card and got a phone call from RC HQ when I returned home. I got an apology that the service did not meet my expectations but (at that time) they had no plans to change their policy on pre-paid gratuities.

[temple1]

To the OP - The great thing about MTD; if you were not pleased with your service - you don't have to worry about having that waiter a 2nd time. :D

 

As Merion Mom pointed out - complain right away to the appropriate person don't wait to the end of the cruise and start adding pluses and minuses of the service you received.

 

To Kpatrick's comments about what he saw as EXCUSES people use to skip on paying gratuities - I think folks who use the "I'm not dining in the MDR so I shouldn't pay are just plain cheap! Flame me if you want - if you are on the ship and unless you brought food from home or eating all your meals from room service (and tipping them accordingly) someone is serving you 3 meals+ per day.

 

I think of the gratuity as a service charge (it is just semantics) and do prepaid no matter where I end up dining.

[Langley Cruisers]

I was told by the front desk that pre-paid gratuities were non-refundable, even if service is poor. I wrote a comment about the lack of service on the comment card and got a phone call from RC HQ when I returned home. I got an apology that the service did not meet my expectations but (at that time) they had no plans to change their policy on pre-paid gratuities.

 

As Merion Mom pointed out - complain right away to the appropriate person don't wait to the end of the cruise and start adding pluses and minuses of the service you received.

 

Hmm, clearly these two posts contradict each other.

 

To the OP - The great thing about MTD; if you were not pleased with your service - you don't have to worry about having that waiter a 2nd time. :D

 

Confused as to why you say this; we had the same wait team every single night for MTD. This is why they swipe your SeaPass card when you enter; they will attempt to seat you in the same section each evening. I suppose you could change sections if desired but otherwise, we were always seated in the same section with the same wait team.

[negc]

RCCL allows everyone to adjust the pre-paid gratuities prior to the end of the cruise. You are permitted to give additional dollars into any of the servers that provided the best service to establish a differential for excellent service. ;)

 

Having cruised with RCI almost too many times to count, I am unaware that RCI generally allows passengers to adjust the pre-paid gratuities downward. It may happen on occasion if a guest complains strongly enough that an exception is made but generally speaking the only adjustment you can make to the pre-paid gratuities is to ADD cash to the envelope with the tip voucher. Frankly we have rarely, if ever, had service of such poor quality that we felt a reduction of the tip was necessary. Were we to receive poor service we would immediately complain and perhaps seek to be moved to another table and another wait staff, and we might make mention of the offending waiter in our comment card.

[negc]

RCCL allows everyone to adjust the pre-paid gratuities prior to the end of the cruise. You are permitted to give additional dollars into any of the servers that provided the best service to establish a differential for excellent service. ;)

 

Having cruised with RCI almost too many times to count, I am unaware that RCI generally allows passengers to adjust the pre-paid gratuities downward. It may happen on occasion if a guest complains strongly enough that an exception is made but generally speaking the only adjustment you can make to the pre-paid gratuities is to ADD cash to the envelope with the tip voucher. Frankly we have rarely, if ever, had service of such poor quality that we felt a reduction of the tip was necessary. Were we to receive poor service we would immediately complain and perhaps seek to be moved to another table and another wait staff, and we might make mention of the offending waiter in our comment card.

Not sure that the post from temple1 citing Merion Mom and the post from kyriecat are considered contradictory. Merion Mom's comment mentions complaining immediately to the appropriate person so that the service will improve of the guest will be moved to a table where appropriate service is provided. It does not say that the complaint will result in a reduction or elimination of the pre-paid gratuities.

[kpatrick74]

To Kpatrick's comments about what he saw as EXCUSES people use to skip on paying gratuities - I think folks who use the "I'm not dining in the MDR so I shouldn't pay are just plain cheap! Flame me if you want - if you are on the ship and unless you brought food from home or eating all your meals from room service (and tipping them accordingly) someone is serving you 3 meals+ per day.

 

I think of the gratuity as a service charge (it is just semantics) and do prepaid no matter where I end up dining.

 

 

First off, I am a she. Look at the signature :D

 

I am not going to flame you but I am sure that some of these "excuses" are based on honest opinions/beliefs. I had a good time reading the list of excuses while waiting on my luggage tags to be switched. I have never done MTD and my mother and I are doing it in November and I have no problem pre-paying my gratuities (one less thing to worry about but if I have exceptional service I will provide additonal tipping).

 

However, I wonder if the excellent service we have become accustomed to and now seems to not be as prevalent as before is because some of the staff is under the assumption "what the hey---they already paid my tips. what difference does it make what kind of service I give them". I think this may be where the problem lies. :confused:

[temple1]

Hmm, clearly these two posts contradict each other.

 

 

 

Confused as to why you say this; we had the same wait team every single night for MTD. This is why they swipe your SeaPass card when you enter; they will attempt to seat you in the same section each evening. I suppose you could change sections if desired but otherwise, we were always seated in the same section with the same wait team.

 

I have done MTD 3 times and have never been put in the same section every night of the cruise. I haven't noticed them swiping my SeaPass - if they do I'm sure it is to easily verify we are on MTD.

 

How do you figure my post contradicts anyone? I was only commenting on not waiting until the end of the cruise to complain.

 

First off, I am a she. Look at the signature :o (LOL - Er umm, I frequently skip over signature lines. And it seems given a choice of 2 I will chose the wrong one. If I had gone with "she" your name would have been Keith.)

 

I am not going to flame you but I am sure that some of these "excuses" are based on honest opinions/beliefs. I had a good time reading the list of excuses while waiting on my luggage tags to be switched. I have never done MTD and my mother and I are doing it in November and I have no problem pre-paying my gratuities (one less thing to worry about but if I have exceptional service I will provide additonal tipping).

 

However, I wonder if the excellent service we have become accustomed to and now seems to not be as prevalent as before is because some of the staff is under the assumption "what the hey---they already paid my tips. what difference does it make what kind of service I give them". I think this may be where the problem lies.

 

We have prepaid since we first started cruising and have not seen a decline in service - so I hope that continues. One thing I have heard from staff - they love for us to praise them on the survey cards and will be sure to spell their names. So I don't think service will slip too much.

 

About flaming - Good - I hoped I wrote my post with enough info that people didn't think I was attacking you - that I recognized you were only the messenger.