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Pre pay gratuities

curiouscat

By curiouscat,
in Princess Cruises

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karatemom2 "Live from...." Rare

karatemom2

Posted
Posted

That's nice to know. There are times when we might want to pay in advance and save our OBC for other things like excursions, soda packages, spa, etc. We always go over our OBC anyway with a family of four, so I sort of like the idea that we now have the option to prepay since I consider gratuities an expense just like our cruise fare.

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Kmkub Great Review Rare

Kmkub

Posted
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We just save the money into our ING account and load it back when we need it for cruise time.

 

I strongly prefer NOT to give any company access to my cash one second before they require it.

 

Frankly, I'm surprised it took them so long; they are going to rake in oodles of interest $$ on this and there's no way that money will go towards offsetting cruise prices. It's just more cash in their pocket.

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curiouscat

curiouscat

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Hi There

 

I would like to see TA,s tell us about this at time of booking and add it into the bill if we want,

 

so we can pay it off before we cruise.

 

yours Shogun

 

Yes... this was just announced. Don't know if it applies to those outside Us/Canada.

 

Most agents won't add it to the bill but should just advise as an option.

 

CC

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Toto2Kansas

Toto2Kansas

Posted
Posted
I think this is more to provide a way for TA's to offer deals while not violating the new "no fare discount" policy. I don't think Princess themselves expects a whole lot of pax to be pre-paying these on their own.

 

With the availability of sending yourself shipboard credit, this option (although called by another name) has been available for years. But you might have something there, it might be to get ready for the no more discounting and a way for TA's to offer extras to cut their prices. Good thinking! ;)

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toeloop

toeloop

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I was just saying the other day how I wish I could pay my tips in advance. I have to vacation on tight budgets and like to pay for things in advance so I know that it is taken care of. I couldn't find anything on the Princess web site. Do I need to call princess to do this or can it be done online?

 

Thanks!

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Kmkub Great Review Rare

Kmkub

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Can someone explain this love I'm feeling over giving a huge company money early?

 

I mean, I get the saving part, we're not wealthy by any stretch. We're eating a lot of mac-n-cheese right now to save for our January cruise. Send the money to YOUR savings account where it earns interest for YOU, not Princess.

 

I realize the interest rates aren't good right now, but it'll be a few bucks that didn't go to Princess and went to me instead.

 

Companies LOVE customers who pay early, because they have the bucks to make mucho $$ on all your little amounts of "early pays." It makes no sense to me.

 

What am I missing?

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Toto2Kansas

Toto2Kansas

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Can someone explain this love I'm feeling over giving a huge company money early?

 

I mean, I get the saving part, we're not wealthy by any stretch. We're eating a lot of mac-n-cheese right now to save for our January cruise. Send the money to YOUR savings account where it earns interest for YOU, not Princess.

 

I realize the interest rates aren't good right now, but it'll be a few bucks that didn't go to Princess and went to me instead.

 

Companies LOVE customers who pay early, because they have the bucks to make mucho $$ on all your little amounts of "early pays." It makes no sense to me.

 

What am I missing?

It's never really made any sense to me either. To me, that would be like paying off your cruise 12 months before final payment is due when that isn't necessary, just doesn't make any sense at all to me.

If someone has a tough time with budgeting, and they really need to plan for gratuities, they can send themselves small amounts of shipboard credits (and have been able to do this for many years). They could continue to add to their shipboard account until they had sent enough to pay for gratuities. For us, even this would be kinda silly, but I understand that some really have to budget and have a tough time saving, and can't come home to a large cc bill they just can't pay.

But paying it all with final payment (or before) just doesn't make any sense to me either.

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Kmkub Great Review Rare

Kmkub

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If someone has a tough time with budgeting, and they really need to plan for gratuities, they can send themselves small amounts of shipboard credits (and have been able to do this for many years).

 

But sending yourself OBC is really the same thing. It's not like you earn interest on your early OBCs. It earns interest for Princess.

 

I guess it's a budgeting thing. I relate to that, but even back then when I was having my own personal budget issues, I gave the money to my mother or a close friend or my brother..... ANYTHING to not give a huge company another reason to make mega $$ on our backs!

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Host CJSKIDS "Live from...." Rare

Host CJSKIDS

Posted
Posted

Not everyone has a credit card or their credit card has a low limit. Or maybe they want to leave the credit they do have just in case they their is an emergency while away.

 

I know when my daughter's ex boyfriend took her on a cruise for her 21st birthday, his credit card had a low limit. I'm sure this may have been something he may have taken advantage of.

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Princess Patches

Princess Patches

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But sending yourself OBC is really the same thing. It's not like you earn interest on your early OBCs. It earns interest for Princess.

 

I guess it's a budgeting thing. I relate to that, but even back then when I was having my own personal budget issues, I gave the money to my mother or a close friend or my brother..... ANYTHING to not give a huge company another reason to make mega $$ on our backs!

 

It is not something I would want to do because I have too many OBCs I want to use up on gratuities (Carnival stock credit, FCCs, and TA credits). However, I can see why people would want to pay gratuities in advance. If I did not have OBCs to use up, I would do it.

 

It is a very small amount in lost interest. For a one week cruise it is $84 in gratuities per person, which would be paid 75-90 days in advance. What is that at current checking account interest rates of less than 1%? 20 cents in lost interest?. It is far from being "megabucks". In exchange for the 20 cents lost in interest, you get piece of mind that you will not owe large amounts at the end of your cruise. For someone on a budget, reducing their stress level is well worth a few pennies. It makes sense to me.

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Toto2Kansas

Toto2Kansas

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But sending yourself OBC is really the same thing. It's not like you earn interest on your early OBCs. It earns interest for Princess.

 

I guess it's a budgeting thing. I relate to that, but even back then when I was having my own personal budget issues, I gave the money to my mother or a close friend or my brother..... ANYTHING to not give a huge company another reason to make mega $$ on our backs!

 

I realize that. But paying it all off at once with final payment is different then those with budget or low credit card limits. With a low credit card limit, they could pay in small amounts over a period of months. I realize this is the same thing, giving the cruise line money before it is due. But I also know that some really have a tough time coming up with extra for onboard spending, including gratuities. The small amounts over months I can understand, but not paying it all at once with final payment, as that isn't any different then paying it off at the end of the cruise, all at once. IMHO

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wickedwitchofthewest

wickedwitchofthewest

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As someone who chooses to only have a low limit credit card and spends loads on board I welcome the chance to pay the gratuities before boarding. That way I know that my OBC and the credit card are for me to enjoy on what I want.

I consider the Gratuities as part of the fare anyway, and they are calculated into my costings when I plan a cruise.

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Kmkub Great Review Rare

Kmkub

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As someone who chooses to only have a low limit credit card and spends loads on board I welcome the chance to pay the gratuities before boarding.

 

I don't even have a credit card. We just transfer the money from our savings account to our debit card before boarding. :)

 

I know it's a small amount of interest, honest! It's just my little way of not giving the uber large companies a chance to earn more $$ off my money for free.

 

Let's just take some numbers and see how money grows money.

 

Princess has 14 ships. If each ship has 45 sails per year, and an average of 1,000 people prepay and Princess earns an average of 25 cents per those 1,000 prepays, that's $157,500 in interest that went right into Princess' pocket. For doing nothing. That's a lot of cash. (And I think my numbers may be low, but I just took a guess.... Anyway you look at it, paying early en masse is big $$ for the cruise line.)

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cruzsnooze

cruzsnooze

Posted
Posted

 

. For a one week cruise it is $84 in gratuities per person, which would be paid 75-90 days in advance. What is that at current checking account interest rates of less than 1%? 20 cents in lost interest?. It is far from being "megabucks". In exchange for the 20 cents lost in interest, you get piece of mind that

It's not a peace of mind if you have to cancel your cruise after final payment and you've paid for services you didn't have to pay for in advance.

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Host CJSKIDS "Live from...." Rare

Host CJSKIDS

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It's not a peace of mind if you have to cancel your cruise after final payment and you've paid for services you didn't have to pay for in advance.

 

I know if you gift someone OBC and the cruise gets canceled you do get a refund so I wnder if this program will be the same.

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