Do you prepay gratuity?

[Swayde]

I do not. I have OBC from FCC and Early Saver price drops. I'll use those to pay for most of the gratuities on both our upcoming cruises.

[pkrchkr]

This is a cruise of 1st for us .. and this time I did pay them before the cruise and reserve the right to tip extra for the servers,cabin attendant and anyone that deserves a little extra..Nov 22 2012 we leave on a BreeZe

[SMSACE6]

This is a cruise of 1st for us .. and this time I did pay them before the cruise and reserve the right to tip extra for the servers,cabin attendant and anyone that deserves a little extra..Nov 22 2012 we leave on a BreeZe

 

Sounds like a good plan! Have a great cruise!:)

[golfadj]

Yes, I hear what you are saying! Except, the banks are not paying me much to hold on to my money these days. By the same token, where I live, we have a choice to renew our driver's licence, plate stickers for one year or two, but there is no incentive to renew for two years, so I do so only for one year. So your reasoning is valid to me. Still I might choose to prepay gratuities next time, just to "get it out of the way" as others say.:)

 

Kind of the principle of the thing for me. Why pay something earlier than I need to?

[beachbum53]

I don't pre-pay the gratuities for our cruise, nor would I pay a waiter or waitress a tip prior to be being served in a restaurant. I certainly don't get a paycheck before I put in my 80 hrs. (I get paid every two weeks). If you pay someone before they do any work, what incentive is there for him/her to do more than the bare minimum required? I've never decreased the auto-gratuities at the end of the cruise, but I do pay extra to those that have done an outstanding job and gone above and beyond what is expected of them.

[jayscore]

Unless I'm wrong, prepaying anything allows "a corporation" to invest the bucks as to make a few more bucks before the fact.:rolleyes:

[mark13]

I pre pay. Just to get it off my plate. I also purchase drink coupons and have $1,000 in OBC when I hit the ship.

 

same here, we prepay and then some. I look at it as my way of saving money instead of a big bill at the end of the cruise.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We do when we have to ...

[twindaddy]

Two reasons I will not prepay.

1. Knowing it will be on my S&S helps curb additional spending while on the cruise.

2. Though I have not withheld auto tips to date, (was really tempted on one cruise) it is my understanding that prepaid gratuities cannot be reimbursed. If you are really unhappy with your room steward or if your waiter insulted you terribly, you would have no recourse. You already paid them.

 

I have never heard that before, can anyone confirm or deny prepaid grats cannot be adjusted?

 

I like to get them out of the way, less of a giant bill on debark day. That day is sad enough as it is.

[what to go here and there]

I'm inclined to say, "I don't understand why people prepay anything." But that might attract criticism. I will always choose to pay something 3 months from now rather than pay it today, providing the amount I pay is the same. Time value of money.

 

So I sort of get the fact that people want to "get it out of the way" and that's the motivation. But to me that just means that the money is in Carnival's bank, rather than mine, for an extra 2-3 months. I don't get any pleasure out of knowing that.

 

I was actually quite surprised to learn that there is no monetary or other incentive to pay early. I'll keep the money for now, thanks, and pay the exact same amount when it is due.

 

I prepay and really like it when the Canadian $ is above the USA $ so i get a savings .... enjoyed a lot more when the CDN$ was 25 to 30 cents over USA $ I could not make that same savings in our banks :D. I also watch how our CDN $ is doing when paying deposits ... The Carnival sales may not be all what they are cracked up to be but i can save some when out $ is higher than USA $ :D

[ccarpenter1963]

I prepaid for this cruise. I plan to put money on my S&S card after I have the cruise paid off. I don't like sticker shock. ;-)

[askimdog]

Nope. I have always paid the actual amount at the end of the cruise. Though I want to see if the extra gratuity is deserved first. Even with the staff bickering amongst themselves and the rudeness we recieved from the wait staff and our missing steward who we saw twice all cruise and missed our room once, all on our last cruise they got their gratuity, but none more. It was tempting to lessen it. I talked to services about these issues though.

 

All in all, I wish they would just add it to the cost. We budget for it and it is the only thing on our S&S bill at the end ( at times we may have an extra 10-25 dollar charge). But, after our last cruise, the staff rarely smiled and didn't seem to care about anything. The talk on the cruise was that something went down and staff seemed angry and in rebellion.

 

Pre-pay...just can't do it before recieving services in this case.

[Chirpbird]

Prepay. I want to have as little stress as possible on the cruise, and budgeting is stressful for me. If all is paid ahead of time, then I well relax more.

 

Sincerely, Sambelina's Galaxy.

[reginaphalange]

I'm inclined to say, "I don't understand why people prepay anything." But that might attract criticism. I will always choose to pay something 3 months from now rather than pay it today, providing the amount I pay is the same. Time value of money.

 

So I sort of get the fact that people want to "get it out of the way" and that's the motivation. But to me that just means that the money is in Carnival's bank, rather than mine, for an extra 2-3 months. I don't get any pleasure out of knowing that.

 

I was actually quite surprised to learn that there is no monetary or other incentive to pay early. I'll keep the money for now, thanks, and pay the exact same amount when it is due.

 

Huge +1! This is my strategy with everything in life, unless there is a good enough incentive to pre-pay.

 

Plus, our free OBC will take care of our gratuities for us. And no worries about a huge CC bill when we get home, as we will be opening a cash account when we board. We are saving money in our bank savings account for this very purpose.

[WAHMto5]

We do just to get it out of the way and one less thing to pay while on the trip;)

[crusinpsychRN]

I'm inclined to say, "I don't understand why people prepay anything." But that might attract criticism. I will always choose to pay something 3 months from now rather than pay it today, providing the amount I pay is the same. Time value of money.

 

So I sort of get the fact that people want to "get it out of the way" and that's the motivation. But to me that just means that the money is in Carnival's bank, rather than mine, for an extra 2-3 months. I don't get any pleasure out of knowing that.

 

I was actually quite surprised to learn that there is no monetary or other incentive to pay early. I'll keep the money for now, thanks, and pay the exact same amount when it is due.

 

Me too. Keep my money as long as I can.

[Carolin]

I prepay. I purchage my bottle of rum and coke card ahead of time as well. Last cruise my sign and sail ended up being $80. This is part of the way I budget.

[ibcnusoon]

We prepay tips, excursions, everything is paid for and out of the way! I like it that way so when I look at my S&S card I can say, "oh, I hardly spent anything, let me book that massage!" :D

[golfadj]

We prepay tips, excursions, everything is paid for and out of the way! I like it that way so when I look at my S&S card I can say, "oh, I hardly spent anything, let me book that massage!" :D

 

If this works for you go for it. Just not the way we do business.

[Shipbound]

Same post below

 

Gary

[Shipbound]

I prepay my gratuities all the time, one less thing to worry about.

 

Gary

[bitemyfly]

I never prepay , I like holding on to my money as long as I can without incurring penalty and or intrest

Never pay intrest either

But do love airline miles on my cc card

[JaxGuy]

We always prepay. Banks don't pay any interest to speak of for savings or checking anymore anyway...may as well get it paid and done with. One less expense to worry about at the end.

 

Yep, I agree. $80 at .00000125% interest isn't worth worrying about IMO. :) I prefer to pay in advance and get it out of the way.

[MIZZ_K]

What are your thoughts and what do you do?

 

I always pre pay, one less charge on my s&s card.

[CourtneyLovesCruising]

I do prepay gratuity and I add funds to my sign and sail card before cruising. I put money onto the card for the trip rather than into a short savings, as the money I loose with interest is minimal compared to the peace of mind I have knowing I've set aside everything that I'll need and it's already waiting for me.