Do you prepay gratuity?

[chill6x6]

I guess we're in the minority here--we never prepay our gratuities.

 

I don't really think we are in the minority....we may be in the minority of those posting on this THREAD though.

[novinha]

Never prepay gratuities. Money looks better in my pocket than someone elses

Amen!

[ib4cruzn]

If you prepay, always bring a copy of your itemized receipt with you. On my last RCCL cruise I had prepaid my tips and then found them on my onboard account the last night. When I went to Guest Services to get it situated they stated they had no way of proving what I paid and that I needed to repay. This cruise, I will make sure to bring a copy of everything that was prepaid!

 

Yet they have the gall to call these "tips".

 

Amazing...

[twindaddy]

I don't really think we are in the minority....we may be in the minority of those posting on this THREAD though.

 

What I dont undrestand it why it is so hard for people like you to see another person's point of view. You seem to be an intelligent person, you really dont get that some people like to have everything paid off before they get onboard? This is one of those situations where there is no right or wrong answer, just different styles and ways of doing things.

[muah3iluvzu06]

I don't ever pre-pay gratuities but I can certainly see the reasons why some do! It's definitely a personal preference! :)

[chill6x6]

What I dont undrestand it why it is so hard for people like you to see another person's point of view. You seem to be an intelligent person, you really dont get that some people like to have everything paid off before they get onboard? This is one of those situations where there is no right or wrong answer, just different styles and ways of doing things.

 

I'm really not trying to be obstinate...and if that's what someone wants to do I'm not gonna cuss 'em out or anything....:)

 

1. It's YOUR money. YOURS. CCL or any company wants folks to turn loose of theirs and give it to them so they can use it to make money. YOU/WE need it worse than they do.

2. No benefit to paying gratuities early.

3. Can't plan for the unforeseen. What if something happens and the cruise DOESN'T happen?

4. What if your cabin steward is pathetic? What if the wait staff in the MDR are nonchalant?

 

"Your" of course is not necessarily YOU....it's anyone....

[Polysom Girl]

We have done both pre-paid and pay at the end of the cruise. Four out of five times that we pre-paid the service did not seem that great. On our last cruise it was simple thing like needing to ask for a bar of soap (we were out) empty ice buckets (no lid or tongs for the ice bucket also on the last one, he actually said they did not give them out on this cruise..Wow really I've never not had a lid or tongs for my ice) and the room was never vacuumed during the cruise the floor was sandy and we haven't got to the beach yet. The cabin service was so bad I gave them 1 on the survery. The couple of times we did not pre-paid the cabin service seemed better. Maybe it just us but we're going to base our tips on the service we receive, we always tip because we understand that the staff works hard to make sure we're having a good time.

[LOVECRUISING100%]

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 can't relate to your comment.. I'd rather see the $$ in my account then CCL, they can have it the last night that i'm with them.. lol

[sail2sea]

no. what is the point? I pay the same amount anyway so why not keep my money longer?

[cschultz]

No, I don't prepay gratuities. I usually end up with OBC, and I like to use that to pay the gratuities. If they are prepaid, I end up using up the OBC, and end up paying more in the end. I know that you can get a check back for some of it, but not all of it.

[Greselda]

We don't prepay either......unless you can say we prepay when we embark at the terminal.

 

When we step up to get our room keys, etc. we then pay for our gratuities as we agree with most that we like to keep our $$ in our bank until the last minute instead of the cruise line's.;)

[hockeyluver]

Right now is a great time to prepay what I can... money is at par :p

 

We always purchase drink coupons usually about 10 pks of 4 and prepay our gratuities. We quit drinking Tim Hortons coffee.... if you have been an addict you know how hard that was lol, so we take that $70 a week and put it towards our cruise, this way we wont be swayed to use that money for anything else.

[1492oceanblue]

What is the tip on a 7 day per person: $11.50 x6 or 7 days? Carnival had told me it is 6 and another rep said it is 7. We have 3 people.

[gazingm42]

Never prepay tips. Its that many more months or weeks carnival has my money. I have control over the tips, by odd chance I want to change them.

[jimslady15]

we did last cruise and will for the one coming up. Like to know whatever we buy on board and off the ship is all we have to worry about. Took about $1300 last time, had a great time and brought money home.

[092306]

Yes, we always do now.

 

I know its paying for something up front, but we have never had to take back tips anyway.

 

The way we look at it is, less to pay on the cruise bill at the end.

 

Its just how we look at things.

[declansdad]

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

 

 

So?

[declansdad]

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.

 

If you had problems with the service why would you not lessen the tip amount?

[declansdad]

no. what is the point? I pay the same amount anyway so why not keep my money longer?

 

 

The point is that for some people it makes budgeting for the cruise easier and you are not earning anything on the money anyway. The only possible reason would be so that you could control the tip and if you read through most of the tipping threads here and on other boards, the majority of people pay at least the minimum suggested tip regardless of the service.

[Cuizer2]

What are your thoughts and what do you do?

 

I do not prepay as I think the amount of the tip should be determined after the service is rendered - not before.

[Jana60]

What are your thoughts and what do you do?

 

I only pay prior to cruise if they make me. I earn 2.3% interest on my checking account so I like to keep the money there as long as possible. So I give credit card and don't have to actually quit getting interest on those funds until as long as a month after the cruise. I realize its not a huge amount but those little bits add up.

[Cuizer2]

Never prepay gratuities. Money looks better in my pocket than someone elses

 

Not only that, but at today's interest rates, if you put the money into a savings account, you will be 2¢ richer by the end of the cruise. If you cruise a lot, that could add up to $1.00 every other year.

[Jana60]

Not only that, but at today's interest rates, if you put the money into a savings account, you will be 2¢ richer by the end of the cruise. If you cruise a lot, that could add up to $1.00 every other year.

 

This varies. If I prepaid the gratuities on the 3 cruises I have coming up (2 solo and 1 with 3 of us) I would be paying 5 sets of gratuities ($400 now). That $400 in my personal checking earns $1.07 per month. In my personal investment account invested in bonds it would earn from $1.67 to $2.00 per month depending on the coupon rate I get. Why should I give Carnival up to $8 extra? If you would like me to hang onto your money and pay your gratuities in 7 months I'll be happy to pocket that interest and buy myself an extra DOD just for having the fiscal dicipline to keep that money available and invested until March. :D Lets put this in its true perspective. If Carnival has 5000 people (I'm sure the number is much higher) purchase a cruise at least 6 months in the future and prepay their gratuities the date they book, they could earn up to $10,000 in dividends on YOUR money.

[mamajo3304]

I look at it like an expense that's part of the ticket to cruise- I mean they are going to add it on anyways, so we just prepay and forget about it. I do leave a little something for my steward every day on top of the prepaid tips though.

[Vettebuf]

Never do. We always have $200.00 OBC from being stockholders and FCC. Whatever we have left goes towards to tips.

 

We use the OBC from stock certs and FCC too on all our Carnival Corp. cruises. Our tips come out of that amount. We use cash for extra tips when we disembark if the service was superior.