Xmas515 Posted April 14, 2015 #26 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Do they return the funds in Canadian or US dollars? Just curious. Thanks! I'm not sure. This is only our second cruise and first time on NCL. I am under the assumption that we will be refunded in $US. I can let you know in July or perhaps an experienced cruiser can let us know. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trev71 Posted April 14, 2015 #27 Share Posted April 14, 2015 (edited) Do they return the funds in Canadian or US dollars? Just curious. Thanks! Royal will return the money in US Dollars. From what I read from other cruisers having a little left over Not sure how NCL does it Edited April 14, 2015 by trev71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treven Posted April 14, 2015 #28 Share Posted April 14, 2015 It makes no difference if you prepay or not. Prepay means you won't get a really large invoice at the end. Just like prepaying all your drinks. I remember always having a $400-$600 bill after a cruise. Now on the last day, I get a nice small invoice. Most cruises I seem to have about $100 OBC so my final invoice is about $0.00 or a few dollars. It's nice walking off the ship, knowing you will not have credit card bills coming! I always send myself $500-750 to begin my cruise with a big credit balance. As days go by, my daily expenses are deducted. Generally speaking when my cruise ends I may have to pay a little more, or I may get a little back. At least I won't have a big credit card attack the next month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRS/NC Posted April 14, 2015 #29 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Do some cruise lines REQUIRE pre-paid tips for anytime dining?:confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare sparks1093 Posted April 14, 2015 #30 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Do some cruise lines REQUIRE pre-paid tips for anytime dining?:confused: Some do, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmares1968 Posted April 14, 2015 #31 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Do some cruise lines REQUIRE pre-paid tips for anytime dining?:confused: Royal Caribbean does, I'm not sure about others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srlafleur Posted April 14, 2015 #32 Share Posted April 14, 2015 As others have said, we prepay so that it's over and done with. Now, one may argue that that's like an interest-free loan to the cruise line. For convenience sake, that's fine with me, since the interest I would get from my bank for that same money is, what, maybe a couple of pennies? If enough people do it that it actually generates some revenue for the cruise line, good! Maybe that'll help keep prices down and services from being cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maywell Posted April 14, 2015 #33 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I prepay mine since its one of the largest charges on my onboard account - one less thing to worry about while on a cruise. Sent from my SGH-T399 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairygirl1 Posted April 14, 2015 #34 Share Posted April 14, 2015 None other than you have paid it off in advance of your cruise so you go on the cruise ship with a zero balance as opposed to owing gratuities. You also need to prepay gratuities if you want MTD. Im wondering, what does MTD mean? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardeneroflove Posted April 14, 2015 #35 Share Posted April 14, 2015 The tipped service people do not GET the tips in advance...they get them after the cruise is over..so pre-tipping shouldn't affect service at all! true, but if you get crappy service you can't adjust the tips. We'll never prepay for that reason. We DO NOT just tip what's suggested. I tip based on tip. If dh passes me the slip to fill out, it's not looking good. I will not tip for bad service. the only reason the tips for our room steward wasn't decreased last cruise was because I was too lazy to get up and do it. I have adjusted before (up and down). But staying in with my kid won. MTD means my time dining, which is offered on some ships, and I think tips are required to be prepaid for that. idk. MTD is on RC, in additional to traditional dining, and on Carnival. NCL ONLY has MTD, i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mokescaps Posted April 14, 2015 #36 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Do you have to tip separately in the Steakhouse? Or, part of pre-paid tipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardeneroflove Posted April 14, 2015 #37 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Do you have to tip separately in the Steakhouse? Or, part of pre-paid tipping. separate, it's a different service. You'll also tip additional for any bar drinks your order (unless you have a package). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mokescaps Posted April 14, 2015 #38 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Thanks, I thought so ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted April 15, 2015 #39 Share Posted April 15, 2015 For any Canadians reading this thread there can be very good reasons to prepay your gratuities. On our last 2 cruises it was cheaper tp pay our gratuities up front in CDN$ than it was to pay in US$ on the ship. Prepaid CDN was $82.65 vs $84 US on the ship. Australia too, and with exchange rate gong south you might be in front by pre paying. On the other hand if you have OBC it can come out of that if you have them added to your account once on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted April 15, 2015 #40 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Im wondering, what does MTD mean? Thank you! My Time Dining. Where you don't have a set dining time and just rock up when it suits you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted April 15, 2015 #41 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Do you have to tip separately in the Steakhouse? Or, part of pre-paid tipping. It varies from line to line and even ship to ship. Certainly on smaller ships the waiters from the MDR also do duty in the specialty restaurants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A2Mich Posted April 15, 2015 #42 Share Posted April 15, 2015 There is one other potential benefit, in case anyone needs to do it for some reason - it allows you to pay your gratuities on one card and have your shipboard account charged to another. May be a good idea for anyone wishing to use a debit card for their onboard account if you are not planning to spend much onboard. A friend of mine did this on a previous cruise - paid the cruise fare and pre-paid gratuities on one credit card, had a few hundred dollars in OBC - then registered their debit card at check in, and only had about $100 charge at end of the week. They did this because they did not have a CC with a high limit at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted April 15, 2015 #43 Share Posted April 15, 2015 DW says that there is another advantage, if we pre-pay at the end of the cruise she can say "Well we only spent [let's say] $1200 so I can have a new pair of shoes". But if we don't pre-pay the bill is $1500. She tries to trick me to get new shoes or bags or whatever. When everyone knows the money could be better spent on Camera gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakersdozen12 Posted April 15, 2015 #44 Share Posted April 15, 2015 There is no fee credit cards that do not charge the Foreign exchange rate of 2.5% out there. That's actually not true. My Southwest VISA waives foreign transaction fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trev71 Posted April 15, 2015 #45 Share Posted April 15, 2015 That's actually not true. My Southwest VISA waives foreign transaction fees. I know I said there is no fee credit cards out there. As in you don't pay anything. Meaning no fees. Read it again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybee1965 Posted April 15, 2015 #46 Share Posted April 15, 2015 I'm planning a cruise in Hawaii on Pride of America and one site is offering the choice of additional $50 OBC OR specialty dining package OR prepaid gratuities for two OR credit to shore excursions at each port (excluding start/finish). Depending on the fine print for the excursion credit which could be up to $300 the prepaid gratuities looks like a good deal and is valued at up to $30/day so I make that $210 on a 7 night cruise. Or am I missing something?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvetwater Posted April 15, 2015 #47 Share Posted April 15, 2015 I personally feel that the ultimate cons of pre-paying is the fact that if you are not happy with any part of service theres nothing you can do about it. That out ways any pros for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducklite Posted April 15, 2015 #48 Share Posted April 15, 2015 I have yet to have service so bad that I removed gratuities. I have not given extra, but have never removed them. If things were that bad I would speak to management long before it was time to hand out gratuities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducklite Posted April 15, 2015 #49 Share Posted April 15, 2015 There is one other potential benefit, in case anyone needs to do it for some reason - it allows you to pay your gratuities on one card and have your shipboard account charged to another. May be a good idea for anyone wishing to use a debit card for their onboard account if you are not planning to spend much onboard. A friend of mine did this on a previous cruise - paid the cruise fare and pre-paid gratuities on one credit card, had a few hundred dollars in OBC - then registered their debit card at check in, and only had about $100 charge at end of the week. They did this because they did not have a CC with a high limit at the time. Why not just pay the gratuities a couple weeks in advance and make a payment to the card for them at the same time in order to maintain the credit line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulette3028 Posted April 15, 2015 #50 Share Posted April 15, 2015 I'm planning a cruise in Hawaii on Pride of America and one site is offering the choice of additional $50 OBC OR specialty dining package OR prepaid gratuities for two OR credit to shore excursions at each port (excluding start/finish). Depending on the fine print for the excursion credit which could be up to $300 the prepaid gratuities looks like a good deal and is valued at up to $30/day so I make that $210 on a 7 night cruise. Or am I missing something?? For me, it would be the pre-paid gratuities.....the least valuable would be the $50 OBC and the shore excursions might have too many items in the fine print for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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