Can I prepay Carnival gratuity?

[draco_m]

Heading out on the Inspiration on Nov 30. I’ve done a couple Carnival cruises and enjoyed them. I do not like the gratuities hitting my account though. It confuses how much I’ve spent and how much credit I have left and my budgeting. So I’d like to prepay the gratuity before I get on the ship so it never hits my account. Is that possible?

[BenjiRodney]

Yes call them or whoever you booked with and tell them you wish to prepay. We always do before each cruise, one thing less to worry about.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GUT2407]

I believe so.

[WISH84]

Heading out on the Inspiration on Nov 30. I’ve done a couple Carnival cruises and enjoyed them. I do not like the gratuities hitting my account though. It confuses how much I’ve spent and how much credit I have left and my budgeting. So I’d like to prepay the gratuity before I get on the ship so it never hits my account. Is that possible?

 

Yes, and if you have the means, I highly recommend it. LOL

[SMSACE6]

Yes you certainly can. I did this last year and again this year. I also like to just keep my on board account strictly what I spend on board. If you have a TA they should be able to do this for you, or if you are dealing with Carnival directly, just do it online, or call them and prepay.

 

Have a great cruise:)

[draco_m]

Thanks guys.

 

Now that I think about it - I have some credit on this cruise. If there is *any* chance I won't use all my credit on drinks, etc then I would want the credit to pay for my gratuities. (Does that make sense?) So now I'm not so sure I want to prepay the gratuities.

 

I'll think about it some more. I appreciate all the quick responses. This was my first time posting and I can see this is a valuable community.

[SMSACE6]

I am not 100pc sure, but I believe that on board credit will not apply to gratuities. Of course I could be wrong, I have just not had obc before, but seem to remember seeing posts where on board credit did not apply to gratuities.

[mrpayroll]

I am not 100pc sure, but I believe that on board credit will not apply to gratuities. Of course I could be wrong, I have just not had obc before, but seem to remember seeing posts where on board credit did not apply to gratuities.

 

We always use whatever is left of OBC to offset the gratuities. :)

[draco_m]

We always use whatever is left of OBC to offset the gratuities. :)

 

You guys are both correct I think. The policy is the OBC cannot be used for gratuities. However, I took a Carnival Cruise in 2014 and the remaining OBC did indeed go against gratuities. I have a feeling the computer system at Carnival has no way of tracking the difference and only applying the OBC to drinks or pictures or whatever.

 

I get $50 OBC because I own Carnival stock and I got an additional $30 when I booked my reservation - that was the promo at the time.

[SadieN]

Never had an issue using future cruise/shareholder/promotional OBC used for autograts.

[rufflesmom]

Just an FYI. Even if you prepay gratuities they will show up on your account as a charge and as a credit.

[RaiderFaninNM]

Can you prepay AFTER you paid for the cruise?

[mrpayroll]

Can you prepay AFTER you paid for the cruise?

 

Yes you can......:)

[bob7judy]

If you can snag some of the gift cards at 10% off, you can use them to prepay gratuities also.

[Minkster1973]

Can you prepay AFTER you paid for the cruise?

 

I paid my cruise off and my PVP called me and asked me if I wanted to go ahead and take care of the gratuities ahead of time. I absolutely did and was very excited to find out I could do it.

 

Now if there are any price drops (there has been one thus far) they will go towards OBC. Yay!

[draco_m]

If you can snag some of the gift cards at 10% off, you can use them to prepay gratuities also.

 

I'm not a customer of either Verizon or AARP so I don't think I can qualify.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

Carnival, like any business, would love to get your money before you even board a ship. If everyone paid their gratuities up front that is some $30,000 per ship, for every ship that sails, in Carnivals coffers earning interest long before they have to spend it.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Sweet Dutch Girl

[draco_m]

Carnival, like any business, would love to get your money before you even board a ship. If everyone paid their gratuities up front that is some $30,000 per ship, for every ship that sails, in Carnivals coffers earning interest long before they have to spend it.

 

Add a zero on that!

 

2,500 passengers times 7 days times $12/day equals $210,000.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

Add a zero on that!

 

2,500 passengers times 7 days times $12/day equals $210,000.

 

Not my best math day. Thanks for the headsup. Now it seems even more ridiculous to pay in advance. Won't catch me spending my money before I absolutely have to. That could be close to 4million dollars for Carnival per week to earn interest.

Edited October 21, 2015 by Sweet Dutch Girl

[firemanbobswife]

Not my best math day. Thanks for the headsup. Now it seems even more ridiculous to pay in advance. Won't catch me spending my money before I absolutely have to. That could be close to 4million dollars for Carnival per week to earn interest.

 

Who cares? I pay for my cruises and onboard account with 10% off gift cards so they already have my money anyway. I start buying them most times before I even have anything booked. I like to prepay my tips and start my cruise with a zero balance.

 

Glad to see the OP got their question answered. Have a great cruise!

[PalmTreeBound]

If you want to prepay gratuities, everyone in the cabin has to. I recently traveled with a friend. I wanted to prepay, she didn't so I couldn't do it.

[Markmom18]

I have purchased $100 in Cruise Cash for myself. Can I have that applied to my gratuities ? I'm already signed in for a CASH account onboard. This is just a 4 night cruise on the Imagination.

It's late and I saw this thread, so I can't call Carnival to ask.

Thanks!

😀. Bobbi

[momof3cruisers]

Not my best math day. Thanks for the headsup. Now it seems even more ridiculous to pay in advance. Won't catch me spending my money before I absolutely have to. That could be close to 4million dollars for Carnival per week to earn interest.

 

I don't care what others do, but I also don't like the idea of pre paying gratuities. Heck, I don't even like it when they hit my account midweek. I'd like to pay my gratuities AFTER I have received the service.

[bob7judy]

I'm not a customer of either Verizon or AARP so I don't think I can qualify.

 

You don't have to be a member of AARP. You can go to their website and take little quizzes to build up points and use them for the purchase. It is real easy.

[RiotAct]

Not my best math day. Thanks for the headsup. Now it seems even more ridiculous to pay in advance. Won't catch me spending my money before I absolutely have to. That could be close to 4million dollars for Carnival per week to earn interest.

 

I guess one reason for pre-paying would be, if they decide to raise the daily gratuity rate again, you'd be locked in at the lower rate (someone please correct me if I'm wrong)?