tipping

[RNsoon2beNP]

Out of Curiosity, how many ppl do prepaid tipping? In the past II have done prepaid tipping and tip extra accordingly. But prepaid seems to take the guest work out of the biggest chunk of it for me. I'm a fan of tipping for good service, I was in the service industry for years. But I have friends that have cruised and don't do prepaid tipping, so now it has me second guessing. Thanks for any input!

[crooooze]

We have never pre-paid tips. It's one more thing we'd have to worry about getting refunded if we had to cancel for unforseen reasons.

[Who Cares?]

Out of Curiosity, how many ppl do prepaid tipping? In the past II have done prepaid tipping and tip extra accordingly. But prepaid seems to take the guest work out of the biggest chunk of it for me. I'm a fan of tipping for good service, I was in the service industry for years. But I have friends that have cruised and don't do prepaid tipping, so now it has me second guessing. Thanks for any input!

 

I've only done prepaid tipping twice out of 15+ cruises. Once to pay a lower amount on NCL as they changed the tipping amount between the time I booked my cruise and the actual sail date and I was offered the option of paying the lower rate prior to sailing. The other time was because I took my kids and paid for their cabin and tips up front so they wouldn't have to pay the tips. Otherwise, I wait and let the tips hit my final bill when leaving the cruise. Not much interest earned on the amount the tips will be so either way works fine. I would say if you want a smaller final bill then prepay the tips. If you have OBC or aren't worried about the final bill wait until you leave the cruise to pay them. Either way is perfectly fine and it's up to the individual and their preferences.

[Who Cares?]

We have never pre-paid tips. It's one more thing we'd have to worry about getting refunded if we had to cancel for unforseen reasons.

 

If you cancel (depending on when you cancel), any prepaid items, taxes, and port charges are automatically refunded.

[Micahs Grandad]

I see no reason to pay for stuff before we have too.

[Who Cares?]

I see no reason to pay for stuff before we have too.

 

As stated, some people like to go on a cruise knowing they will have no final bill when they leave and prepay everything. Nothing wrong with that if that is what they choose.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Who Cares?

[LaCal]

We prepay the tips each time.....one less thing on the final bill to worry about :D

[Micahs Grandad]

As stated, some people like to go on a cruise knowing they will have no final bill when they leave and prepay everything. Nothing wrong with that if that is what they choose.

 

If people want to prepay for things before they leave that is certainly their decision. I just said what we prefer to do.

[summersigh]

We register a credit card for the Sail & Sign charges. The auto-gratuities are added on 2 or 3 days before the end of the cruise.

 

We just got off the Sunshine and had excellent service by cabin and MDR staff.... couldn't have been better if we'd tipped them in cash ahead of time :) and the behind the scenes workers that get a portion were obviously doing their job as we had no complaints about clean anywhere aboard.

 

We do slip an extra bit of "green" into the palms of those folks who do an especially good job of "taking care" of us.:)

[RiotAct]

I prepay ours, as well.

[Iheartcruising78]

Same prepay....and at the end extra if they were awesome...which they usually are!!!

[jb5]

I have done it both ways and I would rather pre pay. It's just one less thing to be tacked on my bill at the end of the cruise.

[Amyracecar]

We always prepay just to reduce the final bill a bit if we can. We still give extra to people who we have direct contact with like our room and wait staff, and a few others. I don't see any difference in service either way so it's just a personal preference thing.

[cb at sea]

Either way, you pay it...now or later! Doesn't matter to the staff....so it's your preference!

[Crapshoot1983]

We prepay. Might as well get it out of the way.

 

 

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[springs741]

My preference is to pre pay. I usually have it added right before we make our final payment. That small amount isn't going to earn much interest. I know the adage of take care of the pennies and that dollars will take care of themselves but I like having it out of the way.

 

As cb at sea posted," Either way, you pay it...now or later! Doesn't matter to the staff....so it's your preference!"

[Elaine5715]

We register a credit card for the Sail & Sign charges. The auto-gratuities are added on 2 or 3 days before the end of the cruise.

 

We just got off the Sunshine and had excellent service by cabin and MDR staff.... couldn't have been better if we'd tipped them in cash ahead of time :) and the behind the scenes workers that get a portion were obviously doing their job as we had no complaints about clean anywhere aboard.

 

We do slip an extra bit of "green" into the palms of those folks who do an especially good job of "taking care" of us.:)

 

Crew do not receive gratuities until after the cruise when guests prepaid for personal convenience.

[Elaine5715]

I always prepay. Nothing finer than dreaming about a upcoming vacation that is fully paid.

[firemanbobswife]

I always prepay as I like to have it all done and over with. The only exception was this last time as my room mate on paper was actually staying in another room so we didn't because then it would have just confused the issue for the room steward portion.

[h_blond2]

We pre pay the tips and tip our stewards extra once we are on the ship.

[firemanbobswife]

Oh and we also give extra to our room steward and wait staff.

[RiotAct]

My preference is to pre pay. I usually have it added right before we make our final payment. That small amount isn't going to earn much interest."

 

Exactly. I mean, you could make the argument that $x today is worth more than $x a year from now due to inflation, but the difference is pretty minimal. Plus, there's no telling if Carnival will raise the amount of the daily gratuities in the period between now and your cruise, as well.

[E&B]

Always prepay.

[quickrate]

Out of Curiosity, how many ppl do prepaid tipping? In the past II have done prepaid tipping and tip extra accordingly. But prepaid seems to take the guest work out of the biggest chunk of it for me. I'm a fan of tipping for good service, I was in the service industry for years. But I have friends that have cruised and don't do prepaid tipping, so now it has me second guessing. Thanks for any input!

We always prepay tips as it's one more thing that is prepaid before we leave. Service would have to be disastrous before we would even consider removing tips as we have both been in the service industry and understand the importance of the gratuitiy. We usually tip more, only when service has been below standard have we not tipped more and that has only been a couple of times in 23 cruises.

Pat

[summersigh]

Crew do not receive gratuities until after the cruise when guests prepaid for personal convenience.

 

I knew that :)

I was merely referring to when the tip $$ were added to the Sail and Sign account if you were using a credit card to pay.