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Paying gratuities

gcbranscome

By gcbranscome,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Hi! I'm a 1st time cruiser and was wondering do most people pay gratuities before or after their cruise? Do you get treated differently if you pay it afterwards?

If you don't pay before the cruise, you are automatically charged daily for gratuities. Makes no difference.

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George C

George C

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I do not understand why anyone would want to prepay, why give RCCL the money before you have too. RCCL charges you daily a flat fee for tips, amount depend if you have a suite or not, ( we also normally tip extra depending on service )

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troykahack

troykahack

Posted
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I do not understand why anyone would want to prepay, why give RCCL the money before you have too. RCCL charges you daily a flat fee for tips, amount depend if you have a suite or not, ( we also normally tip extra depending on service )

 

Because it is prepaid.... that is the catch, prepaid.... nothing to worry about on the cruise.

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nets33

nets33

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I do not understand why anyone would want to prepay, why give RCCL the money before you have too. RCCL charges you daily a flat fee for tips, amount depend if you have a suite or not, ( we also normally tip extra depending on service )

 

We find it easier to budget when we prepay and makes our final on-board bill less. Yes, we understand that they are getting our money before we use the service but it's not like you're going to make a lot of interest from your bank on ~$200.

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Fouremco

Fouremco

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Posted
We find it easier to budget when we prepay and makes our final on-board bill less. Yes, we understand that they are getting our money before we use the service but it's not like you're going to make a lot of interest from your bank on ~$200.

To which I would add than for non-residents of the US, currency exchange is part of the issue. We bought $1,000 USD worth of OBC in 2015 at a conversion rate of $1.10 to cover our gratuities and other anticipated onboard expenses for a cruise next month. If I had waited to pay at the end of the cruise, even with a bit of strengthening of the Loonie over the past few weeks, I'd still be paying in the $1.35 range. That's $250 in my pocket for purchasing in advance, minus perhaps a couple of dollars in lost interest had I left it in the bank.

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MrsPete

MrsPete

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It's much easier to pre-pay the tips.

Take away the adjective "much", and I agree. Just go ahead and pay along with your cruise ticket. One less thing to consider onboard.

I do not understand why anyone would want to prepay, why give RCCL the money before you have too. RCCL charges you daily a flat fee for tips, amount depend if you have a suite or not, ( we also normally tip extra depending on service )

Does it really make any difference? You're not going to earn more than a nickle of interest on the money. You're not likely to get bad service. Why not just take care of this small chore while you're paying the rest of the bill.

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troykahack

troykahack

Posted
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To which I would add than for non-residents of the US, currency exchange is part of the issue. We bought $1,000 USD worth of OBC in 2015 at a conversion rate of $1.10 to cover our gratuities and other anticipated onboard expenses for a cruise next month. If I had waited to pay at the end of the cruise, even with a bit of strengthening of the Loonie over the past few weeks, I'd still be paying in the $1.35 range. That's $250 in my pocket for purchasing in advance, minus perhaps a couple of dollars in lost interest had I left it in the bank.

 

Interesting a different perspective and this post is not headed for deletion and locked. (I was interested in learning the CA perspective on the other Thread)

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Dixie1337

Dixie1337

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We opted not to prepay. I'd rather not voluntarily give anyone my $$ interest free, no one does that for me! It'll just end up on the same credit card at the end of the trip as it would have if I'd paid it earlier so I don't really get the idea of convenience, gotta pay the bill online either way, but whatever makes everyone happiest :)

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Fouremco

Fouremco

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We opted not to prepay. I'd rather not voluntarily give anyone my $$ interest free, no one does that for me! It'll just end up on the same credit card at the end of the trip as it would have if I'd paid it earlier so I don't really get the idea of convenience, gotta pay the bill online either way, but whatever makes everyone happiest :)

Given your experience (Really Ridiculous thread), I can't say that I blame you, but there are definitely financial benefits to be considered by Canadians and other non-US passengers willing to speculate on currency.

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Dixie1337

Dixie1337

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Given your experience (Really Ridiculous thread), I can't say that I blame you, but there are definitely financial benefits to be considered by Canadians and other non-US passengers willing to speculate on currency.

 

True, but ultimately no one can be sure what's going to happen and it's gambling either way :)

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Dixie1337

Dixie1337

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No tipped employee GETS the tips BEFORE the cruise is over. Everyone is treated the same! No worries!

 

I mean it's gambling with respect to whether the Canadian dollar will rise or fall :)

 

EDIT: Whoops, I think maybe you just accidentally quoted my text and were replying to OP!

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Lordnlkon

Lordnlkon

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We never prepay but then again we don't really budget or pay much attention to our final bill for the cruise account. It's all setup on the same card for auto pay. I can see how others would like to have it prepaid though. It won't make a difference in your cruise experience, just more a personal choice and what you are comfortable with.

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A2Mich

A2Mich

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Unless things have changed, I was under the impression that in order to book MTD, you had to prepay gratuites. So if wanting to book MTD, I believe the booking has the gratuities automatically added onto the total. At least, that's how our current booking is.

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tinkertwo

tinkertwo

Posted
Posted

Heres my thought for what its worth. My booking is in Canadian dollars so I have my tips set to pre-pay in Canadian dollars. It comes to $222.66 for the two of us, grand total.

I don't have to make a final payment till what, 90 days? Lets say 90 just for a number. So in a high rate savings account I might make a whopping 1%. If I take that $222.66 and multiply it by the 1%, divide that by 365 (number of days in the year) and multiply by 90 (number of days I will not make any interest) I will lose a grand total of........55 cents. And that's assuming I make 1% which none of my accounts do.

To have my tips pre-paid is worth .55 to me just to have it all done and over with. Its accounted for and I'm not going to have to give it a second thought on my cruise.

Now that's JMO and not everyones way of thinking. I just don't understand the argument of 'I'm giving my money to someone and not getting anything for it'. I suppose if your putting your final payment on a credit card it would be a bit different but that is not something we do. Even then your not losing a ton of money in a 90 day period. Should be paid one way or another.

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BekkaW

BekkaW

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Unless things have changed, I was under the impression that in order to book MTD, you had to prepay gratuites. So if wanting to book MTD, I believe the booking has the gratuities automatically added onto the total. At least, that's how our current booking is.

That did change some time ago. You can pre-pay if you want, but no longer required. If you call RCI you can have them removed from your account and pay onboard.

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