Paying gratuities

[pudy68]

To me, the only benefit of pre-paying is to reduce the sorting through all of the line items in your folio. It makes spotting something that shouldn't be there a lot easier, too. If you have one credit card assigned to multiple rooms, then you are talking about a lot of line items to review by the end of your cruise.

 

 

Because we have OBC to use up, we won't be prepaying, but if we didn't, I would do it just to keep a tidy folio.

[north29]

Thank you everyone! I went ahead paid the gratuities.

 

GOOD Choice

[dcgrumpy]

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.

 

 

 

I feel the same way. I prefer to have as much prepaid as possible. I didn't add prepaid gratuities until after final payment so the interest was even less, something like 28 cents.

[TexanInBrazil]

For us, a family of five, the tip amount is kind of large so we will pay at the end. This way, our deposit falls on one cc billing cycle, our final payment on another, and our onboard expenses on yet another. Since we pay our cc bill in full every month, having the 3 portions on 3 different billing cycles enables us to still pay in full each month rather than having all of it on one month. (or, similarly, if we were using a debit card)

 

If we weren't paying the cc bill in full each month, it wouldn't matter. Just another perspective I've not seen mentioned, and one reason NOT to pre-pay, if you don't particularly want to.

[robtulipe]

The main advantage to Canadian prepaying the gratuities is that typically, for us anyway, RCI has always used a favourable exchange rate to do so in $CAD. The prepaid gratuities in $CAD for our April 14 nights Freedom TA cruise we just booked is at an exchange rate of 1.29. If we waited and paid in $US onboard with our credit card it we would pay around 1.34 with our credit card conversion fees and actual exchange rate at today's interbank exchange rate. So we are immediately 5% ahead and in the unlikely event that the $CAD should increase in value more than 5% against the $US in the next two months or so, we can still cancel the prepaid gratuities, get a full refund in $CAD and pay onboard in $US.

For us it is a no brainer to prepay as the saving right now is approximately $19CAD or $14.50US on a booking for two. :D

Edited February 15, 2017 by robtulipe

[Dixie1337]

The main advantage to Canadian prepaying the gratuities is that typically, for us anyway, RCI has always used a favourable exchange rate to do so in $CAD. The prepaid gratuities in $CAD for our April 14 nights Freedom TA cruise we just booked is at an exchange rate of 1.29. If we waited and paid in $US onboard with our credit card it we would pay around 1.34 with our credit card conversion fees and actual exchange rate at today's interbank exchange rate. So we are immediately 5% ahead and in the unlikely event that the $CAD should increase in value more than 5% against the $US in the next two months or so, we can still cancel the prepaid gratuities, get a full refund in $CAD and pay onboard in $US.

For us it is a no brainer to prepay as the saving right now is approximately $19CAD or $14.50US on a booking for two. :D

 

I've got a credit card that waives the conversion fees for US transactions. Because of this I opted out of RCI's currency conversion program for onboard charges because that specifically mentioned a 3% conversion fee.

 

 

But does anyone have any idea if the charges you book with RCI before the cruise also have a 3% fee? Something I've been wondering but haven't been able to find.

[Clarea]

... But does anyone have any idea if the charges you book with RCI before the cruise also have a 3% fee? Something I've been wondering but haven't been able to find.

Aren't the charges you book pre-cruise in CAD, so would not be subject to any conversion fee?

[Dixie1337]

Aren't the charges you book pre-cruise in CAD, so would not be subject to any conversion fee?

 

Well, yes, but they are converting it. The prepaid Canadian gratuities aren't $13.50 CAD per day ;)

[Clarea]

Well, yes, but they are converting it. The prepaid Canadian gratuities aren't $13.50 CAD per day ;)

I need Ken to explain this.:confused:

[Dixie1337]

I need Ken to explain this.:confused:

 

I kind of doubt they're converting to CAD for altruistic reasons but maybe I'm wrong and I'm curious if the conversions they're doing offer a better rate than waiting to pay onboard with a CC that doesn't charge conversion fees for USD transactions.

[Fouremco]

I kind of doubt they're converting to CAD for altruistic reasons but maybe I'm wrong and I'm curious if the conversions they're doing offer a better rate than waiting to pay onboard with a CC that doesn't charge conversion fees for USD transactions.

RCI's prices on the Canadian site are generally converted at a rate that is advantageous for the passenger. That applies to cruise bookings as well as various pre-cruise purchases. I always compare prices versus the US site with whatever cruise line I'm booking and have always found the prices on the Canadian sites to be better. This l-o-n-g thread provides plenty of details on RCI's exchange rates:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2159570&highlight=Canadian

 

In 2015, when I bought my OBC for a cruise next month, the conversion rate from RCI was $1.10 versus a going rate in the range of $1.35. Quite a bonus! RCI made a correction rate later which placed it more in line with bank rates, but as the Loonie continued to fall, it was still a good deal. If you think that the Loonie is going to strengthen significantly between now and the end of your cruise, hold off paying.

[Dixie1337]

RCI's prices on the Canadian site are generally converted at a rate that is advantageous for the passenger. That applies to cruise bookings as well as various pre-cruise purchases. I always compare prices versus the US site with whatever cruise line I'm booking and have always found the prices on the Canadian sites to be better. This l-o-n-g thread provides plenty of details on RCI's exchange rates:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2159570&highlight=Canadian

 

In 2015, when I bought my OBC for a cruise next month, the conversion rate from RCI was $1.10 versus a going rate in the range of $1.35. Quite a bonus! RCI made a correction rate later which more in line with bank rates, but as the Loonie continued to fall, it was still a good deal. If you think that the Loonie is going to strengthen significantly between now and the end of your cruise, hold off paying.

 

Thanks!

[TickledBlue]

I'm surprised by the various reasons for pre-paying or not pre-paying gratuities. As with almost anything with a cruise, there isn't one answer that will apply to everyone since there are a lot of different situations and preferences.

 

Thanks everyone for the education :)

[LMaxwell]

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

 

Why do people always say "worry". What are they worried over?

 

Do people routinely pre-pay their cable or water bills so they don't have to worry when the bill comes in the mail?

 

I do not pre-pay. I am not worried. The bill is the same at the end, and if I get any OBC I can use that to offset the bill. I am glad they did away with the policy of requiring pre-payment with MTD. For many years no matter how far out I booked I was told they only had MTD and I had to prepay gratuity. In that case people with early or late seating could use OBC to offset a bill, but I was not allowed to do the same and did not think that was a fair or consistent policy to impose on guests.

 

Unless it triggered a spend amount on a credit card to get a reward or points (spend $250 on Amex, get a $75 statement credit, etc.) I see no point. This is for straight USD I am speaking of.

[RELAX ME]

If you plan to use an onboard credit to help pay gratuities do not prepay.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[robtulipe]

Well, yes, but they are converting it. The prepaid Canadian gratuities aren't $13.50 CAD per day ;)

The prepaid gratuities for our April Freedom TA cruise is $17.42CAD per day or 29% more in our currency compared to the $13.50US per day as I mentioned in my post above

The cruise fare was 30.5% more for us in $CAD compared to the $US price for the same category of cabin at that time. The $CAD price we paid had a effective exchange rate that was actually slightly better then the interbank CAD to US rate when we booked just over a week ago as our dollar was at just over 1.31US then. There wasn't any credit card conversion fee and credit card company inflated exchange rate coming into play by paying in $CAD so that was the greatest benefit of doing the booking in $CAD.

Edited February 16, 2017 by robtulipe