Pre paid gratuities

[HardyVA]

We're sailing on Summit in June. Should I prepay the gratuities ($180) ?

[Biker19]

No.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Yes.

Then you won't have to worry about them later.

[HardyVA]

Will I say any money pre paying?

[dkjretired]

Will I say any money pre paying?

 

No, you will not save money. If you have on board credit it may offset how much you owe. I don't see any advantage to pre paying.

[cruisestitch]

Prepay if you want to spread out your bills over another billing cycle, or if you don't have any on board credit.

 

Otherwise there's not a lot of reason to do it.

[disfan13]

Much easier to prepay - no savings though.

[salinza33]

Just wanted to say hello:) also on the Summit in June :)

 

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[HardyVA]

We are sailing on June 4 to Bermuda.

[salinza33]

June 11th to Bermuda. You must unload as we load lol.

 

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[Gonzo70]

I would not prepay them; no advantage to doing so and you miss out on the little bit of interest your money accrues by sitting in the bank from now until the end of the cruise.

[cruisestitch]

14 day cruise x 2 pax x $13 per day tips = $364

 

Pay it 30 days before the cruise and you lose, what, less than $0.50 interest?

[Fishkillbill]

Much easier to prepay - no savings though.

 

How is it much easier to prepay? What is the process either way?

[merinski]

We don't have a big OBC this time in May, so we are pre paying ours, then when we get home it is one less bill. :)

[SantaFeFan]

If we have little OBC, we will prepay for the convenience of having a lower on-board balance to pay at the end of the cruise. Smooths out the credit card shock by spreading it out over two billing cycles. Other than that, there is no advantage either way. It's the same total amount charged.

 

As for losing the interest - seriously? People worry about 50 cents of interest when paying thousands for a vacation? Wow! If this is all you have to worry about in your life, you are truly blessed. :D

[dkjretired]

How is it much easier to prepay? What is the process either way?

 

I don't understand that either, you go on board and its done automatically, no moves to make at all..

[sanger727]

I don't understand that either, you go on board and its done automatically, no moves to make at all..

 

 

I prefer to pre-pay. Guess saying it's 'easier' isn't accurate. But I like to set a spending budget for the trip and check my bill throughout the cruise. While I have to budget for the tips either way, it just 'feels' like I'm overspending when they go on my onboard account. In my mind think I won't spend more than $200 in discretionary spending. Then when I check my bill on day 3 and it's already at $100 have to look over the bill to see that I've only 'spent' $20.

 

 

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[Gonzo70]

As for losing the interest - seriously? People worry about 50 cents of interest when paying thousands for a vacation? Wow! If this is all you have to worry about in your life, you are truly blessed. :D

 

Wow, rude and dumb comment. Not worried in the least, just the smart thing to do. By not needlessly prepaying for things (and instead keeping money in the bank until bills are due) it adds up to thousands of extra dollars over an extended period of time. Why would I give a large corporation an interest free loan? Same reason I generally owe Uncle Sam some $$$ each April; I don't give the government an interest free loan either with my taxes either.

[Siora7777]

I prepay mine if I don't have OBC. My cruise coming up, I've paid it already. Just one less thing on the credit card. I rarely spend any money onboard. Most times I owe $0 when I leave.

[springfire]

The only time I am prepaid is when they offer me free gratuities. No advantage to prepaying and you can never adjust gratuities if you prepay.

[MixerDave]

Wow, rude and dumb comment. Not worried in the least, just the smart thing to do. By not needlessly prepaying for things (and instead keeping money in the bank until bills are due) it adds up to thousands of extra dollars over an extended period of time. Why would I give a large corporation an interest free loan? Same reason I generally owe Uncle Sam some $$$ each April; I don't give the government an interest free loan either with my taxes either.

 

Gonzo - tell me where you bank where you get thousands of extra dollars - I will move my money in an instant!

[Fouremco]

There can be a financial advantage to pre-paying when the circumstances are right. For a cruise last month, I pre-paid our gratuities in 2015 when the USD-CAD exchange rate was $1.10. Had I waited until the conclusion of the cruise, I would have paid in the $1.38 range, or about $50 more in total.

 

You'll also save money by pre-paying gratuities when the daily rate is going up. If you have paid before the implementation date for the increase, you aren't charged the higher rate.

[WestLakeGirl]

We pre-paid our gratuities on our last cruise because we have a Celebrity credit card and we were shy a few points from the number needed to be able to cash them in for a price reduction on the cruise. By pre-paying the gratuities we were able to get to a $300 credit on our next statement. We would have gotten there eventually but "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" as the saying goes

[SantaFeFan]

Wow, rude and dumb comment. Not worried in the least, just the smart thing to do. By not needlessly prepaying for things (and instead keeping money in the bank until bills are due) it adds up to thousands of extra dollars over an extended period of time. Why would I give a large corporation an interest free loan? Same reason I generally owe Uncle Sam some $$$ each April; I don't give the government an interest free loan either with my taxes either.

 

To quote you: "Wow, rude and dumb comment."

 

Adds up to thousands of extra dollars? Seriously? Let's do some math here. Let's say you save 50 cents each time you take a cruise by not pre-paying your tips. At a half dollar per cruise, you will need to take 2,000 cruises for just the first of those several "thousandS" of dollars you are bragging about saving. That's 23 cruises each year for life if you live to be 85 years. And that is just for the first of all those thousands of dollars. You are a one busy cruiser!!! :rolleyes:

 

Unlike you, I am not obsessed with squeezing every molecule out of each penny I earn. Sometimes the convenience of something is worth many times more than the small amount of interest I might earn if I avoid that convenience. Life is too short to make money the deciding factor in everything one does.

 

Your comments remind me of that old saying: "Penny wise and pound foolish".

[Gonzo70]

My God it is difficult conversing with you. Obviously I am not only talking about cruises. By waitIng until bills are due (taxes, utility bills, credit card bills, cruise fares - anything you are not paying interest on while waiting to pay) until near last minute, over years, yes thousands of dollars are saved. Takes no greater time or effort to pay bills close to the due date versus paying time early. If you can't understand that I feel really bad for you.