Rare ScratchTheRat Posted January 25, 2021 #1 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Hey there, looking to book first RCCL cruise and I’d like My Time Dining. Ive noticed that if you book this you have to pay the gratuities up front. can you remove these after? im not wishing to start arguments over tipping , I’m just asking the question, as I know Americans don’t need to do this, just us! thanks all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFerrington Posted January 25, 2021 #2 Share Posted January 25, 2021 You do not have to pay gratuities up front. If you are planning on declining gratuities (allowed, but not recommended), you should not prepay them. Just wait until you board and then go to Guest Services and ask to have them declined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted January 25, 2021 #3 Share Posted January 25, 2021 13 minutes ago, ScratchTheRat said: Hey there, looking to book first RCCL cruise and I’d like My Time Dining. Ive noticed that if you book this you have to pay the gratuities up front. can you remove these after? im not wishing to start arguments over tipping , I’m just asking the question, as I know Americans don’t need to do this, just us! thanks all Did they not remove the restriction of having prepaid gratuities for MTD from UK bookings as they did for North American bookings several years ago. I believe when it was a requirement for North American bookings that these were difficult to remove once in board. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted January 26, 2021 #4 Share Posted January 26, 2021 3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said: Did they not remove the restriction of having prepaid gratuities for MTD from UK bookings as they did for North American bookings several years ago. I believe when it was a requirement for North American bookings that these were difficult to remove once in board. Is it not part of the cruise ticket price through the TA ? Big box TA can give you gratuity as a bonus., normal TA have to pay there utilities with it . Shore side and the TA would have to refund /re price . Australian price has to include all taxes and fees in the total no add on' s . On board they cannot see the breakdown of the invoice. Why would anyone want to remove them ... Oh ok they are from the UK 😇 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB_NJ Posted January 26, 2021 #5 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Others may correct me however I think the requirement for prepaid gratuities for MyTime has been there awhile however I have not seen it enforced. FYI, if you want to book a cruise I would look for dates in late 2022. Anything before then is a gamble as to whether the cruise will happen, what ports you will actually stop at, and what the cruise will be like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ought To Be Cruising Posted January 26, 2021 #6 Share Posted January 26, 2021 IDK but I booked a cruise three hours ago with RCI . I choose My Time Dining. Prepaid gratuities were not mentioned.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted January 26, 2021 #7 Share Posted January 26, 2021 29 minutes ago, New Mexico 8 said: IDK but I booked a cruise three hours ago with RCI . I choose My Time Dining. Prepaid gratuities were not mentioned.. The poster is from the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted January 26, 2021 #8 Share Posted January 26, 2021 54 minutes ago, LB_NJ said: Others may correct me however I think the requirement for prepaid gratuities for MyTime has been there awhile however I have not seen it enforced. FYI, if you want to book a cruise I would look for dates in late 2022. Anything before then is a gamble as to whether the cruise will happen, what ports you will actually stop at, and what the cruise will be like. They removed the requirement for prepaid gratuities for US sailings several years ago. The poster is from the UK. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norwich Cruiser Posted January 26, 2021 #9 Share Posted January 26, 2021 2 hours ago, Hogbay said: Is it not part of the cruise ticket price through the TA ? Big box TA can give you gratuity as a bonus., normal TA have to pay there utilities with it . Shore side and the TA would have to refund /re price . Australian price has to include all taxes and fees in the total no add on' s . On board they cannot see the breakdown of the invoice. Why would anyone want to remove them ... Oh ok they are from the UK 😇 What’s the U.K. got to do with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ScratchTheRat Posted January 26, 2021 Author #10 Share Posted January 26, 2021 2 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said: What’s the U.K. got to do with it? UK passengers have to pre pay gratuities for my time dining Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted January 26, 2021 #11 Share Posted January 26, 2021 53 minutes ago, ScratchTheRat said: UK passengers have to pre pay gratuities for my time dining And Australian. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare little britain Posted January 26, 2021 #12 Share Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) UK customers have to prepay the gratuities when booking MTD on “some” sailings... I’ve found it’s mainly those from Southampton. Or those with a high UK demographic count ( like from Dubai last year). I have a cruise booked with RCI UK going from Rome and I did not have to prepay the grats for MTD. @ScratchTheRat try a dummy booking from Miami and see if it forces you to prepay or not?? Edited January 26, 2021 by little britain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeDaKi Posted January 26, 2021 #13 Share Posted January 26, 2021 12 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said: Hey there, looking to book first RCCL cruise and I’d like My Time Dining. Ive noticed that if you book this you have to pay the gratuities up front. can you remove these after? im not wishing to start arguments over tipping , I’m just asking the question, as I know Americans don’t need to do this, just us! thanks all Yes you can remove these after! When booking any worldwide cruise from UK/Ireland, I've always found that the option to deselect prepaid gratuities is always greyed out when I select My Time Dining. However after you make your booking online, you can then call RCCL directly afterwards and they will remove the prepaid gratuities from your booking. Always works for me 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiWilliams Posted January 26, 2021 #14 Share Posted January 26, 2021 As others have said above, when booking through the UK website gratuities are automatically added if you select My Time Dining. If you call and book via the UK phone line the price they quote will also include gratuities but you can ask for them to be removed and have them added to your onboard account. We usually pre-pay - there may be an advantage if they decide to increase the gratuity amount prior to sailing? - but also have bookings where we have not pre-paid and plan to use onboard credit towards the gratuities. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norwich Cruiser Posted January 26, 2021 #15 Share Posted January 26, 2021 5 hours ago, little britain said: UK customers have to prepay the gratuities when booking MTD on “some” sailings... I’ve found it’s mainly those from Southampton. Or those with a high UK demographic count ( like from Dubai last year). I have a cruise booked with RCI UK going from Rome and I did not have to prepay the grats for MTD. @ScratchTheRat try a dummy booking from Miami and see if it forces you to prepay or not?? That’s correct we haven’t found that we have to pre pay gratuities anymore probably for the past two or three years and we nearly always book MTD.On our last IOS sailing from Southampton about two years ago we again never pre paid gratuities.We do however pay the suggested gratuities and depending on service received which is usually excellent add on accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LB_NJ Posted January 26, 2021 #16 Share Posted January 26, 2021 Changing the subject slightly, is there any rational for requiring pre-paid gratuities for MTD? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted January 26, 2021 #17 Share Posted January 26, 2021 22 minutes ago, LB_NJ said: Changing the subject slightly, is there any rationale for requiring pre-paid gratuities for MTD? I'm sure RCI had one, way back when that was a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norwich Cruiser Posted January 26, 2021 #18 Share Posted January 26, 2021 1 hour ago, LB_NJ said: Changing the subject slightly, is there any rational for requiring pre-paid gratuities for MTD? None that I know of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare little britain Posted January 26, 2021 #19 Share Posted January 26, 2021 3 hours ago, LB_NJ said: Changing the subject slightly, is there any rational for requiring pre-paid gratuities for MTD? Because you have different waiters every night so it was to ensure all waiters got their fair share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted January 26, 2021 #20 Share Posted January 26, 2021 1 minute ago, little britain said: Because you have different waiters every night so it was to ensure all waiters got their fair share? Yes, that was the original logic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now