Gratuities Are Going Up Again, Effective 11.11.2023

[marci22]

3 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

I remember when they used to leave 4 - 5 envelopes in the cabin. Now they usually just leave 1. 

I'm guessing there is much less demand for them. If there was, they would still be leaving them.

[mjkacmom]

18 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Same with my dad. 🤣

 

I also remember some of the more popular exit ramps between toll booths also had their own toll booth for a dime.  I guess NJ didn't want people to "beat the system" by getting off an exit before the next big toll booth.

True story, my mom would always get off the parkway on route 3 and pay a dime vs. a quarter if she went through the next toll and got off the next exit.

[ace2542]

On 10/31/2023 at 7:15 PM, gavvy said:

Even more for less. Yay 

I will be removing mine and paying those who give me good service.

Do they get to keep that money though? Or does it HAVE to go into the general pot?

[marci22]

The whole 'behind the scenes' thing is bs. For years and years we got guidelines for tipping head waiter, waiter, assistant waiter and room steward. That was it.

 

Tipping behind the scenes people is RC's marketing to get more money that basically can be used however they want. You can accept it or fight it whichever way you want.

[marci22]

12 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Do they get to keep that money though? Or does it HAVE to go into the general pot?

I recently gave my waiter extra tip at the end. I asked him, 'do you get to keep this?' He said, 'you have already paid your tips so I get to keep the extra'. This is my meager data point I share with you all.

[skittl1321]

4 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

I tried removing my pre-paid gratuities and they wouldn’t let me. I used to always prepay and one time I ended up getting a couple hundred dollars of obc. I had no plans of buying anything on the ship so I thought I could remove them and then pay with the obc. They told me I couldn’t remove the pre-paid grats. There was no way I was going to lose the obc. Walked around the shops and didn’t see anything I wanted, not even for “free”. We ended up buying liquor with it. I tried removing them while on the ship so I don’t know if they can be removed before the cruise.

My interpretation of their website is that you cannot remove prepaid gratuities. Once they are paid, it's final.

"In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services onboard and will be able to do so until the morning of their departure. Guests who have pre-paid their gratuity will not see a daily charge during their cruise."

 

My interpretation: You can modify the daily amount. If you do not see a daily charge, no modification is possible.

 

 

[EmmasNana]

Sorry if this has already been addressed.

 

I have some OBC that shows on my booking that I know can be used for an excursion. If I choose to pre-pay gratuities, am I able to use this OBC towards them? My cruise is already fully paid and my plan was to the OBC for the grats.

[BecciBoo]

I tip and tip well where it's deserved, but that is my prerogative, not theirs.  We let them assess it onboard and then decide if we want to have them removed and get our envelopes.  flame on

 

[Realrunner]

23 hours ago, Billy Baltic said:

Based on the schedule released for Indy, there is nothing to compete with that itinerary in 2025. 

Independence sailing from Southampton 2025?

[Engineroom Snipe]

8 minutes ago, EmmasNana said:

Sorry if this has already been addressed.

 

I have some OBC that shows on my booking that I know can be used for an excursion. If I choose to pre-pay gratuities, am I able to use this OBC towards them? My cruise is already fully paid and my plan was to the OBC for the grats.

@EmmasNana On Oasis in September we did not prepay gratuities and were able to use OBC to pay for gratuities.

[EmmasNana]

1 minute ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

@EmmasNana On Oasis in September we did not prepay gratuities and were able to use OBC to pay for gratuities.

That is what I normally do. My question is if I want to prepay prior to getting on the ship, can I use the OBC that is considered promotional OBC and shows to use for pre cruise purchases.

[Engineroom Snipe]

Just now, EmmasNana said:

That is what I normally do. My question is if I want to prepay prior to getting on the ship, can I use the OBC that is considered promotional OBC and shows to use for pre cruise purchases.

I have never tried to do that. Looking forward to someone answering your question from experience. I dread giving "hypothetical" advice only to get you frustrated after you get onboard with bad information.

[EmmasNana]

2 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

I have never tried to do that. Looking forward to someone answering your question from experience. I dread giving "hypothetical" advice only to get you frustrated after you get onboard with bad information.

I just sent an email to my TA and will post what he says.

[ReneeFLL]

16 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

The list is solely for the accounting department so they can override the automatic billing

 

16 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I think the "list" was so the request could expedited and the info enter into the computer later. Just a way of moving folks along and keep the length of the lines at GS down. 

Thanks. I remember a while back there was a thread where people were saying the info was given to the attendants. I didn’t believe it and alway thought what would they even do with the info. This is what I thought he was talking about and didn’t know about the list at GS.

[EmmasNana]

24 minutes ago, EmmasNana said:

Sorry if this has already been addressed.

 

I have some OBC that shows on my booking that I know can be used for an excursion. If I choose to pre-pay gratuities, am I able to use this OBC towards them? My cruise is already fully paid and my plan was to the OBC for the grats.

The correct answer is you can NOT use the promotional OBC to prepay gratuities. You can only use the OBC for items in your cruise planner. BUT, you CAN

use it to pay the gratuities once on the ship.

Edited November 2, 2023 by EmmasNana

[Billy Baltic]

22 minutes ago, Realrunner said:

Independence sailing from Southampton 2025?

 

I don’t think I linked correctly but it was discussed in this thread yesterday. 

Edited November 2, 2023 by Billy Baltic

[icsys]

20 hours ago, tottenhamfc said:

Ah but that is to direct face to face people. What about the ones behind the scenes that may work much harder than the ones you see. Dishwashers, washroom attendants, cooks, etc etc. Those are who the grats are intended for. That is why I suggested a split model

of half for all and half your choice

 

14 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

How were all those people paid before autogratuities were invented?

 

Before daily auto gratuities, there were four envelopes...

one each for the cabin steward, main waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter.

 

Now it seems 43% of the gratuity goes to 'other hotel services' behind the scenes.

I'm sure they all work equally hard, but how these 'others' were paid before autograts is a good question.

[molly361]

26 minutes ago, EmmasNana said:

That is what I normally do. My question is if I want to prepay prior to getting on the ship, can I use the OBC that is considered promotional OBC and shows to use for pre cruise purchases.

No

[Pandamonia]

Just remember part of your tips go to the captain and senior management team.

 

They also need to put food on the table of the private yachts 

[nelblu]

19 hours ago, tottenhamfc said:

They wont do that because of price competition.

Just wondering, someone posted that NCL calls it a service charge and it's $20 pp/pd.  Does NCL allow removal of this charge.  I'm assuming that it is listed as a line on the invoice.

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

True story, my mom would always get off the parkway on route 3 and pay a dime vs. a quarter if she went through the next toll and got off the next exit.

Do you remember those toll booths that weren't attended, and if one was short on coins, the Parkway provided envelopes for submitting toll payments.  Wonder how many honest passengers actually submitted payments. 

 

 Not to be confused with the gratuity envelopes.🤣

[pilot]

Sounds like an easy solution is remove auto gratuity and then determine what you want to tip and go back to the old way. Tip for room steward (less than before since he is only cleaning your room once a day), tip for waiter and assistant waiter, tip for head waiter. If they decide they want to share their tips with behind the scene staff, then they can contribute. 

[ReneeFLL]

11 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

That is the winter cruise... payed it off yesterday. I'm coming.🙂

Ok, wasn’t sure if you had recently changed your mind. Since our winter and spring are pretty much the same down here I wasn’t sure which one you were talking about. 😄

 

1 hour ago, nelblu said:

If they were refundable you could have cashed the obc at GS. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t.

[ReneeFLL]

Just now, skittl1321 said:

My interpretation of their website is that you cannot remove prepaid gratuities. Once they are paid, it's final.

"In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services onboard and will be able to do so until the morning of their departure. Guests who have pre-paid their gratuity will not see a daily charge during their cruise."

 

My interpretation: You can modify the daily amount. If you do not see a daily charge, no modification is possible.

 

This was a while back and I didn’t know you couldn’t remove the pre-paid gratuities and then use obc. Learned my lesson and ended up with extra booze. At least we were able to get that and not lose the obc.

[EmmasNana]

How does that work when you prepay the gratuities and your final payment isn't due yet? Do you actually pay it prior to final payment or just have it selected as prepay? I have a cruise that is in 2024.