prepay gratuities

[donaldsc]

But multiply $200 by the number of ships by the number of people who may prepay and that is a hefty sum for the cruise line. Do you really think that they put it in a bank account?

 

DON

 

Do the math. If you assume $200 in tips, 2000 people per cruise, 10 ships, and and 10% who are silly enough to prepay tips, this means that the cruise lines generates $400,000 in float money for each cruise cycle. I am not sure how many cruise cycles per year to use so I can not calculate the total yearly float but clearly it is not insignificant.

 

DON

[MrsPete]

In other words, you want to make the cruise company an interest-free loan of your gratuities instead of trying to handle the really difficult task of figuring it out at cruise time.

 

Does this make any financial sense to anyone at all?

 

DON

Well, IF you're paying with your RC VISA, then you receive double points for pre-paying the gratuitites. If those points put you "over" the 5000 mark, then you could trade the points in for a $50 onboard credit -- that's more than you'd earn by keeping the gratuity money in your savings account. On the other hand, if you pay the gratuities with that same card at the end of your cruise, it'll be a month before your points show up on your statement; you can use them for your next cruise.

 

I can't imagine having service so bad that I would not want to pay the little bit of gratuity that they receive.

I've never had bad service on a cruise ship, so I"m not really nervous about pre-paying from that standpoint. Of course, that doesn't mean it'll never happen, but I think the odds are we'll receive good (or at least adequate) service.

[TxStacey]

I am one of the "type A" personalities that likes to pre-pay my gratuities. I like to know that everything that is a necessity and can be paid ahead of time, is paid ahead of time. Gratuities, in my opinion, are a necessity. Even if I had horrible service, I would never consider not paying my gratuities. I consider it a part of the cost of the cruise. If I receive exceptional service, I will tip more. I do not consider myself "silly" as someone in an earlier post stated.. we each have our reasons for doing what we do and no-one is right or wrong..I like the peace of mind that my cruise is paid for when board the ship, excluding any purchaes I make after I cross that golden threshold onto the ship:) .

[debt]

You should also be aware that if you pre pay gratuities and for some reason have horrible service, and don't want to tip, you're stuck. You'll have to fight with head office to get it back.

 

Just my 2 cents: I asume everyone one working on the ship is doing their best to the best of their abilities. When I pre-pay tips, everyone is sure to get the minimum suggested for tips. Now, if there happens to be a guy or gal who I feel goes above and beyond, I let them know i'm grateful at the end of the cruise with a little bit more. :cool: :cool:

[debt]

Perhaps it not that it is so difficult to figure out, rather a convenience to have it done and over with. Or in my case a way to pay some of the stuff ahead of time so I don't have a huge credit card bill when I return.

 

Plus the small amount of interest my bank is paying right now isn't worth the hassle of me wasting my time during vacation to take care of it.

 

Hear hear!! I can't say i'm as experienced at cruising as some of the voices on these boards, but one of the first things I learned was owing as little as possible when you walk up the gangplank. My friends have taken to calling me "pre-pay" because of my obsession with taking the easy way out. Not for everyone, i'm sure, but it does make it easier to set a budget for the important things: drinking, gambling and shopping.

 

:p :p

[Leafpeeper]

One thing we enjoy on other cruiselines is that they automatically charge your account daily for tips. You can have them removed if you have a problem, but it it does make it much easier to not have to think about it. As everyone says, you can always tip a little extra in cash at the end of your cruise.

 

I like prepaying the idea of prepaying tips on RCCL because I don't feel obligated to have dinner in the dining room every night. The waiter knows his tips are prepaid. He also knows you can have them removed if you have bad service.

 

We only eat in the dining room for about half of our cruise. We love room service on our balcony when we have a late departure time in port. RCCL is great because they serve hot food on room service at no charge--except your tip. You can even read the menu on your cabin tv. This makes me look forward to my Fall cruise on Jewel even more.

[01 Cobra]

My preference from now on will be to just have it added to my cruise tab and I'll adjust as appropriate based on the service (plus or minus). I prepaid once and when I went to the pursers desk to make a couple adjustments I was told that I couldn't so then I just put some cash in a tip envelope and delivered it directly (no big deal, just took a lit detour out of my last day and I'll admit it did irritate me a bit, but I felt like I needed to recognize the good service). OK, so prepaid is for some, I tried it and I'll just go with the alternative because I can tailor the tips easier. In my experience, there was no way I could even change the allocations of my prepaid tips on board the ship.

[01 Cobra]

We only eat in the dining room for about half of our cruise. We love room service on our balcony when we have a late departure time in port. RCCL is great because they serve hot food on room service at no charge--except your tip. You can even read the menu on your cabin tv. This makes me look forward to my Fall cruise on Jewel even more.

 

Virgin cruiser mistake....

My first cruise was on MOS and I thought all tips would be included in our daily tips which we would get billed for on our cruise tab, including roomservice and so we never tipped for room service. At the end of the cruise we got a note and a gift apologizing for any thing we found wrong with the room service staff...OMG :eek: I felt like a complete IDIOT! Of course, now being a continuous cruiser, we always tip for room service.

[marle7]

Just my 2 cents: I asume everyone one working on the ship is doing their best to the best of their abilities. When I pre-pay tips, everyone is sure to get the minimum suggested for tips. Now, if there happens to be a guy or gal who I feel goes above and beyond, I let them know i'm grateful at the end of the cruise with a little bit more. :cool: :cool:

 

 

There was a poster on here who had her cabin attendant help themselves to her alcohol at the end of the cruise. I wouldn't have been tipping him. And if I'd prepaid, there'd be nothing I could do about it, except fight with head office to get it back.

 

 

The waiter knows his tips are prepaid. He also knows you can have them removed if you have bad service.

 

 

If you have pre paid, you cannot have them removed.

[debt]

There was a poster on here who had her cabin attendant help themselves to her alcohol at the end of the cruise. I wouldn't have been tipping him. And if I'd prepaid, there'd be nothing I could do about it, except fight with head office to get it back.

 

 

If you have pre paid, you cannot have them removed.

 

 

 

 

Maybe it's just my card carrying liberal leanings, but for most people, stealing is more about survival then anything else. Now granted, stealing liquor pushes the limits of survival, but considering the personal histories of the majority of cruise ship employees, stealing is not likely that uncommon. In regards to the example you gave, I take it the poster reported the theft to the purser. Considering the bad apple was likely kept out of the tip distribution for that cruise, having prepaid my tips would have given everyone a bigger base since they were one person down. Seriously though, pre, post or not tipping is too subjective to reach a firm conclusion on.

[KelJ]

If you have pre paid, you cannot have them removed.

 

On RCCL, sure you can. You can have prepaid tips removed but not adjusted.

[marle7]

On RCCL, sure you can. You can have prepaid tips removed but not adjusted.

 

Interesting, because we could not. If you put them on your seapass you can, but not if they were prepaid. Possibly this had something to do with booking through a TA, maybe if you are paying direct you can. We even spoke to the financial controller on board and were not able to do so. We had to call head office when we got back to get a credit on our visa.

[Don Pedro]

In other words, you want to make the cruise company an interest-free loan of your gratuities instead of trying to handle the really difficult task of figuring it out at cruise time.

 

Does this make any financial sense to anyone at all?

 

DON

 

You are right, the amount to tip really isn't that hard to figure. Especially if you use tp keller's great tipping guide.

 

But as others have pointed-out convenience and RCCL credit card points also have value. We rarely eat in the dining room and never on the last night of the cruise. By putting the tips on our seapass account we save ourselves a special trip just to deliver tips.

 

Although we wait until after we are on the cruise to request that the tips be placed on our account we don't fault those who have it added to the price of their cruise.

 

With the average checking account earning only about a half of one percent interest, paying ones tips in advance does not seem to warrant too much concern. On a seven night cruise the tips for two passengers would be about $140.

 

With the final payment due 70 days before the sailing date the interest lost would be less than fourteen cents ($140 x .005 divided by 365 x 70). We just don't think that is enough to get our knickers in a knot.

[My2Kitties]

we like to put them on our seapass while on board...then we get the vouchers and envelops and add cash to the ones we feel were exceptional...we still like to hand it to the staff and thank them personally for making our vacation so wonderful and if we were to ever get bad service we can adjust accordingly and tell them why...we also get coffee every morning and tip each time room service brings our coffee...

 

Either way you decide to pay is fine...just don't forget anyone they work for those tips...