Gratuities

[gr82cu2]

We will be cruising with RCI for the first time next spring. In the past we have cruised with NCL and Princess where our gratuities were automatically billed to our shipboard accounts. Of course, we tipped extra to those individuals that we felt went above and beyond. How does RCI do it? Are gratuities billed to the shipboard account or will we be personally handing out tips at the end of the cruise?

 

Thanks!

[Darkwolfe]

You can actually prepay your gratuities in advance of your cruise. This can be done when you book.

 

On the last night of the cruise, your cabin attendant will leave the vouchers and envelopes for you to hand out. You can also add some cash for those that have given exceptional service.

 

This way you don't have to worry about tipping during the cruise except for room service meals.

[Merion_Mom]

You can actually prepay your gratuities in advance of your cruise. This can be done when you book.

 

On the last night of the cruise, your cabin attendant will leave the vouchers and envelopes for you to hand out. You can also add some cash for those that have given exceptional service.

 

This way you don't have to worry about tipping during the cruise except for room service meals.

 

Absolutely correct.

 

Your other options are:

 

Pay the gratuities on your SeaPass while onboard. (a particularly good idea if you expect to have OBC and want to be sure to use it up) You will still get the vouchers that Darkwolfe talks about, and you can still add cash to the envelopes if you want.

 

Pay cash gratuities in those envelopes at the end of your cruise.

 

Welcome to Royal Caribbean and happy sailing! :)

[wrp96]

The standard on RCCL is to tip in cash at the end of the cruise. But you can prepay your gratuities when you book, or when you get on the ship sign up to have them added to your Seapass account. If you prepay or add them to your onboard account, you are given vouchers at the end of the cruise to give out to show your appreciation. If you want to tip more, you can add cash to the envelopes at that time.

 

If you want to tip in cash you can use this handy tip calculator created by CC member TPKeller to figure out how much to tip whom and in what denominations. http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

 

One note if you prepay your gratuities or add them to your Seapass account you cannot adjust them up or down.

[crusinanan]

We always pre-pay our gratutuies, they hand out certificates for the last night and then if we want to we add money in the envelopes with the certificates if we feel someone deserves it..have fun

 

Penny

[Cruise-Nut]

 

One note if you prepay your gratuities or add them to your Seapass account you cannot adjust them up or down.

 

You CAN adjust them up or down by going to the pursers desk after you prepay or add them to your sea pass.

[gr82cu2]

You can actually prepay your gratuities in advance of your cruise. This can be done when you book.

 

On the last night of the cruise, your cabin attendant will leave the vouchers and envelopes for you to hand out. You can also add some cash for those that have given exceptional service.

 

This way you don't have to worry about tipping during the cruise except for room service meals.

 

Wow, those were some quick answers. Thank you! We will probably have them added onto our account just because we don't want to carry that much cash with us but I was worried that if the standard on RCI is to hand out cash and we didn't, there might be some embarrassment in thinking we didn't tip at all :eek:

 

Is it a problem tracking everyone down to give them the vouchers or an extra tip? The RCI site says the envelopes are provided on the last night of the cruise? I assume this is before dinner??

[wrp96]

You CAN adjust them up or down by going to the pursers desk after you prepay or add them to your sea pass.

 

 

When did they start allowing that?

[gr82cu2]

Absolutely correct.

 

Your other options are:

 

Pay the gratuities on your SeaPass while onboard. (a particularly good idea if you expect to have OBC and want to be sure to use it up) You will still get the vouchers that Darkwolfe talks about, and you can still add cash to the envelopes if you want.

 

Pay cash gratuities in those envelopes at the end of your cruise.

 

Welcome to Royal Caribbean and happy sailing! :)

 

Thank you! We will have $225 OBC but with a 12 night cruise I don't think we'll have any trouble using that up ;) It is nice to know we can have them added to our account.

[gr82cu2]

The standard on RCCL is to tip in cash at the end of the cruise. But you can prepay your gratuities when you book, or when you get on the ship sign up to have them added to your Seapass account. If you prepay or add them to your onboard account, you are given vouchers at the end of the cruise to give out to show your appreciation. If you want to tip more, you can add cash to the envelopes at that time.

 

If you want to tip in cash you can use this handy tip calculator created by CC member TPKeller to figure out how much to tip whom and in what denominations. http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

 

One note if you prepay your gratuities or add them to your Seapass account you cannot adjust them up or down.

 

That tip calculator is very cool! Thank you!

[Darkwolfe]

Thank you! We will have $225 OBC but with a 12 night cruise I don't think we'll have any trouble using that up ;) It is nice to know we can have them added to our account.

 

 

Well, that might cover my bar tab for that trip! :D

 

Don't worry, you won't have any trouble finding the folks that earn the tips. You see them every day so you'll know where they are.

[Merion_Mom]

Well, that might cover my bar tab for that trip! :D

On a 12 night, really? ;) :D

[gr82cu2]

Well, that might cover my bar tab for that trip! :D

 

Don't worry, you won't have any trouble finding the folks that earn the tips. You see them every day so you'll know where they are.

 

Hehehe, we planned to use it to help offset our bar bill!