Paid too much

Just found out I paid too much for a cruise on the new Ovation. Can I have the Gratitudes removed and can I not pay for them at all? Thanks.

Just found out I paid too much for a cruise on the new Ovation. Can I have the Gratitudes removed and can I not pay for them at all? Thanks.

Sorry... did you over pay?.. or not realize how much it is and want to remove gratuities to save money?

If its not too late.. I would just cancel the cruise....

Just found out I paid too much for a cruise on the new Ovation. Can I have the Gratitudes removed and can I not pay for them at all? Thanks.

I had to read this twice. is that what you meant to say? you don't want to pay the gratuities?

I do not want to pay gratitude's....I paid lots more for cruise at this company then on other sites. Trying to get it to a more reasonable cost.

I do not want to pay gratitude's....I paid lots more for cruise at this company then on other sites. Trying to get it to a more reasonable cost.

You CAN remove gratuities... you SHOULD not though.

Your average person here will vilify you for this.

I would suggest looking at a cheaper option as opposed to removing well earned gratuities.

I do not want to pay gratitude's....I paid lots more for cruise at this company then on other sites. Trying to get it to a more reasonable cost.

The service model of cruising is based around paying gratuities. They make up most of the staff's wages. I know it's not usual for us in Australia, but that is the system you have agreed to participate in.

The fact that you could have paid less for the cruise buying it from another company (sounds like you purchased through a travel agent?) is nothing to do with the staff. It is not their fault and they should not have to work for less because of it.

Cruise pricing is like airlines, it goes up and down all the time. So ther will be people on your ship who paid less and probably people who paid more. You obviously thought the price was ok when you booked? If you can cancel or get a price drop then do so, but don't punish the staff.

Also, Ovation as a new ship is generally expensive. All new ships are like that for the first few years until the novelty wears off.

The gratuities are only a fraction of the cost of the cruse? so you are not going to save a great deal there and do you really want to begrudge paying your fraction to the service crew that do in general an amazing job to help you enjoy your cruse?

I do not want to pay gratitude's....I paid lots more for cruise at this company then on other sites. Trying to get it to a more reasonable cost.

Don't take your lack of planning and frugalness out on the staff who wait on you hand and foot.

It's not your cabin steward's fault you didn't shop around and find the best price.

Talk to your travel agency about the better rate. Perhaps then can help you out, but don't punish the staff for your lack of research.

The OP did not ask if she should remove the gratuities but CAN she.

The answer is yes, go to the services desk and ask for them to be removed and they will no questions asked, like wise if pre paid ask your travel agent (or direct to RCI via phone ) to remove prepaid gratuities, they will again no questions asked.

This topic is a hot button with many people as you have already seen that will lecture you from their soap box on what is right or fair regarding tips but in the end how you tip or even if you tip is completely up to you.

I'm sure a certain number of cruiser remove their tips ech cruise and either do it in cash or don't do it at all, this cannot be new or shocking to anyone.

I would strongly suggest you look at cancelling your cruise (if not to late) and rebooking.

Good luck and in the end just enjoy your Hoilday.

Just found out I paid too much for a cruise on the new Ovation. Can I have the Gratitudes removed and can I not pay for them at all? Thanks.

Unless you have already paid them, you can have gratuities removed. The amount is typically around $100 on a 7 day cruise.

You will have to continue to pay service charges on drinks, etc. These charges are not optional.

If your cruise departure is more than 75 days away, you could simply cancel.

Given that Quantum is a brand new ship, I wonder at being able to find a significant difference is pricing for any of its voyages less than 75 days out.

It has probably happened to several of us. I booked a fancy owners loft suite on a new ship for a two week Med cruise. Several months later, reconciled that the cruise was just a little too pricey for my budget and cashed out my deposit for a Thanksgiving cruise on Oasis. Brought the kids and grandparents. Everyone had a great time. Point of the story was to book the right cruise for my budget and not first go to gratuities to make up the shortfall. Not being critical, just saying that I'm sure many of us have booked an expensive cruise in the heat of the moment and have reevaluated after the fact. No shame in that.

I do not want to pay gratitude's....I paid lots more for cruise at this company then on other sites. Trying to get it to a more reasonable cost.

IT is your money,yes you can remove the gratitude's. Just go to customer service.And yes royal has been a little crazy with their prices.They should pay their own workers.And we should tip as we please.:)

I do not want to pay gratitude's....I paid lots more for cruise at this company then on other sites. Trying to get it to a more reasonable cost.

In order to lower your cost, you will be taking away what crew members depend on for their wages:confused:

When is your cruise? Have you checked for price reductions since booking? When you say another company is cheaper, could it really mean the price has gone down?

IT is your money,yes you can remove the gratitude's. Just go to customer service.And yes royal has been a little crazy with their prices.They should pay their own workers.And we should tip as we please.:)

Yes, RCI should pay their workers a proper wage....but until they do removing gratuities and failing to tip at all (which I assume the OP was proposing) does nothing except unjustifiably punish the crew.

Perhaps the OP doesn't realise that "gratitudes" (i.e. gratuities) and tips are the same thing and the crew rely on them to get a decent wage.

On the other hand if the OP removes the gratuities and then makes up for it with individual tips then there is no problem...but that defeats the point of trying to make the cruise cheaper.

Re-booking or cancelling might not be a way for the OP, as she´s from Australia and she would probably at least lose her deposit.

While the gratuities can be removed I absolutely see no excuse to punish the hard working crew for the OP´s mistake of not Shopping around and paying more than she wanted to.

It is one thing to think one overpaid for something like this cruise, but this shouldn´t be made out on some employees that are on the lower end of the Food chain within the Company.

You can bet you won´t send a message to anyone with this other than to punish the crew. Not only will the crew not get properly paid for their work, they might even get punished more as the lack of tips could be used as a reflection on their Performance.

While I tend to agree with the Sentiment of the Company should be paying proper wages, at this Point it´s not how it works and at the end of the day I think it´s just semantics.

If you just Change the words tip / gratuity to Service Charge it´s still the same Kind of Money, or you could add it towards the cruise fare.

However you Change the words around, the bottom line will be the same.

Tips, gratuities, Service charges or whatever words you will use for it should be seen as part of the vacation cost.

IMO it´s a shame they let People back out of it, but it is what it is.

Everybody should live within their own means, that´s financial and ethical wise.

If I can´t afford an item I shouldn´t buy it. If I take a vacation I shouldn´t do so on the expense of others, like those who make this vacation an enjoyable one to me. For sure I shouldn´t plan to get an item / a Service with the plan to not pay for it.

I do know there will be those that disagree with me and those who say it´s not their Problem but the cruiseline is at fault.

Well I know I have no influence on what People will do and all discussions on this board won´t change what People do and it´s useless to try to convince anybody. For those coming out of the Wood work telling me to get off my high horse and to Keep my holier than you attitude to my own, I say I don´t care, I´m entitled to my opinion and my nobody can stop me to have an opinion about People stiffing the crew to save Money, just like I can´t stop them from doing so.

If the cruise ship companies paid a living wage, you couldn't afford the cruise. Get real.

Just found out I paid too much for a cruise on the new Ovation. Can I have the Gratitudes removed and can I not pay for them at all? Thanks.

With 1344 posts on this site I expect the OP knows exactly how the system works and what 'gratitudes' are for.... If you can't afford the 'gratitudes' then don't cruise. Don't stiff the crew.

Just found out I paid too much for a cruise on the new Ovation. Can I have the Gratitudes removed and can I not pay for them at all? Thanks.

Has your balance been paid? If not, your TA can adjust the cost for you. On cyber Monday the prices dropped dramatically. I happened to catch it, called and the pricing was adjusted. You have to catch it before the final payment has been made.

With 1344 posts on this site I expect the OP knows exactly how the system works and what 'gratitudes' are for.... If you can't afford the 'gratitudes' then don't cruise. Don't stiff the crew.

Concise, to the point.

The crew should not be stiffed because now you are unhappy with price you paid.

When you reserved the cruise, you were happy with the price you paid. If you can get it at a liwer price by losing your deposit and rebooking, do it.

With 1344 posts on this site I expect the OP knows exactly how the system works and what 'gratitudes' are for.... If you can't afford the 'gratitudes' then don't cruise. Don't stiff the crew.

Just saw that...what the heck? Not new to cruising.

Please don't stiff the staff..If it's too late to cancel and rebook, get several estimates from other travel agents and show them to your current one. Any T/A in their right mind should at least try to match the other prices with on board credit so you CAN pay your tips. Your current T/A should want to keep you as a future customer. Next time, do some research, but don't blame the staff.

You have cruised before and understand how tipping works. In fact you posted a couple years ago how you leave tips in cash addressed to the employees children in attempt to have them not shared in the tip pool. You also mentioned how some of the employees were like family so you like to take care of them. So you are fully aware you should not be cruising if you can't afford the gratuities.

You should cancel the cruise.

One suggestion to reduce the cost: Put up a tent in your backyard instead. No need to pay gratitudes there.

IT is your money,yes you can remove the gratitude's. Just go to customer service.And yes royal has been a little crazy with their prices.They should pay their own workers.And we should tip as we please.:)

Do you eat in restaurants? Do you tip? The minimum server wage in your state of NJ is $2.13.

Wow, so much hate....how each person decides to spend their money is their own business.....

YES you can remove the tips. It's totally up to you. It's your cruise your way!

Have a wonderful cruise!