Are Gratituites pre-paid or at the end billed?

I prefer to tip cash actually but If its Prepaid then that would be fine as well. Is it billed to your account per day like RCL?

Generally gratuities are billed to you account on a daily basis but this year I've seen more Cunard offers where gratuities are included in the cruise fare.

 

You should be aware that tipping exclusively in cash obligates the tipped staff member to turn his/her tips into the shared pool, where cash tips in addition to the amount automatically charged to your account are theirs to keep.

 

You should be aware that tipping exclusively in cash obligates the tipped staff member to turn his/her tips into the shared pool, where cash tips in addition to the amount automatically charged to your account are theirs to keep.

 

Never seen this published anywhere. Where did you get this info.

 

Thanks.

 

David.

Generally gratuities are billed to you account on a daily basis but this year I've seen more Cunard offers where gratuities are included in the cruise fare.

 

You should be aware that tipping exclusively in cash obligates the tipped staff member to turn his/her tips into the shared pool, where cash tips in addition to the amount automatically charged to your account are theirs to keep.

 

thats interesting I was told on RC they keep cash and get a low portion of auto tips so they prefer cash.

Never seen this published anywhere. Where did you get this info.

 

Thanks.

 

David.

I thought it was common knowledge among the more frequent members in the Cunard section. It certainly as been discussed in this forum section frequently. My knowledge comes from consensus as discussed here and I believe that some forum members have confirmed it with stewards and/or waiters

 

Auto-tips go to more people than those the passenger encounters on a daily basis and are allocated according to some formula that is known to the line and probably the staff. If a passenger deletes the auto tip and instead tips the four or five staff members he/she encounters most throughout the cruise, the remaining members of the tip pool would lose out. Therefore there is a requirement for cash tips from passengers who have declined auto-tips to be shared into the pool and allocated among staff in the same or similar manner as the auto-tips. Cash tips in excess of the auto-tip are (to my knowledge) not required to be turned in.

 

At least that's how I've understood it from discussions here. :)

I have asked 4-5 of our room stewards if they are allowed to keep a cash tip and each time he/she has said that they keep it for themselves if the auto tip had not been removed.

I thought it was common knowledge among the more frequent members in the Cunard section. It certainly as been discussed in this forum section frequently. My knowledge comes from consensus as discussed here and I believe that some forum members have confirmed it with stewards and/or waiters

 

Auto-tips go to more people than those the passenger encounters on a daily basis and are allocated according to some formula that is known to the line and probably the staff. If a passenger deletes the auto tip and instead tips the four or five staff members he/she encounters most throughout the cruise, the remaining members of the tip pool would lose out. Therefore there is a requirement for cash tips from passengers who have declined auto-tips to be shared into the pool and allocated among staff in the same or similar manner as the auto-tips. Cash tips in excess of the auto-tip are (to my knowledge) not required to be turned in.

 

At least that's how I've understood it from discussions here. :)

 

Yes, that is what I've also understood from what more experienced passengers have posted. I haven't been able to find any definitive information from Cunard as to how the system works. Seems to me it's all rather vague, but I still leave the Hotel & Dining charge in place, and give cash gratuities to those crew members in appreciation of their good service.

 

 

BTW, Recently, I noticed a change regarding the distribution of auto-charges on Princess ships.* Because the current CCL plan seems to be achieving a commonality between ships in the fleet, auto-tip polices will remain a topic of conversation (and rightly so, in my opinion).

 

*Passenger's auto-tips are shared across the fleet.

"...This gratuity will be shared amongst those staff who help provide and support your cruise experience, including all waitstaff, stateroom stewards, buffet stewards, and housekeeping staff across the fleet..." copied from http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/experience.jsp