Is Dynamic Dining the end of using OBC for gratuities?

It is my understanding that with the switch to Dynamic Dining that it will be treated similarly to how MTD is treated now; where guests with MTD are required to pay gratuities months ahead of service and have no recourse to change amounts onboard if desired. This also eliminates the possibility of using OBC to pay gratuities; an option currently offered to diners in traditional early and late seating.

With the removal of early and late seatings (and fixed dining teams) will OBC be de facto not be able to used for gratuities? Am I understanding how this will work with Dynamic Dining correctly?

Maybe I missed it, but I was not sure it's been established yet that Dynamic Dining will require prepaid gratuities.

Maybe I missed it, but I was not sure it's been established yet that Dynamic Dining will require prepaid gratuities.

I'm not sure it has either, but numerous posts have relayed that when people were switched from their seating preference to DD (when DD was unveiled) that Royal was handling it like My Time Dining.

I've never had the opportunity to use OBC for gratuities; and whatever Royal decides to do I hope they just apply it to all guests in an equitable fashion.

We were not required to pre-pay gratuities for our December cruise.

I believe it was Merion Mom that posted a while back that she was booked on Quantum but was NOT charged prepaid gratuities.

We are booked on two Quantum cruises in December and neither required pre-paid gratuities.

Prepay of tips has never been mentioned in conjunction with DD. Why look for things to complain about??

Interesting; looks like Royal may be finally treating all guests equally.

No complaints; a valid question so I can understand how it works for future plans.

I also thought there was no prepaid tips with DD. Which makes me wonder why then they still make you pre pay with MTD:rolleyes:

Those I know who are booked on Quantum did not have to pre-pay gratuities. Who said they had to pre-pay? :confused:

If all that is offered is DD, then I would imagine the grats will simply be added to your account daily for everyone....your choice to prepay or not.

We did include our gratuities on both of our Q cruises, but that was out choice.

We did include our gratuities on both of our Q cruises, but that was out choice.

Same here.

I wonder if they are going to a "Resort Fee' structure for mandatory gratuities that will be posted on a daily basis to your account.

If they do that, it will simplify matters and still allow use of OBC for gratuities.

Both of my invoices have the tips included. Obviously I have not made final payment yet on either but I automatically thought since the tips are added in that it is a requirement to pay for them once final is due.

Both of my invoices have the tips included. Obviously I have not made final payment yet on either but I automatically thought since the tips are added in that it is a requirement to pay for them once final is due.

I'd be curious if you are able to remove the prepaid gratuties.

I'd be curious if you are able to remove the prepaid gratuties.

I am curious if Royal is going to default to that option but allow you to have a preference (pay first, or pay later). Maybe that is why people are saying it was not added at time of booking; it may be a preference but if you don't give one Royal picks one for you.

Whatever the policy may be, as long as all guests are treated the same I will call it fair.

When I booked my November 2015 cruise on Oasis, I was told by RCI that "there are no available traditional dining times, so you'll be listed as MTD which means you'll need to pre-pay your gratuities" (which is fine with me as I can use my OBC for other things). I then asked about Dynamic Dining, since I knew it was supposed to begin in March 2015 (meaning why aren't they just taking traditional and MTD options off entirely since those options won't be available by the time we sail in a year). She said "Oh, that's correct, Oasis starts DD in March 2015". She went on to say that once it switches to DD the gratuities would be handled the same as they are with MTD (meaning pre-paid, she said). Again, doesn't matter to me. I'm good paying in cash or pre-paying. Either way works just fine. Another couple traveling with us - separate booking though - were told the same thing.... "DD will be handled the same as MTD for gratuities."

This seems to conflict with how gratuities are handled on Quantum though. So I think what we were told was out of either misinformation or misunderstanding on the part of the customer service rep. I don't think it was intentional misinformation, but perhaps they just don't know how it'll be handled, or more likely they are making assumptions about the ship(s) that will eventually switch to DD in the future (Oasis for now).

No prepaid grats on my Feb. 2nd cruise, however, it is being picked -up by my TA.

When booking for Quantum first opened up we had choice of Early or Late for MDR...or you could prepay grats and do MTD.

Then Early & Late disappeared from our reservations and we were left with message about upcoming dining announcement.

Before DD was announced Royal changed it that anyone booking in the last few months of last year had to take MTD and grats were added onto their invoices.

When DD was announced Royal did remove the grats if guests wanted them removed and then could then just have them charged daily to their onboard account (therefore allowing guests to use their OBC to pay them).

When booking for Quantum first opened up we had choice of Early or Late for MDR...or you could prepay grats and do MTD.

 

Then Early & Late disappeared from our reservations and we were left with message about upcoming dining announcement.

 

Before DD was announced Royal changed it that anyone booking in the last few months of last year had to take MTD and grats were added onto their invoices.

 

When DD was announced Royal did remove the grats if guests wanted them removed and then could then just have them charged daily to their onboard account (therefore allowing guests to use their OBC to pay them).

^^^^ This makes sense. That's probably how Oasis will be handled as well when the DD is officially announced (as in when it will start on Oasis).

Very interesting. While we were on Allure in June we booked the Quantum 53-day repositioning cruise in May 2015. We were required to include prepaid gratuities at time of booking. Once again, it seems RCCL is inconsistent--the only consistency it seems. :rolleyes:

Both of my invoices have the tips included. Obviously I have not made final payment yet on either but I automatically thought since the tips are added in that it is a requirement to pay for them once final is due.

When we booked both the Quantum and Anthem, gratuities were added to our invoices. When I found out that others did not have to pre-pay gratuties, I called and had them removed. Now we can use our OBC to pay the gratuities.

We will be sailing Allure in 2016 and when I booked, the agent told me that I needed to prepay my gratuities for DD. This was not an issue for me since we prefer to prepay our gratuities.

We will be sailing Allure in 2016 and when I booked, the agent told me that I needed to prepay my gratuities for DD. This was not an issue for me since we prefer to prepay our gratuities.

Maddening not to get consistent information from the cruise line.