Pre Paid Gratuities???

Going on our first River Cruise in April on Avalon. Have option of pre-paying gratuities. Any pro or con to this? We certainly are in favor of tipping the staff but was unsure of how this works on the River Cruise?

Thanks

We have prepaid our gratuities. To me the advantage is not having to put it on my credit card at the end of the trip. I'm sure I will have many things on my credit card and I was glad to be able to prepay.

We will probably tip the staff a little more. And of course the CR also.

Forgot to ask which cruise you are going on ... also, using Avalon's MyAvalon, you can even prepurchase the optional tours.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks Pat we are using Avalon and was told I could either pay through Avalon website or with online travel agency I booked with.

I paid through my TA but have also used MyAvalon to choose bed configuration, put in my emergency contact information and to look at the optional excursions.

We are on the Blue Danube to the Black Sea with the Avalon President. Should be a great trip.

I also prepaid for our upcoming Avalon cruise, but I'm concerned that it isn't enough. Supposedly it is for the staff and the cruise director, but the amount I paid isn't close to the amount that was recommended in the documents we got for our last Avalon cruise. I'll wait and see what it says in our upcoming documents, but I'm thinking I'll be adding more.

On Avalon there was nobody with open hands or even suggesting gratuities (it was in the literature but nobody mentioned it at any briefings or shows or anything), you put them in an envelope and into a box at the front desk. There wasn't even anywhere to put your name on the envelope or say thank you. You put the cruise director's gratuities in a different envelope.

I agree that it doesn't sound like enough. We usually tip more so I am sure we will add extra. I am glad that we old pre-pay though.

We have had extra-special service from the crew members that remembered us from another cruise and we are sure to tip them personally.

We have our documents and are anxious for our trip to begin!

I agree, I'm sure we will tip more as well, we're planning on it. It was nice to be able to put the bulk of it on the credit card, however, I don't like carrying that much cash!! I also didn't like that the crew didn't know who did and didn't tip them. I like them to know that I really appreciate all of their efforts!!

I agree Stretch that was one of my concerns with prepaying. But I did not realize that you just dropped in a box as you said. I assumed it was similar to an ocean cruise. Like you both have said a good option is to pre pay and then directly tip those you want. It seems like the prepay amount in dollars is similar to the suggested amount in Euros?

No, it is much less in dollars than the equivalent in Euros. That is my concern. I would have to go and dig out the suggested amounts, but I remember it was in

Euros and it was a lot more than US dollars.

I agree that it doesn't sound like enough. We usually tip more so I am sure we will add extra. I am glad that we old pre-pay though.

 

We have had extra-special service from the crew members that remembered us from another cruise and we are sure to tip them personally.

 

We have our documents and are anxious for our trip to begin!

When did you get your documents?

Were you able to book optional shore excursions thru My Avalon? I can see them, but it doesn't let me book anything.

We decided not to pre-book the optional tours. For our cruise we have 3 choices for Vienna, 1 or 2 in Budapest, 1 in Belgrade and 1 in Bucharest. I would like to go to the Vienna Woods trip but we need to see how my husband has recovered from our trip there.

There are other trips shown that may be offered. I was not able to see the purchase options until 6 weeks before we leave (we are getting into Vienna 2 days early). Time is drawing near for our trip.

Our TA sent us the PDF files of our papers this week. She said that the paper copies have been mailed by Avalon. I like to have both the electronic and paper itineraries.