Pre-paying gratuities question...

Let me start by saying we cruised our butts off last year (celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last year)... I suggested to my wife that we should do the 15 day cruise to Hawaii to celebrate our 15 blissful years of marriage, but my wife's wiser head prevailed... (see why they have been blissful years? ;-) )... She suggested we instead do multiple shorter cruises, which allowed our family of 4 to achieve platinum by year-end 2013...

We did 6 cruises last year (1 sailing in Jan, B2B2B in May, B2B in Aug) and we always allow the standard per-person per-day tips to be charged on our S&S credit card. Of all our cruises, we only PRE-PAID gratuities one time.

There are other threads that talk about people that remove tips altogether (shameful practice in my opinion) and it has been rumored that this information is known by the crew. I would think that information is confidential and not shared amongst the staff, but I won't argue the possibility.

The point of my post/question is this... Aside from budgeting reasons, is there any benefit/reason to PRE-PAY gratuities v/s just allowing the gratuities to be billed to the S&S account at the end of the voyage? (And now that I'm writing this post I can't remember if they bill gratuities one day at a time, or all on the last day.) IF the crew are made aware (rumour?) of the "deadbeats", are they also made aware of those that PRE-PAID gratuities?

Yes, we also cash tip porters, wait staff, stewards, and room service... Just trying to determine if I've neglected some other reason to PRE-PAY gratuities instead of just settling my S&S account via the credit card on file at end of voyage.

Thanks for any words of wisdom, and smooth sailing!

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I like pre-paying them (and anything else that I can) because I want my credit cards to be as low as possible. Also, I obsessively watch my ship account, and doing so is much easier when it has fewer transactions.

If I recall, I think they bill the full balance of your gratuities on the second day or so, assuming you didn't pre-pay them before the cruise.

We like to prepay. For us, it's just a part of the cost of the cruise and I love that when we get on the ship all of our necessaries are paid for. Any money we spend while on vacation is for our enjoyment.

With that said, we ALWAYS tip extra to those we interact with of the ship. Our room steward gets a meet & greet tip with a request to keep our ice full. He gets extra at the end of the trip as do our waitstaff and favorite bartenders.

I always prepay.. just one less thing to think about. And yes, at the very end of your cruise you will get a bill for the total of everything.

Sometimes we prepay for budgeting reasons--no other reasons.

This year I had enough points on my Barclay (Carnival) credit card to pre-pay the tips. We usually just have them added to our S&S account, but we had a little OBC and wanted to use it for drinks, not tips. I know...it's all one pot, but more fun to spend it on FUN. :D

I was told a year & a half ago while onboard the Miracle at the "Future Cruise" desk where I was booking another cruise that if we pre-paid gratuities then we're guaranteed the "best waitstaff" because it was pre-paid.

Again, this was told to me by the Carnival Employee who managed the FCC desk. Whether this is true or not? Couldn't tell you because I've always had fantastic waitstaff whether we pre-paid or not.

We pre-pay our gratuities too. Keeps the S&S account to just what we spend onboard. Not sure if the crew is aware of who pre-paid and who did not. I have read on CC that the crew may be aware of who removes their tips, though.

Sent from my mobile device. Typos are inevitable.

There really isn't any "benefit" other than convenience or budgeting to pre-paying. We have pre-paid and have had it billed to S&S, hasn't made any difference in our service. For us for this cruise, the card we are going to use for our S&S has a low limit, and if we waited until we were on board we would not have as much available for the fun stuff!

We like to prepay. For us, it's just a part of the cost of the cruise and I love that when we get on the ship all of our necessaries are paid for. Any money we spend while on vacation is for our enjoyment.

 

With that said, we ALWAYS tip extra to those we interact with of the ship. Our room steward gets a meet & greet tip with a request to keep our ice full. He gets extra at the end of the trip as do our waitstaff and favorite bartenders.

This is our way, too. :) Works out great for them and for us!

We always pre-pay. Mostly for reasons that have been mentioned above. When the cruise is "paid off" a couple of months before we sail, its all over and done, and any other budgeting is "fun money." However, if you're fortunate enough to not need to budget the expenditures out over a period of time, then it's probably all the same. I have no idea about the levels of service between the different methods of payment.

We don't prepay them. We just let them charge them to our account and boy I am glad we didn't/don't. Last cruise we got some pretty good unexpected credit )BC from an issue we had and if we had pre paid them we wouldn't have rec'd any credit because you see our sail and sign account was basically nil (because we don't drink). Had we prepaid we'd have had money to try to spend somewhere that we didn't need or want. As it was gratuities were paid by the unexpected but greatly appreciated OBC we rec'd. I'll never prepay for that reason alone.

We don't prepay them. We just let them charge them to our account and boy I am glad we didn't/don't. Last cruise we got some pretty good unexpected credit )BC from an issue we had and if we had pre paid them we wouldn't have rec'd any credit because you see our sail and sign account was basically nil (because we don't drink). Had we prepaid we'd have had money to try to spend somewhere that we didn't need or want. As it was gratuities were paid by the unexpected but greatly appreciated OBC we rec'd. I'll never prepay for that reason alone.

You could have just cashed it out in the casino and left with more cash than you came with. I have done that one myself :D

Just keep that in mind for the future should you get so lucky to be in that same situation again.

I pre pay for my convenience and yes, the crew has a list of who prepaid.

Oh, and the reason I prepay is like most other posters. I just consider it as part of the cruise and don't want to have a bill as soon as I get on the ship. Easier to keep track of what I truly spent. I would rather just have it be done and over with when I make final payment.

I do also tip additional to room steward, waiters, bar staff, room service, etc.

We usually pre pay

We prepay just so we don't have to think about it. That is just another cost. The awesome peeps get cash at the end of the cruise.

 

Yes, we also cash tip porters, wait staff, stewards, and room service... Just trying to determine if I've neglected some other reason to PRE-PAY gratuities instead of just settling my S&S account via the credit card on file at end of voyage.

We pre-pay because there is never a thought that we wouldn't pay. (We regularly tip extra.) So we treat it as a part of our cruise fare & pay for it upfront, not unlike pet boarding, parking at the port, passport fees, etc.

We also buy cruise cash.

We don't want a large s&s bill.

I Am from Australia and "I have to" pre pay my tips when I book a Carnival USA cruise! so the benefit of pre paying to me is I get to book the cruise:D:D:D

My upcoming cruise is the first one I have "prepaid" my gratuities. This is the first time we have taken one of my daughter's friends with us and I wanted to make sure all of her necessities were paid upfront so all she has to worry about on the cruise is what she spends on souvenirs, etc.

It is nice to know that ours are already paid as well. I would never consider removing them anyway and tip extra in cash to most.

Its purely psycological. However, when it was first started, prepaying wa made ith an agreement that you couldn't alter that tip. When they changed that tidbit, people started becoming more receptive to the idea.

But I guess the decision is reall up to the individual. Some peole freak out when they see that one time hit on their account, sometimes to the point of thinking "it's too much"

Its like if you went out and ate 3 meals a day for a week. Leaving $8 on table for a party of 4 for a meal doesn't seem like a lot. But make it a one time charge for $168, suddenly that becoes a lot. Andd then there's the steward portion.

But a benefit? There is none.

Since we always book Early Saver, we do not prepay. We have always received OBC which we use for the grats:)

You could have just cashed it out in the casino and left with more cash than you came with. I have done that one myself :D

 

Just keep that in mind for the future should you get so lucky to be in that same situation again.

Do you mean I could've gone to the casino and said "give me the money in my on board credit account? I didn't know this.

Let me start by saying we cruised our butts off last year (celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last year)... I suggested to my wife that we should do the 15 day cruise to Hawaii to celebrate our 15 blissful years of marriage, but my wife's wiser head prevailed... (see why they have been blissful years? ;-) )... She suggested we instead do multiple shorter cruises, which allowed our family of 4 to achieve platinum by year-end 2013...

 

We did 6 cruises last year (1 sailing in Jan, B2B2B in May, B2B in Aug) and we always allow the standard per-person per-day tips to be charged on our S&S credit card. Of all our cruises, we only PRE-PAID gratuities one time.

 

There are other threads that talk about people that remove tips altogether (shameful practice in my opinion) and it has been rumored that this information is known by the crew. I would think that information is confidential and not shared amongst the staff, but I won't argue the possibility.

 

The point of my post/question is this... Aside from budgeting reasons, is there any benefit/reason to PRE-PAY gratuities v/s just allowing the gratuities to be billed to the S&S account at the end of the voyage? (And now that I'm writing this post I can't remember if they bill gratuities one day at a time, or all on the last day.) IF the crew are made aware (rumour?) of the "deadbeats", are they also made aware of those that PRE-PAID gratuities?

 

Yes, we also cash tip porters, wait staff, stewards, and room service... Just trying to determine if I've neglected some other reason to PRE-PAY gratuities instead of just settling my S&S account via the credit card on file at end of voyage.

 

Thanks for any words of wisdom, and smooth sailing!

 

 

 

 

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Here is a photo taken by a cruise critic member to end the "rumor"

http://www.cruisecritic.com/blog/index.php/2011/07/26/tipping-points-will-i-get-bad-service-if-i-opt-out-of-auto-gratuities/

The staff knows who removes tips and I love it !!!!

:)

When I calculate the total expense of the actual cruise, I consider the price of the cruise w/ port fees, taxes etc... + pre-paid grats + cruise insurance = the total cruise expense. I pay it all off before hand. To me, all three are a necessary part of what it costs to cruise and I would not do so without all 3 in place before hand. Then...... I worry about budgeting for excursions, specialtiy dining etc..... Everything else is bonus not a necessity.

I am one that likes to start my S&S account off with a zero balance. It's just a personal preference

Any extra tips to my room steward, waitstaff, room service etc... I give in cash.

:)

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