Do many pre-pay gratuities?

I sailed on the Conquest 2 years ago and did not know about the automatic gratuities. (I also booked through Expedia and didn't have as many options.)

This time when I booked I prepayed my gratuities as I was paying for my fare. Do a lot of frequent cruisers do this? I just wanted to lessen my S&S final tally.

I sailed on the Conquest 2 years ago and did not know about the automatic gratuities. (I also booked through Expedia and didn't have as many options.)

 

This time when I booked I prepayed my gratuities as I was paying for my fare. Do a lot of frequent cruisers do this? I just wanted to lessen my S&S final tally.

I always prepay my gratuities as well as our excursions.

Personally, Ive always taken it off my S&S and hand delivered them the cash gratuities the last day of the trip... Ive been doing that since I started cruising in my teens with my parent..and I have done it since. I just bring the cash with me in an envelope ready to give .. and I always add more if I feel as tho theyve gone above and beyond... but thats just me ...(it makes the S&S look better at the end too...lol)

we dont pre-pay

Never. We pay enough money months ahead of time for the cruise and flights and will keep the rest of the spending money in the bank until the time comes.

I am going on only my 2nd cruise in like, 10 years. I prepaid my tips this time simply because I like to have as much of my cruise paid for before I cruise.

I have since read others opinions here about how it may or may not affect the service. I really did not put that much thought into it. I am a pretty low maintenance customer, as long as they are doing there job, I will be happy. If I find or think that they may be slacking off becasue I chose to prepay, I can always adjust the amount to reflect the service I recieved.

We remove them as soon as we arrive aboard. Last time we were able to do it by phone from our cabin. We were on the Miracle. Never a problem other than being asked if there is/was a problem. Less likely to be asked the first day.

We pre-pay! To me it's easier to just get it out of the way and you don't have to worry about bringing envelopes with cash. We usually end up tipping our "favorites" a little something at the end of our cruise also - not to mention what they extra every day. To me, they bust their butts for you to have a great time and really make us enjoy our cruise even more!

i always prepay my gratuities as well as our excursions.

ditto.

We try to prepay everything we can.

We've never pre-paid, but ALWAYS leave them on, and tip extra if/when warrented. I'm thinking about pre-paying the tips for our next cruise though, as I think it might be nice starting off without so much on our S&S account. I would never consider removing them up-front, and paying individually later. We know someone who does that (or says they do), and then somehow seems to forget to get them all covered later. But I know this is all a completely personal choice and the subject of tipping really gets people excited on here! :eek:

Now I'm confused...you guys talk about pre-paying, but I thought I read that Carnival automatically puts the tips on your S&S card and that you may change the amount up or down depending on your service. Am I wrong or just mis-reading?

We remove them as soon as we arrive aboard. Last time we were able to do it by phone from our cabin. We were on the Miracle. Never a problem other than being asked if there is/was a problem. Less likely to be asked the first day.

You remove auto tips as soon as you board, do stewards or waiters ask you why? Lots of posters on board seem to think that is bad, not sure why, a tip is a tip.

Do you remove or pay your tips in cash?? If you research this you will see where it adversley effects the employees. Cash tips have to be pooled and shared as well.They don't keep it all. And it looks bad and the employee has to explain why you would remove your tips. It inferrs there service was bad.:(

I too used to pay mine in cash until I found out they were getting less by doing that. I NEVER remove them now unless the service is horrible. I have taught my children now 15 & 21 that have been cruising for 7 years and both will be platinum this year all about the cruise tipping. How much each person gets and what they do for it. They are getting minimal tips. If I take my family of 3 out to nice sit down dinner I am going to tip more there than what they get for one evening. If the service is really good then I tip more at the end. I also tip our drink waiter at dinner extra, if he remembers what my kids are drinking and has it ready for them. And it never fails, they do and are prompt with refills.

To answer the OP, yes I pre-pay my tips and have rarely had reason to adjust. ( only one cruise of 10 so far) It's easier and it makes my S&S bill lower. In Dec. thats $240 for us 3. (8 night cruise)

I guess I'll go get my popcorn because this is a hot button topic~

Now I'm confused...you guys talk about pre-paying, but I thought I read that Carnival automatically puts the tips on your S&S card and that you may change the amount up or down depending on your service. Am I wrong or just mis-reading?

If you pre-pay, you can't adjust them. You can, however, add more for someone that did an exceptional job, if you want to. If you don't pre-pay, they will automatically put them on your S&S card and then you can adjust them, or take them off (though I don't recommend that).

On both of my past cruises and the one coming up we pre-paid for our tips. Its just easier to get it out of the way and have one less thing to worry about paying for when we get there. I also will either add additional tips on my S&S card for someone that I feel deserves more, or I will give them cash. They do such a great job, they definitely earn it!

I don't understand why people like to give interest-free loans to cruise lines. :D

We pre-paid and also tipped extra in cash to the ones that made our vacation so enjoyable. Also tipped the steward an extra 20 on the first day and somehow got extraordinary service, 1st off the ship, premium invites, etc. The steward was like a ninja as we hardly saw him after that, but everything was always perfect, if we left the room for 10 min it was cleaned when we got back. Ended up giving him another 20 at the end he did such a wonderful job.

For a little fun I put his final tip in the mouth of a seal towel animal.

I don't understand why people like to give interest-free loans to cruise lines. :D

I don't see it as a loan.

Because I'm going to pay it anyway. And it's much easier for me. I don't pay it when I book. I pay it usually the month before we cruise. Same with the cruise. I pay the deposit and make monthly cash payments so that it's paid in full at the due date. The tips follow that. All cash, no credit card expense, nothing over my head except what we spend on the cruise. In my case thats

$100 for my cruise in Aug. for DD & I. And $240 for our cruise in Dec. for New Years.

Great idea ECO!! I'm gonna have to borrow that~

Just my 2 cents~

We've gone both ways, but have found many people that choose to o\pay cash at the end of the cruise stiff the employees. I think the cruise lines should do a manatory tip deposit to ensure compensation, even if the waiter/stewart does his/her job poorly because most excell.

We do not pre-pay. Insurance will not reimburse the cost of the gratuities.

Now I'm confused...you guys talk about pre-paying, but I thought I read that Carnival automatically puts the tips on your S&S card and that you may change the amount up or down depending on your service. Am I wrong or just mis-reading?

Auto-tips and prepaid tips are two entirely different things.

The most common way to handle the tips is to let Carnival add them to your shipboard account, as you have heard. I won't even go near the discussion of whether to remove them and tip in cash. That's up to you. This is what is known as the auto-tip.

However, there is another option, that the OP is talking about. When you make your final payment (actually even after final payment), you can have Carnival charge your credit/debit card right then. In this way, when you board, there is no tip automatically added to your S & S account. If you never bought any booze or onboard souvenirs, you could, theoretically walk off the ship, never having spent a dime onboard.

Auto-tips can be adjusted onboard, or removed altogether.

Pre-paid tips can not be adjusted, since they do not appear on your S & S account in the first place, unless CCL has changed the way they do things since our last CCL cruise.

Paul

Thanks for making that clear. It was all to confusing with the many post about tipping one can read and they all use different wording.

Thank you :)

We've gone both ways, but have found many people that choose to o\pay cash at the end of the cruise stiff the employees. How did you found that? I think the cruise lines should do a manatory tip deposit to ensure compensation, even if the waiter/stewart does his/her job poorly because most excell.

DId you do a survey, or just assume that to be the case? Just curious

We do not pre-pay. Insurance will not reimburse the cost of the gratuities.

I did not know that yogi2929. Thanks for the "tip":D

I don't understand why people like to give interest-free loans to cruise lines. :D

My thoughts exactly!

I never prepay. I have never removed or reduced the tips. IF I ever get below par service I may consider it. Normally I tip extra in cash directly to the ones that give me their best service.