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Pre-pay tips


JOWgrandma
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Is there some advantage to pre-paying the $13.50/day tips? I don't understand why anyone would do that. What if you're not pleased with the service?

 

 

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I think some people like the feeling that it's all paid for and feel that that makes them more relaxed during the cruise.
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I think some people like the feeling that it's all paid for and feel that that makes them more relaxed during the cruise.

 

Exactly! We almost always pre-pay at final payment. That way, at the end of the cruise, when all we want to do is savor the past few day's experiences, we have several hundred dollars less on our on-board account shocking us into the reality of how much we actually spent during the cruise - which always seems a heck of a lot more than we expected. ;p

 

Having said that, we didn't pre-pay on our last cruise as we had almost $1,000 in on-board credit which we also used for the auto tips accrued each day. Without so much OBC, we prefer to pay for as much as possible ahead of time so we have less to pay for at the end of the cruise.

 

As for what would we do if the service was unsatisfactory, I can only say two things about that:

 

1) We have NEVER had unsatisfactory service on any cruise, EVER. To expect that to happen is being unrealistic since it just doesn't happen very often.

 

2) If it ever did happen, we would speak to the appropriate supervisory personnel at the time the poor service was happening, and get it resolved immediately. Why anyone would put up with poor service for the entire cruise, only to punish the crew member at the end of the cruise by removing the tips, is beyond me. You would be punishing yourself more than the crew member by willingly accepting poor service during the cruise just to complain about it at the end when it is too late to correct the problem. That would be pretty dumb.

Edited by SantaFeFan
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Is there some advantage to pre-paying the $13.50/day tips? I don't understand why anyone would do that. What if you're not pleased with the service?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

I don't know about Princess, but on Carnival you could still have them removed or adjusted if you are unhappy with your service. I always pre-pay. Just one less thing to worry about paying for later.

 

 

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Is there some advantage to pre-paying the $13.50/day tips? I don't understand why anyone would do that. What if you're not pleased with the service?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I pre-pay just to get it over with. If there is a serivice issue, I will call it to the attention of the supervisor who should take care of it. In all of my cruises, I've never not been pleased with the service.
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What if you're not pleased with the service?

 

I, too, would call it to the attention of the supervisor of whatever area of service you are displeased with.

 

Your gratuities cover a number of different people who depend on them as a part of their salary. They work hard for you. Honestly, we have had some cabin stewards who were better than others, some waiters better than others, but we have never, ever been so displeased as to withdraw the gratuities.

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Pay now or pay later...it's the same amount regardless. If you want to pay for as much as you can BEFORE you sail...pay in advance...otherwise, let them add it to your bill....same either way.

 

The folks who get the tips do NOT get them until the cruise is over...even if you pay in advance. There is no decline in service if you pre-pay.

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Is there some advantage to pre-paying the $13.50/day tips? I don't understand why anyone would do that. What if you're not pleased with the service?

 

 

 

 

I've only ever once been displeased with the service and that was many cruises ago. As others have said, you should bring to the attention of the appropriate supervisor what you're displease about. They can't fix an issue if they don't know about it. I always prepay. I like not having so much to pay at the end. It's very convenient to be able to prepay.

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I have never reduced the service charge because I have always been satisfied with the service. I do believe it should be removable because if service were really poor, it should be an option. Additionally, making it removable makes it not part of the lines' gross income nor of the staffs' taxable income -- with the result that both the line and the staff get to keep more of what we pay.

 

As a practical matter, I have almost always given something extra - to cabin stewards, dining room stewards, or both - because, with the exception of NCL, I have always found the service to be worth more than the daily service charge -- which really is pretty low when compared with what you would leave for three meals' worth of daily restaurant tips and what Imwould leave for a hotel chambermaid - who never does as much as a cabin steward.

 

That said --- I never prepay because I never see a reason to do so - and prefer to pay when billed by my credit card company - which is obviously possible: if I could pay it in advance, I clearly can pay it several weeks later.

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I cannot imagine that everyone in the dining venues would give you bad service

If someone does not give you good service speak to the hotel manager so the problem can be corrected

Why punish the other staff by removing or reducing the tips

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The gratuities or "Hotel Service Charge" also go to people you never see and probably don't even think about what they have added to your cruise, such as laundry personnel. All of the crew work long hours, seven days a week, for months away from their families. Pay when you want but don't remove.

 

I went on RCI website to check something, noticed that our bed arrangement preference had not been updated, did that, and on "backing out" of the web pages, noticed that our total still owed had increased! Tracked it down to the amount of HSC for the cruise, and a CC'er on the Royal Caribbean forum confirmed it had defaulted to pre-pay for him too. So we'll probably just pay it with final payment, just a couple-few months early, because it doesn't make that much difference to us and the phone call to correct is a hassle!

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On the last couple of cruises we have been on we negotiated tips included .Both of those were on Celebrity ships and came with Select Dining so useful .

We are revisiting a Celebrity ship next year where Select Dining appears off the agenda now we managed extra OBC so will remove the tips at the Guest Relations desk and use the envelopes on the last night.

I cannot see any good reason to otherwise pay for tips in advance.You are not paying extra for good service just makes it feel like an added tax and there is enough of those.

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On the last couple of cruises we have been on we negotiated tips included .Both of those were on Celebrity ships and came with Select Dining so useful .

We are revisiting a Celebrity ship next year where Select Dining appears off the agenda now we managed extra OBC so will remove the tips at the Guest Relations desk and use the envelopes on the last night.

I cannot see any good reason to otherwise pay for tips in advance.You are not paying extra for good service just makes it feel like an added tax and there is enough of those.

The staff do not get the tips until after your cruise anyway so pay upfront or pay the last day ..it does not matter

 

 

Does not matter if you give envelopes or not the money goes to the tip pool to be divided

 

If you want to make work for yourself tracking down the staff to tip it is up to you

 

I can think of better things to do with my time

 

Personal choices

 

JMO

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I prepay. No real reason that I do, it is just nice not to have that charge on my credit card at the end of the cruise. I consider the tips a non-negotiable expense. At times I have given a bit more cash to cabin steward. Basically, even though it really is not an issue one way or the other, I just like getting the vacation totally paid for before I leave. We tend to have very few on board expenses.

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On the last couple of cruises we have been on we negotiated tips included .Both of those were on Celebrity ships and came with Select Dining so useful .

We are revisiting a Celebrity ship next year where Select Dining appears off the agenda now we managed extra OBC so will remove the tips at the Guest Relations desk and use the envelopes on the last night.

I cannot see any good reason to otherwise pay for tips in advance.You are not paying extra for good service just makes it feel like an added tax and there is enough of those.

Just as you see no good reason to pre-pay tips in advance, many see no good reason to remove one's tips.
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Is there some advantage to pre-paying the $13.50/day tips? I don't understand why anyone would do that. What if you're not pleased with the service?

 

 

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It's a service charge and has nothing to do with the tips for the waiters which you may or may not give in addition. Removing the service charge deprives the workers in the background (laundry, dishwashing etc.) who get part of this service charge. Ships based in countries other than the USA usually have the service charge included in the overall cruise price.

If you are unhappy with the service of a specific waiter or cabin attendant, bring it to his/her attention or write it in the written evaluation. I write positive comments with the names of the staff in this evaluation if I feel they went beyond the ordinary.

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