Prepaid Gratuities On Cruises Crossing The International Dateline

For personal reasons, I have elected for prepay my gratuities on an upcoming transpacific cruise. I noticed that the math didn't add up on the amount and that an extra day of gratuities were added in. The cruise is billed as an 18 night cruise even though by crossing the International Dateline we will arrive 19 calendar days later. As is known, when sailing westward, you lose a day crossing over so 18 is the correct number of nights.

The amount on the booking invoice shows 19 days worth of gratuities for this cruise. I don't plan to have the gratuities adjusted because the extra money won't hurt us and we know that the crew could use it more.

My question is this:

Is this extra day of gratuities something that has been going on for a long time or is this just a recent glitch in the system? What have other CC members experiences been?

Thanks,

-Michael

How many nights will you be using the bed in your cabin? If fewer than the number of nights for which you were charged, you deserve a refund. Have no clue what the international date line has to do with anything.

How many nights will you be using the bed in your cabin? If fewer than the number of nights for which you were charged, you deserve a refund. Have no clue what the international date line has to do with anything.

I think it means that Royal's computers are not properly programmed to deal with cruises that cross the line, at least when it comes to computing how long the cruise is with respect to charging gratuities.

UPDATE: I called the Crown & Anchor Society Diamond Plus Line

According to Ben and his supervisor Renee, they charge gratuities by the number of calendar days and not the actual number of nights of the cruise. The upside to this is that I was told that I will get 19 cruise points instead of 18. I have no problem giving the crew an extra $27.00 if I am getting an extra night of credit. I will follow up with this thread in October after the cruise is over and post what happens.

Michael

UPDATE: I called the Crown & Anchor Society Diamond Plus Line

 

According to Ben and his supervisor Renee, they charge gratuities by the number of calendar days and not the actual number of nights of the cruise. The upside to this is that I was told that I will get 19 cruise points instead of 18. I have no problem giving the crew an extra $27.00 if I am getting an extra night of credit. I will follow up with this thread in October after the cruise is over and post what happens.

 

Michael

Interesting. I, too, would be happy with the extra point since I'd be tipping extra in any event. Please let us know how it plays out. And have a great trip.

I have sailed over to Sydney twice from the WestCoast on another cruise line, and both times the sailing was advertised a day more than it actually was. For example, go to bed Tues. night and wake up Thurs. morning. as we crossed the Dateline.

I did not prepay, but gratuities added to bill were actually adjusted from 23 nights (as advertised) to 22 nights. So if you prepaid, I would assume you may get a refund for 1 night.

It is quite strange to completely lose a day on the calendar. But also strange to fly home and arrive earlier than when you actually left Australia.

Just saw your update...maybe it differs between lines. I also got the extra day added to days sailed.

I have sailed over to Sydney twice from the WestCoast on another cruise line, and both times the sailing was advertised a day more than it actually was. For example, go to bed Tues. night and wake up Thurs. morning. as we crossed the Dateline.

 

I did not prepay, but gratuities added to bill were actually adjusted from 23 nights (as advertised) to 22 nights. So if you prepaid, I would assume you may get a refund for 1 night.

 

It is quite strange to completely lose a day on the calendar. But also strange to fly home and arrive earlier than when you actually left Australia.

 

Just saw your update...maybe it differs between lines. I also got the extra day added to days sailed.

I am not going to go through the roof over $27.00; especially since we just got off a cruise where they gave us a refundable OBC of $40 ($20 each) because our check-in was delayed by about 5 hours due to late arrival of the ship.

Interesting. I, too, would be happy with the extra point since I'd be tipping extra in any event. Please let us know how it plays out. And have a great trip.

That's my feeling as well. Anyway, the gratuities go to the crew and I need the extra point. :)

I am not going to go through the roof over $27.00; especially since we just got off a cruise where they gave us a refundable OBC of $40 ($20 each) because our check-in was delayed by about 5 hours due to late arrival of the ship:)

No, I wouldn't have either. It really isn't a big deal. Enjoy your cruise.

UPDATE: I called the Crown & Anchor Society Diamond Plus Line

 

According to Ben and his supervisor Renee, they charge gratuities by the number of calendar days and not the actual number of nights of the cruise. The upside to this is that I was told that I will get 19 cruise points instead of 18. I have no problem giving the crew an extra $27.00 if I am getting an extra night of credit. I will follow up with this thread in October after the cruise is over and post what happens.

 

Michael

But you're not going to be actually cruising on the day that is lost so I don't fully understand how they're charging you for it!

But you're not going to be actually cruising on the day that is lost so I don't fully understand how they're charging you for it!

The computer does the math and gets an extra night because it doesn't account for the fact that one of those days doesn't actually exist. I'm sure if someone complains they will refund the difference but it would be a manual process.

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Think of it as extra gratuity for all of the 25 hour days you will get. ;)

But you're not going to be actually cruising on the day that is lost so I don't fully understand how they're charging you for it!

It's a time warp. The day exist, but you go into hyperspace and pass it so fast, you don't notice. Like flying from Asia to USA you can take off and land within minutes but yet, you sat for 14 hours. So does that make the flight a short flight, so you should save money. Any ship that is sailing a trans-ocean, is skipping or adding time so how do you handle these things?

I'm not arguing for or against the extra tip, and I know the poster does not care, but these things happen all the time.

So I have a bigger question. How do you handle payroll?

I will follow up with this thread in October after the cruise is over and post what happens.

UPDATE: Cruise Completed - Extra Cruise Point Received

I am pleased to report that, like the prepaid gratuities, the cruise points are awarded by calendar days. I got 19 points for my 18 night cruise, crossing east to west and losing a day. This kind of makes me wonder if you lose a point going the other way. Anyone know?

Michael

UPDATE: Cruise Completed - Extra Cruise Point Received

 

I am pleased to report that, like the prepaid gratuities, the cruise points are awarded by calendar days. I got 19 points for my 18 night cruise, crossing east to west and losing a day. This kind of makes me wonder if you lose a point going the other way. Anyone know?

Michael

$27 for a cruise point. So for $13,824 I could be pinnacle. ;p :D

Funny how these glitches seem to always favor the cruise line. Let’s see, $27.00 times how many passengers?

They are laughing all the way to the bank! Enjoy the courtesy point!

Funny how these glitches seem to always favor the cruise line. Let’s see, $27.00 times how many passengers?

 

They are laughing all the way to the bank! Enjoy the courtesy point!

The money goes to the crew, not the cruise line. Royal breaks down how that money is paid on their website. I have no problem paying an extra $27 because they took good care of us.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

So if you cross in the other direction, I presume you pay for one less night than you actually spend on the ship?

Royals computer incapable of tracking nights, charges additional, heralded as "A-Ok". Something is cockamamie

Sunday to Sunday Caribbean cruise is 8 days and still only pay 7 nights...gratuity has always been per night. The CA story seems like that of thing a phone rep would make up, but you did get the addtl point so I guess that's something...

Thanks for coming back and updating!

So if you cross in the other direction, I presume you pay for one less night than you actually spend on the ship?

Don't remember the tip situation. I think it was before automatic tips. We did have a problem getting all our C&A points. Even though it was an 18 night trip, they only gave us 17 points not taking the International Date Line into account.

Called Royal about it, they said they'd look into it, and noticed about 3 weeks later we got the point that we were entitled to. Make pinnacle that much sooner as a result.

Tim

Date line can be fun. I managed to cross it 3 times in a week. I was not sure WHAT day it was.

I know I worked two Tuesdays back to back, but lost Thursday. :)

But RCI's IT is horrible. I cross the date line all the time, and our travel voucher system handles it.

The money goes to the crew, not the cruise line. Royal breaks down how that money is paid on their website. I have no problem paying an extra $27 because they took good care of us.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

The money for the number of days worked goes to the crew. The computers can't calculate quite right what the passenger should be charged. Somehow, I suspect, the computers are pretty good at figuring out what the compensation to the crew should be.

This is why almost all real travel systems use GMT on the back end, then just adjust to local time on the output screen. SABRE developed in the 1950s could handle this just fine, it is crazy how bad RCL IT is.