Tip at the end or pre pay

Just curious what everyone else does, I've done both and was wondering if the quality of service is affected if the staff already knows they have been tipped or if they know at all that you haven't pre payed your gratuities

Tip at end; can use OBC for that.

I don't believe there is any negative impact to service if paying at the end, I don't feel there is any better service by prepaying.

pre.

We pre-pay in case tips go up before our cruise. Yet, many here opt not to pay until onboard. Still others who pre-pay seem to find reasons to remove their tips.

I'd like to think that it doesn't matter when tips ate paid in relation to service received.

Tip at end; can use OBC for that.

 

I don't believe there is any negative impact to service if paying at the end, I don't feel there is any better service by prepaying.

Only if you have OBC.

No difference in service either way. Yes, the staff does know who has and has not paid.

The only reason I ask is the time we were on the Fantasy,i tipped at the end and the room steward quit putting fresh towels the last 2 and no towel animals , he may of just been having a bad couple of days.

Just curious what everyone else does, I've done both and was wondering if the quality of service is affected if the staff already knows they have been tipped or if they know at all that you haven't pre payed your gratuities

They likely know. I have seen reports on Cruise Critic saying that the stewards have a list on their carts of who prepaid their gratuities and who hasn't paid yet. I always forget to look when passing the carts.

We do both. We pre-pay, which is the bare minimum if you ask me, and then we'll tip cash at the end if we feel the attendants have done a great job. I've never been given a reason to not tip at the end.

See no reason to tip before we get the service we are tipping for. Leave the auto tips in place and add if service deserves it.

The way I look at it, no matter how much the ship's policy says to give the same service for pre-paying, post-paying, or tip as you go sailors, there is ZERO chance that actually happens. In my mind, the people that are guaranteed the best service are those that pay as they go. They know their service directly affects their tips, so they'll be much more attentive. Second category is the pre-pay. They might show you a bit above the minimum required, but they've already got your money. Just knowing how most people are, they won't add to, or take away from, that pre-determined amount. Finally, you've got the post-pay. There's no guarantee they'll be seeing a single cent out of you. I'm sure every steward has multiple passengers each cruise that don't tip at all. There's no way to tell the difference between a non-tipper & someone who plans on paying later. This group will definitely get the worst service.

There's no way to tell the difference between a non-tipper & someone who plans on paying later. This group will definitely get the worst service.

I disagree as that is basically Carnival's default setting - a guest will be charged onboard towards the end of their sailing; until someone leaves the ship the final day they couldn't be called a non-tipper. Similar to the "pay as you go" variety. It's in staff best interest to provide good service on the possibility of an average or above average tip at the end. I doubt Carnival would say if you do the "default" you'll get the worst service.

Seems self-defeating to me to give poor service in any event; pre, post, during, etc. Not really worried about it, always end up with OBC from a TA and that helps offset costs.

The way I look at it, no matter how much the ship's policy says to give the same service for pre-paying, post-paying, or tip as you go sailors, there is ZERO chance that actually happens. In my mind, the people that are guaranteed the best service are those that pay as they go. They know their service directly affects their tips, so they'll be much more attentive. Second category is the pre-pay. They might show you a bit above the minimum required, but they've already got your money. Just knowing how most people are, they won't add to, or take away from, that pre-determined amount. Finally, you've got the post-pay. There's no guarantee they'll be seeing a single cent out of you. I'm sure every steward has multiple passengers each cruise that don't tip at all. There's no way to tell the difference between a non-tipper & someone who plans on paying later. This group will definitely get the worst service.

I don't believe in tipping before service has been received, so I always post pay. I always receive excellent service, with one exception. My steward on the Inspiration did his job, but nothing more than that. At the end of the cruise, I still didn't know what he looked like even though I saw him two or three times. He just wasn't memorable. I didn't tip him extra. My MDR staff on that cruise did get extra tips.

I’ve only been on one cruise before and the tips were prepaid, we brought extra cash for the steward since he was awesome. Our service was great and it was one less expense we had to worry about on the ship. I love having my vacation paid for, one less worry.

Aside from auto tip, we give an extra cash tip at the end if service is more than expected.

The way I look at it, no matter how much the ship's policy says to give the same service for pre-paying, post-paying, or tip as you go sailors, there is ZERO chance that actually happens. In my mind, the people that are guaranteed the best service are those that pay as they go. They know their service directly affects their tips, so they'll be much more attentive. Second category is the pre-pay. They might show you a bit above the minimum required, but they've already got your money. Just knowing how most people are, they won't add to, or take away from, that pre-determined amount. Finally, you've got the post-pay. There's no guarantee they'll be seeing a single cent out of you. I'm sure every steward has multiple passengers each cruise that don't tip at all. There's no way to tell the difference between a non-tipper & someone who plans on paying later. This group will definitely get the worst service.

I disagree as that is basically Carnival's default setting - a guest will be charged onboard towards the end of their sailing; until someone leaves the ship the final day they couldn't be called a non-tipper. Similar to the "pay as you go" variety. It's in staff best interest to provide good service on the possibility of an average or above average tip at the end. I doubt Carnival would say if you do the "default" you'll get the worst service.

 

Seems self-defeating to me to give poor service in any event; pre, post, during, etc. Not really worried about it, always end up with OBC from a TA and that helps offset costs.

So Carnival has changed to taking the tips towards the end of the cruise now?

Haven't been on CCL for awhile. Last time we cruised they charges our account by the end of the 2nd day.

Not that it matters when they take it but good to know so when newbies ask me about specific cruise lines I will know the correct information.:)

Bill

If I have OBC to cover all or part of it, I’ll wait. I’ve done both and haven’t noticed service drop offs either way.

The way I look at it, no matter how much the ship's policy says to give the same service for pre-paying, post-paying, or tip as you go sailors, there is ZERO chance that actually happens. In my mind, the people that are guaranteed the best service are those that pay as they go. They know their service directly affects their tips, so they'll be much more attentive. Second category is the pre-pay. They might show you a bit above the minimum required, but they've already got your money. Just knowing how most people are, they won't add to, or take away from, that pre-determined amount. Finally, you've got the post-pay. There's no guarantee they'll be seeing a single cent out of you. I'm sure every steward has multiple passengers each cruise that don't tip at all. There's no way to tell the difference between a non-tipper & someone who plans on paying later. This group will definitely get the worst service.

Will have to disagree based on our experience. Have done 40 or so cruises and never prepaid and always have gotten good to excellent service.

I don't believe in tipping before service has been received, so I always post pay. I always receive excellent service, with one exception. My steward on the Inspiration did his job, but nothing more than that. At the end of the cruise, I still didn't know what he looked like even though I saw him two or three times. He just wasn't memorable. I didn't tip him extra. My MDR staff on that cruise did get extra tips.

I suppose we must have had the same cabin steward on the Inspiration :(:(:(

We pre-pay in case tips go up before our cruise. Yet, many here opt not to pay until onboard. Still others who pre-pay seem to find reasons to remove their tips.

 

I'd like to think that it doesn't matter when tips ate paid in relation to service received.

If the gratuities are going to be increased, the date of the increase is announced well in advance. We have only prepaid our gratuities once, because we knew that an increase was coming and would occur just prior to the cruise we had booked. As I recall, the service we received on that cruise was fair at best, and not quite as good as we've had on cruises where we didn't prepay the tips. While some claim to have had better service by prepaying, our experience has been just the opposite.

Seems like we get better service since we've been prepaying.

We prepay ours just to get it out of the way. We have no problem using up any OBC on other things. As far as the service being different, I don't think it makes any difference. I can't imagine that a steward has time to think about who pre-paid tips vs. who hasn't and adjust their service based on what they imagine may happen with their total tips. Think about it - would you look at the list and decide to do the bare minimum because someone already paid? They are trying to hurry & get multiple cabins taken care of - no time to piddle around with that. And, who knows what could happen with tips? Perhaps having them prepaid, a person may be more inclined to give a little extra since that initial charge is already out of the way.

Just curious what everyone else does, I've done both and was wondering if the quality of service is affected if the staff already knows they have been tipped or if they know at all that you haven't pre payed your gratuities

The staff doesn’t know if you’ve prepaid or not, but I always prepay because I HATE a bill at the end of the cruise. The prepaid tip is the minimum I would tip (that $12-$15/day goes to about 20 staff, some who you never see). If service was not to expectation, I’d have it addressed immediately (has never happened). For exceptional service, I tip more in cash.

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Both. If I know I'll have a lot of OBC, I'll wait. Otherwise, I prepay and use an AARP gift card. Solo or with a friend, mine is a very easy stateroom to tend for a steward, and I've not noticed any difference.