Gratuities

You have to be kidding' date=' we used a TA got $200 OBC and our gratuities are $600..........we are of course in Australia, so we never get the deals you guys get on the other side of the equator......then adjust for our exchange rate and our tipping is through the roof !!!!!!!!!

 

 

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Yep TAs here don't give away like American ones seem to.

 

Basically never got anything of a TA but aggravation.

Nanna, I would love to be doing the two cruises that you are doing. I am very jealous.

 

We are off to NZ in March.

That sounds great' date=' we are doing a 24 night Med cruise in May on the Eurodam it should be a terrific cruise (small amt of OBC or not)

 

 

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Yes, I am very excited and the raw deals we get here down under are not enough to discourage me. It is what it is!!! :D

If you are worried about the cost of gratuities you shouldn't be cruising.

If you are worried about the cost of gratuities you shouldn't be cruising.

The most over worked cliche on these boards.

The most over worked cliche on these boards.

Along with "You've paid the HSC, you don't have to give any more money to them for doing their job".

Along with "You've paid the HSC, you don't have to give any more money to them for doing their job".

What's not true about that statement? HAL has decided an amount for the HSC, which I pay. Why pay more?

What's not true about that statement? HAL has decided an amount for the HSC, which I pay. Why pay more?

I agree totally! ;)

If you use a TA to book you should get more than enough OBC to cover gratitudes.

We have always used a TA to book our cruises and they been "name" Travel Agencies and we have never received OBC large enough to cover the tips. Are you suggesting they make enough off the sale of a cruise to us to offer some of the large OBC's mentioned on this thread? I truly find that hard to believe.

We have always used a TA to book our cruises and they been "name" Travel Agencies and we have never received OBC large enough to cover the tips. Are you suggesting they make enough off the sale of a cruise to us to offer some of the large OBC's mentioned on this thread? I truly find that hard to believe.

To the first part of your post (I bolded) - yes, we certainly have received more than enough OBC to cover the HSC on our cruises, from our "name" TA. Of course it may depend on the length of your cruise, but for 20 days our OBC took care of the HSC. Our TA bases the OBC on category of cabin booked plus length of the cruise.

So in effect you are really buying the OBC. I will admit we usually only book interior or OV cabins because of the price, so they wouldn't be worth much of an OBC. The next level of cabins are at least to us are most often too expensive. I don't want to beat this to death, so thank you for your response.