123 Go- Free Gratuities

[Knolmom]

If you select free gratuities as your perk for the 123 go promotion, and then you elect to choose Select Dining where gratuities must be paid in advance, how does it work? Do you pay for the gratuities at or before final payment with your cruise fare and then have them refunded as an onboard credit, or do they actually subtract them from your final payment invoice. Dont want to find myself with onboard credit from the TA and then more from Celebrity, having already paid for my gratuities in advance.

[Phxazzcruisers]

The gratuities are paid if that is what you select whether you eat at set time or select You will not be charged.

[packedandready]

Gratuities were added to our account when we booked and selected select dining. I chose "free gratuities" with the 124 promo and our booking shows the credit.

[tjones62]

I had to pre-pay grats for Select Dining.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Yes, you have to prepay for select and if you close free grats on the 123 go they will be credited back.

[Knolmom]

But wanting to know how they would be credited back. If I get $400 onboard credit from my TA and then end up with an additional credit of $432 for the prepaid gratuities, thats a lot of onboard credit.Thats not free gratuities then, it's just additional onboard credit.

[Knolmom]

Or am I misunderstanding and will the invoice for my final payment reflect the credit for the free gratuities?

[Milhouse]

I don't know if it's different per Travel Agent but...

Our last cruise we did select and the gratuities showed up on our invoice as it's known that one has to pay them ahead.

 

On our upcoming cruise, we're doing select again but have complimentary pre-paid gratuities. On our final payment invoice, our seating shows as Select Dining, the gratuities do NOT show up as a line item on the invoice, and in the notes section it says "Receive complimentary prepaid gratuities...".

[thebutlerdidit]

You won't have a charge and then a credit. You won't be charged at all for the gratuities. On our invoice, prepaid grats show up as a line item of $0.

[packedandready]

Our gratuities promo showed up as a credit on invoice (final payment not made yet), not as obc.

[Knolmom]

Thanks for the info.

[PoppyandNana]

Thanks for the info.

 

Think I am really confused. Assume I take the prepaid option and also assume I get an OBC of $250 from my TA and gratuities total $250. Do I have a net $0 balance on my account? Or do I still have the $250 OBC?

[Karynanne]

Think I am really confused. Assume I take the prepaid option and also assume I get an OBC of $250 from my TA and gratuities total $250. Do I have a net $0 balance on my account? Or do I still have the $250 OBC?

 

You would have $250 OBC, courtesy of your TA. This will show on your onboard account approximately 2-3 after you embark.

[PoppyandNana]

You would have $250 OBC, courtesy of your TA. This will show on your onboard account approximately 2-3 after you embark.

 

Thank you. I know the OBC's are posted within a day or so of sailing but my quandary is how to evaluate the $300 perk versus the prepaid gratuities perk. If I take the $300 OBC option and total gratuities come to $250 haven't I lost $50 in potential OBC?

[Phxazzcruisers]

Thank you. I know the OBC's are posted within a day or so of sailing but my quandary is how to evaluate the $300 perk versus the prepaid gratuities perk. If I take the $300 OBC option and total gratuities come to $250 haven't I lost $50 in potential OBC?

Yes, you are correct. If your gratuities for the cruise would be $250.00 and the 123 go offer would be a $300.00 OBC you would be better picking the $300.00 OBC.

[pollux]

Can one use a future sail cert. and 123 for paid gratuities?

[Milhouse]

YMMV but our TA keeps telling us that we aren't able to stack the OBC from our future sailing cert with various promos (which have made us question the value of future sailing certs).

[On that tangent, where we're now seeing as the best application of the future sailing certs (for us) is snagging a guarantee cabins past the final payment window where there seems to be a potential for decent price drops.]