Recived Free Gratuities as a booking Perk, then was Charged for Select Dining

[twoflyers]

Really having a hard time understanding this, but I booked a Celebrity cruise with one of the large agencies. They offered the drink package and free gratuities as perks with the reservation. Early dining was not available, which pushed us into select dining and the agency said since you are in select, you have to prepay your gratuities. I said "But I have free gratuities" but they said you have to prepay for them. I am waitlisted for early dining and they said when I am confirmed, then will refund the gratuity fee as an OBC. I asked them why do I need an OBC when I have free drinks and gratuities. Their response "Crickets".

Anybody else out there experienced this issue?

[Orator]

Really having a hard time understanding this, but I booked a Celebrity cruise with one of the large agencies. They offered the drink package and free gratuities as perks with the reservation. Early dining was not available, which pushed us into select dining and the agency said since you are in select, you have to prepay your gratuities. I said "But I have free gratuities" but they said you have to prepay for them. I am waitlisted for early dining and they said when I am confirmed, then will refund the gratuity fee as an OBC. I asked them why do I need an OBC when I have free drinks and gratuities. Their response "Crickets".

Anybody else out there experienced this issue?

 

I've never had to pay gratuties when they were a perk. Did you have to actually pay the amount, or did it show as a charge.? Sometimes an agent will list the charge and then show it paid. No money actually changes hands since it's merely for bookkeeping. To avoid this you can request Traditional and then change once on board.

[coldweathergirl]

I wonder if you should look for another TA. Whenever I've booked and had prepaid grats, it shows as a line item an expense for the gratuities but then further down on the invoice there will be a credit for the same amount so they basically zero out.

[jelayne]

Not sure what "crickets" meant. With Select you do prepay gratuities, however you don't actually pay them until final payment. So if you get moved to your preferred traditional dining time then the prepaid gratuities will drop off you invoice and the TA can pay them to Celebrity before you sail. Should you end up staying in Select, in our experience, the TA gives us the equivalent $ in OBC. Since the OBC is from a TA is refundable it will be credited to your cr card if you don't use it.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I wonder if you should look for another TA. Whenever I've booked and had prepaid grats, it shows as a line item an expense for the gratuities but then further down on the invoice there will be a credit for the same amount so they basically zero out.

 

My experience as well.

 

[cyntil8ing]

We prepaid our gratuities, but got that amount as OBC. Since we didn't spend it, it was refunded to our credit card at the end of the cruise.

[swigso]

We prepaid our gratuities, but got that amount as OBC. Since we didn't spend it, it was refunded to our credit card at the end of the cruise.

I would love to hear how not to spend whilst on a cruise 😎😎

[AtleeH]

"Crickets" means they received silence from the TA. They got no answer to the question.

 

Not sure what "crickets" meant. With Select you do prepay gratuities, however you don't actually pay them until final payment. So if you get moved to your preferred traditional dining time then the prepaid gratuities will drop off you invoice and the TA can pay them to Celebrity before you sail. Should you end up staying in Select, in our experience, the TA gives us the equivalent $ in OBC. Since the OBC is from a TA is refundable it will be credited to your cr card if you don't use it.

[cruisestitch]

Why do you need OBC even if you have free gratuities and drinks?

 

Here are just some of the many things you may find the OBC could be used for

 

casino

photographs

spa treatments

bottles of wine

wine tastings

shore excursions

bingo

internet

gift shops

shuttles to/from town (some ports)

transfer to airport post-cruise

duty free liquor shop

hair salon

manicure/pedicure

Zumba classes & other fitness classes

acupuncture

medical services (we hope not)

champagne Elegant tea

specialty restaurants

room service up-charge items (basic room service is free)

mini bar

laundry/dry cleaning

gelato (basic ice cream is free)

drinks above the price point of your beverage package (if you have the basic level package)

World Class bar/Molecular bar drinks

[tunaman2011]

We prepaid our gratuities, but got that amount as OBC. Since we didn't spend it, it was refunded to our credit card at the end of the cruise.

 

Greetings

 

This has been our experience as well. When the gratuities were paid by the TA they charged us for Select but we were given refundable OBC in the same amount. If you spend it onboard, fine. You wind up reembursed the gratuities so it is a wash.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[helen haywood]

Same here. Some TAs I have used gave it as OBC since I always chose Select, and some discounted the grats as part of the price. Either way you'll come out OK.

[cyntil8ing]

I would love to hear how not to spend whilst on a cruise 😎😎

 

Well, we got _some_ of it back. ;)

[zoncom]

Shop for a new agent ASAP Transfer to one that understands X and one that will give you some nice OBC.

[thebutlerdidit]

I've used two different online travel agents that routinely provide free gratuities. With one of them, choosing select dining is not a problem. They just include this cost on the invoice and then credit that line item so the cost is on them. The other does it as you mention. If you had been able to snag early or late dining, all would have been fine. Choosing Select, whether your choice or being forced to due to availability, adds the cost to your invoice. If you aren't able to change your dining choice prior to sailing, you'll just receive an equivalent credit to your online account. If you have no need to spend that amount, you'll receive it back.

[twoflyers]

Thanks everyone - really appreciate you sharing your experience. :)

[omarchs]

I was actually going to just search the forum for this same question, but my scenario is a little different.

 

Booking online directly with Celebrity for Europe you can get both free drinks/tips, yet the tip amount is added to your invoice amount if you choose select dining.

 

I know that in the past it takes a few weeks for them to actually add your perks to your invoice so I am expecting that you would eventually receive an updated invoice from Celebrity removing them before final payment.

 

I will call to confirm when I have more time tonight.

[Philomath]

I've had this experience with one of the largest online cruise travel agents - the "prepaid gratuities" they offer is actually an OBC for the amount of gratuities, and cannot be applied prior to the cruise if you choose Select dining. What we've done both times is choose Traditional so we didn't have to prepay, then go to the maitre d' on embarkation day and switch to Select. Never had a problem doing this but I agree it's a hassle!

 

FYI when the prepaid gratuities come from Celebrity (not the TA), you do not have to pay them in advance to choose Select.

[kokopelli-az]

We have a similar issue that is happening right now with wanting to book a Celebrity cruise for next March offered by one of the Big Box retailers and is one of their Kirkland Select cruises.

 

We are booking an Aqua class stateroom. We do not get prepaid gratuities but we were planning on using our OBC to pay for them. In attempting to make the reservation, the only dining selection is Select and right below that it says "The dining option selected requires gratuities that will be added to the price on the Booking Recap screen" - and the gratuities are added to the total amount of your cruise.

 

I asked Big Box twice about having to prepay gratuities and was told this is a Celebrity decision and we can be put on a wait list for another type of seating - and if that opens up we can change our seating option and the gratuities that we paid for up front will be refunded.

 

Or if another dining option does not become available before we sail, we can go to the front desk once on board and tell them we want to use our OBC for the gratuities and (supposedly) what we paid up front for the gratuities will be refunded.

[WestLakeGirl]

Everything you were told is pretty much correct except the last paragraph. That has not been known to happen. Big Box is telling you something that might logically make sense but isn't how it goes

[tunaman2011]

We have a similar issue that is happening right now with wanting to book a Celebrity cruise for next March offered by one of the Big Box retailers and is one of their Kirkland Select cruises.

 

We are booking an Aqua class stateroom. We do not get prepaid gratuities but we were planning on using our OBC to pay for them. In attempting to make the reservation, the only dining selection is Select and right below that it says "The dining option selected requires gratuities that will be added to the price on the Booking Recap screen" - and the gratuities are added to the total amount of your cruise.

 

I asked Big Box twice about having to prepay gratuities and was told this is a Celebrity decision and we can be put on a wait list for another type of seating - and if that opens up we can change our seating option and the gratuities that we paid for up front will be refunded.

 

Or if another dining option does not become available before we sail, we can go to the front desk once on board and tell them we want to use our OBC for the gratuities and (supposedly) what we paid up front for the gratuities will be refunded.

 

Greetings

 

If you are booking an Aqua cabin you should be assigned to Blu. Blu does not have set dining times. Only the MDR has early and late seatings. I don't have any clue why you would be offered a "wait list". Your agent doesn't seem to understand Celebrity's dining.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

We have a similar issue that is happening right now with wanting to book a Celebrity cruise for next March offered by one of the Big Box retailers and is one of their Kirkland Select cruises.

 

We are booking an Aqua class stateroom. We do not get prepaid gratuities but we were planning on using our OBC to pay for them. In attempting to make the reservation, the only dining selection is Select and right below that it says "The dining option selected requires gratuities that will be added to the price on the Booking Recap screen" - and the gratuities are added to the total amount of your cruise.

 

I asked Big Box twice about having to prepay gratuities and was told this is a Celebrity decision and we can be put on a wait list for another type of seating - and if that opens up we can change our seating option and the gratuities that we paid for up front will be refunded.

 

Or if another dining option does not become available before we sail, we can go to the front desk once on board and tell them we want to use our OBC for the gratuities and (supposedly) what we paid up front for the gratuities will be refunded.

 

I think your TA is confused. They should not be picking select dining for someone in AQ. When one picks select dining, it automatically triggers a gratuities charge. It has nothing to do with what's going on in the MDR. Your assigned dining room is Blu. When you book in Blu, you should be booked as an assigned dining customer.

 

[cle-guy]

If you tale Grats as a perk, the free perk won't show on reservation for about 10 days. Once final payment come's there will be a credit.

 

SO until that perk is applied to the reservation it shows Grats being due with no credit.

 

Celebrity takes a few days to add perks officially to reservations.

 

This is only an issue with people who have to take Select Dining and choose free grats. Usually within 10 days, your reservation will show the package on your reservation under ORDER HISTORY, and come final payment, no big deal it's all in place.

 

If you book within final payments, you likely need to call in before making final payment within 24 hours, but I am not positive. The number of cruises past final payment that still allow the BBB promo is not too large.

Edited September 3, 2015 by cle-guy

[cle-guy]

Or if another dining option does not become available before we sail, we can go to the front desk once on board and tell them we want to use our OBC for the gratuities and (supposedly) what we paid up front for the gratuities will be refunded.

 

Where did you hear this? It's certainly not official policy, and usually requires a certain bit of argument and "taking it up the chain" to accomplish.

[Mparis184]

I would love to hear how not to spend whilst on a cruise 😎😎

 

I know I am the exception to the rule but I spend very little money when we cruise except for tours that are paid in cash. I usually book our Cruise Critic group with private tours that save a lot of money. On my last Azamara cruise I had $260 put back on my credit card from OBC that I didn't spend. I don't drink and we have been in 37 cruises. I don't need any of the merchandise in their shops and have boxes full of cruise photos. My final bill is usually between $25-$100 depending on how much OBC we receive. Yes, I am the perfect wife! LOL

[bar_20]

Has this charge been added to your credit card account? If so they are using your money now. Highly unethical. They should issue you a credit to your credit card not an OBC. If only your deposit has been charged then no big deal. They are probably getting a discount on the OBC from X and will pocket the excess.