is it CHEAPER to pre pay gratuities?

[Luv2cruisewithtwins]

A fellow cruiser told me recently that she pre paid her gratuities because it was cheaper then paying on the ship. Is this true?? I never heard/did this before.

Thank you in advance

[davesgirl51]

A fellow cruiser told me recently that she pre paid her gratuities because it was cheaper then paying on the ship. Is this true?? I never heard/did this before.

Thank you in advance

 

Based on the policies of FDR, that would be a correct statement if you are booking more than 2 months out.

[saxgirl84]

A fellow cruiser told me recently that she pre paid her gratuities because it was cheaper then paying on the ship. Is this true?? I never heard/did this before.

 

Thank you in advance

 

 

 

If you booked your cruise before they raised the prices, then you would save money by prepaying at the previous rate. If you waited to pay until you cruised, you pay the current day rate. We booked our cruise last Feb, when the charges were lower, so we prepaid and saved a few dollars.

[Luv2cruisewithtwins]

well, I just booked a cruise for this November.

Will it be cheaper if I pre pay gratuities now than on the ship in November?

[saxgirl84]

well, I just booked a cruise for this November.

 

Will it be cheaper if I pre pay gratuities now than on the ship in November?

 

 

 

Unless the price of the DSC goes up again before your cruise, then no. If it gets raised again, you will be able to pay before you board at the lower rate...

[Luv2cruisewithtwins]

Unless the price of the DSC goes up again before your cruise, then no. If it gets raised again, you will be able to pay before you board at the lower rate...

 

Perfect, thank you!!!!!

[KarenMF]

So you cannot pre-pay the service charge if you are within 60 days of cruising?

[saxgirl84]

So you cannot pre-pay the service charge if you are within 60 days of cruising?

 

 

 

I believe you can pay it up to 24 hours before boarding, but I'm not 100% sure on that. We paid ours off about a month ago for our cruise tomorrow, so I know you can absolutely pay it if you are wishing 60 days...

[SuiteCruiser]

Thanks for the reminder. I have one I booked in June 2015, which I will now prepay.

[bpankey]

So you cannot pre-pay the service charge if you are within 60 days of cruising?

 

I tried to pre pay my cruise and the website just shows a blank space under the vacation summary. I called norwegian direct and they said you can't pre pay gratuities within 10 days of your cruise.

[don't-use-real-name]

Another can of worms - take care if you have OBC and if you can use some or

all of it to pay the DSC. Not an option if you already have prepaid in advance.

But take into account that some NCL OBC - use it or lose it - so if you can't

pay the DSC from OBC make sure the OBC is drained to Zero (timely at the

casino while it is open) and use the cash for paying other incidentals or any

remaining DSC.

Plan carefully - it is only money - AND IT IS YOUR MONEY !

[mabones]

If you log into My NCL then go to Vacation Summary. Scroll down to Pre-Pay Gratuities and click on the "+" sign. You should be able to make that payment.

 

Good luck!

[ColinIllinois]

I tried to pre pay my cruise and the website just shows a blank space under the vacation summary. I called norwegian direct and they said you can't pre pay gratuities within 10 days of your cruise.

 

 

You were given wrong info. You can prepay up to 24 hour in advance.

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq#service-charge

[Turtles06]

Another can of worms - take care if you have OBC and if you can use some or

all of it to pay the DSC. Not an option if you already have prepaid in advance.

But take into account that some NCL OBC - use it or lose it - so if you can't

pay the DSC from OBC make sure the OBC is drained to Zero (timely at the

casino while it is open) and use the cash for paying other incidentals or any

remaining DSC.

Plan carefully - it is only money - AND IT IS YOUR MONEY !

 

You cannot pay the DSC with non-refundable (use it or lose it) OBC. But one thing you can do with it that many folks don't know is use it for extra gratuities to specific crew members. Go to Guest Services with that person's name and job title, tell them how much you want to give as an additional tip, and they will fill out a voucher for that crew member's account. He or she can use it on board OR withdraw it as cash, like a bank account. You get a receipt that you can give to the crew member, so he/she knows you did this. (We travel with thank you cards; very handy at the end of a cruise.)

[Mistizoom]

Thanks for the reminder. I have one I booked in June 2015, which I will now prepay.

 

If you didn't have the DSC added to your booking prior to the end of July 2015 it may be too late to get the rate that was in effect when you booked. I booked April 2015 and had to add my son's DSC to our booking by end of July to lock in the previous DSC rate (DH and I had free DSC as a promo). I didn't have to pay for DS's DSC until final payment, but supposedly I did have to add it to the booking by end of July for the lower price.

[bpankey]

You were given wrong info. You can prepay up to 24 hour in advance.

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq#service-charge

 

that's what I said but the 2 NCL reps were locked out of the booking and couldn't let me pay it over the phone and on the website clicking the + under pre pay services loads and then disappears into a blank box.

[Stace894]

I've had the same problem the past two days... I'm still 100 + days out and wanted to see what my gratuity total was to possibly pay off. Every time I go into it the box comes up blank. I think it is a system error as I still should have no problem pre-paying.

[res2cue]

If you didn't have the DSC added to your booking prior to the end of July 2015 it may be too late to get the rate that was in effect when you booked. I booked April 2015 and had to add my son's DSC to our booking by end of July to lock in the previous DSC rate (DH and I had free DSC as a promo). I didn't have to pay for DS's DSC until final payment, but supposedly I did have to add it to the booking by end of July for the lower price.

Not true. We booked in March 2015 and just finally decided to pay DSC a month or so ago. Got it at the rate it was when we booked back in March. Also bought some OBC to spend at that rate since the Canadian $$$ tanked since then. Got all of it for $1.11

 

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[snow bunny]

I purchased my own OBC and intend to use that to pay for my gratuities. Will this work??

 

snow bunny

[Demonyte]

I purchased my own OBC and intend to use that to pay for my gratuities. Will this work??

 

 

Yes, even service charges.

[OV8]

You cannot pay the DSC with non-refundable (use it or lose it) OBC. But one thing you can do with it that many folks don't know is use it for extra gratuities to specific crew members. Go to Guest Services with that person's name and job title, tell them how much you want to give as an additional tip, and they will fill out a voucher for that crew member's account. He or she can use it on board OR withdraw it as cash, like a bank account. You get a receipt that you can give to the crew member, so he/she knows you did this. (We travel with thank you cards; very handy at the end of a cruise.)

 

Great info thank you!

[framboesa]

Hello

I dont have the pre paid gratuities option in my vacation summary.Where can I find it?

Thank you!

[mabones]

When you are in the Vacation Summary, scroll down to Prepay Service Charges. It is after the Payment section on the US Accounts.

[Demonyte]

Hello

I dont have the pre paid gratuities option in my vacation summary.Where can I find it?

 

When you are in the Vacation Summary, scroll down to Prepay Service Charges. It is after the Payment section on the US Accounts.

 

Sorry, but that is not a universal fact. First of all Payment section might not be visible at all (if the cruise is booked through a TA) and people have reported for years that they are randomly unable to pay online regardless of how they have booked (TA or directly with NCL).

 

If the option isn't available, it is possible that one is a victim of NCL's high quality systems design and if that is the case, unfortunately the only way to add or pay service charges in advance is to call the TA or NCL directly.

[framboesa]

If the option isn't available, it is possible that one is a victim of NCL's high quality systems design and if that is the case, unfortunately the only way to add or pay service charges in advance is to call the TA or NCL directly.

 

Thank you very much! MY TA said that NCL will add it to the C Card on embarkation day. ;)