pre paying gratuities

[NSWP]

Next two cruises, Majestic Princess and Arcadia, gratuities are included in fare, so non negotiable, a better way of dealing with 'wage subsidy.'

[MicCanberra]

Definitely much more convenient and less stress.

[plettza]

Sorry to chime on this, but my mum's friends organised a Princess cruise with a group.  She agreed to go but hasn't been made aware of the costs, etc.  The cruise is next year in February aboard Ruby Princess so no one from the group is rushing around with the details at this point.  The sailing departs Sydney and goes to New Zealand and comes back.  Her folio is charged in AUD.

 

We logged into her cruise account and there's an Optional Gratuity Pre Payment section of $188 or so.  There's a also a Cancel button next to the fee. 

 

So what are these gratuities?  Are they then added on during the cruise each day if she doesn't prepay them?  Are they indeed "optional"?  If she clicks Cancel, does that remove the charge before sailing?

 

I've never logged into the Princess site before so I don't know what I'm looking at as I've only ever sailed Carnival and P&O.  My mum's never sailed at all so she's to trying to ascertain what she's up for in terms of total costs.

 

Any help is appreciated.

Edited June 6, 2019 by plettza

[OzKiwiJJ]

Where was the cruise booked? 

 

On Australia/New Zealand booked cruises there are no additional gratuities and I checked two of my bookings and the Optional Gratuities section doesn't appear.

 

If booked from overseas there will be additional gratuities to pay. Your mother can choose to pay them in advance. If she cancels the prepay then they will be charged daily to her onboard account during the cruise. 

[plettza]

 

5 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Where was the cruise booked? 

 

 

 

The Princess website has an agency listed in my mum's profile/booking summary.  It looks like discount cruise agency overseas.  There's an Australian toll-free number that goes to the US.

 

The good news is she and her room mate have onboard credit.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

Edited June 6, 2019 by plettza

[OzKiwiJJ]

I find it easiest to prepay grats when I'm doing a overseas cruise. It just means less on the onboard account during the cruise. However if she has OBC and isn't expecting to spend much onboard it may be better to not prepay.

[plettza]

That's the thing.  She's never cruised before so she doesn't know what the experience will be like.  A friend of hers' daughter booked the cruise for a bunch of them.  So my mum got an email some time ago from her friend saying they're all going on a cruise; simple as that - no other information.  There was no mention of costs or anything and I've been helping her get to the bottom of it as her friend doesn't know what's going on either.

 

In the meantime, my girlfriend and I are taking my mum on a 3-night cruise tomorrow so she gets a feel for cruising and can see what she might expect; i.e.whether or not she'll drink premium coffees or goes to the spa, etc.  She doesn't know what she's expecting tomorrow.

Edited June 6, 2019 by plettza

[OzKiwiJJ]

That's a great idea. Try and dissuade her from getting sucked in to buying high priced extras like spa treatments (unless she really, really wants one), photos, speciality restaurants, and most of the shops. Note the prices of coffees and any other drinks she might like so she can budget for those. The other thing to consider is what excursions she might want to do in NZ, or whether she'll need to pay for a shuttle - ie Port Chalmers is a fair way out of Dunedin city so there is an optional shuttle. I'm not sure what it costs, maybe AU $15-20.

 

Regarding the spa: I've only ever used it for a manicure but I have heard people say that some of the spa operators do very hard sells on products and people have ended up paying far more than they intended for their spa experience.