Prepaid gratuities.

[Rob-Bob]

Please explain prepaid gratuities (to get the old rate).  Do you actually pay them now or are they added to your final bill to be paid with the balance of your cruise?  If you pay now and your cruise isn't sailing until say 8 months out, do you get a refund if you cancel the cruise (I am assuming you would).  I have never prepaid gratuities.

 

Thanks.

[Rob-Bob]

Just weighing the options for a 10 day cruise next year.  $2 savings x10x2=$40.  Is it worth $40 to prepay?

Edited November 3, 2023 by Rob-Bob
spelling error

[Husky1987]

Prepaid gratuities are added to your final balance, not paid up front.

 

18 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

Just weighing the options for a 10 day cruise next year.  $2 savings x10x2=$40.  Is it worth $40 to prepay?

 

I think you're the only one who can accurately answer whether anything is worth $40 to you.  As you can find in the other threads, prepaid gratuities make it so you can't remove them onboard the ship.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Husky1987

[GTO-Girl]

25 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

Please explain prepaid gratuities (to get the old rate).  Do you actually pay them now or are they added to your final bill to be paid with the balance of your cruise?  If you pay now and your cruise isn't sailing until say 8 months out, do you get a refund if you cancel the cruise (I am assuming you would).  I have never prepaid gratuities.

 

Thanks.

you can call and pre-pay the gratuities now.  They will not be automatically added to your final payment and yes  if you cancel yes they will be refunded.  
 

We alway pre-pay our gratuities….

[GTO-Girl]

6 minutes ago, Husky1987 said:

Prepaid gratuities are added to your final balance, not paid up front.

 

This isn’t correct…..you can pay them when you book your cruise or you can call at anytime before sailing and pay them.  They are NOT automatically added to your final payment. (as far as US bookings)

 

We always pre-pay our gratuities….

[moposh]

I prepaid gratuitities for 2 cruises--well, set up to prepay.  It's worth it to me to prepay to save $84 (for two cruises for two people each).

[moposh]

1 minute ago, GTO-Girl said:

This isn’t correct…..you can pay them when you book your cruise or you can call at anytime before sailing and pay them.  They are NOT automatically added to your final payment. (as far as US bookings)

 

We always pre-pay our gratuities….

We're referring to prepaying/scheduling prepaying gratuities before gratuities go up to $18 a day pp.  If you call to arrange this, you don't pay now.  It gets added to your final payment.

[Rob-Bob]

8 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

you can call and pre-pay the gratuities now.  They will not be automatically added to your final payment and yes  if you cancel yes they will be refunded.  
 

We alway pre-pay our gratuities….

So they are collected when authorized and not part of your final payment.  But you can prepay anytime prior to sailing and get the lower rate?  Why would you pay them earlier than just prior to sailing if there is no financial benefit?

 

$40 savings is worth it if you can prepay the week before sailing.

[Rob-Bob]

7 minutes ago, moposh said:

We're referring to prepaying/scheduling prepaying gratuities before gratuities go up to $18 a day pp.  If you call to arrange this, you don't pay now.  It gets added to your final payment.

Now I am confused.  Some say it is not added to final payment.  I still am not clear on when you actually get charged.

[Coralc]

We always add gratuities when we book the cruise. And they have always been added to and paid at final payment.  If you call and add them now, you will pay them at final payment. 

 

GTO-Girl's experience is not what others have experienced, for whatever reason. 

[Rob-Bob]

7 minutes ago, Coralc said:

We always add gratuities when we book the cruise. And they have always been added to and paid at final payment.  If you call and add them now, you will pay them at final payment. 

 

GTO-Girl's experience is not what others have experienced, for whatever reason. 

Thanks, this makes sense.  I will continue to beat this dead horse and ask though - can the prepaid gratuities be prepaid the week before sailing and entitle you to the lower (old) rate?

 

Thanks for your replies.

[Tree_skier]

3 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

Thanks, this makes sense.  I will continue to beat this dead horse and ask though - can the prepaid gratuities be prepaid the week before sailing and entitle you to the lower (old) rate?

 

Thanks for your replies.

No, you must add them to your invoice prior to Nov 11 and then they are payable at final payment.

[moposh]

18 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

Now I am confused.  Some say it is not added to final payment.  I still am not clear on when you actually get charged.

I called on Wednesday to prepay gratuities.  I was told they would be added to final payment and a revised invoice was sent to me showing the prepaid gratuities have been added at $16 a day pp.  I did not pay on Wednesday.  I will pay by final payment.  But you have to call and arrange this before the gratuities increase on November 11.  

[moposh]

23 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

But you can prepay anytime prior to sailing and get the lower rate?

No, you have to call before gratuities increase on November 11 if you want to get the lower rate.  You will then pay with final payment.

[moposh]

9 minutes ago, Rob-Bob said:

Thanks, this makes sense.  I will continue to beat this dead horse and ask though - can the prepaid gratuities be prepaid the week before sailing and entitle you to the lower (old) rate?

 

Thanks for your replies.

No.  You cannot prepay gratuities at old rate ($16/day pp) a week before sailing.  You have to arrange before November 11 and then you'll pay with final payment.  Final payment is due before a week before sailing.

[RoperDK]

I just called and added auto gratuities to my booked cruises this morning. There were 4 cruises in total with several different circumstances.

 

Wonder in Jan 2024 - This cruise was past final payment.  I had to pay today to add the auto gratuities at the current rate.

 

Grandeur Apr 2024 and Brilliance Jan 2025 - These cruises are currently before final payment. The current auto gratuities were added to my invoice to pay with final payment.

 

Grandeur May 2024 - This was a free casino cruise and all taxes and fees were paid with a zero balance due and before final payment.  The current rate gratuities are now on the invoice to be paid at final payment.   

 

The only monies collected today were for my one cruise that is past final payment.  On those other cruises, I will be charged the current gratuity rate even though I will cruise after the new rates go into effect.  If I had called on Nov. 12th I would have been paying the new rates no matter the circumstances.  If you have to cancel your cruise, you will always get your taxes, fees, gratuities, and onboard purchases back. You never loose that money.    

[cruiselovingal]

I was charged yesterday when I called to prepay gratuities for my October 2024 sailing. 

[Rob-Bob]

All was making so much sense and consistent until I read post #17 from cruiselovingal.  This was inconstant with previous 4 posts.  It is consistently posted that you must tell them to add it to your cruise balance prior to 11/11/23 to get old rate so at least that is clear.  Most say payment is due at final payment but cruiselovingal was charged (had to pay?) a year in advance.

[Rob-Bob]

Fellow Ohio cruiser🙂

[neverbeenhere]

Want more confusion, pay them now and you would have an annualized return of  around 18.75%  on  your gratuity savings for your 8 month out cruise.

 

 

 

 

Pay them NOW (before 11/11) at the lower rate.

 

OR

 

Pay them at the higher rate anytime after 11/11. (on the ship or on the phone)

 

 

 

I will pay them with my OBC when I cruise. (See I told you I could add more confusion)

Edited November 3, 2023 by neverbeenhere

[nasa1974]

Going from $16 to $18/day for a 7-day cruise will cost me an additional $14. I have a couple of days to decide. 

[little britain]

3 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

This isn’t correct…..you can pay them when you book your cruise or you can call at anytime before sailing and pay them.  They are NOT automatically added to your final payment. (as far as US bookings)

 

We always pre-pay our gratuities….

Misunderstanding: this is about locking in the grats at the lower rate.

 

My TA sent me this email:

Hello,

You should have received notice that Royal Caribbean is increasing the price of their gratuities.  This will happen 11/1/23.  Non-suite staterooms will increase to $18.00 per guest per day (up from $16.00).  

I'll automatically add the gratuities to your booking at the lower rate.  We don't have to pay for them at this time, they just need to be added to the booking.  Then you can pay for them at final payment.  If you choose to not prepay the gratuities we can remove them at that time and you can pay the $18 per person per day onboard during your sailing“

 

So by her preempting this, it gives me the option to save $2pppd on the 8 cruises I have booked with her; or I pay the new higher rate using obc when we get onboard. It’s a tough call! 

 

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, cruiselovingal said:

I was charged yesterday when I called to prepay gratuities for my October 2024 sailing. 

You should not have been charged, it should have been added to the invoice which needs to be paid at final payment, around July 2024.

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, moposh said:

You cannot prepay gratuities at old rate ($16/day pp) a week before sailing.

While that's what the announcement implies, the last time an increase happened there were several months after the deadline where the prepaid grats could be added at the old rate.

[SRF]

Two different things.

 

Auto gratuities are added each day during the cruise and paid as part of the final bill.

 

Pre-paid gratuities are added and paid for at the time you set them up.

 

Some people prefer to pre-pay them so they have paid the total cost of their cruise and only have minor on board expenses while cruiring.