Did Avalon change their gratuity policy?

[AtlantaCruiser72]

When shopping Avalon cruises online (either consumer or travel site) up until Wednesday of this week there was always an option to add pre-paid gratuities. As of Thursday that option seems to have been removed and I can no longer find information on suggested gratuity amounts anywhere on their website. Are they going gratuity inclusive and somehow I missed the memo?

[pontac]

This was on their site when I looked just now:

 

RIVER CRUISE DEALS

Welcome to Avalon Waterways river cruises, where five-star service comes free from stuffiness, accommodation is spacious, food is top-restaurant quality, gratuities are included

 

My bolding. Good news eh?

[AtlantaCruiser72]

2 hours ago, pontac said:

This was on their site when I looked just now:

 

RIVER CRUISE DEALS

Welcome to Avalon Waterways river cruises, where five-star service comes free from stuffiness, accommodation is spacious, food is top-restaurant quality, gratuities are included

 

My bolding. Good news eh?

I wonder what this change means for booked guests with prepaid gratuities before this change who are not yet paid in full? 

[pontac]

Only Avalon can answer that.

 

Maybe its like buying something at full price and then seeing it on sale two weeks later. 🙂

[AtlantaCruiser72]

So the option to prepay gratuities is back on both consumer and agent websites.  I did speak with my contact at Avalon and evidently a few countries have passed laws that no longer allow or make feasible the pre-payment of gratuities and their IT team temporarily removed the option while they sorted which sailings will be excluded going forward.  They expect to have website updated in a  few days with country specific guidance.  she said it is a bit of a mess right now as they just got the new guidance this week.

[Daisi]

Thanks @AtlantaCruiser72, I just sent a note off to my TA to inquire. I'll let her know. I was sure when I was playing around with airfare this morning the pre-pay gratuities were on the Cdn site, but they are off now.

 

Oh well, good thing to let her know anyway, so she can know for future clients to keep an eye out.

[KathyK13]

I just looked at  cruise we are considering and the option to pre-pay gratuities is still there.  Darn!  Maybe Avalon is waving them for the cruise you are taking?

[Cruising89143]

When I was planning our cruise the option to prepay was there. On the day that we booked it wasn’t. It’s now back. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I’m definitely of the mind that it was a glitch. The answer I got about certain countries and not being able to pre pay reeks of having smoke blown up me you know where 🤣

[pontac]

12 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

The answer I got about certain countries

 

This is probably the answer. The USA has a culture of tipping that isn't found in Europe. If you book Avalon or Viking in the UK gratuities are included. I haven't looked at the USA site, but probably US residents prefer paying gratuities directly themselves. Though how that aligns with pre-paid gratuities I don't know.

 

 

[franski]

I had already added the pre-paid gratuities for my booking in June. I will keep an eye on that as my final payment is due in March.

 

Fran

[Daisi]

@franski, I think it was just a glitch, as they were back on the site (Canada anyway) about an hour after OP posted.

 

I was hoping to get them credited back as well, but guess not. 😉