Prepaid Tipping vs. Tip as you Go.......Which is Better???

Can anyone tell me about the tipping process on Princess Cruiselines or any other cruiseline for that matter? We are taking our first cruise to Alaska (honeymoon:hearteyes:) Saturday, July 21st and were told we could prepay our tips. If we choose to do this, how do the service people know that we have prepaid and we aren't just stiffing them? How do most of you go about tipping and why have you chosen this way of tipping? Thank you in advance for your replies!! Happy Sailling!:cool:

Prepaying for any onboard service or tip is just a way to budget better and in the end prevent that unexpected, eye popping, cringe inducing credit card charge at the end of your cruise.

Pre-paying tips is really no different than pre-paying for a drinks package or spa indulgences or specialty dining. It will be charged to your card all at once when you pre-pay instead of at the time of purchase. In the case of tips, the time of purchase is a daily charge x 2, one charge for each of you, on your ship account. On HAL for instance the tip is $13.50 per day per person for non-suites and $15 per person per day for suites. This just gets applied daily to your running bill for which your credit card was authorized prior to boarding. Now if you anticipate having a bunch of onboard credit (lucky you!), it might pay to hold off on any pre-paying for anything as oft times that OBC can be used for most any spending you do on the ship, though I think casino spending doesn't count but don't quote me as I am not a casino kinda gal.

As for how the staff will know you are tipping them, they don't that I know of, at least not until the end. We generally take some cash on with us and tip as we go for duty above and beyond. That goes for bar staff too who usually have a 15% tacked on to every receipt anyway but a good bartender is worth tipping extra, a good wine steward too. On HAL this is not unusual and we often also leave a little bit extra and a thank you note to our stewards before we go because they work so incredibly hard. Otherwise, I really don't know.

Oh and congrats!! Enjoy your honeymoon cruise!! :D

We usually don't prepay, but just let the gratuities be charged to our account each day. This way any OBC we have is used for that; I don't believe that you can prepay with on board credit.

It is my understanding that crew members do know who has removed tips; in that case they are required to turn in any cash tips they are given, to be shared with others in the tip pool. If tips are left on, or prepaid, then they get to keep any extra tips.

We usually tip our steward additional on the last night.

There are 3 ways to tip:

1) Pre pay tips, this means paying the automatic gratuities before you sale. People do this to better budget their trip. Or I did it recently, to take advantage of a 0% interest offer.

2) Auto gratuities. These are charged to you shipboard account daily, and paid by the credit card on file (or funds from your account if you do cash). This is what most people do.

3) Tip as you do. These people cancel the auto gratuities, and tip "those who provide a service to them" while missing people that DO provide a service, but do not come in common contact. They never seem to tip the buffet staff who clean the table and bring them drinks. Or the assistant waiters. Or the stewards' assistants.

Also, the crew does have lists of who has removed the auto gratuities. And on most lines, if these people tip in cash, the crew is required to turn in the cash to go into the tip pool. So those removing them, and still not just tipping those who they think they are.

The most common recommendation is to either pre-pay or leave auto gratuities in place, and if you feel you got super service, tip a bit above and beyond that.

We typically have it charged daily to our on board account each day. The crew knows if it was prepaid or paid daily on the account and are notified of those who have removed the auto pay. Choose whatever works best for you.

BTW, traditionally it used to be that you would pay your stateroom attendants and wait staff in cash on the last night - typically in person at dinner and with an envelope left in the room for the night turn down. The reason prepay and auto pay was started in the first place was because there were those who would not go to the MDR for the last dinner and would not leave the envelope in the room and "disappear" for the night, thus skipping out on paying the gratuities at all.

Can anyone tell me about the tipping process on Princess Cruiselines or any other cruiseline for that matter? We are taking our first cruise to Alaska (honeymoon:hearteyes:) Saturday, July 21st and were told we could prepay our tips. If we choose to do this, how do the service people know that we have prepaid and we aren't just stiffing them? How do most of you go about tipping and why have you chosen this way of tipping? Thank you in advance for your replies!! Happy Sailling!:cool:

Yes, they know who has prepaid and who is auto charged on board and who withdraws their tips. Either prepay or let them charge to your account and never give it another thought

And to complicate matters some cruise lines include tips in the fare, not pre paid gratuities but an integral part of the price you pay. They are not itemised on your bill either. It is mostly high end (expensive) cruise lines who do this.

And to complicate matters some cruise lines include tips in the fare, not pre paid gratuities but an integral part of the price you pay. They are not itemised on your bill either. It is mostly high end (expensive) cruise lines who do this.

Or when sailing in Australia pretty much all lines.

Makes sense that if someone removes tips first thing onboard, the staff would be informed since all cash tips must be turned in. What puzzles me is how all that accounting works when folks take tips off at the end. Do the crew just automatically turn everything in notating cabin numbers and amounts and then get it back via paycheck if guests don' t cancel tips? There must be a complicated system like everything. But I figure most folks probably just let the tips ride. We just see it as part of our cruise fare.

Most cruise lines nowadays add the suggested tip to your account, so you don't have to worry about who to tip and when to do it. However, tipping is traditionally done on the LAST NIGHT of the cruise...not "as you go". Cruise ships advertise a "cashless" system, and they mean it. EVERYTHING is charged to your account, and you settle after the cruise. Cash tipping is extended on the last evening.

Makes sense that if someone removes tips first thing onboard, the staff would be informed since all cash tips must be turned in. What puzzles me is how all that accounting works when folks take tips off at the end. Do the crew just automatically turn everything in notating cabin numbers and amounts and then get it back via paycheck if guests don' t cancel tips? There must be a complicated system like everything. But I figure most folks probably just let the tips ride. We just see it as part of our cruise fare.

Yes, that is how it is done - if the crew member is honest and values keeping his/her job, that is.

Giving them tips in person "as you go" only makes their jobs more complicated.

That’s strange that if I tipped someone personally that they would have to turn in that tip to share with everyone else. If I tip someone, that would mean I specifically want that money to go to them. I didn’t know they had to share that money with everyone else. I thought that the $13.50 per day per person was the one that was shared with the others, not the extra personal tipping.

If you leave the daily tip on, then whatever extra you give the crew member is theirs to keep. They are only supposed to turn it in if the auto tips were removed, then it would be shared out among others. So, they would get their share of the $13.50(or whatever it is), plus the extra you gave them.

That’s strange that if I tipped someone personally that they would have to turn in that tip to share with everyone else. If I tip someone, that would mean I specifically want that money to go to them. I didn’t know they had to share that money with everyone else. I thought that the $13.50 per day per person was the one that was shared with the others, not the extra personal tipping.

If you leave the daily tip on, then whatever extra you give the crew member is theirs to keep. They are only supposed to turn it in if the auto tips were removed, then it would be shared out among others. So, they would get their share of the $13.50(or whatever it is), plus the extra you gave them.

All tips are pooled, whether from auto tipping to cash tipping. For those of you who don't like that concept, keep in mind that to be effective in their jobs, all service staff you come into contact with have people you don't see who support their activities. Sharing the tips is appropriately done to reward the support staff as well as the "front of the room" staff.

All cash tips must be turned in and recorded. When all passenger accounts are reconciled after the end of the cruise, if the auto or pre-paid tips have not been removed, the staff member has the full cash tip amounts deposited directly into their personal account. These tip amounts are considered a bonus for that crew member for providing better than expected service. If tips were removed at any time during the cruise, the cash amounts are distributed among all staff in the pool, just like the auto tips would be. Since there is no way to know if a passenger will remove the auto tips on the very last day, all cash tips must be turned in until the accounting department knows if the auto tips are still in place or not.

By the way, for the doubters out there, this isn't my opinion of how this works. This has been documented by at least two cruise line department managers, one a purser who does the on board accounting, who occasionally post here.

Yes, that is how it is done - if the crew member is honest and values keeping his/her job, that is.

 

Giving them tips in person "as you go" only makes their jobs more complicated.

And does nothing to actually achieve the pretextual goal of making sure the cash goes to the one who actually serves them.

And does nothing to actually achieve the pretextual goal of making sure the cash goes to the one who actually serves them.

It is my opinion that the only reason people insist on handing tips directly to "select" staff is to be thanked personally from the staff member in question. It has nothing to do with wanting to reward that specific person, but only to receive adulation from that person. It is an ego thing. One person who occasionally posts on these threads even boasts that he always hands them their tip in secret, away from the prying eyes of other people. Presumably so the staff member can lay on the adulation extra thick if no one can witness it. After all, just remotely giving the staff their tip denies them the superior feeling gained from the staff member grovelling at their feet in gratitude.

I just wanted to thank all who replied to my tipping query. You were all so very helpful and selfless with your time and information. You even shared more with me than simply answering my question so it gave me a much better grasp on how the whole tipping experience works. Thank you all so very much. Perhaps soon I will be the expert like one of you and will be able to offer some lost first time cruiser some wise words of my own!! Cheers and Happy Sailing!:D

That’s strange that if I tipped someone personally that they would have to turn in that tip to share with everyone else. If I tip someone, that would mean I specifically want that money to go to them. I didn’t know they had to share that money with everyone else. I thought that the $13.50 per day per person was the one that was shared with the others, not the extra personal tipping.

It is because they work in teams.

It is my opinion that the only reason people insist on handing tips directly to "select" staff is to be thanked personally from the staff member in question. It has nothing to do with wanting to reward that specific person, but only to receive adulation from that person. It is an ego thing. One person who occasionally posts on these threads even boasts that he always hands them their tip in secret, away from the prying eyes of other people. Presumably so the staff member can lay on the adulation extra thick if no one can witness it. After all, just remotely giving the staff their tip denies them the superior feeling gained from the staff member grovelling at their feet in gratitude.

I also believe this is true.

All tips are pooled, whether from auto tipping to cash tipping. For those of you who don't like that concept, keep in mind that to be effective in their jobs, all service staff you come into contact with have people you don't see who support their activities. Sharing the tips is appropriately done to reward the support staff as well as the "front of the room" staff.

 

All cash tips must be turned in and recorded. When all passenger accounts are reconciled after the end of the cruise, if the auto or pre-paid tips have not been removed, the staff member has the full cash tip amounts deposited directly into their personal account. These tip amounts are considered a bonus for that crew member for providing better than expected service. If tips were removed at any time during the cruise, the cash amounts are distributed among all staff in the pool, just like the auto tips would be. Since there is no way to know if a passenger will remove the auto tips on the very last day, all cash tips must be turned in until the accounting department knows if the auto tips are still in place or not.

 

By the way, for the doubters out there, this isn't my opinion of how this works. This has been documented by at least two cruise line department managers, one a purser who does the on board accounting, who occasionally post here.

I did realize this is how it worked (all tips are pooled, then distributed at the end of the cruise) just didn't take the time to explain it so well, as you did. In the absence of the cruise line actually paying larger salaries, this system seems the easiest for me; I just pay the auto tips and then add extra to anyone who deserves it. This way everyone gets a share and I can reward a specific person with an additional tip if I want.

It is my opinion that the only reason people insist on handing tips directly to "select" staff is to be thanked personally from the staff member in question. It has nothing to do with wanting to reward that specific person, but only to receive adulation from that person. It is an ego thing. One person who occasionally posts on these threads even boasts that he always hands them their tip in secret, away from the prying eyes of other people. Presumably so the staff member can lay on the adulation extra thick if no one can witness it. After all, just remotely giving the staff their tip denies them the superior feeling gained from the staff member grovelling at their feet in gratitude.

While I think this can be true, it is not always. One reason I like the auto-tipping is because I felt so awful on the last day of the cruise (in the old days, before auto-tips) having to, in a way, force people to act so grateful and having to hover around, waiting for the largess.

We usually do tip our steward extra, but it's no big production. I have just left it in the room with a thank-you note or handed it to them and quickly got out of the way. I do not want anyone feeling as if they have to show excessive gratitude, grovel, etc. I am fine with being truly anonymous, if possible, and really want or need no thanks. It makes me very uncomfortable.

We leave the tips on as suggested by cruise lines, and the crew members that we feel have been exceptional we tip them extra amounts the day or evening before final morning. For us that has always been the cabin attendant, the bartender and/or wait staff that went the extra mile etc.

And to complicate matters some cruise lines include tips in the fare, not pre paid gratuities but an integral part of the price you pay. They are not itemised on your bill either. It is mostly high end (expensive) cruise lines who do this.

It can also depend on the market the cruise is booked in.

That’s strange that if I tipped someone personally that they would have to turn in that tip to share with everyone else. If I tip someone, that would mean I specifically want that money to go to them. I didn’t know they had to share that money with everyone else. I thought that the $13.50 per day per person was the one that was shared with the others, not the extra personal tipping.

What has been stated many times, including be people stating they are crew members, is if you leave the auto gratuities in place, they can keep any cash tips. But if you turn them off, then they must pool any cash tips.

That said, last Aug on Grandeur, at the pool bar, every day or so, I would tip $5. It went into a bucket at the back. So the bar staff pooled their cash tips at least.

That’s strange that if I tipped someone personally that they would have to turn in that tip to share with everyone else. If I tip someone, that would mean I specifically want that money to go to them. I didn’t know they had to share that money with everyone else. I thought that the $13.50 per day per person was the one that was shared with the others, not the extra personal tipping.

They ONLY turn in cash tips IF/WHEN you do NOT pre-pay gratuities/service charges, etc. OR opt OUT of the auto gratuities all together.

IF you pre-pay the tips OR keep them on a daily basis and pay at the end of the cruise AND give additional $$ cash $$, then the steward, dining staff, who ever, gets to keep that cash.