Does everyone here prepay gratuities?

My husband and I were talking and for example carnival... asks you before you check out if you want to pay the tips before you cruise. We were thinking about that and he’s the type of person that he has to tip someone cash.

He says he doesn’t like the idea of paying now and when people actually bring us food or clean the room or help us with bags or anything else he doesn’t like not giving anything.

He says he wants to give them cash.

Is that ok? Will they be upset?

You don't have to pre-pay but have it credited out of your OBC account on the last day - we've always done it that way and I think a good majority on here do as well.

Tipping in cash mean that those that work so hard behind the scenes won't be getting their fair share.

We do not pre-pay out tips. However, most lines now charge the daily gratuity to your onboard account. The amount varies by cruise line and to some extent by type of cabin. It is usually in the $10 to $15 per person per day range. It is so much simpler than carrying around cash all the time.

While you will usually have one cabin steward for the cruise, you will be served by many people in the dining rooms each day. Will your husband carry cash to tip the servers at breakfast, lunch and dinner? That sounds like a real pain to me. Just leave on the auto tips and give extra if someone gives you great service.

its personal choice whether you pre pay or have it charged daily. keep in mind that either way, people whom you never interact with but are still directly providing you with service will be part of the daily fees charged. tipping in cash is fine if you want to add extra for exceptional service. most people do that at the end of the week though.

So there are actually two issues here:

1. Auto gratuities vs opting out

2. Per-paying auto gratuities vs paying on the ship

The way cruising is set up these days is a cashless system. Everything that costs extra on the ship gets charged to your onboard account, including a majority of the tips. The tips can add quite a bit so many people (myself included) prefer to pre-pay them rather than have them charged onboard. If you do not pre-pay they will simply be charged to your account onboard unless you request they be removed. So to prepay or not prepay is Personal preference

But it sounds as though your husband wants to have the auto gratuities removed altogether and tip in cash. There are some probs with this. 1. As you dine on the ship you will encounter many different wait staff so would have to constantly carry cash and leave some at every meal. 2. The wait staff rotate through front of the house and behind the scenes positions so you will inevitably shortchange someone at some point. 3. The system is set up that this is the default; while I can’t be 100% sure, I suspect that when a customer removes the auto gratuities it reflects poorly on your wait staff with the assumption being ‘what did they do wrong to cause you to not tip’.

You will find that there is no expectation onboard for cash tips to be left. They will certainly be gratefully accepted, but you would stand out leaving cash on the table after meals. A vast majority of cruisers pay the auto gratuities and then may tip additional to some staff for above and beyond service. But cash tipping throughout the day isn’t the norm and isn’t expected.

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We have been on two and did not prepay on either of them. We have two more booked and will not prepay those either. We prepay everything else and rarely buy anything on board. When we leave, the gratuities are the only thing we have to pay. You will pay them one way or another (hopefully), it is completely up to you as to how you budget and when you want to pay these. I have never felt pressured to prepay. I would never opt out of these though so that everyone gets their share. We also do go ahead and tip extra cash if we feel someone deserves it.

Gone are the days when you tip in cash on cruises. If you don't "pre-pay", the suggested tips will be added to your account on a daily basis, and distributed to those who serve you. It actually takes all the guesswork out of it. Those who do serve you do not GET their tips until the cruise is over, so it's not as if they won't still be working for their tips!

Sanger727 had a beautiful explanation why it's best to just leave the autotip and maybe tip a little bit extra each day if you really feel like it. That way, nobody gets shortchanged.

I normally don't prepay. However, it can leave a sizeable bill at the end of the trip, especially if I buy stuff on board the ship as well. This time, I'm thinking of prepaying just so I can see what I'm buying without having to ignore the autotip amount. Easier that way to see the bottomline total without having to do math (even if it's easy math, I'm on vacation).

I'm doing the prepaid gratuities. The folks on board ship work very hard, but the wages aren't that great. So, leaving them something extra is a good idea, along with writing a great letter to the CEO when they do a top-notch job.

Prepaying is mostly for budgeting purposes. If you don't prepay, you pay the same amount at the end of the cruise (they are charged to your room). Either way, you do not tip-as-you-go (unless you want to tip extra in cash, which some people feel strongly about doing and some feel strongly about not doing).

I pre-pay and tip in cash additional to room steward and bartenders. I like the pre-paying for my budget as I purchase the 10% off gift cards and pre-pay everything before the cruise. The people I've tipped additional cash to have been extremely grateful.

We have never prepaid gratuities on our previous 7 cruises but did so before our upcoming one. That was because the rate was increasing as of April 1 and we wanted to be able to pay the old rate. On a past trip our room thermostat was broken for an entire night and we froze until it was repaired. We requested the service fee be removed for that one day only. We feel if there is an issue it is easier to have the charge removed if you haven't prepaid them than to try to get a credit later.

I pre-pay and tip in cash additional to room steward and bartenders. I like the pre-paying for my budget as I purchase the 10% off gift cards and pre-pay everything before the cruise. The people I've tipped additional cash to have been extremely grateful.

Where do you find those gift cards? I would love to get my hands on some the way we have been booking cruises lately :o. We are definitely hooked.

Tipping additional tips in cash is fine, but not either pre-paying or doing the auto-pay daily is how the tips are eventually split to include all servers. You certainly aren't going to pay a cash tip to the waiters in the buffet, but the auto-pay or pre-pay includes them too so your husband's idea of handing out cash cuts many people out of the tips they too have earned.

I pre pay gratuities, and I tip additional cash if want to do so at the end of the cruise. If you tip only in cash, you will shortchange a lot of people working hard behind the scenes.

I pre pay gratuities' date=' and I tip additional cash if want to do so at the end of the cruise. If you tip only in cash, you will shortchange a lot of people working hard behind the scenes.[/quote']

You are right about short-changing behind-the-scenes crew if you ONLY tip cash, but having the gratuities added at the end automatically (the default if you don't prepay) accomplishes the same thing as pre-paying.

We prefer to pre-pay ahead because I do not want that bill at the end of the trip. By pre-paying ahead of time, I can budget dollars over a longer period of time and get it off my plate.

You are right about short-changing behind-the-scenes crew if you ONLY tip cash, but having the gratuities added at the end automatically (the default if you don't prepay) accomplishes the same thing as pre-paying.

Personal preference but in over 20 cruises I have never pre paid gratuities. These days I generally travel with enough OBC to just let that cover the bulk of my gratuities anyway.

We have never prepaid gratuities on our previous 7 cruises but did so before our upcoming one. That was because the rate was increasing as of April 1 and we wanted to be able to pay the old rate. On a past trip our room thermostat was broken for an entire night and we froze until it was repaired. We requested the service fee be removed for that one day only. We feel if there is an issue it is easier to have the charge removed if you haven't prepaid them than to try to get a credit later.

Interesting. Having that one day service fee removed just took it away from the staff. Including your cabin attendant. Staff had nothing to do with the thermostat. That is taken care of by the ships Crew member. They don't get anything from the daily gratuity.

I was going to ask how to pre pay gratuitys but now I think I might just wait to pay if it is only $10-$15 a day. I guess I thought it was more than that.

I was going to ask how to pre pay gratuitys but now I think I might just wait to pay if it is only $10-$15 a day. I guess I thought it was more than that.

 

It’s $13-$15 per person per day. So can still add up to a bit. 4 people for 7 days $400.

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It’s $13-$15 per person per day. So can still add up to a bit. 4 people for 7 days $400.

 

 

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I’ve done it both ways. Just depends on what you are most comfortable with. I do like not having much of a bill on the last day of my cruise when things are prepaid.

Am I right that if you pay at the end of the cruise, you pay in US dollars correct? I was thinking of prepaying which I can in CDN dollars and save the exchange rate cost.