Pre-paying Gratuities – could this be misinterpreted as opting out?

We normally pre-pay our gratuities, and prior to our 2016-17 cruise what used to happen is that, in effect, we each got a single onboard credit to our account to the value of the gratuities, at the start of the cruise, and gratuities were then charged as normal on a daily basis.

 

Then in 2016-17 we cruised out of Sydney, and because;

• the Australian clients do not pay gratuities
  and
  
• there was the issue of double currency conversions (the gratuities I pre-paid was a rate set in US dollars which I paid in pounds, though the ship’s onboard currency was AUS)
   
  I was therefore not surprised that the gratuities never showed on my AUS denominated onboard account.
   
  This year, I again pre-paid my gratuities at a US$ rate, on a Caribbean cruise where the on board currency was US$. I therefore expected that I would see a credit and daily charges as before. However this did not happen and no credits or charges relating to gratuities appeared on our account. Whilst this surprised me, I just assumed that it was a change in the way they accounted for pre-paid gratuities.
   
  However, what then happened at the end of the cruise caused me to question whether or not our steward was under the impression that we had opted out of gratuities. As I said we pre-paid our gratuities, but despite this, two days before the end of the cruise I gave our steward an envelope containing US$50 as an additional tip. Obviously he thanked us, without opening the envelope, but after that we only saw him once and he was certainly far less friendly.
   
  Then on packing to leave, we discovered that we had lost one of two very nice leather ‘Australian style’sun hats. Obviously we could have lost it ourselves on our last day ashore, but I don’t think so.
   
  Certainly I am not suggesting that it was stolen – though I am wondering whether or not we left it on the floor and it got ‘carelessly’ swept up in the rubbish. There was also another, less obvious, change in attitude towards us from another member of staff (in the restaurant on the last morning) but that could simply have been down to the fact that they were very busy.
   
  As I say I am not making any accusations, but there was a definite change in attitude after we gave our steward the envelope (and before we lost the hat) and, putting everything together, the bottom line is that, in truth, I am concerned about whether or not the staff thought that we had opted out of gratuities and that the, just over $200 additional gratuities we distributed in envelopes, and to room service staff, were the only tips we had offered.
   
  I’m not sure if others have had a similar experiences with pre-paid gratuities not showing on their account, but the impression that something was wrong was sufficiently powerful that, I have decided to do things slightly differently on future cruises, simply to avoid any risk of being incorrectly perceived as a person who accepts service but doesn’t expect to pay for it.
   
  So, in future, instead of pre-paying my gratuities and having nothing appear on my onboard account, I have decided that I will instead gift myself onboard credit to cover the value of the gratuities. This way I will see both my pre-payment and the gratuities showing on my account and thereby avoid any risk that, because no gratuities are shown on my stateroom account, the ‘system’ (i.e. the accounts department / Passenger Services Manager) might think that I have opted out of automatic gratuities and incorrectly include me on a list of passengers who have opted out of automatic gratuities and that the additional gratuities I offer in envelopes are the only gratuities I am offering and not the additional tips I am offering for extra service from people I have personally interacted with.
  

CM

Edited January 23, 2018 by Corfe Mixture

On my last cruise this month I was in a promotion that had prepaid grats, showed on my personalizer that I had prepaid grats. There was nothing showing of daily grats charges on my on board account as there had been in the past. I figured that they changed how they did the prepaid postings.

 

I quit guessing how things are done or changed within Princess Corp and their on board rules and policies.

 

framer

Maybe, there could be personal reasons for being unfriendly other than a misinterpretation of opting out from gratuities. We also give extra cash tip and had no negative experience after.

 

 

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We normally pre-pay our gratuities, and prior to our 2016-17 cruise what used to happen is that, in effect, we each got a single onboard credit to our account to the value of the gratuities, at the start of the cruise, and gratuities were then charged as normal on a daily basis.

 

Then in 2016-17 we cruised out of Sydney, and because;

• the Australian clients do not pay gratuities
  and
  
• there was the issue of double currency conversions (the gratuities I pre-paid was a rate set in US dollars which I paid in pounds, though the ship’s onboard currency was AUS)
   
  I was therefore not surprised that the gratuities never showed on my AUS denominated onboard account.
   
  This year, I again pre-paid my gratuities at a US$ rate, on a Caribbean cruise where the on board currency was US$. I therefore expected that I would see a credit and daily charges as before. However this did not happen and no credits or charges relating to gratuities appeared on our account. Whilst this surprised me, I just assumed that it was a change in the way they accounted for pre-paid gratuities.
   
  However, what then happened at the end of the cruise caused me to question whether or not our steward was under the impression that we had opted out of gratuities. As I said we pre-paid our gratuities, but despite this, two days before the end of the cruise I gave our steward an envelope containing US$50 as an additional tip. Obviously he thanked us, without opening the envelope, but after that we only saw him once and he was certainly far less friendly.
   
  Then on packing to leave, we discovered that we had lost one of two very nice leather ‘Australian style’sun hats. Obviously we could have lost it ourselves on our last day ashore, but I don’t think so.
   
  Certainly I am not suggesting that it was stolen – though I am wondering whether or not we left it on the floor and it got ‘carelessly’ swept up in the rubbish. There was also another, less obvious, change in attitude towards us from another member of staff (in the restaurant on the last morning) but that could simply have been down to the fact that they were very busy.
   
  As I say I am not making any accusations, but there was a definite change in attitude after we gave our steward the envelope (and before we lost the hat) and, putting everything together, the bottom line is that, in truth, I am concerned about whether or not the staff thought that we had opted out of gratuities and that the, just over $200 additional gratuities we distributed in envelopes, and to room service staff, were the only tips we had offered.
   
  I’m not sure if others have had a similar experiences with pre-paid gratuities not showing on their account, but the impression that something was wrong was sufficiently powerful that, I have decided to do things slightly differently on future cruises, simply to avoid any risk of being incorrectly perceived as a person who accepts service but doesn’t expect to pay for it.
   
  So, in future, instead of pre-paying my gratuities and having nothing appear on my onboard account, I have decided that I will instead gift myself onboard credit to cover the value of the gratuities. This way I will see both my pre-payment and the gratuities showing on my account and thereby avoid any risk that, because no gratuities are shown on my stateroom account, the ‘system’ (i.e. the accounts department / Passenger Services Manager) might think that I have opted out of automatic gratuities and incorrectly include me on a list of passengers who have opted out of automatic gratuities and that the additional gratuities I offer in envelopes are the only gratuities I am offering and not the additional tips I am offering for extra service from people I have personally interacted with.
  

CM

I so much preferred when gratuities were distributed at the end of the cruise instead of deducted automatically. It loses the purpose of a tip which should represent good service. What was supposed to make things easier for the passenger in reality benefits the cruise line and we really don’t know how much of it goes to the worker. They work exceptionally hard doing a very difficult job most often using a language not their native tongue. So many feel compelled to leave additional money, and now a generous person such as you are worries whether it was enough or if the steward knew your gratuities were not removed. I guess what I’m saying is the cruise line should pay the crew a decent wage, stop deducting gratuities, and leave it up to the passenger as to who to tip (or not). Yes, I know some of the crew would not have the same opportunity for a tip as say your steward or fixed server, but if the cruise line paid them a fair wage, tips would be what they should be and not a built in charge.

We have had prepaid gratuities in the past and they have not appeared on our folio while onboard. I am not sure the cabin steward is even told who has deleted the automatic gratuities. I would venture to guess that maybe the OP's cabin steward when presented the envelope assumed that the gratuities had been deleted and the $50 paid in its place. There has been a running commentary on these boards suggesting that European pax would delete the automatic gratuities so being from the UK, the cabin steward assumed it had been removed. We have had no problem with no problem with the prepaid gratuities or reaction from the cabin steward. Indeed a strange response from the OP's steward.

I’m afraid removal of gratuities seems to be quite common for UK passengers, I’m a member of a few UK based Princess Facebook groups and it’s asked how to remove them all the time and full advice is given. I like to prepay and it’s forgotten about then, I always have a little thought in my mind if service ie terrible what I can do. It never is.

Staff members have to report tips in cash and can only keep them if gratuities are not removed. So when we give them an envelope we write our names, a short note saying this is in addition to regular gratuities and cabin number on the envelope. From multiple reports they turn in the envelope to their supervisor and get it back unopened if gratuities are not removed. Normally we do this the last night. For steward we leave it on the bed before leaving for dinner just in case we don't see them later (although we usually do).

 

Hoping that prepaid doesn't cause confusion since we have it on our next cruise as part of the booking. Like your idea of gifting yourself OBC and not prepaying it!

My booking last December on the Crown included free gratuities, but I noticed that they were charging me gratuities to my shipboard account, so I went to guest services where they had me fill out and sign a small form adjusting the daily gratuity charge to zero, and the charges stopped appearing. I sure hope that doesn't mean he wasn't paid.

IMO You do need to write your name, cabin # the word EXTRA and the person name that you are giving it to. If you fail to put the correct info on the envelope it will be place into the tip pool.

 

framer

when we cruised around the Caribbean 2 years ago, we prepaid our grats and it didn't show in our folio as a daily charge.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

Seems it is normal to no longer show pre-paid gratuities in the stateroom account, though I am certain that, (for some reason I still have the stateroom account from a cruise) as recent as Jan 2016, it was the case that the prepayment showed as a credit which was gradually used as daily gratuities were charged.

 

I think the bottom line is that, in future, if I want to pre-pay my gratuities, I will do so by gifting myself additional OBC.

 

I certainly WON'T be opting out of auto gratuities even though, as a couple of you have observed, I am from the UK. Can't believe for one minute that, although a few UK people have asked how to remove the auto gratuities on Facebook, the practice is sufficiently widespread amongst my fellow countrymen for there to be a generalised view that all, or even the majority of UK citizens opt out of autogratuities.

 

CM

Edited January 24, 2018 by Corfe Mixture

Thanks for all the comments.

 

Seems it is normal to no longer show pre-paid gratuities in the stateroom account, though I am certain that, (for some reason I still have the stateroom account from a cruise) as recent as Jan 2016, it was the case that the prepayment showed as a credit which was gradually used as daily gratuities were charged.

 

I think the bottom line is that, in future, if I want to pre-pay my gratuities, I will do so by gifting myself additional OBC.

 

I certainly WON'T be opting out of auto gratuities even though, as a couple of you have observed, I am from the UK. Can't believe for one minute that, although a few UK people have asked how to remove the auto gratuities on Facebook, the practice is sufficiently widespread amongst my fellow countrymen for there to be a generalised view that all, or even the majority of UK citizens opt out of autogratuities.

 

CM

 

CM - you are correct, when the gratuity is prepaid it is simply omitted from your folio. We had a computer glitch on our recent Royal Princess cruise and our prepaid gratuity was not credited, so we were seeing daily charges until they fixed the debit/credit computer issue and then it auto-corrected -- then they disappeared.

Enjoy,

CB

We have prepaid grats on our next sailing. I now will be sure to ask our steward what our cabin acct shows because I don’t want anyone thinking the gratuity isn’t being paid.

 

 

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Just to say I am a Brit and have never taken off the auto tips. My roommate is prepaying her tips for our next cruise, but I'm not. I wonder if we will see a different attitude from our room steward?

Just to say I am a Brit and have never taken off the auto tips. My roommate is prepaying her tips for our next cruise, but I'm not. I wonder if we will see a different attitude from our room steward?

He won’t know , so no

He won’t know , so no

 

(y)

So bottom line is it better to just gift yourself the equivalent onboard credit instead of pre-paying gratuities?

We will be leaving on our cruise in 2 weeks and I have already pre-paid our gratuities but am now wondering if I should cancel the pre-paid gratuities and instead purchase more onboard credit?

 

 

 

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At one time and I can't remember if it was RCI or Princess but they did show the daily grat and then it being subtracted for each day...but in the last year or 2 I noticed with both lines that it has been eliminated all together.

 

What is new with Princess now, is your prepaid excursions show as credits.