Does everyone here prepay gratuities?

We have never prepaid. We just let it go to our cc on file and our onboard credit is subtracted. We usually leave some extra cash for any outstanding staff we interact with.

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I don't know about everyone, but I certainly prepay tips every cruise.

Never have. Never ever will. You don't tip for services before the services are actually performed.

DON

We like to prepay our tips to have one less expense to deal with.

We also tip extra to the ones who we have given us above and beyond service.

We do auto-pay and let it go to the cc. We've never deducted a cent from the auto-pay and would never think about doing it. We also give extra cash to the cabin attendant, waiter and asst. waiter on every cruise. Taking the tip from the cabin attendant, waiter and assistant waiter because of a thermostat problem??? WOW! What did the thermostat problem have to do with the cabin attendant, waiter and assistant waiter? I would ask who does that, but we already know the answer.

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?

I see the charges on the final bill, and a bit later on my credit card. Never felt the need to pay those before my cruise.

There are a zillion discussions about tipping on this site, enough not to start another one. Yet I do want to say that if you remove the gratuities (which you can, obviously), your room steward cannot keep the tips you give him personally.

Yet I do want to say that if you remove the gratuities (which you can, obviously), your room steward cannot keep the tips you give him personally.

Wonder why that is and where those cash tips would go instead of the person you directly tipped. Not that I'd ever imagine having gratuities removed, as often mentioned on these boards the gratuities pay people we'll never see or meet that have a direct impact on making our cruise enjoyable. I'd think you'd have to have really bad service from the staff/crew to even consider it. $13-$15 per passenger per day when you think about it being divided up amongst the crew/staff doesn't seem over the top at all. But there will always be people out there who will have gratuities removed for all manner of petty reasons to save a buck. Those people should have to work on a cruise ship without tips and see how much that would suck.

As for the topic IMO it's 6 of one half a dozen of the other. You pay the same whether you pay before or after. My wife and I are going on our first Cruise together this fall. I've never cruised and she's only done it once. For us we prepaid this time just to have the cost out of the way. Next cruise we may not. Really no right or wrong way, the only wrong thing is to deny the hard working staff tips altogether.

They do into the same tip pool as the auto gratuities and are distributed the same way.

This is what I have gleaned from all the threads over the past year.

I am pre-paying grats on our next two cruises, but that is because I have a new RCI card that gives me 18 months interest free for charges in the first 60 days. So second cruise will also be paid WELL ahead of final payment.

Yes, we prepay, and also tip the stewards, room service, and waiters in cash.

My mother and I are old ladies on a very limited income but we can pay the people who bust their butts to give us a lovely vacation.

This is our first cruise, we prepaid the gratuities and plan on tipping a little more for great service (bar tender, waiters, etc.)

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.

Same here

Yes, we pre-pay gratuities. But, I also always tip additionally at the end of the cruise to our wait staff, cabin steward and bar staff during the cruise.

Jonathan

No. We never prepay anything unless there is a financial advantage in doing so....which is seldom the case on cruise bookings.

If you as an European book at the cruise lines European web you have no choice - gratuities is always included in the final price - no option to not 'pre-pay'.

I prepay gratuities as I don't like a bill at the conclusion of the cruise - I prefer that everything be prepaid. Just depends on personal preference.

Someone said no advantage to pre-paying. Someone asked about the gift cards I mentioned.

You can purchase gift cards for a 10% discount online. Originally I got mine through Verizon but they recently stopped. Now many people get them through AARP (you don't have to be a member). Last week Paypal ran a special through ebay where you could purchase a gift card at 15% off.

So pre-paying and using a gift card is a definite advantage to me!

I like to prepay tips in order to trick myself from seeing my rather hefty final balance. Also, spreading out the expenses doesn’t hurt as generally pay these several weeks before sailing.

Lastly, my wife doesn’t like cruising, so it’s just the kid and me. She knows that I budget $100 per person per a day, prepaying the tips helps me to disguise one expense and “stay” within budget. It all the same pot of money and I’m fooling nobody, but it makes me feel better.

Happy Travels

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This is our first cruise so what is the standard percentage for gratuities on a seven day cruise we really don't want to prepay since since it's not always fair to those individuals who go above and beyond . We would tip them out any how.

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 like to prepay mine and just get it out of the way. Can have everything paid off before even leaving home.

I always pre-pay and am happy to have one less "bill" to worry about at the end of my vacay. I pre-pay everything I can before my cruises from tips to excursions.

We are cruising for the first time in September. Where do I prepay? At the cruise planner? And is it too far out to prepay?

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Someone said no advantage to pre-paying. Someone asked about the gift cards I mentioned.

You can purchase gift cards for a 10% discount online. Originally I got mine through Verizon but they recently stopped. Now many people get them through AARP (you don't have to be a member). Last week Paypal ran a special through ebay where you could purchase a gift card at 15% off.

So pre-paying and using a gift card is a definite advantage to me!

It looks like they're not doing it anymore. I just went all over their site looking for it. :(:(:(:(

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?

The short answer is yes it is ok and no they won't be upset but we do the auto tips for ease and our budget (we can pay them before the cruise happens). We often tip a staff member who has gone above and beyond extra.