Can you pay your own gratuities to whom you wish?

[Cocktail Queenie]

Sorry if this question has been done to death...I tried to do a search on it and couldn't find this specific question so here goes...

 

When I booked this cruise I had the option of paying the gratuities now or not. Does that mean when I am actually on the ship and pay my on board account at the end I can opt to have it manually taken off my account and I then pay the gratuities to whom I wish?

 

Hope this makes sense. We did this on our past cruises and they were happy to reimburse our gratuities so we could arrange our own tipping. I know some cruise lines allow this and others don't and I can't seem to find any info which says this one does.

[Andy]

Hi Cocktail Queenie !

 

I believe I understand your question. When you pre-pay your gratuities, each appropriate share goes to the respective Crew member. You do not have the option of giving larger ratios to others, or spreading it out differently. When you pre-pay onboard, there is an option of adding on additional gratuities. I believe you can cancel the pre-payment once onboard, though it needs to be done a few days before your cruise ends.

 

If you are very concerned about who gets what (and that's understandable), you may want to avoid the pre-payment method, and tip in whatever fashion you feel appropriate. This way, you can be certain the tips are distributed as you wish.

 

Id like to offer a suggestion... on our last few sailings, we've taken advantage of the pre-paid gratuities, as I do not have the heart to not tip anyone for services rendered, as the gratuities are cruical to the Crew. Fortunately, less than excellent service is extremely rare. So, I pre-pay, and I often give additional gratuities, to those who go above and beyond.

 

I hope this helps. Enjoy your Cruise !

[LHT28]

Another point of view

It is open dining you will unlikely have the same waitstaff with each meal

It is hard to tip everyone that serves you unless you want to carry cash around & do it at each meal.

They will still have to turn in any tips to the "tip pool"

 

Suggest you leave the auto-tipping in place & if you feel a crew member went above & beyond give them an extra amount at the end of the cruise.

 

You are free to choose what works best for you

 

Lyn

[little britain]

How strange. In England the grats are mandatory and cannot be taken off. Or that is what my TA told me. Not that I would want to anyway because I do not like handing over bundles of cash at the end of the cruise because I, personally, find it embarrassing, so I always prepay.

[Jancruz]

From Azamara,

We do not allow the tips to be removed from the folio unless a clear service failure can be proven, and then only if the Hotel Director approves the removal.

 

Jancruz1

[Cocktail Queenie]

Thanks guys....that's all I wanted to know.:)

[California Native]

From Azamara,

We do not allow the tips to be removed from the folio unless a clear service failure can be proven, and then only if the Hotel Director approves the removal.

 

Jancruz1

 

Whoa! Seriously?!

ok I don't mean seriously in that I don't believe you...

but what I mean is ....

shouldn't we call it something different than "tips" or "gratuities"

then?

Because the definition of tips is far from this policy

I've always been a traditionalist tipper...

I like the envelopes and the personal note that I give at the end of the cruise.

I've been doing that for 33 years...since I was 10 years old...(well, technically at that time it wasn't MY money, but I was learning the concept of it)

My mom on the other hand loves automated tipping...

go figure...

 

[Cocktail Queenie]

I agree totally Where2next! That doesn't make me a mean person...I just like to be in control of who I tip etc etc. I really think you should be given the choice. Otherwise why not just increase the price and say there is no tipping!

[gosport11]

Its the same as the 18% added to round of drinks even if you get your own from the bar!!!:):)

[California Native]

Its the same as the 18% added to round of drinks even if you get your own from the bar!!!:):)

 

yes, but that has been going on for decades...the auto "tipping" is new...

for the staff that you have the most contact with

and even when I was a little kid I couldn't understand that if I got out of MY deck chair, walked MY body up to the pool bar, ordered the drink and then walked MY body back to my chair that I had to pay him 18%

but I went with it, because thats the way it was done, thankfully I'm not a big drinker...

[LHT28]

I agree totally Where2next! That doesn't make me a mean person...I just like to be in control of who I tip etc etc. I really think you should be given the choice. Otherwise why not just increase the price and say there is no tipping!

 

How do you decide which waitstaff to tip with open dining?