Pre-paid Gratuities....Questions....

[vapple]

We have never prepaid our gratuities before, but are thinking about doing it for our next cruise in January. What are the pros and cons? How strange is it not to hand an envelope to your cabin steward or wait staff on the last night? Are they aware if you have prepaid and is their service any different? We will probably give something extra for outstanding service, at the end of the cruise, but obviously, the envelope will not have the full amount suggested.

 

In the past, I have gotten some terrific advice and suggestions from all you guys out there. Hoping I will again!:)

[jonbgd]

We have never prepaid our gratuities before, but are thinking about doing it for our next cruise in January. What are the pros and cons? How strange is it not to hand an envelope to your cabin steward or wait staff on the last night? Are they aware if you have prepaid and is their service any different? We will probably give something extra for outstanding service, at the end of the cruise, but obviously, the envelope will not have the full amount suggested.

 

In the past, I have gotten some terrific advice and suggestions from all you guys out there. Hoping I will again!:)

I prepay my Gratuities It is so easy

I tell them I prepaid on the last night

I do tip extra for extra great service

[san diego sue]

If you prepay gratuities, you will receive envelopes in your cabin with coupons that you put in envelope. The last night you give these to the people (Waiter, asst., room Steward, head waiter. These titles are already on the envelope and also on the coupons. so an envelope is still given out the last night. also you can add a little extra cash if the service warrant doing it.

[doemichael]

We got envelopes when we were on VOS a few months ago, we just added extra where needed and hand envelopes out with the slip saying we had prepaid.

[vapple]

Thanks all for your quick replies! You've answered my questions helped me understand how it is done.

 

Thanks all!

[pcur]

We found out a little known (to me) fact on our Indy cruise that ended yesterday. If you sign up for My Time Dining and prepay your tips, but decide to switch to traditional dining, your tips do NOT follow you to the newly assigned table. You MUST give your dining staff the vouchers in order for them to have the tips transferred to them from MTD. We found that out when we said good night, thank you, we prepaid but don't have the vouchers. EEEKKK!!! said our dining staff, and we had 4 cabins scrambling back after late seating to give them the vouchers!!

 

Lesson learned for us.

 

We had been told previously that prepaid tips are automatically credited to your service staff, with or without the vouchers. I was told in October on the Rhapsody that the tips follow you to a new cabin (we got an upgrade). But, now we find out the DINING TIPS do not follow you to your new assignment.

[Papa T]

If you prepay gratuities, you will receive envelopes in your cabin with coupons that you put in envelope. The last night you give these to the people (Waiter, asst., room Steward, head waiter. These titles are already on the envelope and also on the coupons. so an envelope is still given out the last night. also you can add a little extra cash if the service warrant doing it.

 

If you do flex dining and are served by a variety of wait staff over the length of the cruise, who do you give coupons to on the last night. We did this on the last TA and ended up sitting at the same table with the same staff each night, but . . . I wondered what I would have done if we had been served by several individuals over 14 days.

[ItsMeJedB]

We did this on the last TA and ended up sitting at the same table with the same staff each night, but . . . I wondered what I would have done if we had been served by several individuals over 14 days.

I have seen "TA" used in other threads and have wondered what it means...can someone explain?

Thanks : )

[Gradelady]

If you do flex dining and are served by a variety of wait staff over the length of the cruise, who do you give coupons to on the last night. We did this on the last TA and ended up sitting at the same table with the same staff each night, but . . . I wondered what I would have done if we had been served by several individuals over 14 days.

 

I was wondering the same thing...any answers?

[KarinaGW]

I have seen "TA" used in other threads and have wondered what it means...can someone explain?

Thanks : )

 

Depending on context, it either means Travel Agent or Trans Atlantic. sailing.

[andrzej5914]

I was wondering the same thing...any answers?

 

I believe when you chose MTD the server runs your key card every evening and the ships computers keep tab of which server served you. The tips are distributed accordingly, by the cruise line.

 

There really is no reason to hand out the vouchers. Just tell your room service people that you are prepaid and unless you want to tip extra then you can throw the envelopes away. The head waiter and servers in the restaurant know you're prepaid, after all, you're in the MTD section.

[DetroitMark]

If you prepay gratuities, you will receive envelopes in your cabin with coupons that you put in envelope. The last night you give these to the people (Waiter, asst., room Steward, head waiter. These titles are already on the envelope and also on the coupons. so an envelope is still given out the last night. also you can add a little extra cash if the service warrant doing it.

 

Now this I like. When I was hanging out in the Princess threads all I would hear was "GASP!! If you give them cash you are stealing from the other people who should be sharing in that tip! That person can lose their job for taking that tip!"

 

I knew it was hog wash. But I'm glad to see re-tipping if I wish is sanctioned by popular opinion here.

[Morecruisesplz]

Now this I like. When I was hanging out in the Princess threads all I would hear was "GASP!! If you give them cash you are stealing from the other people who should be sharing in that tip! That person can lose their job for taking that tip!"

 

I knew it was hog wash. But I'm glad to see re-tipping if I wish is sanctioned by popular opinion here.

 

Why would care how any one tips or if others thought adding cash was a bad idea? You put it in the envelope and who knows but you?

[Officerjosh]

Thanks for all the "tips" on here (pun totally intended)... it will be a lot of help, thanks

[im4golf]

What are these coupons you are talking about? If you prepay, why do you need coupons?

[PrincesScuba]

What are these coupons you are talking about? If you prepay, why do you need coupons?

On the last evening, your cabin steward will put envelopes on your bed so that you can give gratuities to the steward, waiter, assistant waiter and headwaiter.

 

If you pre-paid your gratuities, either before sailing or by filling out a form on board to have them put on your SeaPass, s/he will also leave vouchers, which look like coupons, for each of these workers.

 

You put those vouchers in the envelope. If you feel that your service warrants it, you can put additional cash in the envelope. Then you give the envelope to the appropriate person when you thank them for a wonderful cruise.

 

(people who haven't made those arrangements just get the envelopes so that they can put cash inside)

[TPKeller]

What are these coupons you are talking about? If you prepay, why do you need coupons?

The only two answers I've ever been able to come up with are either 1) to provide a convenient way for you to tip more if you think the service is worthy of it or 2) so that you won't be standing there at the end of that last night's dinner looking or feeling like an idiot with nothing to hand the wait staff while everyone else at your table is handing out their cash-in-envelopes.

 

Perhaps it's a combination of both, or even some other reason I haven't thought of. :)

 

Theron

[Desert Cruizers]

We always pre pay yet still give our Room Steward, Waiter and Assit Waiter extra. I will go and pick up envelopes from the holder near the desk.

[TravelerThom]

Now this I like. When I was hanging out in the Princess threads all I would hear was "GASP!! If you give them cash you are stealing from the other people who should be sharing in that tip! That person can lose their job for taking that tip!"

 

I knew it was hog wash. But I'm glad to see re-tipping if I wish is sanctioned by popular opinion here.

Why would care how any one tips or if others thought adding cash was a bad idea? You put it in the envelope and who knows but you?

Note that RCI is the only major cruise line marketing to North American passengers that has not gone to tips being automatically placed on your account. No mass market cruise line that I am aware of discourages additional supplemental tips. Some lines do however encourage tipping of all service employees, rather than focusing all of your tips on a particular individual [i am not say this is right, just attempting to report my understanding of the "system"]. As I understand it [and Cruise lines do seem to pride themselves on making tipping as hard to understand as possible] on Princess IF you opt out of automatically billed tips, then every dollar you hand out to any employee is supposed to be immediately placed by that employee into the general tip pool. IF however you have maintained your auto-billed tips then supplementally given dollars are the employees to keep. Allegedly Princess has "secret tippers" who opt of auto-billed tips, and tip directly, and the employee will lose their job if they don't turn over the tips they received.

 

Thom

[luckyprincess]

What are these coupons you are talking about? If you prepay, why do you need coupons?

Just so you know, you don't have to hand out the coupons at all. I don't like to do it - we don't know if we'll feel like room service, pizza, whatever on that last night - so we don't hand out the vouchers. We know we prepaid, they know we prepaid and honestly, we don't care if people that were sitting next to our table start formulating conspiracies that we skipped out on the tip, lol!

But, if you had service that warranted extra in your opinion, the vouchers for prepay people give you an opportunity to leave more money for them. They also let those who may be uncomfortable not having the physical act of handing an envelope over feel better.

[sherry7]

Can I arranged pre-paid tips once I'm on the ship? If so, where and when? We usually pay the "old fashioned" way, but I have an onboard credit this time that I need to use up.

[temple1]

I believe when you chose MTD the server runs your key card every evening and the ships computers keep tab of which server served you. The tips are distributed accordingly, by the cruise line.

 

 

I don't think that is correct, unless it is something new they have added. We did MTD on 2 cruises. The first in April on Enchantment and no one asked for our cards.

 

Just so you know, you don't have to hand out the coupons at all. I don't like to do it - we don't know if we'll feel like room service, pizza, whatever on that last night - so we don't hand out the vouchers. We know we prepaid, they know we prepaid and honestly, we don't care if people that were sitting next to our table start formulating conspiracies that we skipped out on the tip, lol!

But, if you had service that warranted extra in your opinion, the vouchers for prepay people give you an opportunity to leave more money for them. They also let those who may be uncomfortable not having the physical act of handing an envelope over feel better.

 

When we do traditional dining we usually skip the main dining room on the last night. I always prepay tips and like to stop by the dining room before we go to dinner to thank our waitstaff and give them the envelopes. That also lets our table partners and the waitstaff know we won't be there.

 

Can I arranged pre-paid tips once I'm on the ship? If so, where and when? We usually pay the "old fashioned" way, but I have an onboard credit this time that I need to use up.

 

If you don't prepay before you board - there are forms available near the Guest Services Desk. Complete the info and give to a staff person and they will add it to your SeaPass account. I did that on our Majesty cruise last month - very quick and easy.

[twoatsea]

I don't know if I got this impression from this RCCL board or from other cruiseline boards, but in the past I thought the dining room tips were shared with the Windjammer crew & other dining staff. However, on our last cruise (Indy 11/23), I found out that is not true.

 

We did not dine in the MDR for breakfast or lunch & only 3 times for dinner during a 13 nite cruise. The Windjammer food & staff were so excellent, in our opinion, that we enjoyed eating there, enjoyed the flexibility without having our tips auto-taken (like MTD), enjoyed seeing the food & getting to be picky, and at the end of our 6 week tour of Europe we liked being casual. So, during our Windjammer dinners we had a couple of Windjammer officers who chatted with us nightly. I asked them if the auto-tips or cash we would give to the dining room would be shared with the Windjammer staff & both said no, it's not shared. Some of the Windjammer staff also work in the dining room, but not all, of course. Our asst. waiter in the dining room told us the same.

 

So, on the last nite, we took an envelope with cash to the dining room staff. We figured a 3 day amount & added about $20 more for the asst. waiter & waiter (we always tip the asst. as much as the waiter if he/she is good).

 

We then placed the amount for the rest of the days' tips in an envelope (plus some extra) & placed it in the tips box that on the last nite is located at the entrance to the Windjammer. I hope that others who frequent the Windjammer for dinner will do the same, when the staff deserves it of course.

[TPKeller]

Note that RCI is the only major cruise line marketing to North American passengers that has not gone to tips being automatically placed on your account.

Of course, the phrase "major cruise line marketing to North American passengers" is rather subjective, so this isn't to say you are wrong, but just FYI, Disney also still has cash-in-envelope tipping as the default. Now they only have two ships for the moment, so it's probably not a stretch to say they are not a major cruise line, but anyway... It will be interesting to see if they change their system when they get their two new ships in the fleet.

 

Theron