Pre pay your gratuities now!!!!

[OfcSupport]

I just called and was told that they can add the prepaid gratuity amount to my final payment balance that is due by November 22nd. They added it at $10 per person, per day and that I have until my final payment date to pay it at $10. They told me if I call tomorrow and want to add the prepaid gratuity to my remaining balance it will be $11.50 per person, per day.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

It has us considering our other favorite cruise line more and more often......RCCL

 

so giving you a 30 day notice about tips going up $1.50 a day pp is going to make you switch to a different cruise line?

 

Bill

[reggierail]

I'm not at all upset about the extra $1.50 per day for gratuities.

I'm upset that the PVP's are communicationg this to those who booked directly with the cruise line. The hard working TA's were never given any notice of this increase and if we were, we could have offered the same deal to our clients.

 

Reggie

[ferfoodle]

You can make $10.50 last 3 minutes on a quarter slot machine??? :eek: ....please tell me your secret as it doesn't last nearly that long for me ;)

 

Play only one quarter, push button.

Wait for slots to stop.

Pick up drink, sip and put drink back down.

Repeat.

 

If you also smoke, you can double the time that $ will last by adding a fourth step: pick up cig, inhale, put cig back down.

[saltmom1]

NCL has tips at $12pp/day. Carnival is not out of the ball park on this one. The way they are doing it is wrong, though. I agree with you,Don.

[Neiner]

I just don't understand how you can book a cruise, agree to the terms of the contract, pay in full, have a month left before your cruise and BLAM! Carnival's changing the rules. No warning, nothing. It was sneaky and underhanded in my opinion. I don't have a problem paying extra, it's been 10 years since they implemented it, it's just the principle. :mad:

[scgamecock]

I'm glad I always choose the pre-paid tips when I book... Saved me 40 bucks on the cruises I already have booked.

[sfo2008]

The lack of notice just feels off, no it probably won't get me to change my business, but it does seem to damage the brand for minimal upside.

 

Something like this feels like it should have more than 24 hours for people to "lock in" what they thought was their agreed upon/contracted rates and more than 30 days before it goes into effect. Would the world really end if people had 30 days to prepay/keep the old rate? And maybe more like final payment date notice (75 days?) before the change actually took effect, e.g. announce Nov 1 for cruises commencing 76 days out and you have 30 days if you already have a _prior_ booking to prepay at the lower rate. Especially given that people can plan and book cruises a year-or-more in advance and cruise lines make such a huge point about the fuel surcharge possibility after botching that one, it seems like not much to ask.

 

Also to people talking about this as the first pay raise for employees, employees are getting _some_ pay raises in the last ~7 years or so, wages around the world have overall been rising. So this is the first mandatory increase in the gratuity.

[firefly333]

I'm not at all upset about the extra $1.50 per day for gratuities.

I'm upset that the PVP's are communicationg this to those who booked directly with the cruise line. The hard working TA's were never given any notice of this increase and if we were, we could have offered the same deal to our clients.

 

Reggie

 

The minute it was emailed to the PVPs, they were sending out the emails, and it was being posted on CC. If you were on CC earlier, you knew as soon as everyone else. The fact that you must not have been on CC is not anyone's fault. PVPs barely got a heads up either.

 

To those upset with their PVPs, they didnt know until late in the day either. I had been talking to my PVP earlier when this thread was started and I immediately went to her to ask and she said yes, she had been just about to email me, bigD's posting beat the PVPs emailing it out even. He just happened to be the first to get the email.

[vermonter16]

Did you guys hear about how in San Francisco, restaurant workers are trying to initiate a mandatory 25% tip? I don't think mandatory is the way to go, however, I can understand Carnival 'raising' the rate for gratuities. Some folks are downright cheap... I work just across the bridge from DC. I work in a building where the majority of folks make very good money. Try going out to a restaurant with them....they tip horribly....10% at best. Sometimes service isn't worth a dime but more often than not, it is certainly worth more than a lousy 10%.

[H82seaUgo]

being everyone seems to opening their wallets, i am going to recommend they raise the bar tips to 20%.

[prattmom]

I don't understand the fuss. If you don't want to pay $11.50 per day then don't. It's not like they are raising the cruise fare. They are raising something that you still have control over...

[beerman2]

Here's another thought. Maybe just maybe Carnivals tech people won't be able to figure out how to add the $1.50 per person. Kinda like not being able to figure out how to fix the computer glitch on editing the beds. LMAO

[rockabutzer]

I think 11:50 is very fair ...

 

 

I think 11:50 is a time, not a dollar amount. ;)

[jimbo5544]

It has us considering our other favorite cruise line more and more often......RCCL

and what is the tip amount on that line....

[ready2cruzagain]

I'm upset that the PVP's are communicationg this to those who booked directly with the cruise line. The hard working TA's were never given any notice of this increase and if we were, we could have offered the same deal to our clients.

 

Reggie

 

 

I booked directly with Carnival and was not informed of the price increase so it has nothing to do with booking through Carnival or a TA.

 

Seems to me it is like everything else...some people get notified...while others don't. Just the same as when some people hear from the upsell fairy and others don't. Never happened here in all the Carnival cruises I have taken.

 

Oh and yes I do have it checked to contact me in My Cruise Manager.

 

I guess I am just curious as to why some are contacted and some are left in the dark?

[H82seaUgo]

how ironic is it that there are posters having no problem with the increase yet hoping to beat the increase.

 

and no one stops anyone from adding 1.50 a day now, or any time in the past.

 

and btw, besides the added $1, i don't think tips have gone up in the 25 years i have been cruising. i used the guidelines as just that. guidelines.

 

but once they started "taking it" from me for my convenience, nary a time did i go over.

[cawagner]

Not that $1.50 more a day pp is that big a deal, (i am not complaining) but when we booked our cruise a few months ago and did the prepay tips (our entire balance is not paid yet) does that mean our new balance due is going to be higher now? Or is this something in effect for new bookings or if you called to have tips prepaid now?

[ready2cruzagain]

Actually we have been cruising since 2003 and this is the first raise. Not bad at all! They deserve it!

 

Yes...I agree...they do deserve it.

 

[jimbo5544]

Not that $1.50 more a day pp is that big a deal, (i am not complaining) but when we booked our cruise a few months ago and did the prepay tips (our entire balance is not paid yet) does that mean our new balance due is going to be higher now? Or is this something in effect for new bookings or if you called to have tips prepaid now?

You should be fine

[ready2cruzagain]

If a buck and a half a day makes that much of a difference to me, then I'm in serious trouble. Ten dollars fifty cents for a 7 night cruise.....that's about 3 minutes on a quarter slot machine

 

Ditto

[H82seaUgo]

It has us considering our other favorite cruise line more and more often......RCCL

 

first of all, rccl doesn't do autotips, and don't charge your account unless you initiate it (except for mtd)m

 

but they also have two different rates: suites and up, and then jr. suites and down. and then on my last rccl, i somehow got the higher sheet in my cabin. how cnvenient was that?

[dst]

so giving you a 30 day notice about tips going up $1.50 a day pp is going to make you switch to a different cruise line?

 

Bill

 

 

No Bill - the consistent lack of good customer service and poor communication will have me seeking a better cruise line that offers outstanding service and better communication. We have always sailed both but more and more often lately RCCL seems to provide better service all the way around......

 

I believe I stated that previously

[dst]

and what is the tip amount on that line....

 

 

OK I'll try this one more time, the tip amount is irrelevant - I am speaking of the poor customer service and continued poor communication. Carnival can raise the tips to 15.00 per day and I would be fine with it - it is the matter in which they roll these types of thing out........not the dollar amount

[zqvol]

If a $1.50 increase in the suggested daily gratuity is an issue, then you should probably reconsider cruising to begin with, or heck skip your Starbucks fix at home for a couple of days and you have it covered.