Prepaid Gratuities Non Refundable

[RocketMan275]

I think you are making too much of it, I have heard many people on this board complaining about having to PREPAY the tips but haven't seen anyone complain that they are non refundable. Sometimes we overthink these things.

 

I've seen complaints about the prepaid gratuities being non refundable. Mostly as an argument against prepaid gratuities. It's basically the same argument that has been advanced here, that some have been charged prepaid gratuities and want to have them removed so they can be charged gratuities on board and use on board credit to pay for them.

 

I must be doing something wrong. I usually have a few hundred in OBC and I never have OBC to pay gratuities.

[RocketMan275]

As I am the OP of the thread, I'm happy now to open it up, we've successfully now found the details relevant to the prepaid tipping policy, and enough have turned off topic anyway now, may as well let it rip.

 

Would you mind summarizing the relevant details?

[dkjretired]

I've seen complaints about the prepaid gratuities being non refundable. Mostly as an argument against prepaid gratuities. It's basically the same argument that has been advanced here, that some have been charged prepaid gratuities and want to have them removed so they can be charged gratuities on board and use on board credit to pay for them.

 

I must be doing something wrong. I usually have a few hundred in OBC and I never have OBC to pay gratuities.

 

As I stated I have seen complaints about pre paying the gratuities because people want to use their OBC, see that all the time. I have never seen anyone bring up the issue of cancelling them once on board so they can use the OBC. As has become clear in this thread that is totally unnecessary but again never saw that complaint and I'm on here a couple times every day.

[cle-guy]

Would you mind summarizing the relevant details?

 

No one has been able to find any written notice of the policy that select gratuities can not be modified on board the ship.

 

Anecdotal evidence has shown that once on the ship, should one want to modify gratuities, one must leave select dining and go to fixed seating. The gratuities are then refunded to the original form of payment, not placed as a credit to the SeaPass account.

 

The only official word anyone has been able to find the no changes policy is once on board the ship, and one reads Celebrity Today where it is noted.

[RocketMan275]

No one has been able to find any written notice of the policy that select gratuities can not be modified on board the ship.

 

Anecdotal evidence has shown that once on the ship, should one want to modify gratuities, one must leave select dining and go to fixed seating. The gratuities are then refunded to the original form of payment, not placed as a credit to the SeaPass account.

 

The only official word anyone has been able to find the no changes policy is once on board the ship, and one reads Celebrity Today where it is noted.

 

Appreciate the summary and good work on this thread. Always a good idea to state a summary after a long meeting.

[dbsb3233]

I just booked 3 cabins for an Aug 2016 X cruise under the SIS promo that offers free gratuities. And we always want Select dining. But even though the promo includes free gratuities, the booking still added pre-paid gratuities to our bill.

 

Fortunately all we paid for now is the deposit. I contacted the TA, who contacted Celebrity, and they said I "should" see an adjustment on the account within 2 weeks to lower the remaining balance as the free gratuities are applied.

 

We'll see. I have a feeling I may have to keep hounding them.

UPDATE - Now just 5 days after we booked the cruise, I checked the reservations for all 3 cabins on the TA website (major membership warehouse) and the balance due has already been reduced by $168 pp to account for the free gratuities promo. I'm impressed! Although I shouldn't be too surprised, as this TA is usually really good and has the clout to get things done.

 

The only odd part is that instead of noting that the gratuities are prepaid as part of a promo, the $168 pp is still listed as normal and the cruise fare itself was just reduced by $168 pp. So it would be confusing if one didn't know what the price was to begin with (i.e. to know if you got the $168 pp credited or not).

 

Anyway, looks like they took care of it quickly.