Can you remove prepaid tips?

[mafig]

Our last Celebrity cruise we came back to our cabin about 1:30 or so and it wasn't cleaned.

 

There was a number for housekeeping. I called it and our room steward answered. (Is there a way to reach your room steward over the phone on Royal?)

 

Anyway he said "I'm in the middle of lunch. Do you mind if I finish?" :rolleyes: He came in about half an hour and afterwards our cabin was cleaned in the morning.

[Jasonmom]

Yikes. You did not even receive fresh towels or anything? That does sound unusual. Our stateroom was made up 2 times daily - fresh towels, clean bathroom etc.

Seems like a big disconnect for which no tip should have applied if they never entered the room. I would have complained to management.

 

 

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I had to get my towels from guest services. It was really weird. Only time ever bad service. Can't remember ship but it was Carnival out of Charleston.

 

 

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[cmmarch]

I had to get my towels from guest services. It was really weird. Only time ever bad service. Can't remember ship but it was Carnival out of Charleston.

 

 

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I agree weird. We were in RCCL and service was great! I have never done Carnival - going to get your towels is unacceptable - you should have gotten a credit of some sort.

 

 

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[A&L_Ont]

I had a room attendant that was sub par. Went to guest relations every day starting on day 2 but had problems every day. I ended lowering the steward's tips by half.

 

 

My attedant did not even step into my room 4 out of the 5 days. It is especially sad because it was the first (and so far only) cruise I've gotten my husband to go on. There was 4 of us in interior room, so we really needed it to be cleaned. Luckily I had brought Clorox wipes and my husband figured out how to open and close bunks.

 

Having read your experience, and thinking about it, I would have spoke with the head of housekeeping. If it didn’t improve I would have talked with them again. If that didn’t bring about change then all of the stewards tips would have been removed.

 

I’m sorry you had to go through this. If any good can come from your regretful experience, it might help others who experience the same situation.

[Havingfun2010]

To prepay or not prepay, that is the question.

No one wants to give a no-interest loan to a billion dollar company but it helps with budgeting before the cruise and/or not having a larger bill to settle at the end of a cruise if there isn't sufficient OBC to cover it.

Just preference.

 

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

 

In the year 1990, I booked my first cruise. In my documents it stated the expected tips (service charge) for each person. I carried a wad of money, and carefully placed it in different envelopes. I also brought a wad of cash for the casino, and the multiple other misc items. Back in 1990 people tipped, and there was no internet to brag how much you gave.

 

Jump forward to 2018, and you have this program where you can prepay your tips. Prepaying means that you don't have to carry your cash, to hand it to the individual. If you don't prepay, they than give you the option of having the daily amount charged on your credit card. The days of the "cash" tips on the ships are gone. The employees, as well as most guest do not want to carry cash.

 

Tips have always been part of a cruise. It's part of the price. You are already prepaying the vacation 90 days in advance? Isn't that also a "loan"? Prepaying is a win-win for everyone. You win, because you already paid for your vacation, and do not need to see a large invoice at the end of the week. RCCL wins, because they don't need to process all those extra transactions. The employee wins because they don't have to carry around all that cash either and sometimes in multiple currencies.

 

The no interest loan is what? $94.50? $189.00 for 2? If I kept that in the bank, I think maybe I would receive the interest. I might even get about $0.01 for it.

[sidjames]

Not sure if it's changed in the last 18 months, but you used to have to pre-pay gratuities to enable mytime dining. Has that changed?

[soremekun]

Not sure if it's changed in the last 18 months, but you used to have to pre-pay gratuities to enable mytime dining. Has that changed?

No longer necessary.

 

_______________________

Carnival Paradise - August 2015 - 5 nights

Carnival Splendor - August 2016 - 6 nights

Carnival Magic - August 2017 - 8 nights

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas - August 2018 - 7 nights (booked)

Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas - August 2019 - 9 nights (booked)

[DCLCrazy]

The only tip i ever removed was for the head dining attendant. You know, the one who never serves you and only comes around to schmooze. There was one that was just really arrogant and talked down to my husband. I couldn’t bring myself to tip him. He wreaked of cologne too. Bleck!

 

 

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[S.S.Oceanlover]

The only tip i ever removed was for the head dining attendant. You know, the one who never serves you and only comes around to schmooze. There was one that was just really arrogant and talked down to my husband. I couldn’t bring myself to tip him. He wreaked of cologne too. Bleck!

 

 

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are you talking about the maitre'd?

 

Bill

[LMaxwell]

My question is; If I go ahead and prepay so I don't have to worry about it onboard, can I still lower tips? How would that work?

 

I don't know if you can or can not; the best I can do is refer you to Bob's third hand information.

 

That said, if prepaying risks you losing control to do as you choose, then prepaying isn't removing any "worry" from you at all, in fact it is adding more. In your case I'd let it just hit your onboard account and you at least know the options available to you at that time.

[Merion_Mom]

I had to get my towels from guest services. It was really weird. Only time ever bad service. Can't remember ship but it was Carnival out of Charleston.

 

 

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Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Now I am confused. This was on a CARNIVAL cruise? And now you are reporting about this on the Royal Caribbean board???

 

Or are you just saying that you had such a bad experience that you want to know, if it happens on a Royal Caribbean cruise, what are your options?

 

I would not worry about it. If you have any problems on the first day, call the Head of Housekeeping and nip it in the bud. Are RC cruises perfect? Are all of the stewards on RC perfect? Of course not, but I have never heard of such a thing happening on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

 

:)

[Wine-O]

are you talking about the maitre'd?

 

Bill

 

She's probably talking about one of the Asst Maitre'D's.

 

I don't think they allow you to remove tips for any one person. You have to either leave them in tact, add to them, or remove them altogether.

[Merion_Mom]

She's probably talking about one of the Asst Maitre'D's.

 

I don't think they allow you to remove tips for any one person. You have to either leave them in tact, add to them, or remove them altogether.

Head Waiter.

[DonTheRadioGuy]

Just prepay. The chances of the level of bad service you got repeating are almost nil.

[fishtaco]

Not sure if it's changed in the last 18 months, but you used to have to pre-pay gratuities to enable mytime dining. Has that changed?

 

This is where a lot of the pre paid fiasco started with more than just RCI, you couldnt choose my time dinning unless you pre paid, suited me as I dislike MTD and prefer traditional dinning.

[fishtaco]

I am 100% sure that Bob is correct as is MM,you cannot remove your pre paid grats while on the ship,this has to be done via head office.

 

This was discussed in feature length threads when pre paids first become a pre requisite to securing MTD.

 

From memory at least one person professed to getting them back after the cruise from head office but the reason was justified but others failed as their complaints did not warrant a refund in the companies view.

[Jasonmom]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Now I am confused. This was on a CARNIVAL cruise? And now you are reporting about this on the Royal Caribbean board???

 

Or are you just saying that you had such a bad experience that you want to know, if it happens on a Royal Caribbean cruise, what are your options?

 

I would not worry about it. If you have any problems on the first day, call the Head of Housekeeping and nip it in the bud. Are RC cruises perfect? Are all of the stewards on RC perfect? Of course not, but I have never heard of such a thing happening on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

 

:)

 

I'm asking on Royal Caribbean because that is who I am cruising with in April. Very excited to be going with Royal Caribbean, but I kinda feel like a newbie [emoji4] .

 

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[DCLCrazy]

This was on Disney. They allow you to adjust the individual tips of each person. On Disney you have a designated set of waiters that follow you around to each restaurant. They’re not called maitre’d. I think it’s head server. You have the asst. server that handles drinks, the server that does most of the work, and then the head server. I have no idea what he does.

 

 

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[Wine-O]

This was on Disney. They allow you to adjust the individual tips of each person. On Disney you have a designated set of waiters that follow you around to each restaurant. They’re not called maitre’d. I think it’s head server. You have the asst. server that handles drinks, the server that does most of the work, and then the head server. I have no idea what he does.

 

Yeah, but this is the RCL board. You can't reduce individual tips. Your post led folks to believe they could adjust tips on RCL.

[DCLCrazy]

Yeah, but this is the RCL board. You can't reduce individual tips. Your post led folks to believe they could adjust tips on RCL.

 

 

 

My apologies.

 

 

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[Jasonmom]

Think I will just pay at end of cruise. Don't want any hassle just in case and not enough to be an issue with credit limit. Thanks everyone ☺ .

 

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[SRF]

My attedant did not even step into my room 4 out of the 5 days. It is especially sad because it was the first (and so far only) cruise I've gotten my husband to go on. There was 4 of us in interior room, so we really needed it to be cleaned. Luckily I had brought Clorox wipes and my husband figured out how to open and close bunks.

 

Day 1, I would speak the attendant.

 

Day 2, I would speak to the housekeeping manager.

 

Day 3, I would be speaking to the hotel manager.

 

There would be no day 4.

[Jasonmom]

I am 97.32% positive that PREPAID gratuities cannot be removed.

I have to say I loved this post. Sounds like we had the same math teacher 😀.

 

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[Jasonmom]

Day 1, I would speak the attendant.

 

Day 2, I would speak to the housekeeping manager.

 

Day 3, I would be speaking to the hotel manager.

 

There would be no day 4.

Guess I never thought about having to go to anyone but guest services. I think guest services should have told me who to call if they weren't going to fix things. I was really stressed to try to make this a good cruise as it was my husband's first.....and only so far 😯. I think he thinks that is the normal - making your own beds, going to guest services for toweles, me cleaning the bathroom (Yes I'm one of those anal people who take Clorox wipes). None of these chores is a big deal but I don't want to do them on my cruise vacation. Thanks to the nice people here at cruise critic I (and maybe some others) can learn what to do if problems arrive.

 

 

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