Tulsacoker Posted January 13, 2020 #1 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Saw this thread on the celebrity forum... cannot be long for it to arrive on Royal Caribbean? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taglovestocruise Posted January 13, 2020 #2 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Just now, Tulsacoker said: Saw this thread on the celebrity forum... cannot be long for it to arrive on Royal Caribbean? As more op out, those that pay need to pay more. Hopefully someday cabin prices bump up and gratuities are a past memory 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennyumaa Posted January 13, 2020 #3 Share Posted January 13, 2020 17 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said: As more op out, those that pay need to pay more. Hopefully someday cabin prices bump up and gratuities are a past memory How do you know more opt out? Seems that most people (including me) prefer to prepay. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingos Posted January 13, 2020 #4 Share Posted January 13, 2020 If they change, will they contact people who are booked but not yet paid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueridgemama Posted January 13, 2020 #5 Share Posted January 13, 2020 They need to stop the opt out option. It is disturbing when I read reviews that state "the first thing we do is go to guest services and remove the gratuities" 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted January 13, 2020 #6 Share Posted January 13, 2020 (edited) 9 minutes ago, flamingos said: If they change, will they contact people who are booked but not yet paid? Princess contacted us before they put autogratuities up from $13.50 to $14.50 and offered us the opportunity to prepay at old price for our Hawaiian cruise in November. On Royal we always pre-pay when booking. Edited January 13, 2020 by grapau27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted January 13, 2020 #7 Share Posted January 13, 2020 6 minutes ago, flamingos said: If they change, will they contact people who are booked but not yet paid? Unlikely, but there’s usually a grace period during which you can pre pay the old rate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted January 13, 2020 #8 Share Posted January 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, blueridgemama said: They need to stop the opt out option. It is disturbing when I read reviews that state "the first thing we do is go to guest services and remove the gratuities" On our Independence cruise in May and Explorer in October both from Southampton England there was queues at GS first day removing gratuities. On our Princess cruise from San Francisco in November we auto-paid $435 for 15 nights but heard people gloating that they had paid nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLACRUISER99 Posted January 13, 2020 #9 Share Posted January 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, grapau27 said: Princess contacted us before they put autogratuities up from $13.50 to $14.50 and offered us the opportunity to prepay at old price RCI did that the last time they raised the gratuities. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted January 13, 2020 #10 Share Posted January 13, 2020 8 minutes ago, blueridgemama said: They need to stop the opt out option. It is disturbing when I read reviews that state "the first thing we do is go to guest services and remove the gratuities" I absolutely agree. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulsacoker Posted January 13, 2020 Author #11 Share Posted January 13, 2020 On Celebrity it looks like they gave people the option to pre-pay at the old rate if they do it before they sailed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulsacoker Posted January 13, 2020 Author #12 Share Posted January 13, 2020 11 minutes ago, flamingos said: If they change, will they contact people who are booked but not yet paid? I bet they send it to everyone.... too hard to keep up with who pre-pays as it changes daily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Cruiser Posted January 13, 2020 #13 Share Posted January 13, 2020 $14. Why is this even a discussion? Increase won't change my life one bit but will mean quite a bit to those who will be receiving it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
time4u2go Posted January 13, 2020 #14 Share Posted January 13, 2020 34 minutes ago, jennyumaa said: How do you know more opt out? Seems that most people (including me) prefer to prepay. I'm wondering that too. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelblu Posted January 13, 2020 #15 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Similar topic posted a couple weeks ago and referencing a memo from Celebrity. Similarr https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2719279-daily-gratuity-increase/?tab=comments#comment-59014202 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted January 13, 2020 #16 Share Posted January 13, 2020 30 minutes ago, jennyumaa said: How do you know more opt out? Seems that most people (including me) prefer to prepay. The line up at GS is not people increasing gratuities 🙄 Been stuck there waiting to get new card that would open door 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ourusualbeach Posted January 13, 2020 #17 Share Posted January 13, 2020 In the past when they have raised the rates you didn't even have to prepay them to lock in the old rates. As long as you added them to your reservation they would be locked in. They would then get paid at final payment 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshirt Posted January 13, 2020 #18 Share Posted January 13, 2020 46 minutes ago, Tulsacoker said: On Celebrity it looks like they gave people the option to pre-pay at the old rate if they do it before they sailed. Royal did the same thing the last time they raised the gratuities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davekathy Posted January 13, 2020 #19 Share Posted January 13, 2020 (edited) 55 minutes ago, grapau27 said: Princess contacted us before they put autogratuities up from $13.50 to $14.50 and offered us the opportunity to prepay at old price for our Hawaiian cruise in November. On Royal we always pre-pay when booking. Celebrity did the same. Those of us that made bookings prior to 6 January had the option of prepaying now and before 6 January 2020 at $14.50PPPD. If not we'd be charged the new rate of $15.50 PPPD for cruises starting 6 January 2020 and after. No one was grandfathered based on bookings made prior to 6 January unless you prepaid or took the gratuities as one of the bundled perks. Then the new rate didn't affect your bookings. Edited January 13, 2020 by davekathy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Chew Posted January 13, 2020 #20 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Since we are just two weeks away from Serenade of the Seas, followed by Celebrity Silhouette, when we got the notice from Celebrity about the increase, we were also wondering if Royal would increase as well. We asked our TA and she checked, told us that they would not be increasing grats in the near future, as they just did sometime last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squadron Posted January 13, 2020 #21 Share Posted January 13, 2020 2 hours ago, blueridgemama said: They need to stop the opt out option. It is disturbing when I read reviews that state "the first thing we do is go to guest services and remove the gratuities" I agree - last Sept on Adventure saw and heard a cruiser with a circle of newbies telling them to remove gratuities - I interjected with why they shouldn't but I think they were impressed with his "knowledge". The "pay at the end people" can also do that as a top up if they desire. Think gratuities should be included as a separate line in the booking process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milwaukee Eight Posted January 13, 2020 #22 Share Posted January 13, 2020 2 hours ago, grapau27 said: I absolutely agree. Sorry to be off topic. Please forgive me. How are you doing/feeling? Hope you’re feeling better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcruzin Posted January 14, 2020 #23 Share Posted January 14, 2020 I don't think it really matters one way or the other if they increase the rate. Those who pay them now will still pay, those who come up with a way that justifies not paying will not pay and those who hand over a bag of M&M's or some other non monetary supplement in lieu of gratuity will still do the same. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grapau27 Posted January 14, 2020 #24 Share Posted January 14, 2020 6 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said: Sorry to be off topic. Please forgive me. How are you doing/feeling? Hope you’re feeling better. Thanks Rory,it is very kind of you to ask. I am feeling a lot better and hopefully the heart medication and coronary stent will help me. Kind Regards Graham. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snl2000 Posted January 14, 2020 #25 Share Posted January 14, 2020 On topic: RCI may or may not increase now but will inevitably increase in the future and they will probably always give you the opportunity to pay the lower rate if you’re already booked. Off topic: I think (hope) that some take off the gratuities because of all the mystery/rumor behind how much actually gets to the crew. Also, people that skip the MDR don’t want to tip the wait staff that they didn’t use/see. I too wish it were just included in the cabin price or just another line with the total cost. I personally like to prepay my gratuities with my cruise so I don’t have to think about it again. I give additional grats to crew that go above and beyond but don’t feel also don’t feel pressured to do this. We’ve noticed many skip the final night in the MDR so they don’t have to feel compelled to give their wait staff that envelope. On top of gratuities, we also like to give notes and other items that are far more personal but never that in lieu of gratuities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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