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Mandatory Prepaid Gratuities for My Time Dining (UK)

ScratchTheRat
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ScratchTheRat "Live from...." Rare

ScratchTheRat

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Posted

Hey there,

 

looking to book first RCCL cruise and I’d like My Time Dining.

 

Ive noticed that if you book this you have to pay the gratuities up front.

 

can you remove these after?

 

im not wishing to start arguments over tipping , I’m just asking the question, as I know Americans don’t need to do this, just us! 
 

thanks all

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RFerrington

RFerrington

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You do not have to pay gratuities up front.  If you are planning on declining gratuities (allowed, but not recommended), you should not prepay them.  Just wait until you board and then go to Guest Services and ask to have them declined.

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

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Posted
13 minutes ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Hey there,

 

looking to book first RCCL cruise and I’d like My Time Dining.

 

Ive noticed that if you book this you have to pay the gratuities up front.

 

can you remove these after?

 

im not wishing to start arguments over tipping , I’m just asking the question, as I know Americans don’t need to do this, just us! 
 

thanks all

Did they not remove the restriction of having prepaid gratuities for MTD from UK bookings as they did for North American bookings several years ago. 
 

I believe when it was a requirement for North American bookings that these were difficult to remove once in board. 

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Hogbay

Hogbay

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3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Did they not remove the restriction of having prepaid gratuities for MTD from UK bookings as they did for North American bookings several years ago. 
 

I believe when it was a requirement for North American bookings that these were difficult to remove once in board. 

Is it not part of the cruise ticket price through the TA ? Big box TA can give you gratuity as a bonus., normal TA have to pay there utilities with it . Shore side and the TA would have to refund /re price . Australian price has to include all taxes and fees in the total no add on' s . On board they cannot see the breakdown of the invoice. Why would anyone want to remove them ... Oh ok they are from the UK 😇

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LB_NJ

LB_NJ

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Others may correct me however I think the requirement for prepaid gratuities for MyTime has been there awhile however I have not seen it enforced.

 

FYI, if you want to book a cruise I would look for dates in late 2022.  Anything before then is a gamble as to whether the cruise will happen, what ports you will actually stop at, and what the cruise will be like.

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Ourusualbeach

Ourusualbeach

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54 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

Others may correct me however I think the requirement for prepaid gratuities for MyTime has been there awhile however I have not seen it enforced.

 

FYI, if you want to book a cruise I would look for dates in late 2022.  Anything before then is a gamble as to whether the cruise will happen, what ports you will actually stop at, and what the cruise will be like.

They removed the requirement for prepaid gratuities for US sailings several years ago.  The poster is from the  UK.

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Norwich Cruiser

Norwich Cruiser

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Hogbay said:

Is it not part of the cruise ticket price through the TA ? Big box TA can give you gratuity as a bonus., normal TA have to pay there utilities with it . Shore side and the TA would have to refund /re price . Australian price has to include all taxes and fees in the total no add on' s . On board they cannot see the breakdown of the invoice. Why would anyone want to remove them ... Oh ok they are from the UK 😇

What’s the U.K. got to do with it?

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little britain "Live from...." Rare

little britain

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Posted (edited)

UK customers have to prepay the gratuities when booking MTD on “some” sailings... I’ve found it’s mainly those from Southampton. Or those with a high UK demographic count ( like from Dubai last year).

 

I have a cruise booked with RCI UK going from Rome and I did not have to prepay the grats for MTD.

 

@ScratchTheRat try a dummy booking from Miami and see if it forces you to prepay or not??

Edited by little britain
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TeDaKi

TeDaKi

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Hey there,

 

looking to book first RCCL cruise and I’d like My Time Dining.

 

Ive noticed that if you book this you have to pay the gratuities up front.

 

can you remove these after?

 

im not wishing to start arguments over tipping , I’m just asking the question, as I know Americans don’t need to do this, just us! 
 

thanks all

Yes you can remove these after!

 

When booking any worldwide cruise from UK/Ireland, I've always found that the option to deselect prepaid gratuities is always greyed out when I select My Time Dining. 

 

However after you make your booking online, you can then call RCCL directly afterwards and they will remove the prepaid gratuities from your booking. Always works for me 👍 

 

 

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DiWilliams

DiWilliams

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As others have said above, when booking through the UK website gratuities are automatically added if you select My Time Dining. If you call and book via the UK phone line the price they quote will also include gratuities but you can ask for them to be removed and have them added to your onboard account. We usually pre-pay - there may be an advantage if they decide to increase the gratuity amount prior to sailing? - but also have bookings where we have not pre-paid and plan to use onboard credit towards the gratuities.

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Norwich Cruiser

Norwich Cruiser

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, little britain said:

UK customers have to prepay the gratuities when booking MTD on “some” sailings... I’ve found it’s mainly those from Southampton. Or those with a high UK demographic count ( like from Dubai last year).

 

I have a cruise booked with RCI UK going from Rome and I did not have to prepay the grats for MTD.

 

@ScratchTheRat try a dummy booking from Miami and see if it forces you to prepay or not??

That’s correct we haven’t found that we have to pre pay gratuities anymore probably for the past two or three years and we nearly always book MTD.On our last IOS sailing from Southampton about two years ago we again never pre paid gratuities.We do however pay the suggested gratuities and depending on service received which is usually excellent add on accordingly.

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