Adjusting prepaid gratuities

[thewynn]

I want to prepay my gratuities for my upcoming cruise but I'm curious what happens if once on the cruise I feel the need to adjust them downward, do they just refund back to the credit card?

 

I really hope this doesn't devolve into a moral discussion of gratuities, listen I always pay them and usually add more but there was one of my cruises that I did feel the need to adjust the cabin steward lower so that has me wondering, how that would work if they were prepaid.

 

Thank you.

[mondello]

@thewynn You'd have to join the line at Guest Services to reduce gratuities, regardless if you prepay them or not. They would post the automatic gratuities to your folio early in the cruise.

[thewynn]

1 hour ago, mondello said:

@thewynn You'd have to join the line at Guest Services to reduce gratuities, regardless if you prepay them or not. They would post the automatic gratuities to your folio early in the cruise.

I figured I would have to go to guest services but how is the actual adjustment made- do they turn it into OBC or do they issue a credit card refund after the cruise, or are you just stuck not able to adjust them if prepaid?

 

Thanks

[mondello]

3 minutes ago, thewynn said:

I figured I would have to go to guest services but how is the actual adjustment made- do they turn it into OBC or do they issue a credit card refund after the cruise, or are you just stuck not able to adjust them if prepaid?

 

Thanks

Don't know as I've never had anything less than stellar service. I just assumed that anybody could if they felt the need to do so.

[BallFour4]

To speculate, and that's what most here would do is it would depend on how you paid them. I would guess it would go back to your card.

 

 I wished cruise lines would change it to a resort type fee. If you have been to Las Vegas in the past few years you'd see those published prices have tiny print that explains they are going to add a per-day, per-person charge as resort fee. I wished it were mandatory.
 

 Your mileage may vary!
.

[Cruise4Jesus]

You can just go down to guest services once they are posted on the account and they will adjust the amount that you request accordingly. if you want to remove them completely they are just removed from your room charge. We have sailed with some friends who do it as they prefer to actually hand cash because they feel it is more personnel, its their decision.

[thewynn]

51 minutes ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

But aren't you being myopic by focusing mostly on the cabin steward?  What about all the other crew members that share in providing all of the services to you, most of which you don't ever see them doing?  Aren't you being unfair to them just because of one particular crew member?

Thank you for your input, unfortunately that did nothing to answer my question. Also I did NOT adjust ALL tips, just steward tips on that particular cruise. Thank you.

[Elaine5715]

2 minutes ago, thewynn said:

Thank you for your input, unfortunately that did nothing to answer my question. Also I did NOT adjust ALL tips, just steward tips on that particular cruise. Thank you.

Doesn't work that way.  

[ultrafighter]

It's been a hot minute since I cruised last, but I didn't think pre-paid gratuities showed up in the folio while on board since they were already paid.  Am I misunderstanding?

[tm_aw_love]

2 minutes ago, ultrafighter said:

It's been a hot minute since I cruised last, but I didn't think pre-paid gratuities showed up in the folio while on board since they were already paid.  Am I misunderstanding?

No, I think you are correct.

OP is asking if they can prepay with their booking then decide later to take part of it back. But once they are prepaid, those charges don't ever appear on your S&S account. Not sure how it would work... or even if onboard staff would have the capability since that would almost be the equivalent of asking them to change the rate of your cruise once you are on the ship. 

 

[ultrafighter]

2 minutes ago, tm_aw_love said:

No, I think you are correct.

OP is asking if they can prepay with their booking then decide later to take part of it back. But once they are prepaid, those charges don't ever appear on your S&S account. Not sure how it would work... or even if onboard staff would have the capability since that would almost be the equivalent of asking them to change the rate of your cruise once you are on the ship. 

 

That's exactly what I was thinking, that it's not going to be possible.

[Pyrate13]

13 minutes ago, thewynn said:

Thank you for your input, unfortunately that did nothing to answer my question. Also I did NOT adjust ALL tips, just steward tips on that particular cruise. Thank you.

I may be mistaken but if you reduce the grats it affects everyone that is part of the tip pool. I don't think you can specify which crew member gets reduced. The guest service might tell you that's who it affects just to keep you happy.

[thewynn]

1 minute ago, Elaine5715 said:

Doesn't work that way.  

I seem to remember it differently but it was many years ago, so maybe my recollection is off. Seems I adjusted it for the room steward. Anyway, that's not the point of the question.

[thewynn]

5 minutes ago, ultrafighter said:

That's exactly what I was thinking, that it's not going to be possible.

An answer to my question, thank you kindly.

[khewston]

Prepaid tips are split between many crew members.  They make VERY little for the amount of work they do!  The only adjusting that needs to be done is extra tipping during and at the end of your cruise.  We always prepay our tips but feel like it is the bare minimum and definitely tip many of the crew in cash. 

[ScottsSweetie]

31 minutes ago, ultrafighter said:

It's been a hot minute since I cruised last, but I didn't think pre-paid gratuities showed up in the folio while on board since they were already paid.  Am I misunderstanding?

 

26 minutes ago, tm_aw_love said:

No, I think you are correct.

OP is asking if they can prepay with their booking then decide later to take part of it back. But once they are prepaid, those charges don't ever appear on your S&S account. Not sure how it would work... or even if onboard staff would have the capability since that would almost be the equivalent of asking them to change the rate of your cruise once you are on the ship. 

 

Yes, I think this is correct. Your pre-paid tips would show up on your charge card statement. While Carnival will have the info on file (that you have already paid) they would not be able to adjust it on the ship because they didn't charge it on the ship. Perhaps best not to pre-pay for your situation.

Edited November 3, 2021 by ScottsSweetie

[sanger727]

I agree with the posters who said it may not be possible to adjust the pre-paid gratuities downward once on board. If you anticipate that this could be a possibility, simply don't pre-pay and address it onboard if needed. 

Edited November 3, 2021 by sanger727

[thewynn]

Thank you all who answered the question!

[thewynn]

1 hour ago, khewston said:

Prepaid tips are split between many crew members.  They make VERY little for the amount of work they do!  The only adjusting that needs to be done is extra tipping during and at the end of your cruise.  We always prepay our tips but feel like it is the bare minimum and definitely tip many of the crew in cash. 

You don't know the situation that caused us to lower tips so I don't think you are in a position to say. No need to explain the situation either since it has absolutely NO bearing on the question, I was looking for an answer to a specific question, not looking for tipping opinions.

 

To those who answered, thank you.

 

[jimbo5544]

2 minutes ago, thewynn said:

You don't know the situation that caused us to lower tips so I don't think you are in a position to say. No need to explain the situation either since it has absolutely NO bearing on the question, I was looking for an answer to a specific question, not looking for tipping opinions.

 

To those who answered, thank you.

 

If you are anticipating any potential, I would wait and let the tips get added day by day to minimize effort by all in case of a removal.  If you removed on the last day (the vast majority of tip removals are done on this day, they would probably have to do a credit to the card on file.   All that said, we have noever done it but seen it done on last day when we had reason to be by GS 

[auburn77]

11 hours ago, BallFour4 said:

To speculate, and that's what most here would do is it would depend on how you paid them. I would guess it would go back to your card.

 

 I wished cruise lines would change it to a resort type fee. If you have been to Las Vegas in the past few years you'd see those published prices have tiny print that explains they are going to add a per-day, per-person charge as resort fee. I wished it were mandatory.
 

 Your mileage may vary!
.

 

 I agree. Just make prepaid gratuities mandatory and nonrefundable when booking.

[ray98]

.....and here comes the virtue signalers.

[mommysoncruiser]

2 minutes ago, ray98 said:

.....and here comes the virtue signalers.

I don't understand why people care so much about what the next person chooses to do with their money. I wish I got tipped for doing my job but I don't and I am not complaining. I think people understand the and agree to the pay they'll receive when they sign the contract. If you don't agree with the amount of your base pay, don't sign! Japan has it right!

[Elaine5715]

21 minutes ago, mommysoncruiser said:

I don't understand why people care so much about what the next person chooses to do with their money. I wish I got tipped for doing my job but I don't and I am not complaining. I think people understand the and agree to the pay they'll receive when they sign the contract. If you don't agree with the amount of your base pay, don't sign! Japan has it right!

We don't care what people do with their money.  We care when they use the crew's income as a social statement

[mommysoncruiser]

24 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

We don't care what people do with their money.  We care when they use the crew's income as a social statement

The crew signed a contract with their income written in it. They agreed to that amount. Gratuities are what you pay for service that goes above and beyond expectations. Maybe they did not get the service so they did not want to pay for mediocrity. Only a person that had the experience knows their experience and what they are willing to "tip" based upon that service. Everyone automatically assumes that people have the exact same "great service" they had. Anyway, it is what it is. I think people have a right to do whatever they want with "their" money. Salaries still get paid based upon the contract whether one person chooses to tip or not. If they don't want people to remove them, they should be like NCL and build it into the cost of the cruise. Their gratuities are mandatory.