Can gratuities be paid upon boarding?

[tallgirl97]

We’re taking an extended family cruise next month - can the person footing the cruise fare bill pay all cabins’ gratuities upon boarding, so that any additional charges the cabins incur fall to those passengers to pay? Or is the only way to do something like this by calling RCI ahead of departure?

[GTO-Girl]

3 minutes ago, tallgirl97 said:

We’re taking an extended family cruise next month - can the person footing the cruise fare bill pay all cabins’ gratuities upon boarding, so that any additional charges the cabins incur fall to those passengers to pay? Or is the only way to do something like this by calling RCI ahead of departure?

We prepay our gratuities when we book so if your reservations are linked there is a good chance this could be done over the phone now…

[Cigar King]

8 minutes ago, tallgirl97 said:

We’re taking an extended family cruise next month - can the person footing the cruise fare bill pay all cabins’ gratuities upon boarding, so that any additional charges the cabins incur fall to those passengers to pay?

I did exactly this when I booked cruises for my extended family.  

[poocher]

Not sure why you’d want to wait til you board.  Price doesn’t change & its much easier to prepay as a part of your cruise fare.  Unless you don’t WANT to pay it 90 days before.

[cruisegus]

I tried this last month as when I emailed my TA she missed the sentence to add pre-paid gratuities to my final payment. 

 

Guest services said could not do it as they are only set up to receive notification of pre-paid from shore side or bill it as the do on-board using whatever procedure they have in place on the particular ship. 

 

My experience has been it post the 2nd night for the first 2, then nights 3, 4 and maybe 5,  then the next 2  or 3 all on the same night depending on which night and out they trigger it to post.

 

Best bet is to make sure it is pre-paid at final payment.

[Sunshine3601]

You can call royal a couple days before your sailing and pay for all parties to your credit card then.    

[brillohead]

You can either prepay it now, by calling whoever you booked through (TA or Royal), or you can go to Guest Services at any point in the cruise and make a single payment on each account for the total amount of the gratuities.  For example, a standard (non-suite) room with two people for a weeklong cruise would be $14.50 x 2 x 7 = $203.  Anything that the room's occupants charge in excess of the gratuities would be their responsibility to pay.

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, cruisegus said:

I tried this last month as when I emailed my TA she missed the sentence to add pre-paid gratuities to my final payment. 

 

Guest services said could not do it as they are only set up to receive notification of pre-paid from shore side or bill it as the do on-board using whatever procedure they have in place on the particular ship. 

 

My experience has been it post the 2nd night for the first 2, then nights 3, 4 and maybe 5,  then the next 2  or 3 all on the same night depending on which night and out they trigger it to post.

 

Best bet is to make sure it is pre-paid at final payment.

Your TA isn't very knowledgeable then.  They could have added the prepaid gratuities even after final payment.  

Also, doing it at Guest Services is as simple as making one payment on the account in the amount of the total of the gratuities to be charged -- you don't need to make individual payments for each day's gratuities as they are charged.  

[cruisegus]

5 hours ago, brillohead said:

Your TA isn't very knowledgeable then.  They could have added the prepaid gratuities even after final payment.  

Also, doing it at Guest Services is as simple as making one payment on the account in the amount of the total of the gratuities to be charged -- you don't need to make individual payments for each day's gratuities as they are charged.  

@brillohead   Not my TA, me, I just didn't want to hassle her by asking her to go back and make the payment after she processes final,  Yes she could have up until a few days before sailing (not sure of the exact cut off 2 or 3 days I think much like online package purchases)

 

Yes you could go to Guest services and pay money on the account, CASH, they will not just do a credit card charge with out something specific to charge it to and that can't be something that has not yet posted to the on-board account. 

 

Even if you pay it in CASH you will still see all the daily gratuity charges on the bill, one line item for each day it is charged.  Keep in mind you may see it on the invoice/bill as 2 separate charge on the same date but the are for separate days of gratuities.

 

The reason a lot of people, myself included is the don't want to clutter up the invoice/bill with the extra line items for paying gratuities.

 

 

[footzz]

RCCL will be more than happy to take your money before, during of after.

[tallgirl97]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm going to encourage my family member to make the payment by phone before we set sail - perhaps after everyone has their negative Covid test results, so that we know all the cabins will be occupied. 🙂