PrePaid gratuities?

[cruisetheworld67]

I have done a little research on this and now see  that HAL  gives the option to check  the prepay gratuities box when checking  in. 

I assume that if one does NOT do this , HAL will simply add the daily  gratuity to the final bill while on board  as in the past?

We would prefer to have it added while on board  as if we had to cancel last minute; this would be one less thing to be refunded  and we would not want to overlook it.

We have the Platinum insurance plan.  Thank  you.

[kazu]

1 minute ago, cruisetheworld67 said:

I have done a little research on this and now see  that HAL  gives the option to check  the prepay gratuities box when checking  in. 

I assume that if one does NOT do this , HAL will simply add the daily  gratuity to the final bill while on board  as in the past?

 

Absolutely correct.  You don’t have to pre-pay them.  The charge will be added daily to your on board account.

 

1 minute ago, cruisetheworld67 said:

We would prefer to have it added while on board  as if we had to cancel last minute; this would be one less thing to be refunded  and we would not want to overlook it.

We have the Platinum insurance plan.  Thank  you.

 

You will be fine and have it added as you prefer 🙂 

[VMax1700]

17 minutes ago, cruisetheworld67 said:

HAL  gives the option to check  the prepay gratuities box when checking  in. 

You can pre purchase at any time from booking up to (I was informed by a HAL Agent in UK) 5 days prior to embarkation.

If you are not in the US dollar area it can be advantageous to prepay as HAL uses a very generous exchange rate.  Prepaid Grats are billed to credit card in the currency of the booking.

[mcrcruiser]

can we use  The AARP gift cards to prepay gratuities &  are they refundable if you can not take the cruise

TIA

[oakridger]

@dobiemom just now answered the question on this other thread:

 

 

 

[luv2cruisenz]

9 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

You can pre purchase at any time from booking up to (I was informed by a HAL Agent in UK) 5 days prior to embarkation.

If you are not in the US dollar area it can be advantageous to prepay as HAL uses a very generous exchange rate.  Prepaid Grats are billed to credit card in the currency of the booking.

Thanks for that advice, I didn’t know you could do that! I have just prepaid the grats as it will certainly save us a little bit of money on the exchange rates. And it’s less to pay for later! Win win

Edited July 29, 2023 by luv2cruisenz

[WriterOnDeck]

15 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

can we use  The AARP gift cards to prepay gratuities &  are they refundable if you can not take the cruise

TIA

With all the issues surrounding AARP gift cards, I don't prepay the gratuities, but let them be added daily to my account. Then, when my onboard account balance hits $500, I submit a gift card to the desk and they apply it. That way I don't worry about the refund, as I've already spent the money on the charges.

[cbr663]

19 hours ago, luv2cruisenz said:

Thanks for that advice, I didn’t know you could do that! I have just prepaid the grats as it will certainly save us a little bit of money on the exchange rates. And it’s less to pay for later! Win win

 

Just a reminder that yes, pre-paying the gratuities online will save you a little bit on the exchange, but, on-line purchases do not count as "On Board Purchases" for Cruise Day Credits for HAL's Mariner Society.  This may or may not matter to you.

[Cruise Suzy]

2 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

on-line purchases do not count as "On Board Purchases" for Cruise Day Credits for HAL's Mariner Society.

Yes they do. This includes crew appreciation, excursions, dining reservations, beverages, wifi, etc.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Cruise Suzy

[cbr663]

Just now, Cruise Suzy said:

Yes they do. This includes vre appreciation, excursions, dining reservations, beverages, wifi, etc.

 

Thanks for clarifying.  

[Roz]

Cruise Suzy is 100% correct.

[ExpatBride]

A word of caution to anyone considering pre-paying gratuities...

 

I know it's not an identical situation, but I had pre-paid gratuities as part of a promo. For whatever reason, it didn't show up on my onboard account. I had a copy of my booking confirmation, but "Guest Services" basically said, "sorry, you'll have to take that up with your TA." I wasted so much time trying to sort it out onboard, and it wasn't resolved before we disembarked because of time differences, etc. 

I ended up using OBC to cover it. I had to reduce the amount by a bit (about $20) to have it fully covered. I'm not one to stiff the crew and $20 seems petty, but after multiple go rounds with the guest services manager and submitting comment through the Navigator app, I decided it was the most pragmatic option. I shouldn't be out a few hundred dollars because of a clerical error. I had proof of what I booked in writing but HAL couldn't have cared less. I'm not happy to have forfeited my OBC to cover something that should've been included, but it wasn't the crew's fault.

[HamOp]

1 hour ago, ExpatBride said:

A word of caution to anyone considering pre-paying gratuities...

 

I know it's not an identical situation, but I had pre-paid gratuities as part of a promo. For whatever reason, it didn't show up on my onboard account. I had a copy of my booking confirmation, but "Guest Services" basically said, "sorry, you'll have to take that up with your TA." I wasted so much time trying to sort it out onboard, and it wasn't resolved before we disembarked because of time differences, etc. 

I ended up using OBC to cover it. I had to reduce the amount by a bit (about $20) to have it fully covered. I'm not one to stiff the crew and $20 seems petty, but after multiple go rounds with the guest services manager and submitting comment through the Navigator app, I decided it was the most pragmatic option. I shouldn't be out a few hundred dollars because of a clerical error. I had proof of what I booked in writing but HAL couldn't have cared less. I'm not happy to have forfeited my OBC to cover something that should've been included, but it wasn't the crew's fault.

Wonder what would have been the response if you threatened to remove the gratuities all together.

Not that you would, but that might have changed a mind or two.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, ExpatBride said:

I had pre-paid gratuities as part of a promo. For whatever reason, it didn't show up on my onboard account. I had a copy of my booking confirmation, but "Guest Services" basically said, "sorry, you'll have to take that up with your TA."

That is totally unacceptable.

Provided that it was clearly specified on the HAL Booking confirmation that the Crew Incentive was prepaid I would have refused to pay again ands told them it was up to them to sort it.  

[Haljo1935]

We have pre paid grats (not part of enhanced HIA) on an upcoming cruise. It shows on the invoice from HAL, we booked direct not through TA. Hoping we don't have that experience - it will have a different outcome as we will not pay $$ or use OBC to cover them. I certainly don't want the very hardworking crew to be short changed, but I'm not participating in cruiseline double dipping. I really don't think HAL would intentionally do that and hope it was a very unfortunate oversight.

[SilvertoGold]

We do pre-paid gratuities (and usually save a bit with the CND exchange).  I make copies of the pages on both our HAL accounts (from the HAL website) that show items like the gratuities, transfers, etc. 

 

Our TA gives us the "booking confirmation" with all the HAL logos but that is not generated by HAL but the by the TA.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by SilvertoGold

[mcrcruiser]

On 7/29/2023 at 6:35 AM, WriterOnDeck said:

With all the issues surrounding AARP gift cards, I don't prepay the gratuities, but let them be added daily to my account. Then, when my onboard account balance hits $500, I submit a gift card to the desk and they apply it. That way I don't worry about the refund, as I've already spent the money on the charges.

Excellent point .In our case we know that the gratuities for our 18 days are  $576  ,so we would go & give the customer service desk the gift card early on the cruise .