Avalon prepaid gratuity questions

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I have pre paid the gratuities for my upcoming trip with Avalon which also includes a 3 day Prague pre-stay. Does the gratuity only cover dining/housekeeping staff on the ship or does it also cover drivers/guides for included excursions? What about supplemental (extra cost) excursions?  I do not mind tipping at all but want to know what best practice is with Avalon and their tour guides/drivers. 
 

Edited July 14 by AtlantaCruiser72

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

I have pre paid the gratuities for my upcoming trip with Avalon which also includes a 3 day Prague pre-stay. Does the gratuity only cover dining/housekeeping staff on the ship or does it also cover drivers/guides for included excursions? What about supplemental (extra cost) excursions?  I do not mind tipping at all but want to know what best practice is with Avalon and their tour guides/drivers. 
 

 

 

The fact that you pre-paid them, makes me wonder who you are paying gratuities for based on what is below in the terms and conditions?????

 

 

From the Avalon site:

 

GRATUITIES

Gratuities are included for wait staff at included meals (excluding hotel meals in Europe), and porterage at hotels for one suitcase per person during the land stay of your trip (except on Cosmos; exceptions exist on select tours based on hotel facilities and operational necessity).

Gratuities for your Tour / Cruise Director, Local Hosts®, Local Guides, driver, and ship’s crew are not included in the trip price (unless otherwise noted in pricing details) and are discretionary.

 

 

Another Section of the T&C

 

NOT INCLUDED IN PRICING

Unless specifically noted in your trip itinerary, the following is not included in your reservation.

• airfare to and from the start of your trip;
• intra-trip air, unless specified in the itinerary;
• airfare between bookings from one tour/cruise to another;
• airfare within an itinerary unless specified in the itinerary as included;
• airline baggage fees, including checked and/or excess baggage fees;
• Federal inspection fees for Canada Immigrations & Customs; International Air Transportation tax;
• agricultural tax;
• other per-person taxes imposed by government entities;
• airport taxes and fees, including the Air Traveller's Security Charge up to $11.20 per person, participant facility charges up to $18 per person, Federal domestic flight segment fees up to $14.25 per segment, Canada and international arrival and departure and other government imposed fees added by the airline and applicable at time of reservation; ^
• port taxes;
• passports; visas; vaccinations;
• gratuities to your Tour Director, Cruise Director, Local Host®, driver, Local Guides, and/or ship’s crew; gratuities on ferries, trains, and cruise ships;
• laundry; telephone; minibar;
• entry/exit fees at airports;
• alcohol, beverages, and food outside of the contracted menu as presented at a hotel or restaurant or on board your vessel (these extra items will be billed to you before leaving the hotel, ship, or restaurant);
• airport transfers (unless on qualifying flights);
• optional excursions;
• porterage at airports or train stations;
• porterage at hotels on Cosmos and Independence by Globus tours; exceptions exist on select tours based on hotel facilities and operational necessity;
• Travel Insurance;

 

 

 

Edited July 14 by CDNPolar

[cbr663]

I've returned from an Avalon cruise with a pre-cruise add-on just 3 weeks ago and no, your pre-paying gratuities does not cover anything with the add-on nor does it cover any of the tour guides or bus drivers.  You will be expected to tip these people in addition to your pre-paid gratuities.

 

This was a contentious issue with many of us while on the cruise.  It is nothing more than to nickel and dime cruise passengers.  Avalon will clarify this policy in your e-docs.  From our e-docs:

 

"Tipping

Tipping on cruise vacations is a general practice and while the amount of these gratuities will depend upon your degree of satisfaction for services received, many of our travelers have asked us for a general tipping guideline. For a good job, we suggest: 4 Euro per guest per day for the Cruise Director and 14 Euro per guest per night for the ship’s crew. This will be pooled and distributed fairly among those who have been of service to you (including personnel who work behind-the-scenes and whose service is equally valuable to the enjoyment of your cruise).

 

You may have selected to pre-pay your gratuities to the Cruise Director and the ship’s crew. They are aware that you made this choice when booking your cruise with us and are grateful to you!

 

For shore excursions, suggested gratuities are 2 Euro per guest for local guides and 1 Euro per guest for drivers, per excursion. These gratuities are not included in your cruise price or with purchased pre-paid gratuities. These gratuities can only be paid in cash."

 

2 Euro and 1 Euro are of course coins and we and other cruise passengers who shared with me found it very difficult getting coins for the tips.  You will also discover on-board that these tip amounts are for half day excursions only and that you are advised to double it for longer excursions.  

 

Upon receiving my e-docs and noticing the conflicting information in the e-docs and the FAQs on their website, I had my TA follow up with Avalon and apparently this is a recent change.  

[AtlantaCruiser72]

@cbr663 Thank you for the detailed response.  What you have relayed to me falls in line with what my expectations were and is consistent with the Ocean cruises I have taken where excursions were booked with the cruise line.  Thankfully I have a stock of Euro coin to start me with and I will easily be able to get more as I go by buying a coffee here a beer there in cash.  

[cbr663]

I think the change was made after the pandemic and around the same time that Avalon made changes to its Happy Hour moving from beverages at 50% off to now complimentary select beverages during Happy Hour.  

 

Avalon is having difficulty selling out its ships and is looking for ways to attract more passengers.  Our cruise ship was only at 75% capacity.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

My sailing shows as hundo sold out but then it is a longer sailing (15 nights Magnificent Rivers of Europe BUD-AMS) with fewer departure dates so.  Has been that way since early this year.  But yes, there are numerous 2024 sailings that have struggled to sell and 2023 was hard for them as well.  They just do not have the brand awareness of Viking or AMA I don't think

[CDNPolar]

On 7/14/2024 at 9:37 AM, cbr663 said:

I've returned from an Avalon cruise with a pre-cruise add-on just 3 weeks ago and no, your pre-paying gratuities does not cover anything with the add-on nor does it cover any of the tour guides or bus drivers.  You will be expected to tip these people in addition to your pre-paid gratuities.

 

This was a contentious issue with many of us while on the cruise.  It is nothing more than to nickel and dime cruise passengers.  Avalon will clarify this policy in your e-docs.  From our e-docs:

 

"Tipping

Tipping on cruise vacations is a general practice and while the amount of these gratuities will depend upon your degree of satisfaction for services received, many of our travelers have asked us for a general tipping guideline. For a good job, we suggest: 4 Euro per guest per day for the Cruise Director and 14 Euro per guest per night for the ship’s crew. This will be pooled and distributed fairly among those who have been of service to you (including personnel who work behind-the-scenes and whose service is equally valuable to the enjoyment of your cruise).

 

You may have selected to pre-pay your gratuities to the Cruise Director and the ship’s crew. They are aware that you made this choice when booking your cruise with us and are grateful to you!

 

For shore excursions, suggested gratuities are 2 Euro per guest for local guides and 1 Euro per guest for drivers, per excursion. These gratuities are not included in your cruise price or with purchased pre-paid gratuities. These gratuities can only be paid in cash."

 

2 Euro and 1 Euro are of course coins and we and other cruise passengers who shared with me found it very difficult getting coins for the tips.  You will also discover on-board that these tip amounts are for half day excursions only and that you are advised to double it for longer excursions.  

 

Upon receiving my e-docs and noticing the conflicting information in the e-docs and the FAQs on their website, I had my TA follow up with Avalon and apparently this is a recent change.  

 

Are these suggested gratuities then added to your stateroom invoice and payable at the end of the cruise?  

Do you also have the option to change or remove the amount?

 

Gratuities to drivers and guides is always - in my opinion - going to be optional and out of your pocket.  We see 50/50 where half give something and half do not.

[Daisi]

We've always pre-paid our gratuities, which covered those onboard. It covered all crew, not just the ones you interacted with during the day. You get envelopes either at reception or in your cabin if you haven't pre-paid, and then leave them in boxes at reception. You can request to pay them at reception, but onboard purchases are in Euro's. While there is a suggested amount, it's up to you what you wish to pay, no 'automatic" add on at the end of the cruise. We usually give a quite handshake to those who we feel gave exceptional service as a thank you. That way we can give them an extra thank-you as well.

 

[cbr663]

6 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Are these suggested gratuities then added to your stateroom invoice and payable at the end of the cruise?  

Do you also have the option to change or remove the amount?

 

Gratuities to drivers and guides is always - in my opinion - going to be optional and out of your pocket.  We see 50/50 where half give something and half do not.

 

No, I don't think the suggested gratuities are added to your onboard account like they do on ocean cruises.  We had pre-paid ours in advance when we booked our cruise and we didn't have anything owing onboard, to the best of my knowledge.  Avalon told us we would get an onboard account invoice the night before disembarkation but we didn't.  I'm awaiting our credit card statement to arrive to verify that nothing was charged.  After the poor service we received onboard and from the CD I regret pre-paying our gratuities as I would have changed the amount at the end of the cruise.

 

On our cruise they literally put a wooden box on the Guest Services Counter with 2 slots in it - one for crew and one for the CD.  I was at GS one evening and a fellow passenger was trying to pay his onboard account as he was covering all the staterooms for his family who had multiple staterooms.  While they had no problem accepting his credit card for the onboard charges, when the passenger asked about paying the gratuities by credit card he received push back.  GS was quite hesitant to take the payment for gratuities by credit card and the passenger quickly responded to give me back my card and I will take care of it later.  This is may take away only - from that experience I surmise that they want the gratuities paid in cash and of course you are free to adjust how you see fit.

 

I agree with your thoughts on tipping guides and bus drivers.  It was just that nearly every day that we were out on our excursions and waiting for the excursion to end you would of course chat with your fellow passengers.  Many expressed frustrations with the tipping practices and trying to come up with the correct amount to tip.  It wasn't something that many were prepared for and indicative of some communication issues on the ship.

 

One communication issue, for instance, was the registering a credit card to your onboard account.  Avalon did not collect a credit card prior to embarkation nor did it collect one at embarkation.  We had fellow passengers telling us that we can go and receive our room cards as the CD didn't make it clear to the entire group.  Days into the cruise the CD is reminding people to please go to GS and register a credit card and GS was sending notices out to people to do so.  The passenger I mentioned above was simply trying to finalize his onboard commitments at the end of the cruise but it wasn't easy.

[exploretheworldkb77]

On 7/14/2024 at 9:32 AM, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

@cbr663 Thank you for the detailed response.  What you have relayed to me falls in line with what my expectations were and is consistent with the Ocean cruises I have taken where excursions were booked with the cruise line.  Thankfully I have a stock of Euro coin to start me with and I will easily be able to get more as I go by buying a coffee here a beer there in cash.  

55 cruises?! That is impressive! Do you have a favorite cruise line?