Why I pre paid the tips

[Meltiphil]

Hey cruisers.

Just reading the other post regarding to pre pay or not. The only reason I pre paid the tips was to avoid the pain of remembering to pay them at the end of the cruise. I also, as many of you know purchased the cruise for me and my bf. He will be receiving it as a Christmas gift. I thought I would try to take care of any and all expenses I could ahead of time so he would not have to or have the feeling to take care of them. You see this cruise is a gift to him, so I want him to spend as little as money on the cruise as possible. "other than his spending money". haha

[cb at sea]

That's fine! There's nothing wrong with pre-paying! (Although, you won't forget to pay them later--they leave envelopes on your bed for that purpose.) You'll get the envelopes, too, with vouchers stating what you tip was. You'll still need to remember to hand them out!

[BobBeaSea]

Just one less thing to have to take care of once onboard :) As CB mentioned, you will be supplied with the tip vouchers and envelopes the last day...don't forget to give them out the last night.

[cappy09]

My reason for prepaying is that weather or not you get good service everyone deserves to get something for the service renderded during the cruise. If you get really really good service from one of the staff than you can add $$ to the envelope at the end of the cruise as a thank you. Bad service also deserves something because these folks usually are the sole support of their family back home. Just MHO.

[cruzevirgins]

So, just so I'm clear on this - if we prepay the tips we still have to hand out vouchers to the workers? Uggh! :confused: I thought the whole reason to prepay was so you didn't have to hassle with that. On our two previous Carnival cruises, we've prepaid and that's it, you're done, nothing to hand out.

[BobBeaSea]

So, just so I'm clear on this - if we prepay the tips we still have to hand out vouchers to the workers? Uggh! :confused: I thought the whole reason to prepay was so you didn't have to hassle with that. On our two previous Carnival cruises, we've prepaid and that's it, you're done, nothing to hand out.

 

This is one of the "traditions" of cruising whereby you can personally thank those who have served you on your cruise with a token of your appreciation.

I have never found this to be a "hassle", indeed, I find this to be a pleasure. Also, they are not "workers", they are your wait staff and cabin attendant (steward). If it bothers you to do this I am sure you can hand the envelopes in at Guest Relations.

[shoreless]

This is one of the "traditions" of cruising whereby you can personally thank those who have served you on your cruise with a token of your appreciation.

I have never found this to be a "hassle", indeed, I find this to be a pleasure. Also, they are not "workers", they are your wait staff and cabin attendant (steward). If it bothers you to do this I am sure you can hand the envelopes in at Guest Relations.

 

I think I'll find it a hassle too. On both NCL and Celebrity, once you prepaid you were done. And there were more people on the prepay list than just the waitstaff and cabin attendants; I never even saw some of those people, and would have had no idea where to find them.

[cruzevirgins]

This is one of the "traditions" of cruising whereby you can personally thank those who have served you on your cruise with a token of your appreciation.

I have never found this to be a "hassle", indeed, I find this to be a pleasure. Also, they are not "workers", they are your wait staff and cabin attendant (steward). If it bothers you to do this I am sure you can hand the envelopes in at Guest Relations.

 

I realize who I'm tipping, but the wait staff and cabin attendants perform work do they not? Call them what you want, hey're workers as far as I'm concerned. :rolleyes:

 

The "hassle" in my opinion is that you have to remember to give these people the vouchers or track them down so you can hand them to them. If they don't get the vouchers, do they not get their tips? Seems like when you prepay, it should just automatically go to the appropriate people - that's no hassle.

[BobBeaSea]

I realize who I'm tipping, but the wait staff and cabin attendants perform work do they not? Call them what you want, hey're workers as far as I'm concerned. :rolleyes:

 

The "hassle" in my opinion is that you have to remember to give these people the vouchers or track them down so you can hand them to them. If they don't get the vouchers, do they not get their tips? Seems like when you prepay, it should just automatically go to the appropriate people - that's no hassle.

 

Sorry if I have offended you. I was just explaining how it's done on RCI. I imagine you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Maybe just leave the envelopes for the workers in your cabin...the transaction is recorded already so they will get the tips.

[kpgclark]

How do you pre-pay gratuities?

[cruzevirgins]

Sorry if I have offended you. I was just explaining how it's done on RCI. I imagine you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Maybe just leave the envelopes for the workers in your cabin...the transaction is recorded already so they will get the tips.

 

No offence taken. Just clarifying my terminology. I was surprised to hear that when prepaying, there were vouchers involved. Thanks for your input.

[sept10dsm]

We were just recently on the GOS and did prepay and receive envelopes. On other cruise lines we prepaid and did not get envelopes. I actually thought the envelopes were a good idea since your servers knew you were tipping and the envelope gave a place to give additional cash.

[cruzevirgins]

How do you pre-pay gratuities?

 

I'm not sure how this works when booking direct with RCCL or with a traditional TA, but when I booked with my online TA there was an option to pre-pay gratuities and have it included in my bill.

[bray]

Just to add my two bits...We got back two weeks ago from the Navigator. We prepaid as well and did not know what to expect...First timers so to speak..

 

Anyway on Thursday we got envelopes and perforated vouchers nicely printed as to who gets what. It was quite nice and pleasant to hand them out on Friday especially at dinner to the waiters. It was not a problem as everyone did the same , whether the envelopes had vouchers or cash

 

And as another poster said you can always give a bit more if you got above average service, which we did for our cabin attendant...

 

Anybody going on the Navigator and go to the dining room please look for VAIDAS...he was our waiter, table 291..tell him William the lobster and shrimp freak says hello:)...He probably forgot us by now with the amount of people they serve

 

 

Wm

[Retired not Expired]

I actually thought the envelopes were a good idea since your servers knew you were tipping and the envelope gave a place to give additional cash.

 

The crew has seen a printout of who has prepaid and those who put it on the ship board account by the last night so they already know at that point. I normally give them out so I can put some extra cash in.

 

You can prepay before you cruise, but if you don't do it when booking, the easiest is to fill out the form on board ship and turn it in. It will be put on the ship board account. Simple and easy without worrying about having the cash on hand.

[FunCruiser56]

The past 2 cruises we have prepaid while on board and received the vouchers. We enjoy handing the envelope to the person and like to give them a personal thankyou for making our cruise enjoyable.

And you won't have to worry about hunting them down, that last night they will be very visable and available.:rolleyes:

I would be fine with prepaying when I book my cruise, just add it to my bill, but I would still like to have the vouchers.

 

Bev

[bike1964]

Bad service may deserve something, but it is unfortunate that people pay the same for bad service as they do for good service. It seems that after they implemented the automatic gratuitiy process, the service has gone downhill in the dining room and in the cabins. You just don't get that personal touch that you used to. We'll be going on our 10th cruise this Sat. (11/11), and I can say that the first 5 or 6 the service was much better than trips we took the last couple of years. (and they were on different cruise lines) If the crew is expecting payment regardless of the service they provide, what incentive do they have to go over and above for anything?

[takeatrip]

I realize who I'm tipping, but the wait staff and cabin attendants perform work do they not? Call them what you want, hey're workers as far as I'm concerned. :rolleyes:

 

The "hassle" in my opinion is that you have to remember to give these people the vouchers or track them down so you can hand them to them. If they don't get the vouchers, do they not get their tips? Seems like when you prepay, it should just automatically go to the appropriate people - that's no hassle.

 

They get the moeny regardless.