Prepaid Gratuities - Same Service?

[Roboat]

We booked a 7 night on the Mariner in December based in part on the "gratuities included" offer, which I figure saves $70 pp. I have seen a couple of comments, on other forums, saying the staff does not render the same service if the tips are prepaid. Is there any truth to that?

 

Have those of you who have prepaid gratuities on RCCL been left with that impression?

 

Thanks!

[petel]

We booked a 7 night on the Mariner in December based in part on the "gratuities included" offer, which I figure saves $70 pp. I have seen a couple of comments, on other forums, saying the staff does not render the same service if the tips are prepaid. Is there any truth to that?

 

Have those of you who have prepaid gratuities on RCCL been left with that impression?

 

Thanks!

 

We always prepay our gratuities and have never had any problem with service - Never! except one time and we took the appropriate action and the assistant waiter was removed from our table.

 

IMHO the staff has no idea who prepays and who doesn't. Enjoy :)

[BonnieSte]

We booked a 7 night on the Mariner in December based in part on the "gratuities included" offer, which I figure saves $70 pp. I have seen a couple of comments, on other forums, saying the staff does not render the same service if the tips are prepaid. Is there any truth to that?

 

Have those of you who have prepaid gratuities on RCCL been left with that impression?

 

Thanks!

 

 

I have always prepaid on all 3 lines and have never once had bad service. I strongly believe that our attitudes toward the wonderful staff has a lot to do with some of the service we receive. Be good to them and they are 10 times as good to you.

[KelJ]

I have done it both ways on the Voyager, and the service was great both times!

[petel]

I have always prepaid on all 3 lines and have never once had bad service. I strongly believe that our attitudes toward the wonderful staff has a lot to do with some of the service we receive. Be good to them and they are 10 times as good to you.

 

Absolutely!!! Ditto, I wish I had said that.

[cb at sea]

No one knows until the last eveing HOW the tips have been paid. If you "pre-pay", you will get vouchers that you will pass out to your servers and room attendant. If you don't pre-pay, you will be handing out cash. So, they are still working hard to insure that they get their tips! (If they go above and beyond, feel free to stick a bit of extra cash in with the voucher!)

[Roboat]

Thanks a lot folks. That's what I was hoping for, and expecting.

 

I know what you mean about attitude being important. Many years ago I was fortunate enough to go without a paycheck for short time. Though it hardly seemed fortunate at the time, it forced me to gain perspective I value to this day.

[Tomcat21f14d]

I've always prepaid. But on our las cruise aboard the Brilliacne of the Sea's I was disapointed in the Head Waiter he only stoped by our table 2 nights and on the last night had to get our waiter to find him so we could tip him. Next time I'm not going to pre pay and base my tip to the head waiter by the number of times he stops by our table.

[celle]

We booked a 7 night on the Mariner in December based in part on the "gratuities included" offer, which I figure saves $70 pp. I have seen a couple of comments, on other forums, saying the staff does not render the same service if the tips are prepaid. Is there any truth to that?

 

Have those of you who have prepaid gratuities on RCCL been left with that impression?

 

Thanks!

 

We live in New Zealand, where tipping is not part of our culture. Staff are paid an adequate wage, and do not have to rely on tips; the level of service is just as good as in a country where tipping is the norm.

 

For us, we have no alternative to pre-paying the tips, as that has to be included in our original booking price. We did pre-pay, and received excellent service on-board.

 

I do not like to think that I would be put in a situation such as the OP raised, where a cruiser might feel intimidated/ penalised by the staff for pre-paying. That's a big negative for tipping at all - where the consumer is almost blackmailed by the service provider, because of a fear of consequences if the tip is not to the recipient's liking.

[Amaranthine33]

We booked a 7 night on the Mariner in December based in part on the "gratuities included" offer, which I figure saves $70 pp. I have seen a couple of comments, on other forums, saying the staff does not render the same service if the tips are prepaid. Is there any truth to that?

 

Have those of you who have prepaid gratuities on RCCL been left with that impression?

 

Thanks!

 

I prepaid my gratuities and didn't experience anything less than excellent service. I don't even know if the staff knows that you've already pre-paid. The night before the last dinner, you get vouchers and envelopes delivered to your room. YOu give the vouchers (in the envelope) to your wait staff and steward and they claim the money after.

[katiel53]

I have never pre-paid gratuities, but I have read on some threads that those receiving the tips know. We do tip on our SeaPass card, so I guess in some ways that's pre-tipping.

 

We have had great service and if we didn't I wouldn't hesitate to not put my tips on the SeaPass, but if necessary, I would go to the casino and get cash to put in envelopes for those I were going to tip.

 

Usually, we tip more than the suggested amount and even though we put the tips on our SeaPass, we still tip extra in cash for those who deserve more. The funny thing is that so many people on CC feel the head waiter doesn't do anything to deserve his tip, we usually end up tipping more. He handles all our special requests, ie Escargot a few nights for my brother in law

 

I don't think anyone gets better service than anyone else. We ask for what we want and tip accordingly. Enjoy your cruise.

[artvlay]

I think that you get much better service when you pay the tips directly or at the conclusion of the cruise. We just got off the QM2 (2nd time) and felt the service was not up to par of Royal Carribean. There is no motivation to go the extra distance.

[whogo]

I've always prepaid. But on our las cruise aboard the Brilliacne of the Sea's I was disapointed in the Head Waiter he only stoped by our table 2 nights and on the last night had to get our waiter to find him so we could tip him. Next time I'm not going to pre pay and base my tip to the head waiter by the number of times he stops by our table.

The less I see of the head waiter the better. I find most head waiters intrusive. As far as I am concerned, he should be supervising the wait staff, not chatting up the customers. Split my lobster tail, prepare the flaming dessert, and make yourself scarce. I have never had a bad cruise ship waiter, so the head waiters must be performing well as supervisors. I don't need to be asked how the service is every night, or what I did in port, or how old the kids are, or, well, you get the idea.

[KelJ]

The less I see of the head waiter the better. I find most head waiters intrusive. As far as I am concerned, he should be supervising the wait staff, not chatting up the customers. Split my lobster tail, prepare the flaming dessert, and make yourself scarce. I have never had a bad cruise ship waiter, so the head waiters must be performing well as supervisors. I don't need to be asked how the service is every night, or what I did in port, or how old the kids are, or, well, you get the idea.

 

That is my philosophy as well. If things are running smoothly in the dining room, there is a head waiter somewhere to be thanked.

[texancruzer]

Hmmmm perhaps some clarification.

 

On some cruises you can "pre-pay" your tips...meaning the tips are added in with the cruisefare just like airfare, hotel stays or transfers. That way when you make final payment it is paid for.

 

Or...you can fill out the form that is made available to you on the ship which charges the suggested amount to your Seapass account. You will received vouchers and envelopes to give out to the staff. For exceptional service you can add cash if you like. This is NOT pre-paying your tips.

 

Or you can bring your own envelopes and put cash in them and still hand them out.

 

or..... like some people who don't understand the different terms or procedures or those who are just cheap...... you can stiff the staff :eek: which IMO is just cause for you to be made to walk the plank !

[geminipartygirl]

Hmmmm perhaps some clarification.

 

On some cruises you can "pre-pay" your tips...meaning the tips are added in with the cruisefare just like airfare, hotel stays or transfers. That way when you make final payment it is paid for.

 

Or...you can fill out the form that is made available to you on the ship which charges the suggested amount to your Seapass account. You will received vouchers and envelopes to give out to the staff. For exceptional service you can add cash if you like. This is NOT pre-paying your tips.

 

Or you can bring your own envelopes and put cash in them and still hand them out.

 

or..... like some people who don't understand the different terms or procedures or those who are just cheap...... you can stiff the staff :eek: which IMO is just cause for you to be made to walk the plank !

 

One question about this as this is our first cruise. We have already paid our gratuities when we paid for our cruise. Will we have to hand out "vouchers" to people? I am all for giving extra to those who have gone above and beyond, but I was hoping that I already had most of it taken care of.

[chris2597]

Our TA offered pre paid grats as part of our cruise package. Will we receive vouchers to give to the staff on the last night? If not, how do we make sure that tips are given?

[Tikibird]

I am also looking at an online TA who offers prepaid gratuities as part of the package. Like the NZer who posted above, tipping isn't part of our culture and the wages are suffiecient to reflect that. We aren't demanding customers who ask for extra "above and beyond" type things. I am attracted to the prepaid gratuties package so we don't have to worry about it and the staff are adequately compensated.

 

There is one strange thing. When I emailed this online TA who is listed as one of CC's Cruise Agencies a woman wrote back and said the gratuities are paid 6 weeks after the sailing. This doesn't make sense to me. If they are going to offer PRE-PAID gratuties, I would expect the voucher to be there ready to pass out to the staff.

 

That in itself will be very embarrassing for us, having to hand an envelope over, I wish the cruise line would just pay the staff direct.

[alittlenauti]

One question about this as this is our first cruise. We have already paid our gratuities when we paid for our cruise. Will we have to hand out "vouchers" to people? I am all for giving extra to those who have gone above and beyond, but I was hoping that I already had most of it taken care of.

 

 

Yes Gemini , the vouchers will be in your cabin at the end of your cruise and you then hand them out and say thanks to the staff, we pre paid our grats too but added a little extra in the envelope for those we felt deserved it.

I cant imagine how the staff would know you had pre paid your grats but if they did on Century then it certainly made no difference to the service which we found to be excellent across the board.

Even if the staff were to know you had pre paid your grats then they must surely know that guests may add that little extra for exceptional service so the incentive to please is still there ..... ?

[alittlenauti]

I am also looking at an online TA who offers prepaid gratuities as part of the package. Like the NZer who posted above, tipping isn't part of our culture and the wages are suffiecient to reflect that. We aren't demanding customers who ask for extra "above and beyond" type things. I am attracted to the prepaid gratuties package so we don't have to worry about it and the staff are adequately compensated.

 

There is one strange thing. When I emailed this online TA who is listed as one of CC's Cruise Agencies a woman wrote back and said the gratuities are paid 6 weeks after the sailing. This doesn't make sense to me. If they are going to offer PRE-PAID gratuties, I would expect the voucher to be there ready to pass out to the staff.

 

That in itself will be very embarrassing for us, having to hand an envelope over, I wish the cruise line would just pay the staff direct.

 

Dont worry , the vouchers ARE there for you to pass on, maybe what she meant was the staff have to wait for 6 weeks when they redeem them... seems abit unfair and excessive though

[DonnaK]

When people on the message board speak of service declining with pre-paid gratuities, I believe they are talking about cruiselines where tips are automatically added for all passengers, not RCI where most people tip in Cash at the end, or with vouchers and perhaps a bonus couple of dollars added to the envelop.

 

We had the displeasure of cruising on a line that automatically added on the tips, and service was atrocious, especially in the dining room. The wait team were responsible for 2-3 times as many tables as on RCI, and simple requests, like for another fork (there wasn't enough silverware on the table) or refills of water or iced tea, took 15-20 minutes to be granted. Waiters were hurried and impersonal, and because of this, it was the worst cruise of all the ones we've taken, and what's convinced us to stick with RCI.

[whogo]

I would expect the voucher to be there ready to pass out to the staff. That in itself will be very embarrassing for us, having to hand an envelope over, I wish the cruise line would just pay the staff direct.

You're right, Tikibird, it is an awkward moment. It would be especially awkward for someone coming from a nontipping culture. Just try not to look too uncomfortable after dinner as you hand out the envelopes and listen to the recipients thanks.

 

I much prefer Holland America's method. Tips go from your account to the recipient without your having to personally hand it over.

[thistlecruiser]

The staff does not know going into the cruise who has pre-paid & who hasn't. I always pre-pay.

[hmsdos]

We pay about half the time using pre-pay.... we never see any difference.... always wonderful..... That said.... IF you have a problem and have pre-paid you can go to the Guest Services and remove all or a specific person. Also... if you do not get the coupon strip in your room, you can get a duplicate from Guest Services... because... the strip really means nothing, just gives one something to "hand" when saying thank you/good bye... the gratuity will be given to the service person whether you hand them the coupon strip or not.

[texancruzer]

because... the strip really means nothing, just gives one something to "hand" when saying thank you/good bye... the gratuity will be given to the service person whether you hand them the coupon strip or not.

 

As posted.... the staff will receive the tip whether you give them the voucher or not....but it is nice to personally look someone in the eye and say "Thank You". Unsaid is .... "for making my bed every day - sometimes twice" and ....."for cleaning up the bathroom after we left it a total wreck cause we were late for dinner" or ......."for remembering that I want a glass of iced tea every night with dinner and making sure it was there for me as soon as I sat down" or ......."always doing everything with a big smile on your face which made my vacation that much more enjoyable".