Changing to Pre-Paid gratuities

[BigBrust]

If I originally elected not to pre-pay the gratuities for our cruise, but I now want to pre-pay them, what is the easiest way to do this?

[SPS]

You'll have to call Royal Caribbean. They will gladly add them to your reservation.

You'll then be sent an updated reservation showing them added.

[Bakerette]

I did the exact same thing as you did when I booked my first 3 cruise I selected not to pre-pay gratuities & then several months later I’ve decide to pre-pay gratuities so I tried to add the gratuities to the reservation myself but I did not see the option to add pre-paid gravities online so I had to call RC and give them my reservation # & told them that I would like to pre-pay gratuities.

35 minutes ago, BigBrust said:

If I originally elected not to pre-pay the gratuities for our cruise, but I now want to pre-pay them, what is the easiest way to do this?

The only way to pre-pay gratuities after you have put a deposit down is to call RC & provide them with your reservation # & tell them that you would like to pre-pay the gratuities. 

[JLMoran]

If you use a travel agent, don't call Royal. Call your TA and let them know you want to pre-pay the gratuities. They'll process the reservation update and get the charge applied to your card.

I've done this on every cruise I've booked with my TA, knowing full well I plan to pre-pay after I've passed final payment and hit a new billing cycle on the card. At that point it's just one extra monthly payment in the series I've been making since booking.

[ChessE4]

6 hours ago, BigBrust said:

If I originally elected not to pre-pay the gratuities for our cruise, but I now want to pre-pay them, what is the easiest way to do this?

And to followup on @JLMoran , if you purchase travel insurance initially (without prepaid gratuities), you won't raise your premiums unnecessarily.  Then when you do pre-pay gratuities, they aren't insured, but they won't need to be.  Have a great trip...

[Bakerette]

20 hours ago, JLMoran said:

I've done this on every cruise I've booked with my TA, knowing full well I plan to pre-pay after I've passed final payment and hit a new billing cycle on the card. At that point it's just one extra monthly payment in the series I've been making since booking.

I thought that once it is the date final payment for the cruise that no other payment can be made toward the booking has been paid, not even just for pre-paying gratuities after the final payment date, but that’s how it is with the cruise lines that RC  owns & with all 10 cruise lines that Carnival Corporation owns, but maybe other cruise lines allow you to pre-pay gratuities after final payment date

[JLMoran]

13 minutes ago, Bakerette said:

I thought that once it is the date final payment for the cruise that no other payment can be made toward the booking has been paid, not even just for pre-paying gratuities after the final payment date, but that’s how it is with the cruise lines that RC  owns & with all 10 cruise lines that Carnival Corporation owns, but maybe other cruise lines allow you to pre-pay gratuities after final payment date

Nope, all of my cruises thus far have been with Royal. And each time, my TA assured me that I could pre-pay gratuities right up until 3 days before embarkation (basically the same day that Cruise Planner purchases get shut off). This was especially useful last year, when Royal was raising gratuities for bookings made after Jan 1, 2018, as it let me stay grandfathered in while scheduling the payment of those gratuities until the cruise was paid off and I could slot that in with my desired monthly hit to my credit card.

[Mr. Candyman]

On 9/27/2019 at 6:19 AM, Bakerette said:

I thought that once it is the date final payment for the cruise that no other payment can be made toward the booking has been paid, not even just for pre-paying gratuities after the final payment date, but that’s how it is with the cruise lines that RC  owns & with all 10 cruise lines that Carnival Corporation owns, but maybe other cruise lines allow you to pre-pay gratuities after final payment date

I just did the same thing a few weeks ago.  I had my TA call 3 days before my Sept 1 (well Dorian made it Sept 4) sailing and paid for the gratuities.

[Kris10May]

I'm curious if there is an advantage to pre-paying for the gratuities.  I booked our cruise through Costco and I remember the agent mentioning  it but it was all kind of a blur.  Thanks!  

[Mr. Candyman]

13 minutes ago, Kris10May said:

I'm curious if there is an advantage to pre-paying for the gratuities.  I booked our cruise through Costco and I remember the agent mentioning  it but it was all kind of a blur.  Thanks!  

Just to have the peace of mind that it's taken care of.....no advantages at all.  In my case I was paying for 6 of us; so to not have an additional $605 at the end of the cruise added some comfort.

[PG Cruiser]

42 minutes ago, Kris10May said:

I'm curious if there is an advantage to pre-paying for the gratuities.

Just like @JLMoran said, if Royal raises gratuities, you will be grandfathered in to the old rate. My TA, @StephanieH, said the same thing.

[Kris10May]

Now that makes complete sense...does that happen often?

[Mr. Candyman]

35 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

Just like @JLMoran said, if Royal raises gratuities, you will be grandfathered in to the old rate. My TA, @StephanieH, said the same thing.

That would be the reason.....definitely won't be waiting next time.  Any idea when the last increase was?

[JLMoran]

22 minutes ago, Mr. Candyman said:

That would be the reason.....definitely won't be waiting next time.  Any idea when the last increase was?

Last increase I recall went into effect January of last year, with passengers booked before then grandfathered at the old rate as long as they prepaid them. 

@Matt is very good about promptly posting things like that to the main blog, and the last time it was done Royal gave notice several months in advance. 

[Mr. Candyman]

7 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Last increase I recall went into effect January of last year, with passengers booked before then grandfathered at the old rate as long as they prepaid them. 

@Matt is very good about promptly posting things like that to the main blog, and the last time it was done Royal gave notice several months in advance. 

Thanks....and thanks again as that was my next question