J_Keeble Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 THIS IS NOT A DEBATE ON TIPPING !!! WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN OPINIONS ON THAT. I would like to see whether it is true that gratuities are now compulsory with My Time Dining? This seems to be the case for my 2021 bookings. However on a booking for set dining gratuities do not seem to be compulsory. Has anyone else experienced this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 Do you mean that they are adding ADDITIONAL gratuities in the MDR ? I have never ever seen this anywhere. There are compulsory grats that are factored into your daily grat, but not a separate fee associated with MDR dining that I am aware of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Keeble Posted January 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 For example my friend who wants to book and cruise was told if he wanted my time dining he would not be allowed to remove the gratuities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 14 minutes ago, J_Keeble said: For example my friend who wants to book and cruise was told if he wanted my time dining he would not be allowed to remove the gratuities. Oh. Well....I have never heard of them REFUSING to allow the gratuities from being removed. Maybe it's a new policy. If it is, I am unaware of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Keeble Posted January 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 Just now, WAAAYTOOO said: Oh. Well....I have never heard of them REFUSING to allow the gratuities from being removed. Maybe it's a new policy. If it is, I am unaware of it. if he were to have set dining at 6/8 then he could remove them but if he wanted my time he was told he could not remove the gratuities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 2 minutes ago, J_Keeble said: if he were to have set dining at 6/8 then he could remove them but if he wanted my time he was told he could not remove the gratuities. Definitely something new then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KWong Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 That's interesting. I wonder if there's some analytics-based reason for requiring MTD to pay gratuities but not Set Dining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff P Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 We did MTD for our cruise coming up in February 2020 and we were able to select whether we pre-paid the gratuities or not (I hope I'm understanding what you're asking correctly)...we chose to pre-pay just to get it paid up-front, but at least we had the option. Not sure if this is new for 2021? J_Keeble 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brobbins246 Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 I have a cruise booked for April 2021 with MTD and was given the choice for prepaid grats, which I took. There wasn't any mention that I know of warning me that I can't refuse the grats later. Not that I read all the fine print mind you.... J_Keeble 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockerDom31 Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 I may be misunderstanding the inquiry but I believe that if you choose My Time Dining, you HAVE to prepay gratuities. If you choose traditional dining, you can prepay gratuities OR be charged the daily gratuity rate once you get on the ship. This was how it was presented to us by our TA and NextCruise. edit: http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/Flyers/09015240_MyTimeDining_OA.pdf “• Just pre-pay your gratuities to participate - this includes tips for your waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter and stateroom attendant“ I don’t know about removing them at a later time though? Big Tule 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 We are sailing in a week without prepaying gratuities. I am staying onboard for the next sailing the following week...I have My Time Dining and have not pre-paid gratuities. newcruiser77 and J_Keeble 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantix2000 Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 I feel like I heard the claim you had to prepay gratuities with MTD a couple years ago and it turned out to be out of date marketing that had somehow resurfaced. Considering Royal's IT incompetence, perhaps the same old information has been republished somewhere yet again? It would be very easy to then also confuse "have to prepay" with "cannot remove". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biff215 Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 48 minutes ago, RockerDom31 said: I may be misunderstanding the inquiry but I believe that if you choose My Time Dining, you HAVE to prepay gratuities. If you choose traditional dining, you can prepay gratuities OR be charged the daily gratuity rate once you get on the ship. This was how it was presented to us by our TA and NextCruise. edit: http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/Flyers/09015240_MyTimeDining_OA.pdf “• Just pre-pay your gratuities to participate - this includes tips for your waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter and stateroom attendant“ I don’t know about removing them at a later time though? Yes, I noticed this last month when we were booking a cruise on the website. It doesn’t say you can’t refuse them later, but it did require prepaying to finish the reservation. Not sure of the reasoning or whether it applies to all sailings, but it’s definitely a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 The requirement to prepay grats if you are doing MTD went away a number of years ago. What J_Keeble was suggesting, I think, is that his friend is considering removing ALL gratuities associated with dining. ...and was, apparently told that if you are doing MTD you are not permitted to avoid paying dining gratuities. teddy and J_Keeble 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mworkman Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 All my reservations are for MTD and I didn’t prepay gratuities. I’ve recently book within the last month as far out to Jan 22. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darketower Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 We booked a 2021 sailing with MTD and we didn’t prepay our gratuities. Our TA asked if we wanted to prepay and we said no. No issues at all. Of course, we booked a couple of months ago. J_Keeble 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl_nj Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Maybe it's a UK thing? Sort of like how the drinks menus include the gratuity in the cost of the drink, instead of adding an extra percentage, for European sailings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWDW1204 Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said: The requirement to prepay grats if you are doing MTD went away a number of years ago. What J_Keeble was suggesting, I think, is that his friend is considering removing ALL gratuities associated with dining. ...and was, apparently told that if you are doing MTD you are not permitted to avoid paying dining gratuities. 3 hours ago, RockerDom31 said: http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/Flyers/09015240_MyTimeDining_OA.pdf Did anyone look at the small print at the bottom and see the year of this ad? darketower 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baked Alaska Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 47 minutes ago, RWDW1204 said: Did anyone look at the small print at the bottom and see the year of this ad? Ah HA! GREAT CATCH! Allen2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockerDom31 Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Oops! Good call! Maybe my TA and NextCruise agent was just “strongly recommending” prepaying the gratuities with MTD. I must have taken their recommendation as absolute. I did run into this thread from about a year ago about this - hopefully this will help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicDalek Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 You don't have to prepay gratuities with MTD, it's just that they will be charged to the account and cannot be removed. Of course if your TA offers gratuities as a perk, then you're covered either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Keeble Posted January 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Some good responses here guys. It seems like there may be an error and he has been misinformed. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berkeleykel Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 If I go to book a new reservation and select MTD the only option given to move forward with the booking is to prepay gratuities (at least on the UK version of the website). Maybe that is what the friend's TA is referring to? I don't know if the gratuities could still be removed later. J_Keeble 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Keeble Posted January 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Maybe it could just be a UK thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Keeble Posted January 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Doing a mock booking and if you click my time dining the gratuities are compulsory if you do set time you have the option to remove them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monctonguy Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Ok..seems weird. First of all, why would they MAKE you pay a tip before getting on the ship? And why would they say you CANT remove(assuming you wanted to for some reason) them because you don't want to chose a time to eat? 5 hours ago, RicDalek said: You don't have to prepay gratuities with MTD, it's just that they will be charged to the account and cannot be removed. Of course if your TA offers gratuities as a perk, then you're covered either way. I know this isn't true from personal experience......... Perhaps this was the case in 2010 when they brought out MTD?? or maybe they stuck with it in the UK, but not in the USA......for now anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandyMooToo Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 Sounds like it may be a UK thing. We have been doing MTD for years now and while we did have to pay grats up front when we did it the first time we have not had to do that for the last several cruises. As a matter of fact, I had my TA add them in last night and paid them just so I wouldn't have to fool with it once on the ship. ChessE4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 I always pay mine up front. Don't like getting the bill at the end of the cruise. RWDW1204, MandyMooToo, DublinFC and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycho and Barb Posted January 10, 2020 Report Share Posted January 10, 2020 22 hours ago, J_Keeble said: if he were to have set dining at 6/8 then he could remove them but if he wanted my time he was told he could not remove the gratuities. Wonder if the agent your friend was taking to knew the correct answer. We've asked the same question (not this question, but another) to several agents and got different answers...We have also seen many people comment...If your not happy with the response from a RCCL Agent...Call back for a different answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tule Posted January 12, 2020 Report Share Posted January 12, 2020 MTD gratuities have to be prepaid when booking in Australia also WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan1973 Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Hi - I have just booked with Cruise.co.uk tonight to sail on Anthem from Southampton in October 2020. I was told I was unable to book MTD unless I paid the gratituities upfront. Was informed this was something new that had been introduced by RC. I could book set dining and take them off but the booking could not be made for MTD without paying them before the sailing. Will chase further in the morning as didn’t want to lose the booking... J_Keeble 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikeb1892 Posted January 24, 2020 Report Share Posted January 24, 2020 We are doing MTD in July 2020. We booked through a TA. How do we prepay gratuities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted January 24, 2020 Report Share Posted January 24, 2020 2 hours ago, Mikeb1892 said: We are doing MTD in July 2020. We booked through a TA. How do we prepay gratuities? Just contact your TA and they'll put it on your credit card on file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsam Posted January 24, 2020 Report Share Posted January 24, 2020 On 1/12/2020 at 6:37 PM, Big Tule said: MTD gratuities have to be prepaid when booking in Australia also ALL gratuities have to be prepaid when booking in Australia. That's because they are included in the fare for your cruise. There is no "removing" gratuities, and no "prepaying" gratuities. You pay your fare, and you go on your cruise. If you choose to tip crew when you are onboard because you feel it is deserved, that is entirely up to you, but "gratuities" do not exist in Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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