Hags1684 Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 We elected to not prepay the tips at booking and are now having regrets. As we add more extras onto our vacation I'm liking the fact that you pay for them right away. I'm wondering if there is a way to pay the tips through the cruise planner or am I going to have to call Royal to prepay those. Just paying what we can now in order to minimize that post cruise sticker shock. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adriana Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 50 minutes ago, Hags1684 said: We elected to not prepay the tips at booking and are now having regrets. As we add more extras onto our vacation I'm liking the fact that you pay for them right away. I'm wondering if there is a way to pay the tips through the cruise planner or am I going to have to call Royal to prepay those. Just paying what we can now in order to minimize that post cruise sticker shock. Thanks. Have you done your final payment? If not, you can pay at that time. I am with you, so much easier to prepay everything. ChessE4 and wllm1969 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonL Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 Personally I always pay the gratuities far before the cruise to space out the cost of a cruise. I just tell my travel agent to charge it to my card I have on file(then I immediately pay off that charge of course, please don't charge up a bunch of debt because you want vacation you can't afford). Spread out as many expenses as you can before your cruise. I also really don't like the idea of handing out tips in person at the end of the cruise. Like it or not, it's part of these workers wages and they really depend on that money. If you hand out tips at the end you are probably missing someone that depends on those tips. Instead I will give an extra tip to anyone that i thought was outstanding along the way. That's just my opinion KristiZ, SweetHomeLady, RCVoyager and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hags1684 Posted January 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 2 hours ago, Adriana said: Have you done your final payment? If not, you can pay at that time. I am with you, so much easier to prepay everything. We have not. We don't cruise until October so have plenty of time to chew away at it. I didn't know it was an option to add at final as this is our first Royal cruise. Thanks for the info. Adriana 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hags1684 Posted January 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 2 hours ago, JasonL said: Personally I always pay the gratuities far before the cruise to space out the cost of a cruise. I just tell my travel agent to charge it to my card I have on file(then I immediately pay off that charge of course, please don't charge up a bunch of debt because you want vacation you can't afford). Spread out as many expenses as you can before your cruise. I also really don't like the idea of handing out tips in person at the end of the cruise. Like it or not, it's part of these workers wages and they really depend on that money. If you hand out tips at the end you are probably missing someone that depends on those tips. Instead I will give an extra tip to anyone that i thought was outstanding along the way. That's just my opinion I'm with you I don't like the idea of doing cash tips. To tip everyone involved with services you receive is just a pain. We also make a couple additional cash tips to our room steward and waiters in the MDR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 We didn’t pre pay gratuities this cruise. They just get charged to our onboard folio. We can either let them be paid by the credit card we have on file or go to Guest Services tonight and pay cash. Either way they get paid. Hags1684 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adriana Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 41 minutes ago, Hags1684 said: We have not. We don't cruise until October so have plenty of time to chew away at it. I didn't know it was an option to add at final as this is our first Royal cruise. Thanks for the info. Unless they changed it, you can pay at final payment (or before). ... I am cruising in October, too! Adventure of the Seas to New England & Canada. Hags1684 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen2 Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 Also remember that if your travel agent "purchased" on board credit for you that it can be used toward tips. Hags1684 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hags1684 Posted January 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 6 hours ago, Adriana said: Unless they changed it, you can pay at final payment (or before). ... I am cruising in October, too! Adventure of the Seas to New England & Canada. Okay, Ill have to do that. Thanks again. We are headed to the Caribbean with Symphony. Can't wait ! Adriana 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim S Posted January 26, 2020 Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 Booked two RCI cruises recently, Anthem on Nov-20 and Odyssey on Apr-21. Discovered that the prepaid gratuities on each of these cruises was quite a bit more expensive than paying onboard. Needless to say, we will pay onboard. We are from the UK, may be different in USA. Hags1684 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hags1684 Posted January 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 5 hours ago, Jim S said: Booked two RCI cruises recently, Anthem in Nov-20 and Odyssey in Apr-21. Discovered that the prepaid gratuities on each of these cruises was quite a bit more expensive than paying onboard. Needless to say, we will pay onboard. We are from the UK, may be different in USA. Thanks Jim, I hadn't heard that before. May have to do some research into it before I pay those. Thanks sir. Jim S 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spang1974 Posted January 26, 2020 Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 6 hours ago, Jim S said: Booked two RCI cruises recently, Anthem on Nov-20 and Odyssey on Apr-21. Discovered that the prepaid gratuities on each of these cruises was quite a bit more expensive than paying onboard. Needless to say, we will pay onboard. We are from the UK, may be different in USA. Have booked twice in the UK ( past cruise and future cruise both Anthem and prepaid tips were the same price as onboard), any variance really just depends on the exchange rate converting dollars to pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim S Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 15 hours ago, Spang1974 said: Have booked twice in the UK ( past cruise and future cruise both Anthem and prepaid tips were the same price as onboard), any variance really just depends on the exchange rate converting dollars to pounds. From memory, for the 13 night transatlantic cruise on Odyssey the prepaid gratuity worked out about $20 per person per day. Onboard, I believe it is $17.50 pppd, i.e. an extra $65 for the cruise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 Interesting that included gratuities seem to be different based on where the ship sails from. I didn’t realize that was a thing. Based on what I’ve read on their website, it’s $14.50/day pp unless in a Grande Suite or higher then it’s $17.50/day pp. There’s an additional 18% on beverages, bar, spa, and salon purchases. For our cruise last week, we did not prepay when we booked last year. Because we did not prepay, there was a $14.50 charge pp/pd added to our onboard folio (inside cabin) https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycho and Barb Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 We like the pre-paid tips that are paid by our TA But if not we will pay them onboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim S Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 16 hours ago, Spang1974 said: Have booked twice in the UK ( past cruise and future cruise both Anthem and prepaid tips were the same price as onboard), any variance really just depends on the exchange rate converting dollars to pounds. From memory the 13 night transatlantic cruise on Odyssey The prepaid gratuity worked out about $19 per person per day 4 minutes ago, Psycho and Barb said: We like the pre-paid tips that are paid by our TA But if not we will pay them onboard. When we had our holiday home in Florida we usually booked through www.cruise.com. They always included gratuities in the price of the cruise, and quite often some onboard credit as well. In the UK you have to add it to your booking or pay via your onboard account. When prepaid it is charged in GBP so you need to work out whether or not it is better to pay upfront or onboard. Recently I have found that it was cheaper to pay onboard. Must have something to do with the currency exchange rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spang1974 Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 34 minutes ago, teddy said: Interesting that included gratuities seem to be different based on where the ship sails from. I didn’t realize that was a thing. Based on what I’ve read on their website, it’s $14.50/day pp unless in a Grande Suite or higher then it’s $17.50/day pp. There’s an additional 18% on beverages, bar, spa, and salon purchases. For our cruise last week, we did not prepay when we booked last year. Because we did not prepay, there was a $14.50 charge pp/pd added to our onboard folio (inside cabin) https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense From my own experience booking from the UK, and sailing from New Jersey, USA and Southampton, UK (different trips), we were charged the same - $14.50/day pp when prepaying. Having said that the amount we were charged for the New Jersey?Bermuda trip, IF it was converted to £ today (instead of when we booked it April 2019 with different exchange rate) would have been $14.14/day pp. But on paper we were charged the same as the website for both sailings, when sailing from different countries. teddy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spang1974 Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 11 minutes ago, Jim S said: Recently I have found that it was cheaper to pay onboard. Must have something to do with the currency exchange rate. I think it all depends on the exchange rate:) whether its cash (the rate you got the cash for), or card (the rate they charge to change) you are paying with as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsam Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 I know I've probably posted this before, but in Australia, there are NO gratuities on your base fare. They are included in the base fare, and there is no option to remove or alter them. You pay for your cruise and that's it. If you choose to tip crew members onboard because you received good service, that's up to you. A MUCH better system IMHO WAAAYTOOO, Hags1684 and Spang1974 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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