How do I pre-pay gratuities?

[RCIfan1912]

We always pay gratuities on the cruise by the day and then settles at the end. For our cruise next August  I want to pay the gratuities ahead of time. In January I am getting 2 work bonuses, I know strange its after Christmas but that is when I get them. We plan on making all our "pre cruise planner" purchases at that time so we might as well pay the gratuities too. I don't see a way to pay them on the Royal Caribbean website so do I pay it through my TA which is MEI? Is that the only way to do that? Thanks for any help. 

[SpeedNoodles]

2 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

We always pay gratuities on the cruise by the day and then settles at the end. For our cruise next August  I want to pay the gratuities ahead of time. In January I am getting 2 work bonuses, I know strange its after Christmas but that is when I get them. We plan on making all our "pre cruise planner" purchases at that time so we might as well pay the gratuities too. I don't see a way to pay them on the Royal Caribbean website so do I pay it through my TA which is MEI? Is that the only way to do that? Thanks for any help. 

Yep, you pay through your TA.

[Mike.s]

Matt posted this a couple of days ago, last paragraph explains how to pre-pay.

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/08/22/should-you-prepay-gratuities-royal-caribbean-cruise

 

[RCIfan1912]

9 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Yep, you pay through your TA.

Thank you so much for the quick answer!

[RCIfan1912]

7 minutes ago, Mike.s said:

Matt posted this a couple of days ago, last paragraph explains how to pre-pay.

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/08/22/should-you-prepay-gratuities-royal-caribbean-cruise

 

Thank you for the link. 

[Sharla]

Tell your TA, they will add it in to your total. If you want to make a partial payment that just covers gratuities that can be done too.

[Neesa]

Sharla Manglass, CTC-MCC

[email protected]

Affiliated with MEI-Travel        

                  Best TA Ever!! Our family will not cruise without Sharla 

[RCIfan1912]

On 8/24/2020 at 1:11 PM, Sharla said:

Tell your TA, they will add it in to your total. If you want to make a partial payment that just covers gratuities that can be done too.

Thank you, John is my TA and he is absolutely excellent. I'll contact him in Jan. when we want to pay off the gratuities. 

[Bazza]

@Matt @WAAAYTOOO @twangster and anybody else who is an expert on these matters - I have pre-paid the gratuities on my booking for next February and when I just added the refreshments package it also added a gratuity charge. Just wondered if that was normal as cannot remember that from my previous RCI trip a few years back?

Thanks.

[WAAAYTOOO]

47 minutes ago, Bazza said:

@Matt @WAAAYTOOO @twangster and anybody else who is an expert on these matters - I have pre-paid the gratuities on my booking for next February and when I just added the refreshments package it also added a gratuity charge. Just wondered if that was normal as cannot remember that from my previous RCI trip a few years back?

Thanks.

Yes.  That is normal. 

[SPS]

@BazzaThe pre-paid gratuities are a daily gratuity for your stateroom attendant, head waiter, server, and assistant server.

The bartenders are not part of the daily/pre-paid gratuities and are tipped by each individual charge. That is why an additional 18% is added to the drink package price.

[Bazza]

@SPS thanks for clarifying.