parkyy2k Posted March 16, 2022 Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 I recently booked a cruise and my Travel agent has said if I want to go My time dining then I have to pre pay gratuities, but my mother in law booked the exact same holiday and had no problem booking My time dining and paying gratuities onboard. Does anyone know why this is? I have questioned it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantix2000 Posted March 16, 2022 Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 33 minutes ago, parkyy2k said: I recently booked a cruise and my Travel agent has said if I want to go My time dining then I have to pre pay gratuities, but my mother in law booked the exact same holiday and had no problem booking My time dining and paying gratuities onboard. Does anyone know why this is? I have questioned it. Did your MIL use the same travel agent or book directly with Royal? TAs can add their own rules. For example, Royal's final payment date may be X but your TA might require you to pay them at least a week earlier since the payment goes through them not Royal. Are you booking under the same rule system? Your location says Manchester. If that's Manchester in the UK and your MIL is American, you'd have different booking rules because the UK has different consumer protection laws. That said, I think Royal use to have a rule for prepaying gratuities with MTD some years ago but I don't believe it is true anymore. Your TA may be out of date on the rules and that might be a sign that they aren't the best TA to use for booking cruises. parkyy2k 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steverk Posted March 16, 2022 Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 I agree that your TA is out of date. The requirement no longer applies. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkyy2k Posted March 16, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2022 The TA said they are waiting to hear back from RC on Friday (who knows why it takes this long) but that was only after I persisted.. Yes my MIL used a different travel agent. Yeh Manchester UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuttMutt Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 Never heard of the dining choice requiring prepaid gratuities at all except for maybe the unlimited dining or something like that. Anyway sounds like maybe it's time to tell them exactly what you think about it and find a new agent to deal with. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spang1974 Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 When I have booked My Time Dining in the UK, I have always had to prepay gratuities. Not a big deal for me as I like to have everything paid for prior to my cruise. I believe they will wave this requirement though if asked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkyy2k Posted March 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 I managed to get it sorted. It seems it is a requirement for certain ships but not the one I am going on so they changed it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmptyNestTravels Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 51 minutes ago, parkyy2k said: I managed to get it sorted. It seems it is a requirement for certain ships but not the one I am going on so they changed it for me. Is this just a UK thing? I've heard in several cruise vlogs (Emma Cruises, for example) that the rules for gratuities, etc. are different for cruises booked in/from the UK vs. USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted March 18, 2022 Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 The rules and policies are very different in the UK since the UK has different consumer protection laws. EmptyNestTravels 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parkyy2k Posted March 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2022 I have booked loads of cruises direct with RC before and never come across this.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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