Prepaid gratuities confusion

[brgreens]

I was looking through info on the app, and found this (to me) conflicting info for our cruise:

Guests who prepaid gratuities prior to boarding will not have a daily charge onboard. 

Please note that guests using My Time Dining may not opt out of gratuities.

We have gratuities prepaid, and have selected My Time dining. So ... which is it? Or both? 

[wordell1]

4 hours ago, brgreens said:

I was looking through info on the app, and found this (to me) conflicting info for our cruise:

Guests who prepaid gratuities prior to boarding will not have a daily charge onboard. 

Please note that guests using My Time Dining may not opt out of gratuities.

We have gratuities prepaid, and have selected My Time dining. So ... which is it? Or both? 

Gratuities are semi mandatory.

You can either prepay or be charged a daily rate per person based on the rate for your room (suites are higher)

You do have the option of going to guest services onboard and have the tip charges removed.  There are some who do this and tip individuals directly, and other who do this to avoid the tips entirely.  You would not have this option if you choose My Time Dining.

Most on this board see the tips as a service charge (I would rather they just call it that) and tip above that for great service - or as a way to ensure better service as bars etc.  Regardless of your feelings on tips in general, tips are a huge part of how crew are paid on the ship and people should pay the (semi) required tips at a minimum.

[smokeybandit]

4 hours ago, brgreens said:

I was looking through info on the app, and found this (to me) conflicting info for our cruise:

Guests who prepaid gratuities prior to boarding will not have a daily charge onboard. 

Please note that guests using My Time Dining may not opt out of gratuities.

We have gratuities prepaid, and have selected My Time dining. So ... which is it? Or both? 

Prepaying doesn't opt you out of gratuities. Opt out means "don't pay anything at all, whether prepay or daily charges.

[brgreens]

44 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

Gratuities are semi mandatory.

You can either prepay or be charged a daily rate per person based on the rate for your room (suites are higher)

You do have the option of going to guest services onboard and have the tip charges removed.  There are some who do this and tip individuals directly, and other who do this to avoid the tips entirely.  You would not have this option if you choose My Time Dining.

THIS. My confusion was that "prepaid" and "opt out" are at entirely different times - before sailing and during sailing. 

We had not planned on opting out, just took advantage of locking in the slightly lower rate beforehand.

Thanks for the clarification. 

[ScottD]

4 hours ago, brgreens said:

I was looking through info on the app, and found this (to me) conflicting info for our cruise:

Guests who prepaid gratuities prior to boarding will not have a daily charge onboard. 

Please note that guests using My Time Dining may not opt out of gratuities.

We have gratuities prepaid, and have selected My Time dining. So ... which is it? Or both? 

It basically means you could have opted out if you did the set dining time, but since you did my time dining you wouldn't have been able to opt out- you prepaid so you won't see the daily charge- but you would have if you did not pre pay.