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Another Gratuity Question


atseau

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Hi People. Thank you in advance for your opinions an suggestions. 1st off I always prepay my gratuities then give extra to my room steward  wait staff and bartenders.

On my next cruise I ordered the Unlimited dining package and 18% gratuities were added. I know the people take care of us work very hard but do you think I should keep my prepaid gratuities or Pay cash tips to my room steward and any one else that takes care of us? 

Thank you

 

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I almost started this with "I think you should...", but in reality, you should absolutely do what your heart tells you.  It's clear you intend to recognize the service you receive.

So instead I'll say what I would do.  I would keep the prepaid gratuities on and proceed the way you always have and give extra to anyone who goes above and beyond.  While UDP does include 18%, it's only 18% of the UDP which is discounted in the sense that it accounts to some degree for the fact that meals are included.  By that I mean 7 day UDP for an upcoming Anthem sailing is 225 or $32/Day.  No way, in the real world do I get lunch and dinner of specialty restaurant quality for $32.

That's just me, but you should do what you feel to be right.

Bill

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the set gratuities are really a service fee that pays people all over the ship.  I really wish Royal would just call it that.  I would personally never remove those fees for any reason.

I tip above that on great service - or to ensure great service.  Tipping an extra dollar per drink will ensure that bartenders and waiters pay close attention to you.

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2 hours ago, atseau said:

On my next cruise I ordered the Unlimited dining package and 18% gratuities were added. I know the people take care of us work very hard but do you think I should keep my prepaid gratuities or Pay cash tips to my room steward and any one else that takes care of us? 

 

We will do both if we feel someone went above and beyond to make our day, night or cruise special.   There's nothing better than sitting down at a crowed bar and without say anything...Our favorite drinks appear in front of us.

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I personally would never withdraw my gratuities. That’s not fair, in my humble opinion, to all those people who get part of the  tips that we usually do,not see in person.   We do tip extra to the cabin steward and waiters at the end of the cruise. We also tip something with each drink and tip the concierges (Diamond Lounge/Suite lounge). I’m one of those who comes down kind of hard on the side of tipping because I think if you can afford a cruise then you can afford to tip the  people working hard to make you happy.  While I think that tipping in the US has gotten a bit out of hand,  with cruise staff I have zero issue with paying gratuities.

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5 hours ago, atseau said:

Hi People. Thank you in advance for your opinions an suggestions. 1st off I always prepay my gratuities then give extra to my room steward  wait staff and bartenders.

On my next cruise I ordered the Unlimited dining package and 18% gratuities were added. I know the people take care of us work very hard but do you think I should keep my prepaid gratuities or Pay cash tips to my room steward and any one else that takes care of us? 

Thank you

I would just point out that the prepaid gratuities for the cruise and the prepaid gratuities for the UDP are for different people.  Therefore, I don't see any reason why the decision to prepay one type should influence the decision to prepay the other.

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1 hour ago, jeffkitref said:

Just to pivot off his question, I'm thinking about going al la carte for drinks for my cruise.  Do I have to keep tipping after every drink or can I have it like a bar tab where I can pay and tip at the end?

I believe they'll swipe your card after each drink, which will include the auto 18%. If you want to tip extra, you can do that at that time or at the end.

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2 hours ago, jeffkitref said:

Just to pivot off his question, I'm thinking about going al la carte for drinks for my cruise.  Do I have to keep tipping after every drink or can I have it like a bar tab where I can pay and tip at the end?

You'll get charged 18% gratuities for each drink. You're under no obligation to tip extra, and if you do want to, how and when is up to you.  Though if you tend to frequent the same bar/bartender, tipping extra as you go may be to your benefit.

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@smokeybanditand @KJonesmake a good point on the drink tipping  - we drink very little and our D+ vouchers are far more than sufficient for our daily use (with plenty to spare 😂). So when we do drink, we are either using a voucher or getting a free drink in the suite’s lounge and that is why I said that we always tip for every drink (as there is no auto 18% gratuity). Thanks for pointing that out.

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11 hours ago, Adriana said:

I concur. I have all the prepaid gratuities done but will go to the bank tomorrow for singles, fives and tens. … What I cannot remember is if we need to sign when we order and have the drink packages. 

Definitely don't have to sign if it's a drink package (or voucher) drink, I don't even think they printed receipts for the zero total transactions. I just have my single or two ready to hand off when I'm getting my card back after applying the drink package to the transaction.

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