Gratuities

Do you pre pay or do like to pay the people who have served you and you think deserve the tip?

Us Brits are divided in this choice…… some of us like to know its paid and out of the way at the time of booking, others like to know who is getting there money .

The cruise lines are allowing us the option to exclude the gratuities at the time of booking but adding restrictions in if we take this choice, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity withdraw the choice of freedom dining if gratuities aren’t paid up front, is this right?

Why give us the choice but then restrict the choices we can make ?

Gratuities have always been a headache for cruise lines as first they have to justify them and then find ways to make sure people pay them (in the past Royal Caribbean International has admitted crew were unhappy working on Independence of the Seas cruises from the UK as the mainly British passengers didn’t pay their tips).
Is the obvious answer  to include them in the price? but will  the cruise lines go down that route as they will look expensive against their competitors.
Pre-paying is more convenient as you don’t have to break into your holiday spending money, and cruise lines like it because they know you have paid, but as you are giving the gratuity before you have even cruised, you should see it as an extra charge rather than a tip rewarding good service (especially as the chances are slim of getting back prepaid gratuities because you’re unhappy with the service).
It’s all a long way from the traditional cash-in-envelopes method of the past, which gave way to vouchers in envelopes. This has the benefit of allowing folk to put the tip on their end-of-cruise account but kept the personal touch. But that is one of the things the British don’t like, so it changed again, to automatic gratuities and no envelopes. Now even P&O Cruises and Fred Olsen, which held out for the old way for a long time, simply put a per person per night charge to every passenger’s cruise account.
However, the tip remains optional on all cruise lines bar Costa Cruises (it adds a mandatory service charge to your onboard account) but it just takes a brave person to ask reception to take it off. They have heard the words “I want to pay them personally” too many times before.
Some cruise lines will send you a letter asking you to rethink your decision if you ask reception to take the gratuities off. Worse, as US passengers on a back-of-ship tour on a Carnival Cruise Lines’ vessel discovered a few of years ago, a list of people who have removed their gratuities is posted in crew areas so they know who you are. The Americans nicknamed it the spit-list…………..