Cruise Lines

Personally I prefer to pre pay my gratuities upfront. Anything that allows me to budget is welcome as there are plenty of other ways to spend your money onboard.

I see gratuities as part of the cost of cruising, just as I see tipping as part of eating in a restaurant in New York. If the service doesn’t come up to scratch, I’ll make a complaint to the supervisor but as it’s often not the individual’s fault they shouldn’t necessarily be tipped less when doing the best they can.

If I’ve received extra assistance from any member of the crew or I get the same waiter each night at dinner I’ll simply leave a little extra for them.

Also, there are more people involved in ensuring you have a pleasant cruise other than just that member of staff that happened to serve you directly. These crew members benefit from the pre paid gratuities also and rightly so.

I don't quite follow that logic. If the gratuity is going on my account - and therefore my credit card - anyway, it makes no difference to my budgeting. If I'm intending to pay cash, I simply take the relevant amount and put it to one side until the I hand it over. What I don't do it pre-pay for anything if I can help it. I wait for my phone bill before paying, likewise the electric. I certainly do not tip waiters in restaurants, in New York or anywhere else, before they have even served me. If service does not come up to scratch I will also make a complaint, but my tip will also reflect that. It's supposed to be a thank you for good service. Why should anyone bother to give good service if they can get the same for not bothering too much?

Knowing that the gratuities have been paid up front in the overall cost of the cruise helps considerably if cruising on a budget.

Not everyone has or uses their credit card abroad and not everyone is very good at setting aside in cash exactly what they need to cover gratuities at the end of their cruise and not dipping into it.

Also, it's far too easy to get carried away in the holiday spirit and tip every man, woman and child excessively and sometimes unnecessarily.

I also pay a fixed rate my gas bill which essentially amounts to paying upfront for my winter bills :)

Regarding your comment on the quality of service, I wouldn't expect anyone to go on a cruise holiday and be expecting sub standard service. I'd put a little faith in the cruise line and opt for the extra convenience of having gratuities taken care of for me where possible.

What you're suggesting is that it's better to have a system onboard where we have to hold service staff to ransom with the threat of no tip in order to receive good service. In a restaurant in New York this is understandable. On a cruise ship I'd rather the cruise line incentivised their staff (perhaps in other ways) and not leave it up to me.

And so there is the real difference between us. I don't use gas. And clearly I am exceedingly boring when it comes to all things financial. If I can afford it, I buy, if I can't I don't. Finally, for clarification, on the question of tipping, when talking about not tipping in New York or elsewhere I was referring specifically to land-based restaurants.

Try this lighthearted reading on the subject from the wonderful John Heald:

http://johnhealdsblog.com/2009/02/07/you-cant-complain-about-the-servicebecause-there-isnt-any/

Would you have left a tip I wonder.

Second, this says it all when it comes to the British and tipping...

http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-lines/ncl-cruises/answers/question-10036/?utm_source=429&utm_medium=E&utm_campaign=QP

Could this by why Royal thinks it necessary to lock people into paying upfront? Surely not.

wow John blog post is unbelievable! Would i have tipped? after the 'plate swapping' - they'd have had to revive me first!

As for the comments on cruise.co.uk, this is certainly an issue where feelings run deep and i can certainly sympathise with some the comments.

We, the British, as a nation aren't used to tipping being included in the bill, but a bit of research before you cruise would at least mean it isn't unexpected.

Cruise lines should do more to explain where the gratuity goes, but I maintain that tipping individual staff can be short sighted. There are more than just the front line staff making your stay a pleasant one and why should the tips staff receive be purely down to the guests they get allocated to serve?

I pre-paid my gratuities for a recent Australia to New Zealand cruise on the Celebrity Millennium. I was amazed to find when I got on board that everything I bought, from coffee through to bar drinks, was subject to a further 15% charge for gratuities. How can this be.

There were four people in our group and we had booked a table for 10 so we could meet new people. We were on our own for the first two nights and after complaining eventually ended up on a table for eight. The food appeared to be reheated but never hot and the entertainment programme was extremely poor. That's my last Celebrity cruise and the last time I ever pre-pay gratuities. To rub salt in our wounds, the amount we pre-paid was more than that recommended for the on-board tips.

Pretentious fools comes to mind,WHY WHY WHY do you feel that you need to pay TIPS.
Do you tip at your supermarket ? Your Pub ? Your Garage ? the list is endless where you get great service simply because you are a valued customer, these people get good wages for doing the job they choose so why do you feel that you need to give more cash, most cruises are quite to very expensive anyway.
For those that feel this way on your next cruise try slipping the CAPTAIN a fiver for steering the boat, you will get one hell of a dirty look, try tipping your Airline pilot or the steward or stewardess.
Now you very stupid pretentious lot get a life and enjoy your holiday.