Prepaying Gratuities an Option? About This Page:

[SweetScrapper]

Does DCL have an option of pre-paying gratuities for the cabin stewards, serving staff? Friends of our just returned from a Royal Carribean cruise and recommended that option if it was available.

We are taking the 8/26 Western Carribean cruise.

Thanks,
SweetScrapper

[iamgrumpy]

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/welcome3.gif[/img] to the boards

Gratuities can be added to your bill the last night and you can give the stewards and the serving staff the reciepts. or you can give cash.

I'm not sure if you can prepay them before you sail but i know from personal experience i wait till the end because if for some reason service isn't what i was expecting I can tip accordingly. Its a personal preference.

Have a great time on your cruise though!

[SweetScrapper]

Thanks for the feedback. I was mixed on the concept to begin with. I was thinking it would be unlikely my children would eat in the dining room for most meals, for example. We are on late dining, and I imagine they will usually eat earlier and hang in the Lab/club. It seemed silly to be tipping for meals they don't eat, at a minimum.

SweetScrapper

[Dave Marx]

No, Disney does not offer a pre-pay option earmarked for gratuities. You can make an advance deposit to your shipboard account to cover anticipated gratuities, but you'd have to wait until you're on board to earmark those funds for gratuities. There's no reason to wait until the last night if you already know what you want to do, and you'll avoid the long lines that form on the last day at the Guest Services Desk.

[dmpyron]

As has already been pointed out, there's a down side to prepaying, as that means the bucks are already comitted and there's nothing you can do to change them.

If you go to Guest Services to change them down, be prepared to answer the question "why, and what can we do to change this?" Reducing a tip is always seen as a sign of dissatisfaction with the service.

[graygables]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the feedback. I was mixed on the concept to begin with. I was thinking it would be unlikely my children would eat in the dining room for most meals, for example. We are on late dining, and I imagine they will usually eat earlier and hang in the Lab/club. It seemed silly to be tipping for meals they don't eat, at a minimum.

SweetScrapper

[/ QUOTE ]

You should tip the servers for your full party size whether your children are at the meal or not. It is their livelihood and they should not be financially "punished" if your kids (or anyone) are a no-show at dinner and they continue to provide excellent service. Our server was married and working his hiney off to save enough to go home and start a family in Romania. I understand that they make something like $30 a month in wages, the rest comes from their tips. To me, it was a blessing to know that I was helping him achieve a dream. Even though our own money is usually very tight, we have SO much more than many of the crew members' families.

I went by guest services the day before the last and had them put the gratuities on the room charge. They gave me slips to put in each person's envelope for us to give them at dinner the last night.