Prepaid gratuities: yay or nay?

[ajlsjl]

I have my first ever Disney cruised booked for July (yay!!). I'm very much on the fence about whether to purchase prepaid gratuities or not. If I purchase the prepaid gratuities, how much are they (what dollar amount)? If I don't purchase them, what is the customary gratuity for different people? I'm on a 4 night cruise.

Thanks!

 

[lanejudy]

The recommended gratuities are $12 per passenger per night (so $48 per person on a 4 night cruise). Pre-paying simply means that you have paid an amount onto your onboard stateroom account equal to that value. During the cruise you may change it (up or down) as you wish, or many passengers opt to add cash if they wish to increase the tip amount. The CMs (stateroom host, server, assistant server and head server) do not actually receive the tips in advance. If you don't pre-pay before your cruise, tips are automatically placed on your account early in the cruise but again you have the option to go to Guest Service and adjust the amount if you so choose.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[melissa0927]

We prepaid and then left extra I say bring extra either way you pay. For us, to be sailing on such a wonderful vacation and then to get to know our room hostess we could not just do what we prepaid. She did a phenomenal job !!! we learned she was an on 8 month contract as was her husband, and even when we stopped at her home country time does not permit them to visit family while there. She set sail when her new baby was just a few months old, and missed him terribly.

 

[hsiburt]

The recommended gratuities are $12 per passenger per night (so $48 per person on a 4 night cruise). Pre-paying simply means that you have paid an amount onto your onboard stateroom account equal to that value. During the cruise you may change it (up or down) as you wish, or many passengers opt to add cash if they wish to increase the tip amount. The CMs (stateroom host, server, assistant server and head server) do not actually receive the tips in advance. If you don't pre-pay before your cruise, tips are automatically placed on your account early in the cruise but again you have the option to go to Guest Service and adjust the amount if you so choose.

Enjoy your cruise!

If the tips are put on your account early in the cruise, is it designated that the particular amount of $ is for the tips? Or will $ be put on the on-board account be free to use at your leasure? My DD and I are staying w a friend and her DD while my DH and parents are staying in a connecting room, so we are debating what to do w tips.

 

[dclpluto]

Disney will gladly take your money ahead of time and earn some interest on it.

 

[mmouse37]

If the tips ate put on your account early in the cruise, is it designated that the particular amount of $ is for the tips? Or will $ be put on the on-board account be free to use at your leasure? My DD and I are staying w a friend and her DD while my DH and I are staying in a connecting room w my parents, so we are debating what to do w tips.

If you prepay your tips before leaving for the cruise it goes on your credit card. If you don't want to prepay them Disney will charge your tips to your onboard account sometime during the cruise. It is a charge against your account, not a credit so you can't use it for anything. It will be a line item under each guest's account. You would just pay it at the end of the cruise with your credit card you have on file like any other item that is charged on your account like drinks, spa services, merchandise, shore excursions, etc. At any time you can go to guest services and get a print out of your charges. It will list each person in your cabin and the charges, dates, amounts charged so you can check for any discrepancies.

Getting back to gratuities....during the cruise, regardless if you prepaid tips before or not, you will receive "vouchers" and envelopes. There will be four vouchers and four envelopes, one for each of the tipped positions: room host, head server, server and assistant server. You would put the voucher in the corresponding envelope and hand out the envelopes to those people (typically the last night of the cruise at dinner). You would leave your room host's envelope in the cabin for them or hand it to them in person. You can certainly add cash in addition to the vouchers if you choose to increase their tips or you can go to guest services and increase them, decrease them depending on their service.

We have always added cash to the envelopes as we have always had excellent service and felt an increase was deserved but it is totally an individual decision.

MJ

 

[rantnnravin]

just to add: if you pre-pay using a Disney Visa, it qualifies for 6-mos 0% interest; it does not if you have it added to your onboard account. I'm not sure how other travel rewards cards might handle the transaction, but it's something to consider if you play the points/rewards game.

 

[Aby]

We like to prepay our tips ahead of the cruise so it's one less thing we have to pay for when it's over, and this year, another benefit will be to hedge against the continuing decline of our CDN dollar. We've already paid for our cabins on our next cruise in August before the dollar gets worse, and plan to also prepay our tips, get some US cash, and add some onboard credit as soon as we can as well.

Aby

 

[darkwing818]

just to add: if you pre-pay using a Disney Visa, it qualifies for 6-mos 0% interest; it does not if you have it added to your onboard account. I'm not sure how other travel rewards cards might handle the transaction, but it's something to consider if you play the points/rewards game.

Exactly what we do as well, for us it's just one less thing to worry about. Cheers

 

[taishartrueblood]

Yay.

Then add more if someone goes above and beyond.

 

[pepe3penelope]

Our 1st 2 cruises I prepaid because I didn't want to worry about that expense at the end of the cruise. On our 3rd cruise, I completely forgot to prepay and it hurt to pay it at the end. I like to get it out of the way.

 

[Hundredacre]

We prepay. Less stress.

 

[Jeffrey Conn]

I completely forgot to prepay and it hurt to pay it at the end. I like to get it out of the way.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I never pre-pay. I just let them put it on the shipboard account. Then at the end of the cruise (last day), I usually drop by Guest Services and up it / round up a bit for most people or if they have done something extra for me (and to be honest, they usually do), I may add a few more dollars.

Since I know I am going to change it, it's easier to just leave it to the end of the cruise.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We prepaid on our last cruise, and I prefer that. It is nice for vacation budgeting. That way I didn't feel so bad putting down a deposit on a future cruise because those gratuities were already paid and not thought about anymore. ;-)

 

[KristiMc]

just to add: if you pre-pay using a Disney Visa, it qualifies for 6-mos 0% interest; it does not if you have it added to your onboard account. I'm not sure how other travel rewards cards might handle the transaction, but it's something to consider if you play the points/rewards game.

We also use our Disney Visa. I add up everything that we might spend on the cruise (tips,bar bill,BINGO,spa treatments,adult dining,excursions) and add the amount PRE-cruise as an onboard credit to get the 6 months/0%. Anything that I don't spend is just credited back to my CC after the cruise.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Always prepay and always add additional cash to those that deserve it.

 

[NancyIL]

I usually have some onboard credit, so I use that to partially cover the tips.

 

[ladypiph]

We always pre pay. Like others have said it is just easier to budget with that out of the way.

 

[Expatriat]

We also use our Disney Visa. I add up everything that we might spend on the cruise (tips,bar bill,BINGO,spa treatments,adult dining,excursions) and add the amount PRE-cruise as an onboard credit to get the 6 months/0%. Anything that I don't spend is just credited back to my CC after the cruise.

We do this also. We love that Disney Visa perk!