tipping and on Board Credit ?

[Guest]

Ive found the links on how much youre expected to tip etc. BUT when and where do you leave the TIP?
Also a bit of query on the on board credit that you get throught booking - will this have been automatically put on the Key Card when we get on Board, and can you enquire how much is actually on it at any time ?
thanks

[rylisal]

Hiya!
As far as 'tips' go, on your last day you'll find envelopes will 'appear' in your room which you can then either fill with the appropiate amount & actually give to each person or you can just have it charged to your CC, in which case you hand it into 'guest services'.
It really depends on two things imho...
1. Are you happy with the service each person's given?If so, give the suggested amount(cash or cc)
2. Do you want to actually hand the envelope to the person or not!

When we cruised, we took some cash with us to pay the tips so as not to add to CC bill. I must say though that we didnt stick to the amounts suggested as we felt that some dining staff had in fact done far more for us than others, so we filled the envelopes as to how we felt, just adjusting the amounts slightly!

OBC..We didn't get any last time but I'm sure it's just on your account so again, the last day a Bill will appear in your room which is usually charged to your CC(Watch out for all those yummy cocktails! )
I presume that any OBC will be credited against your final bill!
HTH x

[jentill]

Not quite sure where we went wrong with this, but our tips became a little embarassing. On the last night I went to guest services to pay for the tips on my cc. However they said I could not do this. Saying I had to go and put cash in the envelopes and hand them to our servers etc. As we had last seating for dinner, they had finished already. So we had to back and beg that they pass on the tips to each person, they were very unhappy about doing this.

It was embarassing and left a nasty feeling for us. Next time, I would definitely prepay the tips. Or at least work out what I was supposed to be doing. Our poor servers would have thought they were not getting a tip at all!

[Bats]

So tips MUST be in cash and MUST be given to the servers?

What happens if we decide not to go for dinner that night etc?
I'm sure I've read on here that you can add it to your bill but perhaps not.
Could someone please confirm if this is true as I want to make sure my party are armed with cash if true.

Thanks alot peeps

[Guest]

we paid for our tips before and you get a voucher for your servers and steward
This makes it a lot easier
Baz

[Michelle]

We paid cash for our tips, DH tells me now that he felt uncomfortable handing the tips out like this. Might just be him though.
I know that when we booked we were asked if we wanted to pre pay the tips. I wish I had of now!

OBC - the credit will be on when you board the ship, if you want to check just go to guest services, we found out that way.

[Jan]

On our RCI cruise we had to inform the purser's desk no later than the first night of the cruise if we wanted tips to be added to our account. I have posted on another thread about how it worked - see "Pre-paid gratuity" by Minniesmum. I assume that most cruise lines work in a very similar fashion.

[DIBBadmin]

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