• Welcome to the FREE TUGBBS forums! The absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 31 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    All subscribers auto-entered to win all free TUG membership giveaways!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $24,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $24 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    Tens of thousands of subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Disney Cruises

@Dean I generally don’t pay attention to influencers.
@Ckhawaii … sorry to get off track, but wanted to give you my take on tipping on a Disney Cruise. We take care of those who have direct contact with us. Bartenders I would tip directly at time of purchase. If you go to the upcharge restaurants (some only have Palos, others have Palos and Remy, not sure of the newer ships) we tip there at time of service.

Enjoy your Alaska cruise. Chance of a lifetime.
 
Dean said:
I suspect it varies from cruise line to cruise line and they generally don't spell out exactly who is getting a take. The list apparently includes members of the culinary team, busboys, dining support staff, laundry staff and in some cases, bartenders though I suspect it varies by cruise line. I've seen multiple stories of issue when tipping was removed and reports from influences that have spoken to many cruise staff on the subject as well as a couple of former crew members who went on record on the subject. Here were a couple of YouTube viideos I easily found on the subject.
,
Click to expand...
I haven’t cruised in ages and am going on my first DCl cruise in 10 years next month. I didn’t “prepay” the gratuities. That’s not what you mean when you talk about tipping “removed” right? I assume the gratuities will just get added to my bill at the end of the cruise?
 
nomoretslt said:
@Dean I generally don’t pay attention to influencers.
@Ckhawaii … sorry to get off track, but wanted to give you my take on tipping on a Disney Cruise. We take care of those who have direct contact with us. Bartenders I would tip directly at time of purchase. If you go to the upcharge restaurants (some only have Palos, others have Palos and Remy, not sure of the newer ships) we tip there at time of service.

Enjoy your Alaska cruise. Chance of a lifetime.
Click to expand...
Just realize that on some cruise lines there are people who are included in the tip pool that you would be missing and that it is possible this may affect your service at some point though you may or may not realize it. I get it, I prefer direct as well but the downside isn't worth it to me given the current setup. IF I were going to do this I'd tell those I intended to tip directly what I was intending.
Fido Chuckwagon said:
I haven’t cruised in ages and am going on my first DCl cruise in 10 years next month. I didn’t “prepay” the gratuities. That’s not what you mean when you talk about tipping “removed” right? I assume the gratuities will just get added to my bill at the end of the cruise?
Click to expand...
No it's not. I believe all of the mass market cruise lines add the gratuities automatically to your bill if you don't prepay. What's being discussed here is going to guest services and having them remove those gratuities. Part of the reason that cruise lines have moved from individual tips to this method is because tipping is inconsistent done individually. I've personally seen an example under the old system (cash direct) where people have skipped dinner the last evening to avoid tipping dining staff. It's generally recommended not to prepay unless there is a discount doing so and there generally isn't. The only "discount" I've personally seen is for Viking River where if I prepaid it was in USD but would get charged in Euro's if done onboard. OTOH, there have been questions raised whether the tips are landing where and how they should though I have not seen any confirmation and I've seen it discussed a several times from people with a lot more knowledge and insider info that I have. Every time I've seen it discussed the conclusion was there was no credible evidence the staff were not getting what they were supposed to under the current system but you never know.
 
Dean said:
Just realize that on some cruise lines there are people who are included in the tip pool that you would be missing and that it is possible this may affect your service at some point though you may or may not realize it. I get it, I prefer direct as well but the downside isn't worth it to me given the current setup. IF I were going to do this I'd tell those I intended to tip directly what I was intending.

No it's not. I believe all of the mass market cruise lines add the gratuities automatically to your bill if you don't prepay. What's being discussed here is going to guest services and having them remove those gratuities. Part of the reason that cruise lines have moved from individual tips to this method is because tipping is inconsistent done individually. I've personally seen an example under the old system (cash direct) where people have skipped dinner the last evening to avoid tipping dining staff. It's generally recommended not to prepay unless there is a discount doing so and there generally isn't. The only "discount" I've personally seen is for Viking River where if I prepaid it was in USD but would get charged in Euro's if done onboard. OTOH, there have been questions raised whether the tips are landing where and how they should though I have not seen any confirmation and I've seen it discussed a several times from people with a lot more knowledge and insider info that I have. Every time I've seen it discussed the conclusion was there was no credible evidence the staff were not getting what they were supposed to under the current system but you never know.
Click to expand...
Any idea if the $250 onboard credit for DVC members can be applied towards gratuities?
 
Fido Chuckwagon said:
Any idea if the $250 onboard credit for DVC members can be applied towards gratuities?
Click to expand...
No, but I doubt it can be. It's common for cruise lines to not allow OBC for gratuities. Once on board after your first days gratuities post, you can look on your account and see though, no need to spend time going to guest services.
 
Fido Chuckwagon said:
I haven’t cruised in ages and am going on my first DCl cruise in 10 years next month. I didn’t “prepay” the gratuities. That’s not what you mean when you talk about tipping “removed” right? I assume the gratuities will just get added to my bill at the end of the cruise?
Click to expand...
"Prepaid" is indeed somewhat ambiguous. Once upon a time you had to tell DVC to add prepaid gratuities and so it both meant that you would pay before your voyage and that you would pay beforehand through DCL rather than directly with cash.

Then some number of years ago (5?...though I'm sure others remember better than I) that swapped and the default was to add it to the bill. So now it's prepaid in the sense that you're paying beforehand through DCL but not in the sense of paying before you sail.

Unless you actually do tell DCL to add it to your booking in which case it still is prepaid in both senses.
 
Last edited:
Fido Chuckwagon said:
Any idea if the $250 onboard credit for DVC members can be applied towards gratuities?
Click to expand...
On my previous DCL cruises, the onboard credit can be used for anything. If you want to use it for tips, then I think you would have to go with the prepaid version. They don’t hand you $250 in cash to spend, it appears on your invoice. You can use it for excursions, bar tab, gift shop purchases (but with Disney prices won’t got too far), maybe bingo. Upgrade to Palos.
And don’t forget to stop by the DVC member desk….they will give you a free gift every day. We got nice Magic band sliders last time. Some other trinkets. We also got a special magnet for the door. They used to do a member mixer with mimosas, but not sure if that is still the case.
Enjoy your first DCL cruise. We will be on the Wish in September.
 
nomoretslt said:
On my previous DCL cruises, the onboard credit can be used for anything. If you want to use it for tips, then I think you would have to go with the prepaid version. They don’t hand you $250 in cash to spend, it appears on your invoice. You can use it for excursions, bar tab, gift shop purchases (but with Disney prices won’t got too far), maybe bingo. Upgrade to Palos.
And don’t forget to stop by the DVC member desk….they will give you a free gift every day. We got nice Magic band sliders last time. Some other trinkets. We also got a special magnet for the door. They used to do a member mixer with mimosas, but not sure if that is still the case.
Enjoy your first DCL cruise. We will be on the Wish in September.
Click to expand...
@nomoretslt , We are on the Wish in September as well, are you taking DCL transfers over to the ship?
 
@Sugarcubesea not any more. We now live close enough to drive to a DVC for one night (studio) low points, drive to Port Canaveral (one hour) the next morning, park at port parking, and either drive home after cruise or drive back to Disney for remainder of vacation.
That being said, when we lived in the northeast, and DCL/ DVC had a great deal, we would fly to MCO/Orlando, stay at the Hyatt or was it Marriott right at the airport, they used to have a great partnership…you could leave your room in the morning, get free breakfast, they would retrieve your luggage from your room and it would get to the port and your cabin. We would board the DCL cruise bus (which we would pre arrange thru our T/A) and it was all good and easy. It is also easy to have them pick you up at your resort if you are doing Disney before your cruise or after your cruise. And bring you back to the airport (Orlando only as I remember).
I would never fly down on the morning of a cruise departure. Go the night before and stay in a hotel or a dvc or whatever. No guarantee that your flight will leave on time or even leave.
 
Note, the MCO Hyatt still has bus transportation to PC for DCL. You can reserve your room via Hyatt or via DCL. I don’t know whether breakfast is still included, but they do pick up your luggage from your room, and you take a bus from the hotel that is separate from the other MCO to DCL buses. So whether spending the night at WDW or at MCO, you can arrange bus transfers to PC.
 
What I really love about a Disney cruise:
1) The food is always outstanding at the restaurants, every single one, better than the specialty dining on Norwegian.
2) The cabins sleep up to 5 people, unlike Norwegian with their cabins that require a Haven accommodation for more than 4.
 
rickandcindy23 said:
What I really love about a Disney cruise:…
2) The cabins sleep up to 5 people, unlike Norwegian with their cabins that require a Haven accommodation for more than 4.
Click to expand...
I agree…except that you need to book a family stateroom (or suite) to accommodate 5 people. Normal staterooms can only accommodate 3 or 4.
 
The split bath is great too! My DD recently went on a RC mega ship…bath looked beautiful, but all in one room. I like the two separate rooms and two sinks. We’ve been lucky with the VGT rates….sometimes we will get the family sized room.
 
Family of five. Our first cruise we booked two connecting inside rooms. I think it was less than the family stateroom. We graduated up after each cruise :). One oceanview and one across inside, two oceanview, eventually balcony and one inside. After the first one, I shared with my husband and daughter and sons separate cabin. We made it work for 8 cruises (two cruises with just DH later on).
 
@Sugarcubesea we just go off the Wish. What a beautiful ship. Four nights was definitely not enough (but the price was right and it meshed with our DVC plans). Food in dining rooms was very good, the servers were outstanding and friendly. I love that they follow you each night to your different venue. It was so easy disembarking. Castaway Cay was wonderful…..only spent a couple hours there…..a huge storm rolled in later in the day.
The ship itself was very confusing and we got turned around a number of times. We lucked out getting a family sized veranda on the 11th deck. I had way too much soft swirl ice cream.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RX8
Some good last minute deals just dropped:

www.disneytouristblog.com

40% Off Sale on Halloween & Christmas Disney Cruise Line Sailings! - Disney Tourist Blog

Disney Cruise Line has released a new deep discount, offering 40% off to the general public on select sailings. This is the latest (and best) of several special offers that are currently available, including others aimed at Floridians, Canadians, , and this post shares a look at the options...
www.disneytouristblog.com www.disneytouristblog.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top