One more advantage of prepaid gratuities made itself obvious today as I received an email from Norwegian Cruise Lines announcing an increase in the daily service charge (tip). If I prepay the charge before my final payment is due, I will be paying at the old rate. Admittedly it's not a big difference, less than $10 for a 7 day cruise, but I'd rather take it and spend it on myself. The increased charge is now $13.50 pp daily - a modest cost compared to the premium lines - but sure to crank up the volume of the whiners over on CruiseCritic.