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Tipping on NCL


dmack110

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With the daily fee included for each passenger, do people normally still tip the room steward? How about the dining room? I don't want to seem cheap - but $36/day for 2 adults and a 9 year old seems sufficient - but does anyone know how the fees are split? Does the staff actually get the fee? Any input and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

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The money does go to the crew. There is no skimming by NCL from this money.

 

As for tipping extra that is completely up to you. If you feel someone went above and beyond feel free to tell them with a few bucks. This goes for anyone on the ship except officers and senior management.

 

PE

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We will tip extra if the service was exceptional or we had special requests. A $5.00 or so extra in the specialty restaurants also. If we plan on being at the pool or a bar for awhile we will tip the bartender/ waiter a few dollars right after the first drink---you will never have to wait for service and may land up getting a few "on the house" drinks. Tipping extra is up to your discretion---whatever your comfortable with.

 

I have heard from many staff that the tip pool does infact work---everyone gets their fair share!:D

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You might also want to consider a small tip to whoever brings you a room service order, and I think you need to tip the child care workers, too, if you use their services (I don't have kids so don't know for certain about this.) Otherwise, the $12 per person per day charge does get split among all the rest.

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Being that they increased the price to $12.00 pp per day, unless we get over the top service by our room steward we are not going to give him an extra tip. We dont really expect much but towels, and the bed to be made. If we eat in the specialty restaurant we will leave an extra tip.

 

You may not get many responses on this one since most people might not admit that they are not going to tip extra since the prices were increased.

:)

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Being that they increased the price to $12.00 pp per day, unless we get over the top service by our room steward we are not going to give him an extra tip. We dont really expect much but towels, and the bed to be made. If we eat in the specialty restaurant we will leave an extra tip.

 

You may not get many responses on this one since most people might not admit that they are not going to tip extra since the prices were increased.

:)

 

How many years has it been $10.00pp/day? Just because it has gone up a couple of bucks should not keep you from tipping for above and beyond excellence. How many years would you tolerate going without a raise, let alone at least a cost of living raise?:confused:

 

PE

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How many years has it been $10.00pp/day? Just because it has gone up a couple of bucks should not keep you from tipping for above and beyond excellence. How many years would you tolerate going without a raise' date=' let alone at least a cost of living raise?:confused:

 

PE[/quote']

 

She didn't say she wasn't going to, she said if she gets over the top she will tip extra.

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How many years has it been $10.00pp/day? Just because it has gone up a couple of bucks should not keep you from tipping for above and beyond excellence. How many years would you tolerate going without a raise' date=' let alone at least a cost of living raise?:confused:

 

PE[/quote']

 

Maybe you didnt read the entire post?

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Matter of fact on my last NCL Sky cruise in December i tipped out waitress in Cagneys $25.00 not to mention that at the end of the cruise I gave her a bottle of wine. So that goes to show you how generous I am when people go above and beyond. :D

 

She deserved every dollar of that $25.00 i gave her. I still remember her name. She was very nice. Mind you like i said before we dont ask for much and were not picky people either.

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We will tip extra if the service was exceptional or we had special requests. A $5.00 or so extra in the specialty restaurants also. If we plan on being at the pool or a bar for awhile we will tip the bartender/ waiter a few dollars right after the first drink---you will never have to wait for service and may land up getting a few "on the house" drinks. Tipping extra is up to your discretion---whatever your comfortable with.

 

I have heard from many staff that the tip pool does infact work---everyone gets their fair share!:D

 

 

Thanks for this info! That is good to know about the bartender/waiters at the pool! Especially since I plan to hang out there a lot!:D

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With the daily fee included for each passenger, do people normally still tip the room steward? How about the dining room? I don't want to seem cheap - but $36/day for 2 adults and a 9 year old seems sufficient - but does anyone know how the fees are split? Does the staff actually get the fee? Any input and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

 

The crew does get all the tips, it is pooled, I do not have the breakdown, but have seen it posted before. Do most tip above and beyound the $12 per day, probably it is going to be less all the time as the tips increase. You are not expected to leave anything extra except for the kids camp as the councelors are not part of the tip pool and normally, if you eat in a specialty dining room an extra tip is nice, especially if the service is outstanding which it usually is. Normally we tip our cabin steward a little extra but don't feel you need to do this.

 

I agree $36 is a lot, I do not think it is too much, but yes, it can amount up.

 

oh, don't forget to give the room service runners a few dollars if you use room service.

 

Nita

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She didn't say she wasn't going to, she said if she gets over the top she will tip extra.

 

Maybe you didn't read the entire post?

 

Yes, I did read the whole post and I stand by my post.

 

Just because the service charge is raised by a mere $2.00 you adjust your extra tipping activities to a higher standard. "Over the top" is a much higher standard than "over and above" in my mind. The $2.00 increase is what I would consider a long over due cost of living "raise".

 

Consider it in the sense of the "old" tipping model. You would tip your cabin stewards, waiter, and assistant waiter. That means your extra $2.00 per day is essentially being split 4 ways. So each person gets an extra $.50 per day or $3.50 per week. That would not even cover your first foo foo drink when you board the ship.

 

Remember we have been paying the $10 amount for a number of years now, even when it was not automatically charged to our accounts. Saying that the crew has to do just that much more to deserve this long over due "raise" is just silly in my mind.

 

PE

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Always a hot topic.. LOL

 

OP ~ You don't have to tip one more red cent, but as Nita pointed out, the Kids Crew employees are not part of the tip pool, so that would be the only tip you'll need to consider if your children participate. The spa employees are also not included in the tip pool Enjoy your cruise!

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Also if you have a suite, the butler and concierge are not in the tipping pool.

 

OP... here is the bottom line, really. You pay the DSC and those that benefit from it will not expect another dime from you. Anything you feel like tipping above and beyond they will surely appreciate, but you have done your part when you pay the DSC. They really are hard working folks and they appreciate the jobs they have. You will be find just paying the DSC, unless of course you use the services of those mentioned already on the thread that are not a part of the DSC.

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Always a hot topic.. LOL

 

OP ~ You don't have to tip one more red cent, but as Nita pointed out, the Kids Crew employees are not part of the tip pool, so that would be the only tip you'll need to consider if your children participate. The spa employees are also not included in the tip pool Enjoy your cruise!

 

but the spa does add a 15% tip to the bill: how well I know,one time I didn't pay any attention, plus they tried to sell me this awesome back brush to take the dead cells off my back, and of course I feel for it. By the time I was finished, my $79 treatment plus the tip and the tip I put on top and the brush, I walked out paying about $150..00. The brush which I am sure was carried at Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $10 was $45.00 and I tipped 15% on everything. I think the problem, I was sober at the time.

 

Nita LOL

 

ps yes this is one of the 3 or 4 hot topics, smoking and quality of food being the other two. It used to be dress code but not anymore.

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We are new to NCL...going on Spirit next January.

 

Are the tips handled the same way as Royal and Carnival........can you pre-pay the tips when you get on the ship? do they give you envelopes to hand out on the last night?

 

the tips are added to your daily account..each day, when you check the bill, you will see the service charge added to your cabin's bill. no envelopes to hand out..they know :D. some people do take some thank you cards to hand out. but to be honest, with freestyle, it's sometimes very hard to find the person you are looking for. servers move around, don't stay in the same dining venue for the whole cruise.

i leave a "thank you" and a few more $ for the room stewards. maybe a little for any servers that has done extra..otherwise the service charge covers everything for the regular person below suite level.

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With the daily fee included for each passenger, do people normally still tip the room steward? How about the dining room? I don't want to seem cheap - but $36/day for 2 adults and a 9 year old seems sufficient - but does anyone know how the fees are split? Does the staff actually get the fee? Any input and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

 

You can adjust the tips up or down, if you feel the service you received was not worth daily service charge added to your account you can have it removed completely, you can tip individuals extra if you please, you can basically do what you feel comfortable with. If you have a family of 4 staying in one cabin then $48.pd does add up so pay what you feel is fair.

I have the slightest idea as to how the tips are split, who really knows.

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Thank you for the quick reply Toyz! I usually have thank you cards with me for anyone who goes above and beyond.

 

NCL has S.T.Y.L.E. cards that you can get from the front desk. These are to single out crew members for compliments. The senior management takes these cards into account for the crew reviews.

 

PE

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NCL has S.T.Y.L.E. cards that you can get from the front desk. These are to single out crew members for compliments. The senior management takes these cards into account for the crew reviews.

 

PE

 

We just got back from a cruise on the Dawn. We were in a suite and had the most marvelous butler as well as two great room stewards. We really wanted to be able to give credit to them by sharing with NCL how much we believe they put into making our vacation the very best it could be. We absolutely tipped them all very nicely at the end of the cruise, but that didn't seem enough. We called the reception desk and asked if there was anyone we could talk to in order to tell them what a great job that these people did the entire cruise. We were simply told to call the NCL number when we got home. When I got home and called NCL, they did give me a customer relations phone number but stressed that in order for it to benefit the employee, we would have to put it in writing. We will definitely do that, but I'm afraid that a lot of people will not go to the trouble of writing a letter.

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Hi Carib - was your butler by any chance Anoop? We had an AD on the Dawn last June and thought Anoop did a fantastic job! We filled out S.T.Y.L.E. cards for our butler, one of the Maitre D's and a hostess in the Tex-Mex restaurant. The cards are read by the ship staff and it's always been important to DH and I that we let management know when one of their crew goes above and beyond!

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but the spa does add a 15% tip to the bill: how well I know,one time I didn't pay any attention, plus they tried to sell me this awesome back brush to take the dead cells off my back, and of course I feel for it. By the time I was finished, my $79 treatment plus the tip and the tip I put on top and the brush, I walked out paying about $150..00. The brush which I am sure was carried at Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $10 was $45.00 and I tipped 15% on everything. I think the problem, I was sober at the time.

 

Nita LOL

 

ps yes this is one of the 3 or 4 hot topics, smoking and quality of food being the other two. It used to be dress code but not anymore.

LOL @ sober, Nita.. Thanks for clarifying the spa information. I didn't know they go ahead and add the tip on. I've yet to use spa services on a cruise.

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NCL has S.T.Y.L.E. cards that you can get from the front desk. These are to single out crew members for compliments. The senior management takes these cards into account for the crew reviews.

 

PE

 

Very good to know!! THANKS for sharing this with us. I try very hard to make sure to "name names" when I am filling out surveys I recieve after the trip, but this is a much better idea! -Suz.

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