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BunnieBear

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Posts posted by BunnieBear

    When is the best time of year to cruise to Alaska?

    in Princess Cruises

    Posted

    I could care less about sunshine. It is extremely wet and foggy weather that I try to avoid when going to Alaska.

     

    I could also care less about people in port as I get out of port "to see Alaska". Never have crowds outside of port.

    We'll be doing a bit of each but having never cruised or visited the US it'll be nice being able to move around more freely.

     

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

    Removing gratiuities - when to do it

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

     

    p.s. Anyone paying north of £5 for a pint of something masquerading as beer in London needs their head examined. Up our way it's cheaper, tastes better and actually has a head on the top.

     

    .

     

    Agreed! Transplanted Londoner now living in Nottingham... off to a Beer Festival this weekend where everything is £3 a pint...

    Medallion B2B Loyalty Question

    in Princess Cruises

    Posted

    I could see Princess personnel doing that on the ship, but I do not see contracted shore check-in personnel who do work for multiple cruise lines being able to do this at check-in on shore.

     

     

    If nothing else, that would make check-in slower which is the exact opposite of what the use of the Medallion is supposed to achieve.

    A stamping machine of some sort like the souvenir penny ones might be the answer here. Scan your booking code and it could vend a medallion.

     

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

    Service Charge Breakdown

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Interesting ... I know a little about US income tax but virtually nothing about other countries. I got the tidbit about the UK taxes from the youtube videos with UK crew extolling the virtues of tax free income. They may be in for a surprise (or their earnings may be low enough to not incur a large penalty anyway.)

     

    I did hear from another tax guy that he had a client who worked on a cruise ship and they didn't take out payroll tax, and his client didn't owe payroll tax (that's our social security and medicare tax that is about 15.3% of earnings, although it's split between employee and employer). His client wanted to pay the tax to accrue more earned income for his benefits later. I'm not sure that's true, but I did hear it from a tax pro.

     

    I think you may be referring to National Insurance payments, which we pay in addition to Income Tax. Significant breaks in payment can effect pension rights at retirement so there is an option to pay missed instalments yourself (or certainly used to be because I did myself to ensure continuity many years ago).

    Removing gratiuities - when to do it

    in Cunard Line

    Posted

    So the assumption is that no Cunard passenger can possibly earn a living working as hard as a Cunard worker and of course all passengers have their hands inspected at embarkation to detect evidence of manual work.

     

    Shock horror, you could well be dining with a bricklayer.

     

    David

     

    Does tipping still apply for those travelling below stairs in steerage? ;-)

     

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

    Service Charge Breakdown

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Again....it's if no consequence to me as these jobs are not normally tipped. Do you tip the guy who dry cleans your clothes?

     

    Do you tip your electrical utilities worker when they are working on your street?

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Forums

    I don't dry clean but road workers get a full wage and don't rely on a share of the tips pool to top up a very low basic salary. I hate the out-of-sight-out-of-mind attitude that just tipping your room steward and waiter creates. If the DSC system didn't exist then it wouldn't matter so much, because then the back room staff would require a full fair wage from the cruise line to reflect the lack of additional earning potential, but that not being the case why remove their share in order to give it directly to the people you face? Those people are already in line for additional tips on top of their DSC in any case. I'm just answering your question of why it bothers people, not arguing with you.

     

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

    Service Charge Breakdown

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    That's not how the world works. There will always be fees that are not included in the advertised price. Tax is an example of one of these things.

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    That's not the way YOUR part of the world works. Here it is included. If something is priced up at £100 it's already got the tax included and that is all you pay.

     

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

    Service Charge Breakdown

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    I'm curious...do you have sales tax in the UK? What you described is how I feel every time I go to another state. Oregon is one of, I believe, only two states in the U.S. that doesn't have a sales tax. So, when I visit a state that does, I find it disconcerting that the price tag says one thing but then when they ring it up it's more. Ugh.

     

    I don't like being "forced" to tip, but I assume it's because so many people wouldn't tip unless it was added to the bill so they add it. I'm so used to it after so many years of cruising that I don't even think about it now.

    We pay VAT (20%) but prices shown already include it.

     

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

    Service Charge Breakdown

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    It'd be nice to just have the upfront price rather than having to add bits in all the time, which breeds distrust. Don't price a beer at $10 if you have to have $11.80 to be able to pay for it. A spa treatment for $100 is really $118. By the end of the cruise it'll soon rack up to a lot more than you'd mentally tallied if you're used to a culture that prices fairly. We Brits DO tip. Most of us wouldn't dream of leaving a restaurant or hairdressers without tipping. We just like to be giving it rather than having it taken from us. I agree with the pooling of tips that are left though. I worked in the catering industry for a while and it's ultra annoying as a chef to know that the waiting staff are getting rewarded for the lovely meal that you produced! I'd happily pay more upfront for the cruise and do away with the DSC.

    Service Charge Breakdown

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    We've paid our DSC up front which represents almost 10% of our cruise price, for this reason I consider we have already adequately tipped. This isn't parsimony, I've had to work hard to afford this holiday and the DSC rewards everyone that's worked hard for you rather than just those lucky enough to be in the customer facing roles.

     

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

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