I view it like restaurants in the states. If you "can't afford" the tips you can't afford to eat out and shouldn't. If you can't afford the gratuities on a cruise, you can't afford to cruise.
In your job if the customers can't afford the price of the goods or services do you give it to them anyways or tell them well you can't afford us then?
None of these tipping threads would go as long as they do if the non tippers just owned up to taking advantage of the fact that they'll likely never see the people their stiffing again instead of trying to make it seem ok with various excuses. You want to pay less at the expense of the people who make your vacation enjoyable, own it.
Quite a straw man you've built for yourself there. The tipping is discretionary, it is not a set price. People opting out of a discretionary tip are treated like thieves by some on here and it's a disgrace. That being said, I pay the DSC as well as tip my cabin steward if the service is good (it usually is) but who am I to tell anyone else how to spend their money? Honestly, if saving a few hundred dollars makes a cruise affordable for someone, so what?
Opting out of paying Daily Service Charge
in Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted
Quite a straw man you've built for yourself there. The tipping is discretionary, it is not a set price. People opting out of a discretionary tip are treated like thieves by some on here and it's a disgrace. That being said, I pay the DSC as well as tip my cabin steward if the service is good (it usually is) but who am I to tell anyone else how to spend their money? Honestly, if saving a few hundred dollars makes a cruise affordable for someone, so what?