havoc315

Is the lunch menu the same as the Haven restaurant lunch menu?

I think it depends on your definition of regular cleaning vs deep cleaning. If regular cleaning is thorough vacuuming, disinfecting all surfaces, replacing all linens, emptying all trash, inspecting drawers and closets for stray items / garbage, then I’m fine with regular cleaning. The carpets don’t need to be shampooed every turnaround, etc.

1. The germs are your own germs. 2. If you paid a housekeeper to scrub your toilet, and they just pocketed the money and said, “I didn’t think the toilet needed scrubbing”… you wouldn’t be happy. I’m paying NCL a lot of money for a meticulous suite. I have a right to expect to receive what I paid for. 3. If you eat McDonalds hamburgers at home… but you decided to go out to a 5 star steakhouse, you paid $300 for the wagyu filet… but then they serve you a McDonalds patty and say, “this is what you eat at home, so should be good enough”

Comparing to what you do at home is irrelevant. Your home isn’t changing occupants every week. Your drawers aren’t being cleared out every week so a brand new person can move in. Further, a Haven suite is a luxury vacation costing thousands of dollars for a week. I eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast at home every morning — does that mean I shouldn’t expect to have a hot breakfast menu on the cruise? It’s true, I rarely wash my windows at home, maybe not even yearly. But I absolutely do expect my panoramic windows in my suite to be cleaned regularly so I can really appreciate the view. And I do bleach my shower and toilet every 1-2 weeks at home, I certainly would hope a cruise line would do so, as basic mold prevention. While we should all accept that not everything is perfect all of the time, we should all accept that mistakes happen, it’s also perfectly fine to have an expectation of a meticulously cleaned room, hot edible food, well stocked bars, etc. Sure, for 1 meal, the side dish came out cold. Or the bar ran out of your preferred beer. Or there was a stray toiletry accidentally left in the bathroom. But these things should be the exception, and it’s perfectly acceptable to politely complain.

Especially on a cruise ship which is amenable to spread of viral and bacterial infections, it’s appropriate to expect full deep cleaning between cruises. It might be overreaction to be upset about a misaligned towel.. a missed candy wrapper under the bed. But certainly, expect a deep cleaning of the bathroom. Used toiletries from a prior guest left laying out in the open, is certainly a legitimate complaint. Enough to ruin the entire cruise? No. But definitely a pretty legitimate gripe.

Depends how many people. We have 7 sharing it — comes out to much less than $10k per person. Still not cheap, but not that much more than booking 2-3 Haven cabins for the party.

There are of course so many factors going into the subjectively best suite/cabin, all alongside budget. How big is your party? How much time will you spend on ship/in suite/in haven/in port? What aspects of cruising are most important to you? What aspects of “luxury cruising” are most important to you? Answers of course aren’t the same for every cruise, at every age, etc. I have an upcoming Bermuda cruise on the Gem. We have 2 families traveling together, a total of 7 guests including 3 older teens (17-19). We splurged for the Garden Villa- Answering my own questions: How big is your party? 7 people, 2 families splitting the villa, makes the cost more reasonable and we could use the space. How much time will you spend on ship/in suite/in haven/in port? We’ve been to Bermuda before. This particular trip is more about enjoying cruising than enjoying the ports. My wife intends to spend many hours soaking up a hot tub. So getting the nicest possible on board experience has value on this trip. What aspects of cruising are most important to you? What aspects of “luxury cruising” are most important to you? Being totally removed from work, from regular daily life. Just existing differently. So for a week, nice to have a cabin even nicer than our already-nice home. But I’ll add— also very important to me on a cruise is fine dining and entertainment. And these things have me considering a future cruise in a lesser cabin on a true luxury line like Oceana or Silverseas.

What is the customary amount is asking about the custom. The questions are often, “what do people usually tip?” “Usually” is literally a synonym of “customarily”

Correct.

well, we go with public information. Of course, it’s always possible public information is wrong.

Yes —- I’m 100% certain they get the cash tip I hand them. I have no certainty, whatsoever, about FAS service charges. The only money I’m certain about is the money I hand them. Other than the money I hand them, I have no idea.

I’ve had Europeans visiting the US ask me about tipping practices — not because they were being cheap. Quite the opposite, because they were not familiar with the customs. People asking about tipping, in most cases, has nothing to do with being cheap or not wanting to look cheap. In most cases, it’s simply people doing their due diligence to understand whether there is an applicable custom, such as the 15-25% in American restaurants.

Each person must tip based on their own preferences and factors. Nobody should tell anyone else that they should or should not tip. For me personally, this lack of clarity makes more more inclined to cash tip.

I don’t know precisely. But ballpark earnings are on Glassdoor and elsewhere. Yes, I do feel I can be very confident in stating the bartenders are not earning $3,000-$5,000+ per week.

No. I was pretty clear — I have no idea. Though since I do know that bartenders are not earning $3,000-$5,000 per week on NCL, I am highly confident that NCL is not distributing 100% of the FAS service charge to the bartenders. If I had to guess — and this is a pure guess — they simply receive an overall compensation similar to what they would get in base+tips if FAS didn’t exist.

It is one factor that is relevant to me in deciding whether I want to tip additionally or not.

I think I was pretty clear in admitting that I have no idea. Point being, we have no idea to what extent the service charge is actually shared as a “gratuity.”

all cruise line staff belong to the Seafarer’s Union. https://www.itfseafarers.org/en

“ anything they want” is of course not the literal truth. They have to abide by their agreements with employees - whether a collective agreement or individual. But we have no idea whether those agreements say anything about the handling of the service charge. The agreement could simply be, “compensation for bartenders shall be $20 per hour, which is inclusive of a base pay and gratuities. Bartenders shall have no separate claim to any revenue received by NCL as part of service charges.” The only money I’m certain a bartender receives is any cash tip I give them. (Obviously, they aren’t slaves. I’m certain they are being compensated but I have no certainty as to what that compensation includes).

Again, you’re not necessarily padding their salaries. Your fees may be going straight to NCL revenue, and NCL is paying their server $8 per hour. We don’t know. Certainly, NCL suggests their gratuities are already included. So I’ll accept that I shouldn’t feel obligated to tip further. NCL has accepted the responsibility of making sure that staff is compensated properly at a level that includes “tips.” I just wouldn’t use the words “padding.” I guarantee you that no staff member is getting rich on the service charge.

In some cases, I would disagree with that argument. The extreme being a regular land based restaurant where tipping is expected to be the majority of a server’s compensation. Your tip is the bulk of the payment for “doing their job.” But I agree that where it is represented that the staff gratuity has already been taken care of — as with the stewards, waiters and bartenders on NCL, in such a case there is no expectation or moral obligation to tip further. That said — real world — an extra tip may help you get that more exceptional service.

Or it’s not “padding” their wages at all, and just going towards a minimum wage salary. We really don’t know.

Yes, you do have that assurance on shore based restaurants where there are actual labor laws in place. At sea… calling it a “service charge”, they can do anything they want with the money.

Butlers and Concierge staff do not participate in tips. The range of tipping varies widely. So there is no “right” answer. Personally, I tip the butler $10-20 per guest per day. (So if it was just me and my wife, I’d tip $200-$300 for a week. More for whole family, etc). I tend to tip the concierge $15-$20 per day total.

Might be absurd, but it’s likely the case. Or going to base salaries throughout the ship — heck, cargo handlers need to load the alcohol onto the ship, the service charge can go to their salary! If the entire service charge was going to front of house beverage servers as a gratuity, the bartenders would be earning about $3,000 to $4,000+ per week. ($22 per day, with a ratio of 20 FAS customers per alcohol server would equate to gratuity of $3,080 per week on top of base salary). (In reality, I suspect they just put the “service charge” into general revenue. I doubt the money is actually segregated exclusively for beverage service).