Norwegian cruises gratuity increase ?

Just got this email from my t/a

Dear Robert, Thank you for making your travel arrangements with us. We know you must be eagerly anticipating your cruise. Please be advised of some important information about your Norwegian Cruise. Norwegian Cruise Line is making a nominal adjustment to its daily service charges, effective April 1, 2017. Norwegian's discretionary daily service charges make it easy for guests to provide gratuities to key onboard staff who provide superior guest service during the cruise, including their room steward, restaurant servers and behind-the-scenes support staff. The new rates for all ships, except Norwegian Sky are: $13.99 per person per day for any category up to a mini-suite stateroom $16.99 per person per day for any suite or Haven category To better address the demands of the enormously successful all-inclusive product aboard Norwegian Sky, the new rates for Sky are: $18.99 per person per day for any category up to a mini-suite stateroom $21.99 per person per day for any suite category Any guest that has made a booking by March 31, 2017 will have the option of prepaying their service charges at the current rate if done prior to sail date. Guests with existing cruise reservations who have already pre-paid their service charges at the current rate are not affected. We value your business and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions or require further assistance, please feel free to call us at XXX XXX=XXXX. Sincerely, Customer Care CRUISES ONLY

Just got this email from my t/a

 

Dear Robert, Thank you for making your travel arrangements with us. We know you must be eagerly anticipating your cruise. Please be advised of some important information about your Norwegian Cruise. Norwegian Cruise Line is making a nominal adjustment to its daily service charges, effective April 1, 2017. Norwegian's discretionary daily service charges make it easy for guests to provide gratuities to key onboard staff who provide superior guest service during the cruise, including their room steward, restaurant servers and behind-the-scenes support staff. The new rates for all ships, except Norwegian Sky are: $13.99 per person per day for any category up to a mini-suite stateroom $16.99 per person per day for any suite or Haven category To better address the demands of the enormously successful all-inclusive product aboard Norwegian Sky, the new rates for Sky are: $18.99 per person per day for any category up to a mini-suite stateroom $21.99 per person per day for any suite category Any guest that has made a booking by March 31, 2017 will have the option of prepaying their service charges at the current rate if done prior to sail date. Guests with existing cruise reservations who have already pre-paid their service charges at the current rate are not affected. We value your business and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any questions or require further assistance, please feel free to call us at XXX XXX=XXXX. Sincerely, Customer Care CRUISES ONLY

That is news to me. Interesting...

I received the same email late this afternoon.

Oh gosh again? last year they raised them twice. I have not heard anything from my Travel agent but it does not mean i wont. I wonder how much of this has to do with unhappy employees :cool::rolleyes:

I never ever get emails from NCL. Without the good folks at CC I would be even more clueless..................thanks!

Last cruise was in November 2017 and I believe the basic rate was $13.50 daily per person. So an increase of 49 cents? No too bad.

I guess NCL is going to keep jacking up the DSC until they get a big enough line of people at the front desk that decide they want a refund and start stuffing envelopes and tip who they want like in the old days.

If I'm reading correctly....

Was $13.50pppd...now $13.99pppd

Was $15.50pppd...now $16.99pppd (suite)

Sky only

Was $13.50pppd...now $18.99pppd

Was $15.50pppd...now $21.99pppd (suite)

I work for the agency that email was sent from and we as front line agents have yet to be informed - I learned about it here!!!!!!

I received the same email from same Travel Agency at 4:55 today.

We are on the Gem on 5/20. I took the DSC as one of two Free at Sea items. Based on the notice I assume we will not be affected.

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I guess NCL is going to keep jacking up the DSC until they get a big enough line of people at the front desk that decide they want a refund and start stuffing envelopes and tip who they want like in the old days.

Please no! I absolutely hated those envelopes & always felt some of the staff were somewhat embarrassed (humiliated?) by the process. Besides, with the changes in dining you'd have to carry cash to tip at every meal. And what do you do at the buffet? Tip the people who put something on your plate?

;pSo for a family of 4 I will now be paying a whopping 14 dollars more for a 7 day cruise. I'm out, will never cruise again with NCL, horrible company, how can they do this

Oh gosh again? last year they raised them twice. I have not heard anything from my Travel agent but it does not mean i wont. I wonder how much of this has to do with unhappy employees :cool::rolleyes:

Actually, they raised them THREE times last year. There were the two increases in the DSC amount, and then there was a "hidden" increase when they started charging 18% for the specialty restaurants while leaving the staff there in the DSC pool.

This latest raise will be number FOUR.

Of course, some could argue that the change in rate from 15% to 18% constitutes yet another increase.:rolleyes:

;pSo for a family of 4 I will now be paying a whopping 14 dollars more for a 7 day cruise. I'm out, will never cruise again with NCL, horrible company, how can they do this

This right here is called perspective.

I hope people try it before moving straight to the outrage accompanied by all those exclamation points.

I guess NCL is going to keep jacking up the DSC until they get a big enough line of people at the front desk that decide they want a refund and start stuffing envelopes and tip who they want like in the old days.

Cash is always king

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Please no! I absolutely hated those envelopes & always felt some of the staff were somewhat embarrassed (humiliated?) by the process. Besides, with the changes in dining you'd have to carry cash to tip at every meal. And what do you do at the buffet? Tip the people who put something on your plate?

You may be on to something here

 

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I knew you were right around the corner...

Hmmmmmmm :confused:

The Sky prices are kind of steep, IMO.

I like NCL. But given that they really won't tell you where the DSC goes, other than this vague programs thing, it's getting a bit old. They keep raising it, without any indication that the people you hope it goes to are getting a dime of the increase. They are now, once again, the most expensive mass cruise line for service charges.

Whatever happened to the concept of using ROUNDED NUMBERS ?

Instead of $13.99 why not go for the greedy gusto of a penny more ? $14.00

Charge a penny less and make them think they are getting a deal !

Then raise the $0.49 to $0.99 that's not so bad maybe Commodore FDR needs the $0.50

more to buy another NCL Yacht.

I guess people haven't been tipping the bartenders on the Sky. Or is it just a way to add a $5pp/pd gratuity for the free open bar drink package?

Thank you, I planned on pre-paying for our May cruise, so I just did it. Family of 7, every bit counts.

Whatever happened to the concept of using ROUNDED NUMBERS ?

Instead of $13.99 why not go for the greedy gusto of a penny more ? $14.00

It's psychological. It makes people think "$13 something" instead of $14. Gas stations are the same way with $2.15 9/10 per gallon.

I booked a cruise with a TA, never received anything about this

i have 2 cruises booked directly with NCL for next year, never got an official announcement/email.

NCL website and facebook has not be updated with this newer information. i guess NCL has not learned from their mistakes with the horrible latitude news rollout, and now this!

..and the worse part is i have a feeling other cruise lines like Carnival will follow suit and increase their gratuity.

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If i pre-pay the gratuity for all of my cruises (November, and 2 next year), am i locked into the old price i already paid? I booked it last year..

I just wish NCL would add the service charge to the cost per night of the room and be honest about the amount the trip costs. Of course I feel the same about resort fees and baggage fees. Just give me a price for a product I can easily compare across competitors, would ya.

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