Service Charges..... Tipping????

[DAGVBSB]

 

There are a few NCL officials who I wouldn't mind doing that to. (oh, and the lady on the POAm who called my mom a liar too...)

[DAGVBSB]

Did some research on the OP of this thread. It seems that she will post something and then not post again for a long time.

 

Her last thread, way back in January, 2006, was a complaint about her RCCL and she basically accused her room steward of "stealing" her make-up case. She was then going to call her insurance company over the loss of her "expensive make-up" (but of course she even admits that she left it in the cabin.)

 

She had no proof that the attendent stole her stuff but yet she plans to stiff him on her next cruise. (probably plans to stiff all room stewards because of her supposed belief in the last one.)

 

Does sound like a Whinner.

 

After a wonderful 7 days on the Legend OTS (left Dec 10/05) the morning that we were supposed to depart, my 6 year old woke up with an ear infection. After a fairly sleepless morning, we were able to head down to see the ship's doctor at 8:50am. Called to the Pursor's desk to ask if we could vacate the room later than the 8 am deadline, and were told it would be fine. On our was our we saw our cabin steward and let him know that we would be leaving our room late - again no problem. Nice visit with the Dr and nurse, antibiotics in hand, and we headed back our state room. We packed up and headed out to the common area to wait for our turn to disembark at 10:00 am we were one of the last color tags. Easy disembarktion, headed to our hotel to spend the night. Every thing sounds good so far - well here is where it goes down the tubes.

 

At the hotel, I wanted to take a shower. When I opened the suit case that we had in our state room that morning, and where my mak-up should have been, it was not in there. I knew that it had been left on board the ship in the same spot for the last week. :(

 

After some panicked searching, we confired that the make-up was definitly gone. I know for certain that it was on the cruise ship. We called RCCL Lost and Found. A report was created, and I was told that it could take up to 3 weeks to see if any thing would be turned in. Well after several calls to Lost and Found, it was confirmed that there was "no report of any items left in our state room". :( :(

 

Flame retardent suit on - check

 

I know it was my fault for not double, triple checking the room to make sure that we had not left anything in the drawers. I misplaced my faith in our state room attendant for being an honest and honourable guy.

 

My only avenue of recourse now is to replace a lot of expensive make-up, and try and claim it through our travel insurance.

 

So the moral of the story is to double check, triple check, and quadruple check your state room before you leave. Oh and if I ever have the same state room attendant, he will NOT be recieving a tip from us.[/QUOTE]

[DAGVBSB]

Did some research on the OP of this thread. It seems that she will post something and then not post again for a long time.

 

Her last thread, way back in January, 2006, was a complaint about her RCCL and she basically accused her room steward of "stealing" her make-up case. She was then going to call her insurance company over the loss of her "expensive make-up" (but of course she even admits that she left it in the cabin.)

 

She had no proof that the attendent stole her stuff but yet she plans to stiff him on her next cruise. (probably plans to stiff all room stewards because of her supposed belief in the last one.)

 

Does sound like a Whinner.

 

 

Her last posting:

After a wonderful 7 days on the Legend OTS (left Dec 10/05) the morning that we were supposed to depart, my 6 year old woke up with an ear infection. After a fairly sleepless morning, we were able to head down to see the ship's doctor at 8:50am. Called to the Pursor's desk to ask if we could vacate the room later than the 8 am deadline, and were told it would be fine. On our was our we saw our cabin steward and let him know that we would be leaving our room late - again no problem. Nice visit with the Dr and nurse, antibiotics in hand, and we headed back our state room. We packed up and headed out to the common area to wait for our turn to disembark at 10:00 am we were one of the last color tags. Easy disembarktion, headed to our hotel to spend the night. Every thing sounds good so far - well here is where it goes down the tubes.

 

At the hotel, I wanted to take a shower. When I opened the suit case that we had in our state room that morning, and where my mak-up should have been, it was not in there. I knew that it had been left on board the ship in the same spot for the last week. :(

 

After some panicked searching, we confired that the make-up was definitly gone. I know for certain that it was on the cruise ship. We called RCCL Lost and Found. A report was created, and I was told that it could take up to 3 weeks to see if any thing would be turned in. Well after several calls to Lost and Found, it was confirmed that there was "no report of any items left in our state room". :( :(

 

Flame retardent suit on - check

 

I know it was my fault for not double, triple checking the room to make sure that we had not left anything in the drawers. I misplaced my faith in our state room attendant for being an honest and honourable guy.

 

My only avenue of recourse now is to replace a lot of expensive make-up, and try and claim it through our travel insurance.

 

So the moral of the story is to double check, triple check, and quadruple check your state room before you leave. Oh and if I ever have the same state room attendant, he will NOT be recieving a tip from us.

[PurpleLaurie55]

The way I look at it is we are going out for dinner...the meals are $20 per person and each will get a drink and possibly appetizer or dessert...final tab is $100, but I know I am going to add 15-20% on top of that depending on the type of restaurant and the service...If you told me up front that dinner would cost $20 more I may complain a little, but I don't seem to be bothered as much by the tip as much when I think I am coming up with the idea and choosing the amount. Fact is, I am not coming up with the idea and I really am not choosing the amount...the only choice I make is that I am going out to dinner and what I am going to eat...the rest is assumed.

 

For my family of 4, our DSC will be $48.00. We will only eat in the MDR once per day (if that), so $48 per day does seem like a lot to us. We prefer room service (separate tip) or buffets.... and I always tip the room steward separately.

 

I understand that it goes to all the behind the scenes people as well, but for some families it ends up being more than you would privately tip. For other families, I'm sure it's a bargain and is less than they would pay privately. I guess in the end it all evens out.

[mamagina]

I have a question that is related to this entire discussion:

We got off the Dawn today and I hadn't been on a NCL cruise in over two years. The last few time the service was very slow and quite a few of our servers were very overworked and surley. They must have fixed some problems in the last two years because our waiters were just all friendly and wonderful and the whole dining room situation seemed in much better control. I did not mind the service charge at all on either cruise because I believe that the staff truly deserves it, plus more. This time we tipped around as we felt like it assuming that the waiters and cabin staff were also getting a portion of the $12pp per day that we were automatically charged. We gave extra to our room steward and assistant this morning. (a cute young man and woman who were both excellent and very sweet and friendly) I asked the young woman if they got the portion from what we are automatically charged and she just giggled and said "I am not supposed to speak about that." But she rolled her eyes. It made me feel kind of bad (I feel like we "undertipped")--I really hope that NCL does portion out the money collected from the passengers. If I knew that they didn't, I would have asked to have it refunded to me and give more out myself. My husband said that it would be a very big scandle if they were not giving it to the crew.

 

What is the word???? On other lines they charge you but then give you vouchers to give to your waiters and stewards. How do we know that NCL is giving out the tips?

[Don Haynes]

How do we know that NCL is giving out the tips?

 

If NCL didn't fork over the surcharge then their wait and steward staff would not be paid the bulk of their salaries. The wait and steward staff would NOT resign a new contract if NCL stiffed them...

 

Since so many passengers stiffed the wait and steward staff the cruise lines implemented the surcharge system to KEEP their staff. Nobody works for peanuts... Do you?

 

if your boss took three quarters of your pay, would you still work for him/her? I didn't think so...

 

Turn your question around. How do we know your boss pays you? Another red herring exposed...

[luddite]

I have a question that is related to this entire discussion:

We got off the Dawn today and I hadn't been on a NCL cruise in over two years. The last few time the service was very slow and quite a few of our servers were very overworked and surley. They must have fixed some problems in the last two years because our waiters were just all friendly and wonderful and the whole dining room situation seemed in much better control. I did not mind the service charge at all on either cruise because I believe that the staff truly deserves it, plus more. This time we tipped around as we felt like it assuming that the waiters and cabin staff were also getting a portion of the $12pp per day that we were automatically charged. We gave extra to our room steward and assistant this morning. (a cute young man and woman who were both excellent and very sweet and friendly) I asked the young woman if they got the portion from what we are automatically charged and she just giggled and said "I am not supposed to speak about that." But she rolled her eyes. It made me feel kind of bad (I feel like we "undertipped")--I really hope that NCL does portion out the money collected from the passengers. If I knew that they didn't, I would have asked to have it refunded to me and give more out myself. My husband said that it would be a very big scandle if they were not giving it to the crew.

 

What is the word???? On other lines they charge you but then give you vouchers to give to your waiters and stewards. How do we know that NCL is giving out the tips?

 

:eek:

C'mon, you didn't really write this. Is this a serious query?

[mamagina]

If NCL didn't fork over the surcharge then their wait and steward staff would not be paid the bulk of their salaries. The wait and steward staff would NOT resign a new contract if NCL stiffed them...

 

Since so many passengers stiffed the wait and steward staff the cruise lines implemented the surcharge system to KEEP their staff. Nobody works for peanuts... Do you?

 

if your boss took three quarters of your pay, would you still work for him/her? I didn't think so...

 

Turn your question around. How do we know your boss pays you? Another red herring exposed...

 

How did you know that my employer cut my pay? I work for a non-profit and in this economy we (the entire staff from the CEO down to the guy in the mail room) had no choice but to take a pay cut to keep our jobs this year (and last year). I stayed, because I like my job and I have bills to pay and cruises to take (a bird in the hand!). And in this economy there is not a lot of options out there. Why would the steward suggest this if something was not going on. Yes, I believe they are paid but a job is a job. An once you sign a contract and you are taken halfway arounf the world for a job, you don't leave too quickly. Have you noticed that the staff on NCL is VERY young! Maybe one contract and that is it. All I am saying is that I would much rather tip myself than assume that the money that NCL is calling a service charge is actually making its way to those who serve.

[erdoran]

If NCL didn't fork over the surcharge then their wait and steward staff would not be paid the bulk of their salaries. The wait and steward staff would NOT resign a new contract if NCL stiffed them...

 

Since so many passengers stiffed the wait and steward staff the cruise lines implemented the surcharge system to KEEP their staff. Nobody works for peanuts... Do you?

 

if your boss took three quarters of your pay, would you still work for him/her? I didn't think so...

 

Turn your question around. How do we know your boss pays you? Another red herring exposed...

 

Another example of assuming someone intends to stiff the crew when they are asking a very legitimate question!!

[sjbdtz]

There are a few NCL officials who I wouldn't mind doing that to. (oh, and the lady on the POAm who called my mom a liar too...)

 

Give it a rest. Nobody called your mom a liar. They simply asked for clarification as the severity of her allergy.

 

 

my employer cut my pay? And in this economy there is not a lot of options out there. All I am saying is that I would much rather tip myself than assume that the money that NCL is calling a service charge is actually making its way to those who serve.

 

Ellen, this is code for I don't want to tip that much.

 

 

 

Another example of assuming someone intends to stiff the crew when they are asking a very legitimate question!!

 

See above.

[fergusonvt]

When I booked my cruise with NCL last year, they told me up front about the service charge, so I don't know what all the fuss is about. But then again people need something to bitch about

 

 

I also booked directly through NCL and my PCC told me exactly what would be added on my bill at the end of the cruise for the service charge. Part of the fare or pay it at the end you are still paying the same amount.

[ColinIllinois]

And in this economy there is not a lot of options out there. All I am saying is that I would much rather tip myself than assume that the money that NCL is calling a service charge is actually making its way to those who serve.

 

 

Aha......you tip yourself when in fact, you are supposed to tip the workers!!

 

I knew it was a conspiracy. ;)

[dwjoe]

Ellen, this is code for I don't want to tip that much.

You're making unfounded negative assumptions.

 

It's a common customer reaction as the industry transitions from gratuities that were at passenger's discretion, to automatic service charges. Many people preferred to reward those who served them directly. The new model takes that out of passengers hands. Calling them "service charges" is a step forward IMO, b/c it better describes what it really is: a key source of income for the crew. Making those charges automatic introduces consistency into crew income which helps support the economic model of cruising.

[mamagina]

 

Ellen, this is code for I don't want to tip that much.

 

 

In my situation that is definately not code for I don't want to tip that much. If you read my original post I said that we always tip extra and above the suggested--always adding cash in with the vouchers when we charge the tips on other lines. Except for the room stewards you cannot do that on NCL so you have to carry cash and "tip around" as service is rendered. If the money that NCL is charging me is not getting to the staff in a significant percentage-- why not just give to the staff myself.

 

I understand what you are saying--there are some that won't tip then and have not tipped in the past--of course! DUH!

 

You are avoiding the real issue and the real question: What percentage of what the cruise lines charges for a serrvice charge actually gets to the staff. Does anyone know? The way my steward acted on this last cruise leads me to believe--not much!

[mamagina]

Aha......you tip yourself when in fact, you are supposed to tip the workers!!

 

I knew it was a conspiracy. ;)

 

I have to tip myself, now that my pay has been cut for two years! LOL!

[luddite]

Wow. She REALLY was questioning whether NCL turns back the DSC to the crew. :eek:

The crew is happy. The crew is happy with the system. It is safe to assume that they're gettin' their money.

You do know that NCL eats the credit card fee, don't you?

[Planer's Edge]

...snip... If the money that NCL is charging me is not getting to the staff in a significant percentage-- why not just give to the staff myself. ...snip...

 

Here in lies the code!!

 

PE

[Planer's Edge]

I have to tip myself, now that my pay has been cut for two years! LOL!

...at least you have a job!! NLOL!!

 

PE

[sjbdtz]

You are avoiding the real issue and the real question: What percentage of what the cruise lines charges for a serrvice charge actually gets to the staff. Does anyone know? The way my steward acted on this last cruise leads me to believe--not much!

 

 

Not avoiding it. Had you done a search, you would have seen this question asked & answered a dozen times at least.

 

 

The answer is 100%, plus NCL absorbs the admin, and the credit card processing fees.

[erdoran]

Wow. She REALLY was questioning whether NCL turns back the DSC to the crew. :eek:

The crew is happy. The crew is happy with the system. It is safe to assume that they're gettin' their money.

You do know that NCL eats the credit card fee, don't you?

Luddite, fair question. I've heard conflicting info about it on this board, actually--that some of it goes to fund crew welfare programs, for example.

 

DH and I go to a land-based all inclusive resort that includes an 18% gratuity as part of the cost (explicitly stated as such when making reservation/paying for stay). When they went on Facebook a couple of the folks asked where that money went, because it is an awful lot of money in some instances - it can be almost $90/day for the most expensive rooms! It turns out that it was not all distributed to staff; much of it went for operating costs and maintenance for the resort, and for grounds maintenance. Some percentage DID go to the dining room staff (they never stated what percentage, just that DR got compensated based on how many guests--remember here that the amount of the charge to the guest is based on room cost, but from what I understand, the DR staff gets a flat amount per guest, regardless of room), but it isn't clear that any of the rest of it went to staff at all.

 

Given a trend (or at least example) like this there is nothing wrong with ASKING whether or not ship staff receive the DSC, especially in the case of this OP who tipped OVER AND ABOVE the DSC!

[Globaliser]

If the money that NCL is charging me is not getting to the staff in a significant percentage-- why not just give to the staff myself.

Regardless of what NCL does or doesn't pay the staff from the daily service charge (about which I believe the 100% figure), there's another reason why there's no point in just giving it to the staff yourself: They don't get to keep any money you give to them yourself if you have removed the daily service charge. It goes into the pool, just like your daily service charge. So (whatever NCL does with the money), you achieve absolutely nothing by doing it by this route - unless, of course, your aim is just to tip less than the daily service charge would have been.

 

Those who think that many crew members routinely pocket such cash tips rather than handing it in to go into the pool don't really understand just how closed, close and tense a community it is amongst this level of crew. You steal money from your fellow crew members (which is what happens when you don't put money in the pool to be shared out), you get shopped - and then quickly fired.

[FineB4U]

For the last time: On this thread, she asked. She was answered many times. She disappeared, not once acknowledging the responses. I still don't see what you are whining about. What happened in this thread is exactly what you described above--except she never said anything in response. No one is objecting to people "asking."

 

I suggest you read jame_g's posting above--several times. Maybe then you'll get it.

 

Here's my personal take on this phrase, I can't speak for the OP, just for myself -- I am a very polite person (hey, I'm Canadian after all, we all know Canadians are polite :D). I believe in saying please and thank you. And I believe I have said please and thank you with every question I have asked and had answered here. But within the first 10 replies, only 2 actually politely answered her question. The rest all went into the "here we go again, somebody wants to stiff the crew" thing. I'm not sure I'd want to come back again either. What do you say? "Thanks to the 2 people who answered my very legitimate question and thanks to the rest who slapped me in the face by assuming I'm a cheap ass." Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. But here's something a lot of people may have missed. I notice the OP is Canadian too -- in Canada we do not tip like Americans. We do not normally tip a hotel maid - I'd never heard of that until about 10 years ago when I started traveling a lot in the USA; we do not normally tip 18-20% at a restaurant - it's more like 10-15%; the majority of Canadians would not tip a room service person in a hotel or the porter who brings your bags to your hotel room for you - and if for some reason we did, they'd only get a loonie or a toonie. ($1 or $2) That's just the way it is here. We're not doing it to "stiff" anybody. In all the scenarios that have been thrown around in this thread about going out for dinner and expecting to tip -- yep, we do the same thing. We go out for dinner and we expect to leave a tip. But what we expect to tip is a lot lower than what Americans expect to tip. Again. Not to stiff anybody, that's just the way it is here. So for the OP to say that she has a little sticker shock, I don't blame her. When I added up the lump sum of our service charges for our upcoming cruise I kind of gulped a little because it is a very large number, but I am very well traveled in the USA so I know that I am expected to tip higher and that more staff would be tipped. Canadians who are not frequent travelers to the USA actually are experiencing a true culture shock when we try to adjust to the customary tipping guidelines of the States. And because we are so "polite" we do try to adjust to the customary tipping guidelines of the States. Hence the OP's question. I hope that clears up a little of the confusion about why $432 might seem surprising to her.

[ColinIllinois]

Heck, I'm American and I've never tipped a hotel maid in my life. You're right though you Canadians are really pretty nice folks. I vote we make you our 51st state. :D

 

Nah, that would be cruel.

[FineB4U]

Heck, I'm American and I've never tipped a hotel maid in my life. You're right though you Canadians are really pretty nice folks. I vote we make you our 51st state. :D

 

Nah, that would be cruel.

 

ROFLMAO Colin!!

[cs]

You do know that NCL eats the credit card fee, don't you?

 

Can you tell me how you know this for a fact? Is it published somewhere?