Gratuties

[che5904]

a list is circulated and the room stewards are notified. Most turn in ALL the cash as listed above and they don't know if they can keep it all until the cruise is over. then they are notified. Keeping track of this is a full time job for one person.

 

So how does the waiter/ess know that particular persons name, ie at the buffet if I gave a person that helped me carry my plate to a table $5.

 

So this list is circulated after or before the cruise ends and circulated to whom since this one person job of keeping track, keeps all the cash and then gives some back.

 

As I said before there is a lot of pieces missing in this puzzle, therefore missing logic which has it being questioned extensively and continually.

 

Not that I think any of this knowledge is really necessary since all that should be known is if you take off the DSC lots of people that normally would get a cut that you won't necessarily see at the end of your cruise will get penalized, period. I still think if you are ticked with certain service staff #1 put in a style card to report the bad service or #2 go up the ladder until you find someone that can recify your issue and leave the darn DSC in place.

[ShipShape4me]

That would only make the cruises more expensive, and put dollars in the pockets of government agencies, not more to the staff. I'm fine the way things are. I would clearly tip more than the $12 if I were having three restaurant meals per day, plus the cabin steward's tip, so I"m saving money having this spread across all passengers.

 

One more comment.....So what! I pay taxes on every dollar I earn and so should they. You line of thought encourages many forms of tax evasion.

[che5904]

In no way is the $12.00 a gratuity if you are required to pay it.

Why do you have to explain the removal of a "Gratuity"???? gra·tu·i·ty (gr-t-t, -ty-) n. pl. gra·tu·i·ties. A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for service. [French gratuité, from Old French ...A tip (also called a gratuity) is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratuity–noun, plural -ties. 1. a gift of money , over and above payment due for service, as to a waiter or bellhop; tip. 2. something given without claim or demand. 3 ...dictionary.reference.com/browse/gratuity

 

Hense the reason NCL calls it a DSC = daily service charge

[smeyer418]

OK.... But call it what it really is. SALARY SALARY SALARY - In no way is the $12.00 a gratuity if you are required to pay it. Nita states that you better be prepared to explain why you are removing the $12.00. Why do you have to explain the removal of a "Gratuity"???? gra·tu·i·ty (gr-t-t, -ty-) n. pl. gra·tu·i·ties. A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for service. [French gratuité, from Old French ...A tip (also called a gratuity) is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratuity–noun, plural -ties. 1. a gift of money , over and above payment due for service, as to a waiter or bellhop; tip. 2. something given without claim or demand. 3 ...dictionary.reference.com/browse/gratuity

 

 

its never been a gratuity on cruise ships its always since the 1900's been the main way they-the traditionally tipped crew- are paid.

actually tip comes from an old English base that meant bribe. Its one of the reasons that Aussies are so opposed to it as it really was a bribe in Australia. Whether its in the fare or in a DSC its you who are paying it anyway... so be careful what you ask for because if it becomes part of the fare you will pay more for it...

[smeyer418]

So how does the waiter/ess know that particular persons name, ie at the buffet if I gave a person that helped me carry my plate to a table $5.

 

So this list is circulated after or before the cruise ends and circulated to whom since this one person job of keeping track, keeps all the cash and then gives some back.

 

As I said before there is a lot of pieces missing in this puzzle, therefore missing logic which has it being questioned extensively and continually.

 

Not that I think any of this knowledge is really necessary since all that should be known is if you take off the DSC lots of people that normally would get a cut that you won't necessarily see at the end of your cruise will get penalized, period. I still think if you are ticked with certain service staff #1 put in a style card to report the bad service or #2 go up the ladder until you find someone that can recify your issue and leave the darn DSC in place.

 

 

its not the dollar or two or even $5 to the occasional waiter-its never been. It more like the $50 to the steward(6 pp day for a person half the dsc for two people is $84 for a seven day cruise). that is where the questioning comes in.

[ShipShape4me]

its never been a gratuity on cruise ships its always since the 1900's been the main way they-the traditionally tipped crew- are paid.

actually tip comes from an old English base that meant bribe. Its one of the reasons that Aussies are so opposed to it as it really was a bribe in Australia. Whether its in the fare or in a DSC its you who are paying it anyway... so be careful what you ask for because if it becomes part of the fare you will pay more for it...

 

So be it... and they will pay into the same saftey net that folks around the world in many countries contirbute to.

[che5904]

its not the dollar or two or even $5 to the occasional waiter-its never been. It more like the $50 to the steward(6 pp day for a person half the dsc for two people is $84 for a seven day cruise). that is where the questioning comes in.

 

Not really because even though I leave the DSC in place for the reasons I gave above I still question the logic of this excuse as it comes up everytime DSC/tips or gratuities are mentioned (of they won't get to keep the whole thing unless you leave DSC in place). Thats the part I'm talking about being questioned.

 

And truthfully if some are removing the DSC for completely silly reasons like a couple of bad service moments, does anyone seriously feel that knowing the ones they do tip is going to have to be subdivided anyway going to change their mind, I doubt it. As far as I'm concerned those people would find an excuse regardless. The only time I might even consider this is if all service I received was subpar and the chance of that happening on a cruise with 1000 crew members is really non-existence.

[smeyer418]

So be it... and they will pay into the same saftey net that folks around the world in many countries contirbute to.

since every main line cruise line does it in a varying way as either a dsc auto-tip-opt in or opt out- I don't think that will happen any time soon. In general the higher end cruise lines charge much more per day for the privilege of having it included. Azamara announced that the basic tips would be included (along with some other items) with a 25% increase that would not be justified by the increased items alone. So be careful what you ask for. The cruise lines have been doing it this way for a long time. The Opt out cruise lines(princess for one) and NCL report over 90% compliance so its only the few really cheap people who try to remove it and before you accuse me of slandering any one 40% of those who remove it without a service complaint(like the two issues above) leave either nothing or less than the suggested amount...

 

and when you get to be in charge you can change it.

 

This method of paying the traditional tipped crew goes back to at least the early 1900's and was continue by Samuel Cunard who was born in Canada and immigrated to England.

 

In fact in the 1910-30 there was a movement in the US to do away with tipping-which obviously failed.

 

[valleyvillage]

...I have been told that the DSC pool is distributed according to seniority. Well, at least it gets distributed!

 

I was just reading a New York Times story about the owners of Yankee Stadium and Cowboy Stadium. Patrons in the prime seats can have service directly to their seats of food and beverage. The cost has an added surcharge listed as a service charge and additional gratuities are invited. Turns out the owners are not passing this along to the servers.

 

So now they are suing.

 

Personally I leave the DSC in place and tip when the spirit moves me. Much more fun that way. And of course we always tip Butler and Concierge separately.

[smeyer418]

...I have been told that the DSC pool is distributed according to seniority. Well, at least it gets distributed!

 

I was just reading a New York Times story about the owners of Yankee Stadium and Cowboy Stadium. Patrons in the prime seats can have service directly to their seats of food and beverage. The cost has an added surcharge listed as a service charge and additional gratuities are invited. Turns out the owners are not passing this along to the servers.

 

So now they are suing.

 

Personally I leave the DSC in place and tip when the spirit moves me. Much more fun that way. And of course we always tip Butler and Concierge separately.

 

 

There is also not one iota of evidence that the entire auto tip doesn't make it to the traditionally tipped and tipped out crew. The cruise lines even absorb the credit card charge. Cruise employees sue cruise lines all the time and there is NOT one report of any crew member that the entire amount doesn't eventually get to them and not one reported lawsuit...yet(I monitor a number of cruise lawyers reports who would report any such lawsuit)

 

[ShipShape4me]

since every main line cruise line does it in a varying way as either a dsc auto-tip-opt in or opt out- I don't think that will happen any time soon. In general the higher end cruise lines charge much more per day for the privilege of having it included. Azamara announced that the basic tips would be included (along with some other items) with a 25% increase that would not be justified by the increased items alone. So be careful what you ask for. The cruise lines have been doing it this way for a long time. The Opt out cruise lines(princess for one) and NCL report over 90% compliance so its only the few really cheap people who try to remove it and before you accuse me of slandering any one 40% of those who remove it without a service complaint(like the two issues above) leave either nothing or less than the suggested amount...

 

and when you get to be in charge you can change it.

 

This method of paying the traditional tipped crew goes back to at least the early 1900's and was continue by Samuel Cunard who was born in Canada and immigrated to England.

 

In fact in the 1910-30 there was a movement in the US to do away with tipping-which obviously failed.

 

 

Let me make sure I understand...NCL has changed from traditional cruising where you had a specific set of crew members that were compensated by tadtional tipping in the "early 1900's and was continue by Samuel..."While NCL has changed - and you want the old fashioned tipping method to remain in place?Sorry, it no longer works and is really just a means to avoid collecting proper taxes.Again.. we are being asked to pay thier salary.

[smeyer418]

Let me make sure I understand...NCL has changed from traditional cruising where you had a specific set of crew members that were compensated by tadtional tipping in the "early 1900's and was continue by Samuel..."While NCL has changed - and you want the old fashioned tipping method to remain in place?Sorry, it no longer works and is really just a means to avoid collecting proper taxes.Again.. we are being asked to pay thier salary.

? huh... you have always been asked to pay their salary...as tips. In any case while NCL has changed it still is listed as a discretionary Daily charge(it was listed as discretionary on the Gem on May 7th).... I have no problem with the auto-tip/DSC what ever it is called. My point is YOU have always paid it. If you want it in the fare YOU will still be paying it but paying more for the privilege, good service or no, for it to be included in the fare. if you have no problem paying it in the fare, why do you have problems with the auto-tip/dsc?

makes no sense at all...except its not your way

[ShipShape4me]

? huh... you have always been asked to pay their salary...as tips. In any case while NCL has changed it still is listed as a discretionary Daily charge(it was listed as discretionary on the Gem on May 7th).... I have no problem with the auto-tip/DSC what ever it is called. My point is YOU have always paid it. If you want it in the fare YOU will still be paying it but paying more for the privilege, good service or no, for it to be included in the fare. if you have no problem paying it in the fare, why do you have problems with the auto-tip/dsc?

makes no sense at all...except its not your way

 

It is very simple.... We are paying thier salary, not a TIP. I am happy to pay it! Just call it what it really is..... Salary...Salary...Salary....Salary.... Salary.Get it?

[cruisingberger]

OK I am obviously the odd ball. I LOVE pre paying the Tip/Salary because then I don't have to run around the ship the last night with a bunch of envelopes. Instead, if I feel like it, I run around with small tokens of my appreciation like candy, rum cakes and so on. I feel like Santa. I am all about making my cruise as fun as it can possibly be. For me that means pre paying and then gifts. I hope everyone has that much fun as I do!:D

[BIG_Steve]

Something that does not make sense to me. If you choose to remove the DSC, you must do it on the next to last day of your cruise. If you were tipping people individually during the cruise, for good service of course, how would they possibly know those 'cash' tips were going to the tip pool since you obviously haven't removed the DSC yet? Do you honestly think the crew tags and accounts for every single tip, by passenger, during the cruise? Then if the passenger removes the DSC the crew member steps forward and surrenders any cash tips they received from that person during the past 6 days? Of course not. This would be almost impossible to track.

 

I have always paid the DSC and I also pass out cash tips many times per day during my cruises. The hogwash about collecting all those cash tips given by passengers who opted out of the DSC is just that, hogwash.

 

No one here knows what the crew will do in your scenario. Assuming it really is against cruise line policy for them to pocket the tips, then they're risking disciplinary action. If they really-really need the gig, maybe they'll turn it all in. If they are willing to risk trouble, maybe they won't. Who knows? None of us.

[crystalaziza]

O.K. people, I think you are all taking what I said the wrong way, or maybe I did not go into a lengthy reply because I did not feel it was necessary, but I will try to justify to those of you that think I'm doing wrong. First of all, after we had the bad experience in the buffett area, we ate entirely at the Cadillic Diner & everyone got a cash tip from us, at each meal. I hardly ever eat in the main dining rooms. Where we eat, I cash tip...always...... As far as the room stewards go, (except for that one time service was bad) they most always get $100.00 out of me. (more than they would have gotten from the automatic DSC). I personally feel face to face tipping is much more personal than a simple behind the scene tipping. Maintence workers do not benefit from the DSC. As told by the guest service department each & every time I've been on NCL, which to date has been 26 times, that DSC goes to room stewards & food preparers only. All others are paid differently. I remember giving one girl at the guest counter a $50.00 bill for letting me use the telephone to call home after recieving a message from my sister back in the states that my mother had passed away while I was on the Jewel in Feb. of 2010. So Please, do not think for a minute that I am cheap or do not tip at all. I just like to know exactly where my money is going. Guess I never saw any harm in that. Enough said. Now, I must go find a way to go and get these feathers removed........Sorry if I offended anyone.

[sparks1093]

O.K. people, I think you are all taking what I said the wrong way, or maybe I did not go into a lengthy reply because I did not feel it was necessary, but I will try to justify to those of you that think I'm doing wrong. First of all, after we had the bad experience in the buffett area, we ate entirely at the Cadillic Diner & everyone got a cash tip from us, at each meal. I hardly ever eat in the main dining rooms. Where we eat, I cash tip...always...... As far as the room stewards go, (except for that one time service was bad) they most always get $100.00 out of me. (more than they would have gotten from the automatic DSC). I personally feel face to face tipping is much more personal than a simple behind the scene tipping. Maintence workers do not benefit from the DSC. As told by the guest service department each & every time I've been on NCL, which to date has been 26 times, that DSC goes to room stewards & food preparers only. All others are paid differently. I remember giving one girl at the guest counter a $50.00 bill for letting me use the telephone to call home after recieving a message from my sister back in the states that my mother had passed away while I was on the Jewel in Feb. of 2010. So Please, do not think for a minute that I am cheap or do not tip at all. I just like to know exactly where my money is going. Guess I never saw any harm in that. Enough said. Now, I must go find a way to go and get these feathers removed........Sorry if I offended anyone.

 

From NCL's FAQ:

"Staff members including restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge"

 

So you are saying you found all of the "behind the scenes support staff" and tipped them as well?

[Barkeeper]

I'm sure I speak for most Brits that we prefer to pay a set price for our cruise which includes a fair wage for every crew member. We can then "tip" for extra service we receive. Or complain about sub standard service. It is not our normal way of employment that you earn your wage from tips only. We have a minimum wage policy.

 

HOWEVER. I do accept that cruising is dominated by U.S. cruise lines and U.S. way of doing things. So we should respect this and go with the flow or find an alternative line. On our NCL cruise on Jade in August we will pay our DSC via our onboard account and use $ bills for extra rewards.

[crystalaziza]

From NCL's FAQ:

"Staff members including restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge"

 

So you are saying you found all of the "behind the scenes support staff" and tipped them as well?

 

OMG: give it a rest !!!!!!!!!!

[sparks1093]

OMG: give it a rest !!!!!!!!!!

 

It's a valid question, but let's look at this another way.

 

You remove the DSC and tip only those who provide good or exceptional service and to cut out giving anything to those who give substandard service. As has been stated (if not on this thread at least on many others) if a passenger removes the DSC then the crew is required to turn in any cash tips received from that passenger. So, you tip the steward $100 and don't tip the rude buffet person. But the steward turns in that $100, which then gets put in the DSC pool and the rude buffet person ends up getting more than they would have received if you had left the DSC in place.

[Planer's Edge]

OMG: give it a rest !!!!!!!!!!

 

Spoken like a true DSC remover. :rolleyes:

 

PE

[luddite]

It is very simple.... We are paying thier salary, not a TIP. I am happy to pay it! Just call it what it really is..... Salary...Salary...Salary....Salary.... Salary.Get it?

 

I see that you finally understand. Sweet.

FWIW, in all business ventures, custimers pay the salaries of employees.

[ShipShape4me]

I see that you finally understand. Sweet.

FWIW, in all business ventures, custimers pay the salaries of employees.

 

I think I always understood.... My point is to call the exchnge of funds what it really is. With this in mind, I am more than please to pay the salary up front as I don't see different a better way to be sure that everyone who provides a service to me on NCL is compensated.