how to adjust the daily service charge with HAL?

[FrankNJ]

oh my goodness:eek: Same old......... Doesn't matter which board it's all the same!

Cruise company's should pay a real wage for the job in hand, and add it to the fare. That way people would know the cost regardless of where they come from. Ie america/ europe, and they can then decide if they can afford it or not. Not everybody cruises every year! Some people have saved up a long time for a once in a lifetime trip, and dont even realise the cost of 'so called tips'. Tips could then be given for what they are intended.

I have been on a few cruises in the carribean where certain people think that throwing money at the bar staff, is the correct way to act, just so that they either get served before other people or not have the drink added to their bar bill!!

 

Shoot me.....

 

 

bang !

[billyelliot]

Ha ha........

[kymbakitty]

:D Good chance you could be correct !!

 

I had the same thought the first time I read the OP.

 

This is not a real question....just a post to start a crazy back and forth board battle.

 

I don't care what country you are from....a 22 day cruise is a huge luxury and the $450+ in service fee is for three weeks of vacation! Imagine how much your tips would be on land , for three consecutive weeks, for all the people you tip just to get to your car! Way more.

 

You don't plan a 22 day vacation not knowing about the ancillary charges/fees that go into such an amazing trip. A vacation of a lifetime for most and for many, simply impossible for so many reasons.

 

There is no way this post is more that a joke.

[pms4104]

I had the same thought the first time I read the OP.

 

This is not a real question....just a post to start a crazy back and forth board battle.

 

I don't care what country you are from....a 22 day cruise is a huge luxury and the $450+ in service fee is for three weeks of vacation! Imagine how much your tips would be on land , for three consecutive weeks, for all the people you tip just to get to your car! Way more.

 

You don't plan a 22 day vacation not knowing about the ancillary charges/fees that go into such an amazing trip. A vacation of a lifetime for most and for many, simply impossible for so many reasons.

 

There is no way this post is more that a joke.

If you notice, the OP is from the Netherlands ... not sure that tipping is typical worldwide. It is very possible his question was a genuine what to do thing.

[Globaliser]

I don't care what country you are from....a 22 day cruise is a huge luxury and the $450+ in service fee is for three weeks of vacation! Imagine how much your tips would be on land , for three consecutive weeks, for all the people you tip just to get to your car! Way more.

Not necessarily, as camp637 says. If, for example you were to have a 3-week holiday in Australia or New Zealand, you could easily tip absolutely nothing, without causing any offence or disappointment to anyone. You wouldn't have to tip anyone anything unless you really wanted to. It certainly wouldn't amount to $450 in tips over that 3-week period. Not everywhere in the world shares the same cultural attitudes as the US.

[billyelliot]

$450 over 3 weeks! Yes Globaliser is quite right. No way would you pay that in UK, Aussie or NZ for most that is a weeks wage at today's exchange rate. :eek:

[RuthC]

When I was in New Zealand and Australia it felt strange, and a bit wrong, not to tip. But I knew that was the culture, so I followed the local practice.

Is it really too much to expect others to follow the American practice of tipping for service when they are in that culture? Whether you agree with it or not, the payscale for service industries is built on that custom.

Whatever happened to "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"? (the expression wasn't meant to be taken literally as to "Rome".)

[eldercruser]

I really get a bit irked when hearing about no tips in NZ, OZ, Europe,etc. Every restaurant in Europe of any quality that I have been to in the past few years has always added a hefty service charge to the bill, along with charging for bread and water. In addition, it is expected you will "round up" the change as a "little extra. Also the European river cruise lines certainly make a big deal about leaving something for the crew PLUS an individual tip for the Cruise Director.

 

As for NZ and OZ, I found the "no tipping" policy raised a few eyebrows when dining in the better hotels and restaurants. A tip was expected and space for it was printed on the bill!

 

Now I think it may be time to move on.

[Storylady]

I can tell you they make more than $1 a day on Hal. I have no idea where that idea came from.

 

Rick Steve's said that the crews on average make approximately a $1 a day plus room and board in his latest book on cruising in the Mediterranean. Obviously he was talking about the whole cruise industry.

[cccole]

We do a 22 nights cruise with the Noordam next year. With 2 persons and a service charge of 11 dollar, means is a huge ammount of dollars. Can we adjust the amount and if so, how do we do that?

 

And is it possible to pay no service charge on out account and give an amount of tipping on the the staff by our own?

 

Have you gone on your cruise? And, if so, what did you decide to do? If you decided to tip on your own I would like to know how the staff liked receiving cash at the bars, restaurants, room, etc. If the crew receives the same amount or more than was included in the service charge I wonder if they liked the cash more than the service charge system. Cherie

[Globaliser]

Is it really too much to expect others to follow the American practice of tipping for service when they are in that culture? Whether you agree with it or not, the payscale for service industries is built on that custom.

 

Whatever happened to "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"?

There's nothing wrong with that.

 

What was wrong was kymbakitty's rudeness about someone who is not a Roman and who may have been merely asking what the Romans actually do.

 

It's a perfectly proper question to ask. One would only think that the question must be a joke by a troll if one thinks that the whole world naturally does it the same way as the Romans do.

[kazu]

Have you gone on your cruise? And, if so, what did you decide to do? If you decided to tip on your own I would like to know how the staff liked receiving cash at the bars, restaurants, room, etc. If the crew receives the same amount or more than was included in the service charge I wonder if they liked the cash more than the service charge system. Cherie

 

Cherie - they wouldn't have been too happy if you just gave cash and dropped the service charge as then they would have to pool whatever they received. The odds are, they would end up with LESS than if the service charge was left in place IMHO;)

[mawson]

One point i would like to make when you compere countries is the standard wage and conditions.

Avg wage in Aust in the hospitality area is $16 plus penalties in the US correct me if i'm wrong is around $8 . thus tipping is not a custom here in Aust.

while cruise ships are about the same for most cabin staff very low.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have you gone on your cruise? And, if so, what did you decide to do? If you decided to tip on your own I would like to know how the staff liked receiving cash at the bars, restaurants, room, etc. If the crew receives the same amount or more than was included in the service charge I wonder if they liked the cash more than the service charge system. Cherie

 

Of course the crew would appreciate getting cash right away and not waiting for the Hotel Service Charge monies to be given to them at a later date as many of them send money home quite often and do need cash for buying their toilitries, etc.

But years ago before the Hotel Service Charge was put into place, many of the crew were getting stiffed by people whom they assumed would be giving them a big tip at the end of the cruise. All too often we watched on the last night of the cruise as the dining room staff gathered on the stairs to sing and say goodbye. People would dash from the dining room as fast as they could. One time when our waiters came back to our area they were stunned to see only us sitting there waiting for them so that we could say goodbye and tip them.

Thus came along the Hotel Service Charge -- low wages -- now the crew was guaranteed some extra money. Yes the crew does like this new system -- they are ensured of a little more cash.

So when you decide to remove the Hotel Service Charge and tip on your own -- keep in mind that the crew does get a list of those who remove the Hotel Service Charge from their supervisors and they are expected to be honest and turn in any monies from people on that list if they don't want to chance losing their jobs.

[RuthC]

Avg wage in Aust in the hospitality area is $16 plus penalties in the US correct me if i'm wrong is around $8 . thus tipping is not a custom here in Aust.

I don't have a handle on the American wages anymore, but that $8. figure doesn't sound right for many service workers---it's too high.

That figure sounds more like minimum wage, which is what service workers such as waiters/waitresses, hotel chambermaids would be getting.

However, waiters/waitresses don't get that much from the employer. A few years ago the wage was more like $2.95/hour, and the rest of the minimum wages was assumed in tips. It didn't matter if those tips were received, or not. :eek: Taxes were even withheld and reported to Internal Revenue as at least minimum wage/hour, again, even if the waiter/waitress didn't make that much.

I expect in the last few years the $2.95 might have gone up a bit, as the minimum wage increased. And I am sure it varies some from state to state, as some states have a higher minimum wage than the federal mandate.

[cccole]

Kazu and Krazy Kruizers - Thank you for your comments. The crew work so hard and deserve at least 11% gratuity IMO!!!!

 

I actually like the service charge so that I do not have to deal with envelopes and tips at the end of the cruise (except when we want to tip more.) And...those that we do not encounter who have made our cruise enjoyable are covered.

 

Now all we need to remember are those few that are not covered by the service charge.

 

Cherie