When to tip? - Gem trip in June

[che5904]

Then the charge is neither a gratuity or a tip. It is simply a hidden fee that should be reported in the booking price, same as Port Taxes and Government Fees.

 

A tip is a bonus given to show appreciation for good service. The better the service, the better the tip.

 

This is all a matter of one's definitions.

 

So if you want to use your definition of a tip, then the DSC would be considered in lieu of normal tipping for the crew that everyone uses. It is money that is dedicated to the crew only.

 

"Why is there a service charge?

The reason there's a fixed service charge is an important one: Our Crew (as are the crew from other lines) is encouraged to work together as a team. 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 supports."

[SuiteCruiser]

Then the charge is neither a gratuity or a tip. It is simply a hidden fee that should be reported in the booking price, same as Port Taxes and Government Fees.

 

A tip is a bonus given to show appreciation for good service. The better the service, the better the tip.

 

The reason it's been changed to a service charge is because of freestyle. There is no way you can tip all of the people who serve you. In the old days, you had the same waiter every night and you tipped (or didn't show up and stiffed) the waiter on the last night. He/she then tipped out the assistant waiters, busboys, etc from the amount they received.

 

On other lines, if you choose anytime dining, the charge is automatically put through your account as well.

 

Every line has moved to putting the tips/gratuities or DSC on the account. On a couple, if you have traditional dining, you can give your waiter a voucher for what you've given them.

 

The reality is that if you opt to have the DSC removed, you will be on a list and your steward will be informed. Anyone who receives cash tips from you must return them to the tip pool. It's not worth losing their jobs to pocket it. But, if you leave the DSC in place, and you choose to tip over and above (there's no expectation to do this) then that person keeps 100% of the tip.

 

I hope that makes sense.

[che5904]

The reason it's been changed to a service charge is because of freestyle. There is no way you can tip all of the people who serve you. In the old days, you had the same waiter every night and you tipped (or didn't show up and stiffed) the waiter on the last night. He/she then tipped out the assistant waiters, busboys, etc from the amount they received.

 

The reality is that if you opt to have the DSC removed, you will be on a list and your steward will be informed. Anyone who receives cash tips from you must return them to the tip pool. It's not worth losing their jobs to pocket it. But, if you leave the DSC in place, and you choose to tip over and above (there's no expectation to do this) then that person keeps 100% of the tip.

 

Suitecruiser I understand completely what you are saying and with how things are done on NCL and other places that "tip out" or share in a pool of tips this makes perfect sense.

 

 

But in reading what that poster wrote "A tip is a bonus given to show appreciation for good service. The better the service, the better the tip". I honestly believe that in some cases with these threads it is a case of what people believe a tip is and their definition of a tip which causes some dispute. (notice I said "some" cases ;))

 

I hand over my DSC fees without argument. I know what it is, I understand what it is and why it is done. So it is what it is and I view it as part of my cruising cost. But I truthfully can't say I agree with it and here is why.

 

Like the poster quoted and requoted by me above. That is exactly how I see and have always seen a "tip" (call it old fashioned tipping). All the other crew that is getting benefit from this has not given me "service". (Table bussers, dishwashers and who ever else behind the scenes benefit from it).

 

Which is why above I had stated to think of it as "in lieu of tipping", therefore the need to tip is unnecessary while on board. So if I feel strongly about showing appreciation to a certain person that has given me exceptional service I can tip them what I wish in cash. The same as I would do on land with exceptional service, tip them more than what is normally socially acceptable.

[SuiteCruiser]

Suitecruiser I understand completely what you are saying and with how things are done on NCL and other places that "tip out" or share in a pool of tips this makes perfect sense.

 

 

But in reading what that poster wrote "A tip is a bonus given to show appreciation for good service. The better the service, the better the tip". I honestly believe that in some cases with these threads it is a case of what people believe a tip is and their definition of a tip which causes some dispute. (notice I said "some" cases ;))

 

I hand over my DSC fees without argument. I know what it is, I understand what it is and why it is done. So it is what it is and I view it as part of my cruising cost. But I truthfully can't say I agree with it and here is why.

 

Like the poster quoted and requoted by me above. That is exactly how I see and have always seen a "tip" (call it old fashioned tipping). All the other crew that is getting benefit from this has not given me "service". (Table bussers, dishwashers and who ever else behind the scenes benefit from it).

 

Which is why above I had stated to think of it as "in lieu of tipping", therefore the need to tip is unnecessary while on board. So if I feel strongly about showing appreciation to a certain person that has given me exceptional service I can tip them what I wish in cash. The same as I would do on land with exceptional service, tip them more than what is normally socially acceptable.

 

I hear what you're saying, the real issue at hand here is that the cruising industry from the beginning of time set the amounts one is to tip and that is the amount expected. Yes, we can call it whatever we want, but it's not really a "tip" in the old fashioned sense, it's an allotment payment whether your service is fantastic or just okay. That's why daily service charge is a truer way to state what happens. Once this is paid, no tips (other than those not in the tip pool) are required, or expected.

 

The industry is who created this issue, and maybe it's not fair, but it is what it is.

 

In reality, if we tipped "the old fashioned way" I would leave $2.00 for breakfast tip 20% of a breakfast charge of $10.00) $4.00 for lunch (20% of a $20 lunch) and $6.00 for dinner, at least. We haven't even started to look at tipping the steward.

 

This way saves everyone money (except for the stiffers) and makes it easy too.

[che5904]

I hear what you're saying, the real issue at hand here is that the cruising industry from the beginning of time set the amounts one is to tip and that is the amount expected. Yes, we can call it whatever we want, but it's not really a "tip" in the old fashioned sense, it's an allotment payment whether your service is fantastic or just okay. That's why daily service charge is a truer way to state what happens. Once this is paid, no tips (other than those not in the tip pool) are required, or expected.

 

The industry is who created this issue, and maybe it's not fair, but it is what it is.

 

In reality, if we tipped "the old fashioned way" I would leave $2.00 for breakfast tip 20% of a breakfast charge of $10.00) $4.00 for lunch (20% of a $20 lunch) and $6.00 for dinner, at least. We haven't even started to look at tipping the steward.

 

This way saves everyone money (except for the stiffers) and makes it easy too.

 

Yup agreed. Thats sort of what I did when I started cruising. I guess I'm an optomist at heart and just assume good service whereever I go, unless shown otherwise. So regardless to where my vacation is, I allot so much for tipping in my budget. When I sat and figured out their DSC and what I would pay to normally tip everyone I do, it worked out to about the same. It just saved me (as the OP wrote), carrying a wad of dollar bills around. Convenience all around. I like simplicity on my vacations so this worked well for me.

[ndabunka]

OK, so DSC becomes a "standard" charge or fee that is shared with the crew. Isn't the crew already SUPPOSE to deliver "excellent service" by DEFAULT?

 

In the case of waiters and waitresses in the USA, they don't get minimum wage because the IRS allows the owner of the company the ability to reduce his costs by allowing the wait staff to earn "tips" which they then claim on their income taxes. This helps the small business owner and your can easily recognize "above and beyond" service to the individual that delivered it.

 

In some ways, you could say that DSC is benefiting BIG BUSINESS (the cruise lines) instead of the individual contributors and they are "somewhat" disguising it as a "tip" when in reality, it is actually just additional compensation. As long as 100% of the DSC actually goes to the crew and there are not additional "fees" tacked on (payable to the Cruise line itself) for the distribution, I guess DSC is an OK model but then you are simply paying it for a certain level of service...standard. If every person on the ships exceeds performance then you would have a hard time paying everyone for everything. In short, I think DSC is paying for simply maintaining a "norm" rather than any type of validation of "exceptional" service but that may be just me.

 

PS - My wife was a waitress and therefore we may tip better than most. On all prior cruises, we have always tipped in person (and prefer it that way) but it appears that we may not have that chance on this cruise due to this new "legislation" called DSC. Oh well...

[GriffinAlexander]

Huh? What if you don't WANT the tips on that account? In all my prior cruises, we always tipped in cash directly with the cruise employee. It's always nice to have someone CASH. The last thing I wan to do is to tip in cash and then have ANOTHER charge for tips on my closing account. How do I prevent NCL from applying this charge?

 

We typically don't use any $1 bills and simply round up to a $5 or $10.

 

Any drinks purchased onboard ALREADY have the tip included in the sales price so $1's aren't needed there.

 

Most recommend tipping $1/bag for handlers so if you have 7 bags, you may need a few $1s for that

 

 

We just got back from our first cruise. We are a couple and when we arrived at the terminal, we gave the guy at the dock where we dropped off the luggage a $5 bill. The steward was great and got $20 4 different times throughout the week from us. We choose to tip on just about every drink bill, plus we have CAS drink cards and soda stickers. I tipped on every request for a drink at least $1, but the bartenders got to know me and I'd often ask for 2 at a time of whatever I'd order, soda, water, mixed drinks, whatever. In the restaurants we would tip on places where we were presented a bill to sign as well.

I play the slots quite a bit, hit a couple of nights, and tipped the steward on nights I did well. We also expressed our appreciation verbally and treated the people we had helping us with courtesy and respect. Even on the cruise, others had differing opinions on what to tip. Some people didn't tip hardly anything if at all, others tipped a lot. I think that part of it is your budget, and part of it is recognizing their service, and an important part is letting the crew know they're appreciated, at least the ones that help you out a lot. Just my opinion.

[ndabunka]

...The steward was great and got $20 4 different times throughout the week from us. We choose to tip on just about every drink bill, plus we have CAS drink cards and soda stickers....

 

Are you saying that you tipped $80 in ADDITION to the DSC and that even though each drink already has a 15% gratuity ALREADY ADDED to the drink prices, that you tipped some more on each drink in cash or that you just put an additional tip on the receipt (to bring it up to 20% or so)?

[GriffinAlexander]

Are you saying that you tipped $80 in ADDITION to the DSC and that even though each drink already has a 15% gratuity ALREADY ADDED to the drink prices, that you tipped some more on each drink in cash or that you just put an additional tip on the receipt (to bring it up to 20% or so)?

 

For our steward, yes. We felt he went above and beyond so he got $20 4 different times throughout the week, all on days I had hit at the slots, so I didn't notice it. I'd left my safe unlocked by accident one day with quite a bit of money in it and nothing was missing so I felt that his honesty deserved a reward as well.

 

A lot of our drinks came from the CAS card. Those drinks don't get charged anything, a charge or a tip. So I'd give usually $2-$3 and order 2 at a time. Drinks in the bars would usually get an extra dollar. If we were spending some time in a bar or club I would give a five the first time and the waiter or waitress would always be very attentive after that. Dinner would get anywhere from $3-$8 depending on where we ate, if we had drinks, how the service was. Not huge tips but they added up. And when we needed to do some laundry, our steward saved us quite a bit by telling us about the special "all u can fit into the bag for 24.95", which probably saved us $30-$40 since laundry is so expensive on the ship.

 

Those were all cash tips in addition the charges added on by the ship and the dsc that we are bound to give them. It's what we were comfortable with. I know others don't tip on their drinks at all. We got a lot of free casino drinks which more than made up for the tips.

 

We will probably be a little lighter with the tips next time around. Maybe $40 or $50 for the steward, which I've read is quite common, and $1 for casino drinks. I'll still tip based on service and good service will always get an extra tip. I grew up with people who worked in service related jobs and who always told me to tip well because these people do depend on their tips to get by.

 

 

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[Gregor4500]

I didn't read the whole thread so this might have been said.

 

It never hurts to tip a bartender.

[GriffinAlexander]

I didn't read the whole thread so this might have been said.

 

It never hurts to tip a bartender.

 

That advice came in handy many times during our cruise on the Epic a few weeks ago. Tipping the bartender/waitstaff, whether in the casino where the drinks were free for me, or in the clubs or bars meant at the very least that I had an attentive waitress/bartender that never made me wait I also got a few drinks for free here and there. Not a lot, but a few. They def appreciate the extra tip. I got into the habit of ordering 2 at a time as well of each drink. They make them nice n strong too when they like you.

 

 

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