Auto Gratuity At Specialty Restaurant Implemented

[swedish weave]

As already stated, the pooling "for the benefit of the crew" wording is not new to the contract or FAQs. It's been that way for quite some time. Why you continue to insist that this is new is beyond me. It's particularly puzzling since you're a "veteran" poster on this board, and the wording has been discussed and dissected here repeatedly.

 

By the way...I'm in no way trying to defend, justify or explain away the new 18% specialty restaurant gratuity, because it seems just as inexplicable to me as it does to most of those who have posted on this thread.

 

For those who want to understand, no explanation is needed

 

For those who do not want to understand, no explanation is possible.

 

Goodbye !!

[hpecorari]

 

FYI - A.S., the new COO will be tweeting "live" (likely filtered ??) tomorrow supposingly to take Q&A (selectively respond ??) so if anybody has time & can do so at that time, feel free to join in & pose your questions.

 

 

I was there.....and I did. He never responded.

 

Harriet

[hpecorari]

Why should one get more than the other? For the same reason the server at Ruth Chris gets more than the server at the Olive Garden.

 

Not on a cruise ship. Those servers who work in the MDR actually work harder. However, we can agree to disagree!

 

Harriet

[jaja]

"Principle" ;)

 

sorry..for the error..principal = principle .if you meant this for me...mistakes happen....

[mking8288]

I was there.....and I did. He never responded.

You had good company, me ... ditto on the response or lack thereof, LOL and finally found my tweet.

-

Take 2 steps backward & look at the bigger picture with all these debates & rebuttals even among CC'ers here - not difficult to conclude that NCL do, in fact, have an image problem among other "challenges." It should, can and need to try to communicate a little better. The "dream team" formed a few months ago when Sheehan was CEO is now at makeover #3 (or is it #4, whatever)

The social media event was relatively friendly hosted by friends of the industry, no surprises there - but, among the other interesting comment I read was -

"Wonder if he can turn NCLs Customer Service around"

and, that, is the partial answer to the $54 questions posed by FDR, and then some ...

 

(There are some real & basic issues raised on their ----book page as well) Meanwhile, finalizing our packing for this Sunday's Breakaway sailing and see what "surprises" lie ahead for us next week.

Edited March 18, 2015 by mking8288

[rochelle_s]

Can someone tell me the hashtag that was used for the Q & A?

I would like to read what was asked and answered.

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

Rochelle

Edited March 19, 2015 by rochelle_s

[SnootieTootie]

I am telling you it is not true. We just sailed March 8-15. Ate in Cagney's, Lebistro, Tepanyaki, Cirque and Moderno. No added gratuties.

I think someone must be confused. It stated 18% gratuity on the menu but in smaller print it said it applied to DRINKS

Edited March 19, 2015 by SnootieTootie

[SteveH2508]

I wonder how well NCL are monitoring the various social media.

 

There are a lot of seriously PO RCCL cruisers who are saying they will look elsewhere - NCL is appearing as one of their alternatives.

 

Now is not the time to PO loyal NCL cruisers. The hike in the DSC we can cope with; the hike to 18% for drinks we can cope with; the application of 18% to the speciality restaurants (if true) is a step too far IMHO.

[denatravels]

I am telling you it is not true. We just sailed March 8-15. Ate in Cagney's, Lebistro, Tepanyaki, Cirque and Moderno. No added gratuties.

I think someone must be confused. It stated 18% gratuity on the menu but in smaller print it said it applied to DRINKS

 

 

It started on March 15-- did you eat in a specialty restaurant when you were getting off the ship?

[jmele999]

I have mixed feeling about the auto gratuity because we only eat at the specialty restaurants and always leave a tip becasue we feel that the crew deserves it. However, NCL should not tell me how much I should tip considering that I am already paying a fee to cruise, and another fee to eat at the specialty restaurant (I know I decide whether or not to go to the paid restaurants).

 

Here are some numbers to consider and how they can easily affect your budget.

 

Prices for two people

 

Cagney's = $60.00 + $10.80 (tip)

Teppanyaki = $50.00 + $9.00 (tip)

Le Bistro = $40.00 + $7.20 (tip)

Moderno = $40.00 + $7.20 (tip)

La Cucina = $30.00 + $5.40 (tip)

 

So eating at 5 specialty restaurants is going to cost me $39.60 more. Imagine how that can affect a family of four.

 

Is NCL trying to make up for all of the free perks that they have been giving out lately? Only time will tell.

[LMaxwell]

You're trying to create a difference that doesn't exist. In the restaurant you have no say in how that tip is distributed...restaurant management is in 100% control of that process. Similarly on the ship you have no say how the 18% is going to be distributed by NCL...they're in 100% control of the process.

 

The restaurant doesn't take the tip I leave and then decide how much a server is getting based in their own metrics. The restaurant doesn't take all the tip and decide if someone is worthy to dole it out to. Huge difference. Don't know why you can't see that or why you think this is the same thing. It just simply is not the same.

Don't know when you first started cruising but they used to plainly spell out a recommended tip and to what position. So yes, I did know where my money was going. Did they have back of the house prearranged tip out percentages to staff that supported them? Maybe. But they split 100% of the cash they got. And that's their business. When a company compels a second gratuity from me AND says they will distribute it based on their performance criteria I say it stinks. I know when to call it like it is. I spent 4 decades living in NJ so I know BS when I come across it.

 

This gratuity on top of gratuity is nonsense. You've paid for wait staff service already. Anything additional should be 100% at guest discretion, not forced by the cruise line. That's my bottomline on that. And no further technical analysis is going to change my opinion on that. [emoji568]

[hawkeyetlse]

I think someone must be confused.

I think so, too. We are talking about the Breakaway, this week. You sailed on the Epic, last week.

[Jennyyl]

Check again. Get back to me when you figure it out, if you ever do. JUST SAYIN

 

If you assume the tip is built into the price, you are correct that you are paying 15 percent gratuity, however, if the tip is not included in the price, you will pay 18 percent. I guess it's how you interpret it. I interpret it as the latter of the two.

For example: cost of meal is $100. 18 percent would be $18. If the cost of the meal and tip is $100, that would make the meal cost $85 and the 18 percent tip $15. Is it the cost of the meal, or the cost of the meal plus tip??

[NLH Arizona]

No !! NCL has changed the wording. It started as a simple dollar formula, but is now pooled and "for the benefit of crew".

 

If you can find out what they are doing, please post to let us all know.

I don't have any friends that work on the ships, that is why I thought you could find out the real deal from your friends that work on the ships.

[SnootieTootie]

I think so, too. We are talking about the Breakaway, this week. You sailed on the Epic, last week.

 

Did just one passenger say this? Or is it being reported by several people? Experienced cruisers or newbies? So they reported from the ship while at sea they were charged a 18% gratuity at a specialty restaurant?

[SissasMomE]

Your assumptions are incorrect. When the DSC first started, the cruise line gave me a breakdown of how the money was distributed, and I was able to verify the correctness of it with my friends who work on the ships. That is the ONLY reason I agreed to participate.

 

Now those numbers are not available, and if I am going to be billed for something, I want to know whSo, you see, it is my money and my business. If that information is not forthcoming or is not correct, I can still remove the DSC and do what I feel is right.

 

You may accept the present situation without question, but I do not.

 

Agreed. I started to reply, and deleted it. You said exactly what I wanted to say.

[njhorseman]

The restaurant doesn't take the tip I leave and then decide how much a server is getting based in their own metrics. The restaurant doesn't take all the tip and decide if someone is worthy to dole it out to. Huge difference. Don't know why you can't see that or why you think this is the same thing. It just simply is not the same.

Don't know when you first started cruising but they used to plainly spell out a recommended tip and to what position. So yes, I did know where my money was going. Did they have back of the house prearranged tip out percentages to staff that supported them? Maybe. But they split 100% of the cash they got. And that's their business. When a company compels a second gratuity from me AND says they will distribute it based on their performance criteria I say it stinks. I know when to call it like it is. I spent 4 decades living in NJ so I know BS when I come across it.

 

This gratuity on top of gratuity is nonsense. You've paid for wait staff service already. Anything additional should be 100% at guest discretion, not forced by the cruise line. That's my bottomline on that. And no further technical analysis is going to change my opinion on that. [emoji568]

 

Of course the restaurant decides how the tip is split. The employees aren't making the decision. And every so often a restaurant gets caught with its hand in the till, skimming a percentage of the tips for management. I think it's safe to assume that only a small percentage of restaurants that skim from the tips actually get caught, so at the very least you're being naive if you think that the distribution of tips by restaurants is any more on the up-and-up than what the cruise lines may do.

 

We've been cruising for close to 30 years...so yes, I know all about how it used to be done, and I know all about how people used to duck out of the dining room on the last night of the cruise to avoid tipping the waiters, which is one of the main reasons that cruise lines started charging tips/gratuities/service charges/hotel charges to the passengers' on board accounts rather than relying on cash tipping. The crew was getting stiffed a lot under the old system, much more so than they might be getting stiffed by the cruise lines under the current system.

 

By the way, one of the businesses I owned was a travel agency...so I know a bit about the cruise industry and the travel industry in general.

 

Oh yeah...I've lived in NJ for the past 39 years...and my entire life (let's just say more than 60 years) in NY City and its suburbs, since you think where you've lived is relevant.

 

Once again, you can simply decline to pay the 18% if you feel it's inappropriate, just as you can change the amount of service charge you pay.

[mking8288]

Can someone tell me the hashtag that was used for the Q & A? ...

@nclandy

@cruisechat

@CruiseNorwegian

#AskAndy

#cruisechat

[NLH Arizona]

Did you even read my posts? I said:

 

while it is POSSIBLE to have gratuities removed for bad service it is embarrassing and a hassle and almost no-one does even when service is bad.

 

And furthermore, as I ALSO said, they should just charge $30 instead of $25 as the fee and I will either go or not go based on that. In my case I'll go. $5 isn't enough for me to miss Le Bistro or Cagney's.

 

But my point isn't trying to quibble about the extra cost, but the WAY in which NCL is adding it. It is inconsistent to say I should pay a gratuity in a specialty restaurant for someone to take my order and serve me when I have already paid for someone to do that as a part of my DSC.

 

Do you disagree?

If one strongly disagrees with the 18% gratuity why would it be embarrassing? If it is about the principal of it, why would it be embarrassing? Is it embarrassing to only leave nothing or 5% or 10% at a land restaurant instead of 15% or 20%

 

If NCL were to raise the fee for the specialty restaurants by 18%, there would be more screaming than there is now with the possibility of an added gratuity that you could take off? When they raised the fees last time, I could not believe that people complained about $5 and said that they would never go again and that NCL was robbing them and just trying to make more money.

 

(1) no one knows if this is real. (2) no one knows what percentage of the DSC the specialty restaurant servers get versus the MDR servers, if any different. (3) no one knows if, because of this if it is true, that the specialty restaurant servers will get anything from the DSC. (4) people are getting so upset over something that they have no idea how it works and what I find most amusing, they are vilifying NCL over it when they have no facts. I'll wait and see what the real deal is before I say that it is not fair or NCL is taking the money, etc. (5) and most importantly, it is NCL's business and they can do whatever they want and we as customers can either accept any changes or find another cruise line that's policies more fit our beliefs.

Edited March 19, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[njhorseman]

Agreed. I started to reply, and deleted it. You said exactly what I wanted to say.

 

NCL hasn't stated how the service charges are distributed for years, and there hasn't been a recent change to the ticket contract or FAQs either with regard to the distribution of the service charge either, so you're choosing to side with an argument that's factually incorrect.

[hawkeyetlse]

If you assume the tip is built into the price, you are correct that you are paying 15 percent gratuity

That is absolutely not what I said. I said that if you only pay the 18% tip, you are getting an 85% discount compared to what someone without the UDP has to pay. You said that if you only pay the 18% tip, "that would be an 82 percent discount", and that doesn't make sense, no matter how you interpret it.

Did just one passenger say this? Or is it being reported by several people? Experienced cruisers or newbies? So they reported from the ship while at sea they were charged a 18% gratuity at a specialty restaurant?

So you've posted four times in this thread without bothering to read any of it?

[SissasMomE]

The difference here is I give money to a restaurant server, they keep that money and divide in the back of the house to a previously agreed to share to support people like busboys and bartenders.

 

What NCL is saying is the money goes to them and they then award it to employees based on their own internal metrics and evaluations. It's very different and it simply doesn't pass my sniff test. How are they determining the service I received?

 

This is my issue as well. We pay our DSC. I was always under the impressions, from these boards AND staff, that as long as you leave the DSC in place, the staff get to keep whatever extra cash you give them. The DSC already includes all wait staff. Why then is it necessary to have an extra 18% charge?? Who is getting that money? Further, how on earth do they just spring this on people without explanation? Some here seem to think that is acceptable, but I do not. Not by a long shot.

[njhorseman]

If one strongly disagrees with the 18% gratuity why would it be embarrassing? If it is about the principal of it, why would it be embarrassing? Is it embarrassing to only leave nothing or 5% or 10% at a land restaurant instead of 15% or 20%

 

If NCL were to raise the fee for the specialty restaurants by 18%, there would be more screaming than there is now with the possibility of an added gratuity that you could take off? When they raised the fees last time, I could not believe that people complained about $5 and said that they would never go again and that NCL was robbing them and just trying to make more money.

 

(1) no one knows if this is real. (2) no one knows what percentage of the DSC the specialty restaurant servers get versus the MDR servers, if any different. (3) no one knows if, because of this if it is true, that the specialty restaurant servers will get anything from the DSC. (4) people are getting so upset over something that they have no idea how it works and what I find most amusing, they are vilifying NCL over it when they have no facts. I'll wait and see what the real deal is before I say that it is not fair or NCL is taking the money, etc. (5) and most importantly, it is NCL's business and they can do whatever they want and we as customers can either accept any changes or find another cruise line that's policies more fit our beliefs.

 

I couldn't agree more.

[hpecorari]

You had good company, me ... ditto on the response or lack thereof, LOL and finally found my tweet.

-

Take 2 steps backward & look at the bigger picture with all these debates & rebuttals even among CC'ers here - not difficult to conclude that NCL do, in fact, have an image problem among other "challenges." It should, can and need to try to communicate a little better. The "dream team" formed a few months ago when Sheehan was CEO is now at makeover #3 (or is it #4, whatever)

The social media event was relatively friendly hosted by friends of the industry, no surprises there - but, among the other interesting comment I read was -

"Wonder if he can turn NCLs Customer Service around"

and, that, is the partial answer to the $54 questions posed by FDR, and then some ...

 

(There are some real & basic issues raised on their ----book page as well) Meanwhile, finalizing our packing for this Sunday's Breakaway sailing and see what "surprises" lie ahead for us next week.

 

Have fun on your cruise. Please report back once you're home!

 

Oh, and if you can find out answers to the following at the M&G or the Q&A they have, that would be great.

 

1. Why $2.00 more for suites? And can they conform once and for all that the Butler / Concierge are not apart of that DSC as their wording confuses some.

2. Why now the 18% gratuity in specialty restaurants when they're a part of the DSC and where does that money go?

 

Thanks....and good luck with those questions! LOL

 

Harriet

[SissasMomE]

NCL hasn't stated how the service charges are distributed for years, and there hasn't been a recent change to the ticket contract or FAQs either with regard to the distribution of the service charge either, so you're choosing to side with an argument that's factually incorrect.

 

Is it your position that the wait staff in the specialty restaurants are not, and/or never were, part of the DSC??

Edited March 19, 2015 by SissasMomE