extra added tax and gratuity

[KeithJenner]

thats not the point though !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im not saying they shouldnt put up the prices but if the price increased in say March then only those booking after this date should be charged the new price simply because thats the price/cost at the time of booking and they would be aware of it . It was not what I booked!!!!!!!!!!!!! or agreed to pay for :mad:

 

 

 

just imagine you went to a furniture shop and bought your sofa for £200 and then 6 months later they tell you its gone up and you owe them another £100 would you be happy ??????????????? its the same thing

 

 

It is exactly the point, and your example is far from being the same thing.

 

The cruise price is exactly the same. Prices of extras are subject to change. When you buy a sofa there are no such extras.

 

As I said, they gave you the option of paying the previous price. You chose not to take that option, but it was offered.

 

I'm not necessarily defending the way NCL did it, by the way. I think they should have done it the way you suggest, but by offering the option, I believe they went further than they actually could have got away with.

 

By doing so, there are people on these boards who have complained strongly that the DSC being charged differs in the same cruise, depending on when people booked. As I say, however they did it they will be criticised.

[Froggitt]

Buy the UDP and avoid VAT

[glittergal1]

Yes I was given the option of pre paying the daily service charge but NOT the added 3% on bar service and usually this is where most of my spending goes :)

 

I guess we will need to agree to disagree

[anniegb]

But you could argue your cruise price what you bought hasn't gone up, you didn't pre-pay the DSC (which locks in the rate at booking). So the bits they have changed are the variables booked to your onboard account. The drinks prices themselves have gone up since you booked would you expect they keep the prices the same as when you booked?

 

Anyhow.. If you are a solo traveller you'll love Epic and the studio lounge. Don't forget if you eat at a speciality restaurant on your birthday tell them when you arrive :D

 

I can understand Glittergal's POV.

 

I just ask the question - so please no flaming - and this is directed specifically at UK passengers - were you made aware at the time of booking that all chargeable extras would be subject to VAT and possible gratuity??

 

For me that would be a deal breaker. 28% surcharge on a cocktail whatever way you look at it as a big additional cost.

 

Annie

[anniegb]

Buy the UDP and avoid VAT

 

Glittergal would if it was at MSC price point :)

 

Enjoy your cruise Glittergal.

 

Annie

[KeithJenner]

Yes I was given the option of pre paying the daily service charge but NOT the added 3% on bar service and usually this is where most of my spending goes :)

 

 

 

I guess we will need to agree to disagree

 

 

I think we probably disagree less than you think. I haven't given my opinion at all about the extra 3%

[Single Cruiser]

I can understand Glittergal's POV.

 

I just ask the question - so please no flaming - and this is directed specifically at UK passengers - were you made aware at the time of booking that all chargeable extras would be subject to VAT and possible gratuity??

 

For me that would be a deal breaker. 28% surcharge on a cocktail whatever way you look at it as a big additional cost.

 

Annie

 

Having done double digit NCL cruises I was well aware of the auto grats on the drinks at 15% (which has now gone up to 18%). This and the DSC is clearly indicated in the booking conditions and your agent should advise you of it.

 

As for VAT this has always been odd, previously when I've prepaid beverage package I've not paid VAT onboard. I've just come back from a cruise last week and where applicable (in Spanish ports) I was charged it extra.

 

The problem for most UK passengers is that UK lines like Thomson, P&O would include service charges in the cruise price. Whereas most US cruise lines have a lower cruise cost and then add the extras including tips (due to their tipping culture).

[KeithJenner]

I just ask the question - so please no flaming - and this is directed specifically at UK passengers - were you made aware at the time of booking that all chargeable extras would be subject to VAT and possible gratuity??

 

 

I booked my first recent NCL cruise online so there was no opportunity for anyone to make me aware when booking.

 

However, I was fully aware, from looking at brochure that there would be a gratuity added to extras. I also knew there was the possibility of taxes.

 

The cruise was the Epic Barcelona trip and, whilst I knew about taxes, I didn't know they would apply all through the cruise, and in an ideal world they would make it clearer. Having said that, I doubt whether there is much of a difference between how other lines advertise it.

 

Edit to say, I'm thinking mainly of the U.S. Based lines. Do the British lines have bar prices which include any taxes?

Edited March 21, 2015 by KeithJenner

[Single Cruiser]

Buy the UDP and avoid VAT

 

No, VAT is NOT included anymore in UBP or UDP only the gratuities.

 

You will get charged onboard VAT where applicable..

[Single Cruiser]

So to be clear and summarise:

 

Drinks:

 

pay onboard: Bar price + 18% auto tip (was 15%) + 10% vAT ( if in Spanish ports or closed EU cruises )

 

UBP pre-pay: includes drinks and 18% on package price at booking upfront. You get charged 10% VAT to onboard account where applicable.

 

UBP onboard: as above however base price is $5 a day more (so 18% tip is also more)

 

 

Dining:

 

Pay onboard: Speciality restaurants + 18% tip + 10% VAT (where applicable)

UDP pre-pay: fixed + 18% upfront, VAT charged onboard where applicable.

 

DSC:

Now appears only complimentary waiting, house keeping, cooks, behind the scenes staff (laundry etc..)

Onboard $12.95 a day pp

Pre-pay in UK £ and is a few £ cheaper

[KeithJenner]

Pre-pay in UK £ and is a few £ cheaper

 

 

Is this still the case? Someone recently reported the UK rate had gone up.

 

What was it when you booked your last cruise?

[hawkeyetlse]

Yes I was given the option of pre paying the daily service charge but NOT the added 3% on bar service and usually this is where most of my spending goes :)

Actually, you were. I mean, you cannot prepay just the tips on drinks you plan to buy later on board, but if you had pre-purchased the UBP before March 1, for example, you would have paid the 15% tip, not 18%.

 

Then again, NCL gave no prior warning that this percentage was going up, so why would you have thought of pre-purchasing the UBP? Ditto for the 18% price hike in the UDP yesterday.

[anniegb]

Having done double digit NCL cruises I was well aware of the auto grats on the drinks at 15% (which has now gone up to 18%). This and the DSC is clearly indicated in the booking conditions and your agent should advise you of it.

 

As for VAT this has always been odd, previously when I've prepaid beverage package I've not paid VAT onboard. I've just come back from a cruise last week and where applicable (in Spanish ports) I was charged it extra.

 

The problem for most UK passengers is that UK lines like Thomson, P&O would include service charges in the cruise price. Whereas most US cruise lines have lower cruise cost and then add the extras including tips (due to their tipping culture).

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

My 1st cruise was ex Barcelona and I was not charged VAT. However I know things change.

 

I think GG and many cruisers are aware that gratuity is added for drinks. However reading in between the lines, I suspect that the VAT issue may not have been fully explained?? and of course there has been the hike in drinks prices then the hike in DSC and the hike in drinks gratuities and so it goes on :)

 

BTW P&O do not include their DSC in the boarding fare although I think you can prepay. BTW they have just announced an increase in their DSC and that forum has lit up.

 

The Thomson fare does include their DSC.

 

I think transparency is the issue and I know I if I budgeted on an alcohol spend of say $200 and after all the price and gratuity increases plus VAT it became $250 I would not be a happy bunny.

 

Travel Agents and JMO need to do a better job at explaining the VAT issue.

 

NCL - again JMO - have implemented too many price increases in too short a period.

 

I know FDR wants $5 pp pd extra out of his passengers - well put it on the base fare and stop tinkering at the edges.

 

Annie

[Single Cruiser]

Is this still the case? Someone recently reported the UK rate had gone up.

 

What was it when you booked your last cruise?

 

Just checking . Booked on Weds but my agent auto adds my grats into cruise price so just had to extract it and it was:

 

£8.25 a day. At current 1.47 exchange $12.13 so still cheaper by about a $ a day

[Jofishes]

we pre paid our dsc when it was offered at £7 per person per day we figured that was a good deal given the exchange rates at the moment

 

OP i have a friend in the UK who called recently about a drop in prices on her cruise and to enquire about a possible upgrade and she managed to blag a upgrade to a balcony from her inside room and the UBP for the price of her soda one, i'd go and make a super friendly polite call myself, expressing your concern about the taxes and you not being informed on making your reservation and ask if there is anything they can do, the very worst they can say is no but then you never know

Edited March 21, 2015 by Jofishes

[Single Cruiser]

Thanks for your reply.

 

My 1st cruise was ex Barcelona and I was not charged VAT. However I know things change.

 

I think GG and many cruisers are aware that gratuity is added for drinks. However reading in between the lines, I suspect that the VAT issue may not have been fully explained?? and of course there has been the hike in drinks prices then the hike in DSC and the hike in drinks gratuities and so it goes on :)

 

BTW P&O do not include their DSC in the boarding fare although I think you can prepay. BTW they have just announced an increase in their DSC and that forum has lit up.

 

The Thomson fare does include their DSC.

 

I think transparency is the issue and I know I if I budgeted on an alcohol spend of say $200 and after all the price and gratuity increases plus VAT it became $250 I would not be a happy bunny.

 

Travel Agents and JMO need to do a better job at explaining the VAT issue.

 

NCL - again JMO - have implemented too many price increases in too short a period.

 

I know FDR wants $5 pp pd extra out of his passengers - well put it on the base fare and stop tinkering at the edges.

 

Annie

 

Totally agree. Just present a honest price upfront. The problem is that people compare lead-in prices to other cruise lines so it would require all cruise lines to do the same.

 

That said I did a behind the scenes tour on Norwegian Spirit last week, including on the bridge but in the laundry area below waterline in a sealed room with no daylight there was a young girl with a face mask on sitting next to the pressing machine who was just taking sheets folding and stacking them in piles manually, 12hrs a day.. That alone made my mind up never to cut the DSC (assuming that NCL aren't lying about how it's pooled and distributed)

[Single Cruiser]

we pre paid our dsc when it was offered at £7 per person per day we figured that was a good deal given the exchange rates at the moment

 

OP i have a friend in the UK who called recently about a drop in prices on her cruise and to enquire about a possible upgrade and she managed to blag a free upgrade to a balcony and the UBP for the price of her soda one, i'd go and make a super friendly polite call myself, expressing your concern about the taxes and you not being informed on making your reservation and ask if there is anything they can do, the very worst they can say is no but then you never know

Yep.

 

I rebooked one of my Epic cruises to include the UBP offer and my agent got deposit transferred over.

[mking8288]

... I was given the option of pre paying the daily service charge but NOT the added 3% on bar service ...

We are leaving tomorrow on the BA and received NCL's email about the DSC increase with the option to prepay and lock in the "old" daily rate of $12 p/p.

For 7 days, the savings of $14 is not a big deal to pay in advance as a matter of principle FWIW, less than 1 game of Bingo, which we no longer play with the silly payout.

Just doing a last minute check, logged into MyNCL account, the website is still showing 15% gratuity for drinks AND $12 for DSC, which is grandfathered as "discretionary" - if we proceed to pay now, the checkout total is still $168 for 7 nights x 2 people. Same on the checkout & payment screen. My understanding is that charges onboard will reflect the newest rates ...

 

 

NCL's communications, specifically, its online contents & accuracy, which reflected its I.T. Dept. has been fairly infamous for misinformation over the years. NCL social media, please kindly made a note of it - we all know you are silently monitoring these threads, nothing new, I know ...

Please note that access via non-US browsers into the site might yield different results, try doing a VPN into the US url's if possible - YMMV, as always.

 

Edited March 21, 2015 by mking8288

[Froggitt]

No, VAT is NOT included anymore in UBP or UDP only the gratuities.

 

You will get charged onboard VAT where applicable..

I should have said buy the UBP in advance and avoid VAT.

[Single Cruiser]

I should have said buy the UBP in advance and avoid VAT.

 

That used to be the case.

 

Just back on Monday from onboard Spirit.

 

Purchased UBP in advance. Last year had no charges onboard. This year was charged VAT for each drink I consumed in Spanish ports.

 

So pre-purchasing no longer seems to avoid VAT like last year!

[penwah2002]

On my upcoming BA cruise in April I'm simply bringing my own wine, pay the 15.00 corkage fee and call it macaroni. Wine is my usual drink, I may throw another type of drink in time to time but I'll just pay corkage and drink Cabernet I bring.

[hawkeyetlse]

I should have said buy the UBP in advance and avoid VAT.

For the OP's cruise (departing from Barcelona and never leaving the EU VAT zone) I don't think pre-paying helps. I believe that VAT will be charged on the menu price of every drink order, at the time of ordering. That is how it worked in February on a similar itinerary, but we had the promotional UBP and that could (unlikely) make a difference. I don't know if there is a choice of paying VAT up front on the purchase price of the UBP vs. drink by drink throughout the cruise. The former option would of course be preferable if one plans to drink the full value of the package and more.

[Single Cruiser]

For the OP's cruise (departing from Barcelona and never leaving the EU VAT zone) I don't think pre-paying helps. I believe that VAT will be charged on the menu price of every drink order, at the time of ordering. That is how it worked in February on a similar itinerary, but we had the promotional UBP and that could (unlikely) make a difference. I don't know if there is a choice of paying VAT up front on the purchase price of the UBP vs. drink by drink throughout the cruise. The former option would of course be preferable if one plans to drink the full value of the package and more.

 

So I've pre-purchased UBP about 5 times on European cruises, Epic and Spirit, never got charged VAT until this months cruise. Looks like the VAT people clamping down.

so whilst in Barcelona my grey goose and Pepsi at $10.95 resulted in a $1.10 on my onboard account. When we left Barcelona I didn't pay it (the cruise leaves EU) so I expect Epics will be VAT for the cruise so if you are at $10 drinks expect a $1 per drink VAT

[anniegb]

So I've pre-purchased UBP about 5 times on European cruises, Epic and Spirit, never got charged VAT until this months cruise. Looks like the VAT people clamping down.

so whilst in Barcelona my grey goose and Pepsi at $10.95 resulted in a $1.10 on my onboard account. When we left Barcelona I didn't pay it (the cruise leaves EU) so I expect Epics will be VAT for the cruise so if you are at $10 drinks expect a $1 per drink VAT

 

Interesting.

 

Just thinking out loud but I wonder if this was NOT advised to you in writing beforehand, if there is not a breach of one European consumer law along the road.

 

If I pre-book and pre-pay say hotel accommodation in Berlin, I am advised in writing that a city tax is payable.

 

I would think as a minimum that any additional taxes payable by the consumer should be notified to them in writing.

 

As I say interesting.

 

BTW I know Spain needs the money - it is not just the extra tax, it is the lack of transparency. I also did a speed read of the NCL FAQ and I could not find any reference to additional VAT payable by the consumer.

 

Annie

Edited March 21, 2015 by anniegb

[glittergal1]

Well all I can say is " NCL if you are monitoring these forums you had better make my Birthday cruise pretty damn special otherwise Im defecting permanently to MSC" (who indecently on my last solo cruise gave me an upgrade to a balcony from an inside) :D

 

And especially since Ive talked 2 friends into the Epic cruise too