NCL's 18% 'suggested' gratuity charge

[Cuizer2]

It might be usual to in the US (or Canada) for example to give a tip to a bar tender for serving you a beer, in Europe its highly unusual.

 

Something like 70% of the cruisers are from the US. As a result, for better or worse, cruise ships tend to follow US customs, including tipping everyone that serves you, unless they are in a "white collar" (management, professional, government ...) job.

 

So while it is common to tip the taxi cab driver or the bus driver, you don't tip airline pilots or cruises ship officers (including the navigator and captain).

Edited August 17, 2016 by Cuizer2

[gary222]

Wowzers, is that true?

 

 

Is he referring to the daily service charge rather than the 18% suggested optional and discretionary auto-gratuity?

[pieshops]

Why is it 'no, no no'?

Where the rule from NCL that you can't remove the auto-gratuity and instead pay in cash?

 

Just because you can do it, does not make it right. You can go into any restaurant in the US and order a meal and walk out and not leave a tip, you will not get arrested, the waitress or owner may have something to say to you but nothing will happen to you. IT DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT THOUGH.

[pieshops]

Wowzers, is that true?

 

they do not get any of the DSC but they do get the 18% tip applied to your bill for the drink and or the 18% if you get the beverage promo

[gary222]

Brand new poster, and you guys actually carried this 4 pages so far :rolleyes:

 

 

indeed, i really should apologise, and realised before I posted that issues surrounding charges, fees, hidden fees, gratuities, tips were so uncontentious and straight-forward....

[BrandoMan13]

So there would be no point or advantage to anyone in informing the server before the bill is produced or at the point of order of your intention?

 

Why would you need to do this after the fact?

 

Why would it be an issue of debate?

 

There is no debate. If you buy a drink, you pay the price plus 18%. do it or don't buy the drink. Your choice.

[gary222]

I've never noticed the staff being tired, over-worked, or insincere. I guess I'm just not as observant as you.

 

However, if I did and it troubled me so, I probably wouldn't want to over-work or over-stress them more by making silly requests of them.

 

If it bothered me so much I probably just wouldn't subject myself to seeing such misery and not cruise at all.

 

"I guess I'm just not as observant as you" Perhaps - well you were on holiday of course, you don't want to be bothered worrying whether any of your servers are not happy with their work - would you? It might put a real downer on your vacation no?

 

Why would requesting to omit an auto-gratuity which is only a suggestion a 'silly request?

[gary222]

There is no debate. If you buy a drink, you pay the price plus 18%. do it or don't buy the drink. Your choice.

 

But you mention that there would inevitably be a debate if you request not add the 18% as an auto-gratuity to the slip

 

You seem to be implying from this comment that the 18% is mandatory as an auto-gratuity and there is no other option than to either do it like this or not buy a drink?

 

if the 18% is mandatory as you suggest it is why is NCL saying its a mere, 'suggestion'?

 

"What about tipping?

 

You will have either pre-paid the service charge on your holiday invoice or it will be charged to your on-board account. In addition, a suggested gratuity of 18% on drink bills, dining options, which are not inlcuded in the cruise fare and on spa and salon bills will be added automatically and charged to your on-board account./I]

[NMLady]

If you tell the server while ordering to not charge it or to remove it he won't know how to do it since the cash register automatically adds it on as a minimum gratuity. The word 'suggested' is not used on US site. i don't know why it is included on UK site. But 18% is automatic minimum.

Edited August 17, 2016 by NMLady

[westcoastman]

Since you have cruised before you do know that there are most likely a dozen or more other people all waiting to order a drink from the same bar as the same time. Time is money for those on the UBP needing to keep pace with their daily minimum to break even. The preparation and transaction happen extremely quickly so they can serve as many customers as possible. Of course the vast majority of bar customers are on a UBP so they have already paid their $14.22 per day in advance so any gratuities accumulated above that amount the cruiseline is not asking any more from the UBP customer. There is NEVER pressure to pay additional gratuities and I do like the new system where no receipts are given to UBP customers unless it is for something not covered in the UBP.

 

For those paying out of pocket it is almost must seem like you are at a frustrating disadvantage at the bar; overpriced drinks that add up quickly, paper sales slips, auto-gratuities directly out of pocket and ignoring that additional tip line.

[gary222]

What about Gratuities?

Additionally, there is an 18% gratuity and spa service charge added for all spa and salon services, as well as an 18% gratuity and beverage service charge added for all beverage purchases and an 18% gratuity and specialty service charge added to all specialty restaurant dining and entertainment based dining

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq#tipping

 

The wording is slightly different from the NCL UK site:

 

What about tipping?

 

You will have either pre-paid the service charge on your holiday invoice or it will be charged to your on-board account. In addition, a suggested gratuity of 18% on drink bills, dining options, which are not inlcuded in the cruise fare and on spa and salon bills will be added automatically and charged to your on-board account.

 

http://www.ncl.co.uk/helpful-information/faqs/

Edited August 17, 2016 by gary222

[NLH Arizona]

The wording is slightly different from the NCL UK site:

 

I don't care, I live in the United States.

[gary222]

If you tell the server while ordering to not charge it or to remove it he won't know how to do it since the cash register automatically adds it on as a minimum gratuity. The word 'suggested' is iprobably used in case you want to give more, which some people do. But 18% is automatic minimum.

 

Well thats a new one, the 18% is a minimum automatic gratuity and therefore mandatory.

 

Why do you conclude that the 18% suggested is a suggested minimum?

 

If its the case that the 18% is indeed a suggested minimum, then if you wanted to tip an extra 2% there would be no issues with increasing that automatic gratuity to 20%, but there would major difficulties in decreasing it?

[Cuizer2]

if the 18% is mandatory as you suggest it is why is NCL saying its a mere, 'suggestion'?

 

"What about tipping?

 

You will have either pre-paid the service charge on your holiday invoice or it will be charged to your on-board account. In addition, a suggested gratuity of 18% on drink bills, dining options, which are not inlcuded in the cruise fare and on spa and salon bills will be added automatically and charged to your on-board account./I]

 

You are not reading the entire sentence. It does not say, "In addition, a suggested gratuity of 18% on drink bills." It says that the suggested gratuity ... "will be added automatically and charged to your on-board account."

 

In other words, the suggested amount is being added to your bill automatically. If you want, there is a line on the bill for increasing this amount. However, there is no line in the bill for reducing this amount.

[NMLady]

Well thats a new one, the 18% is a minimum automatic gratuity and therefore mandatory.

 

Why do you conclude that the 18% suggested is a suggested minimum?

 

If its the case that the 18% is indeed a suggested minimum, then if you wanted to tip an extra 2% there would be no issues with increasing that automatic gratuity to 20%, but there would major difficulties in decreasing it?

 

Only on the UK site is the word " suggested" used for drink gratuity. Elsewhere it is simply a given that the gratuity is 18%.

There are no issues with increasing the tip since buyer either gives cash as additional or on the receipt adds an amount on the Tip line. No interaction with server needed.

But to decrease it as explained to you numerous times involves manager since the 18% is automatic, regardless of what the UK wording is.

[Cuizer2]

The wording is slightly different from the NCL UK site:

 

What about tipping?

 

You will have either pre-paid the service charge on your holiday invoice or it will be charged to your on-board account. In addition, a suggested gratuity of 18% on drink bills, dining options, which are not inlcuded in the cruise fare and on spa and salon bills will be added automatically and charged to your on-board account.

 

http://www.ncl.co.uk/helpful-information/faqs/

 

It is all one sentence. You are only paying attention to the first half of the sentence. Try reading the ENTIRE sentence.

[tallyho8]

This thread provoked a question in my mind. The bartender runs your card through the machine and the computer charges that amount to your tab and he hands you the receipt to sign. If you write in a tip what does he then have to do to register your tip? He can not swipe your card again because he does not have it. Does he have to do something that requires much more time? And if it is just a small tip, is it worth his time away from serving customers?

[NMLady]

This thread provoked a question in my mind. The bartender runs your card through the machine and the computer charges that amount to your tab and he hands you the receipt to sign. If you write in a tip what does he then have to do to register your tip? He can not swipe your card again because he does not have it. Does he have to do something that requires much more time? And if it is just a small tip, is it worth his time away from serving customers?

 

They evidently input it manually on that same tab number, typing in cabin number and name again. I think that they do it either after the bar is closed or maybe that is a person's task? We do not have UBP and the final total, including any additional tip, has always shown up on our onboard account.

In hotel bars it has often shown up on our credit card as as two separate charges, the drinks total and then the tip if we didn't use cash.

[Cuizer2]

This thread provoked a question in my mind. The bartender runs your card through the machine and the computer charges that amount to your tab and he hands you the receipt to sign. If you write in a tip what does he then have to do to register your tip? He can not swipe your card again because he does not have it. Does he have to do something that requires much more time? And if it is just a small tip, is it worth his time away from serving customers?

 

Extra tips get entered manually as a separate charge.

[sfaaa]

They evidently input it manually on that same tab number, typing in cabin number and name again. I think that they do it either after the bar is closed or maybe that is a person's task? We do not have UBP and the final total, including any additional tip, has always shown up on our onboard account.

In hotel bars it has often shown up on our credit card as as two separate charges, the drinks total and then the tip if we didn't use cash.

 

Yes, your signature on the check is the backup supporting in the event there is a dispute or audit.

[sanger727]

This thread provoked a question in my mind. The bartender runs your card through the machine and the computer charges that amount to your tab and he hands you the receipt to sign. If you write in a tip what does he then have to do to register your tip? He can not swipe your card again because he does not have it. Does he have to do something that requires much more time? And if it is just a small tip, is it worth his time away from serving customers?

 

I assume it works the same way as a credit card on US restaurants. You swipe the card, give the customer the receipt to fill in tip line and sign, then you close out the transaction by entering the new total (with tip) into the computer so it can calculate the tip and credit to the server, and then save the receipt. It's no more work with a tip than without, you just enter the same total to close out the transaction.

[graphicguy]

well, obviously if there's any kind of wait involved in the process or requesting an auto-gratuity to be removed before a bill slip is produced resulting it irritation from other guests I won't be doing it.

The point of my post was to ascertain whether it would cause lots of difficulties and despite the numerous posts it doesn't seem to me that any answers have been particularly convincing - more based on speculation rather than actual experience - especially those that are informing me, that you can't do that, its just 'bad form' and against the American Culture of the Ship.

 

 

You just answered your own question. There will be a hassle for the staff and the guests served by the staff. You will cause lots of difficulties.

 

The 18% charge is the same regardless of what it's called.

 

I've been on lots of cruises and have seen first hand how any customer, who wants to remove tips, or gratuities, or service charges (or in your example, VAT....it's still 18%) affects staff. Request it taken off before you order, after you order, it doesn't matter.

 

And, how the cruise personnel handle it will be similar, if not identical to how we've described. That is, a service leader/manager, etc will need to be contacted, who in turn will want to find out what the root of your dissatisfaction is. Which will probably result in the crew member being chastised for not offering good service.

 

While this is going on, the crew member will be "de-motivated" by your snub. Those who are trying to get service will be delayed in getting service while you explain "your stance" to them, and no one is happy. You'll be a pariah with staff, management and other cruisers.

 

This transcends NCL, and would apply to any of the cruise lines who charge a gratuity, tip, service fee, VAT or any other name you want to call the percentage they add to your bill.

 

But, now this is just turning into beating the proverbial dead horse. Seems to me you thought you'd get a different answer than what you got. But, the answers here seem to be good ones, given by those of us who have collectively cruised quite a bit, and have first hand knowledge.

 

Choose to use that knowledge and have fun on your cruise, or not.

 

Up to you!

Edited August 17, 2016 by graphicguy

[macandlucy]

Sparks1093, when you said the bar staff don't get any portion of the service charge, did you mean the DSC, or the 18% promo service charge we pay on the drinks package?

 

I may have misunderstood, as I read it to mean they didn't get any part of the promo service charge on the UBP/Open Bar, and that surprised me quite a bit.

 

I knew they didn't get any DSC (I mean, I guess I did, kinda), but I would expect them to get the service charge on the bar and wait staff service -- or else what the heck is it for? (Service charge = a charge for service.)

[macandlucy]

they do not get any of the DSC but they do get the 18% tip applied to your bill for the drink and or the 18% if you get the beverage promo

 

Sorry, pieshops, I missed your post here. Good to know the bar tenders and cocktail waiters get the 18% charged on the promo; it made my head spin bit to think that they wouldn't.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

[gary222]

The 18% charge is the same regardless of what it's called.

 

I've been on lots of cruises and have seen first hand how any customer, who wants to remove tips, or gratuities, or service charges (or in your example, VAT....it's still 18%) affects staff. Request it taken off before you order, after you order, it doesn't matter.

 

And, how the cruise personnel handle it will be similar,

Why would a customer request to remove an on board 10% Italian VAT charge be handled in the same way as a request to amend an 18% service charge?

 

Surely the VAT charge is mandatory and the service charge is discretionary ?

 

How are they handled in the same way, how can there be a debate on whether or not to pay the VAT?