NCL increasing daily service charge

[KeithJenner]

You may not like the way I express myself

 

What a bizarre thing to say!

 

Where on earth did I even suggest that there was a possibility that I didn't like the way you express yourself?

 

I was just disagreeing with you. When you post things on a public forum then that does sometimes happen I'm afraid.

[lab_love123]

For Norwegian Sky cruisers at least, it's a big increase. The daily service charge is jumping to $18.99/day for non-suite guests; $21.99/day for suites. That's about a $5/day increase. For my 4-day cruise on the Sky, that would mean an extra $21.96. Sure, it's a pretty nominal amount in the grand scheme of things, but still an unexpected extra expense. And kind of last minute notification for those cruising in April. Thankfully, I was able to pre-pay my gratuities, but that may not be an option for some people financially.

[Sir_Randy]

Another spin on the subject, this $18.99 per day "discretionary daily service charge" equates to approximately 20% tip on a 4 day Sky cruise at $399 (someone can check my math if they like). We usually tip 20% when we go out to dinner, where a waiter waits on us, but not when we got to a buffet. If we are sitting at a bar and just order drinks, I usually throw the bartender a $1 for bring us a couple drinks, but it's not 20%. If you went to Golden Corral or the Golden China for a buffet dinner, and they automatically added a 20% tip, you would be ok with that when all they did is clear your plates and bring you water? If you eat at the specialty restaurants, you get charged another 18% gratuity, they are double dipping on the tipping! Not a fan of forced tipping, if they are going to automatically charge you $18.99 per day, just add it to the price of the cruise and call it a day! Just food for thought.

[khaide612]

For those of you who say you received no notification, who did you book with? I'm booked for August and received a notice last week.

 

Funny story I sent the notice to the rest of my family who are traveling & explained that for our 7-day cruise it was an increase of $3.43 per person total so $6.86 per couple. The next day my sister went to see her in-laws who are booked on a separate NCL cruise. Her father-in-law was ranting about how they increased the service fees and he'll probably never sail with them again. She says, "You know it works out to $3.43 per person on a 7-day cruise right? So $6.86 for the two of you?" He's like, "Ummm, oh. I thought it was way more."

 

Cruising solo, prepaying only saves me $3.43 so I'm not in a rush to prepay as I'd rather put that money toward some bill that is charging me interest.

[khaide612]

Another spin on the subject, this $18.99 per day "discretionary daily service charge" equates to approximately 20% tip on a 4 day Sky cruise at $399 (someone can check my math if they like). We usually tip 20% when we go out to dinner, where a waiter waits on us, but not when we got to a buffet. If we are sitting at a bar and just order drinks, I usually throw the bartender a $1 for bring us a couple drinks, but it's not 20%. If you went to Golden Corral or the Golden China for a buffet dinner, and they automatically added a 20% tip, you would be ok with that when all they did is clear your plates and bring you water? If you eat at the specialty restaurants, you get charged another 18% gratuity, they are double dipping on the tipping! Not a fan of forced tipping, if they are going to automatically charge you $18.99 per day, just add it to the price of the cruise and call it a day! Just food for thought.

 

Comparing apples and chocolate. The DSC isn't just for dining & drink service staff. It's also for the room stewards and behind the scenes people. Unless they stopped servicing cabins on the Sky & I missed that? I think the Sky increase is to account for the all-inclusive like how people on other ships that get the UBP have to pay the 18% gratuity.

 

And just to clarify, I would rather they just included it in the cruise fare.

[tonit964]

Emails sent to people with upcoming cruises:

17MAR17 Important Information for reservation sailing on Norwegian Breakaway

 

Norwegian Cruise Lineis making a nominal adjustment to its daily service charges, effective April 1,2017. Norwegian's discretionary daily service charges make it easy for gueststo provide gratuities to key onboard staff who provide superior guest serviceduring the cruise, including their room steward, restaurant servers andbehind-the-scenes support staff.

 

The new rates for all ships, except Norwegian Sky are:

$13.99 per person per day for anycategory up to a mini-suite stateroom

$16.99 per person per day for anysuite or Haven category

 

Any guest that has made a booking by March 31, 2017 will have the option ofprepaying their service charges at the current rate if done prior to sail date.Guests with existing cruise reservations who have already pre-paid theirservice charges at the current rate are not affected.

 

Service charges can be prepaid on My NCLor by contacting our Reservations Department at 800-327-7030.

 

Sincerely,

Norwegian Cruise Line®

 

 

Interesting, I got the email the other day for my Bliss cruise in Oct 2018 but not for my Escape cruise upcoming this August.:D

[mjkacmom]

For Norwegian Sky cruisers at least, it's a big increase. The daily service charge is jumping to $18.99/day for non-suite guests; $21.99/day for suites. That's about a $5/day increase. For my 4-day cruise on the Sky, that would mean an extra $21.96. Sure, it's a pretty nominal amount in the grand scheme of things, but still an unexpected extra expense. And kind of last minute notification for those cruising in April. Thankfully, I was able to pre-pay my gratuities, but that may not be an option for some people financially.

If someone can't pony up $20 by April to pay it ahead of time, they have real financial problems!

[KeithJenner]

Interesting, I got the email the other day for my Bliss cruise in Oct 2018 but not for my Escape cruise upcoming this August.:D

 

NCL emails about changes seem to be quite random for whatever reason.

 

This isn't the first time. Some people seem to get them, some don't. Some get some of them and some get others.

 

I have no idea why it is. It certainly looks like more people got this one than did about the latitudes changes.

 

For what it's worth, I haven't received an email and we have 4 cruises booked. We prepay our service charges though, so that is likely the reason.

[tonit964]

NCL emails about changes seem to be quite random for whatever reason.

 

This isn't the first time. Some people seem to get them, some don't. Some get some of them and some get others.

 

I have no idea why it is. It certainly looks like more people got this one than did about the latitudes changes.

 

For what it's worth, I haven't received an email and we have 4 cruises booked. We prepay our service charges though, so that is likely the reason.

 

I already knew about the DSC increase here on CC (LOVE CC) a while ago and it's a non issue for us but when I saw that email for Bliss, I thought, "hey what happened to my Escape cruise". Funny.

[dshefter]

Get rid of mandatory tipping. It's a dumb practice. Gives workers no incentive to work harder or provide service beyond the normal. Would rather tip onboard separately for great service. Go back to the old way of tipping. And do we really know the DSC is ending up in the hands of the proper people?

[NLH Arizona]

Get rid of mandatory tipping. It's a dumb practice. Gives workers no incentive to work harder or provide service beyond the normal. Would rather tip onboard separately for great service. Go back to the old way of tipping. And do we really know the DSC is ending up in the hands of the proper people?

Please don't go back to the old envelope days. It was embarrassing to see the dining room 1/2 full on the last night, because folks were skipping out on their tips.

 

If they cruise lines want to change the policy, add it on to the cruise fare and that way no one can removed it.

[KeithJenner]

Please don't go back to the old envelope days. It was embarrassing to see the dining room 1/2 full on the last night, because folks were skipping out on their tips.

 

If they cruise lines want to change the policy, add it on to the cruise fare and that way no one can removed it.

 

 

 

Absolutely.

 

Personally, I think that tipping is a crazy practice. I totally disagree with the concept that you need tipping in order to get good service.

 

Tipping is quite rare in the U.K. these days, as the minimum wage means that staff get paid a decent wage. In my experience it has resulted in better service, as staff seem to take more pride in their jobs rather than just chasing tips.

 

I always find it a bit insulting when people suggest that a whole industry needs the incentive of a tip in order to be motivated to give good service. A decent wage and pride in a job done well is the best motivation.

 

I'd love all these charges to just be rolled into the fare, but there are reasons for it not happening (there are tax reasons i believe, as well as the problem of fares looking higher if one company does it). I hope it does happen one day, but before then I would always go for paying a set fee on top of my fare rather than having to wander round with envelopes on the last day.

[JROMom]

We just booked our cruise for August 2018 yesterday and received the email today about the change.

[seashells]

The tipping charges will continue to increase until the hand that feeds them bites back.....Enough complaints and lost passengers.

It worked for taking food back to the cabins.

[triptolemus]

The tipping charges will continue to increase until the hand that feeds them bites back.....Enough complaints and lost passengers.

 

That will either happen organically or it won't.

 

A few people pretending that the rest of the cruising world is as upset as they are about a minuscule increase isn't going to get that done.

 

Prices go up. Life goes on. A rational person makes a financial decision year over year (or whenever) as to whether or not a cruise still makes sense. An Irrational person takes to the Internet using words like "ripoff" and "gouging" in a futile attempt to change the world by engaging in the same arguments over and over.

 

And I suppose others just remove the DSC altogether, dust off their hands and move on.

 

Fact is, no reasonable person should expect to pay the same price they paid in 2012... for anything.

[BirdTravels]

The tipping charges will continue to increase until the hand that feeds them bites back.....Enough complaints and lost passengers.

It worked for taking food back to the cabins.

I seriously doubt that anyone cancel their cruise because They couldn't carry their bagel back to their room. For that matter I don't think there is a single penny of lost revenue because of the buffet ban.

[triptolemus]

I seriously doubt that anyone cancel their cruise because They couldn't carry their bagel back to their room. For that matter I don't think there is a single penny of lost revenue because of the buffet ban.

 

Absolutely.

 

A bunch of noise-makers, really, and nothing more.

[Crusin6]

I seriously doubt that anyone cancel their cruise because They couldn't carry their bagel back to their room. For that matter I don't think there is a single penny of lost revenue because of the buffet ban.

 

 

No a pax doesn't need to cancel a cruise but in order to get Ncl's attention all the pax needs to do is reduce their dsc by X number of $$$$

 

Ok so before the comments come in and yes I understand the increase is fairly insignificant....IF.... a pax wants to make a point that will get attention just reduce dsc by say $10...not per day...but per pax ...per week...or just $10 for the cabin as a whole...whatever works for you

 

 

I'll beat you to the punch...."if you can't afford $10 then you shouldn't be cruising"....nope that's not the point at all...the point is to let Ncl know you are dissatisfied in a way that gets their attention

 

Just putting in a comment card or survey does not have the same impact.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[triptolemus]

No a pax doesn't need to cancel a cruise but in order to get Ncl's attention all the pax needs to do is reduce their dsc by X number of $$$$

 

Same problem

 

Your point of view demands that you believe everyone actually gives as much thought to the DSC as you do. The majority of passengers simply pay it without ever giving it a second thought. Sticking it to NCL is just not top of mind for most people -- they aren't looking to "get NCL's attention"...

[KeithJenner]

I don't see what there is to get NCL's attention about anyway.

 

They have given notice of a price increase and there is an option to still pay the old price if you want to go down that route. I can take the new rate into account when considering my next bookings. If I don't like it then I won't book. At that point I couldn't really care whether I have their attention or not.

[biker@sea]

The crew needs this, the Crew beer machine jump from $1 to $1.50 some time ago. :loudcry:

 

.

[fshagan]

I remember the first increase in the DSC in 2015 (I think it was in 2015) was met by most people without too much objection, but the second one a few months later created a lot of anger. Since NCL provides two competing services now, cruising and creating anger among cruisers, I expect the tone deaf execs over there to bump it up again in a few months since this one was met with such acceptance. It will be very funny if they do.

[NMLady]

No a pax doesn't need to cancel a cruise but in order to get Ncl's attention all the pax needs to do is reduce their dsc by X number of $$$$

...

 

Reducing the DSC doesn't get Del Rio's attention, it simply penalizes waiters, cabin steward, and others who benefit from DSC.

[supermax]

I've lived a half of my life in the US, and this "penny and dime to death" culture still annoys the hell out of me. In the most cases the price you see is not the price you pay, and more complex products just create more opportunities for fees, surcharges and even questionable "taxes". I completely understand that someone from another country will be very upset when introduced to the prices not reflecting the total cost and meaningless "gratuities". Why do they charge extra 18% to get a glass of wine from a machine? Refilling it with bottles is not a personal service, usually associated with tipping.

[Two Wheels Only]

Maybe I'm strange but this is what I do.....

 

I look at the total cost of the cruise. By total cost, I mean the stateroom cost, taxes, port fees, DSC, etc. Whatever the TOTAL is becomes the price in my head and I decide if I want to pay that or not. It doesn't matter if the "base" price is $1,000 with $1,500 in extras (total $2,500) or if the base price is $2,000 with $500 in extras. The "total" is what I care about.

 

I have no idea what the price per person is. I have no idea what guests #3 and #4 are charged. I have no idea what the taxes are. All that matters to me is the total. What NCL does with the money that I give them isn't my concern. My concern is what my family and I are getting for what I'm paying. If/when I decide to give a few dollars extra while on-board, it has nothing to do with what I paid to get there. If I pay full price or if the cruise is free, I tip the bartender et al the same way.

 

People are freaking out because the DSC has gone up a few dollars total. If the stateroom price goes up $100 pp, fewer people notice or care. :confused:

 

In my case, the total for a May/June Escape cruise out of Miami went up more than $1,300 from 2016 to 2017. It went up another $600 for a 2018 cruise on Getaway. I booked MSC Seaside for 2018, instead. The extra $42 in DSC increase is insignificant.