First Time Cruiser! Question on Pre-Service Charges

[shanhowl]

Hello!

 

 

We have booked and paid for our first cruise leaving April 15th out of Miami.

So, I may be completely lost regarding the pre-paid service charges in my NCL account.

When we booked we got the unlimited drinks package and well as the specialty dining package. Our invoice shows our charges for the beverage service charge and the dinner service charges. Totally good with that. Now, when I log int to NCL it's asking me to pay for the pre-paid service charges.

What exactly are those for and are they just required to be paid prior to departure or are those required to be paid before we hit our 90 day mark?

 

We have a PCC assigned but she hasn't returned my calls in over 2 weeks so I'm kind of stressing at this point to understand what I'm doing. As a first time cruiser I'm just trying to understand the process and understand what I'm doing!

 

Thanks!!

Shannon

[billslowsky]

Standard add on that all cruise lines use to make the cost appear lower in the ads. They characterize it as gratuity for room attendant dining staff, etc.

[smplybcause]

What they're talking about is prepaying the daily service charges. If you don't prepay, each day the daily amount is put in your account. The amount is to cover your room steward, restaurant staff, and those behind the scenes that help with the rooms like laundry facility.

 

Basically it covers the tip like you would normally leave severs when eating out or hotel housekeeping (especially if you stay in a hotel for a while).

 

If you prepay then you could avoid having any charges to your account while on board.

 

I believe they charge you right when you select to prepay, but I'm not 100% as I've either gotten them as a perk or just let them do the daily charge on board.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[ray98]

A cruise is traditionally a service based experience ranging from food servers, cabin stewards, bartenders, bar servers, ect. The packaged gratuities compensate them just like you would on land but work in the randomized passenger-server environment found on a primarily cashless cruise ship.

 

 

You beverage package gratuities take care of the bartenders and servers, specialty dining gratuities takes care of those servers. The standard gratuities in question cover room stewards, servers in the dining rooms and buffet, ect.

[roger001]

If it's the Daily Service Charge it is referencing, charged per person each day, then I would just wait and let it be charged to your account each day during the cruise. Your credit card will then reflect that after the cruise. Pay now, or pay later. I like to just let it be charged for later. Your service charges for specialty dining and the drink package is charged as part of your final payment rolled into the total cruise price. Cruising is kinda like flying most airlines...add on charges here and there. It's the ultimate bottom line that you have to look at as to how much a cruise actually costs.

[Zeno]

As others have said it's the Daily Service charge (DSR) which essentially covers "everyone else" (like your cabin steward)

 

BTW if you have not heard from your PCC in 2 weeks - call NCL and ask for a new one - 2 weeks is not acceptable. My PCC has always gotten back to me in 24 hours (usually less).

[shanhowl]

Thanks for all the responses! I have no problem paying the service charge, I just wanted to be clear on what they were.

 

Our PCC has been a nightmare!!! She was GREAT when we originally booked. We called her directly based on recommendations from a group cruise some of our friends were going on. Once we were fully booked the communication became worse.

She won't return emails or phone calls. She provided a cell number at the time of original booking and I eventually text her on that number cause I hadn't gotten responses any other way. She quickly responded to that message stating that was her personal cell number and that I did not need to contact her that way. I'm not sure why she gave me her personal number if she didn't want to use it.

I had no idea that we could request another PCC. I reached out to another PCC when we had some questions on our current reservation and they stated that if we were working with someone currently they weren't allowed to step in :/

[phissy]

Thanks for all the responses! I have no problem paying the service charge, I just wanted to be clear on what they were.

 

Our PCC has been a nightmare!!! She was GREAT when we originally booked. We called her directly based on recommendations from a group cruise some of our friends were going on. Once we were fully booked the communication became worse.

She won't return emails or phone calls. She provided a cell number at the time of original booking and I eventually text her on that number cause I hadn't gotten responses any other way. She quickly responded to that message stating that was her personal cell number and that I did not need to contact her that way. I'm not sure why she gave me her personal number if she didn't want to use it.

I had no idea that we could request another PCC. I reached out to another PCC when we had some questions on our current reservation and they stated that if we were working with someone currently they weren't allowed to step in :/

Sound like PCC is great as long as your are in the process of looking and booking a cruise with NCL. Once you have made the purchase, they no longer get any benefit from spending time with you and your reservation.

I always just contact NCL directly and say I do not have anyone CURRENTLY working with me, which is true in your case.

[ray98]

Thanks for all the responses! I have no problem paying the service charge, I just wanted to be clear on what they were.

 

Our PCC has been a nightmare!!! She was GREAT when we originally booked. We called her directly based on recommendations from a group cruise some of our friends were going on. Once we were fully booked the communication became worse.

She won't return emails or phone calls. She provided a cell number at the time of original booking and I eventually text her on that number cause I hadn't gotten responses any other way. She quickly responded to that message stating that was her personal cell number and that I did not need to contact her that way. I'm not sure why she gave me her personal number if she didn't want to use it.

I had no idea that we could request another PCC. I reached out to another PCC when we had some questions on our current reservation and they stated that if we were working with someone currently they weren't allowed to step in :/

 

 

Certainly call and ask for your reservation to be transferred to another PCC and detail the difficulties you had. That is unacceptable service. You may end up with a problem that actually does need immediate attention, I would have someone who would answer the phone.

[NikkiDee-Canada]

OMG - we dealt with the same thing with our PCC. Wonder if it's the same person. She mailed us her card (on magnets), which happened to have her personal cell number on it (not indicated). Of course, that's the number my sister tried calling one weekend when she was trying to work out some logistics, not even thinking twice about it, as it was the number on the card. The PCC flipped out at her for bothering her on her personal cell on the weekend.

 

She was impossible to get a hold of as we worked out the details for our three room bookings, through email or phone. At one point, there was a decent price drop (likely due to the rooms not selling, because of the itinerary change post-hurricanes). I called to see about getting a price adjustment or OBC, which she had previously suggested I do, and she was not responding. I called NCL directly, and they took care of it right away. I passed the info onto my sister, so she could also call. She called the PCC, and it resulted in three "wall of text" scathing emails to me about how dare I give my sister false information, and several phone calls (which I did not answer), from 10pm to midnight. The voicemails were not repeatable. :P She was just awful. We called NCL the next day and switched to a new PCC. It was a nightmare. My sister was totally traumatized by her end of things. Really unfortunate.

 

Sorry for the hijack, just wanted to say I feel for you. Call and request a switch. Our new guy is great!

 

As others have stated, the prepaid service charge takes care of your daily tips. You can pre-pay them before the cruise via credit card, or pay for them at the end of the cruise (you will see them accumulating daily on your onboard account, so don't panic when you see the weird charges). It's a great method, as you don't need to worry about bringing cash to tip - it's all taken care of ahead of time. Some people choose to bring cash to tip extra for their room stewards, or the bartenders (hoping for better service) but it's not necessary. Hope that helps!

[SouthLyonCruiser]

Your problem with PCC is one of the reason I have been using the same travel agent for years. If I have a problem she returns my calls, usually by the end of the day that I email her. With a PCC and you have a problem, good luck. You may even get someone else who will say that the person you used no longer works there and if the problem concerns a promise made to you they can always say that the promise should not have been made and you are out of luck.

[zqvol]

Hello!

 

 

We have booked and paid for our first cruise leaving April 15th out of Miami.

So, I may be completely lost regarding the pre-paid service charges in my NCL account.

When we booked we got the unlimited drinks package and well as the specialty dining package. Our invoice shows our charges for the beverage service charge and the dinner service charges. Totally good with that. Now, when I log int to NCL it's asking me to pay for the pre-paid service charges.

What exactly are those for and are they just required to be paid prior to departure or are those required to be paid before we hit our 90 day mark?

 

We have a PCC assigned but she hasn't returned my calls in over 2 weeks so I'm kind of stressing at this point to understand what I'm doing. As a first time cruiser I'm just trying to understand the process and understand what I'm doing!

 

Thanks!!

Shannon

 

These charges could be called the tips for the waiters, cabin attendants, and some behind the scenes people. You pay these instead of tipping these people. When you got the packages the gratuities for those services were paid at that time. You can pay these now, or you can wait and pay them on board.

[BirdTravels]

Junior PCCs at NCL are minimum wage call center personnel. With the recent increases, the Walmart greeter probably makes more.

 

PCCs are not all knowing senior managers in the company. Like an airline reservation agent, they are trained to use the reservation system and type customer questions into the system. They want you to feel confident with them, so they will answer any question, regardless of whether the answer is right or wrong. They keep their jobs by selling cruises.

[cb at sea]

The DSC are the tips you would pay to those who serve you on other lines....NCL simply calls it by a different name, but it's the gratuities. Pay now, or pay later....same thing. The crew who serves you doesn't get the tips until the cruise is over, just like on all other cruise lines.

[April42749]

Back to the original topic:

I prepay because it's so much easier to keep track of what I actually spend during the cruise.