Gratuity on Free at Sea packages

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, Robinsilver said:

I don't consider Carnival an option, so that doesn't matter. My sister-in-law drinks Cosmos, so if they are not going to be covered, then it's irrelevant.

 

Was just bringing up the fact that NCL is substantially higher on many of their drinks compared to Carnival.  Since unflavored Grey Goose is covered in the package, it should be covered in a Cosmo.  It's a female drink as far as I am concerned, so I don't know from first hand experience if it's covered.

[SNJCruisers]

32 minutes ago, mianmike said:

On our upcoming cruise we bought the Sailaway rate balcony and we had a choice of four cabins.  Not much, but a choice.  I would never pay $500-$600 for the privilege to choose a cabin.

Instead of your sailaway balcony, you probably could have had an inside with your drinks perk, paid the 20% gratuity and still saved money.  Some enjoy their balconies, while others enjoy their libations.

[mianmike]

22 minutes ago, rtkenmore said:

 

I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't wind up with a different cabin before you set sail.

 

Which ship & cruise are you booked?

We booked the 12 day Escape out of NYC.  If NCL changes the cabin that we selected, per NCL's direction, there will be a problem.  But I trust NCL knows what they're doing and our cabin won't change.  We'll see.  I'll report back if they do change our cabin. 

[rtkenmore]

3 minutes ago, mianmike said:

We booked the 12 day Escape out of NYC.  If NCL changes the cabin that we selected, per NCL's direction, there will be a problem.  But I trust NCL knows what they're doing and our cabin won't change.  We'll see.  I'll report back if they do change our cabin. 

Why would you say there will be a problem if the cabin changes?  You booked a sail-away rate and the definition of a sail-away rate is any cabin in that category or higher.  Yes, when you look at deck plans, there are cabins that are labeled as "sail-away" with specific numbers but those are not the only sail-away cabins.

 

For instance, Escape sail-away balcony are labeled on deck plans as 8110, 8112, 8710, and 8712.  ANY balcony on the entire ship would qualify as a sail-away balcony though and be a potential cabin that you could wind up in.

[mianmike]

1 minute ago, rtkenmore said:

Why would you say there will be a problem if the cabin changes?  You booked a sail-away rate and the definition of a sail-away rate is any cabin in that category or higher.  Yes, when you look at deck plans, there are cabins that are labeled as "sail-away" with specific numbers but those are not the only sail-away cabins.

 

For instance, Escape sail-away balcony are labeled on deck plans as 8110, 8112, 8710, and 8712.  ANY balcony on the entire ship would qualify as a sail-away balcony though and be a potential cabin that you could wind up in.

First, the 8110 and 8710 balconies are huge.  Plus my printed luggage tags will be wrong and I will have wasted printer ink, paper and my time.  That's why I would be upset if they changed my assigned cabin.  Why would they have me select a cabin and then put it on my cruise docs and luggage tags if they are going to change our cabin?  Seems if they plan on assigning all Sailaway cabins, why have people select a cabin?  Makes bad business sense to me.   

[rtkenmore]

12 minutes ago, mianmike said:

First, the 8110 and 8710 balconies are huge.  Plus my printed luggage tags will be wrong and I will have wasted printer ink, paper and my time.  That's why I would be upset if they changed my assigned cabin.  Why would they have me select a cabin and then put it on my cruise docs and luggage tags if they are going to change our cabin?  Seems if they plan on assigning all Sailaway cabins, why have people select a cabin?  Makes bad business sense to me.   

 

So you seriously thought there were ONLY 4 sail-away balcony cabins on the entire ship and that was it?  

 

I just googled 8710/8110 and found a YouTube video review of 8710.  No way I'd want that balcony even though it's a bit larger than normal.  All the balcony's above that one look directly down onto the balcony providing for very little privacy.  No thanks.

[mianmike]

Just now, rtkenmore said:

 

So you seriously thought there were ONLY 4 sail-away balcony cabins on the entire ship and that was it?  

 

I just googled 8710/8110 and found a YouTube video review of 8710.  No way I'd want that balcony even though it's a bit larger than normal.  All the balcony's above that one look directly down onto the balcony providing for very little privacy.  No thanks.

What?  You need to work on your reading comprehension.  I never said I thought there were only 4 Sailaway cabins.  I said NCL gave us 4 cabins to choose from. lol  

[rtkenmore]

12 minutes ago, mianmike said:

What?  You need to work on your reading comprehension.  I never said I thought there were only 4 Sailaway cabins.  I said NCL gave us 4 cabins to choose from. lol  

 

And those are the only four on the deck plans labeled as balcony sail-away cabins.

[mianmike]

2 minutes ago, rtkenmore said:

 

And those are the only four on the deck plans labeled as balcony sail-away cabins.

Right.  I'm trying to make this as simple as I can.  Like I've been saying, NCL's website told us to choose one of those cabins, and we did; we now have our luggage tags for our selected cabin.     

[rtkenmore]

8 minutes ago, mianmike said:

Right.  I'm trying to make this as simple as I can.  Like I've been saying, NCL's website told us to choose one of those cabins, and we did; we now have our luggage tags for our selected cabin.     

 

And all I'm saying is don't be surprised if you wind up with a different cabin that is a better location/etc. or even an upgrade because you booked a sail-away cabin.  Who knows, you may wind up with a spa balcony and gain access to the thermal spa suite.  If that happened, would you really be upset about not getting the cabin you picked and wasting printer ink?  😕

[pinklucky61]

do you pay gratuity for free drink package online same time you prepay cabin gratuites? are they separate?

[rtkenmore]

45 minutes ago, pinklucky61 said:

do you pay gratuity for free drink package online same time you prepay cabin gratuites? are they separate?

 

If you choose the UBP as your free choice, you pay gratuities when you book as part of the booking process.  You have the option to go ahead and add pre-paid daily service charge as well or you can leave that to be charged online.

 

I find it best to go ahead and add the DSC because if it goes up between the time you book and the time you sail, you are guaranteed the lower original rate.

[mianmike]

1 hour ago, rtkenmore said:

 

And all I'm saying is don't be surprised if you wind up with a different cabin that is a better location/etc. or even an upgrade because you booked a sail-away cabin.  Who knows, you may wind up with a spa balcony and gain access to the thermal spa suite.  If that happened, would you really be upset about not getting the cabin you picked and wasting printer ink?  😕

Don't be silly, if NCL upgraded us from a Sailaway balcony to a spa suite we'd be bouncing off the walls with happiness.  Now you have my wife's hope up. 

[rtkenmore]

Just now, mianmike said:

Don't be silly, if NCL upgraded us from a Sailaway balcony to a spa suite we'd be bouncing off the walls with happiness.  Now you have my wife's hope up. 

 

Even if you don't get upgraded, I highly recommend Thermal Suite passes for the cruise.  We sailed Escape last year and loved the thermal suite.  It's a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the ship and relax.  Tons of hot stone lounge chairs compared to some ships and to us, definitely worth the expense.

[cathi007]

4 hours ago, mianmike said:

But you don't just have to pay the service charge, you have to pay for a more expensive cabin to get the perks. 

I didn't pay for a more expensive cabin, I wanted the cabin I got, perk or no perk. I wanted a mini suite, for me the perk was just the icing on the cake 🙂

[cathi007]

5 hours ago, Robinsilver said:

That's the thing, if we take the sailaway, we are paying a lot less for the cabin, so the drinks are free, but we are paying the extra price plus the $19.80 a day. I don't drink soda, have water during the day, wine with dinner, and maybe after. Anyone know what they charge for an average drink or a decent glass of wine? Hopefully they have something like a Malbec from Chili that's good and not expensive. I know whatever I normally drink at home would end up being $18 a glass. For the gratuity on the specialty dining, not sure what they charge. I think the food is generally much better in the specialty restaurants, but I can manage in the dining room too.

 

Bring your own wine and pay the corkage fee, this way you can have it at dinner or in your cabin. That's what I used to do. The corkage fee is 15.00 per bottle, but I'm sure it's cheaper than buying a bottle on the ship, and you can bring whatever you like

[mianmike]

9 minutes ago, cathi007 said:

I didn't pay for a more expensive cabin, I wanted the cabin I got, perk or no perk. I wanted a mini suite, for me the perk was just the icing on the cake 🙂

That's what's important.  If you're happy with the price you paid, that's all that matters.  

 

We are value vacationers.  My wife was employed as a budget analyst.  We don't mind paying more, we just need to see the real value as quantified in dollars.  NCL is expert at offering perks that give many cruisers perceived value.  We do the math and leave our perceptions at the door.

 

For us, $900 for "free" drinks was too much.  For other people they perceive value and don't mind paying more.  

[pinklucky61]

1 hour ago, rtkenmore said:

 

If you choose the UBP as your free choice, you pay gratuities when you book as part of the booking process.  You have the option to go ahead and add pre-paid daily service charge as well or you can leave that to be charged online.

 

I find it best to go ahead and add the DSC because if it goes up between the time you book and the time you sail, you are guaranteed the lower original rate.

thanks, booked thru my sil who is travel agent, usually do booking myself.  haven't read the fine print yet

[niborHS]

1 hour ago, mianmike said:

That's what's important.  If you're happy with the price you paid, that's all that matters.  

 

We are value vacationers.  My wife was employed as a budget analyst.  We don't mind paying more, we just need to see the real value as quantified in dollars.  NCL is expert at offering perks that give many cruisers perceived value.  We do the math and leave our perceptions at the door.

 

For us, $900 for "free" drinks was too much.  For other people they perceive value and don't mind paying more.  

If I were going with my husband, we would pick our cabin, seeing as he would buy the UBP anyway, that would be a great perk, we would book a mini-suite or higher, and that would be that, I would think I was getting a bargain with the free perk. This is a trip with someone who is much more budget conscious, and we need to keep that in mind. Thanks for all your help, because some of the fine print before you book doesn't tell you all of this. The difference in price is a minimum of $80 for the 4 nights, add that to the $79.20 for gratuities, it adds up. We'll take the cheaper package, I'll have 2-3 glasses of wine, she will have whatever she wants to drink, and decide if she wants to spend the money or not. 

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, Robinsilver said:

. The difference in price is a minimum of $80 for the 4 nights, add that to the $79.20 for gratuities, it adds up. We'll take the cheaper package, I'll have 2-3 glasses of wine, she will have whatever she wants to drink, and decide if she wants to spend the money or not. 

So..for approximately an extra 40 dollars per person per night, you're going to give up the drinks package.  Your 3 glasses of wine could be close to 40.00 and if your wife has the same you're giving up the possibility that maybe you could sample something new since you're on vacation and it would be covered.  Now you'll save that 160.00 and pay per drink at NCL's inflated prices. Enjoy.

[fshagan]

13 hours ago, vpearlkc said:

If there were no service charges the cruise would be way more expensive as these charges pay the servers, bartenders etc. Their base pay is almost nothing and too many people would stiff these hardworking people so livable wages would have to be paid to attract employees. 

 

If you don't drink much just pay as you go and don't take the package.

 

We always prepay the gratuity and service charge amounts on our cruises so I'm not "one of those" people who don't tip. But the days of very low wages and all their income from tips is long gone for any cruise line like NCL that is signatory to the union. The minimum pay is about $1,000 a month after you do the calculation for minimum basic pay of just over $600 and the overtime pay they receive. That is reinforced by the surveys on glassdoor.com that show the average cabin steward earns from $1,000 to $1,200 a month. Bartenders are bringing in from $2,000 to $4,000 a month on all the lines reported there (Carnival, Celebrity, RCCL and NCL). 

 

I don't know how much of that contracted salary is listed as "gratuities" on their paychecks .... countries like the Philippines don't tax tip income so they may have all of it listed as "tips". But they get paid a contracted minimum that is good pay for their home country's economy and their skill level. 

[vpearlkc]

5 hours ago, fshagan said:

 

We always prepay the gratuity and service charge amounts on our cruises so I'm not "one of those" people who don't tip. But the days of very low wages and all their income from tips is long gone for any cruise line like NCL that is signatory to the union. The minimum pay is about $1,000 a month after you do the calculation for minimum basic pay of just over $600 and the overtime pay they receive. That is reinforced by the surveys on glassdoor.com that show the average cabin steward earns from $1,000 to $1,200 a month. Bartenders are bringing in from $2,000 to $4,000 a month on all the lines reported there (Carnival, Celebrity, RCCL and NCL). 

 

I don't know how much of that contracted salary is listed as "gratuities" on their paychecks .... countries like the Philippines don't tax tip income so they may have all of it listed as "tips". But they get paid a contracted minimum that is good pay for their home country's economy and their skill level. 

 

In a Cruise Critic article titled "Gratuities: What's the point? cruise tipping and salaries dissected" there is a paragraph stating

 

"For customer facing positions, gratuities come into play. "Gratuities make up most of the compensation for crew in the housekeeping and food and beverage departments" The base wage is usually low - - sometimes as little as $2 a day - - but income from tips can represent as much as 95 percent of the take - home total."

 

This article was updated August 21, 2018.

 

This falls in line with what I was told by a RCCL waiter while chatting on a long layover in the Manila airport around 15 years ago.

 

Sorry I couldn't send a link to the article but it can be easily found by googling the title. It is an interesting read.

 

[fshagan]

3 hours ago, vpearlkc said:

 

In a Cruise Critic article titled "Gratuities: What's the point? cruise tipping and salaries dissected" there is a paragraph stating

 

"For customer facing positions, gratuities come into play. "Gratuities make up most of the compensation for crew in the housekeeping and food and beverage departments" The base wage is usually low - - sometimes as little as $2 a day - - but income from tips can represent as much as 95 percent of the take - home total."

 

This article was updated August 21, 2018.

 

This falls in line with what I was told by a RCCL waiter while chatting on a long layover in the Manila airport around 15 years ago.

 

Sorry I couldn't send a link to the article but it can be easily found by googling the title. It is an interesting read.

 

 

And like most such articles it is a prime example of lazy journalism. It used to be true, but that was back in the 1970s. It hasn't been true at least since NCL became signatory to the ITF Seafarer's Union. You can look up the Norwegian ships by going to this link and selecting "Look up a ship" and entering "Norwegian" into the search box. 

 

 

The ships have individual agreements that cover the different working conditions for cruise ship crew members. Each crew member has an agreement that they enter into, with the Master (or Captain) as the other signatory. That agreement is governed by the rules in the individual agreement if the ship is signatory (the worker may not even know or care that there is a union). On this page you can see the calculation for the monthly minimum wage and the overtime rate. It is low by American standards, but is agreed to by the parties involved. The agreement for the individual ship is probably different, but the guidelines are still there. 

 

CC's "reporting" is mostly regurgitating PR releases and, in this case, perpetuating urban myths that may have once been true, but are simply not true any longer. 

 

Edited October 30, 2018 by fshagan
Grammar

[niborHS]

13 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

So..for approximately an extra 40 dollars per person per night, you're going to give up the drinks package.  Your 3 glasses of wine could be close to 40.00 and if your wife has the same you're giving up the possibility that maybe you could sample something new since you're on vacation and it would be covered.  Now you'll save that 160.00 and pay per drink at NCL's inflated prices. Enjoy.

Maybe I have to be more clear, the difference is $80 per person, add to that the approximately $80 that is added as a gratuity. Also I, a woman, do not drink that much. Maybe there are some who do. The other person in the room with me is my sister-in-law, not that this makes a difference.

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, Robinsilver said:

Maybe I have to be more clear, the difference is $80 per person, add to that the approximately $80 that is added as a gratuity. Also I, a woman, do not drink that much. Maybe there are some who do. The other person in the room with me is my sister-in-law, not that this makes a difference.

There is a very simple way to end this debate once and for all.  Those that like to drink while on vacation see the value in paying 20.00 per day for the grats plus the difference in price from the sailaway rate to the regular rate.  Those who are teetotalers pay the sailaway rate so they don't have to pay the upcharge difference or the 20% service charge.