Automatic gratuities guidelines

[senseib]

26 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

• The payment must be made free from compulsion AND
• The customer must have the unrestricted right to determine the amount AND
• The payment should not be the subject of negotiation or dictated by employer policy AND
• Generally, the customer has the right to determine who receives the payment.

 

I guess tip boxes aren't tips then.

[KateQ22003]

16 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

Apples to oranges.  Does it upset you that out of the $20 tip you give your waiter, he has to tip out the bus boy and possibly other employees.  Also, in many restaurants if you give no tip, the server still has to tip out others with their own money.  Maybe you should ask restaurants their policies.  Have a great day and Merry Christmas.

Not all restaurants pool tips, but I think you know that. There is a HUGE difference between the waiter only getting 10 because HE tips out others, and the waiter only getting ten because THE COMPANY is keeping the other 10. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

43 minutes ago, senseib said:

 

Actually since the DSC can be adjusted it has to be accounted for as gratuities and distributed 100% to the staff.  That is GAAP.

This is not true. I just went to NCL and looked at their P&L - they treat the service charge as revenue.

[DaCruiseBug]

6 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

Only you can make the decision of what feels right to you. If you would rather directly tip those who have made your trip special, do so. It is common knowledge that the daily "service charge" does not make it's way to the staff as they would like you to believe.

 

While the service charges on things like the beverage and dining package mostly go into NCLs pockets, a vast majority of the daily gratuities do and up going to the workers. NCL takes a cut out of it as a fee of course but the vast majority goes into the "incentive" pool NCL has and gets paid out to the employees.

 

Many people think that NCL does give ALL gratuities and service charges to workers but that's just not the case. NCL is just as greedy with it's workers as they are with us passengers.

[NLH Arizona]

3 minutes ago, KateQ22003 said:

Not all restaurants pool tips, but I think you know that. There is a HUGE difference between the waiter only getting 10 because HE tips out others, and the waiter only getting ten because THE COMPANY is keeping the other 10. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

 

I said many, not all and the reason I said many is because I know not all restaurants do it! 

 

We are just going to keep going in circles, because you won't change my opinion without any proof and I won't change your opinion.  So let's agree to disagree.

[fstuff1]

1 hour ago, senseib said:

 

Actually since the DSC can be adjusted it has to be accounted for as gratuities and distributed 100% to the staff.  That is GAAP.

another way of looking at it is NCL's play on words.

 

yes, all the DSC $ is going to crew in the form of pay and crew activities.

but it's actually NCL recapturing the $ they spent on crew pay and activities already. 

 

let's take state lotteries.

all that $ goes to education.

lets say the state lottery bought in $100M profit. all $100M goes to education.

the state then reduces how much from the general fund they give to education by $100M.

so the education dept gets nothing extra!

 

it's a shell game

 

Edited December 22, 2018 by fstuff1

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, KateQ22003 said:

If the money is being taken from me, and I am told it is for a specific reason, you are darned right I would ask where my money is going!! Would you be cool going to a restaurant, leaving the waiter a $20 tip, and then finding out that he actually got $10 and the rest he doesn't get because he didn't earn his "incentive"?

So,,, NCL has very specific written discription of the Daily Service Charge. Can you provide substantiated proof that NCL is doing something to the contrary?????  

 

If if you are talking to your friend the housekeeper or waiter, you do realize that they are at the very bottom of the food chain on the ship. And that they have little to no visibility into what aspects of their total compensation are being funded from what source of money. They just know that they work a minimum of 80 hours a week for a sub, sub, sub minimum wage which is supplemented by various sources. 

[Arzeena]

3 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

Do you know how the gratuities and service charges are distributed? The cruise lines certainly don't share that information, do they? No, because they don't want that known. They count on passengers thinking their money is going completely to the staff. If they have nothing to hide, they would publish the percent that goes to each level of staff. They don't. I trust what an employee tells me a heck of a lot more that what a corporation refuses to tell me.

Royal Caribbean does give you a breakdown of how your gratuities are distributed among the staff, if you wish to know. So you are wrong there!
If you ask NCL how they do it, they will also let you know. So does Holland America. So making blanket statements like you did above is very incorrect.

[Arzeena]

3 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

Do you know how the gratuities and service charges are distributed? The cruise lines certainly don't share that information, do they? No, because they don't want that known. They count on passengers thinking their money is going completely to the staff. If they have nothing to hide, they would publish the percent that goes to each level of staff. They don't. I trust what an employee tells me a heck of a lot more that what a corporation refuses to tell me.

You have to go to GS and ASK for it. They will give you a sheet with that info.

[erdoran]

When I cruised carnival about 10 years ago they broke down the dsc and showed how much each group got -for example $1.25/day for the steward, mdr waitstaff $.95/day etc. no idea if correct numbers just an example of how to do it right imho. 

[Arzeena]

2 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

If the money is being taken from me, and I am told it is for a specific reason, you are darned right I would ask where my money is going!! Would you be cool going to a restaurant, leaving the waiter a $20 tip, and then finding out that he actually got $10 and the rest he doesn't get because he didn't earn his "incentive"?

 

Did the waiter also cook your food? Wash your dirty dishes? If he/she did, then yes, they deserve all the $20. if not they have to share it with everyone directly involved with your food and service.

[erdoran]

14 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

You have to go to GS and ASK for it. They will give you a sheet with that info.

Have you gotten that info? Pls share it here.  Will put an end to much of the debate. 

[cathi007]

2 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

If the money is being taken from me, and I am told it is for a specific reason, you are darned right I would ask where my money is going!! Would you be cool going to a restaurant, leaving the waiter a $20 tip, and then finding out that he actually got $10 and the rest he doesn't get because he didn't earn his "incentive"?

But this happens all of time in the restaurant business. When you tip the server 10.00 they are only keeping a portion of that money, because they have to tip out the bar-tender and the bus boys. I know this because my daughter has been a server for 8 years in two different establishments.

[cathi007]

2 hours ago, NLH Arizona said:

Apples to oranges.  Does it upset you that out of the $20 tip you give your waiter, he has to tip out the bus boy and possibly other employees.  Also, in many restaurants if you give no tip, the server still has to tip out others with their own money.  Maybe you should ask restaurants their policies.  Have a great day and Merry Christmas.

Yes, it happened to my daughter all of the time when she worked at Chillis.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, cathi007 said:

Yes, it happened to my daughter all of the time when she worked at Chillis.

Where my Dd works they pool tips with all of the servers.

[KateQ22003]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

So,,, NCL has very specific written discription of the Daily Service Charge. Can you provide substantiated proof that NCL is doing something to the contrary?????  

 

If if you are talking to your friend the housekeeper or waiter, you do realize that they are at the very bottom of the food chain on the ship. And that they have little to no visibility into what aspects of their total compensation are being funded from what source of money. They just know that they work a minimum of 80 hours a week for a sub, sub, sub minimum wage which is supplemented by various sources. 

Yea, no. They know whether or not they are getting a piece of what's charged for DSC. They also know that if you leave a tip for them on your credit card slip, they don't get that in entirety either. Cash is king.

Edited December 22, 2018 by KateQ22003

[KateQ22003]

1 hour ago, cathi007 said:

But this happens all of time in the restaurant business. When you tip the server 10.00 they are only keeping a portion of that money, because they have to tip out the bar-tender and the bus boys. I know this because my daughter has been a server for 8 years in two different establishments.

Is any of it being kept by the establishment?

[KateQ22003]

2 hours ago, Arzeena said:

 

Did the waiter also cook your food? Wash your dirty dishes? If he/she did, then yes, they deserve all the $20. if not they have to share it with everyone directly involved with your food and service.

I don't care if the waiter gives it to everyone in the freaking establishment! What I do care about is the establishment taking a piece for themselves. See the difference?

[KateQ22003]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

So,,, NCL has very specific written discription of the Daily Service Charge. Can you provide substantiated proof that NCL is doing something to the contrary?????  

 

If if you are talking to your friend the housekeeper or waiter, you do realize that they are at the very bottom of the food chain on the ship. And that they have little to no visibility into what aspects of their total compensation are being funded from what source of money. They just know that they work a minimum of 80 hours a week for a sub, sub, sub minimum wage which is supplemented by various sources. 

Can you show me the specific written description of the daily service charge and where the money goes? I missed that.

[Two Wheels Only]

If the OP had a dollar for every poster who took the bait, there would be enough to pay the DSC...

[senseib]

3 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

I don't care if the waiter gives it to everyone in the freaking establishment! What I do care about is the establishment taking a piece for themselves. See the difference?

You don't care if your waiter shares the tip with others who helped deliver your service?  Sad.

[casofilia]

Can you show me the specific written description of the daily service charge and where the money goes?

 

With NCL you cannot find that out.  It is known who shares in it but not what percentage goes to them and what goes to NCL

[KateQ22003]

4 hours ago, Grandpa Elliott said:

The reason there's a fixed service charge is an important one: Our Crew (as are the crew from other lines) is encouraged to work together as a team. Staff members including complimentary restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports.

This doesn't answer my question. Where does it say that all of the DSC goes to the staff? Answer: it doesn't.

[KateQ22003]

2 hours ago, casofilia said:

Can you show me the specific written description of the daily service charge and where the money goes?

 

With NCL you cannot find that out.  It is known who shares in it but not what percentage goes to them and what goes to NCL

Exactly my point. I see a lot of shaming on this board of folks that want to reduce or eliminate the DSC. Until someone shows me that 100% of the DSC actually goes to the hard working staff, I will always stick up for those who want to make sure their money goes where they want it to go 100%.

[DirtyDawg]

20 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

Not all restaurants pool tips, but I think you know that. There is a HUGE difference between the waiter only getting 10 because HE tips out others, and the waiter only getting ten because THE COMPANY is keeping the other 10. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

This is not true. I just went to NCL and looked at their P&L - they treat the service charge as revenue.

 

I pulled up their latest 10K and did not see how they treated the service charge. Can you post a link to the source you are refering too. Thanks.

[PATRLR]

23 hours ago, NLH Arizona said:

Posters might say this, but no one has every posted any proof that it does not go to the staff. 

And no one has ever posted proof that it does.  

 

It's a service charge, it goes into the NCL corporate coffers and NCL pays it's staff per agreements it has with those staff.