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Tipping in the YC


roger001
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7 hours ago, roger001 said:

Yea, yea..I know.  But I did search!  We are NCL folks who have just booked an MSC YC experience, mainly because at the moment it is such a better deal than NCL's suites.   But anyhow, since the YC is totally inclusive, do you still (if you actually do) tip the individual servers as they deliver drinks and again with each meal in the YC restaurant?   Yes, I do do that on NCL.   Anyone doing that in the YC?   

Not really , we will tip at the end .

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13 hours ago, gimletgal said:

Totally, totally agree about Onil!!!! First time in my life I have given a pool attendant a large tip. He was so wonderful.

He is now on the new MSC Bellissima - part of the "shakedown" crew getting the ship ready for its first voyage. He will be in the YC as a pool attendant once again. They are so lucky to have him.

 

Oh no!  I didnt know Onil had moved. Between him and Arthur gone, Ill be lost lol

 

Thank you for the information so Im not heartbroken when I found out once onboard lol

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We would never tip during a cruise - only at the end (though I did do so, once.  It was on our Sinfonia cruise from Venice to Durban;  we were extremely well looked after by a head waiter in the Aurea dining room (who was married to the hostess).  When we reached Mauritius we knew that they were going ashore and I gave him €50 to treat the wife to a nice cocktail ashore.  We had meant to give him and extra tip at the end, but he was assigned to the terminal for embarking passengers and we never saw him on the last morning).

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12 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:


Yes, YC crew share in the daily gratuity charge.  Personally I didn't do anything additional tipping.  I never asked for any special service.  And while the service is excellent in the YC, that is the standard there and without any special personal requests or something out of the ordinary I felt the requested gratuity charge, combined with the premium we paid to sail in yacht club was sufficient.  We are pretty low maintenance, so there was really little opportunity for a crew member to go 'above and beyond' the excellent level of service we expected (and got) when we paid the premium price to be in YC.

Certainly I would never discourage anyone else from additional tipping if they feel it is warranted.  Or if they requested and received what I would consider a special service.  For example, on our cruise I saw, on number of occasions a Butler pushing a wheelchair for a disabled pax.  If that had been a member of our group I would definitely have tipped that Butler extra.  But not just for bringing me a drink or serving me in the YC restaurant.  But again, this is just me. I think my wife tipped our waiters.  That was her decision, which is fine.

Personally I believe everyone should leave the daily gratuity charge on, and that whatever anyone chooses to do or not do beyond that is strictly up to them.  I didn't have any drinks outside the YC, but if I had I would have tipped that bartender because I know that people outside YC either paid a gratuity expense on their drink package or they got charged a gratuity if they were just buying a drink, while YC pax just get it for 'free'.  But the bartender deserves the grat and gets it from everyone else so it only seems fair to tip extra in that circumstance.

 

We just got off the Seaside YC (first MSC cruise) and value your (sensible) comments. We did an earlier search on tipping prior to leaving the ship with the usual 'conflicting' assessments.  First of all I wish that the mainstream cruise lines would just ante up their DSC to reflect a more premium experience  (YC , Haven, etc.)

and leave us poor passengers out of the tipping quandary.  It seems we are heading back to the inconvenient  (barbaric?) 'leave an envelope for everyone at the end of the cruise' days that we experienced during our first cruise on the Norway. The argument against the increased DSC seems to be that passengers will be turned off by additional charges and refuse to pay them but this seems contrary to the sentiments on tipping posted on most cruise line boards which in my mind sway to the very liberal and perhaps overly generous.   

 

We happily left a tip for our butler and room attendant for good service.  We consider ourselves thoughtful and low maintenance cruisers who made no special requests, kept our room tidy, and rarely used room service.

 

As far as waiters, bartenders, etc. we really did not find ones that were consistently serving us and certainly we did not make special requests of them.  The issue for us at the end of the cruise was not so much not wanting to tip additionally but who to tip.  The idea of bringing some crumpled bills to the bars to tip on the spot also seems a bit inconvenient and contrary to my understanding that bartenders and staff receive a 15% gratuity on all drinks ordered?  

 

In short we are looking for professional, attentive, and friendly service and are happy to pay a reasonable charge for this as part of the up front cruise cost. We are not seeking to become benefactors or best friends to service people but trust we treat them with respect, thoughtfulness, and a pleasant, non demanding attitude.

 

I know some cruisers want to forge bonds with their service people and that this can carry over to other cruises etc. but this just isn't what we seek. We don't need to demand 'Joe' be our waiter or need to tip a bartender

a bundle to jump the line for a drink order or greet us by our first name.  Frankly, I personally see some of the passenger interaction with staff as more condescending than 'generous'.

 

I don't mean to offend those that look at this 'inflammatory' subject in a different fashion or those individuals that enjoy and receive gratification from their tipping practices but would like to state my opinion and wish that the mainstream cruise lines could move towards a model that treated employees fairly and kept passengers out to the tipping fray.

JMHO.

 

 

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51 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

We would never tip during a cruise - only at the end (though I did do so, once.  It was on our Sinfonia cruise from Venice to Durban;  we were extremely well looked after by a head waiter in the Aurea dining room (who was married to the hostess).  When we reached Mauritius we knew that they were going ashore and I gave him €50 to treat the wife to a nice cocktail ashore.  We had meant to give him and extra tip at the end, but he was assigned to the terminal for embarking passengers and we never saw him on the last morning).

My "M.O." Was to always tip at the end.  But on my NCL Sun cruise, we had breakfast and lunch in the suite venue.  I wanted to tip the wonderful servers.  I had to hunt for themon the last night all over the ship in various dinner restaurants.  

 

After that, we started tucking cash under our plates at each meal.  

 

Other than that it has always been at the end. On the last night.  

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