Help! Free at Sea - Gratutities

[ScratchTheRat]

Hello all 🙂

 

I am aware I have to pay gratuities for the Free at Sea's open bar package (and specialty restaurants).

 

I've been charged $99 per person for "Free at Sea" and got my total price for the cruise. Is this including the 20% gratuity for the drinks package etc or will this be added on top of this later?

 

I think it's all included for UK guests and our base price is higher?

Edited January 30, 2021 by ScratchTheRat

[MeHeartCruising]

In the USA, they add a Beverage Service Charge at the time of booking when your package includes the Free at Sea bar package.  For my 7-day cruise, it is a line item on my invoice for $138.60.  The specialty dining package has a Dining Service Charge of $15.80.  I know you're in the UK, so the numbers may be different.

 

But, I would not expect them to charge you any additional gratuities/service charge for the Free at Sea packages since it sounds like they've already covered that with you. 

 

There is also a daily service charge that covers most of the other workers on the ship.  In the UK, I think that may be part of  your cruise fare, but I've lost track.  If it's not, and you didn't already pre-pay it, then it will be added daily to your cruise account on ship.

Edited January 30, 2021 by MeHeartCruising

[SpainAlien]

2 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Hello all 🙂

 

I am aware I have to pay gratuities for the Free at Sea's open bar package (and specialty restaurants).

 

I've been charged $99 per person for "Free at Sea" and got my total price for the cruise. Is this including the 20% gratuity for the drinks package etc or will this be added on top of this later?

 

I think it's all included for UK guests and our base price is higher?

The £99/99€ covers everything, no additional fees for gratuities 

 

[KeithJenner]

You need to clarify a few things.

 

You say that you have been charged $99 for the free at sea, but you are in the UK.

 

Did you book in the UK? If so then I assume you meant that you paid £99. If so then the gratuities issue on free at sea is irrelevant. That is a US thing.

 

if you booked via the US (whether direct with NCL or a travel agent) then the UK riles are irrelevant.

[ScratchTheRat]

9 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

You need to clarify a few things.

 

You say that you have been charged $99 for the free at sea, but you are in the UK.

 

Did you book in the UK? If so then I assume you meant that you paid £99. If so then the gratuities issue on free at sea is irrelevant. That is a US thing.

 

if you booked via the US (whether direct with NCL or a travel agent) then the UK riles are irrelevant.

I booked in the UK yes and yes it was £99, I realise this now. Thanks 🙂

[ziggyuk]

14 minutes ago, ScratchTheRat said:

I booked in the UK yes and yes it was £99, I realise this now. Thanks 🙂

 

Yes you are all covered with a UK booking on drinks and dining gratuities, additional tips are optional.
As you probably know the main daily gratuities can either be paid in advance or added to your bill on the ship.

[ScratchTheRat]

6 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Yes you are all covered with a UK booking on drinks and dining gratuities, additional tips are optional.
As you probably know the main daily gratuities can either be paid in advance or added to your bill on the ship.

Yep yep 🙂 I'll pay them in advance I think. Well deserved tips!

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Yep yep 🙂 I'll pay them in advance I think. Well deserved tips!

I have decided to pay my next one onboard, it's so unpredictable now, I would rather keep as much as possible in my pocket until my feet are firmly onboard ship.

[Ladesign]

On 2/1/2021 at 9:24 AM, ziggyuk said:

 

Yes you are all covered with a UK booking on drinks and dining gratuities, additional tips are optional.
As you probably know the main daily gratuities can either be paid in advance or added to your bill on the ship.

We are new to NCL so unsure about ‘’main daily gratuities’. On Celebrity we have the gratuities removed from the account and then distribute the amount (plus more sometimes) to the people who we feel deserve it (we learned that the Maitre D’s were receiving a fortune & generally stood around doing very little so didn’t want our hard earned money going to them). 

 

Dies NCL allow us to do the same ??

[ScratchTheRat]

1 hour ago, Ladesign said:

We are new to NCL so unsure about ‘’main daily gratuities’. On Celebrity we have the gratuities removed from the account and then distribute the amount (plus more sometimes) to the people who we feel deserve it (we learned that the Maitre D’s were receiving a fortune & generally stood around doing very little so didn’t want our hard earned money going to them). 

 

Dies NCL allow us to do the same ??

The problem is, if you do this, the crew are apparently made to surrender those tips you give them and they are added to the shared pot.

 

[SpainAlien]

1 hour ago, Ladesign said:

We are new to NCL so unsure about ‘’main daily gratuities’. On Celebrity we have the gratuities removed from the account and then distribute the amount (plus more sometimes) to the people who we feel deserve it (we learned that the Maitre D’s were receiving a fortune & generally stood around doing very little so didn’t want our hard earned money going to them). 

 

Dies NCL allow us to do the same ??

The theory is fine but you don't see the hard working guys running the kitchen or laundry to give them a tip so they miss out when you do that. 

 

[Ladesign]

1 hour ago, ScratchTheRat said:

The problem is, if you do this, the crew are apparently made to surrender those tips you give them and they are added to the shared pot.

 

I had heard that about Celebrity too - but having got to know some of the Managers that theory  was debunked- as they said there is no way of the cruise line knowing what had been given to the individual members of staff

[Trimone]

Oh No. 

This Topic is getting close to TIPPING!!!

PLEASE STOP 

[Ladesign]

On 2/4/2021 at 1:14 PM, Trimone said:

Oh No. 

This Topic is getting close to TIPPING!!!

PLEASE STOP 

What is the difference between ‘gratuities’ and ‘tipping’ when it comes to cruises ??

 

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, Ladesign said:

What is the difference between ‘gratuities’ and ‘tipping’ when it comes to cruises ??

 

 

If that is a genuine question rather than a red flag (text) to a bull, then my view is gratuities are what we are asked to give and tips are what we choose to give.

 

in other words gratuities arrive on the account tips come from my pocket. 

 

But as @Trimone says lets not turn this thread into "one of those" tipping threads.

[Ladesign]

22 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

If that is a genuine question rather than a red flag (text) to a bull, then my view is gratuities are what we are asked to give and tips are what we choose to give.

 

in other words gratuities arrive on the account tips come from my pocket. 

 

But as @Trimone says lets not turn this thread into "one of those" tipping threads.

Thank you for providing clarification . Sorry if the colour of the text caused offence - was messing about with the various text settings just to see what one can do 🧐

Edited February 7, 2021 by Ladesign

[GaryWT]

We had a line item of $308 when we booked the cruise.  This line disappeared if we selected a cabin with nothing free at sea.  This was for drinks and specialty dining.

[KeithJenner]

7 hours ago, GaryWT said:

We had a line item of $308 when we booked the cruise.  This line disappeared if we selected a cabin with nothing free at sea.  This was for drinks and specialty dining.

That is the case in the US, but we are talking about the UK where it is different.