Pre-Paid Gratuities

[Handle63]

Hello

I have not been on a cruise in about 20 years. I remember the little envelopes

I was wondering what the prre-paid gratuities covers

Does it cover the 20% for the FAS drinks package, or the Specialty dinner package?

 

 

 

[1025cruise]

Prepaid gratuities cover your stateroom steward, dining staff, and other behind the scenes people. If you purchase a drinks package or specialty dining package, you will be charged additional gratuity for those packages.

[BirdTravels]

It does not cover your FAS dining or beverage gratuities. Those are in addition to your Daily Service Charge. The Daily Servoce Charge covers your room steward, complimentary dining waiters, and behind the scenes crew who work to make your cruise memorable. 

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/what-is-onboard-service-charge

 

Additional “envelopes”’are still welcome. (E.g., we give our room steward an extra $5-$10 per person in the room per day in cash). 

Edited November 4, 2022 by BirdTravels

[Sea saw 56]

The 20% gratuities for the FAS drink and dining packages are added to the cost of your cruise at the time of booking.  If you choose those options, it will show up in your total cruise fare to be paid at final payment time.

 

The DSC (Daily Service Charge) is added, daily - after you board the ship to your onboard account.

It ranges from $16-$20 PER PERSON per day, depending on the type of cabin you book.  If you do not pre-pay the DSC, it will be added each day as a charge to your account.

 

You can still go to the service desk in the Atrium and request little NCL envelopes to use for any additional tips you wish to give to any crew members.

[MoCruiseFan]

2 hours ago, Handle63 said:

Hello

I have not been on a cruise in about 20 years. I remember the little envelopes

I was wondering what the prre-paid gratuities covers

Does it cover the 20% for the FAS drinks package, or the Specialty dinner package?

 

 

 

 

 

There are no pre-paid gratuities on NCL other than the gratuities on the FAS items.  Those are included and paid for when you book your cruise.  The daily servcie charge(DSC) can be pre-paid as well.  It has nothing at all to do with the FAS packages that you have selected.

 

[Two Wheels Only]

2 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

There are no pre-paid gratuities on NCL other than the gratuities on the FAS items.  Those are included and paid for when you book your cruise.  The daily servcie charge(DSC) can be pre-paid as well.  It has nothing at all to do with the FAS packages that you have selected.

 

 

On rare occasions, the waived DSC is one of the Free At Sea promos. In those cases, nothing is taken out of the onboard account on a daily basis IF the guest has that promo. 

[MoCruiseFan]

1 minute ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

On rare occasions, the waived DSC is one of the Free At Sea promos. In those cases, nothing is taken out of the onboard account on a daily basis IF the guest has that promo. 

Yes, it has been quite some time since I have seen the free DSC promo.  They have also have free taxes/port fees during April as a tax free promo.  That has been quite some time ago as well.  I got lucky one time and had both of those on one sailing!

[Two Wheels Only]

3 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

I got lucky one time and had both of those on one sailing!

 

I remember one time when both of those promos were available for a cruise BUT the cruise price had risen to the point that the new total was higher than what I had already booked. 🤪

[MoCruiseFan]

10 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I remember one time when both of those promos were available for a cruise BUT the cruise price had risen to the point that the new total was higher than what I had already booked. 🤪

 

Well I got to combine with a CAS comp so I made out big time!

 

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, MoCruiseFan said:

There are no pre-paid gratuities on NCL other than the gratuities on the FAS items.  Those are included and paid for when you book your cruise.  The daily servcie charge(DSC) can be pre-paid as well.  It has nothing at all to do with the FAS packages that you have selected.

@Handle63 don't be confused by statements like the above.  NCL and many of the major travel agencies will frequently refer to the Daily Service Charge (DSC) as gratuities by way of referring to paying the DSC in advance as "pre-paid gratuities" or in some cases offering to include as a perk "free pre-paid gratuities".  "pre-paid gratuites" and/or "free pre-paid gratuities" is referring to the DSC.  

As stated by others in this thread, the DSC covers the gratuities for your room steward, the wait staff in the complimentary dining rooms, and some ambiguous group of behind the scenes support staff.

 

Your Specialty Dining server's gratuities are covered by the 20% you pay for the FAS program, or, if paying ala carte the 20% added to your bill.  Same for bar servers and drinks. 

 

The old routine of handing out envelopes on the last night of the cruise are long gone.   If you feel someone has gone above and beyond, you are welcome to tip them something extra.  But it is by no means expected as in days gone by.

 

I do find that an additional dollar or two gratuity to bar servers goes a long way to making sure I get good service.

 

Note that if you are staying in the Haven, some of the people you interact with there do expect gratuities.  They don't let me through the gates of steerage so I am not familiar with those details.  Let us know if you are in a Haven room.

[dbrown84]

2 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

Well I got to combine with a CAS comp so I made out big time!

 

yeah, I love when these type of promos are available and I combine with my CAS comp, but they don't come around too often anymore.  Last good one I had was free airfare.  That was nice because I left out of New Orleans and had comp stays at Harrah's before and after the cruise.