Specialty Dining Package Gratuities Question

[spumonisowner]

Hi all! We'll be taking a cruise on NCL in June. It's our first time doing NCL in a long time, and I'm a little confused about how the dining package works. When we booked, we got a 1 meal Specialty Dining Package included. I was charged an extra $20 for gratuities along with the cruise fare, fees, etc. 

 

I was just talking to a friend who cruised NCL more recently and she told me that when they went to Cagney's they were charged an additional $75 for tax/gratuity even though they had the package. Is that the case? If that's true, what is the $20 for? I wasn't expecting to pay anything additional, so if I need to I want to be prepared for that. 

 

Any info about how it all works is appreciated!

[shof515]

it seems like they got charged the al la carte price instead of using the package or they had the package and already used to the meals so now they have to pay the al la la carte

 

at the restaurant, tell them that you are using the package so they know and they can also check if you used up your package or not

[UKstages]

 

$75 would be very low for an a la carte dinner for two at cagney's, unless they had entrees only. dinner for one is usually $75 - $100 or more. so, when you say "they" had dinner, did you mean just your friend? or were there two people? if just one person dined, then the explanation offered by shof is probably correct. 

[BirdTravels]

12 minutes ago, spumonisowner said:

Hi all! We'll be taking a cruise on NCL in June. It's our first time doing NCL in a long time, and I'm a little confused about how the dining package works. When we booked, we got a 1 meal Specialty Dining Package included. I was charged an extra $20 for gratuities along with the cruise fare, fees, etc. 

 

I was just talking to a friend who cruised NCL more recently and she told me that when they went to Cagney's they were charged an additional $75 for tax/gratuity even though they had the package. Is that the case? If that's true, what is the $20 for? I wasn't expecting to pay anything additional, so if I need to I want to be prepared for that. 

 

Any info about how it all works is appreciated!

The $20 gratuity is all you owe. You owe nothing at the restaurant. 

 

You can use it at any specialty restaurant. At Cagney's, you get 1 appetizer, 1 soup/salad, 1 entree, 2 side dishes, 1 dessert. 

 

If you order more than 1 entree, you will be charged for it. 

 

Example of a restaurant bill totally covered. 

 

[hallux]

Some entrees carry a cost, even when ordered on the dining package.

[spumonisowner]

Thanks, everyone! I feel a lot better now. What you are saying makes total sense and is how I thought it was before I talked to my friend. That receipt is very helpful, thanks, @BirdTravels!

 

She must be remembering it wrong. It didn't make sense that two of them would eat for that cost - too high for gratuities and too low for out of pocket. Maybe they ordered an extra entree or something like that and didn't know it. 

[Two Wheels Only]

10 minutes ago, spumonisowner said:

She must be remembering it wrong.

 

Was there any alcohol involved? 🥴

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, spumonisowner said:

Thanks, everyone! I feel a lot better now. What you are saying makes total sense and is how I thought it was before I talked to my friend. That receipt is very helpful, thanks, @BirdTravels!

 

She must be remembering it wrong. It didn't make sense that two of them would eat for that cost - too high for gratuities and too low for out of pocket. Maybe they ordered an extra entree or something like that and didn't know it. 

This menu is about 9 months old and there are fewer items with an "upcharge" now. But, if your friends sailed a short while ago and added lobster or had a ginormous steak, there would have been an upcharge. Everything else is included with the dining package. 

 

May 2023

 

 

December 2023

[dbrown84]

4 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

$75 would be very low for an a la carte dinner for two at cagney's, unless they had entrees only. dinner for one is usually $75 - $100 or more. so, when you say "they" had dinner, did you mean just your friend? or were there two people? if just one person dined, then the explanation offered by shof is probably correct. 

very low for a gratuity????  $75 would be the gratuity for a $375 check which would certainly be for multiple people

[UKstages]

$75 would indeed be very low for an a la carte dinner for two at cagney's.

 

this was in direct response to the previous comment which theorized that the OP’s friend had not been charged a gratuity, but perhaps had been charged a la carte prices. if you go back and read the comments in context, this makes perfect sense. the comment is not talking about a gratuity at all… it’s building on the previous comment about a la carte pricing. 

[Asawi]

Could those 75 (or part of them) be tax while in Spain/France? There has been a lot of talk about tax on drinks, but according to NCL there should also be tax on meals. Even though it seems, when drinks tax was a hot topic here, people were not charged for meals.

I think the most likely expanantion though is that they had someting with a surcharge.

 

[dbrown84]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

$75 would indeed be very low for an a la carte dinner for two at cagney's.

 

this was in direct response to the previous comment which theorized that the OP’s friend had not been charged a gratuity, but perhaps had been charged a la carte prices. if you go back and read the comments in context, this makes perfect sense. the comment is not talking about a gratuity at all… it’s building on the previous comment about a la carte pricing. 

sorry.  it wasn't posted as a reply to that post, so it comes across as a response to the OP.  But you're right, given context it's an excellent point