gratuities and drinks tax

[hobgoblin]

Am I correct  in thinking we have to pay $17_$18 dollars a day gratuities on our cruise and then also get a service charge on the bill for serving my drink at the bar?

Isn't this paying service twice?

 

[puppycanducruise]

No.  The $17 a day gratuity covers your cabin steward(s), dining room staff and behind the scenes personnel.  The tip on your drink is for the bartender and bar staff. 

[CruiserBruce]

@puppycanducruise is correct...the bar staff are a separate employee category from the employees that are covered by the "automatic" gratuities. 

 

There is no tax issue here. They are tips or service fees.

[hobgoblin]

Wish they would just lump it all together !

Then you know how much your cruise is actually costing .

[John Bull]

A learning curve for non-North Americans sailing a US ship. 🙁

 

As @puppycanducruise's post, bar & wine staff aren't covered by the daily gratuities/service charge/call-it-what-you-will -  their gratuity is a percentage added to each bar bill.

I hope your travel agent forewarned you about the daily charge.

You need to bear in mind the drinks grats when looking at drinks prices om-board. 

 

Yes. even some Americans & Canadians would like those charges to be included in the prices, but I can't see that happening anytime soon.

 

BTW if this is your first cruise on a ship which doesn't use sterling, on the last full day you'll be asked if you would like your on-board account to be charged to your credit / debit card in sterling "for your convenience" 🙄.

DECLINE that kind offer, leave it in US dollars - your card issuer will convert at a much better exchange rate. 

Same applies to buying foreign cash - cruise ship exchange rates are dire so before you leave buy from the usual suspects, M&S, Sainsbury, Tesco, etc or on-line.

Same applies to using plastic ashore - always but always have your card charged in local currency (or US dollars in most of the Caribbean). That avoids being screwed by the merchant's exchange rate, it also means you can check that you've been charged the price on the menu, price board, sales sticker, or whatever. 

 

JB 🙂

 

[mammajamma2013]

On Princess and Norwegian, the drinks receipt shows an 18% tip included in the drinks price.* You can choose to tip an additional amount or not.

 

*Please correct me if this is no longer the case.

[SelectSys]

23 hours ago, John Bull said:

credit / debit card in sterling "for your convenience" 🙄.

DECLINE that kind offer, leave it in US dollars - your card issuer will convert at a much better exchange rate. 

I really dislike that practice and it is becoming increasingly widespread regardless of your "home" currency and location. 

 

To all - Be careful of what button you press on credit card terminals to avoid these "convenience" services and always pay in the local currency.

Edited August 18 by SelectSys

[ldubs]

On 8/17/2024 at 9:51 AM, hobgoblin said:

Wish they would just lump it all together !

Then you know how much your cruise is actually costing .

 

Problem is those that don't make drink purchases would be subsidizing tips to bartenders. 

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Problem is those that don't make drink purchases would be subsidizing tips to bartenders. 

Yep, because they don't know how much each person would buy from the bar they would have to total it out among all of the passengers and divvy it up equally among them. So people who don't use the service would be paying for those who do. 

[hobgoblin]

Thanks to everyone for your kind responses particularly John Bull re currency exchange  advice !