pay cash tips or pay service gratuities?

[eagles 2024]

what is the opinion on this topic?  Pay cash (No tax on tips) or pay the service gratuities 

Edited Monday at 05:13 PM by eagles 2024

[The Traveling Man]

There are dozens of previous threads about tipping on this forum.

[dexddd]

Welcome to CC, likely again.

[zqvol]

Definitions needed. Are gratuities and the DSC the same to OP? On NCL you are paying gratuities whether you want to or not and it will be added to your account. Feel free to give more than what you are charged. DSC is adjustable and is not a gratuity, it is a service charge.

[IAcruising]

Both.

 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@eagles 2024

 

How do you intend to tip those who do the laundry, wash your dishes and cook your meals?

[FLAHAM]

In addition to the DSC, I give $20 to my room steward for a week, $5 at a specialty restaurant and $1 to a bar waiter who brings a drink to my chair.  I don’t think I’m too far from “average.”

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

@eagles 2024

 

How do you intend to tip those who do the laundry, wash your dishes and cook your meals?

The real question is why should you?  I always leave the DSC alone but those are not traditionally tipped positions. 

[mjkacmom]

2 minutes ago, zqvol said:

The real question is why should you?  I always leave the DSC alone but those are not traditionally tipped positions. 

But they benefit from the DSC as well.

[zqvol]

Just now, mjkacmom said:

But they benefit from the DSC as well.

Do you really believe that any crew member, even in the Haven, doesn’t benefit from the DSC in some way such as crew parties and events. I’m not suggesting at all that the DSC should be removed, but I also believe that every crew member benefits from it. 

[mjkacmom]

32 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Do you really believe that any crew member, even in the Haven, doesn’t benefit from the DSC in some way such as crew parties and events. I’m not suggesting at all that the DSC should be removed, but I also believe that every crew member benefits from it. 

That’s exactly what I was saying.

[1025cruise]

I leave the DSC on and tip additional.

[BirdTravels]

9 hours ago, eagles 2024 said:

what is the opinion on this topic?  Pay cash (No tax on tips) or pay the service gratuities 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Pay the daily service charge which covers all of the hard working crew. 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

The OP asked Pay cash (No tax on tips) or pay the service gratuities 

 

To me he is specifically asking whether to "pay cash" OR to "pay the service gratuities".    If he intends to remove the "service gratuities" my comment was to ask how he would recompense certain staff members for the actual CASH they would lose from not getting anything directly "in hand" from the "service gratuities".

[nimbex1970]

Why do you want to hunt down all these folks to tip to save a few bucks on taxes?  That really is what you are looking at.

[zqvol]

5 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

The OP asked Pay cash (No tax on tips) or pay the service gratuities 

 

To me he is specifically asking whether to "pay cash" OR to "pay the service gratuities".    If he intends to remove the "service gratuities" my comment was to ask how he would recompense certain staff members for the actual CASH they would lose from not getting anything directly "in hand" from the "service gratuities".

You assume that crew actually gets cash from the DSC, which has been pointed out in numerous threads is not true. 

[The Traveling Man]

6 hours ago, nimbex1970 said:

Why do you want to hunt down all these folks to tip to save a few bucks on taxes?  That really is what you are looking at.

Which or whose taxes can be avoided by paying in cash rather than by the DSC?

[bkrickles1]

Increase DSC by 50% AND tip every crewmember you see $10!!

That'll satisfy everyone and, hopefully, puts an end to this discussion!!

Lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🤣

[CruisingSince1982]

On 9/30/2024 at 1:06 PM, eagles 2024 said:

what is the opinion on this topic?  Pay cash (No tax on tips) or pay the service gratuities 

I have spoken to dozens of crew over the years, and they all tell the same story. They do not get any of that "pre-paid" money. Didn't matter if we were in a balcony cabin, or in the haven. The answer is consistent. I can't imagine they are all lying. 

[UKstages]

5 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

They do not get any of that "pre-paid" money. Didn't matter if we were in a balcony cabin, or in the haven. The answer is consistent. I can't imagine they are all lying.

 

they're not lying, but they may not fully understand the nature of the employee compensation and incentive fund that NCL establishes through the onboard service charge and through gratuities. virtually none of it is passed through directly to employees as cash. the fund supports employee recreation and incentives, which could include a pizza party or an employee karaoke contest or painting the break room. NCL doesn't say what it does with the money, but some of it does wind up being disbursed as performance bonuses. 

 

or they could fully understand how it works and prefer to tell you that they don't get anything because they know you are more likely to tip them directly if they tell you they are being disadvantaged. in which case, yes, they are lying. i can't imagine that any of them are telling the truth.

 

as for the haven... the butler and the concierge do not participate in that employee rewards program and tipping directly is appropriate. (your cabin attendant does participate, but you can still tip him or her.)

[RocketMan275]

5 minutes ago, UKstages said:

or they could fully understand how it works and prefer to tell you that they don't get anything because they know you are more likely to tip them directly if they tell you they are being disadvantaged. in which case, yes, they are lying. i can't imagine that any of them are telling the truth.

I suspect that most employees that deal directly with passengers have learned how to 'finese' those passengers to increase their tips.

[IAcruising]

7 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

I have spoken to dozens of crew over the years, and they all tell the same story.

 

Interesting. I've also asked nearly every room steward I've had. I've gotten 3 different answers:

 

1. Yes

2. We can't discuss that

3. No

 

Funny that you've gotten the exact same answer "dozens" of times.

 

7 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

I can't imagine they are all lying.

 

Someone here is.

 

[New2cruise2022]

The DSC should be left as a general practice. I do believe that if a passenger 1) encounters problems during the cruise, 2) notifies staff of the problem to give the staff a chance to rectify the problem, and 3) staff fails to improve the situation in a timely manner and without unreasonable inconvenience, THEN the passenger might elect to adjust or remove the DSC charge to demonstrate the displeasure with guest services. 
 

I know some people think the DSC should NEVER be adjusted, but it is possible that a cruise falls below expectations enough that making an adjustment is fair. 

[dbrown84]

22 hours ago, zqvol said:

You assume that crew actually gets cash from the DSC, which has been pointed out in numerous threads is not true. 

I've long ago gave up on pointing this out.  You'll find that a lot of folks in CC equate DSC to tips and believe it's distributed to crew.  Even though NCL's own website says differently 

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

I've long ago gave up on pointing this out.  You'll find that a lot of folks in CC equate DSC to tips and believe it's distributed to crew.  Even though NCL's own website says differently 

I’ve followed these threads for a long time and @dbrown84 has pointed this out everytime, and is correct every time — it says it right on the website. It can be nuanced by everyone’s interpretation and experience, but the equation to crew tips is a faulty one.