What is the present deal on tips on POA?

[bfoot34]

We will be on the POA starting 12/26. Is NCL still making tipping optional or are they back to automatic tip billing?

 

It will make a difference in the amount of cash we carry on board.

[poacruiser]

We were on the 12/12 sailing. I will be writing a review soon but we were not charged the resort fee. Carried cash for tipping at dinner and room steward.

 

Hope this is helpful.

[luckylady83]

We are also booked for the 12/26 sailing. Approximately how much do you tip the room steward and dining room attendants? We are a family of 4, with 2 teenage kids. Thanks....

[bfoot34]

We are also booked for the 12/26 sailing. Approximately how much do you tip the room steward and dining room attendants? We are a family of 4, with 2 teenage kids. Thanks....

Glad to hear you are havinig 2 teenage kids. We are bringing our entire family of 13 on the 12/26 POA cruise for our 50th Wedding Anniversary. We have one grandson who is 18 and two granddaughters who are 14 and 13 along with two younger granddaughters that are 8 and 6.

 

Tipping is an interesting question. I think I will tip according to service. From room stewards anywhere between $10 to $20 per day for our cabin. Tipping in dining room is a big question - perhaps a couple dollars per meal.

 

By the way, if you see a young looking 70 year old who is 6'6" stop and say, "Hi" to Jerry and Pat. Pat is only 5'3". Can't miss us.

[jkrislc]

I'm on the January second cruise and I've decided to tip the traditional $3.50 per person, per day for the cabin steward (more if warranted). As for the dining room, I'm going to take a "wait and see" approach. Currently, I'm planning on tipping at least $5 at dinner for the two of us (more if warranted) as the norm is $3.50 per day, per person also. However, traditionally that tip also covers the buffet servers, so I'm not sure how this is all going to work out. While I like the idea of a flat $10/day tip, I don't like the way NCL had implemented it and much preferred the way it was done on Princess.

[bfoot34]

You have given me some great guidance on tipping on the POA.

[johnql]

While I like the idea of a flat $10/day tip, I don't like the way NCL had implemented it and much preferred the way it was done on Princess.

Can you explain how the tipping was done on Princess?

[jkrislc]

Can you explain how the tipping was done on Princess?

 

Because they have "Personal Choice" dining, $10 per person, per day was charged to your onboard account. That covered your services (waiter and assistant), your cabin attendant, head waiter, etc. Basically, the $10 covered everyone you would need to tip except the bar staff (15% was automatically added) and room service (although some stated this was included in the $10). The $10 a day was optional, and you could remove it. However, the servers were informed if you did so, and if you tipped them in cash, they had to add it to the tip pool. Anything over the base amount they got to keep for themselves.

[smeyer418]

Because they have "Personal Choice" dining, $10 per person, per day was charged to your onboard account. That covered your services (waiter and assistant), your cabin attendant, head waiter, etc. Basically, the $10 covered everyone you would need to tip except the bar staff (15% was automatically added) and room service (although some stated this was included in the $10). The $10 a day was optional, and you could remove it. However, the servers were informed if you did so, and if you tipped them in cash, they had to add it to the tip pool. Anything over the base amount they got to keep for themselves.

Isn't this exactly how NCL does it except that it is mandatory beginning 5/1? on NCL America it is mandatory already except that NCL seems to be waiving it.

[jkrislc]

Isn't this exactly how NCL does it except that it is mandatory beginning 5/1? on NCL America it is mandatory already except that NCL seems to be waiving it.

You might be correct with NCL, but not NCLA. And currently, they are not charging the $10 Resort Fee on the POA, which is causing a lot of problems as some people aren't finding out until a couple of days into the cruise. On NCLA, the $10 is put into an account to pay the employees while they are on vacation. Further, the "fine print" in the NCLA brochure elludes to the fact that you should still tip for "good" service. In addition, there is no guarantee that the entire $10 is going to the crew. Thus, I had more confidence in paying the $10 per day to Princess than I ever would to NCLA given they way they have presented their program. While I don't mind a fixed service charge in lieu of a tip, that is not what NCLA's program was. Further, if they want passangers to pay for their employees vacation (which we all do in any business through are purchases), it needs to be included in the fare and not added on as a "service charge" or "resort fee."

[smeyer418]

I used this amount as a base, and leave extra for good service. I also thought that the amount does go to the crew. Whether in the form of cash now or on vacation it doesn't much matter to me. The cost of the American crew is much higher than non-Us and is already reflected in the higher cost of the NCL America cruises. American Flagging the two ships by NCL are the first US flagged ships in how many years. If it becomes too expensive they won't be around long....

[willysgrandma]

The service fee was removed in October and we tipped as we went along. We left our room steward $5.00 per day. We tipped our waiter $10 a meal. We ate in the buffet a lot and we tipped those who were helpful and especially those than cleaned off the table - we felt they were forgotten all the time.