MagicCat7

You're apparently unable to comprehend that if service staff were paid more it would be you who would pay for it, not the company. When restaurants eliminate tipping and pay their wait staff a higher wage they raise the menu prices to pay for the higher wage. A cruise line that eliminates tipping would do the same. In fact for a variety of reasons including tax considerations that you've either chosen to ignore or don't understand, raising the base pay will cause prices to increase more than the wage increase.

Maybe you can comprehend this. We won't be cruising anymore because my husband was taxed on retirement money as income for taking money out of his retirement to cruise & pay off medical expenses. We were eligible for affordable health care but the money he took out put us over the amount so we had to pay 12000+ in taxes to pay it all back. A year ago he was recovering from a large blood clot across his lungs, heart and a blood clot in his legs. He almost died. So I am glad we were able to cruise when we did. Between all these companies and their sense of entitlements such as tipping and outrageous medical costs, its getting to expensive to live in America and go on vacation.

I wanted to share some of the things with you about the staterooms on the Norwegian Pearl.

1. There are 3 electrical outlets & a device charger for your USB devices.
   
2. A nice hair dryer is in the room.
   
3. The beds move really easy. For the few few days, my side of the bed was really close to the wall and I had a hard time getting in and out of bed. After a few day, I realized how easy it was to push them over. ;p
   
4. There is a florescent light in the closet. It took me about 24 hours to find the light.
   
5. Room for luggage storage under the bed.
   
6. I really liked the hard shower door in the stateroom because it prevented water from going on the floor and making a mess.
   

If you ever need water and are away from the lido deck, ask the bar tender at the bar for ice water.

For some reason I am unable to edit my original post.

I guess you've never eaten in a restaurant in the US? In many states wait staff is paid well below minimum wage...as little as $2.13 per hour, including in your state, Georgia. Yes, that's right... $2.13 per hour in Georgia.Their tips are not just for service "above and beyond", they are to bring their earnings up to a minimum wage level.

It's not my fault the service industry is being cheap and chooses to NOT to pay their staff a living wage. How about they use the stock market to pay their staff instead of using it for over priced CEOs & executives.

Frank J. Del RioBase Pay $1,837,500Bonus + Incentive Comp $1,903,799Total Cash Compensation $3,741,299Stock Award Value $10,276,315Option Award Value $17,752,083Total Equity $28,028,398Total Other $140,651Total Compensation $31,910,348

The reason this is important to me is that I would not choose to cruise if I really thought the workers were exploited.

I had a Carnival employee tell me in 2015 they are not paid well. The NCL customer service agent was telling me that tips go to all the people behind the scenes that we don't see like the people who do the laundry and cook the food. If the rhetoric is to guilt customers in to paying tips for services that have not been done for them, then maybe I do need to find another vacation. Because a tip is for service above and beyond what the employee is paid to do.

Well, aren't you a Georgia Peach. If you were at waitress, as I would for years, you would understand how important the gratuity is to the staff who wait on you on the ship. while you are hurting the staff, you aren't affecting the CEO one bit.

Pat

I was a waitress during the late 1970s at a time when companies paid people minimum wage that was somewhat decent. If I had to rely on tips, there would have been no point in working as a waitress. In 1980, minimum wage was $3.25 an hour and waitressing was my after school job. Georgia minimum wage is $5.00 an hour in 2017. So 37 years later, minimum wage at a federal level is $7.25 an hour? What happened to cost of living raises? The problem is corporations treating employees as slaves from where I see it. It's clear we can't trust corporations to pay people a living wage so we need the checks and balances of government to nudge them along. I get that there are a lot of old retired people who remember the booming 1970s. The problem is the rest of us didn't experience that and don't have pensions and benefits like the retired people do in America and Europe. When things get so expensive, people will just stop cruising. We are paying attention to the fine print. I bet the CEO will be affected if the cruise industry collapses. This is one of the reasons Savannah would not put in a terminal is because they are thinking the industry might collapse.

I agree, it seems daft providing lots of alcohol but just one bottle of water in the cabin, and coffee only in the dining rooms and not in the coffee bar.

The Celebrity drinks package includes coffees, teas and bottled waters.

 

Your description of the fresh ground coffee on Norwegian is making my mouth water! Are you referring to the coffee bar in the atrium? What is the coffee in the buffet like?

Hang on, I'm way off topic and had better start another thread.

 

A heads up though to anyone sailing to Scandinavia, especially Norway and Sweden, alcoholic drinks are eye-wateringly expensive, by UK and USA standards.

Actually the fresh ground coffee machine towards the back of the buffet is really good and very strong. I didn't know they had a coffee bar in the atrium of the norwegian cruise.

Not in Northern Europe and the UK.

If you have been on a cruise through the Caribbean, you will see the prices on the ship and in the ports are cheaper by 50% to 75%. The bottles are larger too. When I say on the ship, I am talking about the liquor that you buy in a bottle that they won't let you drink until you get off the ship. Not the ships expensive over priced drinks. Liquor is very expensive in America with all the excessive taxes that are imposed.

 

And I'm not comfortable with the excuse that this practice has been set up to facilitate tax evasion!

Thank heaven for those cruise lines which are starting to include staff pay into the cruise fare. I shall be happy to book the new All inclusive rates from the UK, although I do think this is unfair on non drinkers.

They could always include good coffee, bottled water and juice of some sort as an alternative to liquor. I don't drink sodas or the sugary drinks but I bet other folks would. I Love the black coffee with deep rich flavors ground fresh like Norwegian has with the fresh coffee machine. So there are all kind of alternatives fitting for peoples different choices. Liquor is very cheap outside of the USA. So look at the markup they get with charging $10.00 per drink.

The practice of flagging under other countries is done to not pay people a living wage so the cruise industry is being cheap. They can create their own narrative, which they do. We sat in a seminar with the cruise staff on the Norwegian, which are always interesting. The cruise director was talking about how he had a choice of the military or a cruise ship. I was thinking I would not recommend a job on a cruise ship or military. The military is in the practice of human experimentation on their own troops and family members without consent in addition to human experimentation on foreign population. The cruise lines won't pay people a living wage. I don't agree with treating service workers as slaves and servants. We all need work to live in this world and people should be paid a living wage no matter where they live. Corporations are simply being cheap!!! Henry Ford said his employees should be able to afford to buy his products. I wonder how many cruise employees would be able to afford to buy a cruise.

Extreme Coast Guard Helicopter Ocean Rescue Norwegian Pearl Cruise Ship Vacation. April 4th 2017 7:07pm. This was our first full sea day after departing from Miami Florida on April 3 2017. We were sitting down to eat out on the back open deck on the Norwegian Pearl when I heard a helicopter, which would be really unusual because we were far from land in the middle of the caribbean sea and headed to Aruba on a 10 Panama Canal cruise. The captain of the ship got on the loud speaker system and told us there was a medical emergency. It was quite an experience to watch such an extreme event take place.

Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Pearl 10 day Panama Canal Cruise Itinerary.

Miami Florida

Oranjestad Aruba

Cartagena Columbia

Panama Canal Gatun Lake Panama

Colon Panama

Puerto Limon Costa Rica

I'm constantly astounded by those who somehow naively think it's the corporation that pays the salaries of it's employees. You, the end consumer of the product or service are paying the salary. If instead of a small salary and a tip, the employees' total compensation is paid solely by their corporate employer via salary, you the consumer will be paying for it because the corporation will raise the prices to cover the higher salary.

The corporation pays their employees based on profits. When I shop at a retail store and get gas from a gas station, I don't tip those people & I'm not about to start a bad practice. I'm not about to tip the ripoff insurance company agent for raising prices on me every year due to them playing politics. I think these very large corporations saying they are not making a profit is rubbish. They are just being cheap, not paying their employees a living way and passing costs off on to the consumer. When the corporations raises their prices so high, they will go out of business and lose profits because people in America are not being paid a living wage in many cases. Maybe people in Europe and other countries are paid better. The older generation in America was paid better and had pensions. Corporations hate unions, which actually negotiate better wages for employees. Corporations in America are cheap, stingy and scaling back as much as they can, install robots to replace humans and doubling up jobs on employees. When money is tight for consumers, the corporation is not going to make any money. Hopefully the cruise industry is prepared to send all their ships to other countries where cruising will be more affordable.

She doesn't need to rethink it, shes got it all figured out. The current policy works just fine........ She removes the DSC & lets the rest of us pay!

 

Now there's a plan..............

You are making a personal choice to pay the gratuities.

From where I sit you should be thanking us 'sheeple', we pay the gratuities that you don't, therefore keeping cruise prices low. We sheeple appreciate the effort the staff make. If everyone opted out cruise prices would rise as compensation. One way or another the staff will get paid.

 

And yes the CEO"S are raking in the big bucks, that goes on with every company. You aren't going to change that.

Tipping is a poor business practice!!! I don't live in Los Angeles, Miami or New York where everyone expects a tip for everything they do. Like my husband says, your tip is to go get a job that pays a living wage. It's not my fault that corporations are not paying living wages. Corporate greed created the culture. It's clear that customer service and affordability is not a priority with a lot of companies. When the prices go up as they have been, we will stop cruising and find something else to do that is more affordable. One old man said NCL is higher class than other cruise lines. I saw it comparable to Carnival & probably slightly higher in price to price out families with children. I would think these companies would listen to customer feedback.

So I like to go onto the balcony 1st thing in the morning in my underwear.

 

The wife say I should not do it?

 

what do you think?

The first time I ever cruised 7 years ago, I was on the Valor and went out on the balcony naked. If you want to go out in your underwear, more power to ya!!! I keep hearing you are supposed to act on the ship like you act at home. :D;p:p:evilsmile::hearteyes:

If you really think that poorly of NCL &/or the cruise lines in general, you might want to consider a different vacation plan..........

Why can't I have an opinion about something without someone like you, a sheeple, telling me what I should do and think?

A tip is supposed to be for service above and beyond the job they have been paid to do. Tips should not be expected. Tips seem to be capitalistic rhetoric to get consumers to pay corporations more to fatten their bottom line. Kind of like the Fast Food and Retail saying they can't afford to pay employees a living wage in America. I'm not feeling sorry for the very wealthy corporations. We are the customers. If we stop using their business & services, they they go out of business.

Cruiselines are making a killing on the gambling. We had a lady ask what happens to the bingo jackpot if no one wins. They told her she would need to talk to the bingo manager. When they play that progressive bingo and no one wins, they only pay out a couple hundred dollars at the most. Who's to say the cruise lines are not using a rigged bingo system so paying passengers never win? They are out in international waters and don't have to adhere to any laws. All it would take is someone from their staff to dress up as a passenger, they give them a winning card so it appears a passenger won. Same thing with the progressive $900,000 lottery. It would be easy for them to rig it so passengers never win.

This is interesting! An American saying they will remove the 'gratuities' and another American saying the service charge should be included in the fare as it is part of the staff pay.

 

Including the 'gratuities' in the cruise fare would ensure that no passengers of any nationality,would be able to deprive the staff of what they have earned.

We were on the Norwegian Pearl last week with very few kids. Now the adults were really, really annoying. More annoying than the kids. There was a man with one of the push walkers fighting with another table because they sat at the handicap table and claimed to be handicapped. Both were probably in their 70s yelling at each other. There were no tables available. He sat at another table. Actually half of the ship was probably disabled in some way. When the lady got up to leave, she told him he could move to that table. He starts making faces at her. They were old people acting like children. Instead he sat at the table he was at and told 3 different families who were going to set at the handicap table that it was for handicap people and they could not set there. The last family suggested he move to the handicap table so they could have a place to set. He finally got up and moved.

Another time there was a little old lady who scootered on the elevator on deck 8. She pressed number 8, the elevator opens, then closes. She pressed 8 again. The door opens again. Someone asks her where she is going and she says down. The elevator is going up. So I get off on my floor, go to my room. 20 minutes later, she is back on deck 8 playing with the elevators still.

Isn't that always the case?:confused:

I mean above and beyond their paid salary and the price we paid to go on the ship. I should have clarified. Gratuities are a back end charge. I don't find them automatically adding gratuities a convenience. Actually auto gratuities are an inconvenience.

We were on the Pearl last week and received a notice that there was a problem with our on board account. I had swiped our credit card for me and my husband as we were checking in the day before. Customer service said they needed a signature from me to add my husband. I was thinking why does it matter because most likely he won't be buying anything anyway. Then I realized it was for the daily gratuities. So when I went to customer service, I asked them to removed the daily gratuities for both me and my husband since they needed my signature. They said I could not remove the gratuities until the last day of the cruise because that is when they add them to the bill. They told me they are open 24 hours a day. So I went to customer service at around 6:00am the last day and the woman said I need to come back after 9:00am because that is when they have the forms to remove gratuities. I felt like it was a run around & intentionally done as a way to discourage people from removing gratuities. Just because they can add $280 to my bill for gratuities as a back end fee, include it in the ticket contract doesn't mean I want to pay it. I think it's poor customer service to expect gratuities for service that has not been rendered and for someone doing their job. The cruise industry is consistently raising the gratuities. Is this simply a way for them to pay investors and for CEOs to live in their cushy over priced mansions? How do I even know the staff is receiving the gratuities? I don't care who calls me cheap!!! The whole reason the ships are not flagged in America is because the cruise industry is being cheap and doesn't want to pay their staff a living wage. When I was a waitress, I received minimum wage of $3.25 an hour back in 1980. Tips were an extra bonus for good service. Now it seems like companies expect the customers to pay the salary of their employees. I'm not feeling sorry for a corporation that doesn't care about customer service. If I want to pay a tip, I will tip the person myself. I always think it's funny the cruise industry encourages the customers to tip staff above and beyond the auto gratuities.

On our last Carnival Cruise on the Magic, we sat next to this lovely woman and her husband at dinner one night. She asked me if I noticed the lighting on the Carnival Valor in the main Atrium on all the dead presidents and the creepy lighting from the bottom. I told her I did notice it but I never put much thought in to it. So I looked back at some old video and it is a tad bit disturbing sight with the creepy lighting and old dead presidents. Maybe its a floating tribute to dead presidents like Mount Rushmore? Still, kind of a creepy, yet amusing atrium all the same. I wonder if Carnival would ever freshen up the dead presidents with a rainbow of colors. :):D

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Can you bring your own water on Norwegian Cruise? Their bottle water is very expensive. One comparison is Carnival is more reasonable with water prices.

We are going to be going on the Norwegian Pearl for the first time in April, first time on Norwegian. I would love to hear your experiences and secrets. What are some secrets that new time cruisers to Norwegian might not know about. :)

The only point in your "expose" I might disagree with is the scam company earning a lot of interest on your $65.

:D I know what you are saying there, lol. I am thinking in terms of collectively when thousands of people let a company hold their money for an extended period of time, the company will earn a lot of interest. That's how banks become rich.

Have any of you ever heard of Royal Seas Cruises? They called my house today and were promoting this so called "free cruise" where you just have to pay port fees, which was $65 per person. They take you on a free cruise to the Bahamas for 3 days. I would have had to pay today and could use the cruise in 18 months. I thought it sounded like a scam after looking up the name of the ship. They said we would be sailing on the Grand Celebration, which looked like a carnival ship. I asked them if they were part of carnival and she said no, they were part of Royal Sea Cruises. So I go to the website and they have no prices listed. They are using the picture of one of Carnivals first ships. I was also thinking that we sailed on the Glory in 2015 for $299 a person for 7 days. A measly 3 day cruise to the bahamas doesn't seem like much of a cruise for $65 in what they were calling port taxes. In 18 months, they could take my money and run and also earn a lot of interest setting on my port fees which makes it not sound so free. She was promoting tax and duty free, which might be great for the cruise lines. I also told her that we still have to pay tax and duty fees when re-entering the United States so whats free on the ship is not free for the consumer and customer. Please discuss and enlighten me.

Here is the Grand Celebration I found on Wikipedia, which is a Carnival Ship.

I created two parts from our recent trip on the Carnival Magic. We had a lot of fun, which we always do or we wouldn't keep cruising.

Now I will mention something about the sandwiches. My husband was eating his sandwich and found whole peppercorns on the sandwich. I think it was a reuben. Is that normal? He was a bit upset about the whole peppercorns. One of the problems is he doesn't want to complain or provide feedback and get someone in trouble. The food is one of the reasons he cruises. I keep telling him that if people don't provide feedback, then companies think you like what they are doing. What do you guys think about this?:eek::D

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