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Costa Service Charge - November 2016


G.M.T.
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The Costa Service Charge was always compulsary for European cruisers, have a look at these link from Costa UK

 

http://www.costacruises.co.uk/B2C/GB/Before_you_go/term/Documents/condizioni_generali_2016_17_UK.pdf

 

http://www.costacruises.co.uk/B2C/GB/Before_you_go/general/Pages/GeneralInfo.aspx

 

http://www.costacruises.co.uk/B2C/Documents/service-charges/service_charges_new.pdf

 

In the new German version of the 2016-2018 catalog, there is no mention of Service Charge but it is now called "Trinkgeldempfehlung" or Recommended Tipping. Recommended level of €10 per night per person, if a passernger wishes they can adjust or cancel the recommened amount. Also it says to make it more comfortable for the passenger the recommended tips amount has been reserved against your onboard account, in the past ithas always said charged against the onbaord account.

 

I really don't know if this is an actual change. Will have to wait and see.

 

Here is the original German paragraph, if anyone wants to put in through their favourite translator.

 

Trinkgeldempfehlung

Auf unseren Schiffen ist es üblich, wenn Sie mit dem Service unserer

Crew zufrieden waren, in Ihrem Ermessen Trinkgeld zu geben. Wir raten

zu dem üblichen Trinkgeldbetrag von € 10 (für Abfahrten ab nord- und

südamerikanischen Häfen USD 12,50) pro Person und Nacht. Wenn

Sie es wünschen, können Sie diesen Betrag nach eigenem Dafürhalten

anpassen lassen oder gänzlich minimieren. Um eine komfortable

Abwicklung zu ermöglichen, wird die Trinkgeldempfehlung bereits auf

Ihrer Bordrechnung reserviert.

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  • 4 months later...

I realize that this is a post from may 2016 but I would like to comment.

 

Service Charges on cruise ships are no longer compulsory for German cruisers, since the Bundesgerichtshof (court) in 2015 decided that the Service Charges should be included in the advertised price of the cruise.

 

This, however is not applicable for cruise guests from other European countries.

Edited by Sheila3
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I realize that this is a post from may 2016 but I would like to comment.

 

Service Charges on cruise ships are no longer compulsory for German cruisers, since the Bundesgerichtshof (court) in 2015 decided that the Service Charges should be included in the advertised price of the cruise.

 

This, however is not applicable for cruise guests from other European countries.

Sheila,

 

Thanks for the update, always good when nw information is available. Do you have an article about about the case before the Bundesgerichtsho? Do you know if it was Costa or another company involved?

 

Of course German cruise lines have for a long time had the service charge included in the price, e.g. Tui, Hapag Lloyd and Costa's sister/daughter company AIDA.

 

Here is a link as to when the recoomended service charge / tips comes into force on individual ships:

 

http://www.costakreuzfahrten.de/faq/faq-inhalte.28474/faq_subcategory/trinkgeldempfehlung.html

 

Click on "Was ist die Trinkgeldempfehlung?"

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I‘m afraid this is a national thing. From Hungary I am directed to the “rest of Europe” site of Costa and here the service charge is still “mandatory”.

 

Be fair, tipping is for most of the staff essential, as most wages are ridiculous, no matter if it is called tip or service charge. In Germany most cruises are at midlevel priced, in the UK prices are often very high and my upcoming cruise in “rest of Europe” was priced as solo traveller cheaper than on double occupancy in Germany and nothing compared to the UK. By travel agencies I could book all of them and I did it before in case of special offers. This is not a Costa-type of discount for central-east Europe countries where people otherwise couldn’t afford cruises, but this website and so this price-scheme is also valid for Scandinavia. As long as Costa (and others) are pricing according what markets would allow and pay their own people badly, I regard the service charge as part of the price. As I expect the personal should create a great holiday for me, I expect they should be paid for this. Shop around for better prices the cruise line offers, instead of saving money from the people making your holiday.

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"Shop around for better prices the cruise line offers, instead of saving money from the people making your holiday"

 

Not one poster on this thread has mentioned about cancelling or reducing their Service Charge when onboard. This thread was started (I know as I started it) to pass on information about Costa and it's policies and practicies, just as you did about cheap cruises being available in Central Europe.

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As a real Costa lover, 22 to date, I agree that their service charge policy is the way forward, so often we use to see empty tables on the last night of a cruise by people not wishing to tip.

However in February we were given an on-board price for our next cruise, by the Cruise Consultant in euros which also included OBC and the AI drinks package, on going to book it on our return to the UK they came back with prices in pounds Sterling & no OBC or Drinks, making the cruise £486.20 dearer for us, even dearer on the same flights from LGW.

Realise there is a difference between currencies but come on Costa be fair to us Brits.

Edited by tenpin
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G.M.T., I didn‘t want to express that you or anybody else posting in this threat, wants to cancel tip / service charge for getting a cheaper holiday, but be sure that there are enough people being that cheap. I‘m working with customers myself and right now I have a case where a customer doesn‘t accept that clearly stated “inside” in a description doesn‘t mean “outside” and especially not “both inside and outside”. So I know that enough people read “may be cancelled” and will understand “don’t forget to cancel”. I am not worrying about the earnings of Costa, I assume they calculate very well. But the staff might be worse off with this policy. If German law does not allow, why not increasing the prices with 10 € ppn and inform that the service charge is already included and tipping is not needed, except you experience special service and you feel to do so?

 

Tenpin, my upcoming cruise was according to the different Costa sites up from 1149 € for (rest of) Europe, up from 1449 € on the German site and up from 1795 £ for the UK. Prices when I booked and all based on double occupancy, this cruise seems to be fully booked today for at least a part of the voyage. I booked already before the pound collapsed after Brexit and one Pound Sterling is today still much more than one Euro. I paid 1454 € for a cabin for single occupation including optional insurance, flights not available and flights from other sites were not cheaper than I found on my own. Of course you get fabulous offers when booking on board your next cruise - as long as you can plan in this situation (especially employees may experience difficulties in doing so). Special offers occur on national markets as well, but you need to compare to find them. So I did on a Costa cruise to Norway booked in Germany, although other sites were starting in Copenhagen, while I started in Warnemünde, but this was no problem to me.

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