Tipping yacht club

[George C]

4 minutes ago, tnt10 said:

So, bottom line:  The DSC covers all tipping in the YC.  Tipping is at the sole descretion of the passenger.  Correct, or am I missing something??

Agree , we always tip extra , but this is totally voluntary. 

[perakcruiser]

5 hours ago, tnt10 said:

So, bottom line:  The DSC covers all tipping in the YC.  Tipping is at the sole descretion of the passenger.  Correct, or am I missing something??

 

This is all MSC has to say about it: MSC Cruises does not recommend tipping individual members of staff.

 

About the DSC things are not so easy of cause.

 

UK: 

SERVICE CHARGES / GRATUITIES
Service Charge / Gratuities are included in the cruise fare.

Tips
MSC Cruises does not recommend tipping individual members of staff.

 

US: 

The Hotel Service charge serves to ensure we maintain the highest quality standards of service to our guests. The daily amounts below have been calculated with this in mind and cannot be modified. However, should you wish to remove any of the daily Hotel Service Charge in the unlikely event that you do not receive satisfactory service, you may do so by contacting the Guest Relations Manager onboard. If you wish, the daily Service Charge for your cruise can be added to the price of your cruise at the time of booking, rather than added to your onboard account during the cruise. Please let your booking agent know if you would like to add the Service Charge to your cruise price.

Tips: MSC Cruises does not recommend tipping individual members of staff. 

 

And to make things more complicated, in most other markets passengers can modify the daily amounts as the want. 

[hamrag]

6 hours ago, tnt10 said:

So, bottom line:  The DSC covers all tipping in the YC.  Tipping is at the sole descretion of the passenger.  Correct, or am I missing something??

Absolutely correct, you got it in one!

[JAGR]

On 11/3/2019 at 1:45 PM, grandgeezer said:

Good point, I agree 100%.

Gee!  No additional "End of discussion" quotation?  Are you slipping?

[ranchette]

How much is the DSC for the yacht club. This is our first time.

[tnt10]

Here is the link to the Service charge on MSC ships:

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Manage-Your-Booking/General-Information.aspx

Scroll down and open "Service Charge" tab.

Taking a quick look at this chart, it appears ALL Adults are charged $12.50 or €10,00

per day, with children charged 50%.

Hope this helps

[CGTNORMANDIE]

On 11/12/2019 at 8:45 AM, ranchette said:

How much is the DSC for the yacht club. This is our first time.

I think if you take the time to read the previous page it will give you the information you are seeking.  

[Germancruiser]

Since I am considering a cruise in YC I was wondering about tipping. So digged up this Topic. The only solution I found is that tipping in YC is absolutly once own choice deppending if the service is  up to snuff!

So how much do you give the butler, room stewart ( is the butler doubling as the guy who cleans the cabin) , the waiter ...at the END of the voyage?

Thanks you.

Off topic but it woke my interesst- the lowest YC cabin is much smaller then an Aurea Suite- the only pro of the lowest YC is the use of the Top Sail Lounge and the Restaurant?!

[emmas gran]

Hi in the UK we now have tipping with our booking it is added automatically, so anything we give is additional, which we do at the end of cruise.

Cannot comment on cabins as only sailed in YC with balcony, friends have sailed YC interior and said it was good for them as they used the YC pool deck a lot - along with the Top Sail lounge and restaurant.

[Beamafar]

Butlers have assistants (I believe they’re referred to as junior butlers) who help with the cabin cleaning; butlers attend also to room service and dealing with any requests/ needs you may have.  We’ve had some wonderful attentive butlers & juniors whom we’ve tipped, but we’ve also had some who were AWOL for most of the cruise, though, funnily enough, they were usually very attentive on disembarkation day!  No tip for them!

 

We’ve also tipped waiters and, on occasion, the assistant m’D in charge of the YC restaurant as well as the concierge but, again, only when they went above and beyond normal service.  I won’t get into how much as everyone’s budget for these things differ.

 

We, too, have the gratuities included in the cruise fare in Ireland so what we tip is over and above the gratuities already paid. 

 

We’ve had both balcony and inside cabins in YC (we don’t think the cost of balconies on the newer ships is worth it, but we don’t use the balcony enough to warrant the huge price difference).   Getting all of the YC amenities with a YC inside cabin for a similar, or lower, price than Aurea far outweighs the benefit of having a balcony IMHO.   In fact, we spend much more time enjoying the YC and the rest of the ship when in an inside than we do when in a balcony cabin and that, for us, is a real plus.  The service is the same no matter which level of cabin you choose. 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Beamafar

[hamrag]

21 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

...We’ve had both balcony and inside cabins in YC (we don’t think the cost of balconies on the newer ships is worth it, but we don’t use the balcony enough to warrant the huge price difference).   Getting all of the YC amenities with a YC inside cabin for a similar, or lower, price than Aurea far outweighs the benefit of having a balcony IMHO.   In fact, we spend much more time enjoying the YC and the rest of the ship when in an inside than we do when in a balcony cabin and that, for us, is a real plus.  The service is the same no matter which level of cabin you choose. 

 

I couldn't have expressed that any better, so I won't, but all of that is absolutely the case for us also!

[bigblue1952]

7 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Butlers have assistants (I believe they’re referred to as junior butlers) who help with the cabin cleaning; butlers attend also to room service and dealing with any requests/ needs you may have.  We’ve had some wonderful attentive butlers & juniors whom we’ve tipped, but we’ve also had some who were AWOL for most of the cruise, though, funnily enough, they were usually very attentive on disembarkation day!  No tip for them!

 

We’ve also tipped waiters and, on occasion, the assistant m’D in charge of the YC restaurant as well as the concierge but, again, only when they went above and beyond normal service.  I won’t get into how much as everyone’s budget for these things differ.

 

We, too, have the gratuities included in the cruise fare in Ireland so what we tip is over and above the gratuities already paid. 

 

We’ve had both balcony and inside cabins in YC (we don’t think the cost of balconies on the newer ships is worth it, but we don’t use the balcony enough to warrant the huge price difference).   Getting all of the YC amenities with a YC inside cabin for a similar, or lower, price than Aurea far outweighs the benefit of having a balcony IMHO.   In fact, we spend much more time enjoying the YC and the rest of the ship when in an inside than we do when in a balcony cabin and that, for us, is a real plus.  The service is the same no matter which level of cabin you choose. 

I totally agree.

[Toofarfromthesea]

In the YC you are paying a premium price for premium service.  The cabins are nice, but in no way would justify the premium price.  It is the private facilities and premiumservice that you are paying extra for.  Once I've paid my automatic gratuities, which I always do, I don't do any additional tipping unless someone goes above and beyond premium service, which is hard to do, since we are pretty low-maintenance.  But, e.g., I was in the YC where a fellow passenger down the hall was in a wheelchair, and her Butler was very solicitous in assisting her and pushing her chair for her, and if I was in that situation I would tip extra.

But ultimately, either way, it is a personal choice.

[dexddd]

In YC you interact with so many staff members it can be difficult.

 

We first sailed 2017 as they were pushing the US market.  At that time, both in their literature and folks here, no tipping needed.  It has changed some since. Tip how you see fit.

 

If by lowest YC you mean an interior on the newer ships, the rooms are nice but bathroom is tiny and shower literally coffin size but there are yc public areas for those things you could use too.

[hamrag]

4 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

In the YC you are paying a premium price for premium service.  The cabins are nice, but in no way would justify the premium price.  It is the private facilities and premiumservice that you are paying extra for....

 

Absolutely, I think that is so misunderstood by many, well stated.

[rkacruiser]

17 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

at the END of the voyage?

 

For me, yes, any additional gratuities will be given then.  Not during the cruise in YC.  

 

6 hours ago, dexddd said:

In YC you interact with so many staff members it can be difficult.

 

Indeed.  There were many Butlers in Top Sail Lounge who served me.  There were many Stewards in the YC Restaurant that served me.  In TSL, none "stood out" as deserving of a "bit extra".  There were a couple Stewards in the Restaurant that I had envelopes prepared.  For whatever reason, that last night:  they were not on duty.  I did recognize both of the Assistant Maitre d's for their service.  

 

14 hours ago, Beamafar said:

Butlers have assistants (I believe they’re referred to as junior butlers) who help with the cabin cleaning; butlers attend also to room service and dealing with any requests/ needs you may have

 

My Junior Butler was a more friendly person than my Butler.  I recognized them both separately.  My Junior Butler seemed more appreciative than did my Butler.  

 

I was not pleased with my Butler's service when I disembarked in Miami the next morning.  Maybe I didn't give him enough $$?  He deserved what he got and not another dollar more.  

[Bgwest]

Been following a similar discussion on another board. Seems as though the prevailing sentiment there among US travelers is that the cruise line should charge whatever they feel is a fair fee and pay their employees a fair wage rather than expecting the passengers to subsidize the bare-bones compensation structure offered by the cruise line and thereby asking passengers to make up for the cruise line’s shoddy business practices. 

I've always left the auto grats in place but listening to the arguments on both sides, I must confess that now I’m torn. 
 

I clearly understand that eliminating auto grats and including that element in the basic fair structure would cause said basic fair structure to increase. That’s pretty obvious so no need to point that out.
 

That having been said, it seems as though the cruise lines are providing our friends in the UK, Australia, etc., a fair and forthright fare structure. 

[CGTNORMANDIE]

The reality is if the cruise lines were paying a living wage very few of us would be able to  cruise. The system in place has been working for the past 175 years.  It strikes a balance.  The lines get to save on labor and the labor is required to work hard in order to be rewarded for excellence.  The working conditions on a ship are hard...7 days a week at all hours.  The passengers are very demanding.  Many of the workers onboard are from third world countries and have been able to save enough to start businesses when they retire on land.  The training and work habits they learn at sea pay big dividends for them on land.  Bottom line...the system works...”If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  

[Bgwest]

15 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

The reality is if the cruise lines were paying a living wage very few of us would be able to  cruise. The system in place has been working for the past 175 years.  It strikes a balance.  The lines get to save on labor and the labor is required to work hard in order to be rewarded for excellence.  The working conditions on a ship are hard...7 days a week at all hours.  The passengers are very demanding.  Many of the workers onboard are from third world countries and have been able to save enough to start businesses when they retire on land.  The training and work habits they learn at sea pay big dividends for them on land.  Bottom line...the system works...”If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  

Fair enough. As I said, I’ve always been of a similar mind. 

That said, how is it that our friends from Australia, UK, etc., are able to cruise with regularity if, as you say, “if the cruise lines were paying a living wage very few of us would be able to  cruise”?

 

In these cases, aren’t the cruise lines simply bundling the grats into the basic fare? Yet these passengers continue to cruise. What am I missing?
 

For reasons I don’t understand the cruise lines have made what is obviously a conscious decision to bundle grats in some marketplaces and to break them out for direct payment by their passengers in others. 

I understand the fact that business in many countries around the world pay their service employees a living wage and thereby have created a culture that does not include service tipping (other than “rounding up”). In the US, on the other hand, tipping is fully ingrained into the culture. Is it this disparity of cultural bias that leads the cruise lines to force different rules on different cultures? If so, why is this? 
Could it be a case of the cruise lines exploiting “what the market will bear”?
 

The grats are paid by the passenger one way or the other, aren’t they?

[CGTNORMANDIE]

2 hours ago, Bgwest said:

Fair enough. As I said, I’ve always been of a similar mind. 

That said, how is it that our friends from Australia, UK, etc., are able to cruise with regularity if, as you say, “if the cruise lines were paying a living wage very few of us would be able to  cruise”?

 

In these cases, aren’t the cruise lines simply bundling the grats into the basic fare? Yet these passengers continue to cruise. What am I missing?
 

For reasons I don’t understand the cruise lines have made what is obviously a conscious decision to bundle grats in some marketplaces and to break them out for direct payment by their passengers in others. 

I understand the fact that business in many countries around the world pay their service employees a living wage and thereby have created a culture that does not include service tipping (other than “rounding up”). In the US, on the other hand, tipping is fully ingrained into the culture. Is it this disparity of cultural bias that leads the cruise lines to force different rules on different cultures? If so, why is this? 
Could it be a case of the cruise lines exploiting “what the market will bear”?
 

The grats are paid by the passenger one way or the other, aren’t they?

The grats are paid one way or the other...for sure.  In some countries the DSC is wrapped into the cruise price.  In places like the US where competition is stiff they price the cruises cheaper and then get the DSC at the end of the cruise.  The luxury lines just wrap the DSC into the cruise price...and you pay thru the nose.  Bottom line...you are going to pay no matter what.

[Germancruiser]

Thank you all very much for you various and interessting responses. You all helped me a lot! Interessting concept that- you get a lot cheaper bigger suite for a lower price, but you can´t use their YC facicilties. Weighed in the balance... LOL!

For the time beeing I wait and see what happens. When a reasonable price comes up to try the YC I will give it a try!

[Bgwest]

On 3/9/2021 at 10:26 PM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Bottom line...the system works...”If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  

Sure seems to me like the system “is broken” and doesn’t “work”.

 

MSC and other cruise lines include grats in their basic fare in some countries/markets but then tries to make the passenger pay grats separately in other countries/markets. 
 

Either charge me for something or don’t charge me. But don’t ask me to subsidize a major corporation that’s too cheap to fulfill what are clearly obligations for which the cruise line is responsible. 
 

Consistency.....consistency....is that too much to ask?

[8420PR]

7 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Thank you all very much for you various and interessting responses. You all helped me a lot! Interessting concept that- you get a lot cheaper bigger suite for a lower price, but you can´t use their YC facicilties. Weighed in the balance... LOL!

For the time beeing I wait and see what happens. When a reasonable price comes up to try the YC I will give it a try!

The cheapest way to try a YC inside cabin is on a short weekend repositioning cruise in Europe during shoulder season (Mar/April/Oct/Nov).  On 2 night cruises (e.g. Barcelona to Genoa via Marseille) you can pick up YIN cabin starting from about €90 per night per person.  They sell out fast though!

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 3/10/2021 at 1:26 PM, Bgwest said:

For reasons I don’t understand the cruise lines have made what is obviously a conscious decision to bundle grats in some marketplaces and to break them out for direct payment by their passengers in others. 

 

It's really quite simple.  Different places have completely different tipping cultures.  The American culture is to tip and overtip.  That isn't the case in other places.  A few cruises ago, in the Med I was chatting with my YC Butler and he was telling me that he was going to be in the Caribbean, next season and he was very excited about it.  Because those PAX are predominantly American and tip much more than the other PAX mix in the Med.

I'd venture to say that if the grats were built into the price, more than half of us Americans would still tip.  And I am confident of that because I've seen exactly that at all-inclusives where grats were included.  

And I'm not making any value judgement about the different tipping cultures - they are culturally engrained.  But it would be foolish for the cruiselines to ignore this and not account for it.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

I always find the tipping debate to be quite ironic.  The American habit of tipping and over tipping started way back in in the mid 1800’s.  The Americans have been blamed for the tipping conundrum ever since. It is interesting, from a historical perspective, that all the shipping lines, where these tips were offered, were European...British, Dutch, French, Italian, German, Swedish, etc.  Which came first...the chicken or the egg? LOL.