About the Daily Service Charge

[SeaShark]

Actually I was going to "chime in" as you put it after reading your first rather harsh post' date=' but decided against it. When you continued in the same vein I made the mistake of adding my two pennorth. It was a mistake because nothing and no one is going to change your thinking. That's fine, as I said earlier, we're all pals here.

 

 

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Thank you. I appreciate that. As I said to others before, I believe that people best learn when they are curious enough to do their own research. A very easy thing to do give that we (on the forum) all have Internet access. I not only believe this, but I practice it myself.

 

Perhaps that is why I might appear bothered when some people decide that, instead of simply finding out on their own, that maybe repeatedly berating me would somehow change my mind and want to make me do it for them.

[MisterBill99]

FWIW, if one person had just typed one sentence into Google and pressed SEARCH, they would have increased their knowledge and NONE of this discussion would have taken place. Yet people, for some unknown reason, seem to think it is easier to try to make clever forum posts instead of just getting the information. It is probably me though, I'm starting to think that I haven't properly communicated that I'm not going to perform other people's research for them.

I am a firm believer that people should look stuff up themselves when it's simple stuff. However, I don't respond and say "I'm not telling you, look it up yourself". In some cases where I choose to reply, I'll give the answer and point out that they could have gotten the information themselves and not had to wait for a reply.

[Aulanis]

I used to be on another forum and sometimes I would answer but then

closing line would be

"Search Boards" (above) and Google are your friends. just as an unsubtle hint.

[SeaShark]

I am a firm believer that people should look stuff up themselves when it's simple stuff. However, I don't respond and say "I'm not telling you, look it up yourself". In some cases where I choose to reply, I'll give the answer and point out that they could have gotten the information themselves and not had to wait for a reply.

 

Very good. It is perfectly acceptable for you to choose to reply in that manner, if that is what you want.

 

That said, I would not berate you in any way, shape or form because of that choice. You are free to answer the way you see fit, and I should be able to do the same. Since I don't question your choices in answering, I only ask that you don't question mine. Isn't that fair?

[JosephMusk]

Actually yes I did read it and Pete’s information is also for the U.K. market!

I was just pointing out that people are always asking the same thing and the answers can be found using Search.

 

 

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I didn't find the exact answer to my question while searching. Did you?

 

I just wanted to know if someone can do this and if they can refuse it. Simply as that.

 

But then a lot of people came in saying things like "you should't do this" or "you should to that". Come on. Regarding this, I think this guy nailed it:

 

Bottom line, want to tell other people what they should do, limit this to your family members.

 

 

Anyway, for those who tried to help me, thank you very much.

[nikkiw60]

This is from Pete’s thread.

 

 

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[Aulanis]

That is almost what I said in post 19?

 

 

"They call the daily charge a service charge and suggests

it has to be paid unless you have a specific problem with the service.

 

In the UK and EU I believe that they cannot enforce that

as you legally only HAVE to pay what is on your invoice.

 

If you have booked in another country the rules may differ"

 

As others have also said the OP must find out what is applicable to his booking and if the law in Brazil is similar to the US or the EU

[perakcruiser]

This is from Pete’s thread.

 

Here we got it. This wording, where MSC connects the service charge with "not recieving satisfactory service" is actually illegal in most European countries. There MSC also cannot name it "Service Charge", a service charge as well as harbour taxes cannot be collected after payment of the cruise. They call it tips. They write it like this "We recommend tips up to 10 EUR or 12 USD per day. To make things comfortable for you we reserve this tipping suggestion already on your bill. If you wish, you can adjust or delete the amount at the Guest Service Desk".

 

It is not just a naming thing, think about the consequences. Europeans can just embark and cancel the suggested tips, the company cannot even ask for a reason. While the "unlikely event" means that it can only be done after a "unlikely event" happend. And as User Cafedumonde wrote before, it would be possible "customers were grilled repeatedly about why they wanted the charges removed" like he saw on DCL and CCL.

 

 

I don´t think on MSC the people at the Guest Service Desk nowadays check the nationality and then grill or not :cool:

[melly76]

My sister removed gratuities when her family came down with food poisoning. She tipped the room steward well and separately as the poor guy had to go beyond the call of duty.

 

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[hakko808]

They need to start including it on European bookings to keep them from stiffing the crew and creating such a mess at guest services. If you cant afford the tips you cant afford to cruise.

[MisterBill99]

They need to start including it on European bookings to keep them from stiffing the crew and creating such a mess at guest services. If you cant afford the tips you cant afford to cruise.

I agree on that. It's strange that they do the service charge thing in Europe given that the concept is not European and I'll bet a bunch of people remove them. It's not like they are a US company.

 

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[MisterBill99]

My sister removed gratuities when her family came down with food poisoning. She tipped the room steward well and separately as the poor guy had to go beyond the call of duty.

 

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Did she blame her server for the food poisoning or did she just not eat much in the MDR after coming down with it? If not, then it's like not tipping the server if you don't like the food.

 

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[melly76]

Did she blame her server for the food poisoning or did she just not eat much in the MDR after coming down with it? If not, then it's like not tipping the server if you don't like the food.

 

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She blamed msc generally. Whole family had to be confined to their cabin for the last two days of their cruise sadly. The family were not allowed to eat in the mdr due to risk of spreading illness.

 

Saying that, i have never encountered anything like that on my msc cruises (touch wood). I recommended msc to her and we have had very different experiences.

 

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[Aulanis]

They need to start including it on European bookings to keep them from stiffing the crew and creating such a mess at guest services. If you cant afford the tips you cant afford to cruise.

No! they need to include it for everyone and not make offers of included DSC, included Excursions, Included Drinks, for US passengers when those offers are not available to EU Bookings.

 

If you saw me making a mess at Guest services it was because I was on a B2B cruise and the Guest Services person was unable to confirm where the ship was going to be on day 2 of the second part.

That is what I call real service!!!

 

I asked because the itinerary shown on the daily

listing differed from mine. Turned out they had got it wrong when I went back later and asked again.

[suzyed]

Hello,

 

I am from Brazil and my family and I bought 4 cabins for the cruise MSC Divina that goes to Caribbean (departure day 01/25 from Miami). After the purchase we found out that we will have to pay a service fee of $ 12,50 per person per day.

 

Without wishing to enter into the moral question of whether it is right to pay the service fee or not (because this is a personal matter), I would like to know if it is possible not to pay this fee on board and if there is a need to justify the reason, and if they can refuse to withdraw the fee and etc.

 

Thank you in advance!

They didn't list the service charge in the "terms and conditions" when you booked?

[NAUGHTYCA]

Great stuff ;p You Pinoys never ever tip anybody and you tell other people how they should behave. On a cruise ship from Europe! So brillant, best greetings from Malaysia to you and don´t forget to pay always your famous travel tax :halo:

Your so easy to generalize everybody by where they are born, i always tip more if service is excellent your comment becomes rascist when u generalize everybody in your small mind

 

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[NAUGHTYCA]

Are you saying that every restaurants in the US adds 15% to the bill? Where do you live in the US? The only time I have seen the added gratuities is when the group is over X number of people. 15% is where we start on the tip and that is adjusted up or down accordingly. There was been times I left $0 tips because the service warranted it so.

 

We are from the US and we tip. However, I do not feel it is my place to tell a person s/he should tip because it is rude if they do not. If they are comfortable to not tip, because that is their custom, then so be it.

I live in Florida and u probably misunderstood what i said, its frowend upon if u tip less than 15%, if u ever travelled outside the US other countries does not have lower wages for waiters and waitresses like how we have it here since tips is part of their wage in the US thats why in other countries they dont do the 15% tip

 

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[KKmmm]

Hi

 

I'm also on the Divina on Feb 25 for 21 nights and have always in the past paid gratuities in full on previous cruises; I was thinking of lowering the amount of service charge I pay to bring my overall price in-line with fellow cruise passengers from the US. Is it possible to pay a lower service charge and to tip separately when I receive good service?

 

K

[mafig]

Hi

 

I'm also on the Divina on Feb 25 for 21 nights and have always in the past paid gratuities in full on previous cruises; I was thinking of lowering the amount of service charge I pay to bring my overall price in-line with fellow cruise passengers from the US. Is it possible to pay a lower service charge and to tip separately when I receive good service?

 

K

 

 

OK, now that's a new stupid reason for stiffing the staff.

 

What about people who find out that there's a sale after final payment, should they also lower or eliminate the service charge.? Aren't the "sale people" paying less than they are?

 

What about people in lower level cabins..don't they pay the same service charge as those in higher?

[nikkiw60]

Hi

 

 

 

I'm also on the Divina on Feb 25 for 21 nights and have always in the past paid gratuities in full on previous cruises; I was thinking of lowering the amount of service charge I pay to bring my overall price in-line with fellow cruise passengers from the US. Is it possible to pay a lower service charge and to tip separately when I receive good service?

 

 

 

K

 

 

 

You need to check your dates as you have posted you are on Divina on 4 Feb in another post...

 

 

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[Two Wheels Only]

I was thinking of lowering the amount of service charge I pay to bring my overall price in-line with fellow cruise passengers from the US. Is it possible to pay a lower service charge and to tip separately when I receive good service?

Would you be willing to pay more if certain passengers paid more than you did?:rolleyes:

[stoneman56]

Without going into a conversation on wether the crew should be paid more by the cruise line or not, let’s look at it this way...if you travel to a hotel with a resort fee, can you Decide wether to pay that or not? Unless I’m mistaken, the answer is no, you suck it up and pay even if you do not use the pool, internet, etc OR you book a hotel that does not incur a resort fee. The overall cost of your cruise fee includes the daily service charge/tips, whatever you want to call them. You can’t remove the port fees, can you? You can’t remove the additional taxes from your fare, can you? In my opinion, it would be easier if the fare you paid up front included all of these fees, including the DSC, but that would make the cost APPEAR higher and would scare most cruisers away. I understand tipping is non existent in many cultures, but for those who have cruised MSC before, is there no DSC on the other ships that cruise out of Europe for example? I’m confused why this is such a hot button topic to anyone who has cruised on main line US cruises before.

As I understand it, if you book from the UK or the EU (ok we're still in it, but not for much longer) the DSC has to be included in the fare.

 

Example, NCL has a different set of inticements depending where you are booking from. If the US then you get drink/tour credit/internet/speciality meal. If you book from the EU they drop the internet and meals and replace it with "free gratuities and charges"

 

MSC is being very naughty in not making this clear to people who book from the EU, and these people would be within their rights to go to the CS desk on board and have them removed as they have no legal right to add them after the booking.

[nikkiw60]

As I understand it, if you book from the UK or the EU (ok we're still in it, but not for much longer) the DSC has to be included in the fare.

 

Example, NCL has a different set of inticements depending where you are booking from. If the US then you get drink/tour credit/internet/speciality meal. If you book from the EU they drop the internet and meals and replace it with "free gratuities and charges"

 

MSC is being very naughty in not making this clear to people who book from the EU, and these people would be within their rights to go to the CS desk on board and have them removed as they have no legal right to add them after the booking.

 

 

 

But it is in the terms and conditions as previously posted and also on our confirmation from U.K. TA we can request to have them removed.

 

 

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[calgaryhhr]

From various reviews over the previous weeks it sounds like quite a few passengers are running into service issues and as such are removing the daily service charges.

 

I have no intention of doing the same but if service is absolutely horrible I may consider it (assuming the guest service line isn't crazy long.) With that said, how does the process work if I have booked with a TA and pre paid the service charges? Will the cost be reversed back to the TA and I have to arrange for a refund from them or would the guest services people directly transfer the charges to a credit card while on board?

[MisterBill99]

With that said, how does the process work if I have booked with a TA and pre paid the service charges? Will the cost be reversed back to the TA and I have to arrange for a refund from them or would the guest services people directly transfer the charges to a credit card while on board?

I'd be really surprised if you could remove a pre-paid service charge.

 

 

 

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