Rare ScratchTheRat Posted January 30, 2021 #1 Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) Hello all 🙂 I am aware I have to pay gratuities for the Free at Sea's open bar package (and specialty restaurants). I've been charged $99 per person for "Free at Sea" and got my total price for the cruise. Is this including the 20% gratuity for the drinks package etc or will this be added on top of this later? I think it's all included for UK guests and our base price is higher? Edited January 30, 2021 by ScratchTheRat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeHeartCruising Posted January 30, 2021 #2 Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) In the USA, they add a Beverage Service Charge at the time of booking when your package includes the Free at Sea bar package. For my 7-day cruise, it is a line item on my invoice for $138.60. The specialty dining package has a Dining Service Charge of $15.80. I know you're in the UK, so the numbers may be different. But, I would not expect them to charge you any additional gratuities/service charge for the Free at Sea packages since it sounds like they've already covered that with you. There is also a daily service charge that covers most of the other workers on the ship. In the UK, I think that may be part of your cruise fare, but I've lost track. If it's not, and you didn't already pre-pay it, then it will be added daily to your cruise account on ship. Edited January 30, 2021 by MeHeartCruising Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SpainAlien Posted January 30, 2021 #3 Share Posted January 30, 2021 2 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said: Hello all 🙂 I am aware I have to pay gratuities for the Free at Sea's open bar package (and specialty restaurants). I've been charged $99 per person for "Free at Sea" and got my total price for the cruise. Is this including the 20% gratuity for the drinks package etc or will this be added on top of this later? I think it's all included for UK guests and our base price is higher? The £99/99€ covers everything, no additional fees for gratuities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare KeithJenner Posted January 31, 2021 #4 Share Posted January 31, 2021 You need to clarify a few things. You say that you have been charged $99 for the free at sea, but you are in the UK. Did you book in the UK? If so then I assume you meant that you paid £99. If so then the gratuities issue on free at sea is irrelevant. That is a US thing. if you booked via the US (whether direct with NCL or a travel agent) then the UK riles are irrelevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ScratchTheRat Posted February 1, 2021 Author #5 Share Posted February 1, 2021 9 hours ago, KeithJenner said: You need to clarify a few things. You say that you have been charged $99 for the free at sea, but you are in the UK. Did you book in the UK? If so then I assume you meant that you paid £99. If so then the gratuities issue on free at sea is irrelevant. That is a US thing. if you booked via the US (whether direct with NCL or a travel agent) then the UK riles are irrelevant. I booked in the UK yes and yes it was £99, I realise this now. Thanks 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ziggyuk Posted February 1, 2021 #6 Share Posted February 1, 2021 14 minutes ago, ScratchTheRat said: I booked in the UK yes and yes it was £99, I realise this now. Thanks 🙂 Yes you are all covered with a UK booking on drinks and dining gratuities, additional tips are optional. As you probably know the main daily gratuities can either be paid in advance or added to your bill on the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ScratchTheRat Posted February 1, 2021 Author #7 Share Posted February 1, 2021 6 minutes ago, ziggyuk said: Yes you are all covered with a UK booking on drinks and dining gratuities, additional tips are optional. As you probably know the main daily gratuities can either be paid in advance or added to your bill on the ship. Yep yep 🙂 I'll pay them in advance I think. Well deserved tips! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ziggyuk Posted February 1, 2021 #8 Share Posted February 1, 2021 2 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said: Yep yep 🙂 I'll pay them in advance I think. Well deserved tips! I have decided to pay my next one onboard, it's so unpredictable now, I would rather keep as much as possible in my pocket until my feet are firmly onboard ship. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladesign Posted February 4, 2021 #9 Share Posted February 4, 2021 On 2/1/2021 at 9:24 AM, ziggyuk said: Yes you are all covered with a UK booking on drinks and dining gratuities, additional tips are optional. As you probably know the main daily gratuities can either be paid in advance or added to your bill on the ship. We are new to NCL so unsure about ‘’main daily gratuities’. On Celebrity we have the gratuities removed from the account and then distribute the amount (plus more sometimes) to the people who we feel deserve it (we learned that the Maitre D’s were receiving a fortune & generally stood around doing very little so didn’t want our hard earned money going to them). Dies NCL allow us to do the same ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ScratchTheRat Posted February 4, 2021 Author #10 Share Posted February 4, 2021 1 hour ago, Ladesign said: We are new to NCL so unsure about ‘’main daily gratuities’. On Celebrity we have the gratuities removed from the account and then distribute the amount (plus more sometimes) to the people who we feel deserve it (we learned that the Maitre D’s were receiving a fortune & generally stood around doing very little so didn’t want our hard earned money going to them). Dies NCL allow us to do the same ?? The problem is, if you do this, the crew are apparently made to surrender those tips you give them and they are added to the shared pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare SpainAlien Posted February 4, 2021 #11 Share Posted February 4, 2021 1 hour ago, Ladesign said: We are new to NCL so unsure about ‘’main daily gratuities’. On Celebrity we have the gratuities removed from the account and then distribute the amount (plus more sometimes) to the people who we feel deserve it (we learned that the Maitre D’s were receiving a fortune & generally stood around doing very little so didn’t want our hard earned money going to them). Dies NCL allow us to do the same ?? The theory is fine but you don't see the hard working guys running the kitchen or laundry to give them a tip so they miss out when you do that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladesign Posted February 4, 2021 #12 Share Posted February 4, 2021 1 hour ago, ScratchTheRat said: The problem is, if you do this, the crew are apparently made to surrender those tips you give them and they are added to the shared pot. I had heard that about Celebrity too - but having got to know some of the Managers that theory was debunked- as they said there is no way of the cruise line knowing what had been given to the individual members of staff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trimone Posted February 4, 2021 #13 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Oh No. This Topic is getting close to TIPPING!!! PLEASE STOP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladesign Posted February 6, 2021 #14 Share Posted February 6, 2021 On 2/4/2021 at 1:14 PM, Trimone said: Oh No. This Topic is getting close to TIPPING!!! PLEASE STOP What is the difference between ‘gratuities’ and ‘tipping’ when it comes to cruises ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ziggyuk Posted February 6, 2021 #15 Share Posted February 6, 2021 2 hours ago, Ladesign said: What is the difference between ‘gratuities’ and ‘tipping’ when it comes to cruises ?? If that is a genuine question rather than a red flag (text) to a bull, then my view is gratuities are what we are asked to give and tips are what we choose to give. in other words gratuities arrive on the account tips come from my pocket. But as @Trimone says lets not turn this thread into "one of those" tipping threads. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladesign Posted February 7, 2021 #16 Share Posted February 7, 2021 (edited) 22 hours ago, ziggyuk said: If that is a genuine question rather than a red flag (text) to a bull, then my view is gratuities are what we are asked to give and tips are what we choose to give. in other words gratuities arrive on the account tips come from my pocket. But as @Trimone says lets not turn this thread into "one of those" tipping threads. Thank you for providing clarification . Sorry if the colour of the text caused offence - was messing about with the various text settings just to see what one can do 🧐 Edited February 7, 2021 by Ladesign Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare GaryWT Posted February 7, 2021 #17 Share Posted February 7, 2021 We had a line item of $308 when we booked the cruise. This line disappeared if we selected a cabin with nothing free at sea. This was for drinks and specialty dining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare KeithJenner Posted February 8, 2021 #18 Share Posted February 8, 2021 7 hours ago, GaryWT said: We had a line item of $308 when we booked the cruise. This line disappeared if we selected a cabin with nothing free at sea. This was for drinks and specialty dining. That is the case in the US, but we are talking about the UK where it is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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