Tipping on MSC cruises

[roberttz]

What are the norms for tipping?
My last few cruises were Carnival and Princess.
On both of these I always picked recommended daily $11-13 range/night/person PREPAID while booking.
MSC did not give me such option (I booked on their website).
I kind of like that so I don't have to arrange cash on the last day.

 
What's the average rate per person/night total (for all staff, room and dinning room)

Thanks

[MonsterJoe]

Isn't the service charge built in? I think they automatically charge it daily to your room.

[alyssamma]

1 minute ago, MonsterJoe said:

Isn't the service charge built in? I think they automatically charge it daily to your room.

This is correct. It varies by location (Caribbean vs. Europe) and *should* be by cabin type. YC is supposed to be more, but when I sailed 8/23 it was still $12.50pppd.

[roberttz]

Ok thanks, that makes it easy...

[waterbabyfish]

You can go to a keyosk and put your credit card info in it. I believe they give you 3 days after embarking to take care of that.

[Beamafar]

2 hours ago, alyssamma said:

This is correct. It varies by location (Caribbean vs. Europe) and *should* be by cabin type. YC is supposed to be more, but when I sailed 8/23 it was still $12.50pppd.

The rate is the same, regardless of cabin category, A, unlike other cruise lines. 

[rkacruiser]

Some guests will offer additional gratuities in addition to the daily hotel charge to those staff members whom the guest wants to recognize.  As a YC guest, I did that for my Butler, Assistant Butler, and both of the YC Restaurant Maitre d's.  

[alyssamma]

4 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

The rate is the same, regardless of cabin category, A, unlike other cruise lines. 

Yeah, but at one point it was supposed to be more for YC. I looked and don't see it now, but I swear it was there at one point 🙂

 

It actually says $14 for all, but I was only charged $12.50 (the old rate). So no clue what is going on.

[Beamafar]

It was never meant to be more for YC.  We’ve been sailing in YC since 2012 and it’s always been the same rate as for lower categories.  

[alyssamma]

4 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

It was never meant to be more for YC.  We’ve been sailing in YC since 2012 and it’s always been the same rate as for lower categories.  

Agreed...this was a post-Covid change. Honestly, when I saw it, it made sense to me because most (all?) other lines charge more for suites.

 

I don't see it now, so either I imagined it, or they put it up and reversed themselves.

[Beamafar]

Just now, alyssamma said:

Agreed...this was a post-Covid change. Honestly, when I saw it, it made sense to me because most (all?) other lines charge more for suites.

 

I don't see it now, so either I imagined it, or they put it up and reversed themselves.

It certainly makes more sense for those in YC to pay a higher rate considering the level of service offered. 
 

The gratuities are built into the cruise fare here so I no longer know (or care, TBH) what the rates are and I don’t have to budget for the charge added to the onboard account. 

[rkacruiser]

5 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

It certainly makes more sense for those in YC to pay a higher rate considering the level of service offered. 

 

I think so as well.  I am going to see if I can find my final statement and see what the daily hotel charge was.  

[phissy]

One could argue that the increased cost of YC cabins takes Service Charge into account.  As YC prices have greatly increased.

Daily Service Charge amount depends on region and when cruise takes place. 

[Nunagoras]

Daily charges vary by the region and number of nights. On whether they are built in the base fare or whether they're built against your ship account, that depends on your cruise market and, or your actual terms and conditions if you're inside such a charter group of some sort. From the post pandemic onward for Portugal where I live, the daily charge has been built in the base fare.

 

Permit me just a note about extra tips: Culturally on Italy and most of the continental European countries, tips are not expected other than as a way of rounding to facilitate the account close of a small cash account, like receive a 19.95 EUR bill, pay with a 20 bucks note. Nothing more than that. MSC highly discourages guests to give extra tips to their employees... so; if you want to do so, please do it in a very discrete manner so that you won't to put those employees contracts at risk...

 

Have a nice day and nice sailings!...

[marielco]

On Seashore last week in Europe.  I did not see any tips being given or expected at bars or in dining room by those ending their cruise.  When we had room service delivered the steward left immediately obviously no tip expected. 
 

15% is added to the speciality restaurant packages and the al a crate bills in them.  The gratuities amount added to the cruise fare appears to be all that is expected.  This is in Europe of course I know in America cruisers will probably still tip on top of the charge. 

Edited September 18, 2021 by marielco
Spelling error

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, marielco said:

This is in Europe of course I know in America cruisers will probably still tip on top of the charge. 

We Americans are silly that way. 
Hand always on the wallet……..spring loaded that way. Ruins it for everyone else.  

[miataman19]

You can call MSC and pay for your Gratuities before you sail. Leaving on Oct 2nd and that's what I did. Staying in the YC and paid $14 a day. $196 for the 2 of us for 7 day sailing. I also will take care of my Butler and Concierge (depending on how much we utilize them) as well as both of the YC Restaurant Maitre d's.

[Toofarfromthesea]

23 hours ago, Beamafar said:

It certainly makes more sense for those in YC to pay a higher rate considering the level of service offered. 
 

The gratuities are built into the cruise fare here so I no longer know (or care, TBH) what the rates are and I don’t have to budget for the charge added to the onboard account. 

 

YC pax ARE paying a higher rate.  In the basic fare.

[Beamafar]

1 minute ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

YC pax ARE paying a higher rate.  In the basic fare.

The basic fare has nothing to do with gratuities. 

[Kruizin'Kath]

5 hours ago, miataman19 said:

You can call MSC and pay for your Gratuities before you sail. Leaving on Oct 2nd and that's what I did. Staying in the YC and paid $14 a day. $196 for the 2 of us for 7 day sailing. I also will take care of my Butler and Concierge (depending on how much we utilize them) as well as both of the YC Restaurant Maitre d's.

I realize you tip in YC depending on use of personnel, but what is a ball park figure? We sail next week for our first time in YC. We have always tipped bar servers for drinks....is that appropriate in YC? TIA

[alyssamma]

46 minutes ago, Kruizin'Kath said:

I realize you tip in YC depending on use of personnel, but what is a ball park figure? We sail next week for our first time in YC. We have always tipped bar servers for drinks....is that appropriate in YC? TIA

You *typically* tip your butler, not the bartender. In fact, you will have little or no interaction with the bartender at all (butlers will bring you drinks).

 

Most leave a set amount at the end of the cruise for their main butler You can also do this for the asst. butler, bartenders, Maître D, concierge, etc. But the majority (I believe) just do it for the butler.

 

How much depends on how you use them. Some tip zero, others tip hundreds. Again, tip based on how much you use them.

[rkacruiser]

3 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Most leave a set amount at the end of the cruise for their main butler You can also do this for the asst. butler, bartenders, Maître D, concierge, etc.

 

Thanking the Butler, the assistant Butler (who did more for me than the Butler), and Luis and Arthur (the two Maitre d's) are those that I gave a an additional gratuity.  

 

In retrospect, I wish I had rewarded the Gentleman who worked on the Pool Deck and worked so hard in erecting/moving/removing the tents to provide some shade and provided good service when he was not doing such.  

[Kruizin'Kath]

52 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

You *typically* tip your butler, not the bartender. In fact, you will have little or no interaction with the bartender at all (butlers will bring you drinks).

 

Most leave a set amount at the end of the cruise for their main butler You can also do this for the asst. butler, bartenders, Maître D, concierge, etc. But the majority (I believe) just do it for the butler.

 

How much depends on how you use them. Some tip zero, others tip hundreds. Again, tip based on how much you use them.

Thank you!

 

[Huntingdon1701]

It doesn't have to be money either. I chatted with mine about some of the new features on Virtuosa and she mentioned she'd not tried the chocolate from the 'design your own bar' shop. So I left her that at the end and she loved it. 

[publicpersona]

1 hour ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

It doesn't have to be money either. I chatted with mine about some of the new features on Virtuosa and she mentioned she'd not tried the chocolate from the 'design your own bar' shop. So I left her that at the end and she loved it. 

 

Sounds like you determined a desire before you got her the chocolate, so that's good. But as a general rule otherwise, the very last thing that crew members aboard the ship want are little gifts that you bring from home .. a knick knack of some sort for their living quarters. There is precious little room for them and their living supplies in their quarters, much less little tchotchkes. They would nevertheless express that they are thrilled when they get one .. then it goes in the trash.