Prepaid Gratuities VS Prepaid Service Charges

[Mommu98]

I'm still not clear what the $217.00 Prepaid Service Charges are for. My cruise is completely paid in full. Prepaid Gratuities vs Prepaid Service Charges....What is the difference? 

Thank you in advance! 

Edited October 7, 2021 by Mommu98
forgot to add title info

[hallux]

There's a Discretionary Service Charge that you pay a daily rate for, this is often called tips or gratuities.  It's paid to the cruise line for distribution to all of the workers that get part of their wages from tips.

 

You can pre-pay it (likely the option you're seeing on your cruise planner for pre-payment) or you can let it accrue through your cruise and charge to your account on a daily basis to then charge to your card when your account settles out at the end of the week.

 

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-faq/what-is-onboard-service-charge

[beau11]

13 hours ago, Mommu98 said:

I'm still not clear what the $217.00 Prepaid Service Charges are for. My cruise is completely paid in full. Prepaid Gratuities vs Prepaid Service Charges....What is the difference? 

Thank you in advance! 

Gratuities are added to the beverage and/or dining packages. Service charges are the daily charge automatically added for staff excluding butler and concierge.

[CruizinKittie40]

2 hours ago, beau11 said:

Gratuities are added to the beverage and/or dining packages. Service charges are the daily charge automatically added for staff excluding butler and concierge.

can these be removed?

[KeithJenner]

11 minutes ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

can these be removed?

The gratuities on the beverage/dining package can't be removed.

 

The service charge can be, although there are plenty of arguments to be had on that subject. Have fun. 🙂

 

[Oakman58]

5 minutes ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

can these be removed?

 

Gratuities on the drink and dining packages cannot be removed.  The Daily Service Charge can be adjusted or removed but it is part of the crew compensation and should be left intact.  If you have an issue with a crewman you should bring up the issue to Guest Services.

[CruizinKittie40]

2 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

 

Gratuities on the drink and dining packages cannot be removed.  The Daily Service Charge can be adjusted or removed but it is part of the crew compensation and should be left intact.  If you have an issue with a crewman you should bring up the issue to Guest Services.

Thanks! I always remove them and give them cash personally

[BirdTravels]

43 minutes ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

can these be removed?

Yes. you can cancel your beverage and dining packages.

 

There is a mandatory, non-negotiable 20% gratuity on any food or beverage purchase. 

 

These are all separate from your Daily Service Charge which goes to all of the hard working crew members public facing and behind the scenes (e.g., dish washers, bus staff, cooks) that, in total, make your cruise experience memorable. 

[JCDCA]

36 minutes ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

Thanks! I always remove them and give them cash personally

Why?  Who is them?

[MoCruiseFan]

17 hours ago, Mommu98 said:

I'm still not clear what the $217.00 Prepaid Service Charges are for. My cruise is completely paid in full. Prepaid Gratuities vs Prepaid Service Charges....What is the difference? 

Thank you in advance! 

There is no "prepaid gratuities" other than on FAS packages such as the open bar.  In fact GRATUITIES are 100% optional on NCL.    The DSC is fully explained on the NCL site.  some people confuse the DSC with gratuities.

 

[Heather1972]

1 hour ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

Thanks! I always remove them and give them cash personally

 

Bad idea. People behind the scenes are then losing out on money. If you want to tip more with cash, then do that, but don’t remove the DSC. 

[Oakman58]

2 hours ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

Thanks! I always remove them and give them cash personally

 

From the NCL website.

 

Why is there a service charge?
The reason there's a fixed service charge is an important one: Our Crew (as are the crew from other lines) is encouraged to work together as a team. Staff members including complimentary restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports.

 

How do you plan to give cash to the behind the scenes support staff?  Removing the DSC is cheating them out of money they would normally get.

[Sam Ting]

5 hours ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

Thanks! I always remove them and give them cash personally

Us too. We tip as we go.  If NCL chooses to have an incentive program for its behind the scenes crew (whomever that includes) then they could always fund it themselves, but they choose not to. Last time I checked NCL is not a charity, so we chose not to donate to them. 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, Sam Ting said:

Us too. We tip as we go.  If NCL chooses to have an incentive program for its behind the scenes crew (whomever that includes) then they could always fund it themselves, but they choose not to. Last time I checked NCL is not a charity, so we chose not to donate to them. 

Well, you aren’t hurting NCL.  You are hurting numerous crew who are working hard to give you a great cruise. You may object to the cruise lines’ business models, but you are hurting real people, not the cruise lines.  Don’t pretend otherwise. 

 

 

[mem50]

45 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Well, you aren’t hurting NCL.  You are hurting numerous crew who are working hard to give you a great cruise. You may object to the cruise lines’ business models, but you are hurting real people, not the cruise lines.  Don’t pretend otherwise. 

 

 

How do you know how hard someone behind the scenes is working?

[phillygwm]

There's a systemic issue here.  I always pay the daily charge, though I think it's unfair, because withholding it would adversely impact the people working on the ship who can least afford it.  NCL (and other lines) should just add $15/day to the base rate of every cruise and pay their "behind the scenes" employees fairly.  And yeah, on top of that, I'll tip my room steward, some bartenders, waitstaff, etc. for good service.

 

It's no different than a U.S. land-based restaurant.  I'm expected to tip my server (we can argue whether that's a good model but it isn't changing anytime soon.)  On the other hand, I'm not expected to tip the back-of-house staff; it's assumed they're compensated commensurate with whatever they're doing.  And that's a good thing because few people WOULD go back in the kitchen to tip the dishwasher.  

 

The purpose of the service charge is to artificially reduce the "sticker price" of a cruise and add it in on the back end, similar to taxes and port fees.  I'm not saying it's a hidden charge but it certainly isn't in the teaser rates you see on the home page and it should be.

Edited October 9, 2021 by phillygwm

[phillygwm]

8 minutes ago, mem50 said:

How do you know how hard someone behind the scenes is working?

I assume that virtually every person working on that ship labors longer hours, has tougher working conditions, and makes much less money than I do.  I've taken the Behind the Scenes tour and walked through the laundry.  I couldn't work under those conditions and I doubt many of us could.

[mem50]

Assume! Know that this is a way to get the customer to pay extra salary. If more people didn’t pay it things might change and all those folks would get a decent wage. Do you tip the cashier at the market so he can share it with the  baggers and night stockers?

[All-ready2cruise]

@mem50 this has been a "hot topic" for as long as I've been a member here on CC.  It's not new that some pax argue against paying the DSC, nor is it new that many of us feel that paying the DSC benefits those who make our cruises better for us. 

 

IMO, if you don't agree with paying the DSC, you have 2 choices, don't pay it or don't cruise on NCL or any other cruise line which charges a fee for the service charge.  

Pretty simple IMO. Always your choice.  

Enjoy

[phillygwm]

10 minutes ago, mem50 said:

Assume! Know that this is a way to get the customer to pay extra salary. If more people didn’t pay it things might change and all those folks would get a decent wage. Do you tip the cashier at the market so he can share it with the  baggers and night stockers?

I agree that if everyone opted out of DSC it would force the cruise lines to increase their fares, which would be a more equitable solution.  But in the short term that would hurt many of the crew and most of us are unwilling to do that.  So people can choose to freeload.

[FlGoodShips]

Just pay the DSC. It is dispersed to the hardworking crew.

[knot knormal]

A little off topic but I get confused because we travel on different cruise lines with different rules.  Does NCL allow the daily service charge to be taken out of your OBC? AND do they take nonrefundable first vs. what I could get refunded after the cruise?

[Two Wheels Only]

2 hours ago, mem50 said:

If more people didn’t pay it things might change and all those folks would get a decent wage.

 

And where would the money come from in order to pay that "decent wage"?

 

2 hours ago, phillygwm said:

I agree that if everyone opted out of DSC it would force the cruise lines to increase their fares,....

 

...and that increase would be an amount that is more than the current DSC. 

[JCDCA]

9 hours ago, Sam Ting said:

Us too. We tip as we go.  If NCL chooses to have an incentive program for its behind the scenes crew (whomever that includes) then they could always fund it themselves, but they choose not to. Last time I checked NCL is not a charity, so we chose not to donate to them. 

What incentive program?  If you selfishly choose not to pay the daily charges those hard working staff will earn less.  So good work.  

[KeithJenner]

5 hours ago, knot knormal said:

A little off topic but I get confused because we travel on different cruise lines with different rules.  Does NCL allow the daily service charge to be taken out of your OBC? AND do they take nonrefundable first vs. what I could get refunded after the cruise?

Non refundable OBC can't be used to pay the DSC, but refundable OBC can.

 

That is my understanding from other posts on here anyway (we pay up front so have never tested this).