Gratuities/Daily Service Charges increasing!!

[New2cruise2022]

Won’t the answer for a lot of people upset with the increases to either reduce to the rate they expected or remove them altogether?

[Two Wheels Only]

8 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

Won’t the answer for a lot of people upset with the increases to either reduce to the rate they expected or remove them altogether?

 

The bean counters probably figure that less than 20% of guests will remove the DSC. If 1000 people were paying $16 pppd and now 800 people will pay $20 pppd, NCL hasn't really lost anything. 

[New2cruise2022]

4 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

The bean counters probably figure that less than 20% of guests will remove the DSC. If 1000 people were paying $16 pppd and now 800 people will pay $20 pppd, NCL hasn't really lost anything. 

True. And that number is high. I think? I wouldn’t think 1 in 5 are getting in line at guest services to remove or adjust. Maybe I’m wrong?

[Two Wheels Only]

3 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

True. And that number is high. I think? I wouldn’t think 1 in 5 are getting in line at guest services to remove or adjust. Maybe I’m wrong?

 

We'll never know how many people remove the DSC but NCL knows....and acts accordingly to make up the loss....but that's a topic for another day...😒

[RocketMan275]

15 minutes ago, New2cruise2022 said:

True. And that number is high. I think? I wouldn’t think 1 in 5 are getting in line at guest services to remove or adjust. Maybe I’m wrong?

I think it is  high too.

Breakaway has almost 4000 passengers.  Figure two to a cabin, that's 2000.  1 in 5 would be 400, that's a very long line.

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, ngrund said:

This is why I just always have the grats added to the booking when i make it

I disagree.  Why should I prepay hundreds of dollars of DSC at booking when I can pay the exact same amount two days prior to the cruise.  I'm in the book early-book often crowd.  We can actually earn interest on our savings now! 😎

[scooter6139]

These prices are a bit more than what Princess is upping to after Feb 20th 2023:

 

·  - $16 per guest per day for interior, oceanview and balcony staterooms

·  - $17 per guest per day for mini-suites (including Club Class) and cabanas*

·  - $18 per guest per day for suites

[KeithJenner]

9 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I disagree.  Why should I prepay hundreds of dollars of DSC at booking when I can pay the exact same amount two days prior to the cruise.  I'm in the book early-book often crowd.  We can actually earn interest on our savings now! 😎

Having the gratuities added to your booking when you make it doesn't mean that you pay them then.

 

You actually pay them with final payment. Not as good as two days out, but far better than paying when you book.

[njkate]

15 minutes ago, scooter6139 said:

These prices are a bit more than what Princess is upping to after Feb 20th 2023:

 

·  - $16 per guest per day for interior, oceanview and balcony staterooms

·  - $17 per guest per day for mini-suites (including Club Class) and cabanas*

·  - $18 per guest per day for suites

It’s more then Carnival as well not sure about Royal I’ll have to look

[DaCruiseBug]

Nothing surprising here...Nickel and Dime cruise line just keeps raising charges and fees every few months. A few bucks here and a few bucks there. It's also important to remember that the daily service fees don't go directly to workers on NCL. Only a percentage of the service fees go towards worker "incentive programs" and the rest NCL pockets as additional revenue. They do the same thing with the "taxes and port fees" by inflating them above what they're actually charged by all the different ports. For example, when you dock at GSC you think that it's all free but NCL charges over $60 per person in "port fees" when you visit. Most of that money goes right in their pockets.

[oteixeira]

5 minutes ago, DaCruiseBug said:

Nothing surprising here...Nickel and Dime cruise line just keeps raising charges and fees every few months. A few bucks here and a few bucks there. It's also important to remember that the daily service fees don't go directly to workers on NCL. Only a percentage of the service fees go towards worker "incentive programs" and the rest NCL pockets as additional revenue. They do the same thing with the "taxes and port fees" by inflating them above what they're actually charged by all the different ports. For example, when you dock at GSC you think that it's all free but NCL charges over $60 per person in "port fees" when you visit. Most of that money goes right in their pockets.

Please show your work (proof).  It has been talked about on here for years and NO ONE knows how much the employees get from the DSCs.  

 

 

[jazzydiver]

Hmm...my January cruise includes "free gratuities" from the travel agent.  My booking (made it back in August) does not show gratuities as being pre-paid, but when I checked with the TA in September they said that is normal - it will be paid.

 

With the rate increase, I wonder if I should double-check with the TA....

[DaCruiseBug]

11 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

Please show your work (proof).  It has been talked about on here for years and NO ONE knows how much the employees get from the DSCs.  

 

 

 

I didn't give exact figures did I? It's no secret that on NCL the service fees don't go directly to employees. There was a thread a couple of years ago that went into detail about these incentive programs that part of the service fees go to.

 

You can also do the math per sailing and see that the daily service charges amount to an incredible amount.

 

For Example:

 

Per the NCL website the Escape holds 4,266 guests at double occupancy and has 1,733 crew members. Using the new numbers of $20 per cabin (I won't add in the $25 for Haven suites) that comes out to $85,320 per day or $2,559,600 per month. Divided by 1,733 crew members that's roughly $1,500 per month per crew member from the daily service charges alone. Obviously, they're not getting anywhere near that amount per month in bonuses or incentives. That amount is probably the total many of them make each month in salary. I'd be surprised if 50% of that actually goes to crew members. The rest is going straight into NCLs bank accounts.

 

As far as NCL inflating the port fees to pocket more money it's pretty easy to figure out actually. They won't actually tell you even if you ask them but just compare itineraries with other cruise lines.

 

Royal Caribbean March 2023 4 night cruise from Miami with stops in Grand Bahama, Nassau, and Coco Cay = $117.95 per person in port fees.

 

NCL March 2023 4 night cruise from Miami with stops in Grand Bahama, Nassau, and GSC = $212.55

 

NCL is charging each passenger about $100 MORE to dock at GSC than RCL charges theirs in Coco Cay.

Edited December 6, 2022 by DaCruiseBug

[ChiefMateJRK]

55 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

Having the gratuities added to your booking when you make it doesn't mean that you pay them then.

 

You actually pay them with final payment. Not as good as two days out, but far better than paying when you book.

Good point.  I wasn't thinking about that because I never prepay them.  If I can wait until two days prior and save some money, I probably will.  

Edited December 6, 2022 by ChiefMateJRK

[Laszlo]

Thats a big increase. I prepaid ours a few weeks ago at $18.50 pp pd, its now increasing to $25

[prmssk]

38 minutes ago, njkate said:

It’s more then Carnival as well not sure about Royal I’ll have to look

Royal is $16 (standard rooms) / $18.50 (suites).  NCL's new rates are the highest gratuities I have seen on any of the major lines.  Celebrity is the next highest I am aware of at $17.50 (standard rooms) / $18 (concierge/aqua class) / $21 (suites).

[hallux]

That's a HUGE increase for Balcony and below.  I'll be in a Studio in March, you can bet I'll be saving that $28 and pre-paying the DSC for my cruise.  At some point these increases need to stop, especially when you consider how much fare prices are going up at the same time.  I'd LOVE to be in a balcony, but I simply can't pay the $1,700+ for a balcony for the cruise I'm on, and that was BEFORE prices adjusted after the BF sale ended (price for a balcony has gone up $600 since then).

[DaCruiseBug]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

That's a HUGE increase for Balcony and below.  I'll be in a Studio in March, you can bet I'll be saving that $28 and pre-paying the DSC for my cruise.  At some point these increases need to stop, especially when you consider how much fare prices are going up at the same time.  I'd LOVE to be in a balcony, but I simply can't pay the $1,700+ for a balcony for the cruise I'm on, and that was BEFORE prices adjusted after the BF sale ended (price for a balcony has gone up $600 since then).

 

The increase to the daily service charges (let's not call them gratuities because they don't go directly to the workers) in a ship like the Escape means an additional HALF A MILLION dollars going into their pockets each and every month. Absolutely ridiculous!

[ngrund]

2 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Having the gratuities added to your booking when you make it doesn't mean that you pay them then.

 

You actually pay them with final payment. Not as good as two days out, but far better than paying when you book.

 

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Good point.  I wasn't thinking about that because I never prepay them.  If I can wait until two days prior and save some money, I probably will.  

The main reason I do it is to lock in the price-since I currently book very early, my grats are @ $15.50 for a May 2023 cruise

[mn_cruise]

5 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

I just encouraged a few people to pre-pay. They already have just to be sure NCL doesn't screw them and end the pre-pay discount on January 1st. Not saying they would...but saying they could. 

As long as you prepay before you sail (and you are already booked or book by 12/31/22), you will pay the current rate. 

[mn_cruise]

4 hours ago, Schoifmom said:

It looks like there was an increase effective 4/1 and this price will end 1/1.  I bolded the critical language.

The newest price starts on bookings made on 1/1/23 or later. 
 

if you book a cruise between 04/01/22 and 12/31/22….and prepay the DSC before you sail (even if it’s a cruise in 2025), you will pay the rates listed in 04/01/22 ($16 for most cabins). 

[pcakes122]

4 hours ago, New2cruise2022 said:

True. And that number is high. I think? I wouldn’t think 1 in 5 are getting in line at guest services to remove or adjust. Maybe I’m wrong?

Didn't NCL stop that a couple of years ago? I thought to "remove" gratuities you have to apply to be refunded after the cruise? ( I really have no clue because this is not something I would ever think about doing.)

[bortman23]

1 hour ago, DaCruiseBug said:

let's not call them gratuities

 

NCL does state that is used to provide gratuities in their most recent email:

 

"...discretionary daily services charges, which provide gratuities to key onboard team members, including room stewards, restaurant servers and behind-the-scenes support staff."

[New2cruise2022]

1 hour ago, pcakes122 said:

Didn't NCL stop that a couple of years ago? I thought to "remove" gratuities you have to apply to be refunded after the cruise? ( I really have no clue because this is not something I would ever think about doing.)

🤷🏿‍♂️ 

[New2cruise2022]

4 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

I think it is  high too.

Breakaway has almost 4000 passengers.  Figure two to a cabin, that's 2000.  1 in 5 would be 400, that's a very long line.

Indeed.