Daily Service Charges are now officially out of hand

[bjlaac]

We have several cruises booked, mostly with RCL, but do have one with NCL.  Just got a letter they are "nominally" raising the daily service charge from $16.00 to $20.00 for those below their version of suites and $25 for everyone above.  This is a 25% increase, which is hardly nominal, and comes on top of the April 2022 increase to $16.00.

 

Now I'm all for tipping the crew and don't believe the removal of these charges are warranted unless there's a real good reason, but this is rediculous!  How long before RCL follows suit?

Edited December 8, 2022 by bjlaac

[Diver2014]

If you can't afford to tip, don't cruise.  Flames, anyone?

[gumshoe958]

NCL have also started charging for room service continental breakfast this week. Let’s see if Royal does the same.

 

Face it, prices everywhere are rising fast. Cruise lines aren’t immune. We’ve already seen Royal trial cuts to MDR menus and cabin cleaning. I doubt very much that’s the end of it. I would guess every department’s been told to make savings and they’re starting to filter through to the passenger experience.

[beckyboo1986]

18 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

If you can't afford to tip, don't cruise.  Flames, anyone?

It's not a matter of being able to afford it, it's the principal for most.

 

We rarely tip in the UK. People get paid a suitable wage to perform their jobs. Just because that's not the case in other countries...

[footzz]

The fact is the gratuities or service charges aren't compulsory and be adjusted up or down or completely removed at the passangers request. Please excuse me for a moment while I don my fireproof suit.

[bjlaac]

Before anyone makes sly remarks, maybe you should think a little or do some simple math.  That $20 daily charge could be as much as 37% for a sail away cabin or 55% if there were 4 passengers in an inside cabin on the cruise referenced.

 

These cabins are priced for a certain class of individual and they "can" afford to cruise.   How many more people are going to say screw it now and just remove the charges altogether.  Going forward, I'm never going to pay more than 20% in gratuities even if that requires an adjustment to the daily charge for no reason at all.  Especially if they have their hands out with envelopes for even more tips.

 

Everyone should do as they wish or feel right.

Edited December 8, 2022 by bjlaac

[ARandomTraveler]

5 minutes ago, beckyboo1986 said:

It's not a matter of being able to afford it, it's the principal for most.

 

We rarely tip in the UK. People get paid a suitable wage to perform their jobs. Just because that's not the case in other countries...

I'm all for doing this here in the US. I just look at the daily service charge as part of the total price. For whatever reason, the cruiseline separates it and called it a daily gratuity, and whether it's for their own internal accounting, or if it's because they have to call it that in order to do their taxes a certain way, or if it's to signal to their customers that it's for the staff, who knows, and I don't really care. 
 

I would be fine if they just rolled that couple hundred bucks into the total cruise fare and didn't mention it at all. I'd also be fine if they called it a service charge. For whatever reason, they don't. I don't care.

 

I will admit that when I was in Europe a couple months ago, it was uncomfortable to me at first to not tip. I would go to a restaurant and not even be given an opportunity to tip (unless I had Euros on me, which I didn't), and it felt awkward, I'd walk out feeling like the waiter might think I was dissatisfied or something. But after a week or so, I got used to it, and it was really nice. 
 

I think Americans would complain more though, if we got rid of tipping, but traded it in for that really high tax you guys have.  We Americans have a knack for expecting a lot of things without having to pay for them in any way. 

[clochette]

40 minutes ago, bjlaac said:

We have several cruises booked, mostly with RCL, but do have one with NCL.  Just got a letter they are "nominally" raising the daily service charge from $16.00 to $20.00 for those below their version of suites and $25 for everyone above.  This is a 25% increase, which is hardly nominal, and comes on top of the April 2022 increase to $16.00.

 

Now I'm all for tipping the crew and don't believe the removal of these charges are warranted unless there's a real good reason, but this is rediculous!  How long before RCL follows suit?

You mean NCL is raising gratuities right?  I know royal did recently already, but not that high.

[alfaeric]

So people complain of the lack of service, being so hard right now to attract crew, and then complain about the rather obvious solution. 
 

welcome to cruise critic. 

[Liljo22]

26 minutes ago, beckyboo1986 said:

It's not a matter of being able to afford it, it's the principal for most.

 

We rarely tip in the UK. People get paid a suitable wage to perform their jobs. Just because that's not the case in other countries...

But the problem is that cruise line workers, especially mass market cruise lines, do not get paid a suitable wage and need the gratuities to supplement their wages. 

 

I know its been discussed on the NCL board by former employees that the crew is paid a low wage with a guarantee.  The DSC makes up the difference between the guarantee and the wage NCL paid.  If NCL is raising the DSC, it probably means that the current rate is not covering the guarantee.  I have not seen how RCI pays their crew but I am betting its something similar.  It would be great if we did not have to pay DSC and the cruise lines just paid a higher wage but they are just going to raise the prices and we will be paying it anyways.  

Edited December 8, 2022 by Liljo22

[shof515]

Princess cruises also increased their gratuities rates too. i wont be surprised to see more cruises lines follow 

[mafig]

NCL has raised the price for the Haven to $25 per person/per day (that's $50 a couple).

 

I think that's a BIG increase considering the Butler and Concierge are not included in the daily service charge.

[Liljo22]

7 minutes ago, mafig said:

NCL has raised the price for the Haven to $25 per person/per day (that's $50 a couple).

 

I think that's a BIG increase considering the Butler and Concierge are not included in the daily service charge.

If you can afford to sail in the Haven, an extra $350 is not going to break the bank.  

Edited December 8, 2022 by Liljo22

[ARandomTraveler]

1 minute ago, Liljo22 said:

If you can afford to said in the Haven, an extra $350 is not going to break the bank.  

Exactly! And maybe the problem was that too many people were willing to pay for it at the lower rate, which means it was too low to begin with. 

[ballarinamom]

Has anyone noticed there are never any threads when taxes and port fees are increased? People probably never notice and never ask how to have them removed. Yet they are an addition to the cruise fare. I see the service charges in the same boat as taxes. Only I dont have to have them paid off 60 days prior to sailing. And people who say they will only tip 20% of the cruise fare, remember, you should tip on the retail/rack rate and not the sale price. When you go to a restaurant, you tip on the amount before the coupon is applied

[smokeybandit]

I really don't care about NCL

[not-enough-cruising]

31 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

So people complain of the lack of service, being so hard right now to attract crew, and then complain about the rather obvious solution. 
 

welcome to cruise critic. 

This is not a solution to staffing issues. If it were mandatory maybe, but it isn’t. 
 

In reality, I haven’t experienced much of a staff shortage my last several cruises. 
 
 

[not-enough-cruising]

29 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

But the problem is that cruise line workers, especially mass market cruise lines, do not get paid a suitable wage and need the gratuities to supplement their wages. 

 

I know its been discussed on the NCL board by former employees that the crew is paid a low wage with a guarantee.  The DSC makes up the difference between the guarantee and the wage NCL paid.  If NCL is raising the DSC, it probably means that the current rate is not covering the guarantee.  I have not seen how RCI pays their crew but I am betting its something similar.  It would be great if we did not have to pay DSC and the cruise lines just paid a higher wage but they are just going to raise the prices and we will be paying it anyways.  

All cruise lines pay their crew the same way, it is regulated by international convention. There is a guarantee minimum that must be paid per

month, regardless of gratuity or service charges. The current minimum is $1200 USD per month, which is very suitable considering the economic climate most of the workers come from. 

[not-enough-cruising]

21 minutes ago, ballarinamom said:

Has anyone noticed there are never any threads when taxes and port fees are increased? People probably never notice and never ask how to have them removed. Yet they are an addition to the cruise fare. I see the service charges in the same boat as taxes. Only I dont have to have them paid off 60 days prior to sailing. And people who say they will only tip 20% of the cruise fare, remember, you should tip on the retail/rack rate and not the sale price. When you go to a restaurant, you tip on the amount before the coupon is applied

Not the same, taxes and port fees are compulsory and can not be removed. Gratuities are not compulsory and can be removed. 

[smokeybandit]

39 minutes ago, alfaeric said:

So people complain of the lack of service, being so hard right now to attract crew, and then complain about the rather obvious solution. 

The obvious solution is for a cruise line to pay better salaries. 

[ONECRUISER]

15 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I really don't care about NCL

Yup, been there done that. Only thing liked NCL was the Vending Machines where you could purchase 16.9oz Pepsi Products

[ballarinamom]

10 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Not the same, taxes and port fees are compulsory and can not be removed. Gratuities are not compulsory and can be removed. 

Maybe they should not able to be removed is my point. For those who complain, why aren't they complaining about taxes and port costs? And for those who only want to pay 20% on a $200 sales price need to remember thats not the actually price but rather the "cost". It may seem like services arent affected with the labor issues but we dont see whats going on in the back ground. And by having two daily services, the attendants get less breaks. We visit with our attendants quite a bit and have learned they dont work 8 hour days. They dont get days off, just hours off. And their time off doesn't come in huge chunks. A few hours here and a few hours there. For the hours worked vs the money paid, its very little. I realize its more than they would make back home. But they are also isolated and away from family for months at a time and live in very cramped quarters

Edited December 8, 2022 by ballarinamom

[ballarinamom]

5 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The obvious solution is for a cruise line to pay better salaries. 

Then the threads will start about where have all the cheap cruises gone! LOL

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, ballarinamom said:

Has anyone noticed there are never any threads when taxes and port fees are increased? People probably never notice and never ask how to have them removed. Yet they are an addition to the cruise fare. I see the service charges in the same boat as taxes. Only I dont have to have them paid off 60 days prior to sailing. And people who say they will only tip 20% of the cruise fare, remember, you should tip on the retail/rack rate and not the sale price. When you go to a restaurant, you tip on the amount before the coupon is applied

 

Not the same, and not true.

 

When port charges increase, firstly it's only to a specific port, not all ports, so doesn't affect all cruises, nor all cruisers. And secondly the increase is typically $5-10, which is much less than here, which would typically be $10-$30 - or in this case $35-$70 for a 1-2 week cruise. And I haven't seen any tax increases, so no comparison there.

 

Also not true as the closest comparable example was when there were fuel charges added, which is similar in that the cost impact was higher and also it affected all cruises, not limited. And that produced many threads and discussion/dissatisfaction. So when the impact is broader and greater like these gratuity increases, there will be threads.

[Engineroom Snipe]

1 hour ago, footzz said:

The fact is the gratuities or service charges aren't compulsory and be adjusted up or down or completely removed at the passangers request. Please excuse me for a moment while I don my fireproof suit.

 

Do not fret about the fireproof suits, the rabid crowd will be sure to include sharpened pitchforks to puncture them first. 😉