Prepaid Service Charges

[bhook2650]

This will be my fourth cruise but my first on NCL. I’ll be on the Epic on 3/5. I was reading thru some things & am I reading right? Did I understand that they charge a service charge of $20 a day per person? This charge was not included in the price we paid for our cruise? We have the option to prepay it now instead of the end of the cruise? Is this correct?

[LadyZolt]

Yes, that's right.  Assuming you booked after January 1 and are in a balcony or lower, it's $20 per person per day.  The Haven and suites are $25.  If you booked before January 1 and pay it off before your cruise, it's $20 for Haven, $18 for club balcony suites, and $16 for all other cabin types.  

 

Hope this helps!  Happy sailing!  🙂

[bhook2650]

Do all cruise lines do this or is it just NCL? It’s been a few years since we’ve been on a cruise so I don’t remember having this on MSC. 

[shof515]

6 minutes ago, bhook2650 said:

Do all cruise lines do this or is it just NCL? It’s been a few years since we’ve been on a cruise so I don’t remember having this on MSC. 

all cruise lines have it and they call it different names. the most common name is gratuities and all cruise lines have different rates. NCL recently went up in their prices and is one of the highest one compare to other

[styles27]

57 minutes ago, bhook2650 said:

Do all cruise lines do this or is it just NCL? It’s been a few years since we’ve been on a cruise so I don’t remember having this on MSC. 

MSC bills it as a “service charge” to your on board acct. just cruised MSC in January. (There’s is $14pp per day)

 

[jimb98]

It’s not compulsory and you can get it removed when you board.

I only state this for the UK viewers as lots of the UK based cruise deals include gratuities now.

[screenname2004]

3 hours ago, jimb98 said:

It’s not compulsory and you can get it removed when you board.

I only state this for the UK viewers as lots of the UK based cruise deals include gratuities now.

If gratuities are included with the cruise deal, you won't have the daily service add to your account, right? What is there to remove?

 

[jimb98]

36 minutes ago, screenname2004 said:

If gratuities are included with the cruise deal, you won't have the daily service add to your account, right? What is there to remove?

 

I had this issue with my TA, Cruise 1st who I was sure had stated everything was included. However when I received the notification from NCL about the increase in DSC I queried it with Cruise 1st who said DSC were alway levied but that I could get them taken off onboard. 
I personally thought I was misled but other than demanding transcripts of the phone calls there wasn’t much I can do. Lesson learnt.

[TSUmom]

1 hour ago, screenname2004 said:

If gratuities are included with the cruise deal, you won't have the daily service add to your account, right? What is there to remove?

 

If gratuities are included as part of your cruise deal then it should say paid on your NCL account.  Look at your summary, scroll down to pre-pay gratuities - mine says paid, when I booked it was part of the "deal" I got.

[screenname2004]

2 hours ago, jimb98 said:

I had this issue with my TA, Cruise 1st who I was sure had stated everything was included. However when I received the notification from NCL about the increase in DSC I queried it with Cruise 1st who said DSC were alway levied but that I could get them taken off onboard. 
I personally thought I was misled but other than demanding transcripts of the phone calls there wasn’t much I can do. Lesson learnt.

I did not book with Cruise 1st but I did get pre-paid tips as part of my booking with my travel agent. This is how my invoice looks like.

[FlGoodShips]

13 hours ago, bhook2650 said:

This will be my fourth cruise but my first on NCL. I’ll be on the Epic on 3/5. I was reading thru some things & am I reading right? Did I understand that they charge a service charge of $20 a day per person? This charge was not included in the price we paid for our cruise? We have the option to prepay it now instead of the end of the cruise? Is this correct?

We prepay so at the end of the cruise all we have to pay is what we spent onboard.

[periatza34]

I prepaid my $560 bill in "gratuities."  My wife and I and 3 kids at $16 each for 7 days.  Also paid the taxes on the beverage package that is "free."  I will still feel obligated to tip when getting drinks or feel the wrath of the bartenders staring me down.  I know, not their fault.  With the prices going up to $20 a day plus, I may have to stop cruising and start all inclusives again.  My daily gratuities will considerably go down.

[mjkacmom]

12 minutes ago, periatza34 said:

I prepaid my $560 bill in "gratuities."  My wife and I and 3 kids at $16 each for 7 days.  Also paid the taxes on the beverage package that is "free."  I will still feel obligated to tip when getting drinks or feel the wrath of the bartenders staring me down.  I know, not their fault.  With the prices going up to $20 a day plus, I may have to stop cruising and start all inclusives again.  My daily gratuities will considerably go down.

$20 a day for unlimited alcohol is a steal (and I tip on top of that, heck I tipped on top of the automatic gratuity on each drink before the UBP existed). Many don’t, the bartenders don’t seem miffed.

[PTC DAWG]

22 minutes ago, periatza34 said:

I prepaid my $560 bill in "gratuities."  My wife and I and 3 kids at $16 each for 7 days.  Also paid the taxes on the beverage package that is "free."  I will still feel obligated to tip when getting drinks or feel the wrath of the bartenders staring me down.  I know, not their fault.  With the prices going up to $20 a day plus, I may have to stop cruising and start all inclusives again.  My daily gratuities will considerably go down.

Have you priced hotels lately?  

[PhillyTravelBug]

I always prepay because they usually raise the rates in between the time I book and sail.  I really wish they would do the all inclusive thing like Celebrity.

[BirdTravels]

21 hours ago, bhook2650 said:

This will be my fourth cruise but my first on NCL. I’ll be on the Epic on 3/5. I was reading thru some things & am I reading right? Did I understand that they charge a service charge of $20 a day per person? This charge was not included in the price we paid for our cruise? We have the option to prepay it now instead of the end of the cruise? Is this correct?

You can prepay your daily service charge gratuities if you don’t want to have a large bill on the ship. 
 

Removing the gratuities which go to the hard working crew (guest facing and behind the scenes - like the cooks and dishwashers) is like walking out of a restaurant and not leaving a tip. 

[bjlaac]

I walk out of every restaurant without leaving a tip for the cooks and dishwashers, in fact I've never heard of anyone tipping someone other than the waiter or hotel made.

[mjkacmom]

2 minutes ago, bjlaac said:

I walk out of every restaurant without leaving a tip for the cooks and dishwashers, in fact I've never heard of anyone tipping someone other than the waiter or hotel made.

Maid - and gratuities work differently on cruises than at hotels on land (and at hotels I’ve tipped valets, bellmen, concierge, bartenders, room service…).

[fshagan]

15 hours ago, bjlaac said:

I walk out of every restaurant without leaving a tip for the cooks and dishwashers, in fact I've never heard of anyone tipping someone other than the waiter or hotel made.

 

If you are in the US, the wait person will "tip-out" a portion of the tip you give them to at least the hostess and the busser. Sometimes the restaurant will have a different system set up, but that's the system in most restaurants.

[BirdTravels]

16 hours ago, bjlaac said:

I walk out of every restaurant without leaving a tip for the cooks and dishwashers, in fact I've never heard of anyone tipping someone other than the waiter or hotel made.

As a waiter,,, once upon a time,,, I was “required” to give a portion of my tips to a “pool” split with others in the restaurant. 

[Smitheroo]

It is my understanding that the "free gratuities" on an NCL promotion doesnt include the drinks package or specialty dining gratuities.  that could be confusing to someone not knowing that. 

[ExArkie]

My understanding is that pre-paying service charges cannot be done using on board credit. Since we have no plans for OBC (drinks and specialty dining packages are good for us) and ended up with enough to cover the service charges (even at the new higher rate), we were planning to leave the service charge to be paid at the end of the trip.

 

If service charges can be prepaid with OBC, I would appreciate having my understanding corrected. Not that it matters much in terms of what we will do.

[susique]

You cannot pay the Daily Service Charge (DSC) with non-refundable OBC.  It can be paid with refundable OBC.  You need to make sure which type of OBC you have.  

[Raleigh Traveler]

On 2/12/2023 at 10:48 PM, LadyZolt said:

Yes, that's right.  Assuming you booked after January 1 and are in a balcony or lower, it's $20 per person per day.  The Haven and suites are $25.  If you booked before January 1 and pay it off before your cruise, it's $20 for Haven, $18 for club balcony suites, and $16 for all other cabin types.  

 

Hope this helps!  Happy sailing!  🙂

We just cruised Jan 21-Feb 5. We were told of the increase as of Jan 1 and were told we could pay the lower rate if we paid it before Jan 1. If we waited to pay it off just before the cruise, Jan 1-21, we would have had to pay the higher amount. If that is true, then all "yet to be paid" charges will be at the higher rate.

[ExArkie]

23 hours ago, susique said:

You cannot pay the Daily Service Charge (DSC) with non-refundable OBC.  It can be paid with refundable OBC.  You need to make sure which type of OBC you have.  

Thank you for the clarification, I was not aware of that distinction. In that case, we will not have enough OBC to cover the service charge, since only a portion of it is refundable. 

 

Have to go read up on all those terms and conditions...