Service Charge on Spa Service

[silversneakers]

Recenlty had a spa treatment on Allure and was charged a "service charge" of $31.80 for my treatment. This is an additonal charge above the cost of the treatment and I was told "it is not the gratuity" but a service charge by the Spa vendor.  Can anyone tell me what this means? The treatment was nice, overpriced (but I expected that) but I do hate the "upsell" they are required to do as the person providing the service does get a commission.

[micruiser2002]

21 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

Recenlty had a spa treatment on Allure and was charged a "service charge" of $31.80 for my treatment. This is an additonal charge above the cost of the treatment and I was told "it is not the gratuity" but a service charge by the Spa vendor.  Can anyone tell me what this means? The treatment was nice, overpriced (but I expected that) but I do hate the "upsell" they are required to do as the person providing the service does get a commission.

That is supposed to be the gratuity.

[silversneakers]

9 minutes ago, micruiser2002 said:

That is supposed to be the gratuity.

I specifically asked and was told "no" it is not the gratuity so I had to add another $35 for the gratuity.

[micruiser2002]

12 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

I specifically asked and was told "no" it is not the gratuity so I had to add another $35 for the gratuity.

Are you still on the ship?  I would go talk to the Spa Manager.  That is supposed to be the gratuity.  

[micruiser2002]

14 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

I specifically asked and was told "no" it is not the gratuity so I had to add another $35 for the gratuity.

Or also go to guest services and ask them, I have never heard of a service charge that was not the gratuities.

[not-enough-cruising]

16 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

I specifically asked and was told "no" it is not the gratuity so I had to add another $35 for the gratuity.

You were played

[Sunshine3601]

2 hours ago, silversneakers said:

Recenlty had a spa treatment on Allure and was charged a "service charge" of $31.80 for my treatment. This is an additonal charge above the cost of the treatment and I was told "it is not the gratuity" but a service charge by the Spa vendor.  Can anyone tell me what this means? The treatment was nice, overpriced (but I expected that) but I do hate the "upsell" they are required to do as the person providing the service does get a commission.

 It is tip.   Is it either 18 or 20% of the service you had done?    If yes, then go back to spa mgr or guest services and ask for refund of the additional $35.  Unless you want them to have extra tip

[time4u2go]

Did your treatment happen to cost $159?

[silversneakers]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

 It is tip.   Is it either 18 or 20% of the service you had done?    If yes, then go back to spa mgr or guest services and ask for refund of the additional $35.  Unless you want them to have extra tip

Unfortunately it was a gift of a collagen facial so I'm not sure exactly how much they paid. I did specifically ask what the service charge was for and they did say it was a "vendor charge" and that the gratuity was not included.  I paid the service charge and a $35 tip.

[silversneakers]

3 hours ago, micruiser2002 said:

Are you still on the ship?  I would go talk to the Spa Manager.  That is supposed to be the gratuity.  

Off the ship now so I feel there would be "no chance" of any reimbursement but "a lesson learned"..

[silversneakers]

3 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

You were played

Yup!

[taglovestocruise]

Is the Spa run the same as specialty dining.  Specialty adds 18% to the bill but the server only gets a couple of dollars, the bulk of the 18% goes into the ships tip pool. That is why we always leave a cash tip to specialty servers and my wife always tips extra for spa services.  

[kruzerci]

You got scammed

[ARandomTraveler]

I was told the same thing on Spectrum. All 3 of the different service providers I had let me know they work for a 3rd party company who is not Royal Caribbean, and they don't receive anything from the service charge, and that if I'd like to add a tip that goes directly to them I can do so (or some version of that - one of them said "this is the service charge that goes to royal Caribbean, and if you'd like to add a tip for my service specifically you can add it here"). 
 

I don't know if that was true or not, but I tip anyway so I just gave them another $20 per service. It's already so expensive, what's another $20? It's not worth making a fuss about and if you're unsure and would rather err on the side of making sure the service provider gets something, don't stress about the fact that you added extra. 

[silversneakers]

Finally got a copy of my bill from RCL.  Since both of my spa treatments were gifts, I didn't have a copy of the payment but am working on getting it as it appears I am being overcharged approximately $95.  Since I can no longer see the Spa menu, maybe someone with a current reservation can look at the Spa choices and see if there is an upcharge for specific days and/or times.  I do know another cruise line will advertise a price and then when you select a time that is where you see the upcharge.  Since I did not pay for nor select time, I can't confirm this to be true on RCL.  Does anyone know?

[micruiser2002]

20 minutes ago, silversneakers said:

Finally got a copy of my bill from RCL.  Since both of my spa treatments were gifts, I didn't have a copy of the payment but am working on getting it as it appears I am being overcharged approximately $95.  Since I can no longer see the Spa menu, maybe someone with a current reservation can look at the Spa choices and see if there is an upcharge for specific days and/or times.  I do know another cruise line will advertise a price and then when you select a time that is where you see the upcharge.  Since I did not pay for nor select time, I can't confirm this to be true on RCL.  Does anyone know?

Yes RCL does have specials depending on date and time but they can vary. It also depends on the service.

 

[ticketsunlimited]

Sea days can be more expensive for the same service while in port.  Tip is always included in the price and goes directly to the tech providing the service.  We made that mistake once and have learned from it.  We always give an extra tip personally to our spa tech but not double of the initial percentage.

[silversneakers]

56 minutes ago, ticketsunlimited said:

Sea days can be more expensive for the same service while in port.  Tip is always included in the price and goes directly to the tech providing the service.  We made that mistake once and have learned from it.  We always give an extra tip personally to our spa tech but not double of the initial percentage.

Neither of my treatments were "sea days"....both in port.