Is a 15% gratuity added to drinks on U.K. Sailings?

[Eglesbrech]

I have only ever sailed with MSC with a drinks package so I haven’t seen any costs for drinks. A friend is thinking on sailing on MSC and asked about the extract below from the MSC FAQs (as she knew I had cruised with them) but I can’t answer her.

 

Anyone know if the 15% is added to drinks prices on ex U.K. cruises or is this already included in the list price for drinks?

 

And for my idle curiosity does anyone know if it is added to drinks if for example you selected a top shelf whisky above the price included in packages? Do you pay the difference and 15%?

 

“Onboard bar purchases will incur gratuities, automatically added to all purchases: 15% gratuities on European, Emirates, South Caribbean, Red Sea, South America (Brazil and Argentine) and Far East itineraries, and 18% gratuity on North America itineraries.“

[Stokie33]

I’m not sure but due to sail in 3 days with no drinks package for the first time so will let you know what happens 

[Eglesbrech]

2 hours ago, Stokie33 said:

I’m not sure but due to sail in 3 days with no drinks package for the first time so will let you know what happens 

That would be much appreciated.

 

Have a lovely cruise.

[perakcruiser]

4 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Anyone know if the 15% is added to drinks prices on ex U.K. cruises or is this already included in the list price for drinks?

The 15% are added on all cruises, no matter where the cruise starts. Technically it is illegal when the ships are in ports or sailing in some "European" territorial waters (12 sea miles zone), but so far nobody has sued the cruise lines for this 😄 

[Stokie33]

I’m looking forward to finding out the answer, went to Hola on Virtuosa in Sept and no service charge, went to Hola on Euribia in December it wasn’t called a service charge when I questioned them at customer services on the first and 2nd occasion but they slipped up on the 3rd occasion and said it was but they couldn’t differentiate Passengers that boarded in the UK.

We have the £80 obc so decided for 2 nights our bar bill shouldn’t be too bad lol,

Will confirm as soon as I can 🤣🤣

[CruisingFox27]

Every sailing I've been on has had the 15% gratuity added to individually purchased drinks, Europe, USA, Asia and Middle East. The only location I've not sailed from is the UK but I don't see why it would be any different, if you don't have a package. 

[Mark_T]

15 minutes ago, CruisingFox27 said:

The only location I've not sailed from is the UK but I don't see why it would be any different, if you don't have a package.

... because for cruises that have the UK as their home port it is not legal to add a mandatory gratuity to the bar prices, so most lines use different prices for those cruises which already include the 15% and adjust package inclusions accordingly.

 

With MSC and their cruises which run in loops around Europe with passengers boarding an leaving at each port it isn't so simple to manage, and the actual home port is often not the UK even if they are selling cruises that begin and end there.

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

... because for cruises that have the UK as their home port it is not legal to add a mandatory gratuity to the bar prices, so most lines use different prices for those cruises which already include the 15% and adjust package inclusions accordingly.

It is also not legal in many other European countries. But it is legal outside territorial waters. 

[Stokie33]

On 5/6/2024 at 3:50 PM, Eglesbrech said:

That would be much appreciated.

 

Have a lovely cruise.

Hi, I can confirm we’ve just got home and a pint of Heineken was £7 no gratuities on top and a can of coke was £3.50 no gratuities added, so take it everything else should be the price stated

 

hope this helps xx

[Eglesbrech]

24 minutes ago, Stokie33 said:

Hi, I can confirm we’ve just got home and a pint of Heineken was £7 no gratuities on top and a can of coke was £3.50 no gratuities added, so take it everything else should be the price stated

 

hope this helps xx

Brilliant, thank you so much for coming back with that information.

[Stokie33]

I’ve remembered that on Euribia in December people were moaning about the gratuities being added to drinks, it had slipped my mind as we had the drinks package.

 

if we go on MSC again will make sure we have some sort of drinks package as the only hot coffees we had was the ones made in our cabin 🤣🤣

[cublet]

On 5/7/2024 at 8:43 AM, Mark_T said:

... because for cruises that have the UK as their home port it is not legal to add a mandatory gratuity to the bar prices, so most lines use different prices for those cruises which already include the 15% and adjust package inclusions accordingly.<snip>

 

</snip>

Hello,

 

I've been trying to convince RCI of this for months but the pond life that, post covid, have replaced those that knew/understood (and been let go), will not have it. 😢

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[Mark_T]

3 hours ago, cublet said:

I've been trying to convince RCI of this for months but the pond life that, post covid, have replaced those that knew/understood (and been let go), will not have it. 😢

 

Probably not worth the effort as all that will happen if they do accept the point is that the prices will go up by the same amount as the current gratuity, so you'll be no better off.