Tipping

[BonnieVA]

I've read so many websites that I'm getting confused. On NCL (Majesty) are tips added to your onboard charge card thing? (Can you tell I've never cruised before?!) Or do you tip as you go?

 

I think I read on NCL's site (or somewhere) that tips are actually optional (!!) & that you should tip as you go. Since you have different waiters at meals I can understand why you'd tip at each meal. But that would mean we'd have to carry a bunch of cash for tips. Or would we add tips to our onboard credit thing after each meal?

 

Can someone clear this up for me? Thank you.

[cruise4kicks]

An automatic daily service charge of $10/person/day will be added to your onboard charges. This is to cover all normal service on board -- cabin stewards, waiters/waitresses, etc. (Not included are tips for butlers, concierge, and kid's club. You should tip them separately.) A 15% service charge will also be added onto any drink orders; this covers the bartender & waitress tip. No additional tipping is necessary, but if you find someone delivering exceptional service I'm sure they'd appreciate an extra tip. ;)

[carontori]

I've read so many websites that I'm getting confused. On NCL (Majesty) are tips added to your onboard charge card thing? (Can you tell I've never cruised before?!) Or do you tip as you go?

 

I think I read on NCL's site (or somewhere) that tips are actually optional (!!) & that you should tip as you go. Since you have different waiters at meals I can understand why you'd tip at each meal. But that would mean we'd have to carry a bunch of cash for tips. Or would we add tips to our onboard credit thing after each meal?

 

Can someone clear this up for me? Thank you.

 

A $10.00 service charge per person will be added to your shipboard account each day to be shared amongst the staff. If you wish to tip additional it is up to you, but not necessary. Fill out the Style cards if someone goes above and beyond, this helps the staff to get promotions.

[BriTam]

This is our first trip on NCL. We have cruised on RCCL before and you have the option of whom to tip and how much.

 

I find it counter productive for the onboard staff to produce good service when they already know they will be tipped.

[BonnieVA]

Do I have to tell them ahead to add the tips to my card? Because this is copied from NCL's website...

 

"What about Tipping?

Gratuities

Guests should not feel obliged to offer a gratuity for good service. However, all of our staff are encouraged to go the extra mile, and so they are permitted to accept cash gratuities entirely at the discretion of our guests who wish to acknowledge particular staff members for exceptional or outstanding service. In other words, there is genuinely no need to tip but you should feel free to do so if you have a desire to acknowledge particular individuals.

Also, certain staff positions provide service on an individual basis to only some guests. We encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities. For example, for guests purchasing bar drinks the recommended gratuity is 15 percent. For guests purchasing spa treatments the recommended gratuity is 18 percent. Similarly, for guests using concierge and butler services, we recommend they consider offering a gratuity commensurate with services rendered."

 

I found this at http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPages.html?pageId=FAQ#tipping.

[zqvol]

This is our first trip on NCL. We have cruised on RCCL before and you have the option of whom to tip and how much.

 

I find it counter productive for the onboard staff to produce good service when they already know they will be tipped.

 

Then select a different line to cruise. NCL has eliminated tipping and imposes a service charge that is mandatory and may not be removed. It does have an impact on service. The staff works that much harder and service is superb.

[smeyer418]

Do I have to tell them ahead to add the tips to my card? Because this is copied from NCL's website...

 

"What about Tipping?

Gratuities

Guests should not feel obliged to offer a gratuity for good service. However, all of our staff are encouraged to go the extra mile, and so they are permitted to accept cash gratuities entirely at the discretion of our guests who wish to acknowledge particular staff members for exceptional or outstanding service. In other words, there is genuinely no need to tip but you should feel free to do so if you have a desire to acknowledge particular individuals.

Also, certain staff positions provide service on an individual basis to only some guests. We encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities. For example, for guests purchasing bar drinks the recommended gratuity is 15 percent. For guests purchasing spa treatments the recommended gratuity is 18 percent. Similarly, for guests using concierge and butler services, we recommend they consider offering a gratuity commensurate with services rendered."

 

I found this at http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPages.html?pageId=FAQ#tipping.

 

If you want to add tips above the amount you can but most people use cash. Its pretty simple. To the basic $10.00 per day its added automatically.

 

To BriTam....

Tipping threads are the most contentious there are. While you are certainly entitled to your opinion, very few people for the few years that this has been in effect report that the crew didn't care so I would suggest you wait until you cruise NCL to say its counter productive. Many of the high end cruise lines prohibit tipping so tipping alone is not a way to assure good service the one thing you can do if someone provides poor service is to comment on it on the comment cards. People get FIRED as result of the comments.

 

With mandatory service charges you can adjust it if you have a compliant that hasn't been remedied and since so few people actually do adjust it if you go to the front desk and demand a change they will probably do it.

 

There are of course people who do this who have no real complaint but are just cheap. Most of the complaints are quite petty and are excuses to not tip but of course some are real complaints that do need action but if you go with the attitude that the service will be rotten it probably will be, so don't prejudge and wait until after the trip to let us know how it went.

[smeyer418]

Then select a different line to cruise. NCL has eliminated tipping and imposes a service charge that is mandatory and may not be removed. It does have an impact on service. The staff works that much harder and service is superb.

 

LOL tired of tipping threads? I don't disagree but try to explain it first before you kick him off.....

[rsinj]

If it is a mandatory charge and required of all passengers, then, no different than the fuel surcharge, it should be added to the "Advertised Cruise Fare Price". Then there would be no complaints from those who are cheap and simply looking to remove what is believed to be a gratuity (because that is what it is) - because having it as part of the fare, it would have already been paid and non-disputable/non-refundable.

 

I don't want to hear about how this would make NCL less competitive with other cruiselines, or how it would be commissionable, or any other excuses - they don't hold water. If it is a required fee, make it part of the cruise fare. End of story.

 

Howard

[cruise4kicks]

HWGA... :rolleyes:

[Planer's Edge]

HWGA... :rolleyes:

 

SSDD :D

 

PE

[Thrifty]

It would be a great advance in the usefulness of this thread if zqvol would reveal whether or not he has some kind of insider status. I don't and following these tipping threads leaves me in a state of considerable uncertainty. The contract of carriage certainly seems to make the fixed service charge mandatory. On the other hand, NCL also seems to be sending out brochures saying that it's not as mandatory as the contract says. I've been waiting for reports from 2008 passengers who tried to modify the charge to see whether possibly NCL changed the contract in preparation for enforcing a mandatory service charge at some time in the future, but isn't enforcing it yet. If zqvol works for the cruise line or has some other reliable source of information the rest of us don't have, he could put the matter to rest. (Of course we could still discuss whether it should be mandatory, but at least we could stop discussing whether or not it is.)

[salty dingo]

If it is a required fee, make it part of the cruise fare. End of story.

 

Howard

 

I have to agree with Howard and say that any mandatory charges should be paid for up front.

 

The only caveat may be this: Cruise fare is totally non-refundable up to a point, and if you did not make the cruise at the last minute, as it stands now, you would not pay the auto-tip. If it were included in the up-front fare, you would be liable for that auto-tip even if you did not sail.

 

I don't think it makes sense to debate whether service is better or not because of this. It is what it is, and that's really the end of the story.

[Guest Anorak33]

Although I am fed up to the back teeth with all these tipping threads going round and round I will say that the service I have had on NCL is as good as any line I have been on - so Britam with your 2 posts and no experience of NCL - please don't have a negative attitude.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Don't be cheap.

[BonnieVA]

...to have caused such a stir w/ my question. I just wanted clarity because NCL's website confused me. I did originally think that the tips were auto-charged to your account but then their site made it seem different.

[cruise4kicks]

Not your fault, Bonnie. It's the same old group of people who show up every time a tipping thread comes up, with the same old group of complaints. That's why I said, "HWGA," which means, "Here we go again..." Please don't feel guilty for asking a good question! :)

[insidecabin]

...to have caused such a stir w/ my question. I just wanted clarity because NCL's website confused me. I did originally think that the tips were auto-charged to your account but then their site made it seem different.

 

Don't worry, just budget $10pppd and let it auto charge, go with the flow, allthough ultimately optional it would take consistant appalling service in all areas, that had not been fixed when pointed out, for the need to remove some or all of it.

[Thrifty]

smeyer418: You suggested that, "the one thing you can do if someone provides poor service is to comment on it on the comment cards. People get FIRED as result of the comments." Would you really risk getting even a marginal employee, whose family somewhere desperately needed his remittances, fired because your negative comment card, added to some others, was the one that finally resulted in his dismissal?

[smeyer418]

smeyer418: You suggested that, "the one thing you can do if someone provides poor service is to comment on it on the comment cards. People get FIRED as result of the comments." Would you really risk getting even a marginal employee, whose family somewhere desperately needed his remittances, fired because your negative comment card, added to some others, was the one that finally resulted in his dismissal?

and you want him to continue working doing bad work. They try retraining first but if it continues,....you don't want someone who isn't pulling their own weight continuing sometimes service isn't their calling...

[salty dingo]

Would you really risk getting even a marginal employee, whose family somewhere desperately needed his remittances, fired because your negative comment card, added to some others, was the one that finally resulted in his dismissal?

 

If they were not cut out for the job, they would be getting a favor by being "fired"... actually the most likely scenario is their contract is not renewed.

 

I think it is important to be accurate on the comment cards, both plus and minus. The supervisors know a petty complaint when they see it. But if a pattern shows up over multiple voyages, there's a problem.

[Bigdog49]

smeyer418: You suggested that, "the one thing you can do if someone provides poor service is to comment on it on the comment cards. People get FIRED as result of the comments." Would you really risk getting even a marginal employee, whose family somewhere desperately needed his remittances, fired because your negative comment card, added to some others, was the one that finally resulted in his dismissal?

 

Making room for someone else from another family that desperately needs the income and is able to do a great job for it.

[Thrifty]

I'm aware that it's sometimes the unpleasant but necessary job of the management of the cruise line to weed out an unproductive employee. But it's not the job of the passengers, and neither I nor anyone I would knowingly invite to dine with me would submit a negative comment card unless the offender had gone at least as far as to question the passenger's chastity or that of someone in the passenger's immediate family. To take the risk that someone somewhere in a rice patty might not get the remittance on which they depend because I submitted a negative comment card when I was under no obligation to submit anything, is something I cannot even imagine doing.

[cruise4kicks]

I'm aware that it's sometimes the unpleasant but necessary job of the management of the cruise line to weed out an unproductive employee. But it's not the job of the passengers, and neither I nor anyone I would knowingly invite to dine with me would submit a negative comment card unless the offender had gone at least as far as to question the passenger's chastity or that of someone in the passenger's immediate family. To take the risk that someone somewhere in a rice patty might not get the remittance on which they depend because I submitted a negative comment card when I was under no obligation to submit anything, is something I cannot even imagine doing.

Maybe a rhetorical question, but... don't you think that removing the service charge -- if that is still possible -- has the same effect as submitting a negative comment?

[Thrifty]

BeckThane: I think it's an excellent question.

I shouldn't think it would have the same effect because it doesn't make any charge against the employee; all it says is that the passenger doesn't want to tip him or her. It could be for a reason that doesn't justify any negative inference with respect to the employee (but maybe does with respect to the passenger.) There's nothing for the cruise line to judge and punish except the implication and I would hope that no cruise line would act on just an implication with no substance.

However, if the cruise line required a reason before it would remove the service charge and the passenger criticized the employee the same way as on a comment card, the result might well be the same. If I ever had occasion to ask for a service charge to be removed, and the cruise line wouldn't do it without a specific criticism of a specific employee, the service charge wouldn't be removed. If I were a cruise line, I wouldn't present my passengers with that kind of a dilemma; passengers don't go on cruises to face dilemmas.

[Down-Unders]

I've read so many websites that I'm getting confused. On NCL (Majesty) are tips added to your onboard charge card thing? (Can you tell I've never cruised before?!) Or do you tip as you go?

 

I think I read on NCL's site (or somewhere) that tips are actually optional (!!) & that you should tip as you go. Since you have different waiters at meals I can understand why you'd tip at each meal. But that would mean we'd have to carry a bunch of cash for tips. Or would we add tips to our onboard credit thing after each meal?

 

Can someone clear this up for me? Thank you.

 

 

Pay your 10 dollars per day which is divided up amongst the crew. If you feel like it tip extra in cash especially to the cabin attendants, you will also meet other staff in the dining rooms etc you may wish to tip extra for good service. The front office will guide you on any queries you may have. Happy cruising!