We prepaid our service charges and it feels good...but?

[garycarla]

I guess I understand why some people want to prepay in advance, meaning one less thing to worry about. I don't see this as a worry as it gets charged and I pay by credit card. Same as now vs later.

 

I just do not like giving ANYONE my money and sooner than I have to. You never know when you are going to get it back.

 

By the way, I think paying in advance adds a hassle. First, you have to actually do it. Then you have to worry if it was posted to your account correctly, and then worry if they get it right once you board. Generally, I would imagine it all goes fine, but so does the old way.

[Mooder]

Hmmm. So if I actually tip over and beyond is there a list that tells everyone that I'm a good person?:rolleyes:

 

:) The purpose of the list is not to identify "bad people" - it is generated because crew who receive cash tips from those who have not contributed to the pool, must turn those tips into the pool. But if you leave yoru DSC as is, they can keep those extra tips.

[jocap]

We've done this twice with NCL UK and had absolutely no problems. As Disneyfans say, it's just added-then you can forget about it. We always take our documents with us, but have never had to show them.-jocap.

[hkto]

We decided to take advantage of the new prepay option for the service charges. We always look at our final charges and it adds to the depression of leaving the ship. Now when we cruise this October' date=' we won't have to think about it. My one concern is will they know that we did prepay them or will it be added to the onboard account automatically and we will have to go try to tell them that we paid it already?[/quote']

 

It may sound silly but did you get a receipt? I prepaid a minor item & got receipt emailed to me in 2 min.

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

It may sound silly but did you get a receipt? I prepaid a minor item & got receipt emailed to me in 2 min.

 

Yes, they emailed a receipt. I will take it with us.

[AlbertaCruisers]

It may sound silly but did you get a receipt? I prepaid a minor item & got receipt emailed to me in 2 min.

 

I prepaid our service charges, we like to just have that dealt with. I have a receipt from the travel company but nothing that shows that NCL got the money. I don't want to get on the ship and find out the travel company never paid NCL (that seems like a problem you would have to resolve with the travel company when you got back). Should the prepaid service charge show up on any of your NCL documents?

 

Thanks for any help.

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

I prepaid our service charges, we like to just have that dealt with. I have a receipt from the travel company but nothing that shows that NCL got the money. I don't want to get on the ship and find out the travel company never paid NCL (that seems like a problem you would have to resolve with the travel company when you got back). Should the prepaid service charge show up on any of your NCL documents?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

We booked directly with NCL and it is on our final invoice from them. I wouldn't know what a travel company would do.

[uppitycats]

I"m glad NCL has added this option for North American cruisers! It helps tremendously with my budgeting. I was quite OK with it added on..but this is even easier.

[ruffs]

Hmmm. So if I actually tip over and beyond is there a list that tells everyone that I'm a good person?:rolleyes:

 

I wonder if they would consider different tipping levels, something like:

 

1. just bring me towels and I'll eat mostly at the buffet $6/ day

2. normal service $12/ day

3. special service (VIP/Suite/Just want to feel special) $22/ day

 

Just making up numbers but you get the idea. I would probably want the third choice, depending on what I was after for that vacation.

[uppitycats]

I wonder if they would consider different tipping levels, something like:

 

1. just bring me towels and I'll eat mostly at the buffet $6/ day

 

The problem with this option is that while the tip for stewards might be satisfactory, the folks that serve in the main dining room (which you're trying to avoid tipping) ALSO are the ones that work in the buffets and the specialty restaurants, rotating through all of them, and work to clean up before and after you (regardless of where you eat)

2. normal service $12/ day

3. special service (VIP/Suite/Just want to feel special) $22/ day

 

Just making up numbers but you get the idea. I would probably want the third choice, depending on what I was after for that vacation.

 

I think if you work out the tipping thing on land -- if you were to eat out 3 meals a day (and have access to food 24/7), have a room cleaned not just once a day but nearly every time you leave, including a turn-down at night, have all the other services provided that you may not actually see but which make your cruise more enjoyable...$12 per person per day really isn't all that much.

[hannibal54]

I was on the Sky a couple of weeks ago and I prepaid the tips. Looking at my final bill, there was nothing on it for tips. It works, I had paid off the credit card for the tips before I left, now I don't have to worry about it. The service was good where ever we went. The $12.00 per person per day is cheap.

[chloemonkey]

You won't be added to the no pay list. One thing to keep in mind is even though this is a new feature for North American passengers, this is nothing new to NCL. They have offered this to overseas passengers for a long time.

 

OK - so just to make sure that I have this correct....If I choose to pre-pay for the Service Charges and then give additional tips in cash at the end of our cruise, the ship's personnel will KNOW that we have already paid the required $12/person/day and that the cash is in addition to this?

 

This is how we have handled it in the past on other cruise lines but again, that was when it was done on our onboard account. I am particularly interested in doing ahead of time this trip as I want to also pay for my parent's Service Fees in advance as our "treat"!

[ugen512]

When I sailed on RCL 3 years ago, I PP the grats and they were still on my ship account but they had offset them with the prepay, I guess for accounting purposes. But since NCL just started it they may do it differently.

[FanofFlorida]

...but know better than to start ANOTHER thread... I have tried asking this in the middle of another thread and I am hoping for some explanation.

RCCL suggested an amount of gratuity per person, per day- that I understood. There was an option to prepay the suggested amount. (Sorry to use this as an example, but its my only cruising experience)

 

NCL is asking me to pay for a "service fee"

-IS this required? or IS this a gratuity? or both?

- IF it's required, why do they charge me separately? Why dont they just add it to the price of the cruise? Did the cost of the stateroom not cover the services provided?

- IF it's NOT required, then what the heck is the "list" for? What are they going to do if you dont pay? Lose your luggage when you disembark?

 

(Dont take my questions wrong, because I LOVE to tip! I just HATE that they have to be so direct?)

[Breezy23_ca]

We also pre-paid.. its our first cruise and this option just makes it all easier for us. We used a travel agent and have made our final payment. I did email our agent, but shes not very good at getting back to me

 

On the edocs it says this - yet doesnt show that we did in fact prepay?

Should it show?

"NCL now offers you the ability to pre-pay your Onboard Service Charges of $12 per person per day for guests 3 years and older. Please contact your travel professional to add to your reservation. See our brochure or http://www.ncl.com for details. "

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

...but know better than to start ANOTHER thread... I have tried asking this in the middle of another thread and I am hoping for some explanation.

RCCL suggested an amount of gratuity per person, per day- that I understood. There was an option to prepay the suggested amount. (Sorry to use this as an example, but its my only cruising experience)

 

NCL is asking me to pay for a "service fee"

-IS this required? or IS this a gratuity? or both?

- IF it's required, why do they charge me separately? Why dont they just add it to the price of the cruise? Did the cost of the stateroom not cover the services provided?

- IF it's NOT required, then what the heck is the "list" for? What are they going to do if you dont pay? Lose your luggage when you disembark?

 

(Dont take my questions wrong, because I LOVE to tip! I just HATE that they have to be so direct?)

 

I think you can adjust it with a good reason, although I don't know what that would be. It's a service fee that is the gratuity. Who knows what the "list" is for??? I too wish they could just tack it on to the price. It's not that much more, and worth it.

 

We also pre-paid.. its our first cruise and this option just makes it all easier for us. We used a travel agent and have made our final payment. I did email our agent, but shes not very good at getting back to me

 

On the edocs it says this - yet doesnt show that we did in fact prepay?

Should it show?

"NCL now offers you the ability to pre-pay your Onboard Service Charges of $12 per person per day for guests 3 years and older. Please contact your travel professional to add to your reservation. See our brochure or www.ncl.com for details. "

 

Our eddocs say that too even though we booked and pre-paid directly through NCL. I will just take out final invoice which has paid on it.

[AlbertaCruisers]

On the edocs it says this - yet doesnt show that we did in fact prepay?

Should it show?

"NCL now offers you the ability to pre-pay your Onboard Service Charges of $12 per person per day for guests 3 years and older. Please contact your travel professional to add to your reservation. See our brochure or http://www.ncl.com for details. "

 

We prepaid as well, and our e-docs still have that statement and nothing in the e-docs shows it was prepaid. So, I plan on taking my confirmation of payment, which is from a travel agency, so if there is a problem, I don't know what NCL will do.

[Don Haynes]

A restaurant doesn't charge the tip up front either. If they charged the tip as part of the price, they would have to add sales tax on top of the tip as well.. If they add the tip to the price of your cruise up front, they would also have to add sales tax to it as well. As it is they are doing you a favor, keeping your sales taxes down a bit....

[chloemonkey]

I may be slow...but I am still worried that if we do prepay the Service Charge/gratuity or whatever it is called, will the people taking care of us on the ship (cabin steward, waiters, etc.) know that we DID indeed prepay?

 

My concern is that we always give additional money to each of the people who have taken care of us at the end of each cruise and do not want them to think that this is the only amount that we are giving to them when in fact it is in addition to the prepaid amounts...

 

Does anyone know what I mean? I would love to prepay the required amounts and also intend to give additional - but want the personnel to know that we are doing "both".....

[njhorseman]

I may be slow...but I am still worried that if we do prepay the Service Charge/gratuity or whatever it is called, will the people taking care of us on the ship (cabin steward, waiters, etc.) know that we DID indeed prepay?

 

My concern is that we always give additional money to each of the people who have taken care of us at the end of each cruise and do not want them to think that this is the only amount that we are giving to them when in fact it is in addition to the prepaid amounts...

 

Does anyone know what I mean? I would love to prepay the required amounts and also intend to give additional - but want the personnel to know that we are doing "both".....

 

 

I can't understand what you're worrying about. There's no difference between prepaying and having it charged to your on board account other than when you pay for it.

[chloemonkey]

I can't understand what you're worrying about. There's no difference between prepaying and having it charged to your on board account other than when you pay for it.

 

My question is if we pay the Service Charge (either ahead of time or onboard) do the service personnel KNOW that we have paid that amount in ADDITION to the amount that we give them in cash at the end of the cruise? As I wouldn't want them to think that the cash that we hand them at the end is ALL that we are giving them.

 

I guess I didn't phrase it correctly....but to answer your post - I am not "AFRAID" just want to make sure that if we pay both the required service charge in addition to an extra amount at the end of the trip, that the ship personnel know that we have done both.

 

If I am still not making myself clear, please let me know...

[njhorseman]

My question is if we pay the Service Charge (either ahead of time or onboard) do the service personnel KNOW that we have paid that amount in ADDITION to the amount that we give them in cash at the end of the cruise? As I wouldn't want them to think that the cash that we hand them at the end is ALL that we are giving them.

 

I guess I didn't phrase it correctly....but to answer your post - I am not "AFRAID" just want to make sure that if we pay both the required service charge in addition to an extra amount at the end of the trip, that the ship personnel know that we have done both.

 

If I am still not making myself clear, please let me know...

 

Again...the only difference is when you paid the charge. The service staff knows nothing more or less about whether you paid it.

 

By the way, where did I use the word "afraid" ? You said you were "worried" and I answered "I can't understand what you're worrying about".

[IWORK2CRUISE]

In one sense, when we sail on NCL we are already agreeing to prepay as we know that the 12.00 DSC will be applied. We know that the amount will be charged and tip additional amounts to those who provide additional or special service.

 

I wouldn't mind paying in advance if it would do away with the daily charge of 12.00 appearing on your statement each day for each passenger. We have enough other charges to wade through.

[njhorseman]

In one sense, when we sail on NCL we are already agreeing to prepay as we know that the 12.00 DSC will be applied. We know that the amount will be charged and tip additional amounts to those who provide additional or special service.

 

I wouldn't mind paying in advance if it would do away with the daily charge of 12.00 appearing on your statement each day for each passenger. We have enough other charges to wade through.

 

 

According to post #2 on this thread, if you prepay the daily charges will not appear on your statement.

[chloemonkey]

Again...the only difference is when you paid the charge. The service staff knows nothing more or less about whether you paid it.

 

By the way, where did I use the word "afraid" ? You said you were "worried" and I answered "I can't understand what you're worrying about".

My error - sorry. You did use the work "worried" and not "afraid." You also said "the service staff knows nothing more or less about whether you paid it." So are you saying that they don't know if I have paid the requested amounts? Whether before the cruise or on the onboard account? Or did you mean to say the service staff knows nothing more or less about "when" you paid it?

 

Again.....my ONLY question is will the serive staff know that we have paid the required service charges in addition to the cash that we hand them at the end of the cruise? Surely someone understands my question?