Haven Tipping and the DSC

First time cruiser headed out on the Getaway in the Haven...would it be feasible to request a refund for the DSC and tip directly if our meals are planned in the Haven Restaurant and specialty dining venues only? If I understand correctly, only the room steward would receive anything from the DSC and we have the specialty dining and drinks package which added an 18% gratuity to our cruise fare. Therefore, it seems like it would be better served to tip our room steward, butler, concierge and Haven servers directly...with anything we might give additionally for exceptional service throughout the ship either way we handle it. Again, it's my first cruise so I appreciate your opinions for or against handling tips in this manner. If I were to do this, how would I go about it? I've seen conflicting reports of using guest services during the cruise versus via a phone call post cruise. Thanks for your help!

If I understand correctly, only the room steward would receive anything from the DSC...

That is incorrect. Many other people behind the scenes benefit from the DSC (people who do the laundry, people who pick up trash/empty cups, etc.)

Save yourself the trouble and pay the DSC, tip the butler and concierge, then tip any exceptional staff you come across during your cruise.

Here is another thread about tipping in Haven though it is mostly about the Villa.

(and standby for more comments some informative - some, well... you will see... lol)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2537972

That is incorrect. Many other people behind the scenes benefit from the DSC (people who do the laundry, people who pick up trash/empty cups, etc.)

 

Save yourself the trouble and pay the DSC, tip the butler and concierge, then tip any exceptional staff you come across during your cruise.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the info.

Here is another thread about tipping in Haven though it is mostly about the Villa.

 

(and standby for more comments some informative - some, well... you will see... lol)

 

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2537972

Thanks for the link. I've noticed there are quite a few cynics here and things can get brutal...

Here is another thread about tipping in Haven though it is mostly about the Villa.

 

(and standby for more comments some informative - some, well... you will see... lol)

 

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2537972

:'):'):')

lemme get that popcorn

First time cruiser headed out on the Getaway in the Haven...would it be feasible to request a refund for the DSC and tip directly if our meals are planned in the Haven Restaurant and specialty dining venues only? If I understand correctly, only the room steward would receive anything from the DSC and we have the specialty dining and drinks package which added an 18% gratuity to our cruise fare. Therefore, it seems like it would be better served to tip our room steward, butler, concierge and Haven servers directly...with anything we might give additionally for exceptional service throughout the ship either way we handle it. Again, it's my first cruise so I appreciate your opinions for or against handling tips in this manner. If I were to do this, how would I go about it? I've seen conflicting reports of using guest services during the cruise versus via a phone call post cruise. Thanks for your help!

Absolutely not. Do not remove your DSC. It supports all of the staff that work up front and behind the scenes to make your cruise memorable.

As a Havens guest, you are expected to tip the concierge and butler. Suggestion $10-$15 per person in the cabin per days of cruise. $5-$10 per person in the cabin per day of cruise for the concierge. And an extra $5-$10 per person per day for the room steward for your extra large room.

Absolutely not. Do not remove your DSC. It supports all of the staff that work up front and behind the scenes to make your cruise memorable.

 

As a Havens guest, you are expected to tip the concierge and butler. Suggestion $10-$15 per person in the cabin per days of cruise. $5-$10 per person in the cabin per day of cruise for the concierge. And an extra $5-$10 per person per day for the room steward for your extra large room.

Going from the higher end of your calculations above, we would need to consider an extra $1225 for our upcoming Haven cruise for gratuities above the DSC for our party of 5? (3 adults, 2 children). That seems a bit excessive on top of the DSC (approx an additional 525 or so can't quite recall...)

Absolutely not. Do not remove your DSC. It supports all of the staff that work up front and behind the scenes to make your cruise memorable.

 

 

 

As a Havens guest, you are expected to tip the concierge and butler. Suggestion $10-$15 per person in the cabin per days of cruise. $5-$10 per person in the cabin per day of cruise for the concierge. And an extra $5-$10 per person per day for the room steward for your extra large room.

That’s ridiculous!

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Going from the higher end of your calculations above, we would need to consider an extra $1225 for our upcoming Haven cruise for gratuities above the DSC for our party of 5? (3 adults, 2 children). That seems a bit excessive on top of the DSC (approx an additional 525 or so can't quite recall...)

You're in the Havens

Going from the higher end of your calculations above, we would need to consider an extra $1225 for our upcoming Haven cruise for gratuities above the DSC for our party of 5? (3 adults, 2 children). That seems a bit excessive on top of the DSC (approx an additional 525 or so can't quite recall...)

So, here's what we do: DOS on the Escape with 4 adults we tip $300 to the butler, $100-$150 to the room steward, and $100 to the concierge. We tip the room steward slightly less if we are in a smaller suite. We don't calculate a certain amount of dollars per day per person...blah blah blah. Those numbers seem fair.

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Tips to the butler and concierge should reflect the service requested and received from them. If you make a lot of special requests and have room service on multiple occasions then maybe the suggested $10-$15 per person per day is reasonable. On our last cruise we asked nothing of the butler or concierge outside of what they normally do. We tipped each of them, but not $20-$30 a day for 2 people.

Tips to the butler and concierge should reflect the service requested and received from them.

...and whatever the guest feels is appropriate. There is no "set in stone" amount for tipping the butler and concierge.

First time cruiser headed out on the Getaway in the Haven...would it be feasible to request a refund for the DSC and tip directly if our meals are planned in the Haven Restaurant and specialty dining venues only? If I understand correctly, only the room steward would receive anything from the DSC and we have the specialty dining and drinks package which added an 18% gratuity to our cruise fare. Therefore, it seems like it would be better served to tip our room steward, butler, concierge and Haven servers directly...with anything we might give additionally for exceptional service throughout the ship either way we handle it. Again, it's my first cruise so I appreciate your opinions for or against handling tips in this manner. If I were to do this, how would I go about it? I've seen conflicting reports of using guest services during the cruise versus via a phone call post cruise. Thanks for your help!

I'm sorry but if you can afford the Haven then you can afford the DSC. Your taking food out people's mouth and there families.These folks works 7 days a week and months at at time, they work hard for there money to support their families back home.

First time cruiser headed out on the Getaway in the Haven...would it be feasible to request a refund for the DSC and tip directly if our meals are planned in the Haven Restaurant and specialty dining venues only?

For US passengers you have to pay the DSC. NCL has a policy to refund the service charge after you submit a form you obtain on board.

This FAQ has this paragraph at the bottom, but you might want to read the whole page:

If there is a service issue can the service charges be adjusted on board?

Guest satisfaction is the highest priority at Norwegian Cruise Line. We have structured a guest satisfaction program designed to handle any concerns about service or on-board product quickly and efficiently. However, in the event a service issue should arise during your cruise please let our on-board guest services desk staff know right away, so that we can address these in a timely manner. It is our goal to reach a satisfactory solution to any issue when it happens and make sure our guests can focus on enjoying their cruise. Should your concerns not be met with satisfaction you can adjust the charges.

I guess you have to come up with a service issue. Just remember that if you complain about an employee, and they get other complaints, they can be terminated.

This wording is a bit stronger than I remember the last time I checked, where they called it optional, but the tenor of that FAQ is now that it is simply a service charge that you cannot remove unless you have a service issue that cannot be resolved. I hope that is the case just in the interest of fairness for all.

My personal preference is to not remove the DSC and simply calculate that amount as part of my vacation budget, so I never understood the idea that not tipping really made a dent in a $5,000 or more vacation. But I try to answer the question dispassionately now for people who can't get through the high noise level in here.

We have only been in a suite once, but we do not tip an amount per day per person for the butler or concierge. We gave our butler $150 and our concierge $75 (because we never even saw her).

To be honest, I didn't like having them. On TV, when the doorbell rings the butler answers the door. In a suite, when the doorbell rings you have to get up, go to the door, open it, and tell the butler you don't need anything right now.

I'm sorry but if you can afford the Haven then you can afford the DSC. ...

Maybe. But, if you have paid that much for a cabin, you may no longer have any money left - LOL!

Kind of like the neighbor with a $100,000 car and people say he is loaded. Nope - he was loaded before he bought the car, but now is broke.

Meanwhile, I loved this quote from above: "On TV, when the doorbell rings the butler answers the door. In a suite, when the doorbell rings you have to get up, go to the door, open it, and tell the butler you don't need anything right now."

There are certain arguments in life that will never be settled. This is one of them.

The DSC has NOTHING to do with tipping. ...

Read the NCL FAQ pages and you will see that the DSC and Tipping are separate entities....

As to the DSC, what is the reasoning there is a higher charge in suites?

$16.99 USD per person per day The Haven and Suites; $13.99 USD per person per day for Mini-Suites and below.

If we are in the Haven we pre-pay the DSC and then tip the butler, room steward and concierge separately.

The amounts depend on how long the cruise was, what they did for us, etc. We do not ask anything extra of the butler in fact we ask him not to bring the food in the afternoon. We always tip him $100-$200. The room stewards that I have had always go above and beyond especially when we were on a family cruise and my grandkids needed the fold out couch made up a couple of times. We tip the steward $150-$200. We never use the concierge for anything except I know they drop off information for us and help in the priority disembarkation. I give them $50-$100. Some people may disagree with this but I feel it was fair.

we find the concierge to be completely useless. other than the priority disembark service in ports (which half the time, it has been a butler walking us out, not a member of the concierge staff) i cant figure out what they do. that said, we are folks who book all of our shows and restaurants ahead of time.

You're in the Havens

I have to ask because this is driving me nuts:

What's correct: Havens or Haven?

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What's correct: Havens or Haven?

Haven

Haven

Thanks. Have seen it both ways on this board and it was driving me batty. :)

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Thanks. Have seen it both ways on this board and it was driving me batty. :)

 

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Maybe some folks refer it to like this. "My friend is up in the suites" - similar to "my friend will only sail in the Havens". Referring to the group of rooms vs the actual area. Little bit of slang, but maybe?

For US passengers you have to pay the DSC. NCL has a policy to refund the service charge after you submit a form you obtain on board.

 

This FAQ has this paragraph at the bottom, but you might want to read the whole page:

 

 

 

 

I guess you have to come up with a service issue. Just remember that if you complain about an employee, and they get other complaints, they can be terminated.

 

This wording is a bit stronger than I remember the last time I checked, where they called it optional, but the tenor of that FAQ is now that it is simply a service charge that you cannot remove unless you have a service issue that cannot be resolved. I hope that is the case just in the interest of fairness for all.

 

My personal preference is to not remove the DSC and simply calculate that amount as part of my vacation budget, so I never understood the idea that not tipping really made a dent in a $5,000 or more vacation. But I try to answer the question dispassionately now for people who can't get through the high noise level in here.

 

We have only been in a suite once, but we do not tip an amount per day per person for the butler or concierge. We gave our butler $150 and our concierge $75 (because we never even saw her).

 

To be honest, I didn't like having them. On TV, when the doorbell rings the butler answers the door. In a suite, when the doorbell rings you have to get up, go to the door, open it, and tell the butler you don't need anything right now.

Here is the excerp from the contract, not the marketing materials. You do not need a reason to remove the service charges. Maybe the cruise line should pony up for the fleet-wide welfare program instead of guilting the passengers into paying extra for it. The same goes for the behind the scenes crew. We remove the service charge and tip as we go.

We did not use the butler or concierge. The only thing the butler did was grab a plate of afternoon snacks from a rolling cart and put them in our room so we tipped her accordingly.

c) Service Charges: Certain members of Carrier’s crew are compensated by a combination of salaryand incentive programs that are funded in part by the service charge paid by each Guest. The charge ,which is automatically added to your onboard account and subject to adjustment at your discretion, isintended to reward service provided in all departments and job categories and is distributed to employeesaccording to Carrier's evaluation of job performance. A portion of the service charge collected by Carrieris also used for fleet-wide crew welfare programs.