Compulsory Tipping on Nieuw Amsterdam

[linet]

Is a daily tipping cost automatically put onto your shipboard account ?

Friends who recently cruised on another Holland America ship told us that at the end of their cruise ,they were given a form on which they could nominate the amount that they were prepared to pay.Does this happen on the Nieuw Amsterdam ? Thanks for your help.

[edmusic]

It is automatically added. No fuss, no muss. You can give extra if you so desire.

[gerryl12]

The gratuities are automatically added to your room charges each day. You can request a printout of your account anytime to check that any charges are right. Depending on the length of the cruise I always get a copy every four or five days while the expenses are fresher in my head.

[serendipity1499]

Is a daily tipping cost automatically put onto your shipboard account ?

Friends who recently cruised on another Holland America ship told us that at the end of their cruise ,they were given a form on which they could nominate the amount that they were prepared to pay.Does this happen on the Nieuw Amsterdam ? Thanks for your help.

 

We just got off the NA..It is neither called a gratuity or a tip..HAL's final bill stated it is a "Hotel Service charge" of $11.50 per person per day..

The Cruise Director explained that the Dining room & Cabin Stewards get 70% of the Hotel Service Charge & the rest of the crew, such as those who do the laundry,cleaning of the ship, etc. get the 30%..Bar Stewards get 15% of your bar bill.. IMO 70% ($8.00 per day. divided 4 ways) is very little for the wonderful service HAL Stewards give to their Psgrs.. These guys & gals work very hard to keep us happy!

If you wish, you can also give your Personal Stewards cash at the end of your cruise, which they can keep, provided you've left the complete Hotel Service charge on your account..However, this is not mandatory, & is a lagniappe & an expression of your appreciation for a job well done..

 

Of our 16 HAL cruises, we've never received a a form to reduce the Hotel Service Charge..

All of our all inclusive resorts here in Fla., charge a Hotel/Resort Service charge per day, per adult, which cannot be reduced..And In many cases such as South Seas Plantation you purchase your own food..South Seas terms & conditions pg. states:

Occupancy and State Tax: 11% South Seas Island Resort will add a Resort Fee of $15.00 ($16.85 including tax) per day, per adult (17 years and older)

 

IMO, cruising is still a bargain!

Cheers....:):)Betty

[Wakepatrol]

Is a daily tipping cost automatically put onto your shipboard account ?

Friends who recently cruised on another Holland America ship told us that at the end of their cruise ,they were given a form on which they could nominate the amount that they were prepared to pay.Does this happen on the Nieuw Amsterdam ? Thanks for your help.

 

Your friends are cheap. Don't follow in their footsteps.

[Randyk47]

Your friends are cheap. Don't follow in their footsteps.

 

All the OP said was that their friends were given a form, not that they deleted or changed the hotel service charge. Could be they even asked to increase it. :)

[George C]

We had the hotel service charge removed on last cruise, some of the service was pretty bad on last cruise, but our room stewards and waiter were very good, so we just took the money we got and gave it to the romm stewards and our waiters. I always perfered tipping this way ( the way it was for many years ), RCCL and other lines do not try to automate this charge unless you have anytime dinning.

[sapper1]

When you remove autotips and tip privately, the employee is required to turn what they receive into the pool so they, in fact, receive less this way. Your name goes on a list so the employee will know who removed autotips.

 

 

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[boards]

Sorry George, not too smart, they now have to turn the tip in and now will probably end up getting less. Thank you very much.

[brfan]

We had the hotel service charge removed on last cruise, some of the service was pretty bad on last cruise, but our room stewards and waiter were very good, so we just took the money we got and gave it to the romm stewards and our waiters. I always perfered tipping this way ( the way it was for many years ), RCCL and other lines do not try to automate this charge unless you have anytime dinning.

 

I guess I don't understand why you removed the HSC if the room steward and waitstaff were good. Who or where did you receive poor service? I think it would be a shame if the poor service was provided by someone not in the HSC pool, which then meant you stiffed the behind the scenes people and forced the people you did tip to give back what you gave them and possibly need to justify that they were providing good service to their supervisors, who assume you removed the HSC because you were unhappy with their service.

 

Also did you speak to a supervisor or guest services when you received this poor service to try to fix the problem?

[catl331]

We have been lucky, I guess, that we never had poor service on HAL ships. We always leave a little more for the room stewards and waiters if they are exemplary. I guess we feel that sometimes the staff may be a little tired or recovering from Noro etc. and they are not up to par but I feel if anyone helps us out, how little, they deserve a tip. Just to get away from cooking, cleaning, laundry and even pouring a cocktail is a bonus to me. I am going on vacation and they are trying to provide for their families in poor nations.:):)

[George C]

Had issues with wine steward manager and front desk ( this was on Zuiderdam) there was some large threads on this about 6 weeks ago. Again front desk was useless , sent complaint to Hal and they resolved problem with a nice gift and a aplogy ( been on 54 cruises , might have compalined one other time). Also since tip is cash , i quess they can report it if they want, but would do same thing if it happened again. ( never adjusted or removed tip in past, normally just add a cash tip for good service) but I perfer the old way of giving the envelope at the end of the cruise.

[maxout]

Had issues with wine steward manager and front desk ( this was on Zuiderdam) there was some large threads on this about 6 weeks ago. Again front desk was useless , sent complaint to Hal and they resolved problem with a nice gift and a aplogy ( been on 54 cruises , might have compalined one other time). Also since tip is cash , i quess they can report it if they want, but would do same thing if it happened again. ( never adjusted or removed tip in past, normally just add a cash tip for good service) but I perfer the old way of giving the envelope at the end of the cruise.

 

Double shame is that neither of the areas you had issues with receive any of your Hotel Service Charge, so your "message" only ended up hurting those who did provide you with good service. No, they can't "report cash tips if they want" they are required to do so by contract and could lose their position if they don't comply.

[sail7seas]

Had issues with wine steward manager and front desk ( this was on Zuiderdam) there was some large threads on this about 6 weeks ago. Again front desk was useless , sent complaint to Hal and they resolved problem with a nice gift and a aplogy ( been on 54 cruises , might have compalined one other time). Also since tip is cash , i quess they can report it if they want, but would do same thing if it happened again. ( never adjusted or removed tip in past, normally just add a cash tip for good service) but I perfer the old way of giving the envelope at the end of the cruise.

 

 

There is no reason for you to not provide envelopes with thank you at the end of your cruise same as we 'did in the past', as you reference. We always have an envelope for our cabin and dining stewards as well as any bar staff or whoever we think has provided us with wonderful service. We leave our Hotel Service Charge in place and have pleasure saying an additional thank you with a bit extra.

 

I agree with you it is more personal and you get to tell the steward you appreciated his/her hard work on your behalf.

 

[serendipity1499]

We had the hotel service charge removed on last cruise, some of the service was pretty bad on last cruise, but our room stewards and waiter were very good, so we just took the money we got and gave it to the romm stewards and our waiters. I always perfered tipping this way ( the way it was for many years ), RCCL and other lines do not try to automate this charge unless you have anytime dinning.

 

As others have said, you actually gave your Wait Staff & Room Steward a problem..They have to justify why you removed your Hotel Service charge..They do not get to keep any of the cash tip, which you gave them..They also have to justify why you refuse to tip the back room staff who work hard every day to make your cruise enjoyable..

brfan asked, if you spoke to a Supvr about the so called poor service? You say RCCL & other lines do not charge a Hotel Service charge.. Are you willing to tell us which other lines they are..Since 1973 I've been on 21 cruises on several different lines...We used to have to take extra cash for tips, until approx 2002 when I believe it was NCL which started the auto Hotel Service charge...

We have over 200 days on HAL & have always received excellent service even though we only book outside cabins..Some cruise lines charge suite Psgrs more for the Hotel Service Charge..

 

Don't know when you last cruised on RCCL but they do have tipping guidelines on their WEB site ...

Check out post No. 4 in this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1548065&highlight=tipping+guidelines

As you can see on RCCL the expected tip for two suite Psgrs, is $194.60 for 7 days...Non-Suite Psgrs are expected to tip $163.10 for 7 days...Do the Math, this works out to be $27.65 for two in a suite & $23.50 for two non-suite or $11.65 per day per person..

You might want to read other threads about tipping on the RCCL board..Some Psgrs auto pay them prior to sailing while others put them on their final Bill..

Think about it, if many Psgrs did not pay the suggested guidelines RCCL would not have a crew for very long..Their crew would go to other lines where they know the Passengers are generous..

Cheers...Betty

[serendipity1499]

Had issues with wine steward manager and front desk ( this was on Zuiderdam) there was some large threads on this about 6 weeks ago. Again front desk was useless , sent complaint to Hal and they resolved problem with a nice gift and a aplogy ( been on 54 cruises , might have compalined one other time). Also since tip is cash , i quess they can report it if they want, but would do same thing if it happened again. ( never adjusted or removed tip in past, normally just add a cash tip for good service) but I perfer the old way of giving the envelope at the end of the cruise.

 

Oh my..Just read this post about the wine Steward Mgr. & Front desk...If you had checked your receipts, you would have noted that 15% was added each time you ordered wine or a drink & you actually paid it..

As Maxout & Sail 7 Seas, mentioned neither the bar staff or the front desk gets any part of your tip..But now the laundry room workers, cooks, pastry workers, etc. do share in that tip & you shafted them..

What a shame!:(:(Betty

[serendipity1499]

Double shame is that neither of the areas you had issues with receive any of your Hotel Service Charge, so your "message" only ended up hurting those who did provide you with good service. No, they can't "report cash tips if they want" they are required to do so by contract and could lose their position if they don't comply.

 

In addition if they fail to report the cash tip other members of the crew will know & come down hard on them & they will be ostracized..:(:(

All of the crew live & work very closely together & everyone knows everything there is to know about each other..

Betty

[George C]

What I choose to do I will do, but if the other comments on this topic are correct and the money I gave in person will be returned to the "pool" then what I did should have no effect either postive or negative. ( last rccl was just a couple of years ago), does anyone know how this pool is broken down???

[misscolina]

We have just got back from the NA, it is a good job that the Hotel service can be adjusted because the service is terrible, both in the MDR and the Lido. If you are on anytime dining then you are put on level 2 where the service is extremely slow, they seem to be using this dining level as training, when I complained to the Maitre D, he said " Madam if you come tomorrow I will give you a table with good service", we also have an apology from Stan Kuppens Hotel Manager. Eventually we were sat in level 3, Ryan another Hotel Manager came over and asked us about the problems we were experiencing, he said he would arrange a table for us for the rest of our 2 week cruise, this was better but it took days of complaining to get what we expected from the start. Lines in the Lido are long and slow even for a cup of tea. RCCL have far superior staff and are alot more friendly, on HAL they are morose and have to be told to clear tables and they do not wait on you for tea and coffee either, the staff stand about talking and laughing, (in their own language) not what we expected from HAL. The staff in the Canaletto and Tamarind have it right but not in the other restaurants. Even JC the CD had to announce that "for a better dining experience, choose to dine before 6pm and after 8pm. HAL never again, the service is on par with Costa and RCCL have left them way behind.

[catl331]

we have been doing open dining for awhile now and don't miss sitting upstairs-3. Never had a slow waiter and actually get the same table each night by reserving it daily. I am thinking we do okay with service as we eat breakfast early (no lines in Lido) and also dine early for dinner. We really like our Indonesian and Filipino staff. We love the way they take care of elderly senior citizens and children.

[josie724]

We have just got back from the NA, it is a good job that the Hotel service can be adjusted because the service is terrible, both in the MDR and the Lido. If you are on anytime dining then you are put on level 2 where the service is extremely slow, they seem to be using this dining level as training, when I complained to the Maitre D, he said " Madam if you come tomorrow I will give you a table with good service", we also have an apology from Stan Kuppens Hotel Manager. Eventually we were sat in level 3, Ryan another Hotel Manager came over and asked us about the problems we were experiencing, he said he would arrange a table for us for the rest of our 2 week cruise, this was better but it took days of complaining to get what we expected from the start. Lines in the Lido are long and slow even for a cup of tea. RCCL have far superior staff and are alot more friendly, on HAL they are morose and have to be told to clear tables and they do not wait on you for tea and coffee either, the staff stand about talking and laughing, (in their own language) not what we expected from HAL. The staff in the Canaletto and Tamarind have it right but not in the other restaurants. Even JC the CD had to announce that "for a better dining experience, choose to dine before 6pm and after 8pm. HAL never again, the service is on par with Costa and RCCL have left them way behind.

 

Amazing how someone's experience can be so different. We were on the NA in January, and we had Open Dining and were seating on level 1 one evening and on level 2 on another, btw, there isn't a level 3. I'm not sure what you are referring to.

 

We never had poor service, as a matter of fact one evening we had to wait about 10-15 minutes for a table, which wasn't a problem for us. The manager came over to our table apologized for the wait and gave us a glass of wine on the house.

 

When dining in the Lido we actually got up from our table to get something and they practically cleared it off before we returned. Yes the lines are long at certain times, but I haven't seen a buffet yet, that didn't have long lines especially when there is a popular item at that station.

 

I'm not dismissing any of your experiences I just sharing mine.

[Sea42]

Amazing how someone's experience can be so different. We were on the NA in January, and we had Open Dining and were seating on level 1 one evening and on level 2 on another, btw, there isn't a level 3. I'm not sure what you are referring to.

 

I think the confusion comes in because Level 1 of the MDR is on Deck 2 and the second level of dining is on Deck 3.

[josie724]

I think the confusion comes in because Level 1 of the MDR is on Deck 2 and the second level of dining is on Deck 3.

 

 

Gotcha, I didn't read it that way, but yes you are right, level 1 of the MDR is on Level 2 of the ship. I read it as the restaurant having 3 levels. Thanks for the clarification.

[TheEmerson]

If you wish, you can also give your Personal Stewards cash at the end of your cruise, which they can keep, provided you've left the complete Hotel Service charge on your account..However, this is not mandatory, & is a lagniappe & an expression of your appreciation for a job well done..

 

 

Lagniappe, such a great word that is rarely used.

[hensghan]

I'm confused. George C's personal profile says he was born in 1989 yet he claims to have been on some 54 cruises. The numbers just don't seem to jibe.