Bye ncl

[lovetocruise75]

Want good bar service? Play the game.

1st day..slip a pool server and bartender a $20.

You will NEVER wait throughout the cruise. Period. Works like a charm. :)

[SwissLe]

Want good bar service? Play the game.

1st day..slip a pool server and bartender a $20.

You will NEVER wait throughout the cruise. Period. Works like a charm. :)

 

Oh gosh! Don't open that can of worms!

 

I've very rarely had bad service on a ship. If I get the odd server who is disinterested I chalk it up to one bad day in a 9month service.

 

As for changing line, why not? I think variety is the spice of life. There is no loyalty programme that rewards enough that I'd justify soley cruising with one line.

[opshannon]

I was trying to respond to a snarky post here, but it seems that I cannot quote it. In fact it seems to have been rightly deleted. I am sorry you had a bad experience, OP.

Edited July 15, 2015 by opshannon

[Diver2014]

Sad to say after sailing over 15yrs with NCl I am done. Sailed on the Dawn out of Boston last month. The service fees had gone up almost $3.00 since my last cruise 3yrs prior. The service fee on the drinks also increased to 18 percent when it use to be 15 percent. Would not mind it but service has dropped and is horrible. No bar service around the pool. Twenty minutes to get a drink at the pool bars. Only good bar service we had all week was at the Gabsy bar. If you did get service was at least half hour for your drink.

When I got home I wish I had taken part of the tips off and gave my room steward the money in cash himself. He was great best one I had in years.

 

So what cruise line will you try next? Report back and tell us the difference please.

[luddite]

Life is full of decisions.

[Guest phd1003]

This is something I can not fathom. Since the prices keep rising, the dollar amount of percentage based auto-gratuity raises with them automatically. There is no need to raise both drink prices and the gratuity percentage in order for the workers to get their raises.

 

I normally quietly agree with you, but I feel your wrong on this one...The drink prices have raised (in part) because the alcohol prices have raised, gratuities have raised because of inflation and a dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to...Just my opinion

[Buford T Justiice]

Agree with others staffing is way down. Last week on the Dawn passengers were four to six deep at the poolside bars most late afternoons.

 

Definitely rationing the free / UBP.

[Demonyte]

I normally quietly agree with you, but I feel your wrong on this one...The drink prices have raised (in part) because the alcohol prices have raised, gratuities have raised because of inflation and a dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to...Just my opinion

 

 

Sorry but all prices rise because of inflation. If alcohol price raises because of inflation, the gratuity raises at the same time the same relative amount. Since the percentage was raised too, the gratuity was raised twice - more than just inflation would have required.

 

I really do not see how that double dipping would be justified - if this keeps on going, in couple of decades you would be paying 50% gratuities "because a dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to" even though the base price on which the gratuity is based on definitely raises according to the inflation all the time.

[kalypso333]

Sorry but all prices rise because of inflation. If alcohol price raises because of inflation, the gratuity raises at the same time the same relative amount. Since the percentage was raised too, the gratuity was raised twice - more than just inflation would have required.

 

I really do not see how that double dipping would be justified - if this keeps on going, in couple of decades you would be paying 50% gratuities "because a dollar doesn't stretch as far as it used to" even though the base price on which the gratuity is based on definitely raises according to the inflation all the time.

 

 

Flat wrong. Prices rise, gratuity rises - regardless of %. % rise in gratuity is a grab for more $. No opinion here. Just fact.

[Crusin6]

The reason the service is slow is because so many pax have the ubp.

 

The reason there are pax 4 to 6 deep at the bars is because so many pax have the ubp

 

 

The reason so many pax have the ubp is because they think they got it as a freebie😎

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited July 16, 2015 by Crusin6

[Demonyte]

Flat wrong. Prices rise, gratuity rises - regardless of %. % rise in gratuity is a grab for more $. No opinion here. Just fact.

 

 

That is exactly what I was saying. I haven't seen improvement in service that would warrant any raise in that percentage. (I'm all for inflation raises but with the current model those are already built in.)

[MrJoeBlack]

So not true... We are just off the Jade and the crew was the best I've seen in years... :cool:

 

 

Agreed, service on the Sun was exceptional not one bad server, grumpy desk clerk or room attendant hands down 1st class

[legion3]

Flat wrong. Prices rise, gratuity rises - regardless of %. % rise in gratuity is a grab for more $. No opinion here. Just fact.

 

Wages don't seem to rise.

[SissasMomE]

So not true... We are just off the Jade and the crew was the best I've seen in years... :cool:

 

Very happy to hear that; however, it is very true that the Cream of the Crop of part of the startup crew, and moved to the new ships.

[LrgPizza]

 

The reason so many pax have the ubp is because they think they got it as a freebie😎

Those of us why typically buy the UBP DID get it as a freebie. My Escape cruise will cost me quite a bit less for the same cabin than my Getaway cruise did 2 years earlier. Why? Because of UBP promo. :D

[Arzeena]

Been on the Dawn 4 times. Two more Dawn cruises in the future. Love the ship and had no problems with service at all.

 

OP, it does not hurt to try new cruise lines for different itineraries (and better/or not price) We have equal amount of cruises on Royal too and are trying Celebrity, Carnival and Princess. Whatever works!:) Good luck!

[jackparts]

I too had a lousy time on the Dawn, only out of Tampa. Voiced my opinion here on CC , especially bad embarkation and debarkation timewise that was caused by both NCL and Customs. Baaad cruise.

[DMH15]

Wages don't seem to rise.

 

 

Maybe you have the wrong job. Mine has. That is why I have been at the same firm 25 years.

 

Sadly, too many people do not tip (enough) voluntarily so a percentage is added. I live in Dallas. I tip 20 % so I am good with this.

 

I am a professional, work in an office, but recall working as a server in college. So Iam appreciative.

 

Long lines? An opportunity to meet other folks. But easy to spot and avoid the grumpy ones. The ones who complain about 2 stickin percent!

[zqvol]

I agree - I see no issue with an 18% auto-gratuity (or even 20%) while on a service-oriented cruise or resort vacation. If there wasn't an auto-gratuity, I suspect many of us would be tipping beyond 20% without any complaints.

 

Being that it's a percentage, however - has me thinking we shouldn't expect it to go up periodically other than to mirror a changing norm elsewhere. But I believe this to be the case here - a 15% gratuity is somewhat outdated, and 18% is closer to the new norm.

 

 

Please don't provide a logical answer here, it will only cause you to get flamed. :):):):)

[4gomez]

It only makes common sense to a fair minded person: Good service; tip well. Sub par service; don't tip as well. I understand the service charge because of the freestyle experience. Crew members must share even though some put out 110% and others put out less than 100%. They all get paid the same! They know this going in. If the overall service was excellent I will gladly pay the service charge and put more $ into the whole pot to be shared. The flipside is that if I get poor service I have the option to go to the service desk and ask for my service charge to be adjusted. The other option I have considered is to do as we all do on dry land. Tip accordingly daily to individual crew as you go. Please be kind with me. I know this a very controversial subject.

[phantomII]

Maybe you have the wrong job. Mine has. That is why I have been at the same firm 25 years.

 

Sadly, too many people do not tip (enough) voluntarily so a percentage is added. I live in Dallas. I tip 20 % so I am good with this.

 

I am a professional, work in an office, but recall working as a server in college. So Iam appreciative.

 

Long lines? An opportunity to meet other folks. But easy to spot and avoid the grumpy ones. The ones who complain about 2 stickin percent!

 

sticking? 3%

[william]

Like I said would have no issue paying more service charge if service was like I had in th past. My last cruise in 2011 you would be bugged every five minutes, used to get bothered by that. Then this year I was like would rather be bugged then ignored.

Also think NCL has no real activities going on during the day especially sea days.

Think we are going to try Royal Caribean.

[CAnative1]

 

The reason so many pax have the ubp is because they think they got it as a freebie😎

 

 

I for one definitely feel like I got it as a freebie for my up coming end of Nov cruise.

 

Reason being is this.... first, I booked back in Feb when the promo did not call for me to pay anything additional for the promo. Second, when I was looking to book a cruise, I looked at 3 different cruise lines sailing in the same month. When I was looking at the prices, NCL's price for the cruise was $10 cheaper than one, but $5 more than the other. On the other two cruise lines, I would have had to pay for my drinks, or a package on top of my fare. That would easily make those cruises at least $500 more expensive (but most likely more).

[BamaVol]

Fortunately I have received an increase in pay for the last 3 years and use that to pay for the increased costs of everything I buy. If something doesn't increase in cost, then that's a windfall and I get to keep some of my raise. Yay. The latest DSC increase will cost me less than $10 on our next cruise. I'm fine with that. I don't know about the poorer service on older ships . So far my only NCL experience has been the Sky and I thought service was outstanding.

 

I try not complain about the small stuff because you can always find small stuff. I just look at the big picture and ask myself if I got my $2,000 worth, or $3,000 worth or whatever I paid. If so, do it again. If not, change something. Maybe this is the OP's tipping point. Who knows. I hope the he finds greener grass somewhere.

[Paulras]

This is something I can not fathom. Since the prices keep rising, the dollar amount of percentage based auto-gratuity raises with them automatically. There is no need to raise both drink prices and the gratuity percentage in order for the workers to get their raises.

 

Thank you - that's exactly what I was thinking. If drink prices go up by say 10%, the gratuity would go up by 10% too. NCL covers their additional cost/profit and the staff gets an automatic raise.

 

Plus NCL makes you sign each and every slip even if you have the beverage package (unlike Celebrity). Not only a waste of paper and time but they include that little line that asks for an additional tip. I'll write in an extra buck or two for exceptional service or if a bartender is good to me but it's rare. On Breakaway, ever bar was understaffed so waiting 10-15 minutes for service was not going to get an extra tip.