NCL Cruise Service Charge Refund

[Peachypooh]

Earlier in this thread someone said that cheap people disgust them. I have always felt that frugal meant being careful about how one spends money and the only person inconvenienced by the frugal ways was that person. To me cheap means someone who tries to come out ahead by taking advantage of other people. So....if someone just wants a lower cruise fare and makes up a reason to remove the charges which most people assume go to the crew then yes it is a cheap person. If someone truly has a bad experience (luckily I only had one such cruise and it was not on NCL) and the only remedy offered them was removal of the service charge then they should let their conscious be their guide. I did not remove the service charge on my cruise but I can see how some others would. That said, perhaps onboard credits should be offered for things like backed up or flooded bathrooms, hot soup dumped in their lap, etc.

[newmexicoNita]

Earlier in this thread someone said that cheap people disgust them. I have always felt that frugal meant being careful about how one spends money and the only person inconvenienced by the frugal ways was that person. To me cheap means someone who tries to come out ahead by taking advantage of other people. So....if someone just wants a lower cruise fare and makes up a reason to remove the charges which most people assume go to the crew then yes it is a cheap person. If someone truly has a bad experience (luckily I only had one such cruise and it was not on NCL) and the only remedy offered them was removal of the service charge then they should let their conscious be their guide. I did not remove the service charge on my cruise but I can see how some others would. That said, perhaps onboard credits should be offered for things like backed up or flooded bathrooms, hot soup dumped in their lap, etc.

We never had hot soup dumped in our lap but did have cereal with cream on our last morning on a cruise. No, it was not NCL. The service period on that line was less the average even except for our cabin steward. That was in the days of suggested tips. We still followed the suggested amount. I would just not feel right if I cut back or removed tips. I was raised in a family that believed in tipping.Even as a teen, having lunch at the lunch counter at the five and dime store I left a tip.

[flyguy]

I remember the NCL Wind, fantastic ship, crew and food! We tipped by giving an envelope with cash inside to the employees. But now they make tipping mandatory..sort of by taking it out of one's shipboard account

Tipping is for a service and for poor service I deduct a certain amount because it encourages "more of the same." Consequently, for superior service, I tip handsomely and for some to say it stiffs the rest of the crew when a waiter has failed in some respects i disagree. Someone has to take a stand otherwise they'll continue as is, ho-hum lazy attitude. Slave labor? I seriously doubt it, no one conscripted them to work on cruise ship, they did it of their own volition. If they want great tips, provide the best service they possibly can and they'll be rewarded accordingly.

[PTC DAWG]

If you can’t afford the DSC, you can’t afford to cruise...just stay home..

[LMaxwell]

If you can’t afford the DSC, you can’t afford to cruise...just stay home..

 

 

 

Solid financial advice.

 

 

 

 

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[momsince96]

The first time I ever cruised was with my Mom and sister, as my Mom's guest. She brought a bunch of cash, and on the last day she put it in envelopes for our waitstaff team, the maitre' d, and our room steward. My sister and I bought our own alcohol and tipped accordingly, per drink.

 

When I went on a cruise with my husband and kids, I brought a bunch of cash, but we had gratuities added to our account. I went and had them removed, because I was going to tip the actual people who waited on me, not ancillary people who I had never seen. It seemed absurd to me. We brought cash to the folks who'd actually served us, in addition to adding gratuity to our checks when we bought drinks. Our children had soda packages, and we gave them a bunch of $1 bills, which they used to tip any time they got a drink or ordered room service.

 

I don't know - I think that's how it ought to be. We were on NCL earlier in the month and will be again next weekend. It's confusing, because you don't even have the chance to tip your servers if you have the UBP or open bar, but they are the ones serving you. We didn't eat in the MDR a single time on our earlier cruise this month, but we did get a TON of drinks in the Headliner's bar. I feel like we should have been able to adjust our tips to reflect that. Maybe by swiping the cards that gets distributed appropriately, but I worry it isn't.

 

Next week I am bringing a bunch of $1s I've been collecting and will hand those over with my card when I order a drink, as I saw others do on our earlier sailing.

[newmexicoNita]

I remember the NCL Wind, fantastic ship, crew and food! We tipped by giving an envelope with cash inside to the employees. But now they make tipping mandatory..sort of by taking it out of one's shipboard account

Tipping is for a service and for poor service I deduct a certain amount because it encourages "more of the same." Consequently, for superior service, I tip handsomely and for some to say it stiffs the rest of the crew when a waiter has failed in some respects i disagree. Someone has to take a stand otherwise they'll continue as is, ho-hum lazy attitude. Slave labor? I seriously doubt it, no one conscripted them to work on cruise ship, they did it of their own volition. If they want great tips, provide the best service they possibly can and they'll be rewarded accordingly.

this is why it is no longer called tipping but is referred to as a daily service charge. The daily amount goes to, not only the help we see doing the work but those behind the scene we never see. The DSC is the same as many hotels that now add a resort charge even if they are not really a resort hotel or the restaurants, like many in Florida that add an automatic charge even if there are only 2 or 3 in the party. Do I like it? Not really but I will say, for cruise ships I think it is a good idea. DSC makes it easier and takes care of those we do not see on a daily basis. Remember with free style dining, not only on NCL but many lines now, we do not have the same wait staff on a daily basis and with ships being so large, it is rare we will spend out drinking hours at the same bar like in the past when there were only a few bars per ship.

[newmexicoNita]

The first time I ever cruised was with my Mom and sister, as my Mom's guest. She brought a bunch of cash, and on the last day she put it in envelopes for our waitstaff team, the maitre' d, and our room steward. My sister and I bought our own alcohol and tipped accordingly, per drink.

 

When I went on a cruise with my husband and kids, I brought a bunch of cash, but we had gratuities added to our account. I went and had them removed, because I was going to tip the actual people who waited on me, not ancillary people who I had never seen. It seemed absurd to me. We brought cash to the folks who'd actually served us, in addition to adding gratuity to our checks when we bought drinks. Our children had soda packages, and we gave them a bunch of $1 bills, which they used to tip any time they got a drink or ordered room service.

 

I don't know - I think that's how it ought to be. We were on NCL earlier in the month and will be again next weekend. It's confusing, because you don't even have the chance to tip your servers if you have the UBP or open bar, but they are the ones serving you. We didn't eat in the MDR a single time on our earlier cruise this month, but we did get a TON of drinks in the Headliner's bar. I feel like we should have been able to adjust our tips to reflect that. Maybe by swiping the cards that gets distributed appropriately, but I worry it isn't.

 

Next week I am bringing a bunch of $1s I've been collecting and will hand those over with my card when I order a drink, as I saw others do on our earlier sailing.

and do you intend on removing the DSC? We actually bring $1.00 as well.Sometimes we tip the bar tenders or servers a little extra because we understand how the DSC works. Why would you not think people behind the scene deserve a little extra? What was many years ago is very different from what is today.

[boopsahoy]

Imho....

 

Charging pax the dsc can be considered a service issue especially if that is not what a pax wants to do.

 

 

 

 

If a pax does not want to tip everyone and then some that counts as a service issue

 

 

There really is no debate about removing dsc

 

 

Pax should not be forced to tip the entire ship

 

Pax should tip only those who provide one on one service if that is what they want to do

 

Pax should not be forced into a set dsc

 

Pax should not be forced to tip the laundry crew or the engine crew

 

 

Kudos to ncl for realizing this and NOT making the dsc mandatory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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No tip to laundry crew? Don't you like clean towels?

No tip to the engine crew? Seriously?

[zqvol]

People need to understand that the DSC is NOT a tip or gratuity. It is a service charge that goes to NCL. If you want the crew to get something over and above their salary, leave them a separate gratuity.

[Wyoming2010]

Absolutely disagree. While it should be the very last course of action, there are plenty of valid reasons for customers to want to reduce or remove their service charges as has been documented many times on this forum.

 

I was researching items for NCL and came across this older thread. I had to respond to those who believe there is absolutely no good reason to remove service charges. We sailed on the NCL Pride of America in 2008 and have never in all our sailings had such incredibly bad service -- in all venues and from all staff. We had two rooms, and when they finally opened them at 3 p.m., the filth in our room (including a puddle of maple syrup) is indescribable. Glasses and mugs with lipstick and dried scope -- to which the room steward simply put the cover back on. The desks covered in sticky grease. One room had a verandah and you literally could not see out the sliding glass door. All the wait staff we met was disgruntled, disheveled and rude -- except for the ones in the specialty restaurants. I watched the worker at the photo lab berate an Asian couple because they didn't speak good English.

 

 

We called guest services and demanded that the floor supervisor come to our rooms. They took pictures and wrote reports. THEY removed 1/2 of our gratuities, and apologized. We got off the ship, went to the nearest store and bought Clorox wipes, did up both our rooms (don't even get me started on what we found in both bathrooms UGH), and then told them not to let a single housekeeper in our rooms and if we needed anything we would call.

 

 

If they had not removed some of the gratuities, we would have anyway. Deplorable service and attitude all around. The only staff worth anything were the specialty dining crew and the bartenders. They got extra tips. Otherwise the ship was filthy and we couldn't wait to get off!

[erdoran]

No tip to laundry crew? Don't you like clean towels?

No tip to the engine crew? Seriously?

OMG engine crew? Laundry crew? In a hotel you tip the maid who cleans your room, you don't tip the building maintenance person (unless you ask for something special), the laundry staff, the building cleaning staff, the kitchen staff, the busboys, the back office accounting people, the window washers, etc, etc, etc. If you use the restaurant of course you tip 20% if service is acceptable.

 

Only on cruise lines are you expected to tip EVERYONE other than the officers!

 

NO I AM NOT BEING CHEAP! It's the reality of cruising, and part of the culture, but OMG tipping the engine crew? Isn't that a bit much? And you mean if I don't tip the laundry crew I keep my dirty towels?

 

AND while I'm complaining, tipping used to be optional - now it's MANDATORY, both the act of tipping AND the minimum. BTW I read an article yesterday about a ship with robotic bartenders - who get a 20% autograt added to the bar bill. Since when do robots get paid?? Doesn't that go to show that the SERVICE CHARGE doesn't go directly to the staff?

 

And also note that the language for the specialty restaurants says "specialty service charge & gratuity" (or some such, I don't have time to look it up). That shows that NCL keeps some unknown percentage of it.

 

Wyoming, you were very generous to allow ANY of your DSC to be kept. I sure hope no one on this forum would call you "cheap" for having some of it removed. UNBELIEVABLE - they should have specially cleaned another room that was an upgrade and moved you there. IMHO that's one of the downsides of MANDATORY tipping, there is no financial incentive for staff to do more than the minimum as long as management lets it slide.

Edited June 25, 2018 by erdoran

[Wyoming2010]

OMG engine crew? Laundry crew? In a hotel you tip the maid who cleans your room, you don't tip the building maintenance person (unless you ask for something special), the laundry staff, the building cleaning staff, the kitchen staff, the busboys, the back office accounting people, the window washers, etc, etc, etc. If you use the restaurant of course you tip 20% if service is acceptable.

 

Only on cruise lines are you expected to tip EVERYONE other than the officers!

 

NO I AM NOT BEING CHEAP! It's the reality of cruising, and part of the culture, but OMG tipping the engine crew? Isn't that a bit much?

 

(y)

[erdoran]

Earlier in this thread someone said that cheap people disgust them. I have always felt that frugal meant being careful about how one spends money and the only person inconvenienced by the frugal ways was that person. To me cheap means someone who tries to come out ahead by taking advantage of other people. So....if someone just wants a lower cruise fare and makes up a reason to remove the charges which most people assume go to the crew then yes it is a cheap person. If someone truly has a bad experience (luckily I only had one such cruise and it was not on NCL) and the only remedy offered them was removal of the service charge then they should let their conscious be their guide. I did not remove the service charge on my cruise but I can see how some others would. That said, perhaps onboard credits should be offered for things like backed up or flooded bathrooms, hot soup dumped in their lap, etc.

Peachypooh, thanks for clarifying "cheap" vs viewing a "service charge" which is SUPPOSEDLY a GRATUITY as exactly that. A tip/gratuity is an expectation for decent service. To be called cheap when service is legitimately VERY substandard, as has been discussed in a couple of examples here, is wrong. In each case the OP talked about compensating staff that did the right thing directly.

 

From what I've seen here there is a mindset that the DSC is sacred, everyone on the boat is ENTITLED to their share of the DSC no matter what the pax experience is. I take issue with that. I get that the DSC is really part of the cost of the cruise, but to call someone cheap when they have a very legit issue and they have tried repeatedly to solve it while on the cruise is wrong.

[fshagan]

The first time I ever cruised was with my Mom and sister, as my Mom's guest. She brought a bunch of cash, and on the last day she put it in envelopes for our waitstaff team, the maitre' d, and our room steward. My sister and I bought our own alcohol and tipped accordingly, per drink.

 

The change from the old envelope system to the new system is really convenient. During Freestyle dining it is not uncommon to have a different server, drink server, bread server and maitre'd each night. Do you really want to carry cash to the dining room each night to tip all of them? Making it an automatic pool is much more convenient.

 

We first started sailing Disney, and there was no option to have the gratuities automatically added at first. And, they are traditional in that you see the same server, drink server, bread server, and maitre'd each night. I hated the final evening when passing out the envelopes. When they added the ability to put the tip on our account I jumped at the chance. For our upcoming DCL cruise I have already pre-paid the gratuities.

 

I have never once had substandard service on any cruise, so it would be an exceptional situation where I would go and reduce the amount I pay on any line for gratuities / service charge / tips. My experience just hasn't included any service problem that was not addressed quickly and professionally on Celebrity, Disney, NCL or Princess. I understand there are people who have horrible cruise after cruise, and remove the charges. Not sure why they still cruise, buy hey, to each his own.

[newmexicoNita]

I was researching items for NCL and came across this older thread. I had to respond to those who believe there is absolutely no good reason to remove service charges. We sailed on the NCL Pride of America in 2008 and have never in all our sailings had such incredibly bad service -- in all venues and from all staff. We had two rooms, and when they finally opened them at 3 p.m., the filth in our room (including a puddle of maple syrup) is indescribable. Glasses and mugs with lipstick and dried scope -- to which the room steward simply put the cover back on. The desks covered in sticky grease. One room had a verandah and you literally could not see out the sliding glass door. All the wait staff we met was disgruntled, disheveled and rude -- except for the ones in the specialty restaurants. I watched the worker at the photo lab berate an Asian couple because they didn't speak good English.

 

 

We called guest services and demanded that the floor supervisor come to our rooms. They took pictures and wrote reports. THEY removed 1/2 of our gratuities, and apologized. We got off the ship, went to the nearest store and bought Clorox wipes, did up both our rooms (don't even get me started on what we found in both bathrooms UGH), and then told them not to let a single housekeeper in our rooms and if we needed anything we would call.

 

 

If they had not removed some of the gratuities, we would have anyway. Deplorable service and attitude all around. The only staff worth anything were the specialty dining crew and the bartenders. They got extra tips. Otherwise the ship was filthy and we couldn't wait to get off!

i can believe you had bad service. Back 10 years ago POA had a horrible reputation but my understanding is they have improved tremendously. That being said, I am a bit surprised you found the entire ship dirty as they have never had a bad rating from CDC. Anyway, remember POA is the only America flagged cruise ship, thus they have a huge majority of their crew members from America and the help seems to not be as responsible as the foreign help. We have cruised over 40 times, about 20 on NCL ships and never had a dirty cabin. We have had less then outstanding cabin stewards but never a dirty cabin experience. If you have not cruised NCL in 10 years you really can't judge what it is like. One experience does not make for informed reviews.

 

Endoran: it doesn't look like you have much cruise experience.

[NLH Arizona]

NCL needs to wise up and do what they did in the UK, to stop all those passengers from removing the DSC, just include it in the fare. I remember reading a post some time back from a poster's whose child worked on NCL and was sailing out of the UK and was so disappointed that a huge majority of the passengers removed the DSC, even though they worked their butts off to please them.

Edited June 25, 2018 by NLH Arizona

[erdoran]

i can believe you had bad service. Back 10 years ago POA had a horrible reputation but my understanding is they have improved tremendously. That being said, I am a bit surprised you found the entire ship dirty as they have never had a bad rating from CDC. Anyway, remember POA is the only America flagged cruise ship, thus they have a huge majority of their crew members from America and the help seems to not be as responsible as the foreign help. We have cruised over 40 times, about 20 on NCL ships and never had a dirty cabin. We have had less then outstanding cabin stewards but never a dirty cabin experience. If you have not cruised NCL in 10 years you really can't judge what it is like. One experience does not make for informed reviews.

 

Endoran: it doesn't look like you have much cruise experience.

not on big boats, no. I think to date

two big red boat in '80's

one carnival

three NCL

 

I have only had good to excellent service, not only have never removed DSC but have tipped more when warranted. I had one instance of a really bad experience with a spa treatment (tech kept on with sales pitches in spite of being told numerous times I wasn't interested; when she finally got the message she rushed through the remainder of the treatment) but I chose not to remove the autotip because I got at least the minimum.

 

My issue wasn't that poor service is the norm, it's more defending posters who get called cheap when they have legit reasons. the "cheap" label seems automatic for anyone who DARES to question the DSC entitlement. That's all.

[Wyoming2010]

i can believe you had bad service. Back 10 years ago POA had a horrible reputation but my understanding is they have improved tremendously. That being said, I am a bit surprised you found the entire ship dirty as they have never had a bad rating from CDC. Anyway, remember POA is the only America flagged cruise ship, thus they have a huge majority of their crew members from America and the help seems to not be as responsible as the foreign help. We have cruised over 40 times, about 20 on NCL ships and never had a dirty cabin. We have had less then outstanding cabin stewards but never a dirty cabin experience. If you have not cruised NCL in 10 years you really can't judge what it is like. One experience does not make for informed reviews.

 

Endoran: it doesn't look like you have much cruise experience.

 

I didn't say I hadn't cruised on NCL since. After that experience we vowed never to cruise on them again, but took the Breakaway to Bermuda in 2015 and loved it so much that we are going again in September on the Escape. The POA had horrendous reviews on Cruise Critic in the research I did -- but it was the only ship that did the islands without spending days at sea to get there. We thought for the price, it can't be THAT bad -- and then it was actually worse than we had even prepared ourselves for. We have heard that they have improved and might give them another try if we go back to Hawaii. I really would like to wipe that memory of POA and replace it with a good one ;)

[NLH Arizona]

 

My issue wasn't that poor service is the norm, it's more defending posters who get called cheap when they have legit reasons. the "cheap" label seems automatic for anyone who DARES to question the DSC entitlement. That's all.

I've never read any disparaging comments about someone removing the DSC for true service issues (that they tried to correct on the ship), what we hear on here is "we don't tip in our country", "I only want to tip those that serve me directly", "It is not our culture to tip, so I'm removing the DSC", etc. I think if someone has a service issue that is not corrected on the ship, they should by all means reduce their DSC.

[PTC DAWG]

Removing the DSC is cheap, period...if it offends, so be it.

[momsince96]

and do you intend on removing the DSC? We actually bring $1.00 as well.Sometimes we tip the bar tenders or servers a little extra because we understand how the DSC works. Why would you not think people behind the scene deserve a little extra? What was many years ago is very different from what is today.

 

No, I don't. We are paying $19.99/pp per night (Sky) and I think that's fair believe it or not. The first time I cruised where I was in charge, so to speak, of how our money was distributed was 10 years ago. In the 10 years and many cruises since, we've left the service charges on. I still don't think it's a very fair system; we don't use the MDR, we tip extra in the higher-end restaurants, and we drink a lot at the bar. On the Getaway earlier in the month we realized how screwy the system is (unless the tips are distributed by card-swipe, which I doubt) so we are going to supplement with some cash.

 

I hate the current use of the word "fair", but to me the DSC system is NOT fair. I can see how the envelope system has its flaws, but at least the money went to the people who helped you, and that would be different for different cruisers, so I would think the money should be just naturally equally distributed? Behind-the-scenes workers should be compensated at a wage that doesn't demand tips to be a fair wage, just as kitchen staff in a restaurant is paid at a higher rate that front-of-the-house staff.

 

But this debate is as old as this board, probably, and I'm not going to change anything. I'm just going to augment as I see fit and how I am comfortable doing so budget-wise. The other weird but good but bad (LOL, depending on the situation) is that you are not presented a receipt on NCL to add a tip for service above and beyond, forcing you to have to sort of make arrangements to bring the money with you. I like to not have a purse, phone, etc. on the ship so that's a problem. But on the other hand, it's nice to not have 48573 pieces of paper (receipts) to deal with and better for the environment, too.

 

First world problem, whether to carry a purse with money in it, to be sure!!!

[flyguy]

I earned my money the hard way-I worked for it and I don't like to throw it away on bad service. I do not reward bad behavior or bad service, it's my money and I expect as a norm more than a casual whatever attitude. One can disparage those that remove DSC all one wants but to reward bad behavior creates more of the same. You want good service? Let them know by with holding $$ and they'll get around to doing their job properly. You want the same lousy service? Continue to pay your DSC when the service is deplorable then the next time you embark on NCL don't complain about the service. That is what is wrong in our society, people expect something for minimal effort and fail to produce and then there are the people that feels sorry for them and gives them what they want anyway. If someone comes to paint your home and slops paint all over your sidewalk, brick and tramples your shrubs I guess you'd not expect them to repair the damage and pay them regardless. It's your money, go ahead.

[tarps14]

Another beef I have with the whole remove/don't remove the dsc, is when the comment of the "staff have such poor wages to begin with". People, this is not indentured servitude. Each staff member knows exactly what salary they will be paid before they sign their contract. They are also well aware of the hours that will be required before signing. They go into this well informed and make the decision to take the job without any coercion. Just because you think they aren't paid enough makes absolutely no difference. You might not would agree to work for the wages NCL pays but the staff obviously do not share that opinion. Many do it because it gives them the excellent opportunity to send the majority of their salary home to their family while not having to pay for room and board themselves.

 

 

If NCL did not feel that these daily service charges were "optional", they would not have a procedure in place for removing/refunding them, simple as that. If you want to think them mandatory or morally required, that is your prerogative. If someone else wishes to remove them because of sub-par service, that is also their prerogative.

[LMaxwell]

No tip to laundry crew? Don't you like clean towels?

No tip to the engine crew? Seriously?

 

The engineering staff is not in the tip pool.

 

As for the behind the scenes hotel support staff, since they are not guest facing they should not be made to rely on the tip pool. Their wage should be higher and not tied to an adjustable service charge. It's really not the laundry guys fault, and shouldn't be his problem, if a guest has a service issue with a room attendant or waiter causing them to modify or remove the DSC.