Why am I being charged for Free at Sea Gratuities

[Feelin' Nauti']

Don't get it, I picked

 

Free Unlimited Open Bar + Specialty Dining + Onboard Spend: $50.00

Yet in my summary of Charges on NCL site

they are charging $308.80 for Free At Sea Offer Gratuities.

Can someone please explain.

PS Gov Taxes, fees and port expenses amount stayed the same.

 

[DirtyDawg]

NCL charges gratuities on the 'free' bar based on the regular price of the package. 

[YankeesFan4Life]

13 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

NCL charges gratuities on the 'free' bar based on the regular price of the package. 

As well as for the Specialty dining....

[Outerdog]

Welcome to the new definition of free.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Outerdog

[shof515]

3 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

Welcome to the new definition of free.

 

technically it is free because you are not paying for the normal price of the package. Even if you were to pay for the drink package, you will still have to pay  gratuities  on top of it.

[Heather1972]

Tips on free things = $$ for NCL

[DirtyDawg]

13 minutes ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

As well as for the Specialty dining....

 

I didn't want to be the bearer of ALL the bad news.

 

Thanks for sharing the load!😊

[MikeBTN]

1 hour ago, Feelin' Nauti' said:

Don't get it, I picked

 

Free Unlimited Open Bar + Specialty Dining + Onboard Spend: $50.00

Yet in my summary of Charges on NCL site

they are charging $308.80 for Free At Sea Offer Gratuities.

Can someone please explain.

PS Gov Taxes, fees and port expenses amount stayed the same.

 

 

The terms and conditions of the offer outline why.

 

https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions#takeall

[Outerdog]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

 

technically it is free because you are not paying for the normal price of the package. Even if you were to pay for the drink package, you will still have to pay  gratuities  on top of it.

 

Give me a break. 

 

Once upon a time, most of these perks were free as in free. There was no extra cost associated with them beyond what was probably built into the fare.  Now there is extra cost associated. 

 

A $300 NCL tax does not a free perk make.

[Two Wheels Only]

1 minute ago, Outerdog said:

A $300 NCL tax does not a free perk make. 

 

If it works out better, skip the promos and pay for drinks/specialty dining on your own. You can also use OBC if you have it.

 

If selecting a particular stateroom isn't important, book a Sailaway Rate (if available) and use that savings to pay for drinks/specialty dining.

 

 

 

 

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

Even if you were to pay for the drink package, you will still have to pay  gratuities  on top of it. 

 

For the OP...

 

Even if paying for individual drinks, 20% is added.

 

Same for food in the a la carte/cover charge restaurants.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by Two Wheels Only

[mianmike]

Soon cruises will be free . . . plus a gratuity for the ship builder, dock workers, ship crew, board of directors, CEO, fuel provider etc . . . 

[Feelin' Nauti']

Thank you all for clarifying.

I totally forgot they charge you for the gratuities on the Free Drinks package.

 

[Tapi]

This is so bogus. I was also left scratching my head when I priced out an NCL cruise with “free” perks. 

 

Other cruise lines don’t charge an added gratuity on an included package. Last November, we sailed on MSC and our Aurea Suite came with an unlimited drink package. No added gratuities for the package. That’s my idea of “free” and not what NCL does.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Tapi

[MikeBTN]

11 minutes ago, Tapi said:

This is so bogus. I was also left scratching my head when I priced out an NCL cruise with “free” perks. 

 

Other cruise lines don’t charge an added gratuity on an included package. Last November, we sailed on MSC and our Aurea Suite came with an unlimited drink package. No added gratuities for the package. That’s my idea of “free” and not what NCL does.

 

Such a ridiculous take.  Your Aurea experience also came with a beverage package and was some $500 more per person than the Bella experience.  There’s no such thing as “free”.

[AL3XCruise]

2 hours ago, MikeBTN said:

There’s no such thing as “free”.

 

Bingo!  One way or another everything is priced in.  A "Freebie" and any associated gratuities will somehow be reflected in the base rate, service charge, etc. on any line.  Now certain people may find certain combinations of perks/fees/base rate on different lines that work best for them, but it requires some research to figure it out.  Certainly it would be nice to have more transparency so you could accurately compare prices without a spreadsheet, but I think its safe to say that isn't going to happen!

 

That said, NCL certainly has shown themselves to be very good at this type of marketing.  After all, there is a giant asterisk at the heart of the Escape!

 

[mianmike]

2 hours ago, MikeBTN said:

 

Such a ridiculous take.  Your Aurea experience also came with a beverage package and was some $500 more per person than the Bella experience.  There’s no such thing as “free”.

 

Yes there is a "free" version on MSC.  I booked a Bella cabin on the Seaside and received the "drinks on us" package and wifi.  No gratuities.   Hopefully MSC stays honest and doesn't adopt the NCL version of "free."  

[pieshops]

1 hour ago, mianmike said:

 

Yes there is a "free" version on MSC.  I booked a Bella cabin on the Seaside and received the "drinks on us" package and wifi.  No gratuities.   Hopefully MSC stays honest and doesn't adopt the NCL version of "free."  

If you think for a minute that it is not built into the cruise fare you are dilussuonal.  

[mianmike]

3 minutes ago, pieshops said:

If you think for a minute that it is not built into the cruise fare you are dilussuonal.  

 

Of course MSC's free perks are built into the cruise fare (the way it should be) and yet MSC is consistently less expensive than the other cruise lines.   

 

[newmexicoNita]

11 hours ago, Outerdog said:

Welcome to the new definition of free.

OK, here we go again: if you have a coupon for a free dinner at your neighborhood restaurant would you not add a tip to what the meal would normally cost? Of if you have a 50% off coupon you would still tip based on what the meal would cost otherwise I hope. This is the very same thing: the meal or drinks are included but the tip is not. Why is this so darn hard for people to understand? 

 

BTW so all of you who keep comparing MSC with NCL: remember also they are the new kids on the block trying to break into the American market. They offer prices that the older guys do not, trying to encourage more Americans to sail them. As years go by they too will raise prices and change some of their policies if they can build up a loyal customer base. 

[DirtyDawg]

1 hour ago, newmexicoNita said:

OK, here we go again: if you have a coupon for a free dinner at your neighborhood restaurant would you not add a tip to what the meal would normally cost? Of if you have a 50% off coupon you would still tip based on what the meal would cost otherwise I hope. This is the very same thing: the meal or drinks are included but the tip is not. Why is this so darn hard for people to understand? 

 

BTW so all of you who keep comparing MSC with NCL: remember also they are the new kids on the block trying to break into the American market. They offer prices that the older guys do not, trying to encourage more Americans to sail them. As years go by they too will raise prices and change some of their policies if they can build up a loyal customer base. 

 

But what NCL does is present you will a bill for the 'gratuities' before you sit down for that free meal. 

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by DirtyDawg

[Tapi]

7 hours ago, MikeBTN said:

 

Such a ridiculous take.  Your Aurea experience also came with a beverage package and was some $500 more per person than the Bella experience.  There’s no such thing as “free”.

There was no equivalent Bella experience for the type of stateroom that I selected (Duplex Suite). They are all Aurea so there’s no Bella fare to compare it with. 

 

While we are comparing the “free” things that MSC offered, we also received 2 complimentary massages (even the gratuity was included). Access to the thermal area at the spa was included as well, and our kids sailed for free (and MSC didn’t jack up the 1st and 2nd price for this promo like other cruise lines do). They also gave us an additional 5% off the cruise fare thanks to the loyalty match program. By the time it was all said and done, the cost of our cruise in a 2 deck loft suite with all those free perks was cheaper than a similar NCL cruise in a standard balcony stateroom with no perks.

 

Bottom line is that, of all the major cruise lines, I’ve found MSC to be the most honest when it comes to free perks. All the others find a way to recoup their money some how, whether it’s in the form of added gratuities, taxes, or different pricing structure for those promotions. 

[sleepless]

When sailing on Celebrity, and one chooses the beverage package as a "free perk", there are no additional gratituties added.  

[spanishguy1970]

12 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

If it works out better, skip the promos and pay for drinks/specialty dining on your own. You can also use OBC if you have it.

 

If selecting a particular stateroom isn't important, book a Sailaway Rate (if available) and use that savings to pay for drinks/specialty dining.

 

12 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

yep, that is what we do. We never get the drinking package due to the fact we don't drink a lot, so we rather pay for the drink we have and call it a day. Last October we booked on board the Breakaway our next cruise this coming October and we decided to ask for the drinking package perk well the service charges would have been over 700 dollars, ridiculous, obviously we removed it and opted for the excursion credit and WIFI...( which we hardly use).  Some of us keep hoping they will offer the free gratuities perk in the future, but i don't think it will happen.

 

 

[fshagan]

49 minutes ago, sleepless said:

When sailing on Celebrity, and one chooses the beverage package as a "free perk", there are no additional gratituties added.  

 

It's been a while since I priced out a X cruise, but I remember them having different price tiers that included different promo offers. You could easily see that the standard drink package raised the cost of the cruise by $ and the upgraded drink package raised the cost by $$. I like that system better.

 

The best system is the one Virgin Voyages uses, where all gratuities, dining, etc. is reflected in the price, and the price is quoted per cabin, not "per person, double occupancy required" (which is also a sneaky way of marketing the cost, but we're used to it).  Disney comes close by quoting price per cabin, not the fake "per person" price, but still adds the daily gratuities to the fare later.