When was the gratuities DSC last raised?

[finny2]

Do any of you remember when the DSC rate was last changed? I understand it can go up a couple of times a year and I'm wondering if it is due to get raised again.

[PTC DAWG]

I can see why they have to raise it periodically, with the people who like to come on here talking about removing it.  We can’t have nice things. 

[Markanddonna]

I believe it was early spring of 2019. 

[Two Wheels Only]

April 1, 2019....not an April Fool's joke.

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, finny2 said:

Do any of you remember when the DSC rate was last changed? I understand it can go up a couple of times a year and I'm wondering if it is due to get raised again.

It was announced earlier this year. We prepaid the DSC in early March to lock in the rate for two of our cruises this year. Not sure when the new rate went into effect. 

 

There is no set periodicity to the DSC increases. Pretty random. But they always go up (not down) 🙂

[perditax]

6 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I can see why they have to raise it periodically, with the people who like to come on here talking about removing it.  We can’t have nice things. 

 

NCL must love you for cheering on their price hikes. 

[Birdie And Sue]

Both the DSC and the auto-gratuities have been raised not too long ago.  I am not sure of the exact amounts or the time frames but I believe the DSC went up $1 or so and perhaps the auto-gratuities went up (perhaps) from 15% to 20%.  I do not think it happened at the same time though.

[HowardK]

It was very recently- perhaps from $13.95 to $14.50 or so- but they were nice and gave the people they were ripping off the option to prepay ahead of time (up to a year or even two in advance) to save $4.

 

I heard they were going to start charging for premium buffet seating that was closer to some of the food stations.

[luv2kroooz]

3 hours ago, perditax said:

 

NCL must love you for cheering on their price hikes. 

Good point. There are members on this board and in the general public that would pay any amount NCL suggested. $19.95 per guest per day? No problem, costs increase, the crew works hard, yadda yadda yadda.

 

NCL knows this so they continue to raise the service charges and gratuities even though there is no increase to service. And then when someone  wants to reduce the DSC, they get flamed and accused of taking food from the mouths of the crew, or some other ridiculous suggestion. Anyway, its an easy cash grab for corporate. They probably theorize that they can increase revenue significantly even if only 30% of the guests pay the increase.

Edited June 10, 2019 by blcruising

[luv2kroooz]

3 minutes ago, HowardK said:

It was very recently- perhaps from $13.95 to $14.50 or so- but they were nice and gave the people they were ripping off the option to prepay ahead of time (up to a year or even two in advance) to save $4.

 

I heard they were going to start charging for premium buffet seating that was closer to some of the food stations.

13.95 to 14.50 and then 14.50 to 14.99, which has translated to a flat 15.00 onboard.

[Birdie And Sue]

2 minutes ago, blcruising said:

Good point. There are members on this board and in the general public that would pay any amount NCL suggested. $19.95 per guest per day? No problem, costs increase, the crew works hard, yadda yadda yadda.

 

NCL knows this so they continue to raise the service charges and gratuities even though there is no increase to service. And then when someone  wants to reduce the DSC, they get flamed and accused of taking food from the mouths of the crew, or some other ridiculous suggestion. Anyway, its an easy cash grab for corporate. They probably theorize that they can increases revenue significantly even if only 30% of the guests pay the increase.

 

 

Yet you want to get a raise every year in your wages I bet.

[HowardK]

4 minutes ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

Yet you want to get a raise every year in your wages I bet.

Yes ! I do! An I want it just to pay for the extra service charges!!! They have gone up exponentially- I am sure pretty soon we will be seeing $16.50 a day. 

[perditax]

19 minutes ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

Yet you want to get a raise every year in your wages I bet.

 

Are you suggesting onboard crew gets a raise every time the DSC increases?

[phissy]

Brief history of NCL increases and changes.

2015.

Raised DSC twice within a few months.

Started charging for Room Service / continental breakfast exempt

Banned food from being removed from buffets. Quickly reversed when backlash from passengers occurred.

increase auto gratuity on drinks and specialty dining from 15% to 18%

April 1 2017

DCS increased again

13.50 to 13.99 pp/day

Suites 15.50 to 16.99

April 1 2018

auto gratuity increased from 18% to 20%

DCS increased again

13.99 to 14.50

Suites 16.99 to 17.50

began charging Suite guests gratuities on promos

April 1 2019

14.50 to 14.99

Suites 17.50 to 18.00

 

[luv2kroooz]

55 minutes ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

Yet you want to get a raise every year in your wages I bet.

That's an employee-employer matter that my employer and I address every year. My employer doesn't disguise labor costs as service charges on every invoice we issue to our paying customers.

Edited June 10, 2019 by blcruising

[Hotspring]

30 minutes ago, phissy said:

Brief history of NCL increases and changes.

2015.

Raised DSC twice within a few months.

Started charging for Room Service / continental breakfast exempt

Banned food from being removed from buffets. Quickly reversed when backlash from passengers occurred.

increase auto gratuity on drinks and specialty dining from 15% to 18%

April 1 2017

DCS increased again

13.50 to 13.99 pp/day

Suites 15.50 to 16.99

April 1 2018

auto gratuity increased from 18% to 20%

DCS increased again

13.99 to 14.50

Suites 16.99 to 17.50

began charging Suite guests gratuities on promos

April 1 2019

14.50 to 14.99

Suites 17.50 to 18.00

 

Hmm, except for that 10% increase in Suites in 2017 these increase just look like typical inflationary prices changes that we all should have learned are to be expected.   NCL bending backwards  by allowing us to prepay our DSC when we book and not charging us more when they increase the DSC for the procrastinators.     The FED is trying to keep inflation under 3%, these are well within that limit.   What is the problem here?

[perditax]

It seems disingenuous to describe a company as “bending over backwards” with the fiscal quarter they just had.

 

Someone’s doing some bending, all right ... 

[Birdie And Sue]

1 hour ago, blcruising said:

That's an employee-employer matter that my employer and I address every year. My employer doesn't disguise labor costs as service charges on every invoice we issue to our paying customers.

 

Nothing is disguised even slightly.  In many service based businesses there is some sort of  incentive program to reward employees who work together to give excellent service.  EXACTLY what the DSC is and what it is listed as under the FAQ on NCL's web site.  The DSC is (ads has been said) merely an accounting issue to segregate the funding of that incentive program.  I could not care less how NCL breaks down the total price of the cruise as long as it is fully disclosed and the total cost is something I am willing to pay.  Heck if they broke down the fare to $1 and then listed individual items for fuel cost, food cost, pool maintenance fee, gym equipment fee, mini golf replenishment fee, or any additional breakdown it would not matter one bit as long as the total cost of the cruise is the same.  All a total non issue and just an excuse for some people to complain.

Like when you shop on line for a left handed glow in the dark widget.  One company sells it for $50.00 with free shipping and another company sells it for $45.00 plus $5 shipping.  Do you complain tha the second company breaks out the shipping amount?  SAME EXACT THING.

[Birdie And Sue]

1 hour ago, blcruising said:

That's an employee-employer matter that my employer and I address every year. My employer doesn't disguise labor costs as service charges on every invoice we issue to our paying customers.

 

 

Very nice try at a dodge.

[IrieBajan54]

2 hours ago, blcruising said:

Good point. There are members on this board and in the general public that would pay any amount NCL suggested. $19.95 per guest per day? No problem, costs increase, the crew works hard, yadda yadda yadda.

 

NCL knows this so they continue to raise the service charges and gratuities even though there is no increase to service. And then when someone  wants to reduce the DSC, they get flamed and accused of taking food from the mouths of the crew, or some other ridiculous suggestion. Anyway, its an easy cash grab for corporate. They probably theorize that they can increase revenue significantly even if only 30% of the guests pay the increase.

 

Bingo! That the crew is so poor and away from family for 6 months. That they work long hours. And, and "we like to tip extra ... and bring a wad of ones or $2 bills"

 

Forgot one: That the DSC is not the expected gratuity.

[Birdie And Sue]

8 hours ago, blcruising said:

Good point. There are members on this board and in the general public that would pay any amount NCL suggested. $19.95 per guest per day? No problem, costs increase, the crew works hard, yadda yadda yadda.

 

NCL knows this so they continue to raise the service charges and gratuities even though there is no increase to service. And then when someone  wants to reduce the DSC, they get flamed and accused of taking food from the mouths of the crew, or some other ridiculous suggestion. Anyway, its an easy cash grab for corporate. They probably theorize that they can increase revenue significantly even if only 30% of the guests pay the increase.

 

 

You are ASSuming that "corporate" is not being forthcoming when they say that the DSC is used for the purpose that they state (an employee incentive program).  There is no revenue generated from funds that are are segregated, identified as, adn passed through to  employee incentives.

As far as an increase in service, when you get your annual 25¢ an hour at burger king do you flip burghers any faster?

[luv2kroooz]

7 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

 

Bingo! That the crew is so poor and away from family for 6 months. That they work long hours. And, and "we like to tip extra ... and bring a wad of ones or $2 bills"

 

Forgot one: That the DSC is not the expected gratuity.

Oh dear, another double tipper.

 

Dear,

Norwegian Cruise Line is making a nominal adjustment to its daily service charges, effective April 1, 2019. Norwegian's discretionary daily service charges make it easy for guests to provide gratuities to the onboard staff dedicated to delivering superior guest service throughout the cruise.  

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

You are ASSuming that "corporate" is not being forthcoming when they say that the DSC is used for the purpose that they state (an employee incentive program).  There is no revenue generated from funds that are are segregated, identified as, adn passed through to  employee incentives.

As far as an increase in service, when you get your annual 25¢ an hour at burger king do you flip burghers any faster?

You are ASSuming I work at Burger King. Oops.

[luv2kroooz]

7 hours ago, Birdie And Sue said:

Nothing is disguised even slightly.  In many service based businesses there is some sort of  incentive program to reward employees who work together to give excellent service.  EXACTLY what the DSC is and what it is listed as under the FAQ on NCL's web site.  The DSC is (ads has been said) merely an accounting issue to segregate the funding of that incentive program.  

Here is how NCL described it when they emailed their already booked guests about the DSC increase. Sound like a gratuity to me. Yet, if you read their website it's an incentive program. Looks like a disguise to me.

 

Dear,

Norwegian Cruise Line is making a nominal adjustment to its daily service charges, effective April 1, 2019. Norwegian's discretionary daily service charges make it easy for guests to provide gratuities to the onboard staff dedicated to delivering superior guest service throughout the cruise.  

[stevendom57]

It doesn't seem to be much different from the "Resort Fees" that I pay at many hotels. Most of these are nowhere near what I would call a resort, but I pay them.