refund on gratuity on drink beverage

[DoctorBee]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

 

Call NCL  again and again you can  absolutely refuse the package and not have to pay the gratuities, in fact you can swap among any of the perks that were available when you booked. People do it all the time and it is never a problem.

 

If there is an issue it is because of your location in Asia, and there maybe  different rules, but in the US it is easy to get rid of any or all of the perks that you do not want.

Hi thanks for your reply. As I mentioned in another reply I made, I may be from Asia but I booked through an NCL agent based in Miami and made final reservations on board on the last day of our last cruise which was July31,2019 so I do think the rules would have been the same. 

 

I don’t have a local local agent In Asia. I will try to call NCL and ask for them to take out the drink package, I will update this thread too. Thanks a lot

[DoctorBee]

16 hours ago, erdoran said:

you can absolutely refuse the drink package.  If you get on the ship afaik you are stuck.  Call back and if you get the same nonsense ask for a supervisor and say you want to decline the drink package and you want the $238 credited back.  

Thank you and I will try 

[DoctorBee]

5 hours ago, ed01106 said:

If you really want to play hardball......

 

go to guest service on the ship and tell them you are dissatisfied with being charged with $238 dollar charge, and when they say they can’t change it.  tell them being they can’t adjust that you are  dissatisfied with the overall service and experience and that you have an absolute right to lower or completely refund $14 per day per person service fee....and that you demand that that fee be reduced by $239 to compensate you for your dissatisfaction.   And see how they respond.

 

That assumes your cruise is long enough to add up to that much.  Otherwise you are only looking at a partial refund.  

 

You are also sending a powerful message to the cruise line how much you disapprove of their drink package policy.

 

No I have never done this, so I don’t know if it will work.

 

 

I may just try that. Thanks a lot

[donaldsc]

Is the drink package an unlimited drink package or a defined number per day.  If unlimited and you can not get out of it, I have a really stupid suggestion but it at least gets back at them which might give you some satisfaction.  Order 20 or 30 drinks per day and just pour them out.  At least you will be costing them money.  Another suggestion would be for you to routinely order drinks for 15 or 20 of your new closest friends.  Again, you will still be out the money but someone will be enjoying the drinks that you are unwillingly paying for.

 

DON

[donaldsc]

Sorry.  Accidental double post.

 

DON

Edited August 10, 2019 by donaldsc

[njhorseman]

8 hours ago, DoctorBee said:

Hi @njhorseman thank you for your reply and to all other replies. Although yes, we are from Asia, the cruise I booked was on board and made on the last day of the cruise we just got off from. (Baltic 9days) The agent also works for Norwegian in Miami so I think the rules may have been the same

 

what do you suggest I do re drink package? Booked a mini suite so I think there aren’t enough privileges that go with it. The cruise next officer on board the ship when I booked it says system can’t be changed and agent of NCL who corresponds with me through email says if she takes out drink package, she takes out most of the perks too. So I’m confused. Thank you again

So assuming your booking was made under the US conditions in a mini suite you have the choice of either all the promotions, which are dining, beverage, WiFi and shore excursion credits, or taking just two of the four promotions. By doing the latter you can exclude the beverage package and its gratuities and then you will have your choice of two of the three remaining promotional perks. It's very simple...we have numerous bookings for both cruises already taken and upcoming cruises that we did exactly that way.

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Is the drink package an unlimited drink package or a defined number per day.  If unlimited and you can not get out of it, I have a really stupid suggestion but it at least gets back at them which might give you some satisfaction.  Order 20 or 30 drinks per day and just pour them out.  At least you will be costing them money.  Another suggestion would be for you to routinely order drinks for 15 or 20 of your new closest friends.  Again, you will still be out the money but someone will be enjoying the drinks that you are unwillingly paying for.

 

DON

Since you obviously don't know the rules of the promotion as evidenced by your having to ask the question in your first sentence perhaps it would be better for you to read the posts made by others that explain how and the OP can actually reject the package and save the gratuity costs. That way you wouldn't have to make what you describe as your "really stupid suggestion".

[njhorseman]

8 hours ago, DoctorBee said:

I may just try that. Thanks a lot

No, don't try that because it's totally unnecessary and just an act of childish retribution. Reducing your daily service charge, which has nothing to do with the beverage service charge is trying to exact punishment for something someone didn't do. The daily service charge is a substantial part of the pay of the housekeeping and restaurant crew, but not the beverage crew, whose pay largely comes from the beverage gratuity charge. 

 

By now you should know how to legitimately reject the beverage package and its gratuity charge and not resort to tricks and games.

[SteveH2508]

4 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Is the drink package an unlimited drink package or a defined number per day.  If unlimited and you can not get out of it, I have a really stupid suggestion but it at least gets back at them which might give you some satisfaction.  Order 20 or 30 drinks per day and just pour them out.  At least you will be costing them money.  Another suggestion would be for you to routinely order drinks for 15 or 20 of your new closest friends.  Again, you will still be out the money but someone will be enjoying the drinks that you are unwillingly paying for.

 

DON

Great plan - NOT! The drinks package gets withdrawn with no refund, because it is not allowed to be shared.

[ed01106]

4 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Is the drink package an unlimited drink package or a defined number per day.  If unlimited and you can not get out of it, I have a really stupid suggestion but it at least gets back at them which might give you some satisfaction.  Order 20 or 30 drinks per day and just pour them out.  At least you will be costing them money.  Another suggestion would be for you to routinely order drinks for 15 or 20 of your new closest friends.  Again, you will still be out the money but someone will be enjoying the drinks that you are unwillingly paying for.

 

DON

 

8 minutes ago, SteveH2508 said:

Great plan - NOT! The drinks package gets withdrawn with no refund, because it is not allowed to be shared.

Don’t do the sharing that is not allowed.

 

But it is totally legal to order a $15 drink take one very small sip, tell the bar tender you don’t like the drink order a different drink, repeat, until you have wasted over $1000 worth of beverages in an hour.  This will get someone’s attention.  

 

Step 1.  Call NCL.  See if you can get them to remove it legitimately without adversely affecting other bonuses, cost etc.

 

Only if that fails try,,...

 

Step 2.  My idea of getting a refund via a different charge.  

 

Only if that fails too.

 

Step 3 set a goal for yourself that being NCL is forcing you to waste $238 dollars needlessly you will force then to waste $23,800 needlessly by ordering hundreds of drinks per day and only consuming the equivalent of one.

 

 

 

 

[njhorseman]

11 hours ago, DoctorBee said:

Hi @njhorseman thank you for your reply and to all other replies. Although yes, we are from Asia, the cruise I booked was on board and made on the last day of the cruise we just got off from. (Baltic 9days) The agent also works for Norwegian in Miami so I think the rules may have been the same

 

what do you suggest I do re drink package? Booked a mini suite so I think there aren’t enough privileges that go with it. The cruise next officer on board the ship when I booked it says system can’t be changed and agent of NCL who corresponds with me through email says if she takes out drink package, she takes out most of the perks too. So I’m confused. Thank you again

 

3 hours ago, njhorseman said:

So assuming your booking was made under the US conditions in a mini suite you have the choice of either all the promotions, which are dining, beverage, WiFi and shore excursion credits, or taking just two of the four promotions. By doing the latter you can exclude the beverage package and its gratuities and then you will have your choice of two of the three remaining promotional perks. It's very simple...we have numerous bookings for both cruises already taken and upcoming cruises that we did exactly that way.

I just realized my response to your post...both quoted above...had an omission. If you don't want to take all the promotions, and if your cruise is one that also offers "friends and family free",  meaning third and fourth guests in the cabin are free, then by rejecting the beverage package you would have to choose from two of the four remaining promotional perks, not two of three as I originally stated. The four remaining perks you would have to choose from are dining package, WiFi, shore excursion credit and "friends and family free".

[ed01106]

1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

 

I just realized my response to your post...both quoted above...had an omission. If you don't want to take all the promotions, and if your cruise is one that also offers "friends and family free",  meaning third and fourth guests in the cabin are free, then by rejecting the beverage package you would have to choose from two of the four remaining promotional perks, not two of three as I originally stated. The four remaining perks you would have to choose from are dining package, WiFi, shore excursion credit and "friends and family free".

Which is a very unreasonable policy.  

 

I say fight it tooth and nail even if it means being unreasonable yourself.

[njhorseman]

1 minute ago, ed01106 said:

Which is a very unreasonable policy.  

 

I say fight it tooth and nail even if it means being unreasonable yourself.

Your suggestions are so good that I'm surprised you haven't thought of these possibilities that fit right in with your theme:

 

- Throw yourself on the floor at the guest services desk like a two year old having a temper tantrum until they refund your beverage gratuity.

 

-Tell the general manager that unless they refund your service charge you're going to call ICE at the next US port and tip them off about crew members who will be trying to sneak into the US illegally when they go ashore.

 

Seriously...the rules of the promotion are the rules of the promotion. If you don't like them don't book an NCL cruise and  take your money elsewhere. Being "unreasonable" in the ways you suggest is just  vindictive, childish and unproductive.

[RocketMan275]

I guess I don't understand.  NCL is giving a free drink package but then charging 15% gratuities using the 'value' of the drinks package as the base?

[ed01106]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

I guess I don't understand.  NCL is giving a free drink package but then charging 15% gratuities using the 'value' of the drinks package as the base?

20% 

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, ed01106 said:

20% 

What a clever rip off.

[marco]

I think I'd bag NCL and cruise on a different line!

[mjkacmom]

36 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

What a clever rip off.

Not really, it’s still much cheaper than purchasing the beverage package, you also have to pay the gratuity on that, and for most, it’s still a big cost savings vs buying drinks. But, they don’t make you take it as a perk.

[njhorseman]

42 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

What a clever rip off.

 

33 minutes ago, marco said:

I think I'd bag NCL and cruise on a different line!

 

It's not a rip off. You can decline the package. Then you won't pay a dime.

 

You have a choice of perks, from one to five of them depending on the type of cabin and your particular cruise. No one is ever forced to take the beverage package. We decline it and take other perks because we drink little or nothing.

 

If you're  even a modest drinker drinker it's a wash and if you drink even a bit more it's a bargain . Remember if you buy your drinks a la carte you're going to pay a 20% gratuity on them. Every non all inclusive cruise line I know of charges a gratuity of 15 to 20% on your drinks. So if you buy only two $10 drinks a day you're already ahead of the game. Two $10 a la carte drinks plus gratuity would cost you $24 but if you have the beverage package you would have only paid the $19.98 gratuity for the day...20% of the assumed $99 retail value of the beverage package. 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2019 by njhorseman

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

It's not a rip off. You can decline the package. Then you won't pay a dime.

..20% of the assumed $99 retail value of the beverage package. 

 

The retail value of the beverage package is the rip off.

 

[zqvol]

OP

 

A lot of the information in this thread is inaccurate. Many of the posters don't sail NCL often and don't know the rules. If you want more accurate information check on the NCL boards, and they will be happy to tell you how easy it is not to accept a promo, but still keep all of the others.

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

 

It's not a rip off. You can decline the package. Then you won't pay a dime.

 

You have a choice of perks, from one to five of them depending on the type of cabin and your particular cruise. No one is ever forced to take the beverage package. We decline it and take other perks because we drink little or nothing.

 

If you're  even a modest drinker drinker it's a wash and if you drink even a bit more it's a bargain . Remember if you buy your drinks a la carte you're going to pay a 20% gratuity on them. Every non all inclusive cruise line I know of charges a gratuity of 15 to 20% on your drinks. So if you buy only two $10 drinks a day you're already ahead of the game. Two $10 a la carte drinks plus gratuity would cost you $24 but if you have the beverage package you would have only paid the $19.98 gratuity for the day...20% of the assumed $99 retail value of the beverage package. 

 

 

You're assuming the drink package is free.  It is not.  It is included but it is not free.

[njhorseman]

5 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

You're assuming the drink package is free.  It is not.  It is included but it is not free.

No. I'm not assuming it's "free". Nothing on the ship is free. Your meals in the dining room and buffet aren't free either, they're also included. 

 

But the fare is  not loaded with anything near the $99 per day assumed value of the drink package. First, not everyone takes the drink package. On one recent cruise I asked the hotel director what percentage of passengers on that cruise had  the package and he told me it was about 45% . The other perks that can be chosen are generally far less costly in value and many passengers take those. The fares are set reflecting the expected average cost of all the available perks, with of course a profit loading.

 

You can't be charging fares like $599 for a one week cruise in an inside cabin with the drink package available as your perk if the fare included a large loading for the drink package. $99 a day a day for 7 days yields a fare of $693 just for that, which means the total fare would have to be at least $1000 per person, not $599...and I'll bet you can find fares less than $599 if you look. The $599 example is on the Sept. 8 sailing of the Norwegian Escape...in fact I just saw a $549 fare eligible for the drink package on the Nov. 2 sailing of the Norwegian Dawn and I'm sure I can find many more, some perhaps even cheaper if I took the time.

 

So yes, you're paying for it, but not nearly as much as you might think.

[njhorseman]

6 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

The retail value of the beverage package is the rip off.

 

When you have the promotion perk the retail value of the package is only of relevance in computing how much you pay in gratuities. If it was $75 instead of $99 per day you'd pay $4.80 per day less, not a huge amount...far less than the a la carte price of a single drink. 

[RocketMan275]

8 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

When you have the promotion perk the retail value of the package is only of relevance in computing how much you pay in gratuities. If it was $75 instead of $99 per day you'd pay $4.80 per day less, not a huge amount...far less than the a la carte price of a single drink. 

That isn't a rip off?