Room Cleaning Fees?

[CruisingDaddy]

Hi, my wife usually cruise with Celebrity. Our friends just got back from taking a cruise on NCL Epic and they really enjoyed the service and food. We decided to take a look at what they offer and perhaps we would try a new cruise line. But then they told us they had to pay $40 per day for room cleaning service. Is it true that you have to pay for room cleaning service? I could find anything on the website about this fee.

 

Thanks

[cruiseny4life]

2 minutes ago, CruisingDaddy said:

Hi, my wife usually cruise with Celebrity. Our friends just got back from taking a cruise on NCL Epic and they really enjoyed the service and food. We decided to take a look at what they offer and perhaps we would try a new cruise line. But then they told us they had to pay $40 per day for room cleaning service. Is it true that you have to pay for room cleaning service? I could find anything on the website about this fee.

 

Thanks

Daily Service Charge = Apparently name has been changed to "Onboard Service Charge." 

 

Here's what it includes:

 

 

For more details, go here: https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/what-is-onboard-service-charge

[disneylover89]

The $40 a day is the gratuities of $20(for club balcony suites and below)  times 2 (could be by 3 or 4, depending on number of people in cabin).  Most cruise lines charge for gratuities

Edited May 1, 2023 by disneylover89

[CruisingDaddy]

Thanks it all makes sense now. I knew that we have to pay for gratuities but the way my friends said it was like it was a room cleaning fee. Paying gratuities is the norm, it just didn’t come across as it was for gratuities.  Thanks again and I may give them a try after all 

[leithbones]

You might also contact your friends so >> they don't misinform others about "room cleaning service" the way they misinformed you.

[CruisingDaddy]

6 minutes ago, leithbones said:

You might also contact your friends so >> they don't misinform others about "room cleaning service" the way they misinformed you.

Will be doing that for sure. It was their first time on a cruise. I had told them about gratuities in general but when they said room cleaning service I was like: Whattttt! 😀

[casofilia]

@cruiseny4life

 

For more details, go here: https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/what-is-onboard-service-charge

 

I cannot get your link to work.

 

But I see a usual peculiar NCL statement.

 

"Onboard Service Charges are additional" ?????????????   TO WHAT?  An incomplete statement

 

[MoCruiseFan]

1 hour ago, CruisingDaddy said:

Hi, my wife usually cruise with Celebrity. Our friends just got back from taking a cruise on NCL Epic and they really enjoyed the service and food. We decided to take a look at what they offer and perhaps we would try a new cruise line. But then they told us they had to pay $40 per day for room cleaning service. Is it true that you have to pay for room cleaning service? I could find anything on the website about this fee.

 

Thanks

 

False,  There us a daily service charge (the amount depends on your cabin type).  Some people mistakenly refer to it as gratuities, however it is not a gratuity.  It is an employee incentive program.  A description is available on the NCL web siet under the FAQ section,

 

[cruiseny4life]

3 minutes ago, casofilia said:

@cruiseny4life

 

For more details, go here: https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/what-is-onboard-service-charge

 

I cannot get your link to work.

 

But I see a usual peculiar NCL statement.

 

"Onboard Service Charges are additional" ?????????????   TO WHAT?  An incomplete statement

 

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's the Canadian site again! Every time I search for T&C's it always takes me to a Canadian site. Usually I'm better at confirming it's the US site before posting. 

 

Try this link (it should take you to the US site): https://www.ncl.com/faq#!#what-is-onboard-service-charge

 

I've never accessed the New Zealand site, so not sure what differences you have over there. 

 

The "Onboard Service Charges are additional." confused me, as well. I'm guessing they mean are in addition to your cruise fare/drink package/specialty dining gratuities from Free at Sea?

[casofilia]

@cruiseny4life

 

I've never accessed the New Zealand site, so not sure what differences you have over there.   We don't have one we are lumped in with the Australian one.   We have lots!!!

 

The "Onboard Service Charges are additional." confused me, as well. I'm guessing they mean are in addition to your cruise fare/drink package/specialty dining gratuities from Free at Sea?   I agree but didn't confuse me as I am used to finishing, or correcting, rubbish printed by NCL.   And there is lots of it.   

 

Next time you cruise take a red pen and proof read the Freestyle Daily!!   No one on the staff ever does!!

[graphicguy]

OBC, Tips, etc....it's ALL the cruise lines' way of supplementing their staff's wages.  They all charge it.  The nomenclature may be different, but they all do it.

 

Celebrity does, too.  They may say "tips included", but what they really mean is the fare is higher because it's included there.

[dbrown84]

2 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

False,  There us a daily service charge (the amount depends on your cabin type).  Some people mistakenly refer to it as gratuities, however it is not a gratuity.  It is an employee incentive program.  A description is available on the NCL web siet under the FAQ section,

 

Thank you.  I've given up trying to point out to folks that this is not gratuities 

[sherylc]

I've seen other posts that say the Butlers in Haven are not included in the standard gratuities that are paid. With a $5 per person/per day additional charge between Haven and non Haven cabins, is it wrong to assume that the additional gratuities would be for the Butler?

[MoCruiseFan]

32 minutes ago, sherylc said:

I've seen other posts that say the Butlers in Haven are not included in the standard gratuities that are paid. With a $5 per person/per day additional charge between Haven and non Haven cabins, is it wrong to assume that the additional gratuities would be for the Butler?

 

There are no standard gratuities to be paid.  You are talking about the daily service charge which is in the NCL FAQ.

The reason there's a fixed service charge is an important one: Our Crew (as are the crew from other lines) is encouraged to work together as a team. Staff members including complimentary restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports. How much is the charge? Onboard Service Charges are additional.

Other than on certain FAS items and certain purchased items, tipping on NCL is 200% optional.  However, I do think that most people do opt to tip.

[sherylc]

10 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

There are no standard gratuities to be paid.  You are talking about the daily service charge which is in the NCL FAQ.

The reason there's a fixed service charge is an important one: Our Crew (as are the crew from other lines) is encouraged to work together as a team. Staff members including complimentary restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports. How much is the charge? Onboard Service Charges are additional.

Other than on certain FAS items and certain purchased items, tipping on NCL is 200% optional.  However, I do think that most people do opt to tip.

I understand the concept of a service charge, but I am specifically addressing the different amounts listed above for Haven vs non-Haven guests and wonder if that difference is to support the Butlers which the former group benefit from and the latter do not. I am NOT trying to open the tip or no-tip bag of worms - just trying to understand how NCL Haven vs non-Haven Service Charges work. 

[littlelulu01]

It’s not just cruise lines adding the service fees.  Most restaurants do it now too. if dinner is $100 and there’s a 20% service fee added on, I might add a couple extra dollars for the “additional gratuity” for exceptional service but can also leave that additional gratuity line empty and know I’ve still squared away my server.  I won’t be leaving an additional 20%. I think most people don’t want pay 40% more than list price.  I see that service fee with the additional gratuity line pretty often in Washington State.  It’s on ncl ships too. Easy way to take care of everyone when the expectations are that I’m going to get great service. I can remove it should I get bad service but I’ve never had the need to do so on ncl. 

[UKstages]

1 hour ago, sherylc said:

With a $5 per person/per day additional charge between Haven and non Haven cabins, is it wrong to assume that the additional gratuities would be for the Butler?

yes, it would be wrong to assume that.

 

the higher daily fee is generally presumed to be because the haven rooms are larger and require more extensive service and more frequent service.

 

butlers and concierges do not participate in the tip pool administered by NCL from the proceeds of the daily fee.

Edited May 1, 2023 by UKstages

[sherylc]

33 minutes ago, UKstages said:

yes, it would be wrong to assume that.

 

the higher daily fee is generally presumed to be because the haven rooms are larger and require more extensive service and more frequent service.

 

butlers and concierges do not participate in the tip pool administered by NCL from the proceeds of the daily fee.

Thanks for clarifying that. It has been difficult to find a clear answer on NCL's website. Is there a specific site that I missed that goes over who does and who doesn't benefit from the daily service charges? (newbie about to go on my first NCL cruise -- all my experience has been with lines that are a bit more transparent on the issue!)

[fshagan]

4 hours ago, sherylc said:

Thanks for clarifying that. It has been difficult to find a clear answer on NCL's website. Is there a specific site that I missed that goes over who does and who doesn't benefit from the daily service charges? (newbie about to go on my first NCL cruise -- all my experience has been with lines that are a bit more transparent on the issue!)

 

NCL kind of hides it in their FAQ. You can't see it in the section that talks about the service charge. The information about butlers, concierge and youth counselors not being part of the "onboard service charge" is in the section "What about gratuities?" Makes sense, I guess, but I was looking for it the other day and couldn't find it at first.

 

This photo is edited to show both sections open. I have highlighted the information about butlers and the concierge. Here's the URL where I captured the image: https://www.ncl.com/faq#!#what-is-onboard-service-charge

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by fshagan

[UKstages]

and there it is.

 

i've often said that the "tip pool" administered by NCL does not have a direct correlation to the actual money awarded to staff. in other words, we have no idea what happens to the daily gratuity collected from most passengers and the thought that 100% of those fees goes directly to "tipping" the staff on a proportional basis is not grounded in reality.

 

"[staff] are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports."

 

and what that most likely means is that NCL pays competitive wages a little bit above what the staff would earn in their home countries. and that what we pay into the "tip pool" subsidizes the salary they pay. the "onboard service charge" is a revenue source for NCL that subsidizes employment programs. and they probably also throw pizza parties and award gift certificates to the staff store and nominal gifts for exemplary service to those who have won performance-based contests. these may include modest cash awards, but probably not. they do probably have a program in place - funded by our "tips" - that recognizes those who receive "hero cards" or who are praised in customer comments or surveys. there may even be periodic award ceremonies. and some portion of the daily fee likely goes to administer the program, which could mean it funds HR and executive salaries, as well. 

 

in any case, it sure does look like our gratuities fund salary and incentive programs... and are not used on to award "tips" in any traditional sense. anything could be considered an employee incentive, including painting staff cabins or buying a pool table for their community room or giving them a discount on internet (or a set number of free minutes).

 

i'm not saying that's right or wrong (not in this post, anyway). i'm just saying that we may need to readjust the way we think about the tip pool and the benefit that individual staff members may or may not receive from it. and this is not an NCL thing, by the way... it's industry wide. and not just cruise ships... all resort properties do this... fund staff incentives from customers. it may be called a resort fee, it may be called a daily service charge... but, in the end, it's basically revenue and it largely subsidizes base salaries and employee incentives and doesn't bestow traditional "tips" to employees.

 

that bit about "certain staff positions" including "beverage service" not benefiting from the service charge... is confusing, perhaps intentionally so. beverage servers may be excluded from the overall service charge, but they - presumably - do benefit in the same way from the gratuity paid on the drink package and on individually purchased drinks.

[dbrown84]

27 minutes ago, UKstages said:

and there it is.

 

i've often said that the "tip pool" administered by NCL does not have a direct correlation to the actual money awarded to staff. in other words, we have no idea what happens to the daily gratuity collected from most passengers and the thought that 100% of those fees goes directly to "tipping" the staff on a proportional basis is not grounded in reality.

 

"[staff] are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports."

 

and what that most likely means is that NCL pays competitive wages a little bit above what the staff would earn in their home countries. and that what we pay into the "tip pool" subsidizes the salary they pay. the "onboard service charge" is a revenue source for NCL that subsidizes employment programs. and they probably also throw pizza parties and award gift certificates to the staff store and nominal gifts for exemplary service to those who have won performance-based contests. these may include modest cash awards, but probably not. they do probably have a program in place - funded by our "tips" - that recognizes those who receive "hero cards" or who are praised in customer comments or surveys. there may even be periodic award ceremonies. and some portion of the daily fee likely goes to administer the program, which could mean it funds HR and executive salaries, as well. 

 

in any case, it sure does look like our gratuities fund salary and incentive programs... and are not used on to award "tips" in any traditional sense. anything could be considered an employee incentive, including painting staff cabins or buying a pool table for their community room or giving them a discount on internet (or a set number of free minutes).

 

i'm not saying that's right or wrong (not in this post, anyway). i'm just saying that we may need to readjust the way we think about the tip pool and the benefit that individual staff members may or may not receive from it. and this is not an NCL thing, by the way... it's industry wide. and not just cruise ships... all resort properties do this... fund staff incentives from customers. it may be called a resort fee, it may be called a daily service charge... but, in the end, it's basically revenue and it largely subsidizes base salaries and employee incentives and doesn't bestow traditional "tips" to employees.

 

that bit about "certain staff positions" including "beverage service" not benefiting from the service charge... is confusing, perhaps intentionally so. beverage servers may be excluded from the overall service charge, but they - presumably - do benefit in the same way from the gratuity paid on the drink package and on individually purchased drinks.

I agree with this totally.  People are passionate about the DSC because they think of it as tips, or what we usually consider tips to be here in the US.  It's assumed that the $$$ is collected and dived amongst the staff, which is not true.  The best way to reward folks is to directly hand them tips, or fill out the hero cards.

[sanger727]

It's possible that the friends were used to cruising Celebrity with the always included package - which includes gratuity. They may have found out on the NCL ship that they had to pay a $20 pp pd "service fee" and this was their interpretation of that. 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

and what that most likely means is that NCL pays competitive wages a little bit above what the staff would earn in their home countries. and that what we pay into the "tip pool" subsidizes the salary they pay. the "onboard service charge" is a revenue source for NCL that subsidizes employment programs. and they probably also throw pizza parties and award gift certificates to the staff store and nominal gifts for exemplary service to those who have won performance-based contests. these may include modest cash awards, but probably not. they do probably have a program in place - funded by our "tips" - that recognizes those who receive "hero cards" or who are praised in customer comments or surveys. there may even be periodic award ceremonies. and some portion of the daily fee likely goes to administer the program, which could mean it funds HR and executive salaries, as well.

Having worked for NCL with both US and international crew, I know how the DSC is distributed.  There is a certain amount (generally less than 10%) of the DSC used for crew parties, and to fund the "awards" for performance.  The vast majority of the DSC goes directly to the crew.  The base salary of those in the DSC pool is minimal, far less than "competitive in their home country", typically a few dollars a day (by that I mean less than $10/day, this is the way it has always been for decades).  The vast majority of their "compensation package" is made up of DSC.  There is international law that sets the minimum wage for all ships' crews, that specifies that overtime, at a required rate, is paid for hours worked over 40 hours/week, and that comes to about $1200/month.  But, there is no requirement as to how this minimum wage is calculated, so the crew contract spells out that their pay is a combination of a fixed salary (amount specified), and a variable amount of DSC.  So, even if the base salary is $10/day, that means that the DSC amounts to $900 of the $1200 total compensation.  Now, the law says that the only guarantee that the crew have is the statutory base salary of $658/month.  If enough passengers remove or adjust the DSC, so that when apportioned, the crew receive less than the $658/month, then the company has to make up the difference, up to the minimum.

 

So, the major "incentive" program they are speaking of, is the "carrot and stick" incentive where if everyone on the "team" works hard and pleases the passengers, the DSC money gets paid to them (carrot).  But, if they don't work hard, or a few slip up, and they get their pay reduced because of DSC reductions (stick), then the line can blame the passengers for reducing the crew's income, not the cruise line.

 

My one and done for a tip thread.

Edited May 2, 2023 by chengkp75