Platinum laundry, how much to tip?

[SpainAlien]

My upcoming cruise will be my first one as Platinum so I will be sending out my bag of laundry, how much should I tip, is $5 enough?

[YVRteacher]

I’ve never heard of anyone tipping for laundry.  If you want tip, it will be your room steward or butler who delivers your laundry back to your room.  

[SpainAlien]

4 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

I’ve never heard of anyone tipping for laundry.  If you want tip, it will be your room steward or butler who delivers your laundry back to your room.  

I normally leave a couple of bucks with my laundry when I'm paying for it on the basis that the fee includes a tip anyway but for the platinum award since there is no fee i assumed a bigger tip might be in order.

[ready2cruzagain]

Have never tipped for Platinum laundry. It is your cabin steward that picks it up and delivers it so if you want to give him/her extra then go for it.

[ColeThornton]

Don't tip my dry cleaner at home, no reason to tip laundry people on a cruise.

[dexddd]

Never tipped.  Never seen anyone mention it.  It is a free perk.  Percent on free perk = zero. Those doing the hard work in laundry never going to see the tip.  Saw news article about tip whiplash recently.

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, SpainAlien said:

My upcoming cruise will be my first one as Platinum so I will be sending out my bag of laundry, how much should I tip, is $5 enough?

The Laundry is handled by your room steward. Tip them whatever you want at the end of the cruise. We’re normally about $10/day for the two of us (yes, even with the single service a day). 

[luv2kroooz]

A few months ago they raised the DSC to an industry leading $20. The regular DSC is supposed to cover those behind the scenes people that impact your cruise. The tipping spigot has run dry. When a family of four travels together, they are encouraged to tip $80 per day. Enough already.

[tomk3212]

We've never tipped for laundry service & we've been Platinum for quite some time.  We DO give our room steward (who picks up/delivers the laundry) a tip on the first day and a second tip (dependent on how the service was) on the last or next-to-last day.

[tomk3212]

13 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

A few months ago they raised the DSC to an industry leading $20. The regular DSC is supposed to cover those behind the scenes people that impact your cruise. The tipping spigot has run dry. When a family of four travels together, they are encouraged to tip $80 per day. Enough already.

Agree!  I sometimes miss the days when you handed people an envelope with cash on the last night.  But then you also had folks who purposely 'stiffed' these people so now we have the DSC.

 

HOWEVER...my problem with the DSC is where is this $$ actually going to?  Ditto the 18.5% 'service charge' on bar bills & such.  I have NO problem tipping these folks!!!  My issue is that there should be some sort of accountability from EVERY cruise line as to

1) How much DSC $$ was collected and

2) Where EXACTLY did this $$ go towards?

 

My 2 cents...

[MoCruiseFan]

18 hours ago, SpainAlien said:

My upcoming cruise will be my first one as Platinum so I will be sending out my bag of laundry, how much should I tip, is $5 enough?

 

 

Again, the ONLY right answer to a tipping question is 'tip anyone you want, any time you want, any amount you want".  There is no suggested, common, usual, right, or wrong amount to tip.  What you choose to give someone as a tip is between you and that person.  What othwes choose to do (or not to do in soem cases) is of no relevance what-so-ever.

 

[MoCruiseFan]

5 hours ago, luv2kroooz said:

A few months ago they raised the DSC to an industry leading $20. The regular DSC is supposed to cover those behind the scenes people that impact your cruise. The tipping spigot has run dry. When a family of four travels together, they are encouraged to tip $80 per day. Enough already.

 

 

False, misleading, and irrelevant info here.  1st off the DSC has noting at all to do with tipping.  2nd the DSC should not be used as an excuse to not tip those deserving.  3rd no one is 'encouraged' to tip any specified amount.

[luv2kroooz]

8 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

 

False, misleading, and irrelevant info here.  1st off the DSC has noting at all to do with tipping.  2nd the DSC should not be used as an excuse to not tip those deserving.  3rd no one is 'encouraged' to tip any specified amount.

I can only share what NCL states and what current industry standards are. You are most welcome to twist their statement or interpret it in any way you see fit, as are other readers of these forums. Thanks for sharing your interpretation. I hope this clears up false misleading and irrelevant info I posted, if any. Lol.

 

Lastly, we reserve the right to shut off or even reduce the DSC/tips, at any point, in keeping with current industry standards, which are currently $15-$16.50 per person, per day based on cruise line. No one charges $20 except NCL. I wonder why that would be?

 

From NCL.

Why is there a service charge?
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

Edited May 31, 2023 by luv2kroooz

[phillygwm]

20 hours ago, SpainAlien said:

My upcoming cruise will be my first one as Platinum so I will be sending out my bag of laundry, how much should I tip, is $5 enough?

I do tip my room steward at the beginning of the cruise and, if service was good (it usually is,) at the end as well.  As many, many previous threads have concluded, however, there's no obligation to do so.  The DSC covers it.

 

I've never thought about tipping specifically for laundry and see no reason to do so.  The people actually doing the laundry wouldn't benefit from that.

Edited May 31, 2023 by phillygwm

[Goldenknight]

1 hour ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

 

Again, the ONLY right answer to a tipping question is 'tip anyone you want, any time you want, any amount you want". 

 

 

+1

 

No one cares if I tip extra, I agree with you.

 

A reason for someone's salty reply: 

 

(1)  Not understanding the difference between a service charge and a tip.  

(2)  The service charge is fully disclosed.  If someone doesn't like it, it's simple: don't choose NCL.  Choose another cruise line.  Or, better yet, if you can't afford it, stay home. 

No one at NCL forced anyone to book with them.  😂

 

 

[itsnotjustme]

I do not tip on laundry,

[MSUjohn]

there is no mechanism to tip anyone working back of the house directly.

 

 

[seemoreroyals]

10 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

 

False, misleading, and irrelevant info here.  1st off the DSC has noting at all to do with tipping.  2nd the DSC should not be used as an excuse to not tip those deserving.  3rd no one is 'encouraged' to tip any specified amount.

 

DSC has everything to do with tipping.  When we began cruising 30 years ago the norm for tipping was to have separate envelopes to present to the cabin steward, waiter, and others if you wished on the last day of the cruise.  There was no drink package back then so the norm was to leave a tip when ordering a drink.

 

Flash forward to today.  The norm is to pay a DSC in lieu of tipping.  I can't recall what the DSC was when it first came out but it was sold to us as a convenient way to make sure that waiters, cabin stewards, now bartenders with the advent of drink packages, are properly compensated.  That way we can enjoy our cruise without the worry of who to tip, how much, when, and under which circumstances.

 

To OP, no we do not leave a tip when ordering platinum laundry.  Anything over and above the DSC while appreciated by steward, waiter, or bartender is  IMO not necessary.  At $20 per day per person, or $280 per couple for a 7 day cruise, IMO is adequate for cabin steward, wait staff, bartender tips, or related services.   On the other hand if NCL wants to go back to individual envelopes with suggested amounts to tip per day for services rendered I would be okay going back to that as well.

 

 

[Clairescurtains]

Sorry if this is a naive question but we haven't sailed NCL in many years. We have usually pre-paid tips or what NCL calls a service charge in advance but it doesn't seem to be broken out on our reservation information even though I asked for a total bottom line price. Should I expect the additional $280 added to our final bill? I certainly don't mind paying this amount as the crew deserve compensation but I was led to believe that the total we were given when booking was, in fact, the total.

[Nodakboiler]

Our confirmation printout lists prepaid service charges in the booking components.

[pghflyer]

Never tipped and never been there when they collect or deliver the laundry. 

[luv2kroooz]

23 minutes ago, Clairescurtains said:

it doesn't seem to be broken out on our reservation information

If it isn't listed separately on your booking confirmation then they haven't including the prepaid tips. They'll probably add the $20 per person per day charge onboard. You can check this onboard or on the app or on your TV. NCL adds the charge on a day by day basis.

[itsnotjustme]

10 hours ago, Clairescurtains said:

Should I expect the additional $280 added to our final bill?

Yes - unless you somehow have pre-paid gratuities.  That is a perk my travel agent sometimes offers, and I make a point to book when it is available.  Typically, this will be more valuable than a $100 or $200 OBC.  We had this in a suite for a 16-day cruise recently.  Saved $800.

[RB9643]

 

If you look at your reservation on the NCL website, "vacation summary" and scroll down, you will see an option to pre-pay service charges. We always do this after our final payment. One and done, forget about it.

[phillygwm]

14 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

Flash forward to today.  The norm is to pay a DSC in lieu of tipping.  I can't recall what the DSC was when it first came out but it was sold to us as a convenient way to make sure that waiters, cabin stewards, now bartenders with the advent of drink packages, are properly compensated.  That way we can enjoy our cruise without the worry of who to tip, how much, when, and under which circumstances.

I think the confusion arises because NCL states that DSC isn't distributed to the crew, per se, as tips would be.  Instead, it's part of their comp package and distributed more indirectly, in the form of crew parties etc.  Clearly, DSC is designed to replace tipping.  NCL explicitly states that additional tipping, while welcome, is not expected; the DSC covers it.

 

If it were somehow possible to directly tip the people working in the laundry (and if you've done the BTS tour you'll know that job isn't particularly pleasant) I might...But you can't.  I don't tip my steward per task (you cleaned out my fridge, you brought extra towels, I left the toilet messy, etc. so here's a few bucks.)  That's all in their job description. 

 

I usually DO choose to tip my steward a lump sum if the guy is accessible when I need him and he's made my stay especially pleasant.  I'm not trying to virtue shame anyone else; and I probably wouldn't if service was mediocre.  I appreciate someone who makes an extra effort for me and I'll throw him a bit little extra which is always appreciated.