Tipping

[Pete Nice]

On 1/11/2024 at 3:42 PM, seemoreroyals said:

Pay the DSC and the prepaid gratuities on drink package and specialty dinner and you are good to go.  Beyond that to each his own.  You are not required or expected to pay more.  

 

I think this sums it up perfectly.  From time to time, we might throw a 5 or even a 20 at a bartender for some exceptional service and to a person they have been very grateful even with smaller amounts.

[kayell]

On 1/24/2024 at 1:02 PM, RocketMan275 said:

Not just believe, there are reliable posters who have reported actually seeing this list so it isn't 'rubbish'.  IIRC, this list isn't posted until the debarkation day so there's no mystery why you would have never noticed a change.  The purpose of the list is so crew will know whether they may keep or must turn-in any cash received from passengers.  

 

It shouldn't surprise you that there are some here who do not believe in stiffing the crew from their well earned gratuities.

How does the staff of the ship know how much cash the crew receives from certain passengers? Or would this mean a percentage comes off their pay?

[fshagan]

2 minutes ago, kayell said:

How does the staff of the ship know how much cash the crew receives from certain passengers? Or would this mean a percentage comes off their pay?

 

If you're talking about cash tips they are extra and not put in the tip pool, and NCL allows their employees to receive cash tips. They are not penalized for getting cash tips.

 

This response has a former NCL engineer explain exactly how the service charge money is given to employees through their paycheck. Not the percentage of the money or amounts given to each position, but how paying or not paying the DSC (or OSC) can affect the crew. But that applies to the service fee and not any cash tips you hand out.

 

I'm linking this to try and be helpful. I believe the poster because I had a job with almost this exact, per-pay period adjustment to wages based on certain company indicators. NCL could easily do this with DSC / OSC.

[PATRLR]

On 1/31/2024 at 12:47 AM, fshagan said:

 

This response has a former NCL engineer explain exactly how the service charge money is given to employees through their paycheck.

Thank you for posting that.  I'd lost the link and CC's search feature isn't very robust so I couldn't find it again.  I agree with your assessment, I trust his statements based on his history on these forums.  I also like his reply #46 in that thread in response to my question comparing crew compensation before DSC and after.  

[UKstages]

On 1/30/2024 at 8:34 PM, razor7_us said:

Beg to differ. From NCL.com under my reservation. As stated, the D in DSC is discretionary, which oddly enough is the opposite of mandatory. 

 

um, no. just no. 

 

that excerpt doesn't state that the "D" stands for "discretionary," it states that the charge is in fact "discretionary." but that doesn't mean that the charge formerly known as the DSC was named the "discretionary service charge." before NCL changed the name, they repeatedly referred to the "DSC" as the "daily service charge."

 

why would they name it in such a way to encourage you from eliminating it? that makes no sense.

 

also:

 

there are fees associated with FAS, but that doesn't mean it was named the "fee" at sea program. many get OBC while sailing, but the "O" doesn't stand for "ocean" even though the credit is spent while sailing on the ocean. some eat meals in the "MDR" every day, but the "M" doesn't stand for "meals" and the "D" doesn't stand for "day" or "daily."

 

this charge was renamed the "onboard service charge" and there's a good chance they did it precisely to avoid the confusion and misunderstanding you seem to have fallen prey to.

 

this is like saying "LOL" after someone texts to say their mom died. regardless of how well meaning you might be and regardless of what you think it might mean, "LOL" does not mean "lots of love."

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

um, no. just no. 

 

that excerpt doesn't state that the "D" stands for "discretionary," it states that the charge is in fact "discretionary."

This came up a while ago and at the time I didn't believe it so I talked to my friends at Google.  I learned that they had never seen NCL give it a proper name of "Discretionary Service Charge" (as you know), they only had record of it on NCL sites as described that way in a few places.  But the fascinating thing is just how many non-NCL sites (bloggers, news, forums, etc) changed NCL's descriptive term ("a discretionary service charge") into a formal name ("Discretionary Service Charge").  

There is a marketing lesson in there and I am sure the name was changed precisely to break that connection to "discretionary" (and for our convenience, of course).

Edited February 2 by PATRLR

[razor7_us]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

um, no. just no. 

 

that excerpt doesn't state that the "D" stands for "discretionary," it states that the charge is in fact "discretionary." but that doesn't mean that the charge formerly known as the DSC was named the "discretionary service charge." before NCL changed the name, they repeatedly referred to the "DSC" as the "daily service charge."

 

why would they name it in such a way to encourage you from eliminating it? that makes no sense.

 

also:

 

there are fees associated with FAS, but that doesn't mean it was named the "fee" at sea program. many get OBC while sailing, but the "O" doesn't stand for "ocean" even though the credit is spent while sailing on the ocean. some eat meals in the "MDR" every day, but the "M" doesn't stand for "meals" and the "D" doesn't stand for "day" or "daily."

 

this charge was renamed the "onboard service charge" and there's a good chance they did it precisely to avoid the confusion and misunderstanding you seem to have fallen prey to.

 

this is like saying "LOL" after someone texts to say their mom died. regardless of how well meaning you might be and regardless of what you think it might mean, "LOL" does not mean "lots of love."

We will agree to disagree. I stated earlier that DSC has been explained as both Daily and Discretionary Service charge on the website. I showed you an example of "Discretionary" that is on my rewards account for an upcoming cruise. If you want to throw out acronyms like LOL and MDR feel free if you must and I will ROLF and LMAO.  You do what you want with you OSC and I will do what I want with my DSC. Hmm, I wonder if your OSC is mandatory or it it also discretionary?

[yakcruiser]

And this thread goes on and on and on. 

[PATRLR]

3 hours ago, razor7_us said:

. I showed you an example of "Discretionary" that is on my rewards account for an upcoming cruise.

We are debating what the acronym stands for.  The acronym is going to be for the formal name.

You showed text that included "a discretionary service charge" which is much different from something labeled with the formal name "Discretionary Service Charge".    No where was I (or Google) able to find the formal name Discretionary Service Charge on the NCL site.

[spanishguy1970]

On 1/11/2024 at 3:20 PM, junieh said:

Having read the heated discussions on another post, I was curious as to how much people usually tip on a cruise and when. Do you tip at the start, at the end or daily? And how much?

 

Also, with the freestyle dining and not having assigned tables and therefore servers for the duration of the cruise, do people tip the servers at MDR every night or not bother with tipping except for speciality restaurants?

 

We are relatively new to cruising and in our country tipping is not compulsory so I am genuinely curious. We do pay the full DSC, I wouldn't even dream of having it removed or reduced as the way I see it, it is a part of the cost of the cruise. But tipping on top of paying the gratuities is not a concept that we are very much used to 🙂 We tip because we know it is expected (and sometimes because we really do receive an excellent service so we want to show our appreciation). We don't want to tip more than we need to but at the same time, we don't want to offend anyone. So this is meant as just genuine research, not a debate on tipping 🙂

my answer will always be Tip what your pocket allows, no one needs to know how much you tip, is nobody business. IMO. Happy cruising.

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

my answer will always be Tip what your pocket allows

My pocket allows $10.  The service was crap.  What do I tip?

[spanishguy1970]

9 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

My pocket allows $10.  The service was crap.  What do I tip?

🥱🥱🥱

[complawyer]

hey chief, if you feel that the service was crap, dont tip anything. move the $10 from your pocket,  to a hand of blackjack!

[UKstages]

4 hours ago, razor7_us said:

I showed you an example of "Discretionary" that is on my rewards account for an upcoming cruise.

 

respectfully, no, you did not. i know that's what you think you showed us, but you did not. you pointed to something wherein NCL says the charge is discretionary. and indeed it is. that doesn't make the old name "discretionary service charge." it merely means that the charge formerly known as the "daily service charge,"  is discretionary. (it's also applied daily!)

 

oh, look! the word "discretionary" begins with the same first letter as "daily." 

 

what a heck of a coincidence!

 

and those other acronyms were thrown in to show how preposterous this supposition is. just because something is something doesn't mean its name stands for that very thing, even if one or more of the letters is the same. TSA doesn't stand for 'transportation safety administration" no matter how many people think it does. DSC has never been an official acronym for "discretionary service charge." 

 

and though it's been said many times, many ways, here it is again: the charge has been renamed the "onboard service charge." and - surprise, surprise - it, too, is discretionary!

Edited February 2 by UKstages

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 hours ago, complawyer said:

hey chief, if you feel that the service was crap, dont tip anything. move the $10 from your pocket,  to a hand of blackjack!

Exactly.  That other post was just plain silly.  

 

That said, I would likely just leave the $10 in my pocket.😎  A few years of that and I have "happy pockets."

Edited February 3 by ChiefMateJRK

[smillerholmes]

7 hours ago, UKstages said:

TSA doesn't stand for 'transportation safety administration" no matter how many people think it does.

I never really thought about what the actual acronym stood for so I had to look it up - but if somebody had just randomly asked me on the street I'd probably say "Transportation Security Agency" which is just as incorrect.

 

Thanks for making my brain jiggle...

[PartyPlannerLady]

On 1/11/2024 at 3:20 PM, junieh said:

Having read the heated discussions on another post, I was curious as to how much people usually tip on a cruise and when. Do you tip at the start, at the end or daily? And how much?

 

Also, with the freestyle dining and not having assigned tables and therefore servers for the duration of the cruise, do people tip the servers at MDR every night or not bother with tipping except for speciality restaurants?

 

We are relatively new to cruising and in our country tipping is not compulsory so I am genuinely curious. We do pay the full DSC, I wouldn't even dream of having it removed or reduced as the way I see it, it is a part of the cost of the cruise. But tipping on top of paying the gratuities is not a concept that we are very much used to 🙂 We tip because we know it is expected (and sometimes because we really do receive an excellent service so we want to show our appreciation). We don't want to tip more than we need to but at the same time, we don't want to offend anyone. So this is meant as just genuine research, not a debate on tipping 🙂

Just like what other people get paid, what others tip is none of anyone else's business.  Also it is of no concern or relevance to what you choose to tip.  As I have seen stated on here several times, the ONLY rle about tipping is to tip anyone you want any amount you want any time you want.  There is no suggested, customary, usual, common, or normal amout to tip.  EOS  It quite amazes me that some folks are so concerned with what others do with their money!

[Faulkh]

On 1/23/2024 at 11:42 AM, UKstages said:

view cruise critic opinions like sitcom plots. there are only a few sitcom plots and they get endlessly repeated, week after week, year after year, decade after decade.

I just spit out my wine,  I save the tipping threads and the ‘is the haven worth it’ threads for Friday and Saturday nights with a glass of wine, better than any sitcom.

 

i have no life I guess 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[Fogfog]

On 1/11/2024 at 3:27 PM, cruiseny4life said:

I'll answer in the spirit of how your question was asked (can't promise others will) We only tip after service is received - never in advance.

 

We always stay in the Haven which means the concierge and butler do not receive compensation from the onboard service charge.

 

Stateroom Attendant - $50, however we did not tip anything on our cruise in November as service was average. 

Servers in Haven Restaurant (they do receive onboard service charge, but we receive outstanding service from a couple each trip, except back in March) - $20 - $40 per server for the duration of the cruise

Bartenders - $40/each in the Haven and IF I find one exceptional bartender outside of the Haven

Concierge - $60 

Butler - $55 (I think)

 

I hope that helps! 

Hey there

This is timely as I was going to post asking about Haven. And we were going to email pre-sailing concierge

So our Butler and Concierge don't get anything from the grats we are charged? 

We are trying Haven (past 6 sailings were MSC YC)  and heard that we are expected to tip the butler $25 pp per day. 

We are accustomed to giving envelopes with notes of appreciate and cash to butler and all those folks who make it wonderful. 

Have you heard any $ number floating around?

Thanks in advance

 

[complawyer]

wrong, wrong and WRONG! $25 per person per day is even more than the dsc. depending on the length of your cruise and the extent of your interactions with your butler a couple of benjamins should be sufficient. and maybe 50-100 to the concierge depending how much of his/her services you utilize

 

 

[Fogfog]

TYVM

It seemed excessive.

We expect the Butlers are paid by NCL for their expertise and status in their respective contracts.

And we expect to tip.

That # felt high

[complawyer]

fyi, i also give the cabin steward (depending on the length of the cruise) $20, on the 1st day, $20 mid cruise) $20 at the end if it's a 7 day cruise and an additional $20 every 3-4 days again, depending on the length.

 

this has been debated previously, but if  you're going to be in a haven suite, and additional $20-40 to the maitre'd  couldnt hurt.

[Fogfog]

@complawyer

agree. 

We believe in grats and appreciate those who serve so well.

 

TY for your thoughts

Edited February 5 by Fogfog

[spanishguy1970]

On 2/2/2024 at 8:51 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

Exactly.  That other post was just plain silly.  

 

That said, I would likely just leave the $10 in my pocket.😎  A few years of that and I have "happy pockets."

you have been busy with posts 🙂 since 2021. I have been here since 2010 and i just don't have the time. Well done.

[cruiseny4life]

42 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

you have been busy with posts 🙂 since 2021. I have been here since 2010 and i just don't have the time. Well done.

Oh my! Don't look at when I joined vs. post count...well ok, now that I've pointed it out. Do! 😁