HELP! First NCL Cruise Since Covid - Gratuity Question

[cruiseny4life]

19 hours ago, rlpboy said:

I'm glad everyone is having a great time on this cruise!  I just read orca's post and she has eaten at a few places we haven't tried yet so we will try to his those the next couple of days.  Hopefully we have better luck moving forward.  I appreciate all of your comments.  You've all been a huge help.  Thank you!  🙂

Try out a few other places. Try to keep an open mind. You're on vacation. Do your best to enjoy it. I hope you are able to!

 

If the food issues, staff issues, and cleanliness issues are as you claim and don't get better, then I give you my full permission to go to Guest Services and ask to have your onboard service charge (that's the newest fancy term for gratuities) removed. I've never done it, however many here (and elsewhere) have stated it is an easy process. That's why NCL allows you the discretion to determine whether you pay it, or not. 

 

I'm here rooting for you to have a better cruise from this point forward! Please come back and let us know how it went.

[ChiefMateJRK]

8 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

https://clip.cafe/once-upon-a-time-in-mexico-2003/a-man-wants-nothing-invincible-cabr-n/
I wasn't sure if we could post links.  so add the "h" to the begging of this (so it says https) and enjoy

 

That's the one!!!  Thanks.

"The man who wants nothing is invincible, cabron." - Once Upon a Time in Mexico quote (clip.cafe)

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Last year, there was a guy screaming about how bad the pizza was to the person behind the counter because he wanted a good ole sausage pizza and all they had was bbq chicken and a primavera pizza.

I can see his point. 🤣

[Two Wheels Only]

9 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That's the one!!!  Thanks.

"The man who wants nothing is invincible, cabron." - Once Upon a Time in Mexico quote (clip.cafe)

 

Are you guys insinuating that if the food is too good...the OP should kill the cook? 🤔

[MoCruiseFan]

8 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

However, they may not end up keeping it. On our Jade cruise a few weeks ago, we had a favorite bartender, Shane in the Martini Bar. He took great care of us for 14 days and we tipped him every night. However, after thanking us, he promptly put the tips into the shared tip jar behind the bar. 

 

On the last night, we gave him an extra lump sum tip...again he graciously thanked us, but explained he needed to share this tip. as well. Into the tip jar it went.

 

Our intention was to reward him for his outstanding service, attention and personality/showmanship. But if he had to spread the wealth, so to speak...so be it. All of the bartenders in that bar were great. Maybe not up to Shane standards, but pretty great.

 

If you add the tip to the bill you sign it goes into thr tip pool/  If you hand smeoen cash they keep it.

[MoCruiseFan]

8 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

However, they may not end up keeping it. On our Jade cruise a few weeks ago, we had a favorite bartender, Shane in the Martini Bar. He took great care of us for 14 days and we tipped him every night. However, after thanking us, he promptly put the tips into the shared tip jar behind the bar. 

 

On the last night, we gave him an extra lump sum tip...again he graciously thanked us, but explained he needed to share this tip. as well. Into the tip jar it went.

 

Our intention was to reward him for his outstanding service, attention and personality/showmanship. But if he had to spread the wealth, so to speak...so be it. All of the bartenders in that bar were great. Maybe not up to Shane standards, but pretty great.

 

He and his fellow bar keeps CHOSE to set up that

tip jar'.  They did not have to do that for cash tips.  After speaking with a number of crew members on variosu crsies that I have asked if they prefer a tip added to a check or a cash tup, I have alwasy been told that cash tips do not need to be shared.

[erisajd]

Issue for me is conclusions.  Conclusions require facts to back them up.  Give me meal three examples of inedible food. 
 

tell me the restaurant:

 

the specific food you spit into your napkin and 

 

exsctly what was wrong. Salty, spicy, bland, improperly made?  
 

MDR food is often not of the same quality as the speciality restaurants where they can spend more $$$ on the food.  
 

dear OP:  convince with facts. Not conclusions.  Seems like everybody today is about conclusions and not facts. 
 

let’s also acknowledge the reality it’s been in storage since before they left Florida 

 

and. How does a cruise leave from Orlando?  I know that is totally OT but I’ve been wondering. 

Edited April 17 by erisajd

[Two Wheels Only]

33 minutes ago, erisajd said:

How does a cruise leave from Orlando?  I know that is totally OT but I’ve been wondering. 

 

Port Canaveral is close to Orlando International Airport (MCO). It's a little over a 30 minute drive but it's actually a different city and county. 

[erisajd]

14 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Port Canaveral is close to Orlando International Airport (MCO). It's a little over a 30 minute drive but it's actually a different city and county. 

So the ship left from Port Canaveral - not Orlando. . ., . did they provide busses from MCO then?  Or were you on your own to get from whatever airport you arrived at to Port Canaveral?  

[RocketMan275]

16 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

If you add the tip to the bill you sign it goes into thr tip pool/  If you hand smeoen cash they keep it.

Perhaps, but it's not guaranteed.  But giving it in cash directly does give the person the option.

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Perhaps, but it's not guaranteed.  But giving it in cash directly does give the person the option.

I've seen bartenders add cash tips to a tip bucket behind the bar.  And, I've seen them divide it up as they were closing for the night with the bar backs.

 

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say I've witnessed this given I was in a bar at closing time.

 

 

 

NOT REALLY!!!!!

[Von & John]

43 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I've seen bartenders add cash tips to a tip bucket behind the bar.  And, I've seen them divide it up as they were closing for the night with the bar backs.

 

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say I've witnessed this given I was in a bar at closing time.

 

 

 

NOT REALLY!!!!!

 

HMMMM...
SInce I'm always in bed asleep by 5:00 - I wonder how I've witnessed this?

 

[Two Wheels Only]

2 hours ago, erisajd said:

So the ship left from Port Canaveral - not Orlando. . ., . did they provide busses from MCO then?  Or were you on your own to get from whatever airport you arrived at to Port Canaveral?  

 

That would depend on what the OP did. 

 

I drive from my front door to the port so I've never used any service (NCL or other) to get there. People often say that their cruise "...left from Orlando..." when they are referring to Port Canaveral.

[RocketMan275]

4 hours ago, erisajd said:

So the ship left from Port Canaveral - not Orlando. . ., . did they provide busses from MCO then?  Or were you on your own to get from whatever airport you arrived at to Port Canaveral?  

It's like all other ports, it's up to you to get from the airport to the port.  The cruise line will offer, at a cost, transportation from the airport to the port. However, this transportation is only available the day of departure.  There are many business providing alternative transportation oftens much cheaper and more flexible. 

Many have found it attractive to rent a vehicle for transportation to and from the port/airport.  This is especially attractive for arriving days prior to departure.  We arrived the day early, rented a car in MCO, travelled to Port Canaveral, kept the car for overnight use, then left the car at the rental agency who provide free transportation to the port.

[PartyPlannerLady]

Having held several jobs in the service industry, I am pretty sure the cash tips are handled in many various ways.  I have heard and read from several sources that cash tips can be kept by the crew member to whom they are given,  However that does not preclude any group of servers (the barkeepers at a given bar any particular shift for example) choosing to pool the cash tips instead of each keeping what they are given and even sharing with the bar backs,.  When I waited tables we often tipped out the bus staff.  IMH once I tip someine, what they do wtrh that money is their business, not mine.

Akk that aside It is good to see that a number of people here do actually tip thise who take care of them,  Kudos to all who do.

[Von & John]

3 hours ago, Von & John said:

 

HMMMM...
SInce I'm always in bed asleep by 5:00 - I wonder how I've witnessed this?

 

OK - Maybe I should claim 5:00 AM...

[KeithJenner]

21 hours ago, erisajd said:

and. How does a cruise leave from Orlando?  I know that is totally OT but I’ve been wondering. 

The same way as they leave from Paris (Le Havre), London (Southampton) and Rome (Civitavecchia) to give a few examples.

 

Venice (Trieste) is a new entry to this with a distance of about 100 miles.

[RocketMan275]

7 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

The same way as they leave from Paris (Le Havre), London (Southampton) and Rome (Civitavecchia) to give a few examples.

 

Venice (Trieste) is a new entry to this with a distance of about 100 miles.

Houston as well.

[ChiefMateJRK]

7 hours ago, Von & John said:

 

HMMMM...
SInce I'm always in bed asleep by 5:00 - I wonder how I've witnessed this?

 

Just sounds like a late nap.

[Capitan Obvious]

You tell us this about the food...

 

On 4/16/2024 at 2:04 PM, rlpboy said:

First and foremost, the food is simply gross.  Much of it borders on inedible.  Every meal on this ship we have taken a bite of something that we either had to spit out into our napkin or simply choked the bite down and sent the dish back.

 

On 4/16/2024 at 2:04 PM, rlpboy said:

All in all, the food sucks.

 

"gross", "inedible", "sucks".

 

Then there is this...

 

On 4/16/2024 at 2:04 PM, rlpboy said:

The gentleman that cleans our room has left dirty dishes in our room more times than I can count.

 

If the food is gross, inedible, and sucks, then why are there more dirty dishes in your room than you can count?

 

 

This is where you lost me.

[TravelinGert]

On 4/16/2024 at 3:06 PM, The Traveling Man said:

I'll echo what @schmoopie17 has said.  @OrcaGirl is also on the Epic right now and has written very favorably about the cruise.  She has contributed frequently to Cruise Critic over the years and her reviews seem to be well balanced and favorably received.  Yes, there sometimes are shortcomings on cruises, and those deficiencies do seem to be more noticeable since the restart of cruising following the COVID shutdown.  It really seems, however, that your case may be a one-off.  I hope things get better for you as the cruise continues.

I hate to say this, but just because one person has a good experience on a very large ship like that does nothing to negate another person's negative experience. These ships are huge and they may just never deal with the same staff or eat in the same section of the dining room.

 

I've definitely both experienced and seen others experience far less than good service on occasion on ships, and sometimes I've had service and food that was far above reasonable expectation on that same ship. Maybe his room steward just isn't a very good one, and maybe the servers he dealt with in the dining room just happened to not be very good ones. 

 

Sorry. I know that's not what everyone wants to hear, but not every staff member on every ship is doing a great job. Equally it could well be this other cruiser happened to get in a cabin with a really great, experienced room steward and dines with the best in the fleet. Some cruises you just get lucky.

[Sailing12Away]

On 4/16/2024 at 2:04 PM, rlpboy said:

For example, I went to the front desk to ask a question about the food and I simply asked the girl working "has the quality of the food gone down a bit since covid".  The only reason I asked was because we were trying to figure out if we wanted to purchase more of the "cruise next" vouchers and if the food was like this on all of the cruises we really aren't interested.

If you consider someone giving you an answer you don't want to hear them being 'rude', well there's not much we can do here to help you but to point out you're wrong. For the rest of the trip, speak to the correct people to get resolution to your issues, before before you do please choose your words more carefully.

 

Referring to a grown woman as a "girl" can come off as condescending. Asking a question with a hidden criticism to something that person isn't even personally responsible for immediately puts them on the defensive. Making broad blanket statements about cleanliness, rudeness, etc isn't productive, helpful or going to get anything resolved. It just comes off as whiney and ungrateful.

I was on the Epic last month, and didn't notice anything dirty about it, didn't recall the food quality being inedible where buffet pizza was the best thing to eat (I don't usually step foot in the buffet ever), and don't recall staff being vindictive or rude. Did they tell me things I didn't want to hear - yes, but that doesn't make them rude. And it doesn't mean you remove the daily service charge to cheat out the people who are doing their jobs behind the scenes that you don't even know about.

If you're at a restaurant on land and the waitress bringing your food is lovely and attentive, but you don't care for the taste of the dish - you don't skip out on leaving a tip for her, right? You don't fault the server if you don't like the taste of the food, the server has nothing to do with that. By you threatening to remove the service charges you yourself are being vindictive and taking revenge on the people who rely on those service charges even though for most of them they did nothing wrong to warrant your actions.

 

Your interpretation of your trip experience is your own, but please do not act petty and take revenge yourself on the wrong crew members just because you got a bad steak. Next steak you get when you cut into it and see a tendon, flag someone over, show them, and get a different one then and there. You don't remove the DSC for the laundry, housekeeping, food & beverage, and everyone else that goes into making the trip happen.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Food and Beverage director and the Housekeeping Executive are the ones you need to speak with while you are on the ship.  Don't wait until you go home.

[RocketMan275]

On 4/16/2024 at 1:04 PM, rlpboy said:

For example, I went to the front desk to ask a question about the food and I simply asked the girl working "has the quality of the food gone down a bit since covid".  The only reason I asked was because we were trying to figure out if we wanted to purchase more of the "cruise next" vouchers and if the food was like this on all of the cruises we really aren't interested.  The young lady working looked so irritated and rudely replied, "ask them at the restaurants".  This and several other issues have actually had me questioning whether I should leave the "service charge" or contest it.  I have never not left the full amount.  In fact, I have always left additional money for particular employees that I felt went above and beyond. 

I can understand why  the 'girl' responded as she did.   That was an inappropriate and dumb question to ask.  How could  this young lady possible know if there had been a change in the food?  Do you think the cruise line would have sent her a memo describing a change in food quality?  Ships crew do not usually dine in the MDR or the specialty restaurants.  Nor is it likely she had been on the ship prior to COVID.