I have to agree. A gratuity is at your discretion, and is based on service. For NCL to determine that they are going to charge you a gratuity automatically, is just a service charge in disguise. Charge more for the initial cruise so you can pay more, and then leave the tipping to the guest.
The service on NCL, from the waiters to the stewards, has become mundane. I hardly ever see my steward, and when I do and make requests, they seldom are followed through on. And they are usually simple requests - more towels left in room, shower gel, etc. The waiters in the non-specialty restaurants are not attentive, nor do they listen to you when you order something different or additional. There is no reason for them to be any better, their tip is automatic. You can't have someone get something for free, which is what you're doing when a tip is automatic. It should be earned, because when it's not there's no reason for them to go an extra step, or even do their job fully.
When we travel on NCL we stay in the Haven, and eat at the specialty restaurants. We don't eat at the buffets, and when we want lunch or dinner we eat at the restaurant they have available for those guests in the Haven suites. On each occasion we leave a cash tip for our servers, regardless of where we eat. We also tip our butler and concierge quite handsomely, and leave a tip appropriate to the job performed for our steward. And when there is exceptional or above the average service, we make sure we tip those right then in cash. So without exception, I either have the automatic tips removed or reduced.
I agree that tips are discretionary and you don't have to justify why you don't leave them. The workers need to justify why they should receive them.
On Tuesday, May 27, 2014 11:14 AM, "Countgr8@aol.com [vpFREE]" <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
No justification is necessary. Gratuities are discretional. Except in many countries or places where they are not allowed. Australian casinos come to mind immediately.
In a message dated 5/27/2014 10:50:16 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, vpFREE@yahoogroups.com writes:
Nice post but my experience is cheapskates will always be cheapskates and will always be able to justify their cheapness.
From: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vpFREE@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 8:12 PM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [vpFREE] Re: cruise tipping
Personally I don't suggest to people that to keep their cruise cost down, they should cut down the daily tip charged to the room. Instead how about having one less drink per person per day to save the same amount? The people on cruise lines work incredibly hard for ridiculously long hours and still somehow manage to smile even when faced with the most demanding customers. While I am happy that you personally tip your stewards, I'm sure you've also eaten in the buffets or have enjoyed the cleanliness of public areas/bathrooms. Your daily tip also goes to the people that work there. While you may feel you are making a statement to the cruise line that you don't want to carry the burden of paying their employees, I can assure you that your tipping less will not in any way force the cruise line to pay them more. All it accomplishes is ensuring that the employees get paid less than they would have otherwise.
Your tipping less does not affect the cruise line's bottom line, just the employee's; so if your goal really is to show your disdain for how cruise lines do business, I would think boycotting cruising entirely would make more sense.
Please don't feel like I am attacking you, I just want to point out that you are punishing the wrong people. And I definitely wanted to present a counterpoint to the people who might have read your post and were thinking about doing the same thing. Cruise employees work incredibly hard for pennies (most of which they send home to families they only get to see a few months out of the year).
we have never been on casino cruise , although we have had many offers over the years, or a ncl cruise but we have cruised other lines that charge a flat daily tipping fee per person.
we found out that we could go to the purser's desk and tell them that we didn't want the amt of daily tipping they were charging. evidently they cant force you to tip. we usually tell them to charge us 5 or six dollars a day and then we tip our cabin steward and waiters we have seen several times a week seperately.this tipping fee is just a ploy by the cruise co to be able to keep wages low for all service employees and try to force thepublic to make up the difference.
not the way I wish to do business.
