Can You Remove Ncl Service Charges - Page 3 - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

Lovey62 · 04-13-2009, 03:07 PM

My husband and I have booked a Panama Canal cruise on the Norwegian Star. I can't find reviews by people who have gone on that cruise. Cruise Critic has reviews of people who have sailed on that ship to the Mexican Rivera and Alaska but not the Panama Canal. We feel that $12 per person per day is excessive for the service charges.

Cruise Novice · 04-13-2009, 03:18 PM

Lovey62,

All the mass marketed cruise lines have a daily service charge. We simply factor it into our cruise costs.

NCL offers good and at times very good service.

I cannot imagine a situation where I'd remove the charge, but if upset by a crew member's attitude or lack of service would write a formal letter of complaint. We've never had to do that on the three lines we've used.

We have sent formal letters of praise a couple of times.

I don't know why they simply don't abolish service charges and factor the cost into the overall prices. But then of course TAs would have to be paid more and costs would appear higher on initial glance.

It's all part of the cost of travel.

cruisin' chick · 04-13-2009, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lovey62

My husband and I have booked a Panama Canal cruise on the Norwegian Star. I can't find reviews by people who have gone on that cruise. Cruise Critic has reviews of people who have sailed on that ship to the Mexican Rivera and Alaska but not the Panama Canal. We feel that $12 per person per day is excessive for the service charges.

It could be possible that this ship hasn't been on a Panama itinerary yet. I know it's sailed the MR (for at least a few years now) and Alaska, so that would explain those reviews and not a PC one.

As for the charge, I'm guessing (since I haven't been on a NCL ship) that it will go into the tipping pool for the staff members that will be making your cruise special.

When we first started going on cruises (1994 on Carnival), tipping envelopes would be left in the cabins with a guideline on how much to tip. We would spend a while the last day of the cruise going through our wallets and futzing with the ones and fives to make sure we properly reward the staff. We considered that part of the cost of going on a cruise. And we know that many crew members have families back home in Third World countries that are the recipients of much of the money the staff makes.

But we would notice that often the dining room on the last night would have some empty chairs, and figured many of those people were trying to avoid handing over one of those envelopes.

Because of the tendency of some passengers to avoid tipping, and also because of anytime or freestyle dining, autotipping was started by many lines. Seems to me an easier way of handing tips. No more trying to see if you have enough currency. Now we just concern with a tip envelope for the kids' counselors and any for cabin stewards or waitstaff that we want to give extra too.

If we had problems with a crew member, we know we can go to the front desk and address that problem on the spot. Maybe things will get resolved right away. If not, it gets noted on our comment card, which I understand the cruiselines do read.

For us, the $10 per person per day that we paid in tips for our last cruise (and it was a 15 day cruise) was worth it for getting pampered.

nealberk · 04-13-2009, 08:59 PM

But wouldn't it be so nice if the cruise lines were just honest and added these "service fee" amounts in with the price of the cruise instead of making it a mandatory charge?

cruisin' chick · 04-14-2009, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nealberk

But wouldn't it be so nice if the cruise lines were just honest and added these "service fee" amounts in with the price of the cruise instead of making it a mandatory charge?

I'm guessing it's some accounting thing (like maybe there's taxes to be paid if it's presented as a mandatory charge), but I'm not familiar with accounting.

Rydon · 04-14-2009, 07:37 AM

We paid up front on our NCL cruise to the Canaries last month so factored it into our costs. Whilst we had the same cabin stewards we ate at different restaurants so had different waiting on staff. They all do such a great job I was more than happy to pay this charge.