Cruise on board fixed service charge?

Question

I AM GOING ON NCL MED CRUISE WITH MY HUBBY AND 2 CHILDREN, CAN ANYBODY TELL ME IF I HAVE TO PAY THE FIXED SERVICE CHARGE, OR CAN I CHANGE THE AMOUNT I PAY, THANKS JEC

Answer 1

it works out at about £5 a day for each adult. It's not very much considering. The cabin staff work hard and are really pleasant, they rely on these payments to boost their naff wages.

Answer 2

they introduced this on the oceana run by p&o........its to save face sort of speak,so you dont feel obliged to tip at the end of your holiday? we and loads of others got this removed from our account on board straight away,no hassle,no fuss........we tip who we think is worthy ,plain and simple as that.dont be embarressed about removing it from your on board account???????

Answer 3

If you mean by "fixed service charge" the gratuities the answer is you can make a request to change the amount going to a particular service person, like your room steward, based on poor service.  BUT, you CANNOT just go to the purser's desk and say I do not want to pay any gratuities or I want to pay a lesser amount.  The service charges are pretty much mandatory on all cruise ships.  That's the way the cruise lines pay a good portion of the salaries of the service personnel.  And they cannot do that if passengers could just come and say I don;t want to pay any gratuities.  But if you have a legitimate reason for not giving service personnel their due, they will consider that and make changes.  But don't expect them to make a BIG change.

Answer 4

Depends on which Cruise Operator you are using.

We used Thompson on our last cruise and did not have to pay. we just gave a tip to our regular bar staff, waiters and of course the maid.

Below is an example of this fixed service charge

A fixed service charge of $10 per person, per day will be added to your on board account. The crew are encouraged to work together as a service team and are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programmes that the service charge supports. There is no required or recommended tipping on board and guests should not feel obliged to offer a gratuity for service that is generally rendered to all guests. As all staff are encouraged to 'go the extra mile', they are permitted to accept cash gratuities at the discretion of the guests.