Originally Posted by
Randyk47
That is largely debated, discussed, and remains unresolved. It’s never been totally clear if there isn’t an “administrative fee” deducted by cruise lines so that in the end the staff actually get say 15-16%. Like many controversial subjects there are many “experts”, “insiders”, and others “in the know” who say yay or nay and indeed it may differ from cruise line to cruise line. The one general consensus is that if a cruise line withheld too much staff would either not sign up or would leave for other lines. Generally speaking cruise ship staff positions are highly sought after and a substantial number of staff sign new contracts year after year.
Haha, totally. I'm sort of trolling a guy on cruisecritic on the Norwegian board because Norwegian uses ever changing vague language on the issue. I'm mainly just riling him up for laughs because the Norwegian language makes him think there's some grand conspiracy. Still, it's an issue that's been debated for decades. Norwegian is probably screwing around with the "service charge" as they're currently calling it, but it's quite possible other lines do as well (via "administrative fee" or whatever they want to call it). Still, I always like to talk to staff and I'm somewhat familiar with incomes from some of their home countries. It's really hard work, but compared to what's available back home, it's a really good deal. However the cruise lines want to call it, some low base wage plus the "tips" or "gratuities" or "service charge" still adds up to a good income compared to what you can find back in their home countries. Just pay the "tips" even if it's not the custom in your home country (to make a point or whatever) and you won't be screwing all the crew. It's not just the money they lose out on. They can get in trouble or lose their jobs as management can view the removal of the "service charge" as a complaint against their work.