Gratuities Mandatory Prepaid

Message from Princess to Travel agents May 25, 2016

Effective MAY 25, 2016, gratuities for all new Travel Agent bookings will be mandatory, prepaid, nonrefundable and not transferable. Guests booked under the Travel Agent will not be able to remove the gratuities on their folio once onboard.

If a booking cancels pre cruise, gratuities are fully refundable.

Received from a travel agent from John Chernesky, Vice President , North American Sales, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line

Yikes!

I bet travel agents are happy about this! Although it's really not a bad thing...

Pay now or later...same amount either way! Easier to have it "out of the way" and not have to think about it anymore!

If true it looks like the Aussies got what they wanted. Gratuities for all intents and purposes included in the fare. Are they really gratuities then?

They are only considered gratuities IF they can be removed somehow, including post cruise (like NCL does). They have to be at least technically optional.

Bad for cruisers tho as now has to be included with trip insurance for most plans (unless the normal final payment date does not apply)

Hi All

If this applies to sales in EU could be interesting as you are not allowed

to advertise a price, then have compulsory charges added on top,

yours Shogun

Message from Princess to Travel agents May 25, 2016

 

Effective MAY 25, 2016, gratuities for all new Travel Agent bookings will be mandatory, prepaid, nonrefundable and not transferable. Guests booked under the Travel Agent will not be able to remove the gratuities on their folio once onboard.

If a booking cancels pre cruise, gratuities are fully refundable.

 

Received from a travel agent from John Chernesky, Vice President , North American Sales, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line

The real issue is that everyone must prepay out of their own pocket.

OBC will no longer be able to be used for defraying the amount of the gratuities.

Oh, well! Guess that no longer means OBC can be used like they had been for the daily "auto tip".

Feel sure many aren't going to be happy about this.

This only applies to bookings made FOR travel agents, not for bookings made through travel agencies. So it only applies if you're booking at a reduced rate or Commodore booking. Just received clarification from Princess.

So we are to assume that travel agents travelling at a reduced rate already have been stiffing the staff too? I wonder if these are the same group who advise pax to not pay them inorder to keep the price down?

so its completely irrelevant to all of us unless we are travel agents, a non story,

It supposedly applies to travel agents cruising on reduced rates and anyone else in their cabin (who typically also get the reduced rates).

Several other lines have had this policy for years.

so its completely irrelevant to all of us unless we are travel agents, a non story,

It's actually interesting to most of us... Even if it doesn't actually apply to most of us. No need to be snarky!

Message from Princess to Travel agents May 25, 2016

 

Effective MAY 25, 2016, gratuities for all new Travel Agent bookings will be mandatory, prepaid, nonrefundable and not transferable. Guests booked under the Travel Agent will not be able to remove the gratuities on their folio once onboard.

If a booking cancels pre cruise, gratuities are fully refundable.

 

Received from a travel agent from John Chernesky, Vice President , North American Sales, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line

It sounds as though your TA did not read and comprehend the above statement and was sent to you as though you a PAX were to pay this. If you are a TA then it would apply, otherwise give this no thought. Might want to question your TA hopefully, this is the only mistake made. :D

It sounds as though your TA did not read and comprehend the above statement and was sent to you as though you a PAX were to pay this. If you are a TA then it would apply, otherwise give this no thought. Might want to question your TA hopefully, this is the only mistake made. :D

My travel agent did not send this message to me, but to my sister-in-law. I will let her know that it doesn't pertain to her.

Maybe she can contact her TA to get this straightened out with him. Thanks for the clarification.

This also applies to anyone booking a discounted cruise through Princess using the Corporate Affiliates program. I hope it is not just a matter of time before if goes to all bookings. Time will tell. :(

Disney has had this policy for at least the last 5 years. At various times during that period, they have offered incredible rates to TA for the cruise...and to be sure that the staff is adequately compensated, the TAs are required to pay the suggested gratuities at the time of booking.

They have not spread it to anyone other than those in who qualify for a discount based on working in the travel industry and those who share a cabin (and a discount rate) with them.

To give you an example of how good these rates can be--friends of ours had 3 people in a balcony cabin for a lower fare than we paid for 2 in an inside.

It's actually interesting to most of us... Even if it doesn't actually apply to most of us. No need to be snarky!

Princess staff family's pay $9 a day to go on a cruise, next thing you'll tell me this is interesting.

Princess staff family's pay $9 a day to go on a cruise, next thing you'll tell me this is interesting.

Well yes it is. Anything cruise related is interesting to me regardless if it applies to me.

Princess staff family's pay $9 a day to go on a cruise, next thing you'll tell me this is interesting.

Yes, I too find this interesting. On the last cruise of the Ocean Princess, two of the officers had their families on board. We got to know them quite well over the course of 64 days. Very nice folks.

As stated above this is for TRAVEL AGENTS and others booking under travel agent/interline rates. Almost all the other cruise lines already have this policy in place. Most travel agents who travel at the discounted prices are fully aware of this policy and should not be passing the info along to clients. It does not affect anyone but the agent and/or interline staff who are able to book under Princess TA rates.

Disney, NCL, HAL, Celebrity, etc already have this policy in place. Princess is just updating their policies and this happened to be sent out to all agents yesterday. Agents who are passing this info on to clients need to re-read the initial email that was sent out yesterday to agents only and contact their BDM if they have questions.

I would surmise, that most cruisers would assume any employee in the travel market gets some kind of discount. I would think that this particular email was not intended for the general public, and because it was made public, a lot of cruisers assumed that it pertained to them. Again raising the red flag for no good reason.

It supposedly applies to travel agents cruising on reduced rates and anyone else in their cabin (who typically also get the reduced rates).

 

Several other lines have had this policy for years.

This makes sense. I was wondering when I first read the title. I'm definitely a tipper and can't imagine not tipping but was, at first, surprised to see that Princess would make tips mandatory and non-refundable.

While this was sent to Travel Agents to make them aware, seems it will be the new policy even booking directly with Princess. :confused: :confused:

While this was sent to Travel Agents to make them aware, seems it will be the new policy even booking directly with Princess. :confused: :confused:

Do you have a source for that bit of information?

Or is that just a guess seemingly based on NOT reading the entire thread and understanding that the policy ONLY applies when Travel Agents (and others on their personal booking) are booking themselves as passengers.