Interestedcruisefan

It couldn't be any less transparent if you tried to be honest

Common knowledge where and how exactly?

For me it's not the cost at all It's the lack of transparency and feeling I've been duped Not convinced about the money at all Purely concerned that I know any money I spend with a business is going where I think it is And dismayed about how blatantly this is being used to hoodwink people And angry they caught me with it tbh I gave my cabin steward cash last month as well. Plus gave my daughters and boyfriends cabin steward cash as well as paying their card tips for them Would have removed tips without a second thought and just paid more cash to the stewards and others on the ship Let the ship worry about paying wages and having to put prices up

Why keep distracting what cruises are doing onto what happens in a restaurant though? People clearly in this thread feel they are being misled by Princess tipping Thats simple enough Me included I can have my own thoughts and policy on restaurant tipping But it doesn't change the fact people don't like what they are reading about what Princess are doing Regardless of whats happening anywhere else? Do you accept that the vast majority have no idea what the money taken from their card is actually being used for on Princess? And something happy and positive they think they are doing to thank staff is actually just being used towards basic wages and bonus?

In Canada it seemed to be add 15 per cent, 20 per cent of 25 per cent Very much based on total on check

Yes just because it's happened and they've got away with it for a long time in the past doesn't mean they should continue to get away with it Businesses are under lots of scrutiny nowadays and it's just some do the right thing before others do or they are forced to do with legislation at some stage regardless

And comparing cruiseline bad practise to restaurants in a US State that doesn't pay minimum wage isn't actually a great defence is it? They do this so cruiselines can copy? Two wrongs don't make a right? And restaurants aren't doing it to the extreme Princess have taken it for sure

To the chefs and the runners Not to the admin staff. The cleaners and the rest. We are subsidising an entire organisation on Princess. Electricians, plumbers you name it we are topping up their wages None of which to do with service received as people know and believe it to be

In Canada the job everyone wants is server They retain vast majority of the tips and make a fortune in a busy restaurant They give a proportion to other staff supporting them (happily) including chefs But they retain the vast majority And when we tip in restaurants we are tipping based on the service the server gives us In Canada and Alaska in the restaurants and bars on land the service was invariably superb You can see how much servers value their jobs

Are my tips to a server in a restaurant bringing up the wages of every single employee of the restaurant or just the person who served me who I want to help and tip?

And there's plenty of experienced cruisers in this thread not happy with it and only just realising what's been done to us And we should know better than most!!

To find it's actually a "staff compensation" charge Which is exactly what they should call it when they inform you what they intend to do Rather than calling it something flowery and misleading when you book then telling you what it really is should you go looking further And guys can you imagine the manhours they've put into discussing the best wording they could pick to get away with this knowing vast majority wont delve deeper I can picture it now They know what they are doing and how to take advantage of as many passengers as they can with this Masters at work!!

I'm more concerned if there had been a price increase as I don't like "missing the boat so to speak' And all of a sudden we want to book this cruise having ruled out Caribbean for a few days I've been offered 2325 from an agent I book with I just have in my head it may have been 1999 on launch day? Maybe it was 2499 though? I know at some stage I discussed this with MB but can't find the thread. And she had correct answer before. The more I think back I'm thinking 2499 may have been original inside saver price

Couldn't disagree more with this Mark This is highly significant money and I know for a fact all my family have been paying tips direct to cruise ships for the wrong reasons You must accept that this is deliberate ploy by cruiselines to mislead And they're done it so brilliantly for so long It's actually a shoddy industry when you delve deeper

I read a news article the other week where a business owner put in the smallprint of some terms and conditions that the first person to contact them and ask for a bottle of fine wine to be delivered would win a bottle of fine wine And he then waited 6 months until someone claimed it To highlight the fact nobody reads smallprint and how it can be used With cruiselines you would like to think they were trustworthy enough not to try and put things in smallpriny like this to remove transparency

Smallprint is where people hide stuff they don't want you to know. You will hear in adverts on UK radio all the time now that advertising standards make the advertisers say the smallpriny verbally at the end of the advert There should be buyer beware notes all over what cruiselines are doing and there should no longer be allowed to use the word gratuities or crew appreciation in the headlines to describe these fees Then hiding it in the smallprint

Exactly

P and O (UK based) include tips in the upfront price they charge for the cruise. All the staff pay is covered in that. They aren't failing. Still cheaper than land based holiday suppliers and carrying more passengers than ever before Zero deception and no obligation to pay any tips on board. We still do to cabin stewards and people who serve us well Maybe P and O are more ethical than Princess? Or maybe Princess can just get away with it for as long as they can

Exactly it's deceptive And deliberately so Theres people in this thread explaining what's behind it all and why they do it. But it doesn't take away the fact it's deceptive and the vast majority don't have the advantage of coming on this forum to have it explained to them like this

That will be outlawed in USA soon enough like every other civilised country is doing And in those locations the money is going to servers and kitchens staff who have earnt tips through good service We know who we are tipping and why On a cruise ship we are basically subsidising wages of the entire staff on board? That's not how tips work?

It's about transparency And at the moment calling what they deduct from our cards on Princess "gratuities" Is the very opposite of transparency And I say it again it's very misleading to passengers and deceptive It's only on places like here you get to realise the reality When I pay for a cruise I'm paying a lot of money for a holiday. That should cover the cost of staff that I will never even see on the cruise If I want to tip staff who serve me well (which I do) then that money is for them serving me well 100 per cent put the cruise prices up take away the deception and let us tip staff and them receive the tip We don't even need to discuss the ins and outs of anything like this to try and cover for what the cruise ships are doing or defend them As it stands they are hoodwinked a larger percentage of guests I've cruised 16 years on over 6 cruiselines now so reasonably expereinced And it's only now I fully understand what's happening when I don't tip cabin stewards direct and trust the cruiseline to do it for me I'm pretty angry tbh when I see it in black and white as shown in the opening post I didn't realise it was that cynical and blatant although I did suspect I'm just too trusting I guess

My daughter is in the hospitality industry. From UK but working in Canada currently on a 3 year visa She's a chef her boyfriend is a server They've worked several locations Every location they get an hourly wage above minimum wage and then gratuities are all for the staff team on top of that The servers get the most but then contribute a portion to the kitchen team behind them to share But the tips are not used in any way to subsidise wages Similar in UK hospitality. It's illegal to do what's happening on cruises. Tips are shown separately on wageslips as well now. There's strict rules about this So staff aren't exploited

And if they cruise were dispersing the gratuities as extra tips for everyone fairly across the ship then it's acceptable But when smallprint shows our tips are actually just paying normal staff compensation and bonus that's entirely UNACCEPTABLE

Just found this which suggests it's a price drop since launch Or would the price below be when you do a select price? Rather than saver price? Iona will set sail for a new 35-night holiday to the Caribbean on January 11, 2025. It will be Iona’s first time to the Caribbean and will include two full days in Tenerife and Barbados with visits to many maiden ports. Departing from and returning to Southampton, ports of call include Tenerife, Tortola, Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua, St Kitts, St Maarten and La Coruna. Prices start from £2,579 per person (G501).

Hi guys Anyone remember what price this cruise started at when launched? Inside saver currently 2408 per person Wasn't sure if that's an increase or decrease? I've lost track and can't find the thread we first discussed it on MB are you out there today. You are normally great at remembering stuff like this?