Princess Cruises Increases Gratuities

[pcur]

Frankly, with almost all the cruise lines increasing gratuities it just puts me on the hunt for obc that will cover it. So far we have the three cruises now in the "hopper" covered:

 

New RCCL credit cards with $100 obc for each of us. We cancel and get new ones every 18 - 24 months. (No, my credit score has not been affected.)

 

Using the big box store's travel agency for really long cruises, because they give large obc. Plus our Princess cruise has the 3 For Free promo.

 

Azamara includes tips.

 

 

It's not necessarily about saving money, it's about "conserving" money. I have more to spend on booking more cruises. :D

 

We cruisers just have to get more creative now that prices for tips and drinks are going up on all the cruise lines. I see all-inclusive drinks and tips coming in the future, so we'll see what happens to the cabin prices.

[helenb]

Frankly, with almost all the cruise lines increasing gratuities it just puts me on the hunt for obc that will cover it.

 

We do the same. We haven't 'paid' for gratuities in years, because it is always covered by the OBC. Every cruise we get:

 

OBC from our onboard 'open booking'

OBC from the TA

OBC from the shareholder cruise credit

 

And sometimes we get OBC from the Princess or Celebrity credit cards we own. We always save up on the Princess ones to 40,000 points to get $500 of OBC. We tend to save these for the longer cruises.

[abbydancer2003]

Husband just informed me he wants to do a flightseeing/salmon bake in Juneau. I don't know if I can save money by going private, or if it it's only offered through the cruise line. If so, I might as well prepay the gratuities.

 

Over to the Alaska board I go.

Edited October 4, 2015 by abbydancer

[koreakruiser]

It was $10.50 for steerage cabins in 2010. I don't have my departure invoices for 2011, 2012, so I cannot tell when it changed from $10.50 to $11.50.

 

Assuming it was $11.50 in 2011, then the average increase is 2.4% if they bumped it up a little each year and arrive at $12.95 for next year.

 

If it changed to $11.50 in 2012, then the increase is 3% rounded each year to arrive at $12.95 for next year.

 

I'm not complaining.

 

I dug back through my old folders and found that, in 2003 and 2004, the gratuity was $10.00 pp/day (listed separately as $3.50 for the room and $6.50 for the dining room).

 

In Feb 2007 it was still $10.00. .

 

In Apr 2009 and Jul 2010 it was $10.50.

 

In 2013 and 2014 it was $11.50.

 

Up 29.5% in at least 13 years. About 2.3% a year. Still not bad.

[Steelers36]

Not sure what you consider huge, but this is more than a 15% increase.

 

See my post at #19.

[Steelers36]

Please tell me where you got this information. I cannot find anything about the old gratuity rate being grandfathered in if you pre-pay before Oct 15.

 

It's been posted here more than once. It's on Princess' website. If you don't believe what you read here, then call Princess and ask them - it's a free call.

[Baatman]

Thanks to our upcoming Roll Call as posted by loonline (thanks Rhonda and Brian!), it was just announced that the gratuities automatically billed to guests on their stateroom portfolios will be increased.

 

Effective on voyages departing on or after January 1, 2016, the gratuity charge will be $13.95 per guest for mini-suites and suites, and $12.95 per guest for interior, oceanview, and balcony staterooms.

 

The current charges per day are $12 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $11.50 per guest in all other staterooms per day (including children).

 

All guests who have pre-paid their gratuities before October 15, 2015, will have their current daily gratuity amount protected. If you have a cruise sailing after January 1, 2016, you may want to prepay your gratuities before October 15 in order to lock in to the older rates. This can be done by logging in to your cruise personalizer and choosing the pre-pay option when prompted.

 

Above was copied in part from another site I can't mention here.

 

It was bound to happen...I think other cruise lines are upping theirs as well.

[TwoCruisers]

It's been posted here more than once. It's on Princess' website. If you don't believe what you read here, then call Princess and ask them - it's a free call.

 

It has been said many times in this tread that the gratuities are increasing. It has been said a few times that you can prepay before Oct 15 and you won’t have to pay the new gratuity rate. My questions have been where did the information come from, about early prepay gets you out of the price increase. I have been to the Princess web site and it does not say that you can prepay and then you get the old rate. The OP “AlaskaGolden” has twice stated that you can get the old rate by prepaying. I would like AlaskaGolden to tell us where that bit of information came from.

Edited October 4, 2015 by TwoCruisers

[Paula_MacFan]

It has been said many times in this tread that the gratuities are increasing. It has been said a few times that you can prepay before Oct 15 and you won’t have to pay the new gratuity rate. My questions have been where did the information come from, about early prepay gets you out of the price increase. I have been to the Princess web site and it does not say that you can prepay and then you get the old rate. The OP “AlaskaGolden” has twice stated that you can get the old rate by prepaying. I would like AlaskaGolden to tell us where that bit of information came from.

 

Did you log into the Personalizer and see what your tip amount was? I have a cruise booked for February and it shows my tip amount as the 'old' total; however, I am booked under a Princess promotion that pre-paid my gratuities already so I'm not sure about the October 15th date. At any rate, when you log into the Personalizer it should show you how much your gratuities will be -- I'd start there and see if it gives you a 'pay by' date with different amounts.

[TwoCruisers]

Did you log into the Personalizer and see what your tip amount was? I have a cruise booked for February and it shows my tip amount as the 'old' total; however, I am booked under a Princess promotion that pre-paid my gratuities already so I'm not sure about the October 15th date. At any rate, when you log into the Personalizer it should show you how much your gratuities will be -- I'd start there and see if it gives you a 'pay by' date with different amounts.

 

I have checked the cruise personalizer and it shows the current (old) rate for gratuities. It does not say anything about paying before Oct 15 or any other date to receive this old rate. I am guessing that the web site has not been updated to show the new gratuity rate. It also doesn’t seem logical to me that Princess would have some people paying at the old rate and others at the new rate. This would not be fair to the staff who benefit from gratuities. I also am guessing that if I prepay now for the old rate there is a good chance that the difference will be added on my portfolio while on the ship.

 

I was just curious about the statement being made and no one giving any source for it.

[AlaskaGolden]

I have checked the cruise personalizer and it shows the current (old) rate for gratuities. It does not say anything about paying before Oct 15 or any other date to receive this old rate. I am guessing that the web site has not been updated to show the new gratuity rate. It also doesn’t seem logical to me that Princess would have some people paying at the old rate and others at the new rate. This would not be fair to the staff who benefit from gratuities. I also am guessing that if I prepay now for the old rate there is a good chance that the difference will be added on my portfolio while on the ship.

 

I was just curious about the statement being made and no one giving any source for it.

 

The source for the information comes from a reputable travel-related web site that we are unable to mention here since they sell cruises, etc. on their site. I think this was mentioned in post #1; just maybe not so explicitly. :)

[caribill]

The source for the information comes from a reputable travel-related web site that we are unable to mention here since they sell cruises, etc. on their site. I think this was mentioned in post #1; just maybe not so explicitly. :)

 

I do not consider a travel-related web site as the official source of information such as a deadline for paying so the old rate would apply.

 

This really needs to come from Princess, and so far nobody has pointed to anywhere on the Princess website that deadline is mentioned.

[cr8tiv1]

I do not consider a travel-related web site as the official source of information such as a deadline for paying so the old rate would apply.

 

This really needs to come from Princess, and so far nobody has pointed to anywhere on the Princess website that deadline is mentioned.

 

 

I spoke to customer service representative Jody this afternoon. She was a wealth of information for my up coming cruise and cruise of the future. If she didn't have the answer, she went to another source. She was able to give me answers to every question I asked.

 

Yes, if you pre-pay by October 15, then you are under the old gratuity scale. After that date, you are going to have to pay the new rate.

 

Now, I know that one representative does not always have the answers, but Jody was an exception. She answered all of my questions honestly and sincerely. I believe her.

Edited October 5, 2015 by cr8tiv1

[sunsetbeachgal]

My TA just posted the information on her Facebook page...and said if you wish to prepay to look in old price do so before Oct. 15

[TwoCruisers]

I spoke to customer service representative Jody this afternoon. She was a wealth of information for my up coming cruise and cruise of the future. If she didn't have the answer, she went to another source. She was able to give me answers to every question I asked.

 

Yes, if you pre-pay by October 15, then you are under the old gratuity scale. After that date, you are going to have to pay the new rate.

 

Now, I know that one representative does not always have the answers, but Jody was an exception. She answered all of my questions honestly and sincerely. I believe her.

 

My TA just posted the information on her Facebook page...and said if you wish to prepay to look in old price do so before Oct. 15

 

Thank you !!!:D

[Justprettynpink]

I am just confirming that according to a Princess Rep you can lock in the lower gratuities as long as you pay by the 15th.

 

 

Thank OP for the heads up :-)

[britestar]

Thank you for sharing.

[GOLDENBONNY]

11% is quite a COLA

 

I know :o

[TwoBadKnees]

Thanks to loonline and AlaskaGolden for sharing the info that saved a lot of people a lot of money

Edited October 5, 2015 by TwoBadKnees

[geocruiser]

This is from June 2013, so the amounts will be slightly higher now:

 

$3.70 Cabin Services (cabin stewards)

$5.80 (MDR) Main Dining Room Services (wait staff)

$2.00 Alternative Services (kitchen, entertainment, passenger services, other hotel staff members).

 

The $5.80 for the wait staff does not seen to be much. Between the dinning room and buffet staff, that money get spread real thin.

[RocketMan275]

Thanks to loonline and AlaskaGolden for sharing the info that saved a lot of people a lot of money

 

I disagree. I think everyone should stop and think about prepaying these gratuities to avoid a slight increase in the cost of a cruise. You're taking this money directly from the pockets of the cruise staff. I can't believe everyone is so excited about a way to save a few bucks on a cruise by stiffing the crew. Man up folks and pay the crew the gratuities they deserve.

[whitecap]

I disagree. I think everyone should stop and think about prepaying these gratuities to avoid a slight increase in the cost of a cruise. You're taking this money directly from the pockets of the cruise staff. I can't believe everyone is so excited about a way to save a few bucks on a cruise by stiffing the crew. Man up folks and pay the crew the gratuities they deserve.

 

RocketMan; another way to look at it is: someone booked a cruise, agreed to the fare and listed gratuities; then gets notified that as of next year the gratuities will go up however, there is an option to pay the gratuities that were agreed to when the cruise was booked by simply paying them now. A booked passenger is simply living up to the "agreed upon cost". As my man Spock would say, "Sounds logical"! :D

[caribill]

The $5.80 for the wait staff does not seen to be much. Between the dinning room and buffet staff, that money get spread real thin.

 

Most of the buffet staff at breakfast and lunch are the same people who are the dining room staff at dinner.

[geocruiser]

Most of the buffet staff at breakfast and lunch are the same people who are the dining room staff at dinner.

 

I understand that. But there are so many that work in the dining room and other food venues ,by the time the auto tip is divided up, they must get very little out of it.

[mmckm]

I understand that. But there are so many that work in the dining room and other food venues ,by the time the auto tip is divided up, they must get very little out of it.

 

They get very little of your money but times it by between aprox. 2500 to 3000 people, depending how many opt out and I think they do ok.