Gratuties onboard ships

[Pet]

Hi – We are booked on the Majestic Princess on an 11-day cruise from Auckland to Sydney next month. I have heard mixed reports on the norm as regards the automatic deduction of onboard gratuities by Australian and New Zealand cruisers, especially in home waters and wondered what the general view was? Our usual practice when cruising in other parts of the world has been to simply accept the process and pay the required amounts from the sea pass account (plus transfer charges). However, if the usual way of rewarding good service “down under” is to target specific individuals at the end of the cruise, offer them cash,  and cancel the automatic deductions we would go along with that practice. P&O (UK) with whom we are sailing with later this year, have announced that from March no gratuities will be taken on their ships, but whether other cruise lines will follow suit remains to be seen. Grateful for any views from antipodean cousins!  

 

[GUT2407]

There are no auto tips added if you are Australian and book in Australia (NZ too I understand).

 

Tip extra should you wish, but don’t feel obligated to do so. For me, if they make my trip special in some way, they get extra.

[GUT2407]

Should have said, not sure if Princess charge you POMs daily or not.

 

P&O were pretty late to the game, Princess (and related lines) stopped charging daily tips years ago, the Celebrity/Royal Caribbean mob caught on last year and followed suit.

[windsor26]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

Should have said, not sure if Princess charge you POMs daily or not.

 

P&O were pretty late to the game, Princess (and related lines) stopped charging daily tips years ago, the Celebrity/Royal Caribbean mob caught on last year and followed suit.

 

 

Just to confirm RCI and Celebrity no longer add gratuities daily  or just from the Australian ports?

 

[GUT2407]

13 minutes ago, windsor26 said:

 

 

Just to confirm RCI and Celebrity no longer add gratuities daily  or just from the Australian ports?

 

My understanding is just for Aussies (maybe Kiwis too) that book a local cruise, through Aus.

[windsor26]

4 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

My understanding is just for Aussies (maybe Kiwis too) that book a local cruise, through Aus.

Thank you  makes a difference to know when you are budgeting for the overall cost of a cruise 

[Aus Traveller]

6 hours ago, Pet said:

Hi – We are booked on the Majestic Princess on an 11-day cruise from Auckland to Sydney next month. I have heard mixed reports on the norm as regards the automatic deduction of onboard gratuities by Australian and New Zealand cruisers, especially in home waters and wondered what the general view was? Our usual practice when cruising in other parts of the world has been to simply accept the process and pay the required amounts from the sea pass account (plus transfer charges). However, if the usual way of rewarding good service “down under” is to target specific individuals at the end of the cruise, offer them cash,  and cancel the automatic deductions we would go along with that practice. P&O (UK) with whom we are sailing with later this year, have announced that from March no gratuities will be taken on their ships, but whether other cruise lines will follow suit remains to be seen. Grateful for any views from antipodean cousins!  

 

 

Unfortunately you (and people from USA) will be charged the daily auto-gratuity. I feel this is 'double-dipping' by Princess. When they removed the auto-tips (1st May 2011) Princess announced that the remuneration for staff who had been in the tips pool would be increased to what they were getting previously (monthly wage plus share of tips). Obviously if they didn't, no-one would want to work on the Australian ships. BTW, the staff love this system! From what I have seen, you (and people in USA) pay a similar fare to what Australians and NZers pay but our fare includes the tips. Tips are not listed as an extra.

 

The next important point is that the auto-gratuity that people from the UK and USA pay, does not stay on that ship. Princess have said it is shared fleet-wide. It would be reasonable for you to remove the auto-gratuity, then if you want to, you can personally tip the staff who serve you. Many Aussies feel they do not have to tip because it is included in the fare, but others tip a fairly small amount.

Edited January 2, 2019 by Aus Traveller

[Big Kev]

Sorry to intrude, but it probably relevant to mention other AU differences..

Both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean now have gratuities built into the bottom line fare of ALL bookings based upon AUSTRALIAN website pricing structure and paid in AUD... Gratuities are not seperately itemised... That  means for ALL sailings, anywhere... If booked in USA,the option exists to pre-pay or have them added daily onto your on-board account..

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by Big Kev
A bit off topic

[lyndarra]

HAL in Australia don't include grats in the fare, they are still added daily. $14.50 per day US$ and the way the OZ dollar is going lately it's increasing by the day.

[boeckli]

52 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

HAL in Australia don't include grats in the fare, they are still added daily. $14.50 per day US$ and the way the OZ dollar is going lately it's increasing by the day.

Just realised I was lucky (was on the cruise prior to yours) departing in November, they increased the rate on Dec 1 from 13.50 to 14.50. Booked my next Noordam cruise under a promo that offered free gratuities 😀

[Adventures ahead]

We are Canadian and going on our first Down Under cruises, three in 2020. We booked in Canada with Canadian dollars on a promotion that included daily tips, regardless of destination... Caribbean, Europe, where ever. The tips will be charged each day, then reversed by Princess.

 

I read somewhere that the same cruises would cost more $ (buried in the price) if booked by an Australian in Australia so the 'tips included' is still a perk for us. Therefore, had the tips not already been covered, we shouldn't remove them (never have).  So, the charge will be going on an coming off our account for us, but not (separately) charged in the first place for Australians. Interesting.  In the end, I wouldn't want the crew to lose out.

[Russell21]

Apparently they don't, but that still doesn't stop us from chucking a few dollars here and there, room steward, Dining room waiters, favourite bar tender nudge nudge wink wink.

[MicCanberra]

OP, not to be too confusing but it doesn't really matter if the tips are included in the fare (an Aussie booking) or added daily (other bookings) most people leave these in place and tip a few people extra if they feel it is warranted.

[Dobby_The_Ship_Elf]

13 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

OP, not to be too confusing but it doesn't really matter if the tips are included in the fare (an Aussie booking) or added daily (other bookings) most people leave these in place and tip a few people extra if they feel it is warranted.

 

don't get him started!!!!

[MicCanberra]

yeah.

[cruiseyj]

On 1/6/2019 at 11:59 PM, Adventures ahead said:

We are Canadian and going on our first Down Under cruises, three in 2020. We booked in Canada with Canadian dollars on a promotion that included daily tips, regardless of destination... Caribbean, Europe, where ever. The tips will be charged each day, then reversed by Princess.

 

I read somewhere that the same cruises would cost more $ (buried in the price) if booked by an Australian in Australia so the 'tips included' is still a perk for us. Therefore, had the tips not already been covered, we shouldn't remove them (never have).  So, the charge will be going on an coming off our account for us, but not (separately) charged in the first place for Australians. Interesting.  In the end, I wouldn't want the crew to lose out.

 

Correct. If an Australian books via an American travel agent in USD, tips will show up on the daily charges. If they book in AUD with an Aussie based agent, the cruise fare price is a little bit more expensive to include the tips so that it evens out in the end...   On Celebrity there is a chart that shows the exact breakdown of where the tip goes down to the cent, and is for the servers, etc on that ship, not shared fleetwide as another poster said Princess does. Not sure about other lines.  I always leave the gratuity in place if booking overseas and also give a few more $ at the end to anyone I feel deserves it. Even if it isn't our culture here it seems to be part of general cruise culture. 

[NSWP]

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 10:00 PM, lyndarra said:

HAL in Australia don't include grats in the fare, they are still added daily. $14.50 per day US$ and the way the OZ dollar is going lately it's increasing by the day.

But 'adjustable.'  by a visit to the Purser.

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, cruiseyj said:

 

Correct. If an Australian books via an American travel agent in USD, tips will show up on the daily charges. If they book in AUD with an Aussie based agent, the cruise fare price is a little bit more expensive to include the tips so that it evens out in the end...   On Celebrity there is a chart that shows the exact breakdown of where the tip goes down to the cent, and is for the servers, etc on that ship, not shared fleetwide as another poster said Princess does. Not sure about other lines.  I always leave the gratuity in place if booking overseas and also give a few more $ at the end to anyone I feel deserves it. Even if it isn't our culture here it seems to be part of general cruise culture. 

Good post clarifying the difference with bookings.

[MMDown Under]

If the Aussie $ keeps depreciating, cruise lines, which charge gratuities/service charges, will soon notice a decrease in their bookings from Aussies.  

 

It is always a shock to return home to a credit card with foreign currencies converted to Aussie $.

 

Interesting that P&O (UK) are doing away with charging extra for gratuities.

 

I was surprised to learn through this thread that Princess shares money paid for gratuities across their fleet.  If this is true, it just shows what a farce charging extra for gratuities is. 

 

If gratuities aren't charged, there are still many ways you can reward room stewards for their service, by bringing gifts from home, by keeping your cabin tidy to lessen their workload, by saying you don't always need a second service at night, by buying small gifts in port (one collected fridge magnets of ports), etc. 

[MicCanberra]

Hmm, sharing fleet wide is strange one.

[Aus Traveller]

7 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Hmm, sharing fleet wide is strange one.

Princess have said the tips pool is shared fleet wide and also used for staff incentives. I can see the logic of it. As we know, staff wages are topped up from the tips pool on those ships where the auto-tips apply. If it is fleet-wide, then HQ does not have to do the complicated accounting to share the tips from each particular cruise and also staff do not lose out if one particular cruise attracts lower tips overall. Staff would know exactly how much money they would get each month.

[MicCanberra]

Well that just makes it a service charge and something that shouldn't be removed at all. Thank goodness I don't care about who it goes to and just pay them (included in the fare or not)

[Aus Traveller]

39 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Well that just makes it a service charge and something that shouldn't be removed at all. Thank goodness I don't care about who it goes to and just pay them (included in the fare or not)

I agree with you. On ships where the gratuities apply, the staff who are part of the tips pool, rely on the tips to make a reasonable wage. Passengers know (or should know) that these tips apply so they should not remove them.

[GUT2407]

4 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I agree with you. On ships where the gratuities apply, the staff who are part of the tips pool, rely on the tips to make a reasonable wage. Passengers know (or should know) that these tips apply so they should not remove them.

My First cruise I had no idea that the staff were paid next to nothing. And had no idea I was going to get hit with a charge of around $10.50 (I think that’s what it was back then) each, per day.

 

[MicCanberra]

10 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

My First cruise I had no idea that the staff were paid next to nothing. And had no idea I was going to get hit with a charge of around $10.50 (I think that’s what it was back then) each, per day.

 

Now you know both.