Gratuities Holland America

[Bizziecruzer]

Hi does anyone know if the gratuities are included in the fare for Holland America cruises booked in Australia , departing and returning to Australia? If not , could you please advise how much they are? Thanks in advance for your responses.

[lyndarra]

30 minutes ago, Bizziecruzer said:

Hi does anyone know if the gratuities are included in the fare for Holland America cruises booked in Australia , departing and returning to Australia? If not , could you please advise how much they are? Thanks in advance for your responses.

Gratuities are not included in HAL fares in OZ. Budget for USD14.50 per day. My last HAL cruise was last December and next one is February next year.

[NSWP]

16 hours ago, Bizziecruzer said:

Hi does anyone know if the gratuities are included in the fare for Holland America cruises booked in Australia , departing and returning to Australia? If not , could you please advise how much they are? Thanks in advance for your responses.

You also have the option of removing them or reducing them or even increasing the daily gratuity by visiting the Customer Service (Pursers) Desk.

[MicCanberra]

BTW, most inside, oceanview  and balcony rooms do not have a fridge (cooler), If you want a fridge in your room you need to pre order it and it is $2 per day.

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

BTW, most inside, oceanview  and balcony rooms do not have a fridge (cooler), If you want a fridge in your room you need to pre order it and it is $2 per day.

Only on some ships Mic.   Noordam is a Vista Class and had fridge as standard fitting.

[MicCanberra]

4 hours ago, NSWP said:

Only on some ships Mic.   Noordam is a Vista Class and had fridge as standard fitting.

Okay, good to know. We just got off the Pacific Aria which was a HAL ship prior (same as the Maasdam), they supplied a fridge for my pills and drinks free of charge.

[dillpickle48]

Never had a balcony without a fridge on Holland.

[MicCanberra]

38 minutes ago, dillpickle48 said:

Never had a balcony without a fridge on Holland.

perhaps it is just the oceanviews and insides then on certain ships.

[dillpickle48]

That is correct.  Only ever booked a fridge in a lanai but it took up too much room.

[Hammer61]

Resurrecting an old thread as have just booked our first HAL cruise (online) around Japan next year, no mention of gratuities included or not.

 

Every other cruise we have booked via an Australian TA or on the Cruise lines website has included gratuities even if not departing an Australian port, Princess, RCI, Azamara, Celebrity, Carnival and P&O include grats and in the case of Princess, Carnival and P&O are also part of Carnival group, so is it still the case that HAL (Also Carnival group) adds the gratuity for cruises booked from Australia?

 

Would never remove them if its making up in part the salary of the crew, but wanted to factor it into the trip, believe its US$16 per day so for our trip we need to allow for about A$650 for the 2 of us over 14 days.

[Aus Traveller]

I am pretty sure that the auto gratuities will apply to your cruise. As far as I know, HAL also charges gratuities on cruises out of Australian ports. Princess, P&O and Carnival (part of the same group) have gratuities included on cruises from Australian ports that also return to Aussie ports. You might also find that a gratuity is added to the cost of drinks purchased on your cruise.

[Hammer61]

9 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I am pretty sure that the auto gratuities will apply to your cruise. As far as I know, HAL also charges gratuities on cruises out of Australian ports. Princess, P&O and Carnival (part of the same group) have gratuities included on cruises from Australian ports that also return to Aussie ports. You might also find that a gratuity is added to the cost of drinks purchased on your cruise.

Thanks, and also just thinking about it, we did a Cunard Cruise (Also Carnival group) in Alaska in 2019 that was booked through an Australian agent and that had the gratuity added, we should be ok with drinks etc as we booked the Have it all package, so drinks, internet, some excursion credit and a specialty dining included.

[boeckli]

Gratuities (crew appreciation) are added daily to your onboard account. You do have an option to prepay them in A$ (at a very favourable exchange rate). Look in your HAL account under 'Manage my cruise', it's towards the bottom of a list of items.

[lyndarra]

1 hour ago, Hammer61 said:

Resurrecting an old thread as have just booked our first HAL cruise (online) around Japan next year, no mention of gratuities included or not.

 

Every other cruise we have booked via an Australian TA or on the Cruise lines website has included gratuities even if not departing an Australian port, Princess, RCI, Azamara, Celebrity, Carnival and P&O include grats and in the case of Princess, Carnival and P&O are also part of Carnival group, so is it still the case that HAL (Also Carnival group) adds the gratuity for cruises booked from Australia?

 

Would never remove them if its making up in part the salary of the crew, but wanted to factor it into the trip, believe its US$16 per day so for our trip we need to allow for about A$650 for the 2 of us over 14 days.

Gratuities are not included. I usually prepay them as I have been told staff will know this. It possibly may, or may not, make a difference in service.

[yarramar]

When you book and pay through an Australian agent or on the cruiselines .com.au website, the gratuities are added to the cost of the cruise. This is to satisfy our consumer laws that "what you see advertised is what you get"

[Wombat706]

28 minutes ago, yarramar said:

When you book and pay through an Australian agent or on the cruiselines .com.au website, the gratuities are added to the cost of the cruise. This is to satisfy our consumer laws that "what you see advertised is what you get"

That is not true of all cruiselines. Our Cunard trip in Jan 2023 (a round trip Sydney to Tasmania) did not include gratuities - they were charged to our shipboard account and had to be paid before disembarking. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Wombat706
Changed syntax

[Aus Traveller]

21 minutes ago, yarramar said:

When you book and pay through an Australian agent or on the cruiselines .com.au website, the gratuities are added to the cost of the cruise. This is to satisfy our consumer laws that "what you see advertised is what you get"

I am sorry, but the reason you give is wrong. On some cruises operating out of Australia, auto gratuities are added to the passenger's on-board account. Our consumer laws don't have anything to do with it. On goods sold in Australia, any sales taxes etc have to be included in the advertised sale price, but the gratuity is not a tax. The vast majority of Australian-based cruises have an international port to enable the ship to sell duty free. This also means that GST does not have to be added to the cruise fare. Another point is that GST was introduced in July 2000 but for years after that all the cruise lines charged an auto-gratuity. P&O were the first to combine it in the fare (2009) followed by Princess in May 2011. They were followed years later by RCL. These companies were NOT operating in breach of Australian laws for all those years. P&O and Princess both announced they were incorporating the gratuity in the base fare because tipping is not part of the Australian culture. If it was the law, they would have said so and they would have done it many years earlier. When we booked a Celebrity cruise, we had to pay the gratuities up front, but not as part of the fare. It was a separate amount. We were told that it was because Australians don't tip.

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

Another point is that GST was introduced in July 2000 but for years after that all the cruise lines charged an auto-gratuity. P&O were the first to combine it in the fare (2009) followed by Princess in May 2011. They were followed years later by RCL.

 

The relevant legislation is the Australian Competition and Consumer Act (2010), which came into effect on the 1st January 2011.

 

Under the legislation all businesses in Australia must display the total price of a product or service as a single figure. This price must be the minimum total cost, the lowest amount a customer could pay, including any taxes, duties and unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees.

 

If the pre-selected fee is avoidable, e.g. voluntary gratuities, then it doesn't need to be shown as part of the advertised total cost. So the only legally permissible gratuities in Australia are those folded into the total cruise cost, or those that can be removed at the discretion of the customer. Mandatory gratuities not shown as part of the total cruise cost at the time of purchase are not allowed.

 

1 hour ago, Aus Traveller said:

When we booked a Celebrity cruise, we had to pay the gratuities up front, but not as part of the fare. It was a separate amount. We were told that it was because Australians don't tip.

 

Were those gratuities refundable on request? Otherwise, if this was booked in Australia and the advertising did not include the gratuities in the total cost for that Celebrity cruise, then it would appear on the face of it to be contrary to the Act. But as any lawyer will tell you (and I'm not one), it ain't illegal until a court says it's illegal.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I am sorry, but the reason you give is wrong. On some cruises operating out of Australia, auto gratuities are added to the passenger's on-board account. Our consumer laws don't have anything to do with it. On goods sold in Australia, any sales taxes etc have to be included in the advertised sale price, but the gratuity is not a tax. The vast majority of Australian-based cruises have an international port to enable the ship to sell duty free. This also means that GST does not have to be added to the cruise fare. Another point is that GST was introduced in July 2000 but for years after that all the cruise lines charged an auto-gratuity. P&O were the first to combine it in the fare (2009) followed by Princess in May 2011. They were followed years later by RCL. These companies were NOT operating in breach of Australian laws for all those years. P&O and Princess both announced they were incorporating the gratuity in the base fare because tipping is not part of the Australian culture. If it was the law, they would have said so and they would have done it many years earlier. When we booked a Celebrity cruise, we had to pay the gratuities up front, but not as part of the fare. It was a separate amount. We were told that it was because Australians don't tip.

Celebrity switched to including gratuities in the fare here either late 2016 or early 2017. Our 2019 cruise with them had no added grats.

[Aus Traveller]

7 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

Were those gratuities refundable on request? Otherwise, if this was booked in Australia and the advertising did not include the gratuities in the total cost for that Celebrity cruise, then it would appear on the face of it to be contrary to the Act. But as any lawyer will tell you (and I'm not one), it ain't illegal until a court says it's illegal.

With the Celebrity cruise I mentioned, I don't believe we could have had the gratuities refunded. We had to pay them up-front - the fare was quoted as 'X' plus gratuities of 'Y'. I don't think we could have asked for a refund when we were on board. The cruise was in 2013 and it was advertised and booked in Australia. As you say, it appears that it could have been contrary to the Act.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Aus Traveller

[Hammer61]

3 hours ago, lyndarra said:

Gratuities are not included. I usually prepay them as I have been told staff will know this. It possibly may, or may not, make a difference in service.

Thanks, and we will do the same, assume you can do this by logging in with your reservation number, be just like booking an excursion or buying something pre cruise.

[boeckli]

1 hour ago, Hammer61 said:

Thanks, and we will do the same, assume you can do this by logging in with your reservation number, be just like booking an excursion or buying something pre cruise.

 

Yes, look at my post #13 above.

[yarramar]

Whether gratuities are added to your on board account or not, if you purchase the cruise through an Australian agent or Australian website, the gratuities are paid for in the fare. If you pay the account, you are paying twice, if you dispute it they will apologise and take it off.

Do you really think they care? Until they are challenged in an Australian court they will gouge all their passengers at any opportunity. If they were such good corporate citizens they would pay a decent wage to their crew as Virgin Voyages does.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, yarramar said:

Whether gratuities are added to your on board account or not, if you purchase the cruise through an Australian agent or Australian website, the gratuities are paid for in the fare. If you pay the account, you are paying twice, if you dispute it they will apologise and take it off.

Do you really think they care? Until they are challenged in an Australian court they will gouge all their passengers at any opportunity. If they were such good corporate citizens they would pay a decent wage to their crew as Virgin Voyages does.

As a couple of other people explained, Holland America and Cunard do not include gratuities in the fare. It doesn't matter if they are purchased through an Australian TA or website. Gratuities are charged on board.

 

I can't see what you mean about paying it twice. If it isn't in the fare, then the cruiseline can charge it on board. When the fare is structured that way, it isn't fair to the staff if passengers to take the gratuities off.

 

The crew are paid reasonably, much better than a professional would be paid in their home country. Many of the stewards have university degrees, but they either can't get a job in their home country, or the pay isn't as good as they get working on a ship as a steward.

[yarramar]

26 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

As a couple of other people explained, Holland America and Cunard do not include gratuities in the fare. It doesn't matter if they are purchased through an Australian TA or website. Gratuities are charged on board.

According to the HAL contract for Australians:

Certain laws such as the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and any applicable state based consumer legislation (from here known as 'Consumer Laws'), are in place for Your protection. They are designed to ensure Our services are provided with due care and skill and are reasonably fit for a cruise holiday. These terms and conditions do not alter any protection given to You by Consumer Laws.

If you read the act, all costs must be included in the advertised price. Under the act this includes an additional charge per day if not purchasing something new.