WIFI PRICES AND RECOMMENDED GRATUITIES ADJUSTMENTS

[CruiseHealing]

Remember is December 2022 the CEO said Carnival cruises “are too much of a value”.  Meaning prices across the board will be going up.  So he decided to wait until January to start his price increase plans.  He would not do it in December because it could effect Christmas Present cruise bookings.  This is his first step, expect to see more increases going forward. Like Eli-6 stated, Cheers will be next.

Edited January 4, 2023 by CruiseHealing

[nanamobo]

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/steakhouse

 

Steakhouse page says it's $65 per person now too. Insanity!

On a RCCL cruise back in 1990 they introduced a “special dining” for $20.00 per person for the actual same food you received in the MDR. On this 7 day cruise didn’t see many people paying extra for this service. Fast forward 30 years and more people pay for this “special dining” the more other services for dining will be reduced. 

[Honolulu Blue]

3 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I had two cruises last year where they canceled my pre-paid internet and made us pay-per-day. So just because you pre-pay now, doesn't mean it won't get canceled and you have to pay the higher rate.

That's not very nice! This would be one of the few things that would upset me on a cruise.

3 hours ago, dallasdan said:

Didn't NCL announce a gratuity increase in the last month?  So is Carnival just following their competitor?

 

3 hours ago, ohioNCLcruiser said:

For anyone who does adjust or remove the tips please make sure you write on the page that you are removing them due to Carnival's increased charge policy and not because of the crew.

Noted. Thanks for the tip. I have no intention of ever removing these "mandatory" gratuities, but who knows where the cruise world will go?

 

Also, I'll note here that NCL raised their grats to $20/day on January 1. Carnival is just catching up to where they were.

1 hour ago, Eli_6 said:

I also wish they would just make the gratuities required for everyone. I would be willing to bet that most of the people removing their grats are the first or second time cruisers that Carnival seems to be so "targeting" as of late. I know zero "seasoned" cruisers who remove grats because regular cruisers have seen the crew work their behinds off and talked to enough of the crew to know how much this money means to them.  

I wish I could prove it (Mr. Heald won't touch this with a 10 foot pole), but I think a higher portion of those pulling their grats are the old salts that have been cruising since the Arisons were running things and think they know best about how much to tip everyone.

[Texaslady22]

I'm glad for the advanced notice. I'll be sure to add it for my next trip! 

[SDPadreFan]

Went ahead and added the Prepaid Gratuities to our 12 day Baltic Sea this July. Saved $36 on the 2 of us and we will just add that to the extra we always give to the MDR wait staff and our cabin steward.

[pinto18]

I remember the not too long ago when internet ( verrrry slooowwww) was per minute , then a page would take minutes to load and you were just counting the $$ in your head...So I am still thankful for the unlimited even with a hike up in price 

[rolloman]

Don't get caught up thinking Carnival is doing everyone a favor by giving you ample time to pre-pay before the announced large gratuity price increase. Every dollar they collect in advance goes in their pockets to improve their bottom line. Just another corporate gimmick to show shareholders a boost in income prior to the next quarterly shareholder meeting. 

[staceyglow]

3 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Don't get caught up thinking Carnival is doing everyone a favor by giving you ample time to pre-pay before the announced large gratuity price increase. Every dollar they collect in advance goes in their pockets to improve their bottom line. Just another corporate gimmick to show shareholders a boost in income prior to the next quarterly shareholder meeting. 

Wrong.  Those gratuities are not profit; they are liabilities - a debt owed to their employees.  If I gave you a $20 bill and told you to give it to someone else a month from now, it is not $20 of income to you.

 

It might temporarily help their cash flow a little bit, but that is something entirely different.

[rolloman]

Just now, staceyglow said:

Wrong.  Those gratuities are not profit; they are liabilities - a debt owed to their employees.  If I gave you a $20 bill and told you to give it to someone else a month from now, it is not $20 of income to you.

 

It might temporarily help their cash flow a little bit, but that is something entirely different.

They make money on your money when you give it to them. Even if you give it to them for 1 day...they draw interest on it...Not You....

[cruisingguy007]

15 minutes ago, pinto18 said:

I remember the not too long ago when internet ( verrrry slooowwww) was per minute , then a page would take minutes to load and you were just counting the $$ in your head...So I am still thankful for the unlimited even with a hike up in price 

 

Fair point, it still costs less than the price of one alcohol drink per day for all day internet. One could also buy less of it by buying onboard after a few days have passed. I don't think it's this specific increase, I think it's the totality of all the various increases that is grinding on folks. Folks will get over it but when all you've seen for a while is cutbacks, service reductions and higher prices on literally everything, it causes a visceral reaction. It's normal and it too shall pass and either we'll pay and accept it or leave it on the shelf and go without.     

Edited January 4, 2023 by cruisingguy007

[ctlyf]

4 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

That link shows $48 for me still. I'm not seeing $65. I wouldn't pay $48 so $65 would be nuts. 

I was just going to say that... plus if you add to cart, it goes on at $42. Not sure where someone saw $65.

 

[ctlyf]

39 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Don't get caught up thinking Carnival is doing everyone a favor by giving you ample time to pre-pay before the announced large gratuity price increase. Every dollar they collect in advance goes in their pockets to improve their bottom line. Just another corporate gimmick to show shareholders a boost in income prior to the next quarterly shareholder meeting. 

If guests prepay for wifi, dinners, Cheers, etc, it improves cash position but isn't considered income until it is earned (ie., the guest has received the service/product they paid for). There's no increase to income until after the sailing. 

[BlerkOne]

53 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Don't get caught up thinking Carnival is doing everyone a favor by giving you ample time to pre-pay before the announced large gratuity price increase. Every dollar they collect in advance goes in their pockets to improve their bottom line. Just another corporate gimmick to show shareholders a boost in income prior to the next quarterly shareholder meeting. 

Fake news

[BlerkOne]

45 minutes ago, rolloman said:

They make money on your money when you give it to them. Even if you give it to them for 1 day...they draw interest on it...Not You....

And they have to account for that money which costs the more than a few pennies of interest which they are taxed on.

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

There are other cruise lines… I’m doing a live from Virgin in a week. They include the wifi price and with my status match, I get free premium. 
I’m sure at a later date, I’ll work out the math. I may even get one more in before the hike. I just think that’s a high price for what you get. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Resorts include wifi. Carnival prices aren’t that cheap these days. 

Resorts include a resort fee, too. I do like that Virgin is kid free. Seems appropriate 

 

A number of cruise lines have raised the price of Internet and gratuities and more. Carnival is not the only line to do it more than once in a short period of time.

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, mz-s said:

 

That forces the cruise lines to give up the charade that they're gratuities and not salaries paid by guests though.

They are gratuities and is how the industry operates. When gratuities are included you have totally eliminated any incentive for staff to go above and beyond. They already know what they are guaranteed to receive without killing themselves.

[cruisingguy007]

3 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

They are gratuities and is how the industry operates. When gratuities are included you have totally eliminated any incentive for staff to go above and beyond. They already know what they are guaranteed to receive without killing themselves.

 

Someone here is always talking about the only certainty is change, maybe it's time for the industry to change too? The staff shouldn't have to kill themselves to be treated with dignity or work/perform in fear that their hard work can be so easily manipulated on a whim by cheapskates and abusive passengers. It's never struck me as fair and calling them gratuities when it composes the majority if their salary is disingenuous at best.  

[staceyglow]

1 hour ago, rolloman said:

They make money on your money when you give it to them. Even if you give it to them for 1 day...they draw interest on it...Not You....

The amount of interest they make on prepaid gratuities amounts to a rounding error on the companies published financials. It's far, far less than the money they would have made if they had gotten the full amount at sailing time.

Edited January 4, 2023 by staceyglow

[BlerkOne]

Just now, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Someone here is always talking about the only certainty is change, maybe it's time for the industry to change too? The staff shouldn't have to kill themselves to be treated with dignity or work/perform in fear that their hard work can be so easily manipulated on a whim by cheapskates and abusive passengers. It's never struck me as fair and calling them gratuities when it composes the majority if their salary is disingenuous at best.  

The industry did change. They increased gratuities in a time when there is a shortage of workers. As the tips are pooled and distributed they are not direct compensation. At least now the system is more fair to employees than in the good old days. 

 

Perhaps they should even add a charge for setting up Pullman beds.

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

The amount of interest they make on prepaid gratuities amounts to a rounding error on the companies published financials. It's far, far less than the money they would have made if they had gotten the full amount at sailing time.

Nothing compared to the interest they lose by giving away cabins to gamblers 

[cruisingguy007]

1 minute ago, BlerkOne said:

Perhaps they should even add a charge for setting up Pullman beds.

 

They do, it's part of the $577.50 I pre-paid in gratuities before even setting foot on the ship. 

[icft]

My view is the one I stated in the old "Carnival CEO plans to raise prices: "we are way too much of a value" thread I said:

 

"I think for the Carnival brand the “get you on board to sell you things” approach will become more intense to raise revenue rather than raise cruise fares to raise revenue. On our latest cruise we were bombarded with sales pitches for things like a wine package which was new to us. The cruise director spent a huge amount of time on the announcements promoting shore excursions, spa treatments, photos, jewelry sales and the like. I expect an increase in the prices of things like specialty dining and drinks packages and photos and spa treatments more than increases in cruise fares. The food is bad in the main dining room? Then go pay for a specialty restaurant."

 

I think that is what we are seeing. They will keep the advertised price low but do all they can to increase the on-board spend via hard sells and price increases for everything not in the base cruise price. They will probably increase base cruise prices a bit when they can, but the main thrust is the add on items.

[BlerkOne]

16 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

They do, it's part of the $577.50 I pre-paid in gratuities before even setting foot on the ship. 

I never prepay gratuities, especially if gratuities are going up. The staff deserves every penny of their gratuities.

[BlerkOne]

17 minutes ago, icft said:

My view is the one I stated in the old "Carnival CEO plans to raise prices: "we are way too much of a value" thread I said:

 

 

 

I think that is what we are seeing. They will keep the advertised price low but do all they can to increase the on-board spend via hard sells and price increases for everything not in the base cruise price. They will probably increase base cruise prices a bit when they can, but the main thrust is the add on items.

They are only following the leaders (other cruise lines).

[DallasGuy75219]

6 hours ago, urbanhawk said:

Why not the Australian departures, not that I am complaining?

Tipping is not part of their culture because service industry employees are paid a living wage and don't have to rely on tips.