Gratuities included in fare on Princess

[kaseyoz]

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where it says crew appreciation tips are included in our fare if booked in Australia.

To take out premier package here it does not include tips in the list of additions like it does for USA cruisers.

It was also cheaper.

This is not a post about paying vs not paying tips. Thank you

[rkmw]

27 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where it says crew appreciation tips are included in our fare if booked in Australia.

To take out premier package here it does not include tips in the list of additions like it does for USA cruisers.

It was also cheaper.

This is not a post about paying vs not paying tips. Thank you

If the cruise is going to or from the US the premier package does not mention gratuities are included so it looks like they are an added expense unless you remove them 🙂 cruises to Asia and cruises to and from Australia are included 

[Cbtours]

54 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where it says crew appreciation tips are included in our fare if booked in Australia.

To take out premier package here it does not include tips in the list of additions like it does for USA cruisers.

It was also cheaper.

This is not a post about paying vs not paying tips. Thank you

Gratuities – Onboard Service

For our Australian passengers, when sailing on cruises departing from Australia, a daily gratuity amount will no longer be added to your on board account. You are welcome to reward our on board crew for exceptional service, however, tipping is not required.

[rkmw]

42 minutes ago, Cbtours said:

Gratuities – Onboard Service

For our Australian passengers, when sailing on cruises departing from Australia, a daily gratuity amount will no longer be added to your on board account. You are welcome to reward our on board crew for exceptional service, however, tipping is not required.

What is “Crew Appreciation”?
A crew appreciation is a daily amount added to your onboard account, which is shared among the many members of our crew in hotel, dining and entertainment throughout the fleet who help make your cruise experience special. The daily amount of the Crew Appreciation is based on stateroom category. Crew Appreciation only applies to cruises not departing from/returning to Australia

[sewgood]

1 hour ago, kaseyoz said:

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where it says crew appreciation tips are included in our fare if booked in Australia.

I don't know where it is in writing on the Princess site but it goes that cruises leaving and then returning to Australia, this includes round trip cruises out of Australia and all segments of the world cruise on the Coral/Crown have the tips built into the fare if you book them in Australia.

 

For relocation cruises to Asia from Australia and vice versa the tips are built into the fare

 

But for relocation cruises to Australia from the USA and vice versa tips are not included in the fare and you will have on your payment page of your booking a crew appreciation pre-payment option.

 

Any overseas Princess cruise such as an Alaskan one even booked in Australia does not include tips and these will be added to your daily account if not prepaid.

[kaseyoz]

Crew appreciation is about $650 AUD for us or 23 aud pppd

It certainly would have been much cheaper to add in the premier package if we had known.

Something we did not budget for, but the staff on here are brilliant. 

[kaseyoz]

Our cruise is to and from UK.

So looks like they are going to be extra then.

 

[sewgood]

I just read the inclusions in the Princess Premier for my cruise Honolulu to Sydney and I can still upgrade to it for my October cruise.

If you haven't sailed yet see if there is a banner up the top of your payment page trying to get you to add it on.

 

The list of inclusions does not include the daily tips for me for this cruise.

[kaseyoz]

 

We are onboard now. You cannot upgrade once you have sailed.

 

[NSWP]

27 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

 

We are onboard now. You cannot upgrade once you have sailed.

 

Which ship are you on?

[kaseyoz]

Sky Princess , 14 days Norway.

 

[MMDown Under]

As if we Aussies didn't feel bad enough with not tipping, no gratuities, now it is crew appreciation.  So if you don't give anything to the crew because it is included in the fare, you don't appreciate the crew.  

FWIW, I've spoken to members of the crew, who have requested transfer to ships operating in Australia, because they like working with Aussies. 

[icat2000]

Well at least when its included in the fare they guaranteed to get something. I always tip above what is included in fare. 

 

I know that the main people who score tips are bar staff, stateroom staff, coffee makers etc. But I like to tip the bathroom attendants cause I reckon they have one of the shittest jobs on the ship. 

[MMDown Under]

6 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Well at least when its included in the fare they guaranteed to get something. I always tip above what is included in fare. 

 

I know that the main people who score tips are bar staff, stateroom staff, coffee makers etc. But I like to tip the bathroom attendants cause I reckon they have one of the shittest jobs on the ship. 

That is a nice gesture.  I take small gifts for them.  Last time I bought fridge magnets for a crew member who collected them, but couldn't always get off the ship into port.  In Australia, I take back information on the ports, for when the ship returns to that port.  I keep my cabin tidy to save crew work.  There are lots of ways you can show appreciation to crew members, which doesn't involve money.  If they need more money for the work they do, the cruiselines should pay them an adequate wage. 

[arxcards]

On 6/18/2023 at 6:02 PM, sewgood said:

I just read the inclusions in the Princess Premier for my cruise Honolulu to Sydney and I can still upgrade to it for my October cruise.

If you haven't sailed yet see if there is a banner up the top of your payment page trying to get you to add it on.

 

The list of inclusions does not include the daily tips for me for this cruise.

Seems we are in a twilight zone with these. When booking in $AU, premier doesn't include crew appreciation/tips/AWS. That is fine for Australian based cruises, as they are included in the fare anyway. But for US/UK currency cruises, crew appreciation isn't included on premier fares for those either. I don't know if it is an error by omission, or if we are just omitted. 

[Jean C]

Hi, what may be an indication of whether or not crew appreciation is an additional cost and not included in the fare of a cruise booked in Australia or NZ, is what currency the onboard folio is in (viewable in the summary section for your booked voyage on the Princess website). If it's USD then you'll likely also find, somewhere under account, an option to pre-pay the crew appreciation. That anyway for what it's worth has been my experience 🙂

[OzKiwiJJ]

12 hours ago, arxcards said:

Seems we are in a twilight zone with these. When booking in $AU, premier doesn't include crew appreciation/tips/AWS. That is fine for Australian based cruises, as they are included in the fare anyway. But for US/UK currency cruises, crew appreciation isn't included on premier fares for those either. I don't know if it is an error by omission, or if we are just omitted. 

However we pay the Plus or Premier daily cost in AUD, ie $65 for Plus (about US $45 depending on the exchange rate), whereas those booking elsewhere pay the US $65 cost. So we pay US $20 less which is more than the daily gratuities. So as long as the AUD doesn't go up to far against the USD we win! 😊

[sewgood]

1 hour ago, Jean C said:

That anyway for what it's worth has been my experience

Same for me.

 

59 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

So as long as the AUD doesn't go up to far against the USD we win! 😊

Good point. You've made me feel better now.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

However we pay the Plus or Premier daily cost in AUD, ie $65 for Plus (about US $45 depending on the exchange rate), whereas those booking elsewhere pay the US $65 cost. So we pay US $20 less which is more than the daily gratuities. So as long as the AUD doesn't go up to far against the USD we win! 😊

Thanks. That more than fixes the twilight zone.

 

So to follow with Karon's original question, there is no added benefit to an Aussie buying Premier on a UK cruise booked in Australia, as daily grats would still be charged over & above the package.

[arxcards]

On 6/18/2023 at 10:06 PM, kaseyoz said:

Sky Princess , 14 days Norway.

 

Enjoy!

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Thanks. That more than fixes the twilight zone.

 

 

Yeah. It took me a while to click on to that but when I did it made me feel a bit happier. I'm still grumping about having to pay an extra $15 per day for the same crappy wines plus two things I'll never use -  revolting special desserts and fitness classes.

 

Word of warning to those who do have USD cruises booked: work out what the exchange rate is for the prepaid grats offer, and then keep a close eye on the current exchange rate. Don't prepay the grats too soon. The AUD is improving against the USD. In thecpast Princess fixed the exchange rate for things like prepaid grats and buying OBC at time of booking. I'm not sure if that has changed. I'm keeping a close eye of those things for my late October Japan cruise.

[MMDown Under]

20 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yeah. It took me a while to click on to that but when I did it made me feel a bit happier. I'm still grumping about having to pay an extra $15 per day for the same crappy wines plus two things I'll never use -  revolting special desserts and fitness classes.

 

Word of warning to those who do have USD cruises booked: work out what the exchange rate is for the prepaid grats offer, and then keep a close eye on the current exchange rate. Don't prepay the grats too soon. The AUD is improving against the USD. In thecpast Princess fixed the exchange rate for things like prepaid grats and buying OBC at time of booking. I'm not sure if that has changed. I'm keeping a close eye of those things for my late October Japan cruise.

Good to see Aussie dollar improving against the US dollar. I'd love to be able to use my US TA one more time before I stop cruising.  

[kaseyoz]

One other thing to think about if deciding about premier plus for yourself  is your loyalty level.

i am elite so get internet half price. It cost me $105 i think for the 14 nights so we just share that.

we get the mini bar and can take on two bottles of wine. The desserts and other things are a non event fir us.

They still have the evening Elite drinks in Vista every night, drinks not free but cheaper.

We are not big drinkers and have 9 port stops out of 14 days so will not get close to drinking the $1800 usd of drinks 

Just something to think about.

[kaseyoz]

4 hours ago, arxcards said:

Enjoy!

Thanks Geoff. Been a long time since We cruised Princess. This is now our favourite ship.

It does not have all the “toys” ice skating, dodgem cars, slides etc.

But it has so much entertainment, brilliant staff and food options without all the extra cost add on.

Also cruising from UK has been fun, everyone we talk to has been to Australia or has a relative here. Everyone talks to everyone.

Formal night, the majority was in tuxedo or suit/ bow tie , other nights quite dressy. Eg, did not see any shorts/ t shirts in dining room.

 

[arxcards]

7 minutes ago, kaseyoz said:

Thanks Geoff. Been a long time since We cruised Princess. This is now our favourite ship.

It does not have all the “toys” ice skating, dodgem cars, slides etc.

But it has so much entertainment, brilliant staff and food options without all the extra cost add on.

Also cruising from UK has been fun, everyone we talk to has been to Australia or has a relative here. Everyone talks to everyone.

Formal night, the majority was in tuxedo or suit/ bow tie , other nights quite dressy. Eg, did not see any shorts/ t shirts in dining room.

 

That is awesome. We have loved some short local ones on Coral since the restart, and similar for most of Majestic. We are doing a half world cruise on Crown in 2025, so will get a few of your Norwegian ports after we leave Dover. If our budget allows, we will tack on an around UK cruise with Princess as a prelude. Nice to see a bit of formality.

 

I am getting a bit old for dodgems too. We still have plenty of Royal cruises left to do, but have settled into a sweet spot for Princess for now. We are OK with a premier package on a 3 nighter, as it includes 6 photo prints and all images downloaded and 2 specialty dining sittings. The price per night is the same, but 14 nights still only gives you 6 photo prints and 2 specialty dining settings. For anything else, we are happy enough with plus, where cost is covered by internet, 3 x martinis, a coffee and a water each day. The desserts are just bloat.