Princess gratuities

[MicCanberra]

Just lucky I guess.

[wintrev]

2 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Just lucky I guess.

This is a first believe me. I am not at all lucky in most things. The difference is $1,680.00 for a MB mini suite so I am happy to take it. In 19 cruises with them have never seen that message ever.

[MicCanberra]

3 minutes ago, wintrev said:

This is a first believe me. I am not at all lucky in most things. The difference is $1,680.00 for a MB mini suite so I am happy to take it. In 19 cruises with them have never seen that message ever.

Likewise

[Reina del Mar]

On 4/15/2024 at 2:14 AM, arxcards said:

If the onboard currency for your cruise is as you describe, in $AU, gratuities are included in the fare. 

This is correct for cruises booked and paid for in Australia. For those of us booking elsewhere, gratuities are added daily on the standard package and included with Plus and Premier packages if paid in GBP or US dollars.

[Astro Flyer]

On 4/18/2024 at 2:34 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

After all we are the only region in the world where the ships operate in a local currency onboard, and repositioning cruises are confusing in that respect - different rules for different start/end locations.

We’re booked with a standard fare from the US around Australia with AUD as the onboard currency so as Reina del Mar wrote we expect to have tips added. Would you know why the cruise procedure you described exists? Is it an Australian requirement? Or a decision made by Princess? Having 2 different sets of procedures results in creating confusion.
 

I know that it benefits Princess because they change our $750 USD OBC to $750 AUD resulting in it becoming only $500 USD at the current exchange rates.

 

Edited Sunday at 03:12 AM by Astro Flyer

[Astro Flyer]

On 4/23/2024 at 6:09 AM, Reina del Mar said:

This is correct for cruises booked and paid for in Australia. For those of us booking elsewhere, gratuities are added daily on the standard package and included with Plus and Premier packages if paid in GBP or US dollars.

Would you know the daily tips charge for those of us in that situation when booking standard fares…is it $16 AUD which is the same dollar amount as in USD.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

17 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

We’re booked with a standard fare from the US around Australia with AUD as the onboard currency so as Reina del Mar wrote we expect to have tips added. Would you know why the cruise procedure you described exists? Is it an Australian requirement? Or a decision made by Princess? Having 2 different sets of procedures results in creating confusion.
 

I know that it benefits Princess because they change our $750 USD OBC to $750 AUD resulting in it becoming only $500 USD at the current exchange rates.

 

I have no idea why Princess operates in AUD here. It may have something to do with the fact that Carnival Corporation also owns P&O Australia which only cruises in our region and, I'm guessing, was always AUD. Perhaps there was some pressure put on Carnival Corp for Princess and Carnival to also operate in AUD. They are the only cruise lines that do. 

 

It must be very annoying the way Princess handles OBC especially as they seem to be pricing a lot of things on the Australian ships in USD then converting the prices to AUD instead of using realistic pricing for our region.  

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

We’re booked with a standard fare from the US around Australia with AUD as the onboard currency so as Reina del Mar wrote we expect to have tips added. Would you know why the cruise procedure you described exists? Is it an Australian requirement? Or a decision made by Princess? Having 2 different sets of procedures results in creating confusion.

I believe the cruise lines that charge in AUD onboard while cruising here is to be competitive with each other and definitely over the lines that don't.

As for why, Aussie TAs include the gratuities for domestic cruises, that is to do with our consumer laws where there shouldn't be mandatory add ons after an initial purchase price.

• Businesses must display clear and accurate prices. They must not mislead consumers about their prices.
• There are specific laws about how businesses must display their prices.
• Businesses must display a total price that includes taxes, duties and all unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees.

[Aus Traveller]

3 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

We’re booked with a standard fare from the US around Australia with AUD as the onboard currency so as Reina del Mar wrote we expect to have tips added. Would you know why the cruise procedure you described exists? Is it an Australian requirement? Or a decision made by Princess? Having 2 different sets of procedures results in creating confusion.
 

I know that it benefits Princess because they change our $750 USD OBC to $750 AUD resulting in it becoming only $500 USD at the current exchange rates.

 

We can't be sure why Princess operates two different systems, but I feel it is likely to be for marketing purposes. Aussies are much more inclined to book a cruise when they don't have the complication of using a foreign currency - just the same as Americans would be. Australia is a fairly large cruise market so it is probably worthwhile for Princess to use our local currency. Maybe the reason the trans-Pacific cruises are in US$ is because there is a fairly large group of American passengers on board.

 

Tips are included in our fares because Aussies are not comfortable with tipping. We are used to an all-inclusive price even when we go to a shop or restaurant where the prices include taxes.

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

I know that it benefits Princess because they change our $750 USD OBC to $750 AUD resulting in it becoming only $500 USD at the current exchange rates.

 

Yes, that is a crock, and it is just one way Princess, is ripping the consumer on currency exchanges.

[MicCanberra]

3 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

Would you know the daily tips charge for those of us in that situation when booking standard fares…is it $16 AUD which is the same dollar amount as in USD

I believe it is the same but in AUD added to your onboard account daily.

[Astro Flyer]

12 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Yes, that is a crock, and it is just one way Princess, is ripping the consumer on currency exchanges.

Yes, it is a crock…one that Princess benefits from at the expense of their passengers.
 

I haven’t found a definitive answer yet about what the amount of tips will be in AUD for those of us who are booked with a standard fare. If it’s the same $16 whether in USD or AUD that’s okay. However if they convert the $16 USD to over $24 AUD that’s not right.

 

Edited Sunday at 06:53 AM by Astro Flyer

[Astro Flyer]

4 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I believe it is the same but in AUD added to your onboard account daily.

Thanks…we were both typing at the same time.

 

[MicCanberra]

21 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Yes, it is a crock…one that Princess benefits from at the expense of their passengers.
 

I haven’t found a definitive answer yet about what the amount of tips will be in AUD for those of us who are booked with a standard fare. If it’s the same $16 whether in USD or AUD that’s okay. However if they convert the $16 USD to over $24 AUD that’s not right.

 

Agreed, if it ends up being that, then remove the $8ppAUD per day.

[Pushka]

I was really surprised that international Princess cruises don't have gratuities incorporated into the price. Weirdly, all Celebrity cruises booked on the AU website do, although that isn't stated during booking but appears on the Invoice received. 

[MicCanberra]

The whole industry is a mish mash of different systems depending on the individuals country and also the country in which you book.

Sometimes it is to do with what is included or not, their maybe regional discounts, regional inclusions, regional protections, etc.

[Astro Flyer]

11 hours ago, Pushka said:

I was really surprised that international Princess cruises don't have gratuities incorporated into the price.

Maybe by not having tips included outside of Australia that is a marketing tool they use as incentive to book their Plus & Premier packages which includes tips, WiFi & other things.
 

For our style of cruising with our elite benefits, packages are not close to being cost effective for us. However as they eliminate more of those elite benefits they’re attempting to push more elite passengers such as us to buy their packages.

 

[MicCanberra]

28 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

Maybe by not having tips included outside of Australia that is a marketing tool they use as incentive to book their Plus & Premier packages which includes tips, WiFi & other things.
 

For our style of cruising with our elite benefits, packages are not close to being cost effective for us. However as they eliminate more of those elite benefits they’re attempting to push more elite passengers such as us to buy their packages.

 

With so many Elite pax, the benefits will continue to be watered down.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

Maybe by not having tips included outside of Australia that is a marketing tool they use as incentive to book their Plus & Premier packages which includes tips, WiFi & other things.
 

For our style of cruising with our elite benefits, packages are not close to being cost effective for us. However as they eliminate more of those elite benefits they’re attempting to push more elite passengers such as us to buy their packages.

 

But if you book in Australia with an Australian priced Plus or Premier fare the gratuities aren't included. The only way you could get the gratuities included would be if you booked a standard fare, then upgraded to Plus/Premier onboard in USD and, by the way, it works out about the same give or take a dollar or two.

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

With so many Elite pax, the benefits will continue to be watered down.

The highest number of elites on a cruise I’ve sailed on was 1500 on the Sky’s inaugural TA in 2019…that’s about 40% of the passengers.

 

[MicCanberra]

8 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

The highest number of elites on a cruise I’ve sailed on was 1500 on the Sky’s inaugural TA in 2019…that’s about 40% of the passengers.

 

Another few years and it will be 60%

[lyndarra]

I sometimes wonder how much CC server space is taken up by "gratuities" topics.🙄🥱

[MicCanberra]

Not much, the hostile threads get shut down quickly

[Jean C]

Other than grizzling about them, some of the informed "whether or not" posts are no doubt of immense value to cruisers who aren't sure what to expect.