Why Aren't Gratuities Included in the Cruise Fare in the US

[F1guynz]

When we book here in New Zealand or Australia the gratuities are included in the base price of the room booking, I was wondering why they don't do that in the United States after reading a thread on CC where some people are suggesting gratuities should be reduced as they only receive once a day room service.

I understand that the gratuities are not just for the few people you interact with, but also many crew members you do not ever meet personally who contribute to your holiday experience, so it is not right to remove the daily charge.

To me it seems far more effective to include it in the base price of the fare as we do here, the cruise line can increase the daily rate by increasing the room rate which flatulates all the time anyway whenever appropriate. It just seems fairer to me than allowing people to remove the daily charge and deprive some of the back-office crew of their fair share.

Even though gratuities are included here I still tip our room steward, waiters and other crew who make our holiday an enjoyable experience. 

If I book a cruise sailing out of the Unites States in the New Zealand website the gratuities for the US sailing are included so it can be done.

What do others think, keep them separate or include them in the base fare?

 

[steverk]

This a topic of debate among Americans as well.  My take is that the cruise line wants to make the headline price appear as low as possible. They abuse the tipping culture here for that purpose. 

Doesn't seem right,  but I'm not going to stop cruising over it.

[smokeybandit]

That is the $64,000 question

[twangster]

In your region it's mandated by laws or consumer regulations.

That's exactly what it would take to make it the same in North America.  Until it's required by the government, no one cruise line will desire to appear to put themselves at a competitive disadvantage.  

Fifty percent or more on a typical US sailing are new, a.k.a.  pre-gold.  For many newbie it's about price.

Cruise line A - Prices from $399*

Cruise line B - Prices from $475**

* does not include daily service charges blah, blah, blah

** includes daily service service charges

"Look honey, we can save $75 bucks, EACH!!!"

For the newbies cruise line A is automatically a front runner.

Until they are all forced to, one cruise line will hold back and always seek to display the lowest price for marketing purposes.   

 

[DoomSlayer]

It's somewhat common here in the States, not just with cruise ships.  A lot of tourist destinations have hotels that charge resort, service, or convenance fees separate from the advertised rates.  Airlines can even add on fuel surcharges.  They are supposed to disclose these fees before purchase, which they often do, but people never read the "fine print" and don't always realize they have to pay these additional fees.  This allows them to advertise cheaper prices but has a side effect of making customers unhappy if they are not aware of the extra fees.

[F1guynz]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

In your region it's mandated by laws or consumer regulations.

I am not entirely sure that it's a mandate. I do remember it used to be on the Royal bookings a long time ago when we first started cruising.

This is a comment I found from an article on the Internet (so it must be true 

However, as Australians are cruising the world in ever-increasing numbers, we're discovering that the culture of tipping is embedded in many fare structures. When used to seeing the total price stated upfront, it can come as a surprise to first-timers that many cruise lines add a recommended daily gratuity charge to passengers' accounts. In fact, having gratuities automatically charged to their accounts was so unpopular with local cruisers that in 2010, Australia-based P&O Cruises decided to stop it completely. Now P&O leaves it up to each passenger to decide whether to tip for outstanding service or not … and do it personally with cash. Other cruise lines, such as Princess, Carnival, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean soon followed this no-tipping policy on their Australia-based ships.

 

[CanHardlyWait]

There is a major dumpster fire going on at CC. No good will come from this conversation. What people tip and don't tip should be their own private business.

[Montemy2419]

We first cruised in 1988 and you only paid for the cruise and taxes/port fees.  They would give you several envelopes in your room about 2 days before the end of the cruise.  It was optional and wasn't pushed hard.  Same with airlines you flew and got a blanket, pillow if you asked for one and they didn't bat an eye at the amount of suitcases checked.  We flew Skybus and they were the first ones to charge for soft drinks, pillows and blankets.  No customers complained because items are being offered ala carte so they gave you a low plane fare and the rest was up to you.  The other airlines made fun of them until they realized all the extra money that they could make.  Now hotels, airlines and cruise ships charge extra for things that were previously included.

Before the change in housekeeping daily cleaning we always asked our room steward to only visit in the evening.  We like to sleep in during vacation and with just the two of us we didn't make a mess.  We always tipped the room steward and the waiter/assistant waiter on the final night.  It was sad how the dining room was over half empty on the last night because people didn't want to tip.  Now that housekeeping has been cut to once a day cleaning I think more and more people will have guest services remove gratuities.  You can only push your customer so much before they push back.

[RafaellaCG]

In Israel the price shown must be final but since gratuities are technically not required RC didn't include them. The result was that about 50% of our ship removed gratuities. The Israeli's didn't budget for it, and the crew ended up very disappointed (I heard a lot of the crew quit that season).

[Ditchdoc]

You rent the ship. If you want someone to drive it, thats extra.

[BMW Hoosier]

5 hours ago, Montemy2419 said:

Same with airlines you flew and got a blanket, pillow if you asked for one and they didn't bat an eye at the amount of suitcases checked.  We flew Skybus and they were the first ones to charge for soft drinks, pillows and blankets.  No customers complained because items are being offered ala carte so they gave you a low plane fare and the rest was up to you.  The other airlines made fun of them until they realized all the extra money that they could make.  Now hotels, airlines and cruise ships charge extra for things that were previously included.

 

That SkyBus plan really worked out well. They were operated for less than a year. Not sure about the analogies, we don't tip airline employees. Are there ones that charge for soft drinks, pillows, and blankets today? I know some of that hasn't come back since the pandemic and maybe won't but do any charge fees?

[Babsy47]

In the US, taxes, fees, and overtime are different on tips and up charges.  For example, in some states you pay room tax on the room price, but not fees.  I think airline upcharges do not incur some of the ticketing fees.  You pay sales tax in restaurants on the food, but not the tip.  Tips are not included in overtime calculations.  Thus, there are all types of odd incentives for fees and tips to be added on top of the base price.  I don’t think any of this applies to cruises, but the odd culture of on-land hospitality carries over.

[tjcruisers]

This thread has pique my interest. As we haven't departed from outside of North America yet, we are starting to look and Australia is definitely one destination we're exploring. For this tipping included vs separate, is this based on the departure country of the cruise or based on the location of where your booking from? 

[twangster]

34 minutes ago, tjcruisers said:

This thread has pique my interest. As we haven't departed from outside of North America yet, we are starting to look and Australia is definitely one destination we're exploring. For this tipping included vs separate, is this based on the departure country of the cruise or based on the location of where your booking from? 

It's based on where the booking is made.  For US guests booking an Australian cruise using the US booking process it will be the same daily gratuity charges we experience when sailing in the Caribbean.  

[F1guynz]

As @twangster said it depends on where you live, for us in New Zealand and Australia the gratuity is always part of the base fare regardless of where the cruise takes place.

For comparison I have included the all-inclusive price (room and taxes) we would pay for a cruise out of Orlando in 2024. With the exchange rate $2500AUD equates to about $1694USD.

Meaning the total cost would be around $3826USD for us to do this cruise.

[twangster]

As a point of reference using the same ship and sail date on the US website as @F1guynz. 

No discounts or qualifiers applied such as CAS, age, state, military, etc.

Same cabin 11656

$16 gratuity x 7 days x 2 guests = $224

$3,669.28 + $224 gratuity for two = $3,893.28

That's within $67 USD which is around 1.7% but given the variability in exchange rates it's basically a wash.