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Price Hike: Gratuities for 2018


rjac

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8 minutes ago, rjac said:

I just read a post on Facebook that the gratuity fee is going up to $14.50 on 1/2/18. I haven't received an e-mail from Royal yet on this and my TA hasn't heard anything either. So, any validity to this increase?:27_sunglasses:

I had a bad feeling that might happen soon.  Hope it's just a rumour.  Wonder what happens if I already have gratuities covered?  On our Anthem cruise coming up we have free gratuities for 2 and so we already pre-paid the other 2.....

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30 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

I had a bad feeling that might happen soon.  Hope it's just a rumour.  Wonder what happens if I already have gratuities covered?  On our Anthem cruise coming up we have free gratuities for 2 and so we already pre-paid the other 2.....

If true, I would imagine that if you have prepaid your gratuities, the price increase will not have an effect on you. The question is,  what about cruises booked into 2018 & 2019 and you haven't prepaid the gratuities?

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2 minutes ago, rjac said:

If true, I would imagine that if you have prepaid your gratuities, the price increase will not have an effect on you. The question is,  what about cruises booked into 2018 & 2019 and you haven't prepaid the gratuities?

Then I am almost positive that it would affect those if gratuities are not already pre-paid.  Let's hope it's just a rumour...Because if it's $14.50/day then suites would like be at least $17.50/day or higher times 4 people, 7 days....?

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18 minutes ago, rjac said:

If true, I would imagine that if you have prepaid your gratuities, the price increase will not have an effect on you. The question is,  what about cruises booked into 2018 & 2019 and you haven't prepaid the gratuities?

@rjac I just found this on CC but I cannot seem to find the original post.  It is for Celebrity but it adds to what you just read.  Good news is that it seems like cruises booked into the future will still have the old rate if you pre-pay them before sailing. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=54803625#post54803625

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The last time they increased grats, if you had already prepaid them, the increase did not affect you.  I hope it's the same this time.  I always prepay.  Glad it paid off this time.

It does seem as though they are increasing the grats pretty regularly these days.  I have my issues with the grats anyway but I don't want to start a gratuity bitching session...

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I'm not surprised given that NCL has been residing gratuities wire regularly. I suspect the same will be occurring the the percentage charged to the dining and drink packages and onboard at the bars. 

This is now almost $60 per day for a family of 4. I suspect this could impact the number of families who book and that more will opt to remove or reduce their gratuities once aboard. 

On a cruise I have next December to New Zealand, the gratuities came to over $400 for my family of three. Fortunately, I rebooked during a sale where they were prepaid. But if I hadn't, this would have amount to 10% of my total cruise fare. And if the daily rate of cruising remains at around $100 or so dollars per night on average, it's not going to be long before passengers revolt as this is adding 15% per day to their vacation expenses. 

This isn't a commentary on Royal, but the industry in general. The same arguments can be raised with other industries and the associated add on fees that they charge. 

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Good news from that blog article is that not only are gratuities that were already pre-paid grandfathered on the old rate, but so are any gratuities for cruises booked prior to Jan 2 that are pre-paid any time between Jan 2 and embarkation day. I was planning to do the pre-payment next month or February, when all other expenses around cruise fare and airfare are out of the way, so I'm not going to pay a penalty for my budgeting decisions. For that, I'm genuinely thankful to Royal and how they chose to handle this change.

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22 minutes ago, EpcotBill said:

The last time they raised gratuities you had to have them added to your reservation before the cutoff date (in this case January 2, 2018). Then you had to pay them with final payment. I find it difficult to believe they'll let you wait until just before sailing to pay the old rate.

I was surprised to read that too.  It came from a large online travel agency, who was relaying info to their clients from RC. 

Last time, they had two dates: when the change would happen and for which sailings.  This time, it's just one date for when the rate goes up.

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2 hours ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Or can I add them anytime prior to the sail date

Sabrina,

 

The way I understand it from Matt's post and my TA, any cruise bookings made before January 2, 2018 are grandfathered in to the old gratuity fee, provided you prepay before your embarkation date. I have a B2B this March and have not prepaid the gratuities yet. My TA said I can pay anytime I want, up to a few days before we sail and will ojly pay the old fee ($13.50, we do not have a suite). I think you're ok. Merry Christmas, by the way!:27_sunglasses:

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14 hours ago, rjac said:

Sabrina,

 

The way I understand it from Matt's post and my TA, any cruise bookings made before January 2, 2018 are grandfathered in to the old gratuity fee, provided you prepay before your embarkation date. I have a B2B this March and have not prepaid the gratuities yet. My TA said I can pay anytime I want, up to a few days before we sail and will ojly pay the old fee ($13.50, we do not have a suite). I think you're ok. Merry Christmas, by the way!:27_sunglasses:

Merry Christmas @rjac !  

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2 hours ago, Boston Babe said:

I saw the NCL raised theirs to $20.00 per day! Yikes!!

Want this just for the drink packages? They raised the price of the drink packages, which most people get as a booking perk, and raised the gratuities to 20%, which they automatically add to the free perk. At almost $100 a day for the drink package, that makes the gratuity almost $20 per day. 

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5 hours ago, DocLC said:

Want this just for the drink packages? They raised the price of the drink packages, which most people get as a booking perk, and raised the gratuities to 20%, which they automatically add to the free perk. At almost $100 a day for the drink package, that makes the gratuity almost $20 per day. 

Doc,

I think we're talking apples & oranges here. The gratuity increase is for the cabin steward, wait staff, etc. It has nothing to do with the gratuity fee on drinks/drink package as I understand from what I have read. By the way, Merry Christmas, hope you get some snow!:3_grin:

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8 hours ago, rjac said:

Doc,

I think we're talking apples & oranges here. The gratuity increase is for the cabin steward, wait staff, etc. It has nothing to do with the gratuity fee on drinks/drink package as I understand from what I have read. By the way, Merry Christmas, hope you get some snow!:3_grin:

I was referring to Boston Babes comment that NCL was charging $20 a head per day for gratuities. I think it's closer the $14, but the do add 20% to the "free" drink package that they value at $89 per day. 

Merry Christmas to you, too. Chance of snow San Diego is quite low. ;)

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5 hours ago, greenline627 said:

So if I prepay them now  before 1/2/18 for my upcoming cruise I will get the old rate?

As long as your cruise was booked before Jan 2, 2018, you can pre-pay the gratuities at any time between now and your sail date and still get the old rate. That's at least what Matt's blog post is saying, and is apparently corroborated by some of his TA contacts.

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I got emails from both Royal and Celebrity a few days ago about this as well as my Travel agent...they are really ringing in the new year with some cheer...:40_rage:

 

Suite gratuities for the JS??!...which is really just a larger balcony room is it not....what extra services and attention do you get in those cabins to equal/justify the higher tips you are giving the same as people in actual full suites?

 

Again, I am not against tips in general...but I am highly critical of how the cruise lines do it and how they try to justify/sell it to you. And then of course we all buy into it. I am almost at the point where I am going to cancel my "auto-tax" as I like to call it and tip with American Dollars directly to those who deserve a tip for serving me. If Royal has an unfair pay system and unfair tip distribution system, that is NOT on me or any passenger to feel badly for and compensate extra for. Come on...its a business for gods sake.

 

Love it when the same people who say Royal is a business and answers to their shareholders etc when people get upset about rate increases and not offering discounts last min anymore and now charging both people in the room for drink packages etc......are the same people who then say we need to take compassion on their employees who aren't paid enough and make so little and have family to support back home blah blah blah......its a business people..right?!...Can't have it both ways........

 

Rant over.....till the next increase..lol.

 

 

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13 hours ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Slightly off topic question...when sailing in a JS, do you pay regular or suite gratuities? Since you don't get a lot of the suite benefits it would almost seem a bit unfair to be charged the suite gratuities....

Regular rate.  You only move up to suite gratuity rate with Grand Suite or above.

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