Expensive Drinks and Other Gripes!

This week I’ve had a few rather  disturbing conversations with my returning cruise guests about the rising cost of booze on board ships, namely Royal Caribbean and Cunard. Interestingly two completely different brands.

The major issue being the quite frankly disgusting 18% service charges on top of all your drinks purchased on board. That’s right Royal Caribbean, disgusting. Why are you charging 18%? It’s borderline theft in my opinion, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Here’s the story from a client of mine who recently returned from Harmony of the Seas, a ship he found impressive from an engineering point of view, but far to big, and too kitted out for children for his preference.

Anyway he takes a night out in the famous signature restaurant for the brand, Chops Grille, a restaurant which has made it’s name on all the ships for serving excellent steaks and mouth-watering meat dishes. His feedback was appalling I’m sad to say. Cold food, bad quality steak, and less than acceptable service which sounded to me like a combination of rudeness and sarcasm from the way the waiter spoke to my guest. Not good enough.

For a guest that has sailed with RCCL for over 20 years and dined in numerous Chop’s Grille’s throughout the fleet, this was not the report I expected from their newest and most expensive ship.

But the one piece of info that he came back to me with was the price of a bottle of wine. Wait for this……….

So they order a bottle of Merlot between the four of them, nice, fine, all well and good. But when the bill arrived the bill appeared with the price of almost $50 for this wine. Naturally it was queried, the price on the menu was about $35 so why the increase. ‘Oh the price of the wine is subject to 10% tax fee for being in European waters, and then 18% on top for service charge’ (what 18% for bad service, ermmm ok then?)

So a combined 28% extra added to the bill, a charge that my client was not advised about, nor expecting. Fortunately my customer was taken care of by the restaurant manager and was compensated for the poor meal, and for the drinks overcharging, but really this should be right first time.

But it got me thinking, why is this charge even added?

I mean, I get that the staff don’t earn great money, but don’t sit and tell me that the 18% goes into their wages because that’s got to be a load of bull right?

Why is it so much? Should the price of a drink rise by almost a fifth just because someone opened the bottle, or retrieved it from the bar, or put it in a glass? I don’t think so. Where does it come from? The American service system I think is largely to blame here. You walk into a restaurant in USA and your slapped with a 15-20% automatic service charge, which Brits will tell you is well out of order, and I agree.

Why not just up the prices of the food so it becomes invisible, or why not do as we do in the UK and give the customer the option of a tip.

Am I just tight fisted? Some would say yes, but I heavily believe that it should be service first, then gratuity, and not the other way round. You don’t walk into a fast food place and tip them, and trust me, I worked at a well known burger chain when I was a teenager, and believe me when I tell you that they work far harder than someone waiting on tables! Man, if I’d been tipped for every customer I served back in the day, I’d have made a small fortune in tips. So why is a sit down place any different.

Over here of course, it’s not the way we do things. We like to give what we feel is enough, and that’s the way it should be.

It seems to be a continual issue, one which has plagued travel agents for years and I wish they would just sort it!

The higher end cruise line such as Regent, give you a fixed price, include the drinks, trips, and gratuities all in the upfront cost, as do a lot of the river cruise lines. This is the way it should be. That way, you pay for the holiday and get everything all in one price, it’s a far easier way for both the operator, the agent, and the customer to do business, and ultimately it keeps things simple, and we all love the simple life when it comes to holidays.

Yes if this happened, overall the prices would go up. But you know what, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, cruising is an elitist holiday, and guest should be treated that way. The way they used to be regardless of the ship. I get a lot of clients who had been on the old ships back in the day, and even companies like Airtours ran great cruises, where guests were looked after and treated well.

Now, sadly cruising is becoming more mass market and the class and quality seems to have dipped a lot on certain brands. The niche market feel has been lost and I worry that the cruise lines don’t have the inclination nor the desire to bring it back.

This is an industry that I admire, and appreciate being part of, but more complaints about service from ship to ship is spoiling guest experiences. I used to perhaps receive a complaint or gripe from one in every hundred. Now it’s probably one in every thirty. Not good at all.

If this market is too evolve, it must remember the old ways, and the reason cruising is where it is today. The customer.

Anyway that’s me done for the day, thanks for reading my blog and as always, until next time…………