Royal Caribbean increase gratuities charge
Royal Caribbean have announced this week that they are increasing their recommended gratuities charge on all sailings from 01 July 2011. They are now recommending $11.65 per person for a standard cabin and $13.90 per person in a suite.
Royal Caribbean do say that gratuities are at the discretion of the customer, however you do have to be on the ball if you don’t wish to pay the set amount, as they are added to your on board account. You can have them removed from your account and tip individually but you have to do this on your first day on board.
You can also pre-pay the gratuities before you cruise and this would be my recommendation. The amount is fixed in sterling at £7.00 per person per day or £8.40 per person per day in suites. At today’s exchange rate $11.65 is actually £7.41per person, so it is cheaper to prepay the gratuities. It also means that everything is paid up before the cruise and you then only need to find money for drinks.
One Comment on “Royal Caribbean increase gratuities charge”
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Hi Jo
A blessed Chritmas to you and your family.
As you know one of the biggest contentions expressed on the Cruises.co.uk board is the whole principle of gratuities / tipping via the autotip system.
I have no issue with Autotip as it keeps me away from having cah on hand for xn staff and it allows me the ability to remove, increase or decrease as most lines give you that option during the cruise.
It also allows me to reward above the limit if I choose or as I decide.
RCL though is putting into place an increase that is above the world economy wage increases and I think that moving from $10.50 US to $11.65 US will become the base on which folks will say enough is enough. Increase your fares to benefit your staff not the tip structure base. In essence they are applying a % increase much like 15% on a can of Coke or a bottle of wine.
At this tip level they should be upfront and SHOW us how much our direct staff actually get and what is the difference of excellent service which I expect to outstanding.
On a 7 day cruise per cabin it might be $15 – $20 but as a % to crusie price it hovers in the
5 % to 10 % level.
My rant for the day and we do tip as normal plus more if we have exceptional service.
Rob