Gratuities are on the rise again with Princess

This is now the second time this year that Princess are increasing their automatic service charge on board ( Gratuities). They have already increased it in January to the current level of $12.95 per person per day. This is their suggestion for passengers to tip their waiters, cabin attendants and other service workers. From 15 December this year they will raise it to $13.50 for inside,outside and balcony cabins and $14.50 for mini suites and a whopping of $15.50 for full suite passengers.Guests can adjust the amounts, which are automatically billed to their shipboard accounts, at the end of each cruise. Royal Caribbean,Carnivaland Celebrity have also increased their gratuities.

Whatever you are calling it nowadays, you have to take it into consideration when booking a cruise. In the past you were able and encouraged to tip in person your cabin steward, your waiters and so on. At present days most cruise lines will add it automatically to your on board account with all your other expenses, or you can even pre book it with some lines and pay it in advance. The staff on board rely on these tips as their main income so you don’t want to ignore it and deny their source of income? So what are the benefits of pre booking? You can then budget better and know that you don’t need to tip anymore/spend on board. It’s less personal, but you can trust the system, the staff knows exactly who pre paid for their tips, they have it on a list, so rest assured you will get the good service from them. The other option is to just pay it on board which is just the same, and the last option is to remove them and pay them personally at the end of the cruise, yes it’s more personal and nice, but until the last night they would not know if you are going to tip them and how much. Personally I just pre book them and the staff knows that and I get the good service!