NCL Service Charge Increase.

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NCL Service Charge Increase.

Norwegian Cruise Line is hiking its daily service charge from $12 to $12.95 per person for categories up to mini-suite, effective for sailings beginning March 1.

The suite category charge is going to $14.95 per person, per day. Norwegian noted suite passengers get the additional services of a concierge, butler and dedicated wait staff. (However, a tipping note on the cruise line's website suggests that more may be expected—'for guests using concierge and butler services, we recommend they consider offering a gratuity commensurate with services rendered.'- see below for Norwegians tipping note)

Passengers who've already booked a cruise and are sailing after March 1, or who plan to book a cruise now through Feb. 28, can choose to pre–pay their service charges at the current rate by Feb. 28. Those with existing cruise reservations who have already pre–paid their service charges at the current rate will not be affected.

Norwegian said it last adjusted the service charge in 2009.

Tipping Note,

What about Tipping?

Guests should not feel obliged to offer a gratuity for good service. However, all of our staff are encouraged to "go the extra mile," and so they are permitted to accept cash gratuities entirely at the discretion of our guests who wish to acknowledge particular staff members for exceptional or outstanding service. In other words, there is genuinely no need to tip but you should feel free to do so if you have a desire to acknowledge particular individuals. 

Also, certain staff positions provide service on an individual basis to only some guests. We encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities. For example, for guests purchasing bar drinks the recommended gratuity is 15 percent. For guests purchasing spa treatments the recommended gratuity is 18 percent. Similarly, for guests using concierge and butler services, we recommend they consider offering a gratuity commensurate with services rendered.

How the cruise lines compare

Cruise line	Suggested tip for adults (per night)
Carnival Cruise Lines	£7.30
Celebrity Cruises	£7.30 (£7.60 for AquaClass and Concierge Class cabins; £9.50 for suites)
Costa Cruises	£6 in Europe; £7 for Caribbean cruises
Cunard	Britannia category cabins £7; Grills category suites £8.25 (increasing to £7.30 and £8.60 from April 2013)
Cruise & Maritime Voyages	£5; £4 (over 16 nights)
Disney Cruise Line	£23 (3 nights); £30.50 (4 nights); £53.40 (7 nights)
Fred Olsen	£4
Holland America	£7.30; £7.60 for suites
MSC Cruises	£6 (8 nights in Europe); £5.15 (over 9 nights in Europe)
Noble Caledonia	Included on Island Sky and Caledonia Sky. Varies depending on cruise line for other cruises booked through Noble Caledonia
Norwegian Cruise Line	£7.60
Oceania Cruises	£9.20; £13 suites with butler
P&O Cruises	£3.10 (increasing to £3.50 From March 28 to April 24)
Princess Cruises	£7.30; £7.60 for mini suites and suites
Royal Caribbean	£7.40; £8.80 (Grand Suite or above)

as of February 2013, as stated on the Times guide to gratuities and tips

Cruise Ship Tipping Etiquette

 By John Honeywell 

Nobody wants to talk about tips on cruise ships. Making new friends over the dinner table, passengers are happy enough to reveal what a bargain they got with their last-minute fare and they’ll swap advice about the best place to buy duty-free cigarettes in Gibraltar or booze in the Caribbean.

But who would want to show themselves up as mean and tight-fisted over the gratuities which are in most cases an essential part of the pay-packets of cabin stewards and restaurant waiters?

That doesn’t stop the passengers queuing up at the reception desk on day one of a cruise to demand that the automatic daily charge for tips is removed from their on board account. Good luck to anyone who has a pressing problem they need to speak to the purser about. Bathroom flooded or bed unmade? Television not working or wardrobe door hanging off? Sorry, you’ll have to wait.

It might not be a subject for discussion but tipping is certainly one that raises temperatures, among the Brits at least. We’re not talking about our American cousins here; they are happy to shower dollar bills on everyone from bellboys to barbers. And I have a very good friend – as British as John Bull – who would always hand out a generous tip on day one with the promise that there was plenty more where that came from if he was looked after properly.

But try checking what the tipping arrangements will be on your next cruise and you’ll discover the cruise lines themselves are reluctant to make a song and dance about the subject.

The details are in the brochures and on the websites. It’s just that they are tucked away in the small print and hidden among the FAQs.

• P&O’s rates are going up from £3.10 per person per day to £3.50, effective on different ships from different dates, starting with Oriana on March 28 and Aurora last to join the party on April 24.
• Fred Olsen Cruises add £4 a day, while on Norwegian the cost is $12 (£7.50). On Royal Caribbean the extra charge is $11.65 (£7.35) per passenger, rising to $13.90 (£8.75) in a suite.
• For Cunard’s Britannia-class passengers it’s going up from $11 a day to $11.50 (£7.25) and for those travelling in Princess Grill or Queens Grill the increase is from $13 to $13.50 (£8.50).

Cunard say it has been some time since the rates were increased, and that the charges are “benchmarked against many other leading cruise lines.”

If you’re travelling with an ultra luxury line, for example Seabourn, Crystal or Silversea, gratuities are included.

Elsewhere, Thomson, Saga, Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery are also gratuity-free zones.

All of which is worth bearing in mind when working out the cost of your next cruise.

Royal Caribbean switches to automatic gratuities

By Phil Davies

Royal Caribbean International is to charge passengers an automatic daily gratuity for crew members in the dining room and housekeeping staff who are traditionally tipped.

The line will join others in including automatic gratuities in bills from March 1. The company confirmed that the new policy will apply fleet-wide.

Royal Caribbean will add an automatic daily gratuity of $12 or $14.25 for passengers in suites to onboard accounts of each guest to be shared by waiters, stateroom attendants and other housekeeping services personnel. This new gratuity replaces the previously optional tipping guidelines.

The line previously recommended a total of $11.65 per passenger, per day or $13.90 for suite guests and they could pay via their onboard account or in cash.

The change brings the company into line with a policy adopted by rivals Carnival Cruise Lines, P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Norwegian Cruise Line.

All of the competitor cruise lines allow passengers to go to the guest relations desk onboard and ask to change the automatic gratuity charges if they feel service is not up to the expected levels.

Staff on a number of lines have suffered from a reduction in voluntary tips, with British passengers known to be among the most reluctant to pay gratuities.

Royal Caribbean passengers who have previously pre-paid their gratuities for forthcoming cruises will not be affected by the change.

Cunard Gratuity Charges

Information Update
Cunard Gratuity Charges


It has been some time since we have increased the amount we charge our guests on a daily basis for gratuities.  We have benchmarked our own charges against many other leading cruise lines and are confident that by applying a small increase we will not be out of line.  At the same time - and very importantly - this will increase the amount we collect from our guests to be shared amongst those crew on board who earn gratuities.

As such, we will be increasing our existing gratuities as follows:-

Britannia Staterooms:  increasing from US$11 to US$11.50 per person per day
Princess Grill and Queens Grill Suites: increasing from US$13 to US$13.50 per person per day

This increase will take effect from all voyages post World and Exotic Voyages 2013 and will begin from the following voyages:-

Queen Elizabeth : Q308 - Iberian Adventure - Sunday 7 April 2013
Queen Victoria: V304 - Spring Getaway - Friday 26 April 2013
Queen Mary 2: M304 - Westbound Transatlantic - Friday 26 April 2013

This charge will automatically be added to guests' accounts and all other terms and conditions surrounding the auto gratuities will remain the same.  Guests will be advised of the amount through their pre voyage information and through Voyage Personaliser.   We will be amending all future printed and online information to reflect this.

P&O Cruises Introduce Compulsory Tipping Onboard

P&O Cruises Introduce Compulsory Tipping Onboard

Official Press Release 



From April 2012 (effective cruises below), P&O Cruises will be introducing a new scheme designed to remove the confusion over the age-old question of tipping.

We’ve always been a company both proud of and dedicated to providing our passengers with excellent customer service. Our reputation demands it and we are all passionate about delivering it. Our crew work extremely hard to deliver the high level of service that our passengers rightly expect of us. More recently many of our passengers have told us that tipping on board can be a source of confusion and embarrassment, not least for those who are trying cruising for the first time. And for our crew, this confusion can lead to some very significant variations in their take home earnings.. We have looked at how we can make it easier and fairer for both our passengers and crew and, as a result, have developed a new arrangement for tipping that will apply to all P&O Cruises holidays sailing from April 2012 onwards.

The recommended daily rate of £3.10 will now automatically be added to a passenger’s on board account on a daily basis. This will be shared out among restaurant and accommodation staff.

The new scheme is effective from the below cruises

Ventura - N206 - 23 March 2012
Oceana - E204 - 21 March 2012
Azura - A207 - 30 March 2012
Adonia - D203 - 9 April 2012
Oriana - X202 - 10 April 2012
Aurora - R202 - 12 April 2012
Arcadia - J202 - 27 April 2012

How do you feel about this change in the tipping policy? 

No tipping?! Carnival goes down under!

No tipping?! Carnival goes down under!

Carnival Spirit will be starting its first season in Australia next year. And we've been led to believe there'll be a few changes afoot to fall in with Aussie expectations! 



According to Carnival, Australian cruisers aren't keen on tipping, or American bacon but they do insist on good coffee.

These are just some of the "discoveries" Carnival has made during their investigation into how Australians like to cruise.

So, in a bid to get them coming back for more, the world's largest cruise line will "Aussify" Carnival Spirit - ahead of its cruises departing from Sydney next October.

The six-week "Aussification" will see the American essence of the ship stripped away to make way for Australian features:

"We're going to install a Hills hoist and make a truly Australian back yard on the deck," Spirit cruise director, Stu Dunn, joked at a Carnival C
ruise Lines event in Sydney.

But while Dunn was joking about the iconic Australian clothesline, he's serious about the vessel's need for a barbecue.

"We will be installing a barbecue. We have to have a barbecue to cook some snags," he said.

Spirit's "soft" changes will include banning tipping, improving the quality of coffee, changing the menus to include more lamb, fresh fruit, vegetables and "Aussie" bacon instead of American bacon and altering the names of activities - "ping pong will become table tennis," Carnival director Jennifer Vandekreeke said in Sydney.

The number one complaint Carnival gets from Australians travelling on their vessels concerns compulsory tipping, Vandekreeke said.

"Tipping is not part of the culture for Australians and we respect that, so on Spirit there will be no tipping on board," she said.

Australians also demand quality coffee, Vandekreeke said.

"American coffee is awful - the second most complaints we get from Australians are about the coffee."

Spirit's coffee machines will be replaced ahead of its Australian cruises and staff will be trained by an Australian barista.

"The search is currently on to find Australia's best barista," she said.

"We will be serving flat whites just the way the Aussies like them."

Other changes to food and beverage include the way beer is served.

"Americans like to drink beer out of bottles, while Australians enjoy tap beer, so new draft beer taps will also be fitted."

"Hard" changes involve installing Australian poker machines and ATMs, adapting the laundry machines to take Australian coins and increasing the number of interconnecting rooms.

"Australians have larger families than Americans," Vandekreeke said.

"We will be cutting doors into rooms and increasing the number of interconnecting rooms - there will be 86 interconnecting cabins families with up to four children so they can stay close without compromising on space."

Australians also like to exercise more than Americans, she said, so the gym will be expanded.

The "vibe and atmosphere" will also be "Aussified".

Sydney resident Dunn, who has been a cruise director with Carnival for over eight years, will be on the Spirit to ensure that Australians have a tailor-made entertainment program.

"When I heard we would be bringing Spirit to Sydney it was the happiest day of my life," Dunn said.

"We'll make sure we have white bread for the barbecue and plenty of tomato sauce," he joked.