Agents React: Carnival Jumps Onboard, Raises Gratuities

The Carnival Ecstacy. Photo: Win Henderson.

Just a month after Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line is hiking daily gratuity charges for guests aboard its ships. 

Starting in September, Carnival will charge $12.95 per person per day for guests in standard staterooms and $13.95 per person per day for guests in suites—up from the $12.00 that Carnival had been charging. Guests who prepay for cruises by May 9 will not be subject to the increase. 

Gratuities, while discretionary, have been increased on a number of different cruise lines this past year. 

Royal Caribbean increased its gratuities twice in the past year; in May 2015 it raised fees for standard guests from $12.00 to $12.95, and fees for suite guests from $14.95 to $15.95, per person, per day. Then in March it increased it to $13.50 for standard guests and $16.50 for suite guests.

Norwegian Cruise Line, Holland America, and Princess Cruises also have changed their policies. In September, Norwegian began requiring guests to wait until the end of their cruise to adjust or remove the daily service charge on their accounts. Norwegian charges $13.50 per person per day for standard cabins and $15.50 for suites.

A month later, Holland America rolled out a $1 increase for non-suite passengers (making the charge $12.50) and a $1.50 increase (to $13.50) for suite passengers.

Then Princess announced it was lifting its daily charge for guests by 13% and for suite guests by 16%; non-suite guests now pay $12.95 per person per day, and suite guests pay $13.50.

Those last-minute fees are annoying to cruisers—and even more so to agents.

Agents react  
Agents at the Travel Market Place conference in Toronto were not happy about the increases. Many said that even though the fees are discretionary, cruise lines are keeping prices down by adding on fees at the end that aren’t commissionable for the agents.  

“I have a problem with this,” said Christine A. Jeynes, a “cruise and bucket-list specialist” with CTC Travel Group in Burlington, Ontario. “It’s a very big issue. They say they do it to help us, but they don’t. It’s not a gratuity, it’s an added cost. They keep the prices low by adding on the fees at the end.”

Mary Montgomery, another agent at CTC Travel Group, agreed. She said that one of her biggest issues is that cruise lines aren’t completely transparent about the fee.

“If you’re a novice cruiser you really have no idea you can take the fee off [and tip at your discretion],” she said. “And I would like to know exactly where the fee is going.” 

Royal Caribbean, for one, says the fees go to “dining services staff, stateroom attendants, and other housekeeping services personnel.” 

Carnival, too, says the fees go to “shipboard staff” and “how much to tip is a personal matter and completely up to our guests,” even though it posts a recommended gratuity to the guest’s account on embarkation day.

Still, said Angela Gabriel, an agent with Travel Only in Brantford, Ontario, “They kind of mislead you with the gratuities and how they get dispersed. I would rather see no gratuities and you as the passenger tip as you feel who deserves it.”