Once again a major cruise company announced a plan to raise their fees. Starting in 2016, Princess will charge a gratuity fee of $12.95 per person, per day. Passengers staying in a suite will be charged $13.50. As with their current policy, Princess will allow passengers to remove or lower their fee while on board.
Raising fees and essentially mandating certain tip rates, is ultimately a bait and switch. The cruise lines want to keep preaching value, yet keep adding these backend costs that are not reflected in the sale price.
Fortunately there is growing movement on the upscale lines to remove all tipping. We hope that catches on with the mid-tier and lower-tier lines as well. There are other ways to incent the ship staff without tipping. Right now it is just a tool for cruise lines to nickel and dime customers and skim off of their employees' wages.
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