Redwood10D Posted October 3, 2015 #51 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Thanks to our upcoming Roll Call as posted by loonline (thanks Rhonda and Brian!), it was just announced that the gratuities automatically billed to guests on their stateroom portfolios will be increased. Effective on voyages departing on or after January 1, 2016, the gratuity charge will be $13.95 per guest for mini-suites and suites, and $12.95 per guest for interior, oceanview, and balcony staterooms. The current charges per day are $12 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $11.50 per guest in all other staterooms per day (including children). All guests who have pre-paid their gratuities before October 15, 2015, will have their current daily gratuity amount protected. If you have a cruise sailing after January 1, 2016, you may want to prepay your gratuities before October 15 in order to lock in to the older rates. This can be done by logging in to your cruise personalizer and choosing the pre-pay option when prompted. Above was copied in part from another site I can't mention here. Wow, thanks a lot! We have a 15 day cruise in Feb. and this will save us a bit for spending elsewhere! Besides I think this was a good time for us to exercise the pre-pay option. Thanks again for the info- Redwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy2cruise Posted October 3, 2015 #52 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Can you prepay your gratuities before you pay off your cruise? My January cruise final payment is in November. Can I prepay now? Yes, there is section in your cruise personalizer to prepay gratuties. Just did it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystabel Posted October 3, 2015 #53 Share Posted October 3, 2015 If they manned up they would have just made it $13 and $14. Wimpy pricing IMHO. Sorry on stuff like that I hate 95 cent pricing. framer I so agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruzsnooze Posted October 3, 2015 #54 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I think 15% is hefty. Social Security goes up 1%-3% depending on the cost of living index. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcur Posted October 3, 2015 #55 Share Posted October 3, 2015 This may be a dumb post, but has everyone on this thread checked if their cruise is eligible for the 3FF promo going until 10/29/15? If you got the free drinks package, then it's worth much more. But, if you didn't, you might want to see if the 3FF promo can be applied, check the cabin rates, etc. I just called Princess and they said the 3FF promo WILL cover the increased gratuity amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelers36 Posted October 3, 2015 #56 Share Posted October 3, 2015 If they manned up they would have just made it $13 and $14. Wimpy pricing IMHO. Sorry on stuff like that I hate 95 cent pricing. framer Agree ... but why stop there? Virtually all of their cabin pricing is $x99, or $x49, or $yy9. When we are talking hundreds and thousands of dollars, why moneky around with a $1. It's been this way in US and Canada for years and somehow retailers think they are psychologically fooling us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcur Posted October 3, 2015 #57 Share Posted October 3, 2015 (edited) Agree ... but why stop there? Virtually all of their cabin pricing is $x99, or $x49, or $yy9. When we are talking hundreds and thousands of dollars, why moneky around with a $1. It's been this way in US and Canada for years and somehow retailers think they are psychologically fooling us. Yeah, like they don't know we have been mentally rounding up for about 50 years. It's so much easier to say "x dollars" than "x-ninety-nine". Edited October 3, 2015 by pcur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted October 3, 2015 #58 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Agree ... but why stop there? Virtually all of their cabin pricing is $x99, or $x49, or $yy9. When we are talking hundreds and thousands of dollars, why moneky around with a $1. It's been this way in US and Canada for years and somehow retailers think they are psychologically fooling us. The reason is that research in retail has shown that for some (not all but some) it actually des make a difference. When I worked in retail I was involved in a store where some research was carried out. Good were put on two ends in the shop one at 9.99 the other 10.00 after a week the prices were swapped. Both weeks the 9.99 end sold more stock than the 10.00 end, so I am afraid there is a reason they do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronl Posted October 3, 2015 #59 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Payed mine for cruise in April any way I give a little more if deserved and that is the most of time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukesubsailor Posted October 3, 2015 #60 Share Posted October 3, 2015 The post I saw here on Cruise Critic about the raising of the auto gratuity prompted me to pre-pay the gratuities for cruises I have booked that do not qualify for the 3 For Free promotion. That just saved me $124.80. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WisCruiser2 Posted October 3, 2015 #61 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I think 15% is hefty. Social Security goes up 1%-3% depending on the cost of living index. If gratuities have not gone up in 6 years, that's less than a 3% raise each year, hardly "hefty." Also, if you pre-pay now, the crew will not get that extra gratuity from you -- unless you plan to hand out tips to all the staff who share in the tipping pool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted October 3, 2015 #62 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Effective on voyages departing on or after January 1, 2016, the gratuity charge will be $13.95 per guest for mini-suites and suites, and $12.95 per guest for interior, oceanview, and balcony staterooms. The current charges per day are $12 per person for mini-suites and suites, and $11.50 per guest in all other staterooms per day (including children). All guests who have pre-paid their gratuities before October 15, 2015, will have their current daily gratuity amount protected. If you have a cruise sailing after January 1, 2016, you may want to prepay your gratuities before October 15 in order to lock in to the older rates. This can be done by logging in to your cruise personalizer and choosing the pre-pay option when prompted. It is posted under Gratuities under FAQ: ONBOARD EXPERIENCE. Of course, everyone should be expected to reread the FAQ every couple of days to make sure nothing has changed.:rolleyes: And passengers who not read the FAQ daily and do not look at Cruise Critic would never know they could pay soon and save some $$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoCruisers Posted October 3, 2015 #63 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I found the new gratuity information on the Princess web site under “FAQ: ONBOARD EXPERIENCE”, as mentioned by others here, but there is no reference to the old gratuity rate being grandfathered in by prepaying before Oct, 15. Please let me know where I can find this information. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
globrcircler Posted October 3, 2015 #64 Share Posted October 3, 2015 I found the new gratuity information on the Princess web site under “FAQ: ONBOARD EXPERIENCE”, as mentioned by others here, but there is no reference to the old gratuity rate being grandfathered in by prepaying before Oct, 15. Please let me know where I can find this information. Thanks Two: I agree it does not state that in the personalizer. It does state automatic gratuities will increase from $11.50 to $12.95 for cruises departing after January 16. That's a difference of $1.45 per day. I am scheduled for March 6. Haven't decided if I will go ahead and pay now or not. It's a difference for me of $10.15. Carolyn in Texas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Woobstr112G Posted October 4, 2015 #65 Share Posted October 4, 2015 They haven't increased gratuities in awhile. I think the price is still reasonable for the work that they do. I have no problems with this. Ditto.....:):):) Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF - retired RRT Posted October 4, 2015 #66 Share Posted October 4, 2015 We have a 17 day cruise booked for Jan. 3 that will be affected by the increase. We won't be pre-paying because our OBC is always enough to cover the gratuities.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare abbydancer2003 Posted October 4, 2015 #67 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Hmm, we have a 7 day Alaska in May in a mini-suite. I read this and thought I'd prepay, but the I realized that we might then have left over OBC. We get FCC, stockholder and 25.00 "thank you". We booked with sip and sail, so there is no outlay for drinks, which which most of what we buy on board, and only one 25.00 charge for a specialty restaurant (we get one meal included). What happens if we don't use the entire OBC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted October 4, 2015 #68 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Hmm, we have a 7 day Alaska in May in a mini-suite. I read this and thought I'd prepay, but the I realized that we might then have left over OBC. We get FCC, stockholder and 25.00 "thank you". We booked with sip and sail, so there is no outlay for drinks, which which most of what we buy on board, and only one 25.00 charge for a specialty restaurant (we get one meal included). What happens if we don't use the entire OBC? Some OBC is considered non-refundable and some is considered refundable. Not sure what "thank you" OBC is (loyalty credit?, OBC from a TA, other), but the other two are non-refundable so unused amounts would be forfeited. You might want to check out the jewelry boutique on board. A specialty restaurant meal for one is unusual for a perk. Are you sure the amenity is not for two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare abbydancer2003 Posted October 4, 2015 #69 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Some OBC is considered non-refundable and some is considered refundable. Not sure what "thank you" OBC is (loyalty credit?, OBC from a TA, other), but the other two are non-refundable so unused amounts would be forfeited. You might want to check out the jewelry boutique on board. A specialty restaurant meal for one is unusual for a perk. Are you sure the amenity is not for two? Thank you is the loyalty, sorry about the mis-name. And the Specialty for 1 is part of the Sip and sail. We might do an excursion, so maybe I'll prepay 1 and save 14.00 instead of 28. Thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocklinmom Posted October 4, 2015 #70 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Thanks for this info! I would like to prepay our grat's at the old rate for our June cruise - does anyone know the official deadline to do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaskaGolden Posted October 4, 2015 Author #71 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Thanks for this info! I would like to prepay our grat's at the old rate for our June cruise - does anyone know the official deadline to do this? By Thursday, October 15, 2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocklinmom Posted October 4, 2015 #72 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Thank you! I will do that by next week then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC&KY Posted October 4, 2015 #73 Share Posted October 4, 2015 By Thursday, October 15, 2015. Where did you find that? I saw it on one web page with no statement as to where it came from. Did you find the date on anything from Princess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoCruisers Posted October 4, 2015 #74 Share Posted October 4, 2015 By Thursday, October 15, 2015. Please tell me where you got this information. I cannot find anything about the old gratuity rate being grandfathered in if you pre-pay before Oct 15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrembl Posted October 4, 2015 #75 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Not a huge increase... Not sure what you consider huge, but this is more than a 15% increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now