Free gratuity??

[ladygal4.4]

Can someone help me understand why they're offering free gratuity?

 

I know I'll probably get flamed to death even approaching this topic, but seriously? I thought gratuity was a tip...Not something that entices me to book a cruise just so I don't have to pay it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ladygal4.4]

Here's a screen shot

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Amtrack Springfield]

It is an incentive for you to book a cruise and save some money. The cruise line can give it to you or your TA can give it to you. 7 day cruise saves you about $175.00!

[Treven]

Most likely Princess is offering a certain amount of OBC equal to the total amount of the "hotel charge" for your cruise. Unfortunately Princess has never offered that kind of perk on a cruise that I was planning on booking:(.

[Steven_&_Daniel]

We booked our upcoming December cruise directly with Princess and got the same free gratuity and $25 on board credit per person for inside cabin.

 

When I login to My Princess, bring up Payments & Credits, under Optional Gratuity Prepayment, it shows PAID. The $25 OBC (per person) shows up (along with my veteran credit) at the bottom of the page under On Board Credits For This Booking.

[shredie]

Since the majority of people choose to honor the gratuity and not remove it from the bill, it's a nice perk to save someone some money. Now if it's possible to remove the gratuity anyway and pocket the money intended for the crew, I don't know.

Edited February 17, 2016 by shredie

[caribill]

Can someone help me understand why they're offering free gratuity?

 

 

Princess (and some other cruise lines such as RCCL) are trying to avoid deep discounts to the base fare to fill up the ships.

 

So by offering perks such as free gratuities, they can maintain the base fare and still in effect give a discount.

 

Princess (and the other cruise lines doing this) hope to "educate" passengers to book early since there will theoretically not be deep discounts to the base fare later. The cruise lines would rather sail with a few empty cabins than

"cheapen" the image of the cruise line.

 

In practice, at least with Princess, there are still some last minute (in the couple weeks leading up to a cruise) deep discounts, but by then if you need to fly to/from a port, the airfares will be high and only those living near the port would be likely to take advantage of these last minute discounts.

[easyboy]

Princess (and some other cruise lines such as RCCL) are trying to avoid deep discounts to the base fare to fill up the ships.

 

So by offering perks such as free gratuities, they can maintain the base fare and still in effect give a discount.

 

Good point!

[fishywood]

Yes, its not really free gratuities, just free OBC for the exact amount of the DSC. Princess is just following the current industry trend of moving the $90.65 savings (in the case of a seven night cruise in a non-suite) from your cruise fare to your onboard spend. To me its all the same. For the cruise I just booked for next month on Emerald Princess the "free (sic) gratuities" offer was only on for less than a week; today the same cabin not only misses out on that onboard savings but would cost $60 per person more. And there are still quite a few cabins left on the same deck (only one that seems to have disappeared from availability online is mine) confirming that the last minute deals of the past are being abandoned.

 

(Actually the "free (sic) gratuities" promo allows Princess to pull a neat accounting trick where they do have to not decrease the gross fare revenue by the OBC amount and can record on the ship's ledgers the DSC having been paid in full by us. The $90.65 "cost" of the promotion just gets charged off to a liability account buried deep in the books)

Edited February 17, 2016 by fishywood

[GUT2407]

I don't get the point.

 

You're getting something for free.

 

I guess the only ones not benefiting are those who remove the auto tips.

[pablo222]

Yes, its not really free gratuities, just free OBC for the exact amount of the DSC.

 

This is contrary to how another poster described it working.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49093564&postcount=64

Edited February 17, 2016 by pablo222

[latebloomer56]

We are getting tips and dinner on our next cruise. Tips come to 306.00 I think and dinner will be in one of the specialty venues. We opted not to take a free upgrade because moving to mid-ship for us isn't an upgrade.

My only worry is that the crew gets shorted by Princess. How are we to know the auto tipping from them is the same as what we leave each trip.

[LACruiser88]

We have "Free Gratuities" on an upcoming 28 Day cruise to Hawaii/Samoa/Tahiti. We will still tip our Room Steward, Dining Staff, and any other "great service" as we normally do.

 

 

42 Princess Cruises, 528 Sea Days...

[Musky Ike]

This is contrary to how another poster described it working.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=49093564&postcount=64

 

Just off the Regal and while Princess did not prepay the gratuity, I did. They did not show up at all on the folio. Just a note in the room for each that they were paid. Our steward still got some extra cash for a job well done.

 

If that is the same when Princess pays them, I can see less passengers adjusting something that does not appear on the folio. Out of sight is out of mind.

Edited February 17, 2016 by Musky Ike

[ladygal4.4]

Just off the Regal and while Princess did not prepay the gratuity, I did. They did not show up at all on the folio. Just a note in the room for each that they were paid. Our steward still got some extra cash for a job well done.

 

 

 

If that is the same when Princess pays them, I can see less passengers adjusting something that does not appear on the folio. Out of sight is out of mind.

 

 

Now that makes sense

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RetiredNTraveling]

Why look a "Gift Horse" in the mouth. Free Grats or a Free Drink, who cares if it's free.

Just Mike

[san diego sue]

On our Alaska cruise coming up we got very nice on board credit. Now in addition to that they are offering free gratuities. However, to get both, Princess has raised the price of the cruise. So we left ours without the paid gratuities. Rather have the lower price we got when we booked.

If we were just booking , would have thought a really good deal.(and it is but not for us).

[kayred]

I am sailing June 18th just tried calling princess and she said there was no free gratuity just the OBC. I just reread the ad and it is for the "Voyage of the Glaciers" sailing...not my cruise. I am off to get another cup of coffee and see if that kicks my brain into gear :)

Edited February 17, 2016 by kayred

[chloe45]

We go in on this deal for a 15 day Panama cruise. It's over $400 in savings for us. I wondered if this was offered because the gratuities have increased $2/pp per day across all cabin categories.

[1965]

Oh my gosh!! I would LOVE free gratuities. On our 27 day cruise in Sept., 2017, the gratuities will be $12.95 per day per person. That will be $699.30 for DH and I. I will never remove those gratuities. The crew totally deserves them. But an almost $700 gift from Princess would most appreciated. Not offered so far on our cruise, but I'll keep watching.

[jennybenny]

We are getting tips and dinner on our next cruise. Tips come to 306.00 I think and dinner will be in one of the specialty venues. We opted not to take a free upgrade because moving to mid-ship for us isn't an upgrade.

My only worry is that the crew gets shorted by Princess. How are we to know the auto tipping from them is the same as what we leave each trip.

 

I had the same concern about crew getting short changed when we booked a cruise that had this per two years ago. I spoke with 3 different people (because I couldn't believe what I was hearing) and they all said the same thing. That Princess will still give them the gratuity. The way it worked for us is we had OBC in the gratuity amount and gratuity was still charged to the account daily.

Since that we've prepaid our gratuities because we like to see a lower amount "charged" for on board charges and that works in the same manner. There is OBC in the amount paid for gratuity and gratuity gets taken out daily.

 

It all works out and crew members till get their proper tips. :)

[iceleven]

Personally I would rather have the lower cruise rate than the "free gratuity" because in the long run, my trip insurance premium will also be lower. From my observations over the past couple of years, the OBCs offered with sales generally raise the cost of the cruise anyway.

[qqwer123]

The crew still gets the gratuity. It is a promotion. I got the free gratuity and a better cabin and free dinner at one of the pay restaurants for our 2017 cruise. Along with a 30 percent discount it was a great deal. I asked my Princess travel agent about this when I booked and she assured me that the staff gets the gratuity as if we paid it but it is paid by Princess..So no worries. We even take small cash amounts to tip here and there for service ubove and beyond. I know there is already a tip added but this is what I do. What everybody else does is their business.

[rickays]

I don't get the point.

 

You're getting something for free.

 

I guess the only ones not benefiting are those who remove the auto tips.

 

Or if you're Australian. I booked an Alaska cruise while this promotion was on, but Princess Australia said it didn't apply to Australians. I wasn,t even allowed to book the deal from US TA (the price converted to Aus$ was almost exactly the same as I had to pay from Aus TA). Princess ban US TA's from selling to Australians - we are only allowed to use Princess Aus or Aus TA's. I think I will be the only person onboard who will be paying gratuities (lol) Oh well, this holiday is costing thousands, what a few more dollars!

[caribill]

Personally I would rather have the lower cruise rate than the "free gratuity" because in the long run, my trip insurance premium will also be lower. From my observations over the past couple of years, the OBCs offered with sales generally raise the cost of the cruise anyway.

 

The "free gratuity" for our up coming cruise is worth $759 for the two of us.

 

As far as the base price, since we booked (and the "free gratuity" was removed), it has gone up as much as $830 for two people and is now back to about what it was when we booked.

 

So in our case, the inclusion of the "free gratuity" did not raise the cost of the cruise fare.