Service Charge added to Drinks Package

[Poochie71]

Hi.  My husband and I are Australian and we have booked a cruise from Rome to Dubai while on our South Pacific Cruise earlier this year.  The Rome to Dubai cruise was booked in Australian dollars.  I have just gone to book our Drink Packages which is is Australian dollars and it is has added the 18% service charge.  I'm wondering why it has done this as normally in Australia we don't pay the service charge.  Could it be that we booked the cruise onboard and we are on US Terms & Conditions and not Australian?

 

Thanks,

Tamara.

[tinkr2]

All drink packages have gratuity included. Your cruise fare has no added gratuity, they just increased your prices to cover the gratuity that you do not wish to pay. 

[Poochie71]

3 minutes ago, tinkr2 said:

All drink packages have gratuity included. Your cruise fare has no added gratuity, they just increased your prices to cover the gratuity that you do not wish to pay. 

The current price is AUD$68.50 plus the 18% service charge.  Out last cruise we paid about AUD$67 with no added service charge.  The price we paid for the actual cruise was cheaper than what I looked it up online on both the Australian site and the US site (taking into account conversion rates).

[tinkr2]

2 minutes ago, Poochie71 said:

The current price is AUD$68.50 plus the 18% service charge.  Out last cruise we paid about AUD$67 with no added service charge.  The price we paid for the actual cruise was cheaper than what I looked it up online on both the Australian site and the US site (taking into account conversion rates).

Was your cruise last year? the drink packages went up about that much.

[Poochie71]

5 minutes ago, tinkr2 said:

Was your cruise last year? the drink packages went up about that much.

No it was in March this year.   It's more the fact that the service charge has been added when normally on the Australian website we don't pay it (it may be included) but why is it showing as separate item?

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Poochie71

[tinkr2]

That I can not guess. Can you not call?

 

[ditmar2007]

35 minutes ago, tinkr2 said:

All drink packages have gratuity included. Your cruise fare has no added gratuity, they just increased your prices to cover the gratuity that you do not wish to pay. 

I didn't pay grats on the bev package out of Southampton.

[Norwich Cruiser]

We didn’t pay gratuities when booking on the UK website.

[Reina del Mar]

We booked and paid for deluxe drinks' package on UK website and were charged service charge/ gratuities...think it was 16%

[lclarke10]

I found this with my cruise booked through the Australian website when in the past it had never been added. I did find though a couple of months later it just disappeared. As always with Royal, just keep checking cruise planner on a regular basis. 

[little britain]

2 hours ago, ditmar2007 said:

I didn't pay grats on the bev package out of Southampton.

Yes you will do. The price at the check out will include the gratuity.

The price on the first screen say “from” ...

Checked for my next cruise, from £33.44 x7 x2 makes cost £468.16 but on checkout page it is £552.42.  18% difference. 

[Missusdubbya]

3 hours ago, tinkr2 said:

they just increased your prices to cover the gratuity that you do not wish to pay. 

 

What an odd statement. 

 

They actually included the gratuities in Australian cruises to meet Australian expectation that a price includes taxes and extras.

 

Australian invoices include the statement “A service charge for your dining and stateroom attendant are included in your cruise fare. A service charge for additional onboard services purchased will be incurred and reflect on your Onboard Expense Account.”

Edited May 12, 2019 by Missusdubbya

[shopaholic6]

1 hour ago, Reina del Mar said:

We booked and paid for deluxe drinks' package on UK website and were charged service charge/ gratuities...think it was 16%

 

Yes me too - think we paid 18% but it was definitely added on to the ‘per day’ price.

[Sylvia999]

The price for our drinks package was £38 per day.we did not pay any extra for service charge.cruising from Southampton 

[Reina del Mar]

Our Deluxe Drinks' Package was £38 per person, per day when we bought it. It is now showing as £41.04 per person, per day.

We were charged service charge on check out...this is for a RC cruise from Barcelona.

 

In the terms and conditions, I found this sentence.

 

'On certain sailings, gratuities and taxes are additional and will be applied at check-out.'

 

 

 

 

[little britain]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

Yes you will do. The price at the check out will include the gratuity.

The price on the first screen say “from” ...

Checked for my next cruise, from £33.44 x7 x2 makes cost £468.16 but on checkout page it is £552.42.  18% difference. 

My Error... that was from Rome.  

 

Just checked my Southampton cruise and the prices have been increased to cover the tips.  It is correct that no tips are added at checkout.

Price for package is $60pd which is £46pd!!   

Adding 18% to £33.44 makes it £38.41

- so higher costs too from Southampton 

[ditmar2007]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

Yes you will do. The price at the check out will include the gratuity.

The price on the first screen say “from” ...

Checked for my next cruise, from £33.44 x7 x2 makes cost £468.16 but on checkout page it is £552.42.  18% difference. 

Please note the past tense in my posting. I'm not guessing. This is also not the first beverage package I've purchased.

 

I live in Denmark, and the booking is through a US TA.

 

The price said  $58.  I paid $580 for a 10 night cruise.

My bill says 
*Service Charge $0.00 USD.

[ditmar2007]

Just now, little britain said:

My Error... that was from Rome.  

 

Just checked my Southampton cruise and the prices have been increased to cover the tips.  It is correct that no tips are added at checkout.

Price for package is $60pd which is £46pd!!   

Adding 18% to £33.44 makes it £38.41

- so higher costs too from Southampton 

Jinx 🙂

Our postings crossed.

[Norwich Cruiser]

Basically we’ve found the price shown on the UK web site includes the gratuity and we’ve never been charged another 18% or whatever the gratuity may be (as we all know it’s increased over the years) on top of the price shown it’s been “massaged “ into the list price.

[Mark_UK]

In the UK it has been added to the list price, but you can see the detail when you check out. My upcoming Symphony cruise shows this:

 

Deluxe Package 615.20 GBP

 

NAME REMOVED 1     260.68 GBP

NAME REMOVED 2     260.68 GBP

*Service Charge   93.84 GBP

[excitedc]

 This seems to vary. I am uk based Southampton cruise I bought mine for around £41 which was the price on the cruise planner and I was charged only that x no of nights and at checkout it hadn’t been broken down in any way and said service 0

Edited May 12, 2019 by excitedc

[ditmar2007]

1 hour ago, Mark_UK said:

In the UK it has been added to the list price, but you can see the detail when you check out. My upcoming Symphony cruise shows this:

 

Deluxe Package 615.20 GBP

 

NAME REMOVED 1     260.68 GBP

NAME REMOVED 2     260.68 GBP

*Service Charge   93.84 GBP

Apparently it varies. Mine says *Service Charge 0.00 USD

[brillohead]

I wonder if the difference (whether gratuity is built in or added at the end of the checkout process) is based on whether the cruise is based out of the UK/Oz or whether the passenger is based out of the UK/Oz on a non UK/Oz itinerary.

[tinkr2]

11 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:

 

What an odd statement. 

 

They actually included the gratuities in Australian cruises to meet Australian expectation that a price includes taxes and extras.

 

Australian invoices include the statement “A service charge for your dining and stateroom attendant are included in your cruise fare. A service charge for additional onboard services purchased will be incurred and reflect on your Onboard Expense Account.”

Right, they just made it a mandatory service charge because Australians do not like to voluntarily tip as in US. And as I stated, drinks package gets the gratuity added, which is reflected by your Royal statement. Not clear why that is odd, that I said that.

[goodml]

23 hours ago, tinkr2 said:

Right, they just made it a mandatory service charge because Australians do not like to voluntarily tip as in US. And as I stated, drinks package gets the gratuity added, which is reflected by your Royal statement. Not clear why that is odd, that I said that.

 

Have you been to Australia? There is no voluntary tipping. It’s not customary so no need to make a dig about not ‘liking’ to tip. Their minimum wage is also almost $19/hr so there’s little need for tipping there. The price they ask is the price you pay for everything. It includes tax and whatever else. When you book a cruise through an Australian site or agency there are also no additional gratuities added usually. That’s why the OP asked the question. What happens in the US is irrelevant.