Daily gratuity on Australia/NZ cruises?

[2ferfun]

Ok, so I KNOW this has been answered on here before.  I PROMISE that I searched for it but I couldn't find it anywhere.  We are looking at a cruise that departs from Aukland and another that departs from Sydney for next year.   This would be our first cruise "down under" and we are trying to come up with a total budget for the cruise.  We always leave the gratuity charge on so I am trying to budget that cost in and I read something on an old FAQ that said the gratuity charge is built in to the price on cruises that leave from AUS or NZ, so it is not charged daily onboard.  Is that true?  Is that an older practice that is no longer the case or was the FAQ just flat-wrong?!?  

[fishywood]

It is true for residents of Australia and New Zealand.

But if you are able to pay the cruise fare in $US then the normal rules apply. You will be charged the daily service charge in whichever the ship's currency is ($US or $AU). So if you are on a sailing with the onboard currency is $AU you may wish to pre-pay the DSC in $US through the cruise personalizer so that part of your budget is not subject to the exchange rate.

[Aus Traveller]

It is more complicated that your post indicates. People who book in Australia or NZ for locally-based cruises do NOT have the gratuity added to their accounts and they are not expected to pay any gratuity (although some pay a small amount). However, people who book in USA or UK etc. do have the auto gratuity added to their account. The usual charge is converted to AUD (the currency on the ship) and charged at close to AUD$20 per day.

 

I feel that it is odd that Princess charges some passengers and not others. The stewards/bartenders etc are paid a much higher rate than those working on the ships where everyone pays the gratuity. They are paid the same, but none comes from the tips pool. If you leave the auto gratuity on, it will go into the fleet-wide tips pool. (Princess have stated that all tips go into the fleet-wide tips pool so they can even out the payments to crew who are in the tips pool.) If you remove the auto gratuity, you can personally give money to your stewards and they will be able to keep it. (Note to other posters on this forum - This is what happens on the Australian/NZ based ships.)

[fishywood]

Admittedly it is more complicated as Princess is not consistent as to onboard currency.

Sun and Sea Princess are exclusively $AU even on cruises not beginning/ending in Australia or NZ.

Some ships that spend most or all of the year in Asia/South Pacific/Australia regions do switch to $AU for cruises beginning or ending in Australia or NZ, but back to $US when elsewhere.

And some ships that only spend the down-under Summer in Australia/NZ  but return to the western hemisphere the rest of the year do stay with the $US as onboard currency.

 

OP needs to narrow down which ship there are interested in and find out its onboard policies before crunching their budget.

[2ferfun]

2 minutes ago, fishywood said:

 

OP needs to narrow down which ship there are interested in and find out its onboard policies before crunching their budget.

 

The ship is the Sun.  Thank you for all the info! It sounds like we will still be charged daily since we are booking from the US in $USD.  Interesting that the charge will be in $AUD though.  With a year to save its easy to budget it in at this point.

[Aus Traveller]

6 minutes ago, fishywood said:

Admittedly it is more complicated as Princess is not consistent as to onboard currency.

Sun and Sea Princess are exclusively $AU even on cruises not beginning/ending in Australia or NZ.

Some ships that spend most or all of the year in Asia/South Pacific/Australia regions do switch to $AU for cruises beginning or ending in Australia or NZ, but back to $US when elsewhere.

And some ships that only spend the down-under Summer in Australia/NZ  but return to the western hemisphere the rest of the year do stay with the $US as onboard currency.

 

OP needs to narrow down which ship there are interested in and find out its onboard policies before crunching their budget.

I assumed that because the question is posted on the 'Princess' forum that the OP was referring to a Princess cruise. I know that Princess ships that come to Australia for part of the year use US$ transiting the Pacific, but I thought they all converted to AUD once they were doing cruises originating in, and returning to, Australia.

[partybarbie]

We were on the Sun last year.  To avoid the conversion rate, I pre-paid our gratuities before we left.  

 

If you enjoy going to the spa, the suggested gratuity on the bill was only 5%, much better than the normal 15%-18% on US currency ships. 

[sewgood]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

 but I thought they all converted to AUD once they were doing cruises originating in, and returning to, Australia.

Yes you are right, they do convert when they start cruising out of Australia.

We were on the Emerald out of Sydney for a NZ cruise  (the Emerald came out from the west coast for one season only and returned there at the end of that season) and onboard charges were in Australian dollars.

[cheznandy]

3 hours ago, fishywood said:

 

Sun and Sea Princess are exclusively $AU even on cruises not beginning/ending in Australia or NZ.

 

I am booked on the Sun Princess, Tokyo to Vancouver 2021, Onboard  currencey is USD as per my personaliser.

I was surprised at this as the cruise starts in Australia, goes through Asia to Alaska, I am not sure at which point it converts to USD??

All my cruises are booked with Princess Australia, ATM onboard currency on the Majestic Princess Sydney to Melbourne is in AUD, Sapphire Princess Shanghai to Perth is in AUD but Sun Princess Tokyo to Vancouver is in USD.

 

[Aus Traveller]

11 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

I am booked on the Sun Princess, Tokyo to Vancouver 2021, Onboard  currencey is USD as per my personaliser.

I was surprised at this as the cruise starts in Australia, goes through Asia to Alaska, I am not sure at which point it converts to USD??

All my cruises are booked with Princess Australia, ATM onboard currency on the Majestic Princess Sydney to Melbourne is in AUD, Sapphire Princess Shanghai to Perth is in AUD but Sun Princess Tokyo to Vancouver is in USD.

 

I suggest it MIGHT convert to US$ from Tokyo. But if the Sun is doing a Circle Pacific, I would've thought it would have stayed in AUD.

 

Do you have to pay auto-gratuities from Tokyo to Vancouver?

[cheznandy]

4 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I suggest it MIGHT convert to US$ from Tokyo. But if the Sun is doing a Circle Pacific, I would've thought it would have stayed in AUD.

 

Do you have to pay auto-gratuities from Tokyo to Vancouver?

yes, it is the only cruise we have booked that has the option to pre pay grats.

Interestingly, it is not advertised as a Circle Pacific, but leaves Brisbane for Perth then Singapore, Tokyo and onto LA.

On further searching a popular OZ online TA has it under their Australian departures till Singapore then International departures from Singapore so that may be where the onboard currency changes to USD?

I have mentioned here before that I would not be surprised if it stays there and does the Alaska run or Princess has other plans for the Sun Princess......otherwise I dont understand why they would be changing the onboard currency if it is returning to Australia?

Edited June 27, 2019 by cheznandy

[Aus Traveller]

27 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

yes, it is the only cruise we have booked that has the option to pre pay grats.

Interestingly, it is not advertised as a Circle Pacific, but leaves Brisbane for Perth then Singapore, Tokyo and onto LA.

On further searching a popular OZ online TA has it under their Australian departures till Singapore then International departures from Singapore so that may be where the onboard currency changes to USD?

I have mentioned here before that I would not be surprised if it stays there and does the Alaska run or Princess has other plans for the Sun Princess......otherwise I dont understand why they would be changing the onboard currency if it is returning to Australia?

It certainly is odd. Maybe you are right and that the on-board currency will change in Singapore.🙂

[Brisbane41]

It is only different for Australian and New Zealand citizens who book cruises via the Australian office. The reason it is different is because far too many Australians refused to accept the auto-payment of gratuities linked to on board account and as such the cruise line responded by abolishing it. If Australians were paying gratuities then it would have remained the same. Clearly it changed. For us prices have increased as it is factored into the fare and the crew still get paid.

 

When Australians do cruises based out of any other country then the gratuity rules apply. If you took a poll you would probably find more Australians payed up front opposed to having it linked to their account. It is something very uncommon in this country and most people realise it is a payment for the crew and pay up front to get it out of the way. It is what I do. Personally I would not tolerate having those charges on my account daily so I pay up front.

[cheznandy]

33 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

It certainly is odd. Maybe you are right and that the on-board currency will change in Singapore.🙂

Yes, I found it odd when we booked that the onboard folio changed from AUD to USD somewhere between Asia and US.

Paying the gratuities is no problem, we always pay the daily grats on cruises we have booked overseas, just different that the Sun Princess is changing to USD somewhere.......I guess the clue will be where she goes after LA and that is not out yet😉

[Steelers36]

One other note.  The auto-gratuity for Australia (built into the fare Aussies and Kiwis pay and charged to N.A. residents) is for hotel staff (staterooms and dining primarily).  The 18% for bar staff is built into the drink prices and the on board prices are in AUD - so what-you-see-is-what-you-pay.  We had free grats when we sailed Majestic, but I would have pre-paid using Cruise Personalizer in USD before traveling if they were not included as a promo.

[Crystabel]

We are paying in U.S. currency for our ‘round Australia cruise and therefore will pay the auto gratuities. Our TA gave us substantial OBC, enough to pay the gratuities. As I understand it, the OBC is in U.S. dollars but will be converted to Australian dollars, and the gratuities will be charged in that currency as well. I can’t wrap my brain around trying to figure out if it would be to my advantage to prepay, or if it would be a wash. 

[Ombud]

For some reason I'm not being assessed gratuities on my 11/24/19 Melbourne to Auckland cruise. No I didn't book during a promotion but gratuities shows "

                        Paid $130.50

Amount to Pay Now $0.00

Edited June 27, 2019 by Ombud

[Thrak]

We booked a B2B2B on Sapphire for fall of 2020. They definitely charged gratuities for us.

[crochetcruise]

On ‎6‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 10:02 AM, fishywood said:

Admittedly it is more complicated as Princess is not consistent as to onboard currency.

Sun and Sea Princess are exclusively $AU even on cruises not beginning/ending in Australia or NZ.

Some ships that spend most or all of the year in Asia/South Pacific/Australia regions do switch to $AU for cruises beginning or ending in Australia or NZ, but back to $US when elsewhere.

And some ships that only spend the down-under Summer in Australia/NZ  but return to the western hemisphere the rest of the year do stay with the $US as onboard currency.

 

OP needs to narrow down which ship there are interested in and find out its onboard policies before crunching their budget.

 

When I sailed the Golden Princess in 2016, my folio was charged in AUD$. The Golden came for the Summer.

 

[partybarbie]

On 6/27/2019 at 2:53 PM, Ombud said:

For some reason I'm not being assessed gratuities on my 11/24/19 Melbourne to Auckland cruise. No I didn't book during a promotion but gratuities shows "

                        Paid $130.50

Amount to Pay Now $0.00

Our TA did this for us once.  We didn't find out until we got on the ship.  It was a nice surprise.  Did you book with a TA?  They may have paid it for you. 

[BRANDEE]

I have tried to find out what the gratuity charge on our New Zealand/Fiji cruises will be..if we wait till on board. 

 

Currently, my cruise personalizer is quoting in US dollars if I pre pay now.  $188.50 for the 13 day New Zealand cruise.

 

However, all our OBC had been made to AUD.  No conversion rate had been used.  $100 future cruise credit is now 100AUD.  The same for the $600 OBC promotion when I booked, military, stock and group discount OBC. 

 

So my question to Princess has been.. will I be charged 188.50AUD  or 269.44AUD.  No one knows the answer.  Since no conversion rate is being used on anything else, I should be charged 188.50AUD..so why pre pay more now?

 

 

[Aus Traveller]

24 minutes ago, BRANDEE said:

I have tried to find out what the gratuity charge on our New Zealand/Fiji cruises will be..if we wait till on board. 

 

Currently, my cruise personalizer is quoting in US dollars if I pre pay now.  $188.50 for the 13 day New Zealand cruise.

 

However, all our OBC had been made to AUD.  No conversion rate had been used.  $100 future cruise credit is now 100AUD.  The same for the $600 OBC promotion when I booked, military, stock and group discount OBC. 

 

So my question to Princess has been.. will I be charged 188.50AUD  or 269.44AUD.  No one knows the answer.  Since no conversion rate is being used on anything else, I should be charged 188.50AUD..so why pre pay more now?

 

 

From what has been posted in the past I comment:

1. Future cruise credit and some other OBC are in the currency used in the ship. In this case AUD. It is not converted.

2. Gratuities are converted from US$ to AUD. Keep in mind that (on the Aussie ships) the crew who would be part of the tips pool on other ships, are not part of the tips pool when they work on Aussie ships. However, they receive the same as they would on the other ships. It is up to you whether you leave the auto gratuity in place, or remove it and personally tip crew members who serve you.

[BRANDEE]

7 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

From what has been posted in the past I comment:

1. Future cruise credit and some other OBC are in the currency used in the ship. In this case AUD. It is not converted.

2. Gratuities are converted from US$ to AUD. Keep in mind that (on the Aussie ships) the crew who would be part of the tips pool on other ships, are not part of the tips pool when they work on Aussie ships. However, they receive the same as they would on the other ships. It is up to you whether you leave the auto gratuity in place, or remove it and personally tip crew members who serve you.

Thanks for the info....

 

We always use auto tip and then give additional to our room steward, waiter and bartender.  So on an Aussie ship, if I take off the auto tip, my steward can keep the cash tip I give and not have to hand it in to the "pool".   ??

[Aus Traveller]

17 hours ago, BRANDEE said:

Thanks for the info....

 

We always use auto tip and then give additional to our room steward, waiter and bartender.  So on an Aussie ship, if I take off the auto tip, my steward can keep the cash tip I give and not have to hand it in to the "pool".   ??

On the Aussie cruises, your steward can keep cash handed to him/her.

[BoopTennis]

I am so curious what the price difference is for the same cabin on an Aussie cruise when purchased from within Australia vs purchased from within USA.  Princess pricing, no TA. Just compare cabin price apples to apples since Aussie prices I guess include the gratuities in the fare