All trick, no treat: Royal Caribbean quietly raises automatic gratuity charges

Are you booked on a Royal Caribbean cruise this fall? Brace yourself for higher daily fees.

In a Halloween surprise, the world's largest cruise company on Tuesday began notifying passengers that the automatic gratuity it adds to passenger bills would soon rise by more than 10%.

The line told booked passengers in an email that its service charge for staff would jump to $18 per person per day on Nov. 11 for those staying in most cabins. Passengers in suites will pay $20.50 per person per day.

The current gratuity rate at Royal Caribbean is $16 for standard cabins and $18.50 for suites.

With the increase, a family of four in a typical cabin will pay more than $500 in automatic gratuities on a seven-night cruise — one of the highest levies in the business. Among other major lines, Carnival Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises and Holland America add $16 per person per day in service charges to passenger bills for most cabins.

Celebrity Cruises adds $18 and Norwegian Cruise Line $20 per person per day in such gratuities to passenger bills, respectively.

While steep on a percentage basis, the increase in gratuity charge at Royal Caribbean is the first at the line in more than a year. Royal Caribbean last raised its gratuity fee on Sept. 7, 2022.

Related: TPG's ultimate guide to cruise ship gratuity charges and tipping

Still, Royal Caribbean's gratuity charge is up a significant 50% since early 2015, when it was at just $12. The line has hiked rates four times since then.

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The 50% increase in Royal Caribbean's gratuity charge since early 2015 is about 18 percentage points greater than the rate of inflation in the U.S. over the same period.

Inflation in the U.S. since early 2015 has run at a cumulative rate of about 32%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, as measured by its Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.

Most of the biggest cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian automatically add some sort of service or gratuity fee onto passenger bills. Passengers often have the choice to prepay the service fees when booking or have them added to their bill for onboard expenses, paid at the end of each sailing.

That said, the total number of lines with a service fee has been shrinking over the years. Many smaller and higher-end cruise operators have been folding these charges into their base fares.

Lines that now include gratuities in their fares include Azamara, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours, Seabourn, SeaDream Yacht Club, Silversea Cruises and Virgin Voyages.

For those lines that do have them, service and gratuity charges are touted as a convenient alternative to the practice of cash tipping on ships — something that once was common.

The cruise lines with such charges typically increase their rates every year or two.

Royal Caribbean told customers with existing cruise reservations that they could lock in the current, lower gratuity rates by prepaying gratuities before Nov. 11.

Note that, in some cases, passengers who are unhappy with the service they receive on Royal Caribbean ships can adjust the amount of daily gratuities posted to their accounts while on board by visiting the Guest Services desk, according to the line.

Adjustments are only allowed when gratuities are being charged to onboard accounts during sailings. Passengers who have prepaid gratuities cannot adjust the amount they have paid while on board.

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