Diamond Princess. Gratuities included or not?

I've searched for an answer as to whether I will be charged the daily gratuity on my December 2015 cruise on the Diamond Princess. The onboard currency will be $AU and the cruise is in Australian waters.

When I booked the cruise my 'cruise personalizer' gave me the option of pre-paying the gratuities but that has since disappeared from the page.

The only reference I can find to the Diamond and gratuities states they may apply.

I don't mind paying the charge I just would like to know if I need to factor it into my cruise budget.

There was a thread about this earlier in the year but no one was able to come up with a definitive answer.

Can anyone help?

cheers

Stu

I've searched for an answer as to whether I will be charged the daily gratuity on my December 2015 cruise on the Diamond Princess. The onboard currency will be $AU and the cruise is in Australian waters.

When I booked the cruise my 'cruise personalizer' gave me the option of pre-paying the gratuities but that has since disappeared from the page.

 

The only reference I can find to the Diamond and gratuities states they may apply.

 

I don't mind paying the charge I just would like to know if I need to factor it into my cruise budget.

 

There was a thread about this earlier in the year but no one was able to come up with a definitive answer.

 

Can anyone help?

 

cheers

 

Stu

no gratuities for the Diamond or Golden Princess whilst sailing from october 2015 till march 2016 as its included in the fare

Thank you for the information. It is a pity that the Princess website isn't as helpful.

cheers

Stu

We are doing the Singapore to Sydney cruise on Diamond on 17th Sept

This is the repositioning cruise from their Japanese season to the Australian summer season

On my cruise personaliser they advise me that the on board currency will USD so I expect the Compulsory tipping wil be added daily to my on board statement

I am not overly concerned about this as I withdraw the compulsory tipping by signing a "waiver form" at the purser's desk and they are removed and refunded

I prefer to tip the crew members who give me good service like our cabin steward, MDR waiters and any drink waiters who go the extra yard

This story of the compulsory tips being shared with ALL of the crew is utter nonsense. It is a fund raising scheme by the cruise line to supplement their normal wages. I have read several books now written by crew members and this is substantiated by them

Don't believe everything that is fed to you about where the compulsory tips go to

John

We are doing the Singapore to Sydney cruise on Diamond on 17th Sept

This is the repositioning cruise from their Japanese season to the Australian summer season

On my cruise personaliser they advise me that the on board currency will USD so I expect the Compulsory tipping wil be added daily to my on board statement

I am not overly concerned about this as I withdraw the compulsory tipping by signing a "waiver form" at the purser's desk and they are removed and refunded

I prefer to tip the crew members who give me good service like our cabin steward, MDR waiters and any drink waiters who go the extra yard

This story of the compulsory tips being shared with ALL of the crew is utter nonsense. It is a fund raising scheme by the cruise line to supplement their normal wages. I have read several books now written by crew members and this is substantiated by them

Don't believe everything that is fed to you about where the compulsory tips go to

 

John

It is only Cruises starting [and finishing is memory serves] in Aus that tips are included in the price and in AUS$

Could someone please share where they got the info that pricing onboard is in AUD$ and no extra gratuities? The only T&C I found was the Dawn, Sun and something else that only do Aus cruises. We are sailing the Diamond in October from Sydney to South Pacific. I thought I saw on all other ships apart from the 3 Aussie ones, onboard prices would be in US$ (it would be a pleasant surprise if cost was in AUD$ AND no grat!).

Could someone please share where they got the info that pricing onboard is in AUD$ and no extra gratuities? The only T&C I found was the Dawn, Sun and something else that only do Aus cruises. We are sailing the Diamond in October from Sydney to South Pacific. I thought I saw on all other ships apart from the 3 Aussie ones, onboard prices would be in US$ (it would be a pleasant surprise if cost was in AUD$ AND no grat!).

I can't help with finding an answer to your gratuities question on the Princess site but if you go to your cruise personalizer, under the 'summary' tab you will find various bits of information about your booking. Under the section advising you of your bed configuration and dining selection you will find the 'onboard currency' information and hopefully it will say that your folio charges will be in AU$.

cheers

Stu

Could someone please share where they got the info that pricing onboard is in AUD$ and no extra gratuities?

It was announced some months ago and someone posted it on this board. It should show in your Cruise Personalizer.

Could someone please share where they got the info that pricing onboard is in AUD$ and no extra gratuities? The only T&C I found was the Dawn, Sun and something else that only do Aus cruises. We are sailing the Diamond in October from Sydney to South Pacific. I thought I saw on all other ships apart from the 3 Aussie ones, onboard prices would be in US$ (it would be a pleasant surprise if cost was in AUD$ AND no grat!).

It is also in their brochures and it is on the web site, I'll try and find it again and post it.

My cruise personaliser says AUD

Thanks Stuartm, OzKiwiJJ and GUT2407, yes the cruise personaliser does indeed say onboard currency is AUD$. I must have overlooked that when I logged in (I'm still new to this). I still need to do a bit more digging to find out about the included daily gratuities.

Found it! Page 75 of the Princess Cruises "Australia and Asia" brochure states that there is no tipping charged to the onboard account for Diamond and Golden as of 29th September 2015 when sailing from and returning to Australia.

Incidentally there is also no 15% service charge for beverages onboard either.

Winning :D

Found it! Page 75 of the Princess Cruises "Australia and Asia" brochure states that there is no tipping charged to the onboard account for Diamond and Golden as of 29th September 2015 when sailing from and returning to Australia.

Incidentally there is also no 15% service charge for beverages onboard either.

Winning :D

And whilst I prefer it that way, they have bundled them into the price, ie you are paying more per day for the cruise and more per drink.

And whilst I prefer it that way, they have bundled them into the price, ie you are paying more per day for the cruise and more per drink.

True, but at least if a drink says $10, it isn't going to cost me $11.50. Small issue I know, but I'd prefer to know what I'm up for upfront instead of trying to mentally calculate the extra bit. Unfortunately we are travelling on a budget and as a family of 4, the "gratuities" (which I was expecting to pay) adds up to approx. $45 per day, over our 10 day cruise is $450. If I don't have to pay that in addition to the fare it's definitely a bonus IMO.

Not sure if it will still be the case by the time we sail, but I read on another Princess thread that drink prices haven't increased since the removal of 15% tax on drinks.

True, but at least if a drink says $10, it isn't going to cost me $11.50. Small issue I know, but I'd prefer to know what I'm up for upfront instead of trying to mentally calculate the extra bit. Unfortunately we are travelling on a budget and as a family of 4, the "gratuities" (which I was expecting to pay) adds up to approx. $45 per day, over our 10 day cruise is $450. If I don't have to pay that in addition to the fare it's definitely a bonus IMO.

Agree 100%

We're doing a long one this tie and $12 pp pd is about $1K.

True, but at least if a drink says $10, it isn't going to cost me $11.50..

And if the prices are in $US it's more like $13.50 AUD :eek:

True, but at least if a drink says $10, it isn't going to cost me $11.50.

Even some of the US cruise lines bundle the prices when operating out of Australia/NZ for the season. On our Rhapsody cruise in March all the prices were gratuities inclusive, but in USD still. Mind you at $14 for a cocktail you'd want them to be. :eek:

Sun Princess was also around $14 for cocktails but in AUD :)

I just ordered my Unlimited and More Soda Package and it was only $7.65 AUD per day, which is lower than I was anticipating considering the price of it on the US site is $8.05 per day, add in conversion rates and us Aussies are getting a good deal. So I'd say the 15% gratuity has been removed.

However, conversely my husbands Coffee Card was $37.40 compared to $33.35 on the US site, but even that shows a very favourable exchange rate of only approx 12%.

I've been informed by my TA that there are definitely no gratuities on an Australian, back to Australian port cruise. I also noted it in the Cruise Brochure. However I did look at the Princess site from top to bottom out of curiosity and there seems to be no mention anywhere of gratuities. If you were an inexperienced Aussie cruiser taking a cruise outside of Australia you would be in for a surprise (though a good TA should warn you).

In fact on our Adelaide news a few weeks ago, some passengers got off a Cunard ship very disgruntled because they did not find out until the end of their cruise and the News service was doing a 'buyer beware' segment.

However, conversely my husbands Coffee Card was $37.40 compared to $33.35 on the US site, but even that shows a very favourable exchange rate of only approx 12%.

 

We bought coffee cards onboard on our Sun Christmas cruise and they were $35. Not sure what the exchange rate was then but maybe they've adjusted the price accordingly, at least online. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has travelled on an Aussie-based ship in the last month or so.

Found it! Page 75 of the Princess Cruises "Australia and Asia" brochure states that there is no tipping charged to the onboard account for Diamond and Golden as of 29th September 2015 when sailing from and returning to Australia.

Incidentally there is also no 15% service charge for beverages onboard either.

Winning :D

Can I assume from this that the reason my cruise on the Diamond states the folio is in AUD but continues to tell me I will have gratuities in USD is because it ends in Auckland rather than returns to Australia?

Can I assume from this that the reason my cruise on the Diamond states the folio is in AUD but continues to tell me I will have gratuities in USD is because it ends in Auckland rather than returns to Australia?

Nope! I think it's just that the Princess website has bugs in it. It probably can't cope with a US ship being under AU conditions for a few months. Essentially the gratuities required are $0 and $0 is the same in USD as AUD. ;)

Nope! I think it's just that the Princess website has bugs in it. It probably can't cope with a US ship being under AU conditions for a few months. Essentially the gratuities required are $0 and $0 is the same in USD as AUD. ;)

I'd be cautious as it only stated that there were no gratuities when sailing from and returning to an Australian port. I'd be inclined to assume that while the charges onboard will be in AUD$ there would be additional daily charges?

I'd be cautious as it only stated that there were no gratuities when sailing from and returning to an Australian port. I'd be inclined to assume that while the charges onboard will be in AUD$ there would be additional daily charges?

I'm fairly sure they class NZ as part of the Australian region, otherwise there would be some very loud screams from NZ cruisers and I'm sure we would have seen (heard?) them here. :eek:

On a recent Diamond cruise, I checked my account on the screens provided and discovered they had included gratuities. A quick visit to the information desk and they were removed without any hassle.

Have a great cruise.

Dennis.

The last post in this thread is dated May 2015. Anyone know if the same gratuity issue for sailings in and out of Australian ports is still in place for 2016/2017 cruising season.

Just booked South Pacific cruise for April 2017, Golden Princess in and out of Melbourne. I've searched everywhere and can't find an answer.

FYI we did Melbourne to Auckland cruise on the Golden in Jan 2016. Because it started in Melbourne and was returning to Melbourne we weren't charged automatic gratuities, even though we departed the ship in Aucland.