Interestedcruisefan

Wouldn't be anything to complain about? You just book the cruise and pay the new price being asked or not? Like any other purchase?

So you purely worry about total cash spent rather than whether passengers are misled into spending it So if you aren't concerned about at what stage you spend it What's wrong with a transparent upfront cost ? Rather than the cruiseline calling it something that it clearly isn't? You understand how it works most do not? Do you want others to be misled?

I already cruise elsewhere where tipping is not required. They state that specifically as a benefit of booking with them. They must be paying staff legal wages for that to happen And at the end of the cruise (and during for certain meals) I still tip cash for good service if I get it But I tip less now than if there were no tips included and the staff were expecting cash tips at the end as in the old days. (When we shared same table with same waiters every night and obviously the cabin steward) Cost of cruise is a choice But don't deceive me on staff appreciation Anyway I've learnt my lesson now. Millions haven't I suspect

One way or another the staff appreciation we pay (which should be advertised as compensation anyway) is quite simply increasing profits for Princess Nothing more nothing less It's a very clever but underhand way of extracting extra money from passers before the leave the ship (for no cost) in huge amounts per cruise That's what it is. Disguised as a gratuity to thank the staff for a great job done. Doesn't matter what they spend it on. It's just adding to profits for shareholders and taking advantage of customer goodwill

They would do that and then someone find a clever way to extract more involving staff appreciation somehow It's just the nature of the beast

All correct Misleading and we are actually NOT appreciating any crew at all we are simply giving Princess more of our cash direct for them to spend on their costs, add to their profits and/or pay shareholders with effectively Rather than them put prices up and remove the entirely misleading daily crew appreciation tag Even the word daily is cleverly used to make you think it's the daily service you are tipping for At the end of the day its a surcharge they take in one lump sum that sounds better if spread daily!

It couldn't be any less transparent if you tried to be honest

Common knowledge where and how exactly?

For me it's not the cost at all It's the lack of transparency and feeling I've been duped Not convinced about the money at all Purely concerned that I know any money I spend with a business is going where I think it is And dismayed about how blatantly this is being used to hoodwink people And angry they caught me with it tbh I gave my cabin steward cash last month as well. Plus gave my daughters and boyfriends cabin steward cash as well as paying their card tips for them Would have removed tips without a second thought and just paid more cash to the stewards and others on the ship Let the ship worry about paying wages and having to put prices up

Why keep distracting what cruises are doing onto what happens in a restaurant though? People clearly in this thread feel they are being misled by Princess tipping Thats simple enough Me included I can have my own thoughts and policy on restaurant tipping But it doesn't change the fact people don't like what they are reading about what Princess are doing Regardless of whats happening anywhere else? Do you accept that the vast majority have no idea what the money taken from their card is actually being used for on Princess? And something happy and positive they think they are doing to thank staff is actually just being used towards basic wages and bonus?

In Canada it seemed to be add 15 per cent, 20 per cent of 25 per cent Very much based on total on check

Yes just because it's happened and they've got away with it for a long time in the past doesn't mean they should continue to get away with it Businesses are under lots of scrutiny nowadays and it's just some do the right thing before others do or they are forced to do with legislation at some stage regardless

And comparing cruiseline bad practise to restaurants in a US State that doesn't pay minimum wage isn't actually a great defence is it? They do this so cruiselines can copy? Two wrongs don't make a right? And restaurants aren't doing it to the extreme Princess have taken it for sure

To the chefs and the runners Not to the admin staff. The cleaners and the rest. We are subsidising an entire organisation on Princess. Electricians, plumbers you name it we are topping up their wages None of which to do with service received as people know and believe it to be

In Canada the job everyone wants is server They retain vast majority of the tips and make a fortune in a busy restaurant They give a proportion to other staff supporting them (happily) including chefs But they retain the vast majority And when we tip in restaurants we are tipping based on the service the server gives us In Canada and Alaska in the restaurants and bars on land the service was invariably superb You can see how much servers value their jobs

Are my tips to a server in a restaurant bringing up the wages of every single employee of the restaurant or just the person who served me who I want to help and tip?

And there's plenty of experienced cruisers in this thread not happy with it and only just realising what's been done to us And we should know better than most!!

To find it's actually a "staff compensation" charge Which is exactly what they should call it when they inform you what they intend to do Rather than calling it something flowery and misleading when you book then telling you what it really is should you go looking further And guys can you imagine the manhours they've put into discussing the best wording they could pick to get away with this knowing vast majority wont delve deeper I can picture it now They know what they are doing and how to take advantage of as many passengers as they can with this Masters at work!!

I'm more concerned if there had been a price increase as I don't like "missing the boat so to speak' And all of a sudden we want to book this cruise having ruled out Caribbean for a few days I've been offered 2325 from an agent I book with I just have in my head it may have been 1999 on launch day? Maybe it was 2499 though? I know at some stage I discussed this with MB but can't find the thread. And she had correct answer before. The more I think back I'm thinking 2499 may have been original inside saver price

Couldn't disagree more with this Mark This is highly significant money and I know for a fact all my family have been paying tips direct to cruise ships for the wrong reasons You must accept that this is deliberate ploy by cruiselines to mislead And they're done it so brilliantly for so long It's actually a shoddy industry when you delve deeper

I read a news article the other week where a business owner put in the smallprint of some terms and conditions that the first person to contact them and ask for a bottle of fine wine to be delivered would win a bottle of fine wine And he then waited 6 months until someone claimed it To highlight the fact nobody reads smallprint and how it can be used With cruiselines you would like to think they were trustworthy enough not to try and put things in smallpriny like this to remove transparency

Smallprint is where people hide stuff they don't want you to know. You will hear in adverts on UK radio all the time now that advertising standards make the advertisers say the smallpriny verbally at the end of the advert There should be buyer beware notes all over what cruiselines are doing and there should no longer be allowed to use the word gratuities or crew appreciation in the headlines to describe these fees Then hiding it in the smallprint

Exactly

P and O (UK based) include tips in the upfront price they charge for the cruise. All the staff pay is covered in that. They aren't failing. Still cheaper than land based holiday suppliers and carrying more passengers than ever before Zero deception and no obligation to pay any tips on board. We still do to cabin stewards and people who serve us well Maybe P and O are more ethical than Princess? Or maybe Princess can just get away with it for as long as they can

Exactly it's deceptive And deliberately so Theres people in this thread explaining what's behind it all and why they do it. But it doesn't take away the fact it's deceptive and the vast majority don't have the advantage of coming on this forum to have it explained to them like this