Princess Australia Cruises - Do you pay tips/tax on drinks purchased if you DON’T have a package?

[Kiwias]

Hi all, I’ve searched everywhere, and can find heaps of info if you purchase a Plus package on an Australian cruise, but can’t find anything on what happens if you pay as you go instead. Do you get charged tax/tips on top of the listed cost. And does anyone have a current Australia wine/drinks list, in Australian $$? Trying to weigh up options 🙂

[Muffinz]

there are no tips payable on Aus / NZ Cruises, so if you ordered a drink for $15 then you would pay $15 only...  someone can correct me if I am wrong, but that's my understanding

[2022cruisey]

The price shown is the price paid for drinks on Princess in Australia.

[Aus Traveller]

... and you are not expected to pay tips to the stewards. This is included in your initial fare.

[arxcards]

Our drinks have a higher ticket price than the US, but as mentioned, the bar/menu price is the total price.

[MicCanberra]

 

[tashaaa]

21 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

... and you are not expected to pay tips to the stewards. This is included in your initial fare.

You mean the tipping at the end of the cruise? 
as I tried to book a cruise there was prepaid gratuities listed as usual.

 

[Aus Traveller]

52 minutes ago, tashaaa said:

You mean the tipping at the end of the cruise? 
as I tried to book a cruise there was prepaid gratuities listed as usual.

 

Both. Just ignore the prepaid gratuities.

 

Tips at the end of the cruise aren't expected, but you can tip if you wish. Crew on the Aussie based ships are paid a much higher salary than those on ships where tips are added to passengers' accounts.

[MicCanberra]

53 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Both. Just ignore the prepaid gratuities.

 

Tips at the end of the cruise aren't expected, but you can tip if you wish. Crew on the Aussie based ships are paid a much higher salary than those on ships where tips are added to passengers' accounts.

So that implies P&O Australia pay their crew better than Princess, Celebrity, Royal, Azamara, Carnival, HAL, Norwegian. Le Ponant and the rest.

Not sure this claim can be verified.

Perhaps gratuities are just included in the fare, so we don't have to worry about it.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

So that implies P&O Australia pay their crew better than Princess, Celebrity, Royal, Azamara, Carnival, HAL, Norwegian. Le Ponant and the rest.

Not sure this claim can be verified.

Perhaps gratuities are just included in the fare, so we don't have to worry about it.

P&O Aust and Princess Aust pay their crew at a different (higher) rate on their Australian-based ships that are not part of their international tips pool. I am not talking about the competing cruise lines.

 

Both P&O and Princess announced the crew would be paid at a higher rate when they stopped the auto-gratuities. From memory his was 2009 for P&O and 1st May 2011 for Princess.

 

If (as you suggest) the crew are paid at the same low rate as on the 'overseas' ships how is their remuneration made up to a reasonable level without tips? Without their pay at a reasonable level, no-one would work on these Aussie-based ships. They would only work on the ones where they get tips.  

[arxcards]

They get paid more as an offset to the daily grats they no longer receive. In the case of bar staff & waiters, they get paid more to offset the drink gratuities they don't receive here.

 

P&O employ their own and most staff like the arrangement. Quite a few of our favourite crew have moved on to greener pastures since restart. For Princess & Carnival ships here on $AU seasons, some love it and others we have spoken with see it as a demotion - more money to be made on their newest ships based in the Caribbean.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, tashaaa said:

You mean the tipping at the end of the cruise? 
as I tried to book a cruise there was prepaid gratuities listed as usual.

 

For an Australian cruise? On Princess?

[tashaaa]

I was looking for an NCL cruise from Sydney to Auckland. 
When I make a mock booking, there still are prepaid gratuities. 
 

is this the same with other cruise lines? 

[arxcards]

5 hours ago, tashaaa said:

I was looking for an NCL cruise from Sydney to Auckland. 
When I make a mock booking, there still are prepaid gratuities. 
 

is this the same with other cruise lines? 

This topic is specific to Australian based cruises on Princess. The same also applies for P&O Australia and Australian based cruises on Carnival.

 

It is not the same for NCL, or most other cruise lines where it is prepaid into your fare, or charged daily to your onboard account, depending on the cruise line.

Edited May 26 by arxcards

[MicCanberra]

11 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

P&O Aust and Princess Aust pay their crew at a different (higher) rate on their Australian-based ships that are not part of their international tips pool. I am not talking about the competing cruise lines.

 

Both P&O and Princess announced the crew would be paid at a higher rate when they stopped the auto-gratuities. From memory his was 2009 for P&O and 1st May 2011 for Princess.

 

If (as you suggest) the crew are paid at the same low rate as on the 'overseas' ships how is their remuneration made up to a reasonable level without tips? Without their pay at a reasonable level, no-one would work on these Aussie-based ships. They would only work on the ones where they get tips.  

I was saying we really don't know what or how crew are paid and why should we worry about it. The grats are included in the fare or they are not either way, don't stress about it.

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, MicCanberra said:

I was saying we really don't know what or how crew are paid and why should we worry about it. The grats are included in the fare or they are not either way, don't stress about it.

I posted the info about crew remuneration so the OP wouldn't feel pressured to give additional tips to crew on cruises where the gratuities are included in the initial fare.🙂

[MicCanberra]

Fair enough, 

Although they were not the OP.

[Kiwias]

Hi all, thanks for your help.  Some VERY basic calculations for my trip - based on a (very) conservitive 2 alcaholic drinks a day (even mum would drink that), a soft drink/water a day, one desert, no gym AND splitting the internet cost in half (if we didnt have the package mum and I would share - one device at a time!) it makes it worth getting the package 🙂

[MicCanberra]

The package makes sense for most people.

[Bubbeh]

14 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

So that implies P&O Australia pay their crew better than Princess, Celebrity, Royal, Azamara, Carnival, HAL, Norwegian. Le Ponant and the rest.

Not sure this claim can be verified.

Perhaps gratuities are just included in the fare, so we don't have to worry about it.

Recently we took (never again!) a P & O cruise and as there so often is there was a Q & A session.  One of the questions asked was why we don't see Australians as part of the general crew (bar / cabin attendants etc).  The answer was that the law in Australia concerning minimum wage prevents the line from employing us in 'lower level' (his words not mine) roles.  Australians must be paid a rate determined by their level of employment eg, casual / permanent and not be reliant on tips to supplement their wages.  Australians can be employed if they have dual nationality and seek employment under a different one eg, Colombian, Philippino etc. To work on a cruise ship, we have be special contractors (guest presenters and entertainers) and Officers including resident entertainers.

 

I thought that was very interesting as I'd wondered why myself.

Edited May 26 by Bubbeh

[Aus Traveller]

1 minute ago, Bubbeh said:

Recently we took (never again!) a P & O cruise and as there so often is there was a Q & A session.  One of the questions asked was why we don't see Australians as part of the general crew (bar / cabin attendants etc).  The answer was that the law in Australia concerning minimum wage prevents the line from employing us in 'lower level' (his words not mine) roles.  Australians must be paid a rate determined by their level of employment eg, casual / permanent and not be reliant of tips to supplement their wages.  Australians can be employed if they have dual nationality and seek employment under a different one eg, Colombian, Philippino etc. We have be special contractors (guest presenters and entertainers) and Officers including resident entertainers.

 

I thought that was very interesting as I'd wondered why myself.

The cruise lines certainly don't pay the stewards/bartenders the equivalent of  Australian hospitality casual rates. There are a lot of Aussies working on cruise ships based overseas mainly on cruise staff, as bartenders etc. They are supposed to report their overseas-earned income to the Aust Tax Office and pay tax, but the cruise lines don't make the tax deductions that Aussie employers do. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Aussies working overseas, 'forget' to report their income to the ATO.🙂

[Kiwias]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Fair enough, 

Although they were not the OP.

LOL - I thought OP stood for Old Person - worked out its for Origional Poster 🙂

[Bubbeh]

1 minute ago, Kiwias said:

LOL - I thought OP stood for Old Person - worked out its for Origional Poster 🙂

Who is probably an Old Person.

[Bubbeh]

4 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The cruise lines certainly don't pay the stewards/bartenders the equivalent of  Australian hospitality casual rates. There are a lot of Aussies working on cruise ships based overseas mainly on cruise staff, as bartenders etc. They are supposed to report their overseas-earned income to the Aust Tax Office and pay tax, but the cruise lines don't make the tax deductions that Aussie employers do. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Aussies working overseas, 'forget' to report their income to the ATO.🙂

Interesting.

[ceeceeDee]

1 hour ago, Bubbeh said:

Recently we took (never again!) a P & O cruise and as there so often is there was a Q & A session.  One of the questions asked was why we don't see Australians as part of the general crew (bar / cabin attendants etc).  The answer was that the law in Australia concerning minimum wage prevents the line from employing us in 'lower level' (his words not mine) roles.  Australians must be paid a rate determined by their level of employment eg, casual / permanent and not be reliant on tips to supplement their wages.  Australians can be employed if they have dual nationality and seek employment under a different one eg, Colombian, Philippino etc. To work on a cruise ship, we have be special contractors (guest presenters and entertainers) and Officers including resident entertainers.

 

I thought that was very interesting as I'd wondered why myself.

Yes, we actually asked that question a number of years ago. Chatting with Australian entertainers on board, they confirmed that information.