Princess Cruises just hiked a fee that some cruisers find outrageous

27.08.2024 - 17:50 / thepointsguy.com / Royal Caribbean

Bad news, Princess Cruises fans: You're about to pay more in fees to cruise with the line.

The world's fifth-largest cruise brand has quietly raised the daily service charge it levies on customers to its highest level in the history of the company.

The new rate for what Princess calls a "crew appreciation" fee is now $17 per person, per day for those staying in most cabins.

That's a 6.25% increase from the previous rate of $16 — more than twice the rate of inflation in the U.S. over the past year.

Princess last raised its service charge rate Dec. 14, 2022.

As part of the change, Princess also is raising its service charge for passengers staying in suites to $19 per person, per day — a 5.6% increase from the previous rate of $18.

Passengers staying in minisuites, cabanas and Club Class cabins will now pay $18 per person, per day — a 5.9% increase from the previous rate of $17.

The news of a service charge increase at Princess comes just six months after sister line Holland America pushed through a similar increase to its service charge rate. Holland America also currently charges $17 per day in service charges for passengers in most cabins and $19 per day for passengers in suites.

With the increase at Princess, a family of four in a typical cabin on one of the line's ships will pay nearly $500 in automatic gratuities on a seven-night cruise.

That puts Princess ahead of several of its key competitors when it comes to gratuity fees. Among other major lines, Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard Line, Windstar Cruises and MSC Cruises add $16 per person, per day in service charges to passenger bills for most cabins.

Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean add $18 per person, per day, and Norwegian Cruise Line adds $20 per person, per day in such gratuities to passenger bills. Viking levies a $17 per person, per day service charge.

Related: Tipping on a cruise: What to know about cruise ship gratuities

Such sky-high service charges increasingly are a sore point for some cruisers, who see them as a veiled way for lines to hide the true cost of their sailings in the fares they market online.

In an explanation on its website, Princess says the service charges are distributed to crew on ships "in the form of compensation, including bonuses." In other words, the money is used to pay crew wages.

The recent fee hikes at Princess and Holland America come amid a surge in price hikes at cruise lines for all sorts of things, even as they cut back on service in some cases.

Most of the biggest cruise lines, such as Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian, automatically add some sort of gratuity or service fee to passenger bills. Passengers often have the choice to prepay the fees when booking or have them added