Going on cruises has been a tradition for my grandma and her sisters for years. Now, she's making it one for our extended family.
14.10.2024 - 22:03 / thepointsguy.com / Royal Caribbean
Bad news, Royal Caribbean fans: You're about to pay even more in fees to cruise with the line.
The world's largest cruise company this week began notifying customers that the automatic service charge it adds to passenger bills would soon rise to as much as $21 per person, per day.
In emails sent to passengers booked on upcoming voyages, the line said the daily gratuity charge, as it calls the fee, would jump to $18.50 per person, per day on Nov. 1 for those staying in most cabins. Passengers in suites will pay $21 per person, per day.
The rates are about 3% higher than Royal Caribbean's current service charges of $18 for standard cabins and $20.50 for suites.
While relatively modest on a percentage basis, the gratuity charge increase is the second at the line in just under a year and brings the cumulative one-year increase to nearly 14%. At this time last year, Royal Caribbean was charging just $16 in service charges for passengers in most cabins.
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 $13.50 to $16 per person, per day in service charges to passenger bills for most cabins. Celebrity Cruises adds an $18 levy per person, per day in such gratuities to passenger bills.
Related: Tipping on a cruise: What to know about cruise ship gratuities
Royal Caribbean's gratuity charge is up a significant 54% since early 2015, when it was at just $12. The line has hiked rates five times since then.
The 54% increase in Royal Caribbean's gratuity charge since early 2015 is about 19 percentage points greater than the rate of inflation in the U.S. over the same period.
Since early 2015, inflation in the U.S. has run at a cumulative rate of about 35%, 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 MSC Cruises, 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 cover gratuities in their fares include Azamara, Ponant, Explora Journeys, Crystal, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours, Seabourn, SeaDream Yacht Club, Silversea Cruises and Virgin Voyages.
For
Going on cruises has been a tradition for my grandma and her sisters for years. Now, she's making it one for our extended family.
When CEO Jason Liberty discusses Royal Caribbean Group’s competition, he doesn’t mention Carnival Corp., the company’s bigger rival. Instead, the CEO name-checks Orlando and Las Vegas.
Florida might soon have a rival when it comes to cruise getaways. Although the Sunshine State is home to the largest cruise market in the world, Royal Caribbean claims the Texas market has the potential to be even bigger — a concept that has prompted the line to invest heavily in the Gulf Coast region.
Welcome back to another episode of the TravelPulse Podcast!
Buoyed by strong demand for cruises, Royal Caribbean Group increased its annual profit forecast for the fourth time this year.
When you've booked a sailing that's 132 days long, what's one more day? Fun — that's what. Holland America Line has redone the back half of its 2026 Grand World Voyage, which is now a day longer than originally scheduled — but for an interesting reason.
Royal Caribbean Group said Tuesday that vacationers are spending more on its cruises and that it expects higher pricing in 2025. Executives discussing third-quarter results also said the majority of customers are new to cruises or their brands, and they discussed using AI to set prices and plans for a new private destination in Mexico.
Add one more cruise line to the growing list of brands that will offer Alaska sailings in 2026. Following brief stints sailing from New York and Los Angeles, new 2,770-passenger ship Brilliant Lady — the fourth in Virgin Voyages' fleet, set to debut in late 2025 — will offer cruises to the Last Frontier as part of its spring and summer 2026 schedule.
Oct 24, 2024 • 7 min read
Royal Caribbean is about to take more than 4,000 passengers even farther northwest into Alaska. Starting in spring 2026, Ovation of the Seas will become the line's largest-ever ship to sail one-way voyages to The Last Frontier, offering both cruises and cruisetours — something that wasn't available to Royal Caribbean passengers before on a big ship.
Royal Caribbean Group is opening a new port in Juneau, Alaska, a move it claims will help disperse foot traffic in the city’s downtown as residents continue to debate the cost and benefits of cruise ships.
Earlier this year, my kids' relentless pleas to take a cruise reached a fever pitch.