If you buy your drinks package in advance and then see that the price drops due to a promotion, you can cancel your drinks package, get a refund and then buy it again at the lower price. There are several ways to prepay your gratuities: When you check in for your cruise, your onboard account will be set up. b = Last drawn basic salary + dearness allowance. Hi Anthony. Its possible to make a saving by doing this if you have the time and energy to track the prices. This is because the drinks packages are not actually free, its just that the ticket price is adjusted to include drinks. If thats the case and you decide you want to change the amount you are charged for tips then you can do that. Beverage packages can be used at CocoCay, Royal Caribbeans private island in the Bahamas and at Labadee, Royal Caribbeans private beach in Haiti. I have some photos of the drink menus here: https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/royal-caribbean-drinks-menus-with-prices/ This may help you to find the answer to your question. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. MyTime dining is when you dont have a set dining time and instead, you can arrive at the main restaurant whenever you like. Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. Some lines also pool the tips altogether and then distribute them throughout the year. Other than that, your gratuity charges cover the housekeeping and dining staff. Unless you are feeling generous, theres no need to tip more. Before you go ahead and buy the Coffee Card, here are some things youll want to consider: The tap water on Royal Caribbean cruise ships is perfectly safe to drink and tastes okay, although it may not always be very cold, depending on the weather. The default amount of $12 can be adjusted. When you are a salaried employee, your employer pays you an amount of money when you either retire from the company or quit after 5 years of service as per the Payment Gratuity Act of 1972. would i be charged the difference between a virgin pina colada and a pina colada with alcohol? Jenni. Thank you. Is is possible to buy the package for less days than those of your cruise? Where did you see the cheaper prices for the new cruise bookings? The drinks package is active on the island as well as the ship and we spent a lot of time on-board drinking cocktails in the hot tub. Hi Katie. To account for this, the drink package limit is matched to it. There are two ways to buy a Royal Caribbean drink package: Royal Caribbean drink package sharing is not allowed. If you wish to recognise outstanding service by adding extra gratuities onboard the ship, you are welcome to do so. Additionally, package holders receive a 40% discount on wines priced up to $100 and a 20% discount on wines priced above $100. Carnival Cruise Line also increased . Whether you cruise multiple times per year or you're new to cruising, the goal of Royal Caribbean Blog is for it to bea useful resource for keeping up to date with what's new and exciting with Royal Caribbean. The gratuity is applied automatically to all average beverage costs and beverage packages, as well as applicable upcharges for beverages whose cost is not fully covered by a package. But I have one question. There are several places where youll find free drinks during your Royal Caribbean cruise. I had it on a 4-night cruise. Another drink package option for Royal Caribbean cruisers is the Classic Soda package, which includes fountain soda and refills at any venue, Coca-Cola Freestyle beverages and even a Coca-Cola souvenir cup. What is Royal Caribbean's service gratuities (tips) price and policy? If youd like to calculate exactly what your gratuity amount will be before you book your trip, then you can use our calculator here, many people choose to instead pay the gratuity charges automatically through their onboard account once on the ship, 39 Useful Things to Pack (17 You Wouldn't Think Of), Park & Cruise Hotels for Every Port in America, 107 Best Cruise Tips, Secrets, Tricks, and Freebies, Carnival Gratuities (Tips): Full Guide to Cost & How They Work, Explained: Duty-Free Shopping on a Cruise (Is It Worth It? Lets say the drinks package costs an average of $75 per day. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. 20102023Regal Sea Media LLC. Its up to you. To save you the headache, Ive created a handy tool that does the maths for you. This is extremely helpful. My husband and i are going on our first cruise later this spring and bought a deluxe package. Since they are not . We are no spring chickens the three of us are just under 70. Jenni. Drink is 15 Dollars so do i have to pay 3 Dollars or 15? The calculator does not take into account the three beverage vouchers that Crown and Anchor Society members holding Diamond, Diamond Plus, or Pinnacle elite status receive when attending the Exclusive Nightly Diamond Event. In April 2022, Carnival Cruise Line raised their gratuities to $14.50 per person, per day for standard staterooms and $16.50 per person, per day for suites. For new reservations, the adjusted gratuity amounts are effective as of September 7, 2022. This reduces the price of each coffee from around $4 to around $2. Just pop your email in the form and Ill send you a link to the calculator. This is also known as a SeaPass account. Heres Everything to Know, 21+ Best Cruise Cabin Tips, Secrets, & Things to Know (Read Before Sailing), 25+ Fun Must-Do Things on a Norwegian Cruise, 29 Must-Have Things to Pack for an Alaskan Cruise (11 Youd Never Think Of), Carnival Is Fixing a MAJOR Issue With Sailing from Galveston, Princess Cruise Gratuity (Tips) Full Guide: How Much, How They Work, and More, Hotels With Cruise Shuttles For Every Major Port in America, 107 Best Cruise Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Freebies, 39 Useful Things to Pack For Your Cruise (Including 17 Youd Never Think Of). Royal Caribbean is increasing its automatic daily gratuities by more than 10% next month for passengers in staterooms. 20102023Regal Sea Media LLC. So, if you dont have a credit card, then you should prepay your gratuities to avoid running out of money in your bank account or having to carry a lot of cash. Absolutely. Simply enter the cruise line, length of trip, and the number of passengers and it will show you precisely how much youll be charged. I am going on my first cruise in February and found your information very helpful thank you. For most sailings, when you buy a drinks package online, an 18% gratuity charge is added at the checkout. Royal Caribbean gratuities for infants may seem high, but when you think about it, the crew members do a lot of work for each baby, perhaps even more than for an adult. That adds up. Instead of handing over the charges well in advance of your sailing, you can keep it until youre actually on your cruise. Be aware that when you sign the receipt there will be another line for an additional tip. The calculator estimates the total cost for beverages, including the cost of beverage packages, gratuities, and upcharges. The calculator will add the mandatory gratuity to the package cost in its calculations. That said, its unusual to adjust the gratuity amount, and the staff works extremely hard to make your trip enjoyable. If you do absolutely nothing, then you can expect an automatic charge on your SeaPass account each day of the cruise. Most recently, Disney Cruise Line increased the rate to $14.50 in July 2022. If you get some free onboard credit as an incentive when you book your cruise, then you can use this to pay your gratuities. This will reduce the overall balance you have available to spend. All I can see is my cruise planner prices which are $95+ per day!! Your drinks package will include gratuity on all drinks. What do you do about the porters at the ports. However, if you want to choose the flexible My Time dining, rather than having a set dining time, you must pre-pay your gratuities. Check your Cruise Planner and see if it comes up to purchase. Select the number of nights for the cruise, from a minimum of two nights to a maximum of thirty nights. Royal Caribbean doesnt offer free drinks packages. Some ships may cover up to $13 per alcoholic beverage. Im guessing they make it cheaper on a longer cruise compared to a 3- or 4-nighter so its really hard to compare with what Ive seen it for on my own cruises. Superb article, i am new to cruising and only used NCL which seems to have cheap drink package and this helps me no end, thanks a million, Im so pleased that you found this helpful Jenni. If you book a cruise with free gratuities, it means that Royal Caribbean will pay the gratuities to the staff members for you, so you dont need to worry about paying them. Where n = Tenure of service completed in the company. We use prepaid drink cards to purchase beverages. This happens regularly for passengers feeling generous or thankful for the staffs work during their trip. Here are the policies for major cruise lines at the moment: When you book your cruise, the gratuity amount is usually disclosed in full for your trip, with an option to prepay the amount with your cruise fare. Beverage packages may not be available for purchase for cruises of less than four nights departing from Southampton, England. You can also take a quick look at the Royal Caribbean Beverage package prices: Deluxe Beverage Package - $44 to $55 per day ($63-$70 for 2019 sailings) Premium Refreshment Package - $26 per . Both Carnival and Norwegian raised gratuity rates earlier this summer. Are you able to advise how much shots were roughly? Having to add in gratuity costs to these advertised rates could make them less attractive to potential cruisers. However, for the most part you can expect that every passenger on your trip will see a charge. You can find more info in this posts: https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/can-you-take-drinks-on-a-cruise-ship/ and this one: https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/how-to-sneak-alcohol-on-a-cruise-ship/ I hope that helps! Thank you so much for such useful and great information. So the longer the cruise, the higher the gratuities as well. Royal Caribbean stipulates in the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services onboard up until the morning of their departure. Meanwhile, cruise fares are often shown as dirt-cheap prices. The discount is increased by up to 30% during promotional periods such as Black Friday. In addition to this, an 18% gratuity is automatically added to all drinks, spa and salon services. If you dont decide to prepay the tips, then the amount is automatically charged to your onboard account each day. Use this section of the Royal Caribbean Beverage Package Calculator to enter general information about the cruise. Should you prepay gratuities for a Royal Caribbean cruise? Take your pick of 7 world-class ships sailing weeklong adventures to the top-rated shores of the western, eastern, & southern Caribbean. RCCL currently applies an automatic gratuity amount on your onboard account, on a daily basis. Australians typically do not tip because the minimum wage in Australia is $20.33 AUD/hr ($14.56 USD/hr). If I bought the premium beverage drink do I have to pay an additional gratuites? One thing which I noticed is that the bigger the freebie, the higher the base price. On certain cruises, Royal Caribbean requires that gratuities are prepaid to be able to request MyTime dining. So you cant get the Royal Cribbean alcohol package for one person and the soft drink package for another. Have our travel agency partner get you a free quote for a Royal Caribbean cruise. Hi Jeff. When this opted into by the guest, then you'll pay the full gratuity amount before the cruise begins at final payment date. The advantage here is that you get to hold on to more of your money for longer. The cost for two people on a week-long cruise can be well above $200. We always hand our tips in cash to the person whose service we wish to commend. Jenni, Hi Jose, Yes, thats correct. The daily gratuities are shared among dining, bar . Each day there will be a gratuity charge or a lump sum added at the end of the trip. Suggested read: 56 amazing examples of Royal Caribbean customer service. I hope that helps! As of September 7, 2022,the automatic daily gratuity charge will increase: Royal Caribbean last raised gratuitiesJanuary 2, 2018. Tipping is out of control everywhere. But, the cup doesnt seal so you have to keep it upright. Jenni. The latest increase was in 2018 when gratuities went up by $1 per person, per day. Current gratuities breakdown - Royal Caribbean International - Cruise Critic Community. Royal Caribbean Gratuities: What you need to know, Royal Caribbean raises its automatic gratuities, Royal Caribbean to raise gratuity amount for guests, Royal Caribbean raises gratuity amount for guests. On a recent Royal Caribbean cruise, I bought the drinks package and got my moneys worth. For example, of a $15 charge, $7 per day may be distributed to your room steward, $5 to the dining staff, and the remaining $3 is spread among other customer-facing positions on the ship. What should I do to highlight this so as not to embarrass him on board. While steep on a percentage basis, the increase in gratuity charge at Royal Caribbean is the first at the line in more than four years. These days, everything is automatic. Hi, I'm Jenni. MIAMI - February 13, 2023 - Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) (the "Company") today announced that it has closed its private offering of $700 million aggregate principal amount of 7.250% . What is Royal Caribbean's gratuity price and policy? Guests over 2 years old and under 12 years old pay $7 per day. Royal Caribbean Cruises Tipping Policy. We deposit cash to use for our onboard account. With your support, we can create more exciting content and share with everyone! I have a question Ive not seen answered. The cocktails in the Bamboo Lounge are a little different to the poolside cocktails, the have fancier glasses and the ingredients may be different too. There are also lots of free drinks available including flavoured water, water and milk as well as fruit juices at breakfast time. Applying this charge automatically helps to streamline the recognition process for the crew members that work to enhance your cruise. These can be a surprise to some people, especially first-time passengers. To make tipping simpler and fairer, Royal Caribbeans tips policy is to collect this money from all the guests and automatically share it between the crew members. The exact breakdown of how much each staff member gets isnt published, just like their salary isnt published. Thanks for the comprehensive review! Who gets the tips? The staff isnt likely to treat you any differently or even know that you arent tipping (after all, some people still like to pay cash at the end of the cruise). However, its always cheaper to buy it before you board. Be the first to rate this post. They worked for about half a drink before they collapse. Ditch winter blues for tropical hues on a warm-weather escape. That said, some cruise lines make exceptions for small kids. Theres little doubt that the extra tips can be expensive. Complimentary is just regular coffee whereas premium includes cappuccino, latte, espresso etc. Can I buy unlimited beverage package for 2 days only in a four days cruise , or it has to be for all days ? Sterilisers? If you have the Deluxe Beverage Package, youll get a 40% discount on bottled wines priced up to $100 and a 20% discount on wines priced over $100. Good luck! With millions of passengers sailing every year, theres inevitably going to be someone who feels they received poor service. Norwegian just raised its gratuity rate to $16 from $15.50 in April. Then, contact one with a best-price guarantee and have them beat it! My Cruise Line Calls it a Crew Incentive or Service Charge. Royal Caribbean last raised gratuities January 2, 2018. When you take a Royal Caribbean cruise, as well as your cruise fare, youll be expected to pay a little extra to the crew members. Even Babies? Royal Caribbean drinks packages include all tips (also known as gratuities). Royal Caribbean gratuities are a set amount per person, per day. What sucks is the workers then have to pay a tax on the tip where we would rather give the workers a gift of cash. Their offerings range from classics like a mojito to daiquiri to new takes on traditional cocktails, like a New Fashioned at the Schooner . If youve never cruised, then there is no doubt that these questions and more might be floating through your head. Waiting until the end of your cruise will give you a few more paydays to save up the money. Royal Caribbean offers a discount when you pre-book your drinks package on the cruise planner before you sail. If it doesnt, then Im sorry I dont know about that particular drink. Im Diamond and wondered what the upcharge might be since Ill be getting four free drink vouchers per day. Royal Caribbean drinks prices are on the high end when compared to other cruise lines. What is Gratuity Calculator? If you plan to be off the ship exploring ports most days, then not only will you not have as much time on board to drink your drinks, but youre also less likely to want a hangover! Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. The calculator will account for these upcharges. Gone are the days of simply slipping a waiter some cash or leaving a couple of bills for the room steward at the end of your trip (although you can still do that if you want). I know that some people get away with putting one bottle in the main suitcase and one in hand luggage. Tipping on Royal Caribbean Cruises is straightforward - a standard daily rate is charged for all guests (no matter the age). Also, should I bring my own sweetener or do they supply that? The calculator estimates the savings achieved by selecting the most cost-effective beverage package versus Pay As You Go. 2023 Cruzely.com | Laisman Publishing, LLC. Could you please tell me how I can improve it? Bottom line is that it comes down to personal preference. Jenni. On or after September 7, 2022, regardless of when the booking was created, gratuities paid while onboard are subject to the new, increased rates. Guests who booked prior to September 7, 2022 can opt to prepay gratuities prior to sailing to take advantage of the current rates. ? One of the benefits of a drinks package is that if you dont like a drink you dont have to drink it. It will show up as a line item on your final payment. Without your contribution, the compensation for the staff members will decrease. For some cruise lines (usually luxury lines), gratuities actually are included in the fare you dont pay anything extra apart from your cruise fare. When you book your cruise, youll be given the opportunity to prepay the gratuities. The newer Strawfish biodegradable straws are much better, but I would still recommend bringing your own metal straw, such as these collapsible straws that you can clip onto your bag or belt. Is it worth it to by a drink package? Ive just used $USD in this guide to keep things consistent for most readers. The formula used by our online gratuity calculator is: G = n*b*15/26. Second, any time that you purchase anything service related such as dinner at a specialty restaurant or a service at the spa expect there to be a tip added on to the cost. There are some exceptions to this rule. Airfare Savings Up to $800 per person . or would i be charged for the whole pina colada with alcohol? They will still go out of their way to make your cruise comfortable and enjoyable. You can get the charge out of the way early, or hold onto your money until you actually sail. May 29, 2022. So do you have to buy a drink package for every day of your trip or can you buy for just 3 days of your trip. If you booked directly with Royal Caribbean, you can either call Royal Caribbean or log onto their website and access your account to prepay gratuities. Hi Rebecca. If you wish to recognise outstanding service by adding extra gratuities onboard the ship, you are welcome to do so.