PHOTO: The Coral Princess. (Courtesy of Princess Cruises)
Princess Cruises is the latest cruise line to announce an increase in its daily service charges.
USA Today reported the increased gratuity charge will take effect Jan. 1, 2016, with most passengers paying an additional 13 percent and suite passengers paying an extra 16 percent.
A majority of guests will pay $12.95 per person, per day beginning next year, while guests staying in suites will be charged $13.50 per person, per day.
The California-based cruise line's announcement follows similar ones made by other companies, including fellow Carnival Corporation & plc subsidiary Holland America Line. Last week, Holland America announced a daily hotel service charge increase of $1 for passengers in interior, oceanview and verandah staterooms and $1.50 for suite guests.
And last month, Norwegian Cruise Line announced a change to its daily service charge policy requiring passengers to wait until the end of their voyage to adjust or remove the service charge on their account.
While many cruise lines have done away with service charges altogether, instead factoring gratuities into passengers' base fare, some allow guests to lower, raise or remove service charges based on their satisfaction level.
In addition to Holland America and Norwegian, Princess Cruises joins Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises on the list of cruise lines that have recently hiked daily service charges.
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