by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:20 AM ET, Wed November 1, 2023
Royal Caribbean International announced that current
automatic service gratuity rates would increase by more than 10 percent,
starting on November 11.
According to the cruise line’s official
website, automatic service gratuity will jump to $18 per person, per day
for passengers in non-suites staterooms and Junior Suites, and increase to $20.50
per person, per day for guests in Suites.
Royal Caribbean currently charges an automatic service
gratuity of $16 for standard cabins and $18.50 for suites.
The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and
stateroom categories and is applied automatically to all beverages, mini bar
items, and spa & salon purchases. Passengers who have pre-paid the gratuity
will not see a daily charge during their cruise.
Other cruise lines charge similar prices, as Norwegian levies
a $20 per person, per day gratuity fee, while Carnival, Celebrity, Princess and
others charge $16-$18 per person, per day for most cabins.
As pointed out by The
Points Guy, a family of four in a typical cabin traveling with Royal
Caribbean once the gratuity rate increase takes effect would “pay more than
$500 in automatic gratuities on a seven-night cruise, one of the highest levies
in the business.”
The news of automatic service gratuity rate increases comes
as the cruise line reported a total revenue of $4.2 billion, an adjusted net
income of $1.1 billion and an Adjusted EBITDA of $1.7 billion for the third
quarter.
This is a massive increase from the third quarter of 2022,
when net income was reported at $33 million and adjusted net income was $65.8
million.
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