Royal Caribbean offer discounts to people who buy their drinks packages online in advance of their cruise. Gratuity charges are typically not mandatory and can be adjusted. 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. Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours. We just came back from a Cruise to Nowhere aboard the Quantum of the Seas as well. The number of nights affects the total cost of beverage packages. What is Royal Caribbean's service gratuities (tips) price and policy? They recognize that the staff goes above and beyond to make their vacation enjoyable. The Royal Caribbean alcohol drinks package costs between $63 and $89 per person, per day and includes unlimited drinks worth up to $12 or $13 each (depending on the ship). But I have one question. Does that include the 16.36% gratuity or will I be charged another 16.36% of 856, which would be another 140 approx ? When you log into Royal Caribbeans cruise planner, look out for special offers like this one. Without your contribution, the compensation for the staff members will decrease. These days, everything is automatic. We are cruising with NCL later this year & we have a beverage package included & gratuities included does that mean we will not pay any more gratuities at end of cruise? Hi Sue. Started in 2010, Royal Caribbean Blog offers daily coverage of news and information related to the Royal Caribbean cruise line along with other relevant topics of cruising, such as entertainment, news, photo updates and more. These daily gratuities go towards your dining room staff, as well as your stateroom attendant. This is extremely helpful. Featured Royal Caribbean Cruise Deals. There are two good reasons to prepay gratuities before your cruise. So you wont have to pay any more for your drinks unless you order something really specialist. My hubby-to-be is a non-drinker and he would only want the refreshment package. If you paid $13 for a cocktail and didnt like it, youd be pretty annoyed at yourself for choosing it. 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). The two common rationales for not prepaying are if you have a substantial amount of onboard credit that could offset your SeaPass account charges, or if you prefer to give crew members their automatic gratuity rate in cash. 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. That means people like the room steward who cleans your cabin and the dining staff. Bottom line is that it comes down to personal preference. They are often expressed as the rate for a single person (despite having to pay for double occupancy) and dont include port fees or taxes. Princess: $14.50 per person, per day. Royal Caribbean is a trademark of Royal Caribbean Group. To save you the headache, Ive created a handy tool that does the maths for you. The best way to save money on your Royal Caribbean drink package is to buy it a few days after booking your cruise. I hope that helps! For example, Carnival does not charge tips for kids under two years old. hi.We leave from Southampton next month.We can only bring 2 bottles of wine at first day,not allowed any after that apparently.Also for 14 nights for the drinks package for my wife and i is nearly 2000!! In addition, prepaying gratuities locks in the current gratuity rate, even if the rate were to go up later. Just like sneaking your own alcohol on board the ship, this isnt technically allowed, but people do it. This happens regularly for passengers feeling generous or thankful for the staffs work during their trip. Your drinks package will include gratuity on all drinks. You can opt into prepaying gratuities at any time, up to 48 hours prior to your sail date. Jenni. 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. Jenni. After four years, Royal Caribbean is increasing the gratuity rate cruise ship passengers will pay for the service they receive from crew members onboard its ships. However, you can get a drink every 15 minutes so it is possible to get the occasional drink for your child on the sly. This makes paying for your cruise more manageable. If tips are not required, do their supervisors know about this up charge? As far as your trip, likely very little. Each day there will be a gratuity charge or a lump sum added at the end of the trip. In fact, your cruise line might leave a few envelopes in your room exactly for this purpose. My husband and i are going on our first cruise later this spring and bought a deluxe package. The good thing for passengers about automatic gratuities is that this breakdown is done automatically by the cruise line instead of having to give tips to several different staff members at the end of your cruise. All rights reserved. Royal Caribbean Cruises Tipping Policy. All non-alcoholic beverages are covered in full, regardless of price, unless otherwise excluded from all beverage packages. There are two ways to buy a Royal Caribbean drink package: Royal Caribbean drink package sharing is not allowed. This occurs in the Australian cruise market. Hi Katie. My gf is a big tea drinker and is considering the package purely for that. Does the menu price already include the per drink gratuity? That said, if you dont pay gratuities, then its the staff that will be hurting not the cruise line. Keep in mind that Royal Caribbean generally requires that if one adult purchases the Deluxe package, that all other adults over the age of 21 traveling in the same cabin purchase the Deluxe package; this requirement may be waived if you contact Royal Caribbean, explain the other adult(s) does not consume alcohol, and request to downgrade the additional package to Refreshment. I gave always given them money to take my bags to the ship. Crown & Anchor Diamond status entitles you to attend an Exclusive Nightly Diamond Event between 5 pm and 8 pm each evening where you can receive three free drinks from a list of beers, wines, spirits and sodas. Any frozen drinks too without the alcohol. He would hardly be expected to buy the alcohol package too?? An alternative is to pre-pay the gratuity before the cruise begins. Just like the price of anything else, you should expect over time for these rates to continue to rise slowly but surely. Disney Cruise Gratuity Calculator. We have decided to use your tip and buy the soda package with the intention of buying shots on board. If you buy the drink package before you board you may be able to get it for cheaper as pre-cruise drink package prices fluctuate before the sailing date. Thanks for all the great info. Whilst it was nice to be able to fill up my drink from the machine, I didnt like that I had to carry the cup everywhere with me. 53 euros per day, 856 for my wife and for 8 nights. Thanks for the comprehensive review! Royal Caribbean Drink Packages. We deposit cash to use for our onboard account. While the name sounds fancy, gratuities are nothing more than a tip paid to the staff members for service during the cruise. How Often Do the Gratuity Rates Increase? With MyTime dining you will sit at a different table each night and be served by different crew members. Could I buy only 4 of the 8 days of my trip, for example? However, if you want to choose the flexible My Time dining, rather than having a set dining time, you must pre-pay your gratuities. What the real deal? !I just cant afford that and i dont see how its justified. We have two kids. For most sailings, when you buy a drinks package online, an 18% gratuity charge is added at the checkout. Not to split them across all the employees equally. So you would need to let someone else be served and then order again. Your last drawn basic salary along with dearness allowance was Rs 30,000. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Royal Caribbean Blog. In fact, the staff will love that you want to give them more money. Royal Caribbean offers a choice of three all-inclusive drinks packages: Royal Caribbeans alcohol drinks package includes: Royal Caribbeans non-alcoholic drinks package includes: The Classic Soda Packages comes with a refillable souvenir cup which you can use at self-service machines across the ship. This also applies to sailings departing from Australia and New Zealand. Coca-Cola (including diet, zero, caffeine-free and many different flavours like strawberry, cherry and lime), Fanta, Sprite and Dr Pepper (and zero versions), Powerade (and zero version), Vitamin water and Hi C, Barrys root beer and creme soda (and diet versions), Minute Maid orange and lemonade (and light versions), You cannot use a Coffee Card in Royal Caribbeans Starbucks cafes, Brewed coffee is always free from the Windjammer buffet, Specialty coffee is included in both the alcohol and no alcohol drink packages, On the first formal night of the cruise, attend the, Guests who have spent more than 30 nights at sea with Royal Caribbean (Platinum members and above) can attend a, Guests who have spent more than 80 nights at sea with Royal Caribbean (Diamond members and above) get free drinks between 5 pm and 8.30 pm for. The calculator will add the mandatory gratuity to the package cost in its calculations. Cash isnt used on cruise ships, so all your purchases and gratuities (if not prepaid) will be added to your onboard account. Then, log into the Cruise Planner regularly to watch the price. Hi Michael. The actual daily package cost can vary depending on the cruise and ship. Royal Caribbean always price in US dollars no matter the itinerary. In addition to this, an 18% gratuity is automatically added to all drinks, spa and salon services. Royal Caribbean offers a discount when you pre-book your drinks package on the cruise planner before you sail. To account for this, the drink package limit is matched to it. Can I please get the link to the calculator? Thank you so much for such useful and great information. Norwegian just raised its gratuity rate to $16 from $15.50 in April. When you book the cruise youll have the ability to prepay gratuities. Ive just contacted RCI via messenger and asked them why the price on my cruise planner is a lot more than what Ive seen offered for new cruise bookings, and asked if I can have it at the same price. You have entered an incorrect email address! 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. When you book your cruise, youll be given the opportunity to prepay the gratuities. Were here to help. First of all, if youre feeling a little confused, dont worry you arent alone. For new reservations, the adjusted gratuity amounts are effective as of September 7, 2022. bit.ly/CruiseSchedule. As of September 7, 2022,the automatic daily gratuity charge will increase: Royal Caribbean last raised gratuitiesJanuary 2, 2018. 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. Cheers. I have stepped out of the shuttle seeing the conveyer a short distance away. If thats the case and you decide you want to change the amount you are charged for tips then you can do that. Instead of one passenger paying a lot and another paying hardly anything, these set amounts ensure that everyone pays their fair share. The bar staff were always encouraging me to let them make up drinks rather than stick the menu, so Im sure they wouldnt mind you asking. You were extremely helpful for my upcoming cruise! Be the first to rate this post. After that, you can cancel it when you first embark on the ship, but no later. No, it doesnt. This is also known as a SeaPass account. ), I have just updated this post as the gratuity on Royal Caribbeans drinks packages is now 18% for 2021. To work out if a drinks package is worth it, you need to work out how many drinks you would need to drink each day to break even. All service isnt created equally. The amount you pay will vary by cruise line, but they are all in the same ballpark. The daily gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes. Jenni. But you would still have your standard daily gratuity to pay which covers all other staff members. Great advice. b = Last drawn basic salary + dearness allowance. With your support, we can create more exciting content and share with everyone! All of you have great advice. What if service is bad? To help explain everything about cruise line gratuities, weve answered a number of common questions that will make everything clearer before you set sail. So, in order to calculate the amount your family will owe for gratuities, you would multiply: $14.50 X Number of People in Cabin X Length of Cruise = Amount You Owe. Last time I cruised with Royal Caribbean in December 2019 you could do both options. However, theres a chip inside it which means that it will only work with the machine for a certain period of time. Not sure if Id risk it though! Here are the average Royal Caribbean drinks prices: If youd like to know exactly which drinks are available on Royal Caribbean cruise ships and how much they cost, I have taken photos of the bar menus on board Mariner of the Seas. While this is intended to make things easier, the honest truth is that having automatic gratuities can actually lead to more questions. The porter stands there counts the luggage and has told the price for a handling fee. The calculator is powered by JavaScript. Royal Caribbean. Norwegian Cruise Lines doesnt charge gratuities for kids under three. Then, contact one with a best-price guarantee and have them beat it! Daily gratuities: Junior suites or below - $14.50 p.p. If you booked your Royal Caribbean cruise with a travel agent, you just need to contact them and ask for gratuities to be added to your reservation. Royal Caribbean Beverage Package Calculator: Instructions and Explanations . Each passenger pays a daily gratuity that covers the services of the crew members they interact with the most, and this daily rate is charged automatically unless the guest pre-pays it prior to the cruise. Royal Caribbean Beverage Package Calculator: Most Cost-Effective, Calculate Your New December 2020 COVID-19 Stimulus Payment, Celebrity Cruises Beverage Package Calculator: Most Cost-Effective. These are: Some drinks are free all the time. However, the feedback from them is that they always prefer cash. If you want to recognise outstanding service by a particular crew member, then head to the Guest Services desk and fill out a WOW card. On cruises departing from the UK, the gratuity is included in the price of each drink as shown on the menu, so the menu prices may appear higher. On certain cruises, Royal Caribbean requires that gratuities are prepaid to be able to request MyTime dining. Plus, as we were sailing from the UK it was easy to bring our own wine and cans of pop on board so we didnt need to buy many drinks on the ship. On the Oasis Class and Quantum Class ships, the drinks package limit is $13 rather than $12 to account for these ships having slightly higher drinks prices. ? Just enter your email address below and youll receive a link to it in your inbox asap. Doing this is a good way to ensure that youre served first next time! The price of Royal Caribbeans Deluxe Beverage Package is not fixed. Finally, if you order anything from room service, then its expected that you give a couple of bucks to the staff member that delivers the food. The tipping rates charged change from time to time. Im going on a cruise in October and would like the full drinks package for myself. This happens automatically and will be tacked on to the price. I leave from Miami and happy to pop to a Walmart beforehand to pick up some things to save money on board. Thank you in advance. If not, just leave blank, Royal Caribbean increases gratuities for crew members on its cruise ships, Carnival Cruise Line raised their gratuities. 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. You may be better off opting to pay for drinks as you go as its hard to break even without drinking a lot of alcohol each day. This automatic gratuity does not cover other onboard purchases. Hi, I'm Jenni. If you have a package, gratuities are already included in that, you wont pay any more per drink.