This past May, my wife and I took our first cruise - we chose the Grand Princess, 7-day cruise from Ft.Lauderdale.
Overall, it was a very nice experience and we can't wait until our next cruise - planning on Princess again. The ship, room, intinery, food, service, and comedy shows were all excellent. Despite my wife and I being ages 35 & 28, we were some of the youngest on the ship, but we chose the cruise for its ship, price, itinery, rating, and food(great for out tastes).
The only disappointments were the policy for drinks and tips. Skipped the art auctions (don't buy art), but have read it is best to avoid them anyway.
Drinks - Out of all that food they include, a fountain soda probably costs the cruise line 5 cents or less - they can't include that? Just another way to pad the cruise price. We knew in advance that the soft drinks were not included, so I considered bringing a case with us, but decided against it when we learned that for $17.50 each, we could get unlimited drinks (fountain only). Condidering an average of 6 drinks per day for 6 1/2 days, that's less than 50 cents each - so its not worth it to BYO. Coffee, Tea, and milk are always free.
Tips - Automatically added to your open account. $10/per day, per person. Now how can it be a tip when they bill you for it? Sounds more like a surcharge - which comes back to padding the bill. Princess does clearly state that the "tip" is voluntary and can be reduced at the end of the cruise. Adjusting the tip requires standing in line and then going through the hoops to justify why you are reducing the tip, followed by a reply of why you shouldn't reduce the tip. I did go through the hoops because the tip was itemized as $3.50/per day, per person for room service and $6.50/per day, per person for dining; however, the dining is figuring 3 meals per day in the sitdown dining room - we only ate 3 meals out of 21. I didn't feel that we should have to tip on the days we didn't go. We did go to the buffet - which, as it is self serve, standard tipping customs do not require tipping; although, the cruise rep said otherwise. I decided to give the tips directly to the employees - in person and in cash! In addition to the $10/per day, per person($140 total) automatically billed to our account, all of the paid drinks(excluding the $17.50 fountain drink sticker) had an automatic 10% tip added. The drink "tip" was stated in advance and can not be reduced if the service is bad, which it was not.
I wonder if the cruise line keeps any of the "tips" or deducts a "fee" before distributing them? I also wonder how the cruise line distributes them? Anyone know?
I feel that when a "tip" is either automatically added to a bill, for an owner or partner, "suggested", solicited, or redistributed to other employees, it is no longer a tip! - It becomes more like a wage or surcharge. Wages should be paid by the cruise company and surcharges should not BE at all. Instead of Princess(or any other cruise line) telling me that the cruise is $700, then later telling me they need $70 more for employee wages, why can't they just be honest and up-front and tell me the cruise will cost $770! Even if the price was $770, that is still a great deal and I would have not hesitated to pay it. It's not the price I dislike, it's the way they bait with one price and then try to switch it to another. If they can bait and switch, can I charge and then self-rebate?
[This message has been edited by Aubie (edited 08-25-2002).]