This major cruise line is raising its gratuity charges

Travelers can expect to pay more next time they sail with Princess Cruises.
The cruise line is raising its crew appreciation charge starting later this month. Passengers booked in suites will pay $19 per person, per day, up from $18, while fees for guests in mini suites, cabanas and Club Class accommodations will increase from $17 to $18. For guests in all other staterooms, the charge will jump from $16 to $17.
The increase will roll out to its fleet on the same schedule as updates to the line’s Princess Premier package, according to a spokesperson:
The charges are automatically added to guests’ onboard accounts but can be adjusted before disembarking. Princess previously raised its crew appreciation rates in February 2023.
Those fees, along with service charges on select purchases, are pooled and “distributed throughout the year in the form of compensation, including bonuses, to crewmembers fleetwide who interact directly with guests and/or behind the scenes throughout every cruise, including those in the Bar, Dining, Entertainment, Housekeeping, Guest Services, Galley and Onboard Revenue areas,” according to the line’s website.
Cruise lines periodically increase gratuity charges, usually in response to external factors like inflation or shifts in economic activity. “You look at the cost of hotels and transportation, fuel and food and everything else, and I think it’s really just a normal response,” Danny Genung, CEO of travel agency Harr Travel, told USA TODAY in November. “You know, compensating employees, offsetting costs that have increased.”
Holland America Line also raised its crew appreciation charge in February, following similar moves from lines like Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].