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Compared to All -inclusive remains Or luxury spas, cruises are generally an affordable alternative for single package holidays. You pay a price, and all your food, your drinks and your entertainment is included. However, the main cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival have slipped hidden costs - and the passengers have roughly. Continue to read to find out how these companies are quietly increasing prices and if it will affect your next sea trip.

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Hotel channels are known for advertising for advantageous prices only to impose tons of “service” costs which considerably increase the cost. On cruise ships, a similar tactic comes into play with automatic gratuity costs - and Royal Caribbean, the Third largest cruising ship company in the world, has now increased these costs At 10%, the points Guy report (TPG). AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

On October 31, Royal Caribbean sent an e-mail by informing customers with the existing reservations of the modification and giving them the possibility of locking the lower gratuity rate if they presented before November 11. It should be noted that passengers have the possibility to give a tip less or not at all depending on a bad service, but this request must be approved on board and does not apply to prepaid gratifications.

"THE daily gratuity is shared between catering staff, bar and culinary services, cabin attendants and other hotel service teams, "L'Email lu, compared to Thestreet.

With the increase, daily gratuity rates range from $ 16 to $ 18 per person per day for standard cabins and $ 18.50 to $ 20.50 per person and per day for suites. As TPG notes, "a family of four in a typical cabin will pay more than $ 500 of automatic tips on a seven night cruise - one of the highest samples of the company."

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The latest increase in gratifications by Royal Caribbean is a year after having increased the costs, reports Thestreet. In fact, TPG shares that the company has increased these costs four times since 2015, an increase of 50% compared to what it is only $ 12 per day eight years ago.

Most customers are angry, however, not money but depending on the principle. As Thestreet points out, in the third quarter of 2023, Royal Caribbean's net profit was $ 1 billion, compared to $ 33 million during the same period last year.

"They made a net income of more than a billion dollars in the last quarter, but their staff must always count on advice to make a decent salary? And instead of giving them even a small increase, they want their customers subsidize their income further? " wrote Julie OAG On the Facebook page of the Royal Caribbean blog, according to Thestreet. "I am everything for the bottom for a good service, but to make their staff compose on tips is sad."

"My question: why are the equitable salaries for the members of the crew are not part of the cruise rate at the start? Why hide the cost ? "Asked X (formerly Twitter) the user @davidhswanson.

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Carnival Corporation, the second largest cruising company in the world, has taken a slightly different route and began to charge additional dinner reservations in two of its largest and most popular ships: the celebration of carnival and Tuesday .

"The new charge applies to dinner In Cucina del Capitano, the Italian restaurant found on Excel class ships and a number of other carnival fleet ships, "reports Cruise Hive.

During dinner (lunchtime will remain unchanged with unlimited visits), passengers wishing to visit the restaurant one hour next will have to pay $ 8.

The same costs were added to additional dinners in Chibang, a Mexican and Chinese restaurant aboard the two ships in April. Cruise Hive notes that this was considered a test, which has clearly proved to be success.

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Carnival costs were also welcomed by certain passengers. "I am really tired of all costs, it will make me reconsider the carnival. I just want to pay once and end it," wrote a commentator in response to a YouTube video Posted by this cruise period . "Ridiculous that we pay for everything and that's not that," echoed another.

However, others estimated that the change was rather fair. "$ 8 is still a good deal. These are large places and is worth this price ... It is far cheaper than any other cruise line or land restaurant," said a commentator. Another added: "Chibang was originally supposed to be 15 years old per person per visit, so go for free once, then pay half for additional visits sounds very well."

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The problem of hidden costs on cruise ships is not new. A January 2023 article in The Washington Post broken the common supplements Passengers can expect some of the greatest cruise speeds.

An example is WiFi costs, which carnival increased in January from $ 10.20 to $ 17 per person (depending on the amount of use) to $ 12.75 to $ 22.

But perhaps the largest additional expense is shipping costs. According to the cruise blog, " Shipping fees The costs are billed by the calls for cruising driving, "which are then subsidized by passengers." Usually, shipping costs are a summons of a few different costs, including pilot costs, costs per passage (head tax), and mooring costs, "they explain. According to their analysis, the costs of On average wearing around $ 150 per person.

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