Norwegian Cruise Line has slightly raised the daily service charge for passengers and the new policy will go into effect March 1, 2015. This is the first time that gratuities have been raised by Norwegian since 2009.
The new rate will be $12.95 (up from $12) per guest per day for passengers in any stateroom category up to a mini-suite and $14.95 per day for passengers in any suite category staterooms. These recommended amounts are automatically charged to each passenger’s shipboard account but can be adjusted based on service received.
The new rates go into affect on March 1, 2015. Guests who have already booked a cruise that sails after March 1 can choose to prepay their gratuities at the current rate through February 28, 2015. Those who have already prepaid their gratuities will not be affected.
The daily gratuities are split up between the room stewards, servers in the restaurants, and the support staff that work behind the scenes. Passengers staying in suites also receive the services of a butler, concierge, and dedicated wait staff.
so now a #12.95 per day ” gratuity ” will be added to each stateroom , and $14.95 per day for each suite. Why not just raise the daily rate, or the package price? This is just a way to advertise one price, and charge another. I am not against gratuities, those cabin stewards work very hard, I have been on 5 cruises, but I think it is deceitful to automatically charge the gratuity. What if the service is below par?