Disney Cruise Line Follows Carnival By Increasing Recommended Gratuity

While travel is on again around the world, the pandemic continues to be a problem for the cruise industry, including Disney Cruise Line. In fact, the cruise line is making changes that won’t be popular with its guests.

Cruise Lines increase gratuities

At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, luxury cruises ground to a halt. However, last year, the cruise industry slowly started to move again. However, it cost millions of dollars for the cruise lines to renovate their ships. In the meantime, they had to wait for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to start lifting restrictions and lowering the risk levels for passengers and crew.

Since then, the major cruise lines, such as Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line have recently returned to the oceans. In fact, all major cruise lines are continuing to bring their new ships online. Meanwhile, Disney Cruise line is doing the same.

While cruise lovers will no doubt celebrate the fact that cruising is back, this doesn’t mean there are no problems. In fact, the pandemic triggered a labor shortage, as well as supply chain issues. These have resulted in the ongoing inflation most industries around the world are struggling with.

Meanwhile, the salaries that major cruise lines were paying their crew in 2019 just don’t stretch as far as they used to. Also, the labor market is a huge issue that cruise lines cannot afford to have their employees look elsewhere for a job. And who can blame them for looking elsewhere for better pay?

Disney Cruise Line ups prices

For this reason, Disney Cruise Lines are following Carnival in making changes some of their passengers won’t like. In fact, as reported by Cruise Hive, Disney has upped its recommended gratuity rates by $1 per day, per stateroom guest.

This will increase the daily gratuity rate to $14.50 per stateroom guest for most staterooms. Also, concierge staterooms and suites will be up to $15.50 per passenger, per day. Meanwhile, these increases in gratuity will benefit the head server, assistant server, and serve and stateroom host that cleans and services guests’ cabins.

Where will the increase start?

The increase in gratuity will start with the Disney Wish that set sail on its maiden voyage on July 14. Meanwhile, these charges will be automatically added to passengers’ accounts during their cruise. However, passengers who opted to pre-pay their gratuities at the former, lower rate, will not face additional charges on their bill.

In a statement, Disney Cruise Line said:

Since our very first sailing, Guests have told us how much they enjoy their interactions with the crew members. Providing world-class service and creating life-long memories for our guests are among the most common comments we receive. In recognition of all that they do, we have increased our recommended gratuity guidelines for select positions.

What about other cruise lines?

In May this year, Carnival Cruise Line increased its passenger gratuities to $14.50 per day for standard cabins. Meanwhile, guests in suites face a gratuity of $16.50 per person, per day.

Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line increased its gratuities in April to $16 per person, per day for most cabins. Meanwhile, those guests in suites and the exclusive Haven staterooms now pay $20 per person, per day.

Moreover, these new recommended gratuities only apply to dining staff servers and stateroom attendants. On top of this, an 18 percent gratuity is being added at the point of purchase for all beverage, bar and deck service tabs and also spa services.

Readers, will this increase in gratuity affect your plans for cruising this summer? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.