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I feel like my fiancé and I just missed the golden age of cruising. We have cancelled our plans to go on cruises because of the constant upcharging and ridiculous onboard prices. They are literally destroying the appeal of cruising.

I simply do not trust any of the cruise lines in giving the crew those gratitudes . ✌🏻

place a limit on executive pay raises so ships are staffed correctly.

Daily gratuities are just a way for cruise lines to make passengers subsidize crew pay. They are cutting services and raising gratuities

I have to say, I was sceptical about yet another cruising channel. But you provide us with such practical, no-nonsense, up to date and well-structured information, that I can't even tell when those 15 minutes pass. Well done!

This is outrageous. I’m happy to defer going on any more cruises for a couple of years and see if the cruise lines can lift their game.

And how do we even know that the full amount of the gratuity even reaches the staff? I don't mind giving a thank you to people who have looked after me. My problem is if the money is not reaching them. If they paid the staff the right amount of money, factoring the extra cost into the ticket price, I would not baulk at paying it. Sad, so sad. Thank you for the video!

Currently on the Prima now. The set main dining room menu doesn’t bother me, however I can see how that would bother families who are only eating in the main dining room. What bothers me about NCL increasing their gratuities is the fact that they are lowering the service level at the same time. I’ve seen some crew members serving at different restaurants from early in the morning to late at night. The gratuity increase doesn’t personally bother me, but it left a bad taste in my mouth to increase gratuities while also planning to fire a good portion of the cabin stewards. The crew already work super hard, and I’m sure it’s probably discouraging for them to have to work even harder so that the cruise lines can increase their profits.

I cruised for years, predominantly on Royal Caribbean. My cruising days are over! I'll fly to my locations.

I’ll add to always use a travel agent! Worse comes to worse you pay the same as if you booked direct. But 90% of the time we have deals only offered to our clients that can save a good chunk of money for guests!

Princess are raising their specialty restaurant surcharge effective February 2023. Sabatini's is going from $25 to $35 (a 40% increase) and the Crown Grill is going from $29 to $39 ( a 34% increase). Not cool.

Why would anyone need more than 2 main courses!?

I booked a cruise with MSC last summer, for £610. MSC cancelled my cruise, and informed me that the closest alternative was now almost £500 more expensive. I rebooked with P&O, but this cost me £1000, as I am a solo traveller. I thought, if I'm going to have to pay significantly more anyway, I'm certainly not going to go with MSC! (I've noticed in general that single supplements have increased drastically, I looked at a celebrity cruise the other day where the total cost for a cabin for one person was more than for that of two!)

The whole system of gratuities is absured, it should not be necessary to tip someone to do their job, that is what the employer pays them them to do and it is the employer's role to pay at a realistic salary. This applies to all staff whether they work looking after cabins, in the spa, serving in restuarants and bar staff (where an absured sum is addded to the charge for the drink purchased).

What’s ridiculous is how my local casino gifts me a free NCL cruise for 1 week for 2 people. By the time I hang up the phone when booking it, I had to pay over $1,000 to cover things that are not included.

You didn’t mention MSC. We used to be platinum cruisers and above with Disney Royal Caribbean Norwegian and Carnival. But now we have five cruises booked with MSC out of Port Canaveral because with their package deals we get the Wi-Fi the alcohol package in the tips are very reasonable. Their new ships are impressive and we’d rather cruise multiple times a year affordably with getting everything we want then sailing with the seller a package with Norwegian for two people being $2500 versus on MSC being 1000

I'm struck by the small difference between the daily gratuity on NCL for my inside cabin ($20) compared to suites and Haven guests ($25). That doesn't seem to be a very big difference considering what I assume is a much higher level of service, and lower crew to passenger ratio in these higher end accommodations.

Love the new channel. You guys make it look so easy!

Of course people who order additional courses should be charged more.

Just came from the Celebrity Solstice. Royal Caribbean has added the $16 lobsters to the celebrity mail dining rooms as well. We were in AquaClass, so dined in Blu. In Blu, there was not the $16 charge for additional lobster. So it seems AquaClass and Retreat class restaurants are not impacted yet on that front.

This December, Celebrity Apex was the highest we ever paid so far gratuities at $17.50 per person per day for an inside cabin.

Depending on the line this could be a deal killer for many. The food on my last cruise in Oct. was the worst. Getting ready to cruise again in March..see what they cut out this time...might be saying ciao after cruising since '72. Thank you for the update.

That's why I cruise on Regent Crusie Lines. Gratuities are included as well as all alcohol, shore excursions, wifi, 24 hour room service and guest laundry. By the time you get all that on RCL you'll have spent the same if not more.

Been on about 15 cruises in the last 20 years. The amount of nickel and diming going on now and the decrease in quality of the Main Dining make me hesitant to get on another cruise. I used to love cruising, now, not so much. The specialty restaurants takes up so much space that could be used for guest areas/activities. All the main lines let’s the food quality stop to drive patrons into paying more for specialty spots. Royal carribean is being totally disingenuous with says the changes are for increasing speed and decreased food waste. Ita about the bottom dollar, who are they kidding

Cruise prices have gone through the roof. Should we pay an exorbitant increase for one week on a cruise or pay thousands less for a two week or more all inclusive vacation on a beautiful island? We are really rethinking our cruise options. It is getting terribly expensive especially on a pension.

I gave all that up when I finally landed in my forever home six years ago, Love from San Fernando, Gran Canaria.

That's crap that they're cutting junior room stewards pay, they expect travelers to make up the difference. Some people do not tip. These people work there butts off!!!! Excellent job on this!!! ❤️

One thing people should read is the fine print on cruises. There are always disclaimers. Consumers will start comparing cruise lines . Also consumers will compare cruising to all inclusive resorts and airfare. All inclusive package that include airfare will start looking as a better alternative.

We did a 19 day cruise from Genoa to Rio de Janeiro with MSC and paid for the wifi 95 pounds for one person. My daughter arrived today on another MSC cruise, 9 days, from Buenos Aires to Brazil and paid 195 dollars (crazy). Regarding our cruise we didn't have any problems, but half the capacity was coming. If it seemed to me that there were no longer so many personnel from the Philippines and Indonesia and a lot from Africa and Central American and Caribbean countries On my daughter's cruise, she told me there were a lot of staff from India, but she says the meals lowered the quality quite a bit.

Love it when cruises promos throw in pre-paid gratuities for two guests. We were lucky to get that promo of our cruise on NCL Encore on Jan 29th. Hope it’s not the end of that offering!

Thanks for the very informative content. It will be interesting to see how many price increases and service cutbacks the cruise lines can push before people start making a quiet exit. Being from Aus I can never understand why elsewhere in the world the gratuities aren't automatically built into the total advertised fare price as standard, like we have here.

Great information! I have cruised Celebrity, HAL, NCL since the restart and have noticed the increase in prices, less crew and decrease in quality. All aforementioned cruiselines have raised drinks and serve have downgraded liquor. Premium rum has become increasingly scarce. I now tend to book cruises that offer an all included option.

I can understand the inflation prices because things are changing, however I will still pay the higher prices to enjoy my vacation or time off. I hope all the cruise lines can get it together because I really enjoy being on the ships and having fun.

we just got back from the wonder of the seas, it is the 12th trip we do with RCCL, we will take some time trying other cruise lines and we already have 2 trips booked with NCL, the main reason is the price, traveling with Royal CARIBBEAN every time It is coming out more expensive and restricted.

Great show Ben! Welcome to the cruise news world!

Just had a horrible experience on NCL Sun… bad service, terrible food, no ambiance… I’m a travel agent specialised in Cruises… NCL was my favourite… really worried of the turn that the industry is taking… got a big complaint from client returning from Regent Seven Seas… even in the luxus segment they cannot cope… hope it’s just a transition…

We just booked our Alaska 2024 cruise with Princess. The prices have gone way up but we booked anyway believing they will probably go up further.

Absolutely understand the extra charge for additional entrees and lobster. The only additional I tend to order is the appetizers. I hope they don’t go there.

This was a very good breakdown. I enjoyed this segment. I just got off of my first post pandemic cruise and was very disappointed. I am a seasoned cruiser with 45 cruises over 40 years. I can certainly say that some of these cutbacks began prior to the pandemic. In August of 2019, I was surprised when the Cabin Steward introduced himself on the first day and asked if we would prefer his service in the morning or afternoon. So the once a day service began prior to the pandemic. I do not want to single Carnival out but my most recent post pandemic cruise happened to be with them. For the first time in 12 Carnival cruises I was not only disappointed with the food in the buffet and main dining room, but the Steakhouse as well. I paid a premium for a surf and turf. The filet was the size of a golf ball. The buffet had very little variety on a day to day basis. The MDR food was not as good or plentiful as in the past. And the cuts in staffing were evident everywhere. Mainy times I waited about 30 minutes for a drink. The wait staff was stretched thin and working very hard. I expect some cuts or price increases as there was no income for two years and the lines took on massive debt to stay in business. But if and when they catch up, these cuts and increases are here to stay. I do not believe cruising will ever return to what it once was. I have an upcoming cruise on Holland America and I pray that the food and service will be what I have become used to receiving on HAL.

I wouldn;t mind paying the extra increase for wifi on Princess but it's been practically unusable on the last 3 Princess cruises we were on anyway

I’m so glad that I stumbled across you guys! Love your videos! About to take our 1st cruise in 3 1/2 years…..

Steak/beef is up 35% worldwide Supermarkets, restaurants so food on ships as well

This gratuity thing has got to either slow down or is gonna drive people to not cruise anymore. Is getting worst than resort fees.

Great information. In 2022 we sailed with 3 cruise lines 2weeks each. HAL, NCL,PRINCESS. All have cut down on menu selections, theme nights and extra food related celebrations. Very soon cruise vacations will be like land resorts. After 54 cruises we see a BIG difference

I priced out a 4 night MSC Cruise the other day and taxes and fees were $149 per person while the cruise fare was $169 per person.

Currently on Azamara onward. Cutbacks in service and quality obvious. Staff overstretched and entertainment shocking.

I have a cruise booked with NCL this year . my tip is to pre-pay for things . if there is a price increase they can not charge you more . i got an email about the increase

I certainly can understand pricing needing to increase given world wide conditions but I think it is frustrating when it is combined with a reduced experience. And it is definitely not unique to cruising, seeing similar things at places like Walt Disney World. Hopefully things settle down over time to a nice balance of a fair price for fair product. Also really wish they would just include gratuities (or just higher pay for the crew) in the cost of the cruise

Cruise in 10 years..complementary dining - bread and cheap salami ,for desert Lollipop. Cost per day per person in inside cabin 2000$

Ugh...yes I've been affected by very poor service while booking a Viking ocean cruise recently. The booking agent was nice enough but simply wasn't trained. She neglected to tell us of an important port change , told us many incorrect things and forgot to save our stateroom choice so we lost it. It has really put a damper on our early plans. Just hoping things turn around on board. Thanks for your excellent videos!

We just returned from a 7-day Princess cruise out of Galveston. Our first time on this line. We will not be purchasing the wi-fi package again on any line. Going back to tuning out while on vacation. The wi-fi worked 65-70% of the time. Coincidently while waiting to board, we sat across from an internet IT manager who was there to make the internet better. We saw her again and let her know how it went. Overall good experience and we will be cruising again.

Oh, hey. I recognize that voice. Thanks, youtube algorithm. I didn't know about this channel.

I'm glad you made a video like this other creators just kind of gloss over the changes that are made without going into it like the menu changes on Royal Caribbean The changes also on celebrity charging almost $10 for room service fee and charging almost $20 for an extra lobster for a premium line paying a premium price to me that's gouging your guests the staff is the hardest working people I've seen always have a smile I always make sure I give extra to the room steward as well as the dining and bar staff. With cruise lines are trying to make up for the losses they had how much is the crew really getting and the cruise lines are holding back. I reached out to the corporate offices of Royal Caribbean and celebrity to express my feedback I think if more guests provide feedback they'll see that the cruise lines are being pennywise in dollar foolish by ticking off their guests That's just my opinion again Glad you made this video

Great video which shows just how the industry is being squeezed to keep ticket prices affordable. We have just booked Christmas 2023 on MSC Poesia with the 'Premium Extra' drinks package for £306 (5 nights) and MSC Virtuosa in May 2023 for 5 nights with the same package for £485. Good value cruising is still around and these trips are both in the school holidays. 14 Nights on Arvia in the Med over the two week Easter holidays was slashed this week to £855...worth shopping around but as always timing is key and strong relationships with agents, and the positive Karma you get from paying your tips helps to! Safe travels.

Friends sailed on NCL Prima- and reported that Bailey's is now an upgrade! Ridiculous. Also free continental breakfast is gone, rolled into a new plan that offers priority boarding and breakfast

Cruised on Celebrity in late December. The main dining room was a huge disappointment. The service and food were on par with Denny's. I'm not exaggerating; long line to get in, long wait for service, tiny portions. Sad.

Part of the gratuity increase is cheap passengers removing the gratuity..... I'd like to see how much of the increase is due to the increased number of passengers deleting the gratuity altogether.

Great job, love your channel

NCL just off breakaway.... 1 room service/day , no towel art,lovely staff,no soft serve ice-cream,speciality restaurants underwhelming, short port times,a cancelled stop (DR) and spirits were understrength(very)..

I've never done this on any of our cruises, which is close to 20 right now. Since everything seems to be increased to get the most amount of $$ to the the cruise lines, I'm going to opt out of the gratuity addition - I believe you can still do that. I tip additional to excellent service at the end of our cruise to bartenders, room steward and restaurant crew. I'm tired of all the added costs and this seems to be a simple way to save some money, even if it just makes me feel less ripped off by the price gouging.

My 12 day UK cruise this past September on Princess almost went up $2500CA for 2024. Unbelievable especially since I pay solo. Now its over $7000.

I am very unhappy with NCL. We booked through Vacations to Go in September. Cruise is coming up this month. I went to their website a week ago to get us checked in. Wasn't able to complete the process when the photo of my husband was not accepted as the photo they needed. I decided to wait until I could take his photo in natural light, but in the meantime, completed my check-in and ordered transfers from ship to airport. The check-in process included entering our payment information, which was accepted, and I was completely checked in. When I got a better photo and went to the site to complete my husband's check-in, I found our reservations had been cancelled without our being notified, AND they had charged us a $1300+ penalty for breaking their contract. Seems that the two $25 transfers were outstanding charges, so they cancelled us. I have attempted to resolve this, they had sold our stateroom, and the next category of staterooms still available would cost additional $800. Long story slightly shortened, they had a stateroom of our category come open, and reinstated us. Refunded the $1300, eventually returned the additional money charged for the room at same category, but they have not been friendly, or made clear why they didn't either charge the card I had put on file or attempted to contact us. (They did say they contacted Vacations to Go's general email address at 7:51 pm, and waited until 8:48 pm -- 57 minutes -- before cancelling our booking.)

We recently completed a cruise with Princess. Main Dining Room meal quality has definitely declined. We found ourselves checking out daily MDR menu, then roaming the buffet, & had more dinners in buffet simply due to better choice.

I just got off royal Caribbean two weeks ago. The price is it to get a hiya. The service is going down. The food is going down I’m not paying the tips no more.

Fortunately for me, I’m not picky about dining venues, and generally find the buffet a good option because of the variety. That being said, I really really enjoyed Princess’s “Princess Plus” and NCL’s “Free at Sea” programs. You get either one or two specialty dining options at no extra cost during your voyage, and I found that to be a great value. I am very disappointed that RCL has stopped providing unlimited lobster tails on formal night. For me, being a lobster *fanatic,* being able to gobble down as many of those scrumptious tails as I could at no extra cost was absolutely magical. Nevertheless, I’ll stick with the buffet if I have to. It’s all-you-can-eat, so cheerio! 🥂

You made some very good points. The passengers are all to ready to not pay the gratuities like they are going to prove anything to the cruise lines. The only thing this ends up hurting is the poor crew, who are already to hardest working. And now, the poor service and long waits at bars, etc. (due to LACK of crew, like you stated, not the crew's fault) only further infuriates the passenger and causes more to take away the gratuities. How much did the CEOs of each cruise line make last year????

Love this information!!! Any chance you could also do this type of review on Celebrity and Holland America lines? or did I miss that?

I thought Elon was providing starlink for cruise ships for free?

We were on the Enchanted Princess in November and noticed the difference in the level of service overall. It was not dramatic but it was there. We made a reservation at a specialty restaurant prior to boarding. We wanted to make a change to it while on board and, were told the evening was fully booked so, we left it as it was. When we arrived, the number of guests was well below the seating capacity. So now we know there is seating capacity and service capacity. The restaurant was at service capacity. It felt "empty" and we missed the vibe of being with others in a dining room. This is not just happening with cruise. We are seeing this throughout the service sector. We are being asked to pay more for less and, we are patient while the world recovers from the pandemic but, our patience has a limit.

Glad I went on my RC cruise the end of last year before everything got stupid expensive. Probably won’t do another one until the next recession

Time for the cruise lines to get rid of the nickel and diming prices. I'm sure some marketing genius Is proud how complicated pricing actually is. Charge one rate for the cruise that includes the salary of the crewmembers port taxes, etc. This whole auto gratuity thing is a joke.

we have been cruising with both P&O and Princess and they have both stopped turned down service in the evenings ,and we have noticed the food was not of best in buffet and main dinning rooms .although Princes as a slightly better edge on P& O .We spoke to member of staff that we had seen on another ship and they said that she had been well looked after while waiting to start back on the ship .which is nice to hear .with P&O the gratuities are priced in with the price of your cruise and have been for a couple of years ,i just wish that all cruise lines would do the same

Am currently booked for a RCC cruise in February. Prices are still before hikes, however, lots of scrutiny will ensue, if, I cruise again for awhile. Too expensive, is my take on this.

By the way fellas, great video ... have enjoyed cruising on Celebrity and HAL but at these add-ons and nickel and diming everything, no wonder the new lines like Atlas, Emerald, Ritz-Carleton, and Explora have sprung up. I am very fortunate to be considering these lines especially given the lack of crew staff and asking them to double up ... what a way to bean count an industry out of existence.

Wow, Carnival's steakhouse charge is higher than Princess's

Unless we spill coffee on the sheets they DONT need changing every day. Be sure to tell your steward. Turn down not necessary either.

So true, just got back from a 7 day NCL cruise, and got hammered. I noticed service charges I’ve never seen before. The crews are great, but I’ll have to cut back as for me the price was about $750 more.

I have booked my first cruise more for the location than the cruising experience. A inside cabin is a grand each for7 weeks. 1 adult, one child. That doesn't include any extras or flights except gratuity. Think it will be my first and last

We just got off Holland America It was very nice and service was good but we only have the steward command about every 2 to 3 days to clean the room we don't change our make our beds every night and away and we also gave our steward a Kip at the end of the cruise. We did reduce the gratuity but we tipped everybody and we spent on board about $250 tipping each is waiters and stuff. For us we took a 9 day cruise and it $30 per cabin that was a pretty good chunk of money I don't even think people don't even pay housekeepers that much money so where's all the money goin

I’ll be taking my first cruise this spring, a Transatlantic crossing. I believe I’ll be perfectly satisfied with the included restaurants, which appear to have excellent cuisine available. I see no need to spend quite a bit of money on the specialty restaurants. I expect I’ll be just as satisfied with included venues. Besides, because of health reasons I’ll be on a lower sugar, lower carbs diet.

Increased price of food will also affect the complimentary dining option, so the different in effect by higher food prices should not increase that much in speciality dining option

Just finished my cruise a week ago on NCL Encore. Messy delayed embarkation, changed port of call without explanation, mediocre complimentary food, below average service level, nickel and dime almost on everything etc etc. First time on NCL, my last time on NCL.

My last cruise was Jan 2020 right before the world fell apart and I was in love with cruising. I am going on my next cruise with Royal Caribbean on Jan 23rd 2023 and I am so concerned that I will be disappointed. We chose to go on a cruise because it is actually cheaper than a staycation in our city but I hate that the staff are doing 3 jobs and stretched so thin. I really am getting sick of corporate greed on land and on sea. It’s just numbers to them. I would much rather go to an all inclusive line and know exactly the total price up front than this nick and some stuff after we paid for the cruise. We didn’t even bother with the drinks package. Wayyyy too overpriced for us. Just overall sad because it’s our overdue honeymoon.

Love love love both your channels for the simple reason that I can be an armchair traveler. I feed too many homeless cats in my town to ever get away. So I get to enjoy a trip without the expense!

You are one of favorites in the cruise arena.

The costs for gratuities, extra pay facilities, drink.packages, wifi the list goes on and on and on. Exactly what does your ticket pay for? It seems the Cruise lines are offloading costs onto the consumer and on top of that reducing service levels for a double money grab. Going on a cruise hardly seems attractive anymore. The pandemic was hard on everyone and many retailers, grocery stores etc have figured out people will pay more which we did at the beginning for good reason, but it's gone a bit mad now and gouging has become the way of the day.

I have not been on a cruise and with those hidden charges I 'll never will

Carnival Corp is definitely cutting costs. I went on the Regal Princess and it was the most disgusting food I’ve had at sea next to Symphony of the Seas. Literally looked and smelled like cat food.

My only post-pandemic cruise experience has been a transatlantic with Princess in Nov. 2022. I can't really comment on staffing levels since the ship was less than half full. Service throughout the trip was as excellent as always, and I certainly felt that the food offered and the dining room service were as good as ever. Drink service in the buffet was hit and miss -- the servers were there, but you wouldn't see one for 10-15 minutes and then you would see four different ones in 2 minutes. Weird. The one enormous service win was the huge number of staff at the terminal in Southampton for the boarding process. It was incredibly quick and efficient -- I made it from the transfer coach to my cabin in 17 minutes! I've just booked a cruise on Holland America and can't help noticing the higher price levels -- I'm seeing a per-day price for an inside cabin that I would formerly have considered a fair value for a balcony. Be interesting to see the service levels on that voyage.

We do not pay gratuities, full stop! P&O include this in the base cost, so if the ship is right and the itinery is good then this would be an exception so long as the cost is competitive. We have always removed auto gratuities with guest services, I am hearing NCL are pushing back so let see what happens. Before I retired I worked hard but no-one ever tipped me, A pride in my workmaship was all the incentive I needed.

Never waits at NCL bars and restaurants. Ships are still easy under capacity. And there's no workers anywhere.

And it doesn't help we had fantastic cruise reductions in price during the COVID pandemic. We racked up many cruise credits and perks and took advantage of the great prices and low crowds! It's tough to get used to these price hikes and reductions but I understand why the cruise lines are doing this. Luckily, I book a year in advance and my 2023 cruises are affordable.

The beauty of cruising on Princess out of Australia and New Zealand is that the gratuities are included in the fare

I'll stick with virgin .... I'll just pay in one go .... without all the hidden fee

Time to go with the luxury cruises. They include all of that in the price. You are at Viking prices or more with all the price hikes.

Liking this new channel too. Wish you would have included Disney in this video and the comparison video.

I think gratuity should not me removed if a person gets miffed. I always pre pay gratuity even if I don't use that particular service.

I rather go on a smaller cruise ship without all there paying restaurants,and just go to the Buffet,or the main diningroom to eat,and the free eats on the ship.

It’s a simple question. I love cruising but I have a limit to what I’ll pay. If the cost is too much, I simply will stay home or travel by land.