Carnival Raises 2 Key Prices, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian May Follow

Historically, when one of the big three cruise lines raise a price, the other two usually follow.

The major cruise lines that operate out of the United States flag their ships in foreign countries. That allows them to avoid American labor laws, including paying a minimum wage.

Cruise ship workers are not protected by U.S. laws that govern how many hours they can work or what they should be paid, Instead, cruise ship workers are contracted. They get a certain amount of money per month in exchange for working nearly every day, and often putting in what Americans would consider a very long shift.

Your waiter might work breakfast, lunch, and dinner starting very early and finishing very late. Split shifts and not getting a full day off each month, let alone each week, is not uncommon. These conditions have been made worse by labor shortages caused by the pandemic, which has made it harder for cruise lines to hire workers quickly.

In addition to a monthly salary, service workers on Royal Caribbean Group (RCL) - Get Free Report, Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) - Get Free Report, and Norwegian Cruise Line Ships (NCLH) - Get Free Report also get a share of the "mandatory" gratuities that customers pay. All three cruise lines raised their gratuity rates in 2022 and, now, Carnival has shared plans to increase its gratuity rate again.

Carnival Raising its Gratuity Rate      

Carnival raised its gratuity rates in May 2022 by essentially $0.50 across all room categories.

• Standard staterooms: $14.50, per person, per day (up from $13.99)
• Suites: $16.50, per person, per day (an increase from $15.99)

Now, the cruise line has shared an even bigger increase in an email sent to passengers booked on upcoming cruises, Cruise Industry News first reported. The new rates will be a much bigger jump with both categories climbing by $1.50. So, standard staterooms will pay $16 per person per day, while suite passengers will be charged $18 per person per day.

That's basically the same as what Norwegian is charging:

• $20 per person per day for The Haven and Suites (previously $18.50)
• $18 per person per day for Club Balcony Suites (no change)
• $16 per person per day for all other cabins (previously $15.50)

Royal Caribbean has similar rates with standard room gratuity charges coming in at $16 while suites are slightly higher at $18.50 per person per day.

Carnival did, however, point out in its email to future passengers that guests can adjust gratuity rates at their own discretion. Doing that requires that a guest visit guest services while on their cruise. (It's generally considered bad form to do that even if one part of your service is not to your liking because it punishes workers who have done a good job on your behalf). 

Traditionally, when one cruise line raises its gratuity rates, the others follow, but since this move puts Carnival on par with its rivals, that may not happen quickly. Carnival is also raising another key fee and it's actually very likely that at least Royal Caribbean will copy that move. 

Carnival Raising WiFi Prices   

While Royal Caribbean has begun adding Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starlink internet service to all the ships in its namesake and Celebrity fleets, Carnival has opted for a more modest fix for its onboard internet. The cruise line has worked on improving its existing internet infrastructure rather than going with a new provider.

“We have deployed significantly more WiFi access points across our fleet, so our guests and crew can connect seamlessly in many places onboard,” Global Infrastructure Vice President John Harshaw said, adding that improvements also increased automation and redundancy within the connectivity ecosystem to reduce single points of failure.

Those changes are incremental at best but they will come with higher prices as of January 16.

"The Social plan had its fare adjusted to $12.75 per day, up from $10.20, while the Value plan will be priced at $17 per day, up from $14.45. The Premium plan will cost $18.70 per day, up from $17," Cruise Industry news reported.

Royal Caribbean has not commented as to whether it plans to raise prices for its WiFi service once it finishes adding Starlink to its ships. That's expected to happen in the early part of this year, so any price increase would likely happen after that.