Royal Caribbean has completed its return to covid.
The cruise line saw its net income increase from $33 million in the prior-year quarter to $1 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
from the royal caribbean RCL The numbers were even better than the company expected, as they exceeded the company’s forecasts.
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“These results were better than the company’s forecasts due to higher nearshore demand and increased strength in onboard revenue. The company is also raising its full-year 2023 adjusted EPS guidance to $6.58-$6. .63, driven by strong demand and continued strength in onboard revenues,” the company shared in its third-quarter earnings release.
Simply put, Royal Caribbean has been able to charge higher prices for cruise fares. It’s also been able to increase prices on add-ons like dinner specials, drink packages, WiFi, and specials like its escape rooms, while selling more of all of them.
Prices at the Royal Beach Club in Coco Cay continue to rise as do the cost of cabanas or other add-ons. Future bookings suggest they won’t decline anytime soon, so if people want to cruise, they can generally expect to pay more.
Royal Caribbean customers complain on social media about higher prices, but most people seem to understand that increased demand equals increased prices. Where passengers and fans of the brand have been less understanding is when it comes to how passengers subsidize the salaries of some crew members through daily tips that are automatically collected from each passenger.
Royal Caribbean has increased daily gratuities again and that doesn’t sit well with some of the brand’s customers. This move comes about a year after the previous increase.
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Royal Caribbean increases daily tips
Every Royal Caribbean passenger is charged a daily gratuity that is added to your bill every day. You can choose to prepay your tips or modify them on board or even eliminate them.
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Tips go to workers, including the room server, main dining room servers, and some non-passenger-facing service workers. This tip fund is part of how those workers are paid and the cost is increasing once again, according to an email the cruise line sent to upcoming passengers.
As you prepare to set sail, we wanted to notify you of an update to our daily gratuity charges. Beginning November 11, 2023, the automatic daily gratuity charge will increase from $16 to $18 per guest, per day for non-suite staterooms and from $18.50 to $20.50 per guest, per day for suites. The daily gratuity is shared between dining room, bar and culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel service teams.
This is a relatively small increase, similar to what the company’s Celebrity Cruises brand made with its tips. Royal Caribbean passengers, however, seemed quite fed up with the change and talked about it in the various Facebook groups dedicated to the company.
Royal Caribbean customers are angry
The overall argument is not about the raise, but about how Royal Caribbean pays its workers. Posters in a group dedicated to fans of Royal Caribbean’s Casino Royale (a group that’s not public, so posts can’t be shared) seemed to overwhelmingly suggest that the cruise line should pay its workers more, not pass it on. to the clients.
“I don’t care about the 2 dollars, it’s the general principle,” was a sentiment shared in several posts.
“Last quarter they made over a billion dollars in net income, but their staff still has to rely on tips to earn a decent wage? And instead of giving them a small raise, they want their customers to continue subsidizing their jobs.” income? I’m all for tipping for good service, but making your staff dependent on tips is sad,” Julie Oag wrote on the Royal Caribbean Blog Facebook page.
“Hmmmmmm, RCCL made a huge profit this year and the cruise industry is making record profits as a whole. It seems to me that they need to pass that on to their employees instead of tipping us more. I’m all for tipping. I even give more if you’re justified, but that can be stopped,” shared Betty Marie Lumbert on the same page.
Both posts were representative of general empathy with crew members, but questioned why the cruise line couldn’t simply increase wages without passing that burden on to customers.
