Once upon a time Royal Caribbean made one of the more unpopular decisions of recent times (from a cruise passenger standpoint) when they decided to attach a surcharge to all room service orders that take place between the hours of midnight and 5:00 am. Although most of us weren’t effected cruisers still were up in arms about the possibility of having to pay 3.95 for late-night room service.
More than a few times I bashed Royal Caribbean’s efforts of “nickel and diming” its customers, but after the initial shock wore off I realized it didn’t really effect me. In fact, I have sailed twice on Royal Caribbean ships since the surcharge was instituted and never really noticed it.
Upon further thinking it turns out I wasn’t actually upset about the surcharge itself. I was upset because one of my favorite cruise lines was taking away yet another perk that had be free. As we all know once the toothpaste is out of the bottle most competitors will be happy to brush their teeth with it. A phenomenon we all experienced with fuel surcharges.
While no one expects a cruise on a mainstream cruise line to be all-inclusive, left unchecked the proliferation of these sorts of policies will lead to cruises becoming a little too “a la carte” for my tastes. However, to my surprise (unlike fuel surcharges which spread like wildfire) after two and a half years the late-night room service surcharge never caught on, until now.
Now another one of the large cruise lines is jumping on the “late-night room service surcharge bandwagon” (okay that moniker may be a little too long). Recently Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has announced it too will start charging passengers who wish to order room service between the hours of midnight and 5:00 am.
This new policy will begin taking effect this month for the ships sailing from U.S. Ports and next month for its two Europe-based ships. Luckily, like most other cruise ships there are always other options to satisfy your appetite if you do get hungry in the middle of the night, you’ll just have to leave your room to avoid the fee. So if you are hungry yet in no shape to walk the halls of the ship your options are a bit more limited.
My Take On Cruise Ship Room Service Surcharges
As I said before I have sailed twice on Royal Caribbean ships since the surcharge was instituted and it was barely a bother. The only time I was charged a fee was when I ordered food about 10 minutes before midnight that didn’t arrive until after midnight. Although there should not have been a fee for some reason it was assessed. I probably could have had it expunged, but I figured giving the cruise line a couple of extra dollars was fair trade for the 4 rum runner flasks I brought on board with me.
As previously stated I am not against the fee, I against the precedent of assessing charges for what was previously free. In all honestly I actually think the surcharge is a good idea. I hate seeing dozens of trays with uneaten food sitting outside of rooms as I make my way to the Lido deck each morning.
While the idealistic cruiser in me is hopeful this type of fee does help to curb glutenous wasteful behavior, I sincerely doubt the 4 dollar fee will make much of a dent. The cynic is my sees this as just a way for the cruise lines to get a couple of extra dollars for something that is going to happen regardless (might as well profit from it).
Although it did take 2.5 years for another cruise line (NCL) to scoop up the toothpaste Royal Caribbean squeezed out of the tube, I expect it to not take long for the next to jump on-board. Now if I had it my way some soon to be vice-president would presently be kicking around the idea of placing a surcharge on people who save chairs with towels. Maybe they can put a sort of parking meter on the sides of the loungers. That’s something I think we would all support.
