The cruise industry
has been around for many years. Cruises are evolved from an era where ships
are used for transportation to cross the sea. However, it is now use for
purely leisure purposes and traveling.
Hoping aboard an all
inclusive excursion on a cruise does not seem too bad. However, like many
other service industry it seem to be just a marketing strategy to attract
volume. It seems like such a good deal at the time of purchase then all of a
sudden you find yourself stuck with numerous different hidden fee and cost
that was never mentioned at the time of the initial sale. Although tips and
gratuities are a common and a given custom in the restaurant business, it
seems to bring up an ethical issue in the cruise industry.
An advantage of the
included gratuities system is that passenger does not need to worry about
the tipping doing their cruise, while crew members are worry free of income.
However, not expecting an additional tip might cause crew members to lack on
exceptional service and or lose service quality provided.
Although advantages
of included gratuities could put passenger in the ease of worrying about
tipping, there are many advantages in a gratuities excluded fair. Companies
could advertise a lower fair and mention tipping based on exceptional
service. At the same time you as a consumer can receive a much lower rate.
However, the disadvantage of excluding gratuities might make customers think
twice before purchasing a ticket.
Remember, there are
many factors that influence an individual to cruise. While there are
experienced and inexperienced cruisers, they both tend to enjoyed food,
comfort, relaxation, sightseeing and amenities offer onboard. Inexperienced
or first time cruiser are more into the shopping onboard, they join the
seminars and orientation of the ship features, and usually accompanied by a
group of peers and friends. They also like to cruise on a newer ship with
better technology. Experienced cruiser seems to acknowledge the prices that
are offered onboard and onshore, and are able to pick out the better offers.
Experienced cruisers spend more time on relaxation and mostly rather choose
longer itineraries. Although experienced and first time cruisers have their
differences, they are both fond of the conveniences of the homeport and
based their purchases on the destinations and the port of call.
