The cost of daily service charges on cruise ships operated by Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has increased again, to as much as $20 per person, per day according to several news sites. Cruzely and The Street report that the new charges reflect a “hike of $1.50 daily for The Haven and Suites, no change for Club Balcony Suites, and 50 cents a day for other cabins.”
NCL’s charges are higher than competitors Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean. The Street reports that “Royal Caribbean charges $14.50 per person per day for guests in junior suites and below, or $17.50 per person per day for guests in Grand Suites and above.” Carnival, meanwhile, charges “the lowest gratuities in the (cruise) industry, $13.99 per person per day for standard staterooms and $15.99 per person per day for suites.”
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) Del Rio has gouged its customers before, with extra higher charges, including increased room services charges, automatic gratuities and restaurant cover charges. He made this statement at an earning conference in 2015: “… we have looked across the fleet to identify areas where marginal changes … can be implemented to improve performance. A few examples include a 6.7% average increase in beverage prices, the introduction of a nominal room service fee and lower costs from renegotiated shore excursion agreements. To put into perspective how these small changes can add up quickly, every dollar increase in yield translates to approximately $15 million to the bottom line.”
NCL now has the highest paid CEO and the highest service charges in the cruise industry.
CEO Del Rio is by far the highest paid cruise executive in the world. In the last three years alone, Del Rio’s compensation was over $76,000,000. Including his 2015 income of $31,900, 000, he collected over $108,000,000 for four years, including $22,590,000 in 2018, $17,808,000 in 2019,and $36,400,000 in 2020.
Last year, a majority of NCLH in a “say-on-pay” vote, gave a big “thumbs down” to the company’s plan to pay Del Rio $36,400,000 million for 2020, according to a Miami Herald article.
It should be interesting this year when it is disclosed how much Del Rio was paid in 2021.
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Interested in this issue? Read: NCL Raises Gratuities Again: The Greedy Gets Greedier and Crew Center’s NCL to rise daily services charges – Will this reflect the distribution of the crew salaries?
Photo credits: Frank Del Rio – CNBC.