SEATTLE, June 14 (Our Washington Times) — Travelers pricing out a cruise from Washington or elsewhere in the U.S. now face a higher built-in tipping charge on Holland America Line: the company’s official FAQ pages list a daily “Crew Appreciation” charge of $18 per guest for non-suite staterooms and $20 per guest for suites.
Holland America’s own booking and onboard FAQ pages show the charge is added automatically to a guest’s onboard account. The company describes it as a daily gratuity meant “to recognize the many Holland America Line team members who make your cruise feel effortless.” In a separate FAQ, Holland America says the money is pooled across shipboard roles, including workers passengers see and those “working quietly in the background.”
For travelers, the math is straightforward. On a seven-night sailing, the automatic charge adds $126 per person in a non-suite cabin and $140 per person in a suite. For two people sharing a cabin, that comes to $252 or $280 before any other onboard spending.
The company’s current rates appear in two Holland America records included in its public FAQ system. An onboard-information page shown as last updated June 9 lists the $18 and $20 daily amounts and says Crew Appreciation “appears as a daily charge on your onboard account.” A booking FAQ shown as last updated June 14 repeats the same prices and says the rates are “subject to change.”
What the company’s public FAQ pages in the supplied records do not show is when the latest increase began. Fox News reported June 13, citing Holland America company policy, that the higher rates took effect June 1.
Holland America’s official pages also make clear that the charge is not limited to the staff passengers interact with most. The company says the money is pooled to support “team members across the ship who contribute to your experience,” including both visible and behind-the-scenes jobs.
That language matters because cruise gratuities can look different from hotel tipping or restaurant tipping on land. Rather than leaving cash at the end of a stay, passengers are often billed a set amount per person, per day. Holland America’s FAQ uses that structure explicitly: the charge is assessed per guest, not per cabin.
A Holland America spokesperson told Fox News that “100% goes directly to our shipboard team” and that the charge is “in line with the cruise industry competitive standards.” Within the records provided for this story, those remarks appear only in Fox News’ interview with the company spokesperson.
The available records also show the latest posted rates are higher than the line’s earlier published pricing this year. In a Feb. 3 cruise tipping guide, The Points Guy listed Holland America’s automatic gratuity at $17 per day for most cabins and $19 for suites, plus an 18% gratuity on some bar and dining purchases. Compared with Holland America’s current FAQ pages, that indicates a $1-per-person, per-day increase at both cabin levels.
The broader comparison is important for travelers trying to gauge where Holland America sits in the market. The Points Guy’s February industry roundup said automatic cruise gratuities at some lines can reach $25 per person per day. The supplied records do not include a full independent database of cruise-line charges, but that roundup places Holland America’s current $18-to-$20 range below the highest amounts cited there.
What cannot be fully documented from the supplied primary records is whether Holland America also changed automatic service charges on onboard purchases such as drinks, spa treatments or specialty dining at the same time. Several travel and cruise outlets reported that those charges rose from 18% to 20%, but the Holland America FAQ excerpts provided here do not independently confirm that change.
The same gap applies to customer reaction. The company records establish the current charge, how it is billed and how Holland America says the money is distributed. They do not include passenger complaints, complaint totals or Washington-specific consumer records about the policy.
What the documents do establish is narrower, but clear: Holland America is currently posting automatic Crew Appreciation charges of $18 per guest per day for non-suite cabins and $20 per guest per day for suites, the charge is automatically added to onboard accounts, and the company says the funds are pooled for shipboard staff and may change over time.
