Carnival Follows Royal Caribbean In Making A Major Cruise Change

Booking a cruise can be challenging because every cruise line uses different pricing models and promotions. Virgin Voyages, for example, includes most non-alcoholic beverages and a basic internet connection in its core offering.

MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Celebrity Cruises sell some of their cruises as a package including a variety of things. The packages, however, can be very different. Celebrity, a Royal Caribbean (RCL) brand, includes internet and a beverage package, as does MSC, while Norwegian offers more of a pick-your-perks promotion where passengers could opt for specialty dining or excursions as part of their package.

Related: Carnival follows Royal Caribbean in making a major cruise change

Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival sometimes offer kids-sail-free promotions. Kids, of course, sail free when that's being offered, but they're still passengers, and while "free," they're still charged taxes and port fees.

Cruise lines generally don't include taxes and port fees in the price they advertise for a cruise. That's something that the state of California took issue with passing an "Honest Pricing Law" which requires companies to disclose nearly every mandatory fee.

It's not a law aimed at cruise lines, but the cruise industry will have to comply in California. Royal Caribbean and Carnival will take things a step beyond just complying in California.

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Royal Caribbean and Carnival change their pricing practices 

Each cruise passenger pays taxes and port fees whether they get off the ship or not. Cruise lines, like pretty much every business, have generally advertised using the lowest top-line pricing possible, prices that do not include taxes and port fees, which generally range from $100-200, although they could be higher on a port-intensive itinerary, 

Royal Caribbean shared an email to its travel agent partners on May 14 that shared a major change to its pricing policies.

"Starting July 1, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises will comply with California’s new law – and will do so nationally. This means that whenever Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises advertise, display, or offer pricing to consumers on any channel, anywhere in the United States, the price shown will include the cruise fare as well as any taxes, fees, and port expenses that guests will be required to pay as part of their cruise," the cruise line shared in the email.

That will result in people booking a cruise seeing higher prices upfront, but knowing that there won't be any surprises when they checkout and pay for their cruise.

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Silversea Cruise, a third Royal Caribbean brand, will not need to make any changes, because its prices already include all required taxes, fees, and port expenses.

Carnival making its own changes

Carnival will also change its pricing nationally, not just in California.

"Our total advertised price will now include all government-mandated taxes, fees, and port expenses that we previously itemized separately for consumer awareness. While this is a California state law, we are making this change nationwide to ensure our advertised pricing is consistent no matter where guests shop for our cruises," a Carnival spokesperson shared with Travel & Leisure.

The change has not happened yet for either cruise line, but are expected to roll out soon.

Disney Cruise Line already includes port fees in its advertised prices. MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages do not sail out of California. Norwegian Cruise Line does but has not shared its plans to comply with the law.

ALSO READ: Carnival follows Royal Caribbean in making a major cruise change

Cruise lines do not have to advertise fares including "mandatory" gratuities, because technically, in most cases, passengers can opt to take those off their bill. The new California law only includes fees that people must pay so they know the true price before they make a purchase.

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The new law will impact hotels which often have mandatory added fees that are not charged when a room is booked but are charged when the customer checks in.