SEATTLE, June 14 (Our Washington Times) — Washington travelers pricing a Holland America Line cruise now need to account for an automatic daily “Crew Appreciation” charge of $18 per person for non-suite staterooms and $20 per person for suites, according to the cruise line’s own FAQ pages.
That adds up quickly. On a seven-night sailing, the published charge comes to $126 per guest in a non-suite room and $140 per guest in a suite. For two people sharing one cabin, that is $252 or $280 before any other onboard spending.
Holland America describes Crew Appreciation as “a daily gratuity automatically added to your onboard account to recognize the many Holland America Line team members who make your cruise feel effortless,” according to the company’s onboard FAQ. The same page says the charge is pooled across the ship, including workers guests see and staff “working quietly in the background.”
A separate Holland America booking FAQ reviewed by Times Media Service lists the same daily rates — $18 for non-suite staterooms and $20 for suites — and says the rates are subject to change.
The company pages reviewed for this article confirm the current pricing, but the FAQ excerpts do not spell out when the higher rates began. Fox News reported June 13, citing company policy, that the new rates took effect June 1. Times Media Service did not identify a separate Holland America notice in the materials reviewed that independently states that date.
The available record does show that the current rates are higher than a recent earlier snapshot. A Feb. 3 cruise tipping guide from The Points Guy, which summarized then-current cruise line policies, listed Holland America’s automatic gratuity at $17 per day for most cabins and $19 per day for suites. If those February figures were the prior rates, the current published charges represent a $1 per person, per day increase.
That difference is modest on paper but noticeable over a full trip. Using Holland America’s current published rates, a couple in a non-suite room would pay $14 more on a seven-night cruise than they would have at the earlier $17-a-day level. The same math applies to suite guests compared with the earlier $19-a-day figure.
The company’s own wording also matters for trip budgeting because the charge is listed per guest, per day — not per room. That means the total rises with each passenger in the cabin.
A full industry rate table was not included in the records reviewed for this article. Still, The Points Guy’s broader 2026 cruise tipping guide reported that some cruise lines’ automatic gratuity charges reach $25 per person per day. That places Holland America’s current top published rate below the high end described in that roundup, though the comparison comes from a secondary industry guide rather than a regulator or trade group database.
Another onboard cost increase has been reported but could not be fully confirmed from the official Holland America FAQ excerpts reviewed by Times Media Service. Several travel publications reported that automatic service charges on some onboard purchases, including bar, spa and specialty dining bills, rose from 18% to 20%. Because that change did not appear in the company FAQ snippets reviewed here, Times Media Service is attributing that point cautiously.
In remarks quoted by Fox News, a Holland America spokesperson said “100% goes directly to our shipboard team” and called the charge “in line with the cruise industry competitive standards.”
As of the latest update dates visible on the company pages reviewed by Times Media Service — June 9 on the onboard FAQ and June 14 on the booking FAQ — Holland America listed Crew Appreciation at $18 per guest per day for non-suite staterooms and $20 per guest per day for suites.
