Want to order a celebration cake on board – that will be £20 please.

This week will see me  turn another year older (thankfully not one ending in a 0 this year) and unfortunately am not going away this year to celebrate. Many people however do choose to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries on a cruise and it got me thinking as to how the cruise lines have cut back on the complimentary celebrations and what they want charge for now.

As an agent we would always pass onto the cruise lines if there was a birthday or anniversary to be celebrated on board – so that the waiter could round up his colleagues, whilst bringing out a cake with candles and then singing to you two different versions of Happy Birthday and overall embarrassing you in front of all the other diners on board.  But it would seem now for majority of cruise lines to have this experience now you have to pay for it (such as P&O, Cunard, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and NCL)

Here is what some of the cruise lines will do complimentary:

Fred Olsen: Complimentary Cake for birthdays on board or for wedding anniversaries within 3 months of the day. I have experienced this first hand as my mother had the joy of celebrating on board and they even played musical instruments whilst singing Happy Birthday

Princess Cruises – will celebrate  Birthdays with a cake

P&O: If you speak to reception they may be able to arrange a card, balloons and some petit fours to the cabin. Nothing complimentary for anniversaries.

Oceania Cruises: If you are happy to have a cake made that day for the ship then there is no charge. If you want one with icing, names and flowers etc then there is a charge of $25.

For the rest of the cruise lines you need to purchase items such as cakes, flowers, or have your cabin decorated with balloons and paper decorations. Each cruise line will vary in price with a cake costing from £10 up to £50 and is made to feed 6 people.  Decorating the cabin will cost about £20 (so cheaper to take your own decorations and decorate the cabin yourself) or packages which include cake and decorations for £50.

This all seems big cost cutting, money making scheme by the cruise lines, and they are aware that many people treat themselves to cruises for a celebration reason so see they have a market for it and are making money out of it. One cruise line even charges $25 for a message to be read out on their morning tv show!

What do you think to this cost cutting and now having to pay for a cake? Have you been on board and celebrated an occasion and either paid or had complimentary a cake – how was it? Would love to hear your thoughts and stories.