Complete Guide to Cruise Line Gratuities
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In fact, the staff will love that you want to give them more money. If you want to pay extra, we suggest simply handing cash directly to the people you want to recognize for their service. This happens regularly for passengers feeling generous or thankful for the staff’s work during their trip. In fact, your cruise line might leave a few envelopes in your room exactly for this purpose. In most cases, cruise gratuities are automatically added to your onboard account, so you don’t have to worry about carrying cash or calculating tips.
Complete Guide to Cruise Ship Gratuities in 2023 and 2024
Keep in mind that the cruise line assigned gratuities do not include all staff members. These charges do not go towards individuals like bar servers, porters, shore excursion guides, casino staff, or youth staff. For beverage purchases, an automatic 18% gratuity will be added to the bill in addition to the cruise gratuity.
Do Children Have to Pay Gratuities on Cruises?
While you can adjust the automatic gratuities charged each day, there is no way to change the automatic 18% charge on things like drinks. The charge occurs automatically on your bill without any input from the customer. In the old days, passengers would put cash into envelopes and hand them out to staff at the end of the cruise. While that’s been replaced with automatic charges, if there is someone you’d like to recognize, then slipping them cash is a good way to do it. It’s not required, but the staff member will certainly appreciate the extra money. Different cruise lines have varying recommendations for gratuity amounts.
Can I remove my cruise ship gratuities?
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AmaWaterways offers cruises on the Mekong River in South East Asia. For Mekong Cruises, it’s recommended to tip $10 per person per day for the staff and $3 per person per day for the Cruise Manager. And the reality is you might feel embarrassed trying to explain why you want to pay less than the automatic gratuity (or not tip at all). Remember, these are standard amounts; you might consider increasing the tip for exceptional service or if you are traveling with small kids that may require additional attention. When you get the receipt to sign, you’ll see all of this spelled out clearly, but you’ll also see a line to write in an additional tip. Write in an additional tip if you want, but don’t feel obligated.
Who Gets the Gratuities That You Pay?
It’s important to note that many low-level crew members rely heavily on gratuities as they are usually paid lower wages than other industries. Guests are also charged up to $12 per person, per day for a fuel charge. If you are cruising to another destination with MSC, you will want to visit the cruise line’s website. If you are in a suite or aboard a luxury cruise, you may have a butler assigned to your room. Since they typically have more duties to meet, a good guideline, is a supplementary tip of $3 to $5 per night, per person. Room service stewards should be tipped on the spot, as should non-cruise workers like in-port baggage handlers or tour operators on shore excursions.
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Gratuity practices can vary across different cruise destinations. For example, in some countries, gratuities may already be included in the overall service charges, while in others, tipping may be less common or expected only in certain circumstances. Research the gratuity customs of your cruise destinations to ensure that you are respectful of local practices and expectations. While specific cruise lines may have their own recommended gratuity amounts, there are general guidelines that can help you navigate the process. As a starting point, it is common to allocate around $10 to $15 per person per day for gratuities. However, it is crucial to consider the factors mentioned earlier, such as cruise length, cabin category, and service quality, to determine an appropriate gratuity amount.
Discretionary gratuities provide passengers with the flexibility to adjust the amount of gratuity they wish to give based on their satisfaction with the service they receive. These gratuities can be adjusted either upwards or downwards, depending on the passenger's discretion. The cost is the same whether gratuities are paid onboard or before your cruise. It may be a good option if you think it will help with budgeting and are confident in the service. Many people wonder how tips work for other crew members on a cruise ship, such as housekeeping, laundry, or spa staff. While it may vary depending on the cruise line and its policies, these tips are often pooled together with the rest of the gratuities and distributed among crew members.
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No tips are added automatically when you sail with UnCruise Adventures. If you love sailing, it’s hard to beat cruising on the Star Flyer (modeled after a 19th century clipper ship) or the beautiful Royal Clipper. Scenic Cruises is an Australian based company offering luxury river cruises in Europe and Asia (as well as small ship expedition cruises). If you’re cruising the Med with a bunch of Brits, expectations for what to tip may be different than if you’re on an Alaska cruise with Americans used to a 15 or 20% tipping culture. The problem is that since you don’t usually get your onboard bill until the last day of your cruise, you have to settle this the last day or evening of your cruise. Now, there once was a time when you tipped crew members if they were especially helpful, stuffing cash in cruise tip envelopes.
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In addition, Norwegian Cruise Line charges an automatic service charge. If you want to adjust the amount or pay in cash, you can do so onboard. While tipping on Cunard is slightly less expensive than on most other cruises, Cunard also automatically bills you for gratuities.
All guests will need to pay a hotel and dining charge of $17 per day regardless of stateroom category. If you do not pre-pay the gratuities, you will need to pay the current per day, per person dollar amount at the time of your sailing. This fee will be added to your stateroom account once onboard the ship. One major benefit of pre-paying your cruise gratuities is that you will pay the current rate. If prices should happen to increase before your sailing, you will not need to pay extra for these increased costs. As stated above, these service charges apply to all guests regardless of stateroom category.
If you have a major issue, however, you can change your gratuity amount accordingly. You can still hand out cash to individual members of the staff that you appreciate, although it’s not required. The amount you pay will vary by cruise line, but they are all in the same ballpark.
In addition, when you reserve specialty restaurants, dining packages, drink packages, and spa services on Royal Caribbean’s Cruise Planner website, the gratuity will be added upon checkout. Certain onboard purchases are subject to an 18% gratuity on top of the listed price, including beverages, mini bar items, and spa and salon purchases. You can prepay gratuities at any time up to 48 hours before your sail date. If you booked with a travel agent, contact your travel agent and they can add gratuities to your booking.
With gratuities already being added to the cruise, and they are ever-increasing, I’ve become more selective on how I choose to tip extra. If our room steward goes out of their way for anything, I’ll tip extra… and if they frequently go out of their way, I’ll possibly leave an extra $75 regardless of the cruise length. For the complete service charge information with NCL, see the Norwegian Cruise automatic service charge rates & information. MSC Cruises charges a little more for Grand Voyages depending on the itinerary, it’s best to confirm this with them at the time of booking. Baggage handlers at embarkation port – It’s customary to tip a little to a baggage handler, especially at American ports.
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