Tipping on a cruise

[1Kflyerguy]

As i discussed in a prior post, we are taking our first cruise next month. We are heading to Alaska on Celebrity Edge.

I was curious about how tipping works. Our package includes prepaid gratuities and a drink package. I think the prepaid gratuities cover the cabin steward and dining room staff, and from what I hear, they will automatically add a gratuity to each drink we order. Does that sound correct?

If that is correct, is there an expectation or typical to add an additional tip beyond what happens automatically?

Thanks

 

[rapmarks]

On Royal Caribbean it includes all staff. You are expected to tip cabin steward and main dining waiter and asst extra. The drinks include the tip but always gave and extra couple of bucks but I noticed many did not do that

 

[dioxide45]

Your tips are 100% covered. Including your drink package. Feel free to tip more if you like, but it isn’t necessary

 

[dioxide45]

On Royal Caribbean it includes all staff. You are expected to tip cabin steward and main dining waiter and asst extra. The drinks include the tip but always gave and extra couple of bucks but I noticed many did not do that

Cabin steward and dining room are covered in the prepaid gratuity. It isn’t necessary to tip them more unless you want to. The only additional in the dining room may be the maitre d if they assist you with something specific like changing your prearranged table seating. Perhaps a sommelier if they help with or store wines for you.

 

[Passepartout]

We use Continental breakfast delivery as a 'wake-up'. You just put out an order form before you bed down and they deliver it to your cabin at your appointed time. I always slip the delivering steward a couple bucks as it's delivered. The rest is covered by the pre-paid gratuities.

 

[beejaybee]

Tipping above the mandated daily charge for "gratuities" is up to you.
Our status on Celebrity gives us complimentary non-alcoholic beverages at their Cafe al Bacio and complimentary alcoholic beverages from a limited menu between 5-7 each evening. We try to give the server $1 when they bring our order.
We also choose to give additional tips to our room attendant and waitstaff (if we are at the same table nightly).
But that's just us. We travel with others and have no idea of their tipping practices, nor do we care!

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Thanks all, this gives me a better understanding. I will bring enough cash in small bills to cover things.

 

[pedro47]

On this cruise everything is covered. You are good to go to enjoy the Celebrity Edge.

I do not know which drink package you have; but your tips are included.
I'm only referring to Celebrity alochol drink packages.
Celebrity have two (2) drink packages. A Classic and a Premium Drink Package.
Please check Celebity drink package website to see which drink package you have and the drinks included and their costs.

You will only need to tip for room service. We normally take $2.00 bills for tipping.

Did you book The Eden Restaurant (a speciality restaurant)?. Now that is an extra cost.

 

[silentg]

We usually tip our cabin stewards extra because they are the ones we see each day. One cruise I went on we tipped the wait staff because we had the same ones each night for dinner. If we are on a cruise with open seating we don’t tip the wait staff extra because they are different each night.

 

[am1]

I saw on YouTube that the auto tips go to pay everyone even used as part of their regular salary. All in all seems like a cash grab. It is possible to get them removed and tip people directly as you see fit but may just get banned from that line.

 

[rapmarks]

I saw on YouTube that the auto tips go to pay everyone even used as part of their regular salary. All in all seems like a cash grab. It is possible to get them removed and tip people directly as you see fit but may just get banned from that line.

My friend has been on 70 royal Caribbean cruises. She has tip removed and tips certain staff

 

[dioxide45]

The problem with auto gratuities over the years on cruises is that in the past, it was used specifically to tip specific people. I recall that XX amount went to the cabin steward and a certain amount went to dining room staff and perhaps some other amount going to a couple other people. Now the tip is divvied up twenty ways from Sunday and now just seems to be a way for us to pay all the staff we see and don't see. I guess it is the same as tips at restaurants where they do tip sharing where the money I give the server goes to back of the house workers. Which never seems to make sense to me, but I've never worked in an official tipped position.

I just consider the gratuities as part of the cruise fare, pay it in advance or onboard and don't think about it. If the staff doesn't think they are paid enough, that is between them and the cruise line. I don't tip bartenders or anyone else who brings drinks because there is usually 18%-20% added to the bar bill anyway. We don't do drink packages. For NCL, they charge a hefty gratuity even on the included drink package. So, even if we had a beverage package we wouldn't tip more.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We were told by the Norwegian Cruise Line cabin steward on our Mediterranean Cruise that the staff gets none of the mandatory gratuity. We left some extra at the end of the cruise, but we were also told recently while booking a cruise that the steward was not correct.

 

[Passepartout]

I abhor the whole business of tipping, but it's like shoveling sand against the tide. You can't stop it. I remember back a few decades (Gosh has it been THAT long???) when the cruise lines handed out a stack of envelopes towards the end of a cruise and expected passengers to stuff cash into them and label to whom the tip should go. Waiter, Asst. Waiter, Maitre 'd, cabin Steward (and assistants) bartenders, etc. etc. etc.

Much as I dislike the whole thing, it's better to have it all rolled into one additional cost of cruising- and be done with it. Especially if it's 'included'. Then I can slip a few scheckles to whomever I feel deserves it. And heap lavish praise via the cruise's website or social media on the deserving.

Jim

 

[dioxide45]

We were told by the Norwegian Cruise Line cabin steward on our Mediterranean Cruise that the staff gets none of the mandatory gratuity. We left some extra at the end of the cruise, but we were also told recently while booking a cruise that the steward was not correct.

I don't believe individual employees when talking about tipping. They certainly receive the tips, they say they don't because they want you to give them more.

Kind of like Ford's Garage (restaurant in Florida) and their strange service charge nonsense. The restaurant charges 20% service charge automatically. That goes to back of the house staff and the service staff don't receive any of it. The servers receive a commission based the food and drink you order. If you ask the servers if they get any of the 20% service charge, they will tell you they don't. Which is technically true, but they won't tell you that they get a commission on top of their hourly wage. Everyone wants to double dip.

 

[davidvel]

I don't believe individual employees when talking about tipping. They certainly receive the tips, they say they don't because they want you to give them more.

Kind of like Ford's Garage (restaurant in Florida) and their strange service charge nonsense. The restaurant charges 20% service charge automatically. That goes to back of the house staff and the service staff don't receive any of it. The servers receive a commission based the food and drink you order. If you ask the servers if they get any of the 20% service charge, they will tell you they don't. Which is technically true, but they won't tell you that they get a commission on top of their hourly wage. Everyone wants to double dip.

I agree. The European model is great. Employers pay their employees' wages, and no tips. Tap your card and you're done.

 

[jorcus]

Some of this depends on the cruise line. On Azamara tipping is included in the base price and I saw very little tipping on our trip. I handed our steward an envelope with a tip because she treated us so well and she tried to refuse it. In the end I got her to take it. It was a very different vibe on that ship.

 

[tschwa2]

If you didn't upgrade to premium beverage package, you have a $12 limit on drinks and premium water and juice bar is not included. Any amount that is charged above the package will have an automatic gratuity added for that amount. If you get a martini from the martini bar, I believe those are all $19, you would be charged $7 plus 18%. If you want a san pellegrino you would pay the $5 plus gratuity. Celebrity has some of the most expensive drink prices and about 20% of the beer is about the classic drink package limit.

The all included stopped including gratuities in early 2024 or even late 2023. If you purchased after that time, ship gratuities are not included unless your travel agent specifically added that perk. If you don't have them covered or didn't prepay, you will see that charge added daily to your folio.


We tip quite modestly over the daily gratuities. For a week long cruise for 2, $40-50 additional tip for the cabin attendant. We request service only once per day and no service on sea days. Then another $50 total or so for everyone else.

My husband also gives some of the regular bartenders some extra here and there.

 

[dioxide45]

We tip quite modestly over the daily gratuities. For a week long cruise for 2, $40-50 additional tip for the cabin attendant. We request service only once per day and no service on sea days. Then another $50 total or so for everyone else.

Your definition of modestly is different than mine. An additional $100 in tips is tipping an additional 40% more on top of the gratuity added automatically.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

If you didn't upgrade to premium beverage package, you have a $12 limit on drinks and premium water and juice bar is not included. Any amount that is charged above the package will have an automatic gratuity added for that amount. If you get a martini from the martini bar, I believe those are all $19, you would be charged $7 plus 18%. If you want a san pellegrino you would pay the $5 plus gratuity. Celebrity has some of the most expensive drink prices and about 20% of the beer is about the classic drink package limit.

The all included stopped including gratuities in early 2024 or even late 2023. If you purchased after that time, ship gratuities are not included unless your travel agent specifically added that perk. If you don't have them covered or didn't prepay, you will see that charge added daily to your folio.

We are on a special Broadway Music Tour. My wife loves Broadway, and there will be a number of Broadway performers giving classes and other special programming for people on that tour package. That package included the classic drinks and, presumably, all gratuities. I did pay to upgrade to the premium drink package, as I looked at what was included in the classic, and knew my wife would be ordering the premium wine, and I like martinis. The travel agent who initially handled the tour bookings was a bit disorganized, and I found a few problems with the booking. I can see the drinks package upgrade online, will probably look a bit more to confirm the inclusive gratuities. We booked sometime in spring or summer 2024.

 

[Ken555]

We were told by the Norwegian Cruise Line cabin steward on our Mediterranean Cruise that the staff gets none of the mandatory gratuity. We left some extra at the end of the cruise, but we were also told recently while booking a cruise that the steward was not correct.

Many cruise lines handle this by providing staff with a guaranteed salary, and they receive additional pay when a certain percentage of passengers (or more) pay the gratuity.

For example, I was on a Windstar cruise with about 120 passengers. Even if every passenger paid the gratuities, none of the staff would have earned more than the guaranteed minimum, meaning that 100% of the gratuities we paid would go to the cruise line. We confirmed this with the appropriate officer, who joined us for dinner one night, and the next day, a few of us opted out of the gratuities and paid cash directly to key staff. Ultimately, this resulted in some staff earning more than the guarantee, but no other staff members were negatively affected.

Holland America, Royal Caribbean, and others operate similarly (though I believe Holland America averages it across all ships for a season or month, rather than on a per-ship or per-cruise basis).

It’s not as simple as they want us to believe. This explains one reason why some crew members say they don’t receive any money from the daily gratuities.