Cruise Gratuities

Over the years of cruising the pre-paid tipping service known as “Gratuities” seem to have gone from being almost compulsory to now being optional. Don’t be fouled by being questioned as to why you want to remove them. You should not feel uneasy by asking the main reception to do this as this is your choice ultimately.

With most cruise lines now giving you 3 options with gratuities as follows…

1. Pre-paying your gratuities up front at the reservation stage so it is paid and out of the way with.
2. Adding them to your on-board account so you can settle them at the end of your cruise.
3. Having them removed when boarding and paying tips at your own discretion.

At the early stages of me cruising I always used to include them up front when booking so I knew that it was one last thing for me to worry about. However the more cruises I started to do I would then also start tipping my cabin attendant, bar staff and my waiter as I felt the service was fantastic. But I would then forget about the gratuities I had paid up front and then just pass tips every now and then which would sometimes be more than the gratuities I had paid up front.

It seems to becoming ever so much more popular for customers to not pay them up front and to have the gratuities removed from their on-board account so you can tip by the service you have received. There are some customers who like to pre-pay their gratuities in the knowledge that they are equally spread between all staff on-board. However the feedback that I get from some customers is that they feel that this is not the case and they would rather make sure the staff on-board receive individual tips.

Again this is down to personal preference and convenience to each customer. I just want to make sure customers are in the know that it is not compulsory for you to pre-pay them and if ever in doubt then to please ask a cruise specialist. Don’t ever feel uneasy asking the on-board cruise reception to have the gratuities removed and if they ever ask as to why you want to remove them, you can simply say that you prefer to tip at your own discretion by the service you receive directly.

What are your thoughts on the on-board gratuities? Do you agree that customers should have the choice to pre-pay the gratuities or not? I would really love to hear your thoughts so please drop me a message with your comments?