Is Armageddon on the Horizon for Gratuities?

I hope so!! I hear some of you shout.

Gratuities have in the most part been an annoyance to the British cruising clientele. We all have differing opinions on the subject but the majority of my clients remove them and prefer to tip on a more personal level. I do have a select few who pre-pay them so they know its taken care of and the rest will leave the auto tips on to be paid at the end of the cruise with the rest of the bill but for most its the principle of ‘being told how much and who’ to tip that sticks in the side. Some don’t trust that the personnel actually get the tips whilst others simply don’t want to tip those who they don’t see. Some clients even think you get a better service than those who don’t pay the tips so feel forced to.

The 6* luxury lines and most River Cruise lines include tips within their cruise fares which you would probably expect as the outlay for the product itself is higher than main stream cruising, but now with Norwegian Cruise Line, Marella Cruises and from May 2019 P&O all including gratuities in the cruise fares is it about time the others all followed? With daily tipping charges ranging from £6 up to £15 per person per day (this varies between cruise lines and grade of stateroom booked ie suite guests will pay a higher gratuity) that can soon add a huge chunk to your cruise fare and in some cases tip the budget a few hundreds over.

I was asked last week by a regular client of mine if Princess and Cunard will also scrap auto tip charges, being that they are sister companies to P&O who are all owned by the Carnival Group. Sadly for the foreseeable future I feel it unlikely, we have certainly not heard any whispers that this may be the case.

Personally I would like to see all cruise lines including the gratuities within the cruise fare. A stigma attached to cruising is that ‘there are so many hidden extras’ involved, which to some extent is fair. Not hidden extras as such but the cost of excursions and drinks in most cases is an added extra to be taken into account as well as the tips. Atleast if the gratuities were included we would all know where we were.

What do you think? Would you like to see tips included in the fares or even abolished completely?