Gratuities, The costs and do I pre-pay?

It’s creeping up again. Gratuities are on the rise and nearly every phone call I’m asked about gratuities. The cost of them. Are they compulsory and where does my money go. I get the lot. All cruise lines have their own tipping policy and gratuities charge. These amounts vary between the cruise lines and also between the cabin grade you’re booked in. So basically if you’re in a nice suite you will be expected to pay some more in gratuities. . And it’s not just the gratuity for service that seems to be on the up but also the gratuity added to your drinks bill.

Noticeable recently the Royal Caribbean and Celebrity group have increased this surcharge from 15 to 18%

Personally I think the drinks are not the best priced on a cruise ship as it is, and I accept that, no different from a nice bar where you expect to pay more but when you start to add on 18% to every bill. These cocktails can certainly add up and you could end up with a hefty looking bill come the end of your cruise.

I decided to look at the gratuities and see the pros and cons to pre-paying. Recent survey online showed that 52% of people prefer to pre-pay which had me thinking that 48% of people didn’t. Being that close tells me that the cruise lines are happy to continue with this automatic charging even though they know nearly half the amount of their guests don’t like it. I actually find that quite worrying. Most of the north American cruise lines seem to be the one’s increasing and charging these automatic gratuity to your bill. The average cost now for a non-luxury cruise liner is between $12 & $16 per day. Again this can depend on the cabin type you’re booked into.

Princess cruises are actually increasing their gratuity charge for the 2^nd time this year. Having already done so back in January. The bottom figure being as much as $13.50pp per day as of this December.

I’m of the opinion that cruise staff should be rewarded for service. I also believe they should be rewarded for service over and above the service you would expect as standard. I think the cruise lines should perhaps pay their staff more so that maybe gratuity isn’t part of their salary, or at least to make the salary up. I appreciate us Brits are not really a tipping nation. We go out to somewhere simple like a Pizza hut. We know the staff are probably paid a basic salary, perhaps the minimum wage and if we leave a tip it’s a nice little bonus to their pay. However in the states some jobs are commission only. They rely on us tipping to pay them a wage. But surely this is not the case on a cruise ship. I think their needs to be a minimum wage in place. I appreciate the ships sail around the world and being in different countries different laws may apply. Surely though they can work something out that staff get a better deal and not pass this on to the customer to make their salary up. Some argue that the cruise line inflates their prices over the top for drinks, excursions, photo’s on board and then still want more for the gratuities to tip staff. I’d be interested to see where this money actually goes and if it is indeed shared equally to all staff, especially to all those behind the scenes who we don’t see.

There are a few reasons you may want to keep the automatic gratuities. You’ve had great service, you’re concerned you may not receive great service after removing them or perhaps you just want to tip in the most convenient way without having to

chase down all the crew members you wish to thank on the last evening.

I personally prefer to pre-pay and think I don’t have to budget for it out of my spending monies and if I want to give extra on top that’s at my discretion if I think the service warrants it. What do you think? Do you think the tipping system is fair or would you like to see changes and if so what what you do to change it? Let me know.