Tipping on board cruise ships

Tipping on board cruise ships has always been a problem, many customer’s like to do this, many don’t, I’m a person that doesn’t like to be told how much I should give and who to give it too and is it getting out of control the amount that cruise lines are putting these up by?

Many people think it’s just on cruise ship but many holiday destinations you have to tip places so what is the recommended amount that you should tip? I know while I was on Holiday in Goa my mum and dad said that we should tip 10% of our bill if we was happy with the service but some of the people I met over there went over and beyond good service, so if I only tipped them 10% some of the time would have only been 100 Rupees (which in English money is only about £1.20) and I thought they deserved much more than this. but that was my option and my choice if I gave them more or not.

So when cruise lines say that you have to give an amount and there putting their gratuities up it really gets on my nervous, I want to give what I want when I want and who to, but like a customer said to me the other day its alright giving it to the waiter’s or the house keeping but if you don’t pay for your gratuities  upfront what about the staff in the kitchen that cook your food every night/day if everyone did what I did all them other staff behind the scenes wouldn’t get anything and they work just as hard as the rest of the staff.

So what will I do when I go on my cruise in October, true fully I think I will still do it the way I have always done it as I don’t like getting told how much to do but I know with Royal Caribbean they will give me Brown envelopes at the end of my stay and then I can put what I want in for all of the staff don’t get me wrong I will give them enough but I like to give it to them personally and not know that it’s part of their wages.

what do you think of Gratuities are you the same as me? or do you like to do yours at the start of your cruise so you don’t have to worry about it? let me know your thoughts.