What about tips?

Whatever you are calling it nowadays, you have to take it into consideration when booking a cruise. In the past you were able and encouraged to tip in person your cabin steward, your waiters and so on. At present days most cruise lines will add it automatically to your on board account with all your other expenses, or you can even pre book it with some lines and pay it in advance. The staff on board rely on these tips as their main income so you don’t want to ignore it and deny their source of income? So what are the benefits of pre booking? You can then budget better and know that you don’t need to tip anymore/spend on board. It’s less personal, but you can trust the system, the staff knows exactly who pre paid for their tips, they have it on a list, so rest assured you will get the good service from them. The other option is to just pay it on board which is just the same, and the last option is to remove them and pay them personally at the end of the cruise, yes it’s more personal and nice, but until the last night they would not know if you are going to tip them and how much. Personally I just pre book them and the staff knows that and I get the good service! I have listed below a guide to various cruise lines tipping policy and how do they compare.

Cruise Line	How Much Per Day Per Adult	Converted in GBP *	How Much Per Day Per Child	Converted in GBP *	Ways to Pay	Additional Charges
Azamara Club Cruises	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	18% on Spa service Gratuities
Carnival Cruises	$12	£8.36	$12 under 2’s are free	£8.36 under 2’s are free	Pre pay, Auto	15% on Drinks, 18% on spa treatments
Celebrity Cruises	$13.50 per day, per guest in Standard staterooms $14.00 per day, per guest in Concierge Class & AquaClass® staterooms $17.00 per day, per guest in Suite Class/td>£9.34, £9.69 for Concierge Class and Aquaclass, and £11.76 for Suite Guests$13.50 per day, per guest in Standard staterooms $14.00 per day, per guest in Concierge Class & AquaClass® staterooms $17.00 per day, per guest in Suite Class/td>£9.34, £9.69 for Concierge Class and Aquaclass, and £11.76 for Suite GuestsYou can either pay on board or pre-pay your gratuities before you boardFor their convenience we automatically add gratuities for restaurant and stateroom services to your guests on board SeaPass® account on a daily basis which can be adjusted at their discretion Gratuities are shared by guests Dining & Culinary Services staff, Stateroom Attendants, Other Housekeeping Services Personnel, as well as staff from other departments who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience An 18% gratuity will be automatically added to all beverages, mini bar purchases, spa and salon services
Costa Cruises	€Cruises from Europe €8 / Cruise from caribbean & usa – $11/ World cruise €7	Cruises from Europe – £6.53/ Cruise from Caribbean & USA – £7/ World cruise – £5.55	Cruises from Europe – €4/ Cruise from Caribbean & USA – $5.50/ World cruise – €3.50	Cruises from Europe – £3.18/ Cruise from Caribbean & USA – £3.50/ World cruise – £2.28	Auto	–
Cruise & Maritime	£5	£5	£5	£5	Auto	–
Crystal	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	18% for spa services
Cunard	$11.50 Britannia categories & $13.50 Suite Passengers	£7.64 Britannia categories & £8.97 Suite categories	Equal to adult	£7.64 Britannia categories & £8.97 Suite categories	Auto	15% on Drinks
Disney	$12	£7.70	$12	£7.70	Pre pay, Auto, Personally	15% on Drinks
Fred Olsen	£4	£4	£4	£4	Auto, Personally	–
Hebridean	Included	Included	Included	Included	Included	–
Holland America Line	$12.50, $13.50 suite guests	=	$12.50, $13.50 suite guests	=	Auto, personally	–
Hurtigruten	No tipping policy. It is at your discretion	–	–	–	–	–
Island Cruises	Included	–	–	–	–	–
MSC	$12	£7.70	$6	M£3.80	pre pay, personally, Auto	–
NCL	$12.95	£8.75	$12.95 No charge for under 3’s	£8.75 No charge for under 3’s	Pre pay, Auto, Personally	18% on Drinks and Spa
Oceania	$16 and $23 for suites.	&pound10.95 and £15.74 for suites	$16 and $23 for suites.	&pound10.95 and £15.74 for suites	Auto, Personally	18% on Drinks and Spa services
P&O Cruises	£5.50	–	£3.95. No charge for under 12’s	–	Auto	–
Pullmantur	€10.20	£8.08	€10.20	£8.08	Auto	–
Princess Cruises	$11.50 and $12 for mini suites and suites	£7.34 and £7.70 for mini suites and suites	$11.50 and $12 for mini suites and suites	£7.34 and £7.70 for mini suites and suites	Auto, Personally	15% on Drinks and 18% on Beauty treatments
Regent	Included	–	–	–	–	–
Royal Caribbean	$12.95 and $15.95 grand suite and above	£8.63 and £10.62 grand suite and above	$12.95 and $15.95 grand suite and above	£8.63 and £10.62 grand suite and above	Pre pay, Auto, personally	18% on drinks
Seabourn	Included	–	–	–	–	–
Seadream	Included	–	–	–	–	–
Silversea	Included	–	–	–	–	–
Star Clipper	€8	£6.35	€8	£6.35	pre pay, auto, Personally	–
Swan Hellenic	Included	–	–	–	–	–
Thomson	Included	–	–	–	–	–
Voyages of Discovery	Included	–	–	–	–	–
Voyages to Antiquity	Included	–	–	–	–	12.5% for Drinks
Windstar	$12	£7.70	$12	£7.70	Auto, pre pay	15% on Drinks