Tips, Tips and more Tips!

Its that time of year again when the cruise lines start increasing the cost of gratuities. One will make the announcement and usually the others are follow suit, much to the annoyance and frustration of clients.  This year is no exception and sure enough the announcements have been rolling in but did you know that with most of the cruise lines the gratuity charge isn’t compulsory? Some of my clients gasp when I tell them this as they were lead to believe they are mandatory but I kid you not my friends, a quick trip to Customer Relations and they can be removed.

When it comes to the tipping charge there is no set amount and it differs from cruise line to cruise line with some of the highest charges being as much as $13.50 for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity (Suites are $16.50-$17) closely followed by Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruises charging $12.95 (Per person per day). But who are the most reasonable? Lets take a look.

5. Costa Cruises – £7.78 per person per day. Costa say they use their mandatory tipping charge to incentivise their staff members who perform hotel duties making sure the quality is top notch. Hmmm not sure about that one, shouldn’t great service come standard with a cruise tip or no tip?!

4. P&O – £6 per person per day. P&O promise that 100% of the tip goes to the cabin steward, butler and waiting team rather than those behind the scenes. Its worth noting that P&O don’t charge gratuities for children under 12 which is a big bonus to families on a budget. That is of course if you pay them, P&O are quite happy for you to remove the charge and tip as you go if you would prefer.

3. Cruise and Maritime – £5 per person per day for any sailings up to 16 nights, choose to cruise for longer and that drops to £4 per person per day. Nice and easy!

2. Fred Olsen – £4 per person per day which is split down the middle, £2 for your cabin steward and £2 for your waiter. You can of course change the amount if you wish or remove them completely. The choice is yours.

1. Hurtigruten – Nothing, zilch, nadda! That’s right folks, Hurtigruten come up trumps in this one. They don’t believe that clients should be expected to pay tips upfront for a service they have yet to receive and also feel its wrong to then expect guests to take the time out to ask for them to be removed. Instead they opt for the old fashioned envelope system whereby you choose who to tip and how much. They do recommend 9 euros per person per day but that of course is just a recommendation.

Of course I haven’t mentioned the cruise lines who’s tips are already included in the cruise fare, the majority of these lines are the luxury brands such as Silversea, Regent Seven seas but Thomson’s also include their tips within the cost. Last night at 9pm we announced that for the first time in their history Norwegian Cruise Lines are going all inclusive so they too will no longer be adding tips to your bill or to your cruise fare. Neat huh?

With more and more clients demanding a more inclusive trip for their budget its no surprise that NCL have chosen this route, will more of the main stream cruise lines follow? Do you want them to? Id love to hear your thoughts on this.