Has tipping become gratuitious?
Traditionally tipping has been a way of rewarding exceptional service, however has the introduction of ‘prepaid’ gratuities had an impact on the service levels on board? & how do you feel about automatic service charges & prepaid gratuity systems?
Tipping on cruises is undoubtedly a hot topic which sparks much debate, and although tipping hasn’t generally been standard custom in the UK, auto-gratuities and service charges have very quickly become the expected norm at sea.
Prior to the introduction of service charges and prepaid gratuities, passengers would typically show their appreciation for individual crew members, who had gone out of their way to deliver exceptional service and enhance their holiday experience. Nowadays, tips and gratuities seem to be somewhat unrelated to levels of service. In fact, if cruise gratuities are not prepaid prior to travel, the majority of cruise lines will add an additional service charge to your on board account, based on a published rate that is charged per person per day, and these tips are then pooled between crew members .
However, do you agree with having to pay a set amount in gratuities no matter what levels of service you receive? & do you feel that this system is the correct way to reward those that have been of service to you during your cruise?
Some passengers prefer to tip directly in order to recognise the efforts of individual crew members who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to add to the enjoyment of their trip. We all have memories of crew members who have made our holidays that little bit more special by the ways in which they interacted with us at dinner or when visiting the customer service desk for example. Even as a child, I recall a housekeeping team member who would position my beloved teddy bear in various scenes; I was excited to come back to the room each day to find out what mischief Teddy was had been getting up to, and although sadly we never met the housekeeping team member, we left an additional tip in an envelope in the room on our day of departure, and my family and I still speak of the scenes with Teddy 30 years on!
Although individual crew members undoubtedly have the power to create everlasting holiday memories, what about those crew members that we never see during our cruise; those that truly work ‘behind the scenes’ to ensure everything runs smoothly and our holiday is plain sailing… without a gratuity system in place, these crew members would otherwise not receive tips from passengers, and yet their roles are vital to the enjoyment of our cruise. The automated service charge and prepaid gratuities system ensures that all crew members are proportionally rewarded for the service provided to passengers on board.
Yet what if the service received does not meet your expectations? Whilst it is rare that ALL areas of service would be found to be lacking, it is certainly not out of the question, and in such cases it is vital to speak with someone at the customer service desk to communicate your experience on board. Most cruiselines offer passengers the opportunity to remove or adjust automatic tips based on the service levels provided and will allow you to tip in whichever way you choose. However, relying on individual tipping as a system will likely mean taking time to track down all the crew members you wish to thank personally on the last day of your cruise, and will result in the fact that some crew members that you haven’t encountered personally, but have added to your trip in the preparation of your food, cleaning of sheets, and upkeep of communal areas for example, will not receive any additional reward for their service.
With many cruise ships registered to foreign territories, the salaries of crew members are not commensurate with those of the countries from which you are sailing and thus they rely on tips and automatic gratuities to top up their wages. But should you be paying the top-up fee or is it about time cruiselines introduced better pay scales for their crew members?
Tipping is certainly a hot topic for discussion and I’d be interested to know your thoughts…
Most of the luxury cruiselines include gratuities within their all inclusive cruise fares and advise discretionary tipping for exceptional service.
Many of the most popular cruise lines, favoured by the widest demographic, opt for the prepaid gratuities and automated service charge system.
Yet, Marella choose to offer an all inclusive package, inclusive of gratuities, at competitive rates and have become a popular choice for those wanting to take the hassle out of cruising and avoid paying for hidden extras.
And with P&O removing gratuities from sailings from May this year, are we likely to see more cruiselines following suit? & how will this change impact service levels on board?
How do you feel about the gratuities debate… have the cruiselines gone overboard? Let me know your thoughts…
33 Comments on “Has tipping become gratuitious?”
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As an island-girl, originally from Guernsey, seeing the giant cruise ships alongside historic Castle Cornet sparked my passion for travel and fueled my hunger for exploring new destinations. Working in travel allows me to use my knowledge and experience to piece together the ideal holiday experience for you, and I…
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Can’t believe people still fall for this nonsense.
Very simple. Don’t pay gratuities.
Stupid American idea.
Completely agree, we went on P&O cruise and refused to pay as soon as we got on the boat
Completely agree. I “tip” for service received not service expected.
I agree tipping should stop. Charge more for cruise and pay staff proper wages. Val Skinner
I hate tipping as I feel slightly embarrassed about it BUT I always pay the recommended amount to be included in the fare.
I think that staff should be paid directly by the cruise company as it is a job that is being done. My only hope is that these companies pay a fair wage.
I am pleased that some companies include it in the fare and this should be the normal practice.
They should not boast about it in some adverts as if it is a special offer.
Val, no matter how much they charge for the cruise, the crew wouldn’t see any more of it !
Hear, hear ! Typical American nonsense.
I am on a 21 night cruise with 3000 passengers. If 800 of the crew receive the gratuities that is about 1000 euro each. As a low income earner this is one third of my monthly earnings. Im in the wrong job.
Totally agree with above comments, tips should be at travelers own discretion. It would appear, it is only cruises the expectation is to pay gratuities in advance of any service provided, would we do this anywhere else, believe majority of people would say no, as I most defiantly do. Therefore, whilst I’m happy to tip various cruise staff, I take control of this and find myself removing added gratuities as start of cruise & tipping where we have been provided a good service at the end of our cruise, & always ensure staff behind the scenes are left a tip as its all about team work, not just the staff visible to us on a day to day basis.
So, I think P O, is moving in the right direction by removing gratuities in May & leave it to the discretion of individual passengers.
Great but it used to be like that. The US market have been responsible for this as they tip over the top anyway. Even the 18% service in bars is excessive too.
We do not pay gratuities as demanded by cruise lines. If we go to an hotel we are not expected to pay extra for the butcher/baker etc why should a cruise ship be any different, after all it is a floating hotel. The lines couldn’t operate without the engineers, cooks etc etc, so why should guests be asked to subsidise their wages. We will continue to do what we have done for 20 odd years, tip the people who provide us with excellent ‘personal service’ .
If it is a “Service Charge” call it that, or just raise the price. I have never met a crew member (60 + cruises) who ever received a percentage of the gratuities paid.
I like to tip for good service. The cruise lines just have to come up with a better way of managing the “MESS” they now have.
We had to wait until midnight on our last day to try and remove our tips on carnival,we disembarked 0730 next day for early flight back to uk,not everything was taken off.we were very disgruntled.colin v20
I agree that tipping should be at the discretion of the customer and not automatically added
This reflects the service you receive and of course our discretion
The policy of having the gratuities added to your bill at the end of your cruise is, to me, wrong. I would prefer it to be included when you decide to book. I know why it isn’t, the cruise company like to show how much their cruise is being offered at (hopefully the cheapest) and you may not compare like for like. So, unless we demand equality and also staff members are given a fair wage, it will not happen.
I have found that tipping personally to those who have pleased you most is far better . If the staff know they have already been tipped , why put yourself out and give a first class service which the passenger expects . This does not apply to all staff , I have met some that it does .
We have cruised for 45 years and we always remove the tips and hand out the envelopes on the last evening because I don’t believe that the tips are shared out to all members of the crew .we have only ever not tipped certain people on three cruises two to the dining room waiter and once to the cabin steward and we do at least six cruises a year.
I agree that they should pay the staff a proper wage and include the tips in the fare.
YES!!!! – As are the Drink Prices on =-board most Cruise-lines – after 600+ nights at sea!
Fixed gratuities = wages supplement. Basic wages should be adjusted accordingly.
I went on a cruise to Sydney and wanted to tip my way I was queuing up with so many others wanting to do the same, that the service charge was scrapped for everyone as Australians don’t generally tip, so saved a lot of money, all of these charges should be got rid of, the passengers should not be used as cash cows.
The cruise lines are responsible for all there staff they make a lot of money off passengers already so pay the staff a decent wage from the beginning and let us spend our hard earned cash on what we want too
Will all the Cruise Lines take any notice I doubt it so will go with those who do not charge this added Tax
Should be removed from all cruise lines now one of the first things i look for when booking a cruise is if gratuity’s is included
Celebrity have started offering “free” gratuities along with “free” drinks. Not free at all. Have you seen their prices? It’s just a way of ensuring you can’t delete gratuities. Hopefully people will have more sense than to fall for this.
On the last Costa Cruise-Delizioza- we tried to have the Gratuities removed and the Hotel Manager’s response was to either pay or they would put us off at the next port.
It’s simple. First day, go to guest services and cancel gratuities. You can then tip or not tip, if you wish andin cash. It doesn’t through the books, goes to whom you wish and is tax- free.
Don’t agree with tipping in packages should only trip those who u want to tip
I am going on a Royal Carribean cruise in October and like most people would like to remove the set amount for tips and tip at my discretion. Someone has told me that because I am on “my time dinning ” I won’t be allowed to do this . Does anyone know if that is correct ?
It has now become an embarrassing situation, one queue checking in and another having gratuities and service charges removed prior to sailing, I have mine removed.
You get the person that is on a weeks cruise saying they always pay as it is not a lot, then you have those that are on a 14, 21 or 28-day cruise declining, as it starts to get ridiculous the amount that a per person is expected to pay out unjustly. The extra cost starts to spiral out of control, on top of that the cabin steward expects a separate tip as maybe the regular waiter or bar staff.
I was told by a gentleman on a world cruise, I was only on for a week, that I should pay the gratuities and charges. I reminded him that if I could afford a world cruise then paying the ridiculous charges would not be a problem to me either. With what he would have to pay out at the end of his cruise, I could probably live for ten years without working!!
We often prefer river cruise companies where, although you do pay in the overall cost, at least there are no ‘hidden’ gratuites or other charges.
The staff always seem very happy and do not expect any further tips; cabin service has always been very good – and on one holiday, they too semed to enjoy playing with my ‘travel bears’ – Strudel and Noel – the ‘towel bear’ was leading them astray with Vodka miniatures!
I’ve been cruising for over 30 years. I was brought up under the system that you tip for what you think is extra and or good personal service. I’m more and more decreasing the amount I pay per day as fixed and giving individually. I’d be happy with paying a fixed gratuity rate if I knew who, by job, gets what percentage. In particular, how much goes to management, if any? I think we’d be surprised at the breakdown with various cruise companies. Maybe you can find out?
we are pensioners now and have always enjoyed cruising but it has got to the point where we can’t afford to cruise because of the gratuities. We have no objection to tipping but the amount they are asking seems very high to us.
Could anyone tell us if gratuities are compulsory on the macro polo .
Thankyou
I believe this is correct if you were on set dining you could remove tips.
After speaking to different crew members on an MSC cruise 2 Year’s ago, they informed me that the gratuities were NOT passed on to them!! This was also confirmed by other passengers. The staff were very hesitant to discuss this point through fear of being overheard, reprimanded and/or lost their jobs for speaking out. All members of staff work extremely hard throughout and deserve to be paid a decent wage by the company to reflect this, without having to rely on gratuities to top up their income. I confronted the management about this disgraceful practice and indicated my preference to tip of my own accord – they were embarrassed and promptly removed all gratuities from my final bill! Transparency and honesty from individual companies is key as to whose pockets these gratuities end up in (considering the profits per person made on every cruise advertised)!
have cruised with RCI thirteen times and enjoyed every one but find the service charges are now far to high. took up a deal on marella dream this year ok and older ship but the food /service was second to none tips and drinks included and the staff were first class. so you don’t have to tip to get service ( we did give extra to our cabin steward ) options are out there if you look for them