Tips do you or don’t you?

Gratuities are they included? How much are they? Are they compulsory? These are some of the most asked questions when booking a cruise…

With  recent announcements from P & O and Holland America that  they are increasing their gratuities.This can be a daunting subject for those who are new to cruise and even seasoned cruisers, wondering when, how and who to?

Once over the Tipping was seen as an appreciation of good and outstanding service, by crew members. These days they are either pre-paid or automatically added on to your on board account and can vary from $12 to $16 depending on the cabin type that you stay in. With the exception of a handful of cruise lines where tips are included in the cruise fare like Norwegian cruise line and Thomson Cruise and the luxury brands such as Azamara,  Seabourn,  Silversea and Crystal which have a no tipping policy in place.

A lot of cruisers still prefer to tip as and when good service has been received and this is normally done at the end of the cruise, to crew such as your cabin steward and dining staff who have looked after you throughout your sailing. Some however feel that they have pre-paid and they still want to tip for exceptional service.

What happens to the the gratuities if you pre-pay or they are automatically added on to your account? Well these are then divided between the ships crew from the housekeepers, waiters, and behind the scene staff that you may never see.

The majority of cruise company’s will allow you to remove the automatically added on service charge when on board. However some ships are compulsory. Some people believe if they remove the auto-added or do not pre-pay they will not be given the same level of service.

In some countries tipping is neither normal or expected in others such as America its seen as a way of life. This you can see is a much debated subject whether you like it or not. If you refuse to tip on principle, you are impacting the salaries of the people who have served you well on-board. That would bring us to a whole  new debate maybe next time….

What are your views would you prefer to know they were included should all cruise lines automatically included them in the fare? Or would you prefer to pay as and when either way I think this subject is always  going to be debated.

Here’s a link for our guide to gratuities if you are still unsure of gratuities on your forthcoming cruise .

http://www.cruise.co.uk/guides/cruise-information-gratuities/?affref=laurens

Thank you for reading

Lauren xx