There is probably no topic more discussed and debated among new and seasoned cruisers than tipping: how to tip, when to tip, how much to tip, whom to tip — and perhaps even why you need to tip at all. Yes, tipping etiquette and varying cruise line policies on the practice can be confusing. Worse still, gratuities that you haven’t anticipated can quickly eat into your cruise vacation budget.
Before the introduction of service charges and prepaid gratuities, passengers would show their appreciation for individual crew members – your waiter in the main restaurant, your favorite bar tender that remembered your drink order or even your cabin steward who had gone out of their way to deliver exceptional service and enhance your holiday experience. Now, tips and gratuities seem to be unrelated to levels of service for some people. If gratuities are not prepaid before you travel, the majority of cruise lines will add an additional service charge to your on board account, based on a standard rate this is charged per person per day, and these tips are then pooled between all crew members even the staff you don’t see but still serve you such as laundry and sou chefs.
With this in mind 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?
On the other hand, many luxury and boutique cruise lines (like Azamara, Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea, among others) have no-tipping policies in place. In these cases, the staff service fees are built directly into the all-inclusive fares.
Marella choose to offer an all inclusive package, inclusive of gratuities and have become a popular choice for those wanting to take the hassle out of cruising and avoid paying for hidden extras.
Plus P&O has recently removed gratuities from sailings from May this year, Do you think this is where tipping is moving to? Do you think this will change service levels provided on board?
Tipping is certainly a hot topic for discussion and I’d be interested to know your thoughts…