CRUISE TIPS – THE REALITY

We all know it’s a contentious issue, and we may not like it, but let’s face it, they are here to stay. I’m talking tipping, of course, on cruise ships.

Imagine going out to dine at a restaurant on land. It would be perfectly normal to enjoy your meal, and good service, and tip your waiter at the end of the meal. We’ve all become very accustomed to this, and we wouldn’t think twice about it, and we don’t complain.

Around 20 years ago, cruising was for the privileged few. It’s not like that any longer and for quite a few years now, cruising has taken over as being the number one type of holiday that people have wanted to go on. Its popularity grows year-on-year.

With cruise lines competing so aggressively for that customer, they have all had to consider what they can do to make their cruises the ones that people will book, as opposed to their competitors. I think it might be fair to say, that some people have been drawn in to taking a cruise holiday, when they might not otherwise have considered this, as it was outside their budget.

Budget. Yes…    that’s what it’s all about.

Some people have chosen cruises that have really stretched them financially, and they would not be prepared to pay any more than what had already been charged to them at the time of booking in the UK. I’ve known instances of people taking full world cruises, of more than 100 days, and then getting to the end of the trip and not even stopping to tip those crew who had taken such good care of them.

Who is to blame? That’s a difficult one, because actually, you and me are to blame. We have driven the costs down to such a low level, taking into account just what we’re getting for our money. Cruise lines get to the stage where these, sometimes unrealistically low costs are simply unsustainable, against their costs of providing what they do. It’s a fine balance.

Two good examples, this week alone. A seven night MSC fly cruise using Emirates return Economy Class flights from Manchester, all transfers, cruise, port charges etc…   at £849 per person. Another, a 17 night P & O cruise fully inclusive at £1,299 per person. Let’s get real…     you would struggle to buy some fairly standard package holidays for prices like these. Yet, still we customers want more…

Great cruise offers like these are still, often greeted with…   “What else can you throw in?”. We need to get back to basics of looking at value for money when we consider some of these cruise offers and understand that you don’t get “owt for nowt!!!”

Crew are often very much dependent upon the tips that they receive from you and me. Many crew, away from home for three and four month contracts, use these tips not just to top up their income, but many send part of this money home to family members who they may not be seeing for many months in the year. Life is very different for these people, and a lot of us do not actually fully appreciate just what sacrifices some of these staff make to serve us.

Okay…   you could say that’s their problem, because they chose to do this job, and you’re not really wrong.

So, with this in mind, many cruise lines have now chosen to add gratuities as obligatory to the cost so that the customers are almost obliged to pay the gratuities to the staff.  So, optional gratuities are actually nothing of the sort. They really are expected.

This is also why many cruise lines offering open dining insist that gratuities must be paid if you opt for this type of arrangement. The reality of course, is that even if you choose a designated first or second sitting dining time, you’re unlikely to get away with not paying gratuities because the cruise line will expect you to be paying these and, although you are perfectly able to challenge these at the end of the cruise, you would be a very brave person to stand in line, at the hotel reception desk, on the penultimate night, and challenge why you shouldn’t be paying the gratuities.

Of course, there is a solution. So, drop by my blog next Monday and for my final part on this subject, at least for now, I will let you know a very simple solution to this issue.