No More Gratuity Charge

More great news has been announced for cruisers today with another cruise line scrapping gratuity charges.

P&O led the way earlier this year and now MSC have followed suit. With immediate affect all bookings made from today on wards will not have gratuities added to the passengers on board account. Nor will customers be expected to tip independently at the end of their cruise.

However any bookings made before today  will be still be subject to the terms and conditions at the time of booking and customers will still have gratuities added to their on board account, although they can opt out of them on the first day of their cruise.

Antonio Paradiso, MSC‘s Managing Director UK & Ireland, stated: “The decision has been made in order to simplify the booking process and ensure the best possible onboard experience for our guests.” 

This is  great news for UK passengers who, as a rule are not keen on tipping. With Marella already not charging gratuities and P&O and MSC now scrapping them, it will be interesting to see if other cruise lines follow and  in particular the American companies, especially as the American culture of tipping is so different to that of the Europe.  We will see.