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Passengers sailing to Hawaii are charged an additional 4.275% Pre Paid Service Charge GET Tax. Disney Cruise Line gratuities start at $14.50 per person, per night for regular cabins and rise to $15.50 per person, per night for Concierge-class and Suite guests. On Cunard, daily gratuities vary depending on the cabin category and date of sailing. Finally, if you order anything from room service, then it’s expected that you give a couple of bucks to the staff member that delivers the food. The advantage here is that you get to hold on to more of your money for longer.
How Much to Tip the Maitre D and Head Waiters on a Cruise
Reviewing your cruise line’s tipping policy before boarding is essential, as guidelines vary on how much is expected daily for cruise gratuities. If you want to give extra appreciation for exceptional service, cash tips are appreciated and can be delivered directly to a waiter, porter, or stateroom steward. Always remember to check your cruise line’s policy on tipping before setting sail, and don’t hesitate to tip more for exceptional service. With a generous attitude and an open mind, you’ll have a memorable and enjoyable cruising experience, thanks to the hard-working crew.
Included cruise tips as a booking perk
The cost is the same whether gratuities are paid onboard or before your cruise. It may be a good option if you think it will help with budgeting and are confident in the service. Even the size of your stateroom or suite may also come into play when considering how much to tip, as these larger staterooms tend to have more amenities and even butler service. Lastly, the number of people in your party will also impact gratuities, as tips are paid per person.
Celebrity Cruises removes gratuities from inclusive package and makes changes to Retreat - Royal Caribbean Blog
Celebrity Cruises removes gratuities from inclusive package and makes changes to Retreat.
Posted: Wed, 30 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Can you remove or adjust autogratuities on a cruise?
If you feel that you wish to give an extra amount to anyone who you feel has done a great job, they will be appreciative. If you opt for a specialty restaurant, the tip isn’t usually included. It’s customary to tip the waiters generously at specialty restaurants. We like to keep a few dollars handy for this purpose as we board our cruise ship. Viking Cruises gratuities are $15.00 per person, per day for all staterooms. If you are in a suite or aboard a luxury cruise, you may have a butler assigned to your room.
Understanding Cruise Gratuities and Service Charges
Since this is the current pay structure for most major cruise lines, removing tips really affects the cruise line workers. The service charge on MSC Cruises is $12.50 per person, per day for guests in standard cabins. There is no service charge applied for children under 2 years of age. Cunard‘s daily gratuities are set at $11.50 per person, per day for guests in standard cabins. The cost is $13.50 per person, per day for guests in Grill Class suites.

To do so, simply head down to Guest Services on the ship to tell them that you want to change your tip amounts. If you’d like to calculate exactly what your gratuity amount will be before you book your trip, then you can use our calculator here. Simply enter the cruise line, length of trip, and the number of passengers and it will show you precisely how much you’ll be charged. While the name sounds fancy, gratuities are nothing more than a tip paid to the staff members for service during the cruise. The staff works hard to ensure that your vacation is a great one. As a thanks for their service, it’s customary to provide a tip.
Annoying Mistakes I've Made on Cruises
Since they typically have more duties to meet, a good guideline, is a supplementary tip of $3 to $5 per night, per person. Room service stewards should be tipped on the spot, as should non-cruise workers like in-port baggage handlers or tour operators on shore excursions. Cruise ship crew members work hard at the goal of delivering your dream vacation. They spend months at a time away from their homelands and are often supporting families on the other side of the world.
In addition, a portion of the tips are given to those who work behind the scenes or may serve you in different areas of the ship. Carnival’s daily gratuities are $13.99 per person, per day for guests in standard cabins. As we said above, automatic tips ensure fairness to all staff, but also save yourself the headache of having to crunch numbers and track down numerous crewmembers on the final evening of your cruise. The charges are applied per passenger, per sailing night and are added to your cruise account.
Alternative Services
Again, you'll find a space on your receipt to add a tip if you want to go beyond that, but it's not expected. Once you're in this tipping mindset, you might be tempted to hand out extra cash every time you interact with a crew member. Here are 10 times you do not need to tip on your cruise (though you might want to anyway).
This gets even more complicated on cruises where you can choose your own dining time like on Norwegian Cruise Lines with their freestyle dining. You may never encounter the same server twice, so tipping becomes more difficult. At the end of the day, the choice is always yours on whether or not to tip the cabin steward extra. You'll also want to carry at least another $100 for various tips, maybe more if you have multiple shore excursions planned.
Many luxury all-inclusive cruise lines include gratuities in their cruise fares, or have a “tips neither expected nor required” policy. But the sticker price of their fares tends to scare off many budget-minded travelers. However, you might end up paying a similar total price on a mainstream line when you factor in gratuities, drink packages, shore excursions, and the like.
These are in addition to the cruise fare, port taxes, and general taxes. These automatic gratuities or ‘service charges’ are split, in theory, among all service staff on the ship as well as behind-the-scenes staff. For your average cruise, expect to spend $15 per passenger per DAY. For a family of 4 on a seven-day vacation, this adds up to an extra $420 to the vacation cost.
While the cruise lines might say differently, we think that gratuities aren’t included in the headline price for marketing purposes. The cost for two people on a week-long cruise can be well above $200. Note that if you purchase a dining or beverage package, most cruise lines will charge you gratuities based on a percentage of the package price.
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