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Some onboard services aren’t subject to automatically-included gratuities. Since these are people that you may interact with on a daily basis, it’s nice to add them to your gratuity list. On April 1, 2023, Carnival raised its services fees to $16.00 per person per day for those in standard staterooms.
Spa and Fitness Services
Jenna DeLaurentis enjoys exploring new ports of call around the world on a cruise ship, learning about new cultures, discovering beautiful landscapes, and trying diverse cuisine. She loves to get active while at port, whether cycling through mountains in the Caribbean or scuba diving under the sea. By giving tips to crew members individually, you may be taking potential gratuities away from other hard working crew members you don’t meet in person. Gratuities on a Royal Caribbean cruise are priced per day, but the amount owed depends on your stateroom category. This is a personal decision and I’m not sure if there’s a tipping etiquette for it. 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.
Room Service and Cabin Stewards
Many river cruise lines include the gratuities, but for those that don’t, the suggested range is between $10 and $20 per passenger, per day. Similarly, some expedition cruise lines include gratuities while those that don’t recommend a gratuity of around $10 to $15 per person, per day. Seabourn is among the select luxury cruise lines that includes all gratuities in its cruise fares. Despite paying hundreds of dollars in tips on a cruise, you might be surprised that there are other places where you will see gratuity charges or are expected to tip. In general, we’d suggest not changing the amount charged by the cruise line.
Explained: What Exactly Are Cruise Ship Gratuities
If you're wondering how much you should tip on the specific cruise line you're considering or have already booked, we've compiled that information here. Below is a line-by-line look at policies for automatic gratuity charges (called service charges or "crew appreciation" charges at some lines). Princess, for example, has added a Princess Plus plan as a booking option. It gives passengers prepaid gratuities (Princess calls these "crew appreciation" fees), a single-device Wi-Fi plan and a basic beverage package for a single bundled price of $60 per person, per day. You can pass these by hand or get a tip envelope from guest services.
One perk of pre-paying gratuities is that if you pre-pay and the rate later increases, you aren’t charged the higher rate. The advantage here is that you get to hold on to more of your money for longer. Instead of handing over the charges well in advance of your sailing, you can keep it until you’re actually on your cruise. The advantage is that you get your payment out of the way ahead of time.
Carnival Cruise Line to increase gratuity, Wi-Fi fees - USA TODAY
Carnival Cruise Line to increase gratuity, Wi-Fi fees.
Posted: Wed, 04 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
What are the per-day service fees for Carnival Cruises?
These are only suggestions based on cruise industry standards. It’s also a good idea to tip your spa attendant separately if they go above and beyond to make your spa experience memorable. The amount you should tip varies depending on the cruise line and its specific policies. As a general rule of thumb, 15-20% of the total cost of your spa treatments is considered appropriate. These services may include laundry workers, dishwashers, galley attendants, and below-deck positions. It’s important to note that many low-level crew members rely heavily on gratuities as they are usually paid lower wages than other industries.
The staff on a cruise ship works extremely hard to make your vacation a pleasure and these gratuities make up a large part of their compensation. It doesn’t matter if you ask the room steward to only make up the room every other day instead of every day or if you never eat in the main dining rooms. If you’re on the ship and two years or older, you’ll pay the charge.
Some cruise lines (but not all) will suggest waiving gratuities for children under the age of three. While not included in the headline price of a cruise, these charges are every bit a cost of your vacation, just like paying for the actual cabin. And since they are an extra charge that many people don’t expect, that leads to questions about exactly what gratuities are on a cruise and how they work. On most cruise lines that collect automatic gratuities, you’re able to remove or adjust the charges by visiting the passenger services desk. On NCL, passengers who don’t want to pay autograts need to file a claim for reimbursement after the cruise. Generally speaking, the entertainment staff is very well paid and on contract from an outside entertainment company.
If this is your course of action, consider offering a cash tip to those individuals who provided good service during your voyage. It is not often the case that all interactions with all crew members are substandard. So, take this opportunity to recognize the folks who worked hard to make your cruise pleasant. For example, passengers were once assigned a dining table and saw the same wait staff throughout the voyage. Today, we can eat in any number of venues and have a host of different servers. Cruise line employees work long hours with minimal time off, and they often go above and beyond to make your trip special.
It doesn't help that tipping etiquette and different cruise line policies on the practice can be baffling. Whether you're wondering how much to tip a cruise porter or the waiter on a cruise ship, there is a lot of gray area. That's why Cruise Critic's experts have broken down when to tip, how much to tip and whom to tip. Read on for our tips on tipping, so you won't be lost at sea when it comes time to show your appreciation for the cruise crew.
However, if you feel your stateroom steward went above and beyond in their service, feel free to increase the tip accordingly. You booked your cruise and are diving into the planning phase, but what about the cruise gratuities? One area that often prompts questions, even among veteran cruisers, is the topic of tipping and service charges. Cruise lines say they pass the money collected from service charges to the shipboard crew. They say the money is shared not just with front-of-house crew, such as room attendants and waitstaff, but also with behind-the-scenes workers. In that sense, the current system is more equitable than the old system of cash tipping, which favored certain workers, lines say.
Aussies trim costs as gratuities soar on overseas trips - Latest Cruise News & Updates Cruise Passenger
Aussies trim costs as gratuities soar on overseas trips.
Posted: Fri, 17 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
One exception is the piano player in the lounge—most accept tips for song requests or if you enjoyed their music. Some cruisers swear by tipping at the beginning of the cruise to ensure excellent service. I prefer waiting to see how the service is before deciding on an extra tip, but that’s just my preference. For other cruise lines, you’ll be able to adjust your autogratuities at the Passenger Services desk.
These start at $18 per person per day for Junior Suite passengers (and categories below that). Tips on Royal Caribbean rise to $20.50 per person per day for passengers in Grand Suites and above. The daily gratuities are applied to all passengers, regardless of age. Tips can either be prepaid up to three days prior to the start of your Disney cruise or will be automatically charged to onboard accounts. To adjust the amount of your automatic tips or to tip independently, see the purser's office.
Since this is the current pay structure for most major cruise lines, removing tips really affects the cruise line workers. Something to note is that although daily gratuities aren’t charged, there may be a service fee or tip added to certain services onboard. Princess Cruises will automatically charge a crew incentive of $14.50 per person, per day for guests in inside ocean view and balcony cabins. The gratuity is $15.50 per person, per day for guests in mini-suites and $16.50 per person, per day for guests in suites. Please note that gratuities are charged in US dollars for Caribbean, US and Canada cruises.
Norwegian Cruise Lines doesn’t charge gratuities for kids under three. However, for the most part you can expect that every passenger on your trip will see a charge. First of all, if you’re feeling a little confused, don’t worry — you aren’t alone.
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