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Along with the April 2023 increase, the gratuity amount was last increased in May 2022. Later I learned that the porters outside of the cruise terminal are not cruise line employees at all! In North America, most cruise terminal porters are longshoremen. At some North American ports, you’ll see signs stating that the porters do not accept tips. You also shouldn’t tip the cruise director, the entertainment staff, or any independent entertainers like musical guests, comedians, or magicians.
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Most cruise lines add daily gratuity fees directly to your onboard account throughout your cruise. Plus, different onboard experiences, from using your stateroom mini-bar to dining in a specialty restaurant, have an added fee. If you don’t decide to prepay the tips, then the amount is automatically charged to your onboard account each day. When it comes time to settle your final bill at the end of the cruise, you’ll have the gratuity charges to pay as well. Norwegian Cruise Line charges a daily service fee of $15.50 per person, per day for guests in standard cabins and $18.50 per person per day for guests in suites and The Haven. Most contemporary and premium cruise lines will automatically charge a daily gratuity to each passenger’s account for the crew’s service.
Additional Tipping When Gratuities Are Already Included
The tips are spread out between the room steward, dining staff, and others that have customer-facing positions. That said, cruise lines are quiet on exactly how the charges are distributed. With the introduction of automatic gratuities, it’s much more difficult to avoid paying tips on your cruise. That said, in theory you could request that tips be removed from your account and not tip at all. In the past, the process used to be that the cruise line would put envelopes in your room on the last day of the cruise. Passengers would then put cash in the envelope for the crew members.
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You can pick up more envelopes at Guest Services if there are additional crew members you would like to tip. First of all, don't neglect any post-cruise questionnaires, which provide an opportunity to rave about your cabin attendant directly to his or her employer. There are also usually comment cards available at the purser's desk or online for additional recognition. Your glowing review can help a hardworking crew member earn a promotion or raise. If you go on a tour or shore excursion, it’s nice to tip the driver or shore excursion staff if you’ve appreciated their service.
How Much to Tip Cruise Ship Officers
It’s customary to give them cash between $2-5 when they bring the food. So for instance, if a husband and wife are sailing, then each will be charged the daily gratuity amount. If there is a family of four, then all four people are charged the daily gratuity, no matter if they are in one room or two.
Norwegian Cruise Line
These days, the gratuities are set daily amounts paid by each passenger. Instead of one passenger paying a lot and another paying hardly anything, these set amounts ensure that everyone pays the same. In addition, when you reserve specialty restaurants, dining packages, drink packages, and spa services on Royal Caribbean’s Cruise Planner website, the gratuity will be added upon checkout. We almost always recommend prepaying gratuities before your cruise begins.
How to Pay Tips on a Cruise Ship
That means people like the room steward who cleans your cabin and the dining staff. Because gratuity is already included in the price of these purchases onboard, it’s not necessary to tip extra. However, many passengers still like to tip a few dollars with a drink or specialty restaurant dinner to show their appreciation. Most payments on your cruise vacation will be completely digital, so most passengers only use cash onboard to give additional tips to crew members. Paying in advance also locks in the current gratuity rate in case it were to increase. It’s not uncommon for cruise lines to increase daily gratuity by $1 or $2 every few years.
Most cruise lines offer automated gratuity options that charge a standard daily gratuity fee to the credit card you've placed on file for each day of your cruise. This fee ranges anywhere from $12.50 to upward of $20 per person, per day, depending on the cruise line -- usually on the higher end if you're staying in a suite. Norwegian Cruise Line has onboard service charge will is charged automatically for guests 3 and up, and distributed among staff that serve you in various ways. Rather than reducing the amount payed, they point out on their website that they will work to resolve any service issues experienced.
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The stated reason for the latter (compulsory nature of this fee) is to ensure that all passengers pay their fair share. Although not technically “required,” tips are nonetheless expected. Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian automatically add a room service delivery fee.
These include Azamara, Crystal, P&O Cruises, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Seabourn, Silversea, and Virgin Voyages. As previously noted, spa and salon staff members get a portion of the automatic service charge added to your stateroom bill for these treatments. You are free, however, to tip staff members extra if you’re especially impressed with their work. However, for the majority of mass market cruise lines the gratuities are extra charges on the price of your cruise. These can be a surprise to some people, especially first-time passengers.
Reviewing your cruise line’s tipping policy before boarding is essential, as guidelines vary on how much is expected daily for cruise gratuities. That said, if you want to, you can often adjust the charges (either up or down) while you're on board by visiting the guest relations desk. If you are adjusting a gratuity charge downward, expect to be asked about the reasons behind the adjustment.
Likewise, tipping the bartender at your favorite bar on the first day can mean the perfect drink every time (and maybe even faster service when you're in a crowd). If you're after a coveted window seat, a nice tip to the maitre d' on day one can help ensure that they never fails to have that table waiting. Whether or not to tip a cruise ship bartender is at each passenger’s discretion. The staff members that receive your gratuities cover a variety of positions. On embarkation day of my very first cruise, a porter came up to my taxi and whisked my luggage away, seconds after I got out of the car.
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