It is always a team effort. The staff that deal directly with the customer would fall on their faces if not being propped up by those behind the scenes. Gratuities are part of the compensation for some staff, including the people you never see.
Only Princess knows who and how much work the crew not seen by passengers does. Letting Princess distribute the tips is the only way to not cheat many of the staff out of money.
That is absurd. Because they allow you to doesn't mean they want you to.
Tradition and industry standard. A cruise line would be at a competitive disadvantage to do so. They would have to raise cruise prices higher than the competition and we all know cheap people pick cruises based on price alone.
Besides currency being filthy? Or the purser having to have a zillion dollars in change including coins for those who calculate to the nearest penny? I remember the jingling of coins in the envelopes and more than one breaking open.
There is no conspiracy to see here.
There are 3 types of penguins (king, gentoo, Magellanic) at Volunteer Point. There are lots of King penguins. Most of the penguins are segregated, but free to move around if they choose.
Next time, I'm going to Seal Bay which is even farther. Not as many penguins, but up to 5 varieties!