Tipping on Viking question

[Hawaiian Mongoose]

Hello All,

We are booked on our first Viking cruise this fall. How were gratuities handled for shipboard personnel? Was there a standard daily rate recommended or charged? Or was it the old style "last night envelope" method?

 

Thanks.

[sk8teacher]

Tipping on board is at your discretion. They suggest a gratuity of 12 Euro per guest, per day which is distributed among the ship's staff, including your Program Director.

 

Other guidelines are local guides, 2 Euro per person, drivers 1 Euro per person. Tip at the end of each tour in cash.

 

At the end of the trip you may pay in cash (dollars or Euros) or by credit card to settle on board account including gratuities.

 

Cheers,

[tring]

I have been told the same after an e-mail query.

 

I am sure I had previously seen a suggestion of £5 pppd day, yet 12 Euro's is about £10 pppd. I have never before felt suggested tips were over the top, but £10 pppd is triple the P&O suggested tip level.

 

Do river cruises always have that sort of suggestion, or have Viking just doubled the suggested tips - and possibly downed the staff wages!!

[sk8teacher]

I have only sailed Grand Circle and Viking, and that was the suggestion for both. I quoted right out of Vikings travel documents that I received Tuesday for our upcoming trip. That works out to just of $16 US or $32 US for a couple per day. Most ocean cruises do not suggest that high ($10-12 US per person).

 

But we have always been pleased with the service on Viking, and they have gone out of their way to accommodate us when we have asked for something out of the norm, so we always go by the guideline.

 

Cheers,

[beachwalker262]

One of the main reasons that river cruises tips are higher than ocean is that river cruises tips include your ships tour guide who is with you at all times from airport pickup to airport drop off and all tours in between. Well worth the amount suggested.

[tring]

Thanks for the comments on the recommended amount for tips. I found the original Viking entry (which is currently searchable on their website) and it suggests 10 Euros/£5 pppd, which has never been the exchange rate for those currencies. The Euro was worth £0.66 from when it was first introduced until a couple of years ago, when the value went up considerably, so that is part of the anomally.

 

I did not realise about the tour guides and transfers, which would be tipped extra on Ocean cruises. I had also heard that the American lines expect higher tip levels than the British ones, though we have never sailed on them. P&O and Fred Olsen recommend £3.50 to £4 pppd which is only about $5-6. I assume the staff are paid differently on British cruise lines, which would also explain why American Lines seem to charge less for their cruises at times.

 

Most Brits, like me, would prefer the staff wages were taken account of in the initial cruise pricing - then again there are those who do not tip at the recommended level (if at all)!!! I think very few people are in that latter group though. I gather there is a big culture difference accross the Atlantic in that respect and from this site I also gather that Viking do a lot of marketing in North America, so that also needs to be taken into account.

 

We are new to river cruising, so we yet need to learn how things work.

 

Thanks again.