Still not clear about gratuities

[Jay Bee]

I have seen conflicting information on the various gratuities so here are my questions:

 

1. Is it true that gratuities are automatically added to your account once on board? Or is it merely a suggestion that you must confirm somehow?

 

2. Are the above gratuities for on board staff only? Or do they include the local guides and drivers for Viking sponsored excursions?

 

3. For excursions Viking recommends tipping $2 pp for guide and $1 pp for driver. I'm not sure what to do with these guidelines since excursion costs vary from free to many hundreds of dollars and also vary considerably in duration. Any way you slice it, these numbers are way less than we are accustomed to giving (10 to 20% of tour cost), but perhaps it is customary for the region (Baltics). Suggestions?

 

Thank you,

Jan

[HUNKY]

"From the Hotel Manager to receptionists, from restaurant servers to stateroom stewards, Viking’s onboard staff are 100% dedicated to serving our guests. Tips are not included in your cruise price, but are a voluntary way of showing satisfaction for good service. You may tip onboard staff in cash if you like, or you may charge your tips to your credit card at the end of the cruise (certain countries are exempted). These gratuities are distributed among the ship’s staff. Tour Escorts or Program Directors that travel with you do not share in the onboard staff gratuities. It is customary to tip them separately in cash."

 

In addition, the FAQ section "Life on Board", details the suggested amounts.

[Lucky Granny]

Viking automatically adds tips to your onboard credit to be charged to your credit card. You would have to change this at Guiest Services if you do not want to tip that way. We left extra for our room stewards who did such a great job. They may or may not have shared that with the rest of the crew. I did not personally tip anyone else onboard. For the Vikings Homelands cruise, $196 was added to my account. We tipped the guides and bus drivers additionally, regardless of the cost of the excursion. We were more generous with the guides who excelled and, of course, with the two-day excursion to St. Pettersburg guide who was fantastic. I personally tipped more than the $1 and $2 guideline, but sometimes, if using a foreign currency, I was not exactly sure how much I tipped. lol We tipped in local currency, Euros, and USD, sometimes in combination.

[Jay Bee]

Thank you!

 

Do you happen to know it the gratuities charged include the Cruise Director (not sure of the correct term...Tour Director? Program Manager?) We have only been on Viking River and while the Cruise Director provided many on board services and lectures, he also took several walking tours in port.

 

Thanks,

Jan

[Lucky Granny]

Sorry, I don't know specifically about the Cruise Director. I assumed he is either included or well paid. He did a great job. He was not on any of our excursions, but could have been on others.

[id4elizabeth]

On our cruise (50-day maiden) there was no separate tip for Cruise Director. We just got back from a Viking RIVER cruise, we asked for envelopes as opposed to the auto gratuity and there was one envelope for Staff and a separate one for Program Director. On the Oceans cruise we only got one envelope that said Gratuities - no separate one for Cruise Director.

 

Spa staff are tipped separately.

 

For the local guides and bus drivers, we tipped the recommended amount for half day tours and double for full day tours. Did not tip based on costs as most are "free". We adjusted up and down based on quality. We tipped in either local currency, Euros or US$.

[Jay Bee]

On our cruise (50-day maiden) there was no separate tip for Cruise Director. We just got back from a Viking RIVER cruise, we asked for envelopes as opposed to the auto gratuity and there was one envelope for Staff and a separate one for Program Director. On the Oceans cruise we only got one envelope that said Gratuities - no separate one for Cruise Director.

 

Spa staff are tipped separately.

 

For the local guides and bus drivers, we tipped the recommended amount for half day tours and double for full day tours. Did not tip based on costs as most are "free". We adjusted up and down based on quality. We tipped in either local currency, Euros or US$.

 

thank you. that is helpful. :)