USA TODAY's guide to cruise ship gratuity charges

[-Lew-]

Presented without comment: USA TODAY's guide to cruise ship gratuity charges

[Selion]

A good summary of current cruise lines' service charges. We all pay for the crews' salaries, whether it's through service charges or higher cruise fares.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I for one would rather see higher fares and no daily gratuity charge. As long as people are permitted to remove the daily gratuity charge, I can't help but feel that my higher daily charges (that keep going up and up!) are subsidizing those who remove the daily charges.

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited April 3, 2017 by sunsetbeachgal

[JF - retired RRT]

Well, I have a comment...the first paragraph says grats are $23/day/pp. Where'd they get that??

In the breakdown, none of the charges come anywhere close.

[msmoger]

Well, I have a comment...the first paragraph says grats are $23/day/pp. Where'd they get that??

 

I assume they were referring to:

 

Oceania Cruises

Daily gratuity charge: $16

Note: Passengers staying in top suites with butler service pay $23. Company policy.

Additional charges: An 18% gratuity is added to bar bills, the bill for extra-charge eatery La Reserve and for services at ship spas.

[Thrak]

There was a recent Cruise Critic article on tipping which suggested definitely not tipping extra in the "for fee" venues such as Crown Grill as a gratuity is already included in the cost of the meal. Same thing with drinks where the gratuity is automagically added on.

[pjrockman]

There was a recent Cruise Critic article on tipping which suggested definitely not tipping extra in the "for fee" venues such as Crown Grill as a gratuity is already included in the cost of the meal. Same thing with drinks where the gratuity is automagically added on.

 

 

Hate to jump in on a tipping thread, but when you are making reservations now for Crown (or others) in your cruise personalizer, it lists the $29 price and says 'price excludes gratuity'. Noticed it after they started allowing reservations for specialty dining. I snapped a pic of it on my iPad, but doubt that I will be able to post. However if you have a current cruise scheduled, go to your personalizer, hit specialty dining at the top, hit make a reservation at Crown and it is in italics.

 

Just thought that was interesting. Paul

 

 

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[pjrockman]

 

 

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[caribill]

Hate to jump in on a tipping thread, but when you are making reservations now for Crown (or others) in your cruise personalizer, it lists the $29 price and says 'price excludes gratuity'. Noticed it after they started allowing reservations for specialty dining. I snapped a pic of it on my iPad, but doubt that I will be able to post. However if you have a current cruise scheduled, go to your personalizer, hit specialty dining at the top, hit make a reservation at Crown and it is in italics.

 

 

Waitstaff in the specialty restaurants are included in the daily gratuity tipping pool.

[Lucky TGO]

Presented without comment: USA TODAY's guide to cruise ship gratuity charges

 

Thanks Lew.

Tony

[RocketMan275]

There was a recent Cruise Critic article on tipping which suggested definitely not tipping extra in the "for fee" venues such as Crown Grill as a gratuity is already included in the cost of the meal. Same thing with drinks where the gratuity is automagically added on.

Just one persons opinion. Personally, we tip extra in the specialty and at bars. We always experience better than normal service.

[SantaFeFan]

Just one persons opinion. Personally, we tip extra in the specialty and at bars. We always experience better than normal service.

 

The question I have is "what is normal service?" If you always tip extra, how do you know you are getting better service than if you didn't?

 

Not trying to be snarky. Just looking for usable information I can use to make a decision whether or not to tip extra at places where they are already being tipped in the price of the product.

[GRAYTech]

The question I have is "what is normal service?" If you always tip extra, how do you know you are getting better service than if you didn't?

 

I thought that too and not trying to be snarky either. Doesn't matter if we are on board a ship or at a local eatery. The amount (and if) to tip comes down to the service. Is the waiter attentive, feels like they are meeting your every need or ... where the heck is the waiter with that beer I asked for 20 minutes ago? It's usually someplace in between and so is the tip.

 

Last Crown Grill meal we had the waiter was spot-on and the tip reflected it.

[Selion]

I always feel tipping is up to the person receiving the service. Now since mass market lines are collecting tips form me before hand, I don't feel the need to tip extra. I enjoyed the level of service I received. But I did tip extra for our room steward. He did an excellent job.

 

On the other hand, extra tips to show your appreciation for the crews' hard work are surely appreciated by them. What's an extra $1 tip for a drink to you if you can afford it? It will make a difference for the bartender.

 

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[RocketMan275]

The question I have is "what is normal service?" If you always tip extra, how do you know you are getting better service than if you didn't?

 

Not trying to be snarky. Just looking for usable information I can use to make a decision whether or not to tip extra at places where they are already being tipped in the price of the product.

Of course, there is the other side of that coin. How would you recognize superior service if you've never tipped extra?

 

Beyond normal service:

- the bartender reaches for the Knob Creek when you walk in.

- the bartender asks if you want a double or triple.

 

Here's an experiment. Try tipping extra and see if service doesn't improve.

[cruzsnooze]

I for one would rather see higher fares and no daily gratuity charge. As long as people are permitted to remove the daily gratuity charge, I can't help but feel that my higher daily charges (that keep going up and up!) are subsidizing those who remove the daily charges.

 

 

 

 

 

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Actually you are but not usually for US pax. The tips are collected fleet wide and distributed by class of ship. crew is given the $$ depending on their tenure, size of ship, evaluations and so on and so forth. because many countries don't tip such as Australia and new Zealand we US pas are supplementing them. That why your tips don't stay on the ship you sailed on. The only way to show your displeasure about this is to reduce your auto tip to $10 PP PD which is what the crew makes from your gratuity, let the cruise line deal with the non paying countries , it's not my problem to supplement them.

[caribill]

Actually you are but not usually for US pax. The tips are collected fleet wide and distributed by class of ship. crew is given the $$ depending on their tenure, size of ship, evaluations and so on and so forth. because many countries don't tip such as Australia and new Zealand we US pas are supplementing them. That why your tips don't stay on the ship you sailed on. The only way to show your displeasure about this is to reduce your auto tip to $10 PP PD which is what the crew makes from your gratuity, let the cruise line deal with the non paying countries , it's not my problem to supplement them.

 

I asked on a Princess cruise last year and an officer in the payroll area told me that the tips collected for a ship are distributed only to staff on that ship. No sharing with other ships.

[iceleven]

Actually you are but not usually for US pax. The tips are collected fleet wide and distributed by class of ship. crew is given the $$ depending on their tenure, size of ship, evaluations and so on and so forth. because many countries don't tip such as Australia and new Zealand we US pas are supplementing them. That why your tips don't stay on the ship you sailed on. The only way to show your displeasure about this is to reduce your auto tip to $10 PP PD which is what the crew makes from your gratuity, let the cruise line deal with the non paying countries , it's not my problem to supplement them.

I do believe that the cruises out of those countries generally have a higher rate-per-day than cruises originating in the U.S. I am only guessing here but perhaps they pay their crew at a higher rate than those sailing out of the states.

[Johnamac123]

I contacted the author to correct the RCI bar gratuity rate to 18%. He replied that he would do so "right away".

[pablo222]

There was a recent Cruise Critic article on tipping which suggested definitely not tipping extra in the "for fee" venues such as Crown Grill as a gratuity is already included in the cost of the meal.

 

Doesn't make it true.

[GUT2407]

I do believe that the cruises out of those countries generally have a higher rate-per-day than cruises originating in the U.S. I am only guessing here but perhaps they pay their crew at a higher rate than those sailing out of the states.

That's what I've been told on board.

[brian1]

I do believe that the cruises out of those countries generally have a higher rate-per-day than cruises originating in the U.S. I am only guessing here but perhaps they pay their crew at a higher rate than those sailing out of the states.

Hi,I am confused are you talking about the tip rate or wages?The tip rate in europe is the same as US.Princess Aus,the locally booked cruisers dont pay but it is reflected in a higher cruise prices as far as I know,cheers,Brian.

[sunsetbeachgal]

It also seems to me, and please correct if I am wrong, that the increases in daily gratuity rates have been more frequent over the past several years.

 

Does anyone have statistics of the Princess daily gratuity rate for example in late 2011 or 2012 and the dates and % increases since then? Something tells me the percentage increase is much higher than inflation and wage growth around the world.

 

 

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Edited April 5, 2017 by sunsetbeachgal

[cruzsnooze]

I asked on a Princess cruise last year and an officer in the payroll area told me that the tips collected for a ship are distributed only to staff on that ship. No sharing with other ships.

They also tell you that 6PM isconfirmed traditional dining which they don't offer.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I went through some of my cruise files over the past few years and following is a summary of the daily gratuity fee for non-suite cabin. I don't have any records prior to this:

 

January, 2015 $ 11.50 per person per day

January, 2016 $ 12.95 per person per day

February, 2017 $13.50 per person per day

 

This is a total 17.4% increase in two years!