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This increases to between $18-$25 for guests cruising in suites. Cruise gratuities are mainly charged on a per-night basis but there are a couple of other situations where you may be charged gratuities too. Cruise gratuities can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of your cruise so they are worth thinking about ahead of time. Instead of judging one another or criticizing the cruise lines, I think it’s important to know more about tipping and why the cruise lines have this practice in the first place. Further, cruise lines often ask staff members to volunteer for delivery service.
Oceania gratuities
Cruise News Update: New Ship, Gratuity Increase, Dining Changes - Cruise Hive
Cruise News Update: New Ship, Gratuity Increase, Dining Changes.
Posted: Sat, 04 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
However, a few lines don’t add autogratuities for babies and toddlers under age two or three. While most non-alcoholic beverages are included in your cruise fare, alcoholic drinks cost extra. Most premium drink packages include unlimited alcohol (or a 15-drink limit over 24 hours). If you purchase a beverage package, you must pre-pay the gratuity amount for the package’s total. When tipping on a cruise ship, bartenders and baristas are an important part of your vacation experience.
Gratuities by Cruise Line
AmaWaterways offers cruises on the Mekong River in South East Asia. For Mekong Cruises, it’s recommended to tip $10 per person per day for the staff and $3 per person per day for the Cruise Manager. For any additional tipping, the general rule of thumb is cash on the last day of the cruise (with exceptions, of course). Don't wait till the morning of disembarkation, though, when everybody is in a frenzied transition mode and it might be difficult to locate the staffer you're seeking. For example, Carnival does not charge tips for kids under two years old. Norwegian Cruise Lines doesn’t charge gratuities for kids under three.
Do You Have To Pay Gratuities on a Cruise?
And unfortunately, most contemporary cruise lines have increased or plan to increase these charges in 2023. In this post, we explain everything you need to know about cruise gratuities broken down by cost for each cruise line. In this complete guide to cruise gratuities for 2023, we explain everything you need to know and break down the costs by cruise line.
And when you leave the dining room, no need to drop down any money on the table. For some cruise lines (usually luxury lines), gratuities actually are included in the fare — you don’t pay anything extra apart from your cruise fare. In fact, the staff will love that you want to give them more money. If you want to pay extra, we suggest simply handing cash directly to the people you want to recognize for their service. This happens regularly for passengers feeling generous or thankful for the staff’s work during their trip. In fact, your cruise line might leave a few envelopes in your room exactly for this purpose.
The Ultimate Cruise Tipping Guide
Cunard, Costa, Holland America, and Oceanic Cruise Lines add gratuities to your onboard account. However, the rates vary depending on the cruise line and stateroom category. This can be a convenient option if you want to avoid any surprises on your final bill.
Silversea Cruises
You do not need to tip the maitre d', as they are a ship's officer and paid accordingly. Tipping isn't mandatory on a cruise, but you should consider that gratuities distributed onboard a modern cruise ship are much more than mere bonuses. Second, any time that you purchase anything service related — such as dinner at a specialty restaurant or a service at the spa — expect there to be a tip added on to the cost. Again, this normally runs around 18%, but can range from 15% to 20%, depending on the cruise line. The advantage here is that you get to hold on to more of your money for longer.
If you want to get the daily cruise tipping fees out of the way before your cruise and avoid last-night sticker shock, I always suggest that you pre-pay gratuities. Room service fees have become the norm on many major cruise lines. Room service waiters are also part of the tip pool for autogratuities. On the other hand, many luxury and boutique cruise lines (like Azamara, Regent Seven Seas and Silversea) have no-tipping policies in place. In these cases, the staff gratuities are built directly into the all-inclusive fares, and their crewmembers are paid accordingly. First, any time that you buy a drink from the bar, you will be charged an extra tip, usually 18%-20% of the menu price, depending on the cruise line.
Celebrity Cruises
If you prefer to pay your gratuity charges in advance, most cruise lines allow you to pre-pay them before you embark on your trip. In most cases, cruise gratuities are automatically added to your onboard account, so you don’t have to worry about carrying cash or calculating tips. Tips can either be prepaid up to three days prior to the start of your Disney cruise or will be automatically charged to onboard accounts. To adjust the amount of your automatic tips or to tip independently, see the purser's office.
Although not technically “required,” tips are nonetheless expected. Whether you choose to tip or not, it’s important to be aware of the expectations and guidelines for gratuities and tips on your specific cruise. While gratuities are seen as “expected”, additional cash tipping is optional. Passengers sailing to Hawaii are charged an additional 4.275% Pre Paid Service Charge GET Tax. Disney Cruise Line gratuities start at $14.50 per person, per night for regular cabins and rise to $15.50 per person, per night for Concierge-class and Suite guests.
Gratuities are not added to spa bills, so passengers can tip at their discretion. For most luxury lines, there’s no separate (additional) automatic gratuity charge on cruises. We break down tipping on a cruise to what you’ll pay depending on your stateroom category, plus any additional service fees.
You might want to reward your cabin steward, favorite bartender or MDR server, or any other crew member you think did a great job. Now, with automatic gratuities, the process is much simpler and you don’t need to carry all that cash. The cruise line assesses a daily fee and divides the money among the tipped crew. For many cruises that operate in the Australian market where tipping isn’t part of the culture, automatic gratuities aren’t added on to passenger bills.
If you have a major issue, however, you can change your gratuity amount accordingly. The vast majority of passengers are charged these tips, no matter if they are young, old, have special requests, eat in the main dining room, or only hit the buffet. Any amount is fine and will be appreciated by the hard-working crew. Even if you prepay for your shore excursions directly through the cruise line, it’s customary to tip your tour guides and drivers in cash after each excursion. Cruise lines just have contracts with their preferred shore excursion companies—the guides and drivers aren’t employees of the line.
An automatic 18% gratuity is added to Disney's bar, beverage, wine, spa and deck service tabs. It is suggested that cruisers tip a couple of dollars for room service as it's delivered, as this is not included. The "recommended" tipping amount for suites that's automatically added to your bill covers the butler service. For example, stay in a Queens Grill suite on a Cunard ship and you get a butler who can help with unpacking your suitcase to shining your shoes.
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