Cruise gratuities: should we tip, or should they just pay the staff?

If you’ve spent any time on social media lately, you may have noticed that cruise gratuities are causing almost as much debate as sunbeds wars at 7am. ☀️🚢

Some cruisers are removing their daily gratuities, saying they'd rather reward by tipping who they want, when they want. Others say they wouldn’t dream of removing them, as it adversely affects behind the scenes staff members. And in the middle are people wondering why they’re being asked to tip at all after already paying thousands of pounds for their holiday and can't understand why these charges aren't just part of the main pricing!

So, what’s actually going on?

What are cruise gratuities?

On many cruise lines, a daily gratuity or service charge is automatically added to your onboard account. It’s usually charged per person, per day, rather than per cabin.

For example, Royal Caribbean currently charges $18.50 per person per day in standard accommodation and $21 in suites. Norwegian Cruise Line charges $20 per person per day in most accommodation, rising to $25 for The Haven and Suites.

That can add up surprisingly quickly. A couple on a seven-night cruise could easily be looking at $250-$350+ in gratuities, before they've bought a drink, booked an excursion or wandered anywhere near the onboard shops.

And that's one reason the debate has become heated - it can make cruise pricing seem so very deceptive.

So, who actually gets the money?

This is where things get complicated and the cruise lines don't seem too keen to clarify things.

Cruise gratuities generally form part of a pool or service-charge system that contributes towards the earnings of various crew members. This is where many people get upset, stating that cruise lines should simply pay staff a decent wage, rather than having a base payment and a top up contribution from gratuities.

Some cruise lines like Carnival, for example, state that its service gratuities are pooled and distributed in the form of additional wages, bonuses and/or crew benefits but it's not clear who, how or why these extras get paid...and this is important: not every crew member necessarily receives a share of the pool.

So removing your gratuities and 'paying as you go' to the people you want to reward, doesn't necessarily mean the money is simply taken away from the person who didn't provide the service levels you expect...it can have wider implications for crew members you don't see.

To add even more confusion to the mix, gratuities can also appear elsewhere - not just as part of this pre-paid charge. On many cruise lines, drinks, spa treatments and speciality dining can attract additional service charges. So after paying for your cruise and prepaying a gratuity charge, as soon as you purchase one of those services you'll be charged an additional automatic gratuity service charge, sometimes up to 18-20%. Crazy huh!!!

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So why do some people remove them?

There are several arguments being made.

Some cruisers feel that gratuities should simply be included in the advertised cruise fare and that staff should be paid properly by their employer. If passengers want to tip anyone for excellent service, they can then choose to do this.

Others dislike the idea of being presented with an automatic charge which is not clearly distributed and then having to visit Guest Services to remove it if they don't agree with it.

And then there is the rather understandable feeling of 'how many times am I tipping?

"I've already paid for my holiday. Why am I being asked for another $20 a day and then also being charged a service fee, for other things?"

A small number of cruise lines such as Marella and P&O, do include their gratuities in the base price of the cruise and don't expect any form of tipping, unless passengers want to. Randomly Virgin cruises used to have this as part of their base price but chose recently to separate out the gratuity charge - not a popular decision.

Interestingly, both Marella and P&O have strong UK connections which leads to the nationality issue in all this...

Tipping culture varies enormously around the world.

🇺🇸 US cruisers are generally much more accustomed to tipping as part of their everyday service culture. Automatic gratuities and service charges are much less unfamiliar for them, although there is still plenty of debate in the US about how much is reasonable and where the money goes.

🇬🇧 UK cruisers traditionally have a rather different relationship with tipping. We're certainly not strangers to tipping, but the idea of routinely adding a substantial daily gratuity to an already-paid holiday can feel less comfortable. This is particularly true for people used to cruising with British brands or on cruises where service charges are incorporated into the fare and then they switch. UK cruisers really prefer the notion of tipping who they want to reward good service, rather than blanket charges.

🇪🇺 European cruisers aren't 'one size fits all' either. Tipping customs vary considerably between countries. Some European and luxury cruise brands have moved towards including gratuities in the headline fare to accommodate this.

All this means two passengers can board the same ship with completely different expectations about what "tipping" actually means and they probably won't agree on the model in place.

The bottom line...

Cruise ships employ huge numbers of people, often from countries where wages and employment conditions are very different from those of the passengers.

For many crew members, the service-charge system is part of their overall remuneration.

So while removing gratuities may feel like a perfectly reasonable protest against the system, it is worth understanding that the consequences aren't necessarily felt by the cruise line operators but the staff themselves. The argument that you are removing gratuities because you disagree with the system isn't necessarily the same thing as withholding a tip because you received genuinely poor service.

Like it or not, those are two different conversations - gratuities on cruises have nothing to do with service levels provided.

So... should you remove your gratuities?

Honestly, I think that's a personal decision.

I'd encourage would be cruisers to chose their cruise line and their gratuity policy carefully and understand what they're actually removing before they do it.

If you genuinely believe cruise companies should include crew remuneration within the cruise fare, that's a perfectly understandable position but perhaps choosing a different cruise company that includes them, is a better option.

If you're interested in rewarding good service, that becomes a different issue and there is nothing to stop you 'tipping' individuals, although this might feel like a fourth charge. It's the one way of ensuring you don't adversely impact anyone but reward those you feel deserving..

When you're booking a cruise, you should be able to understand what you're actually paying, where that money goes, what is included, what isn't, and how much your holiday is really going to cost.

Personally, I think the biggest problem is the lack of transparency and the cruise lines that make things clearer or those that decide to wrap mandatory gratuities into the base price will win the day eventually...

Because this debate isn't going away.