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As a rule, we generally are very clean and tidy up our cabin. On some cruises, we ask for no service for several nights and sometimes never see the steward. I believe we are doing as much or more than financially rewarding them by not asking for anything at all. All of this complicates the question of which crew members to tip extra and when it’s appropriate to tip on a cruise. So we have put together a quick guide on what we have experienced in 20 years of cruising when it comes to tips for the crew.
Remember to pack a fan for the room
It’s rare they will kick you off the ship unless you are endangering other passengers or causing a disturbance. If you can, look for a cabin that sits on the upper decks of the ship. No, it’s not because higher decks offer great views (although that’s a great perk!). Head to a deck that’s open to the water and you’ll notice there are railings everywhere.
Oceania Cruises
Cruise gratuities are divided among your cruise cabin steward, waiters and other crew members who work as support behind the scenes. When you pay for specialty dining on your, even if it’s a perk in a package from cruise lines like Norwegian, you’re going to be paying a mandatory gratuity when booking. Knowing we’re paying an automatic tip means that the service should be special to consider tipping extra in the specialty dining restaurants on a ship. When that happens, I’ll generally leave an extra $10 +/- for a specialty dining restaurant tip. For example, Norwegian offers a complimentary Open Bar drinks package for travelers who book its Free at Sea promotion.
Complete Guide to Cruise Ship Gratuities for 2024
Each passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise pays a daily gratuity to cover the services of hard working crew members onboard. These gratuities are shared among the dining, bar, and culinary teams, stateroom attendants, and the hotel service team. When tipping in the cruise line spa, it’s important to remember that a standard gratuity fee is often automatically added to your bill each day. For instance, an added gratuity of 18 to 20 percent will be included if you purchase a massage or salon service. When giving gratuities on a cruise, it’s important to acknowledge that your money goes beyond the housekeeping and dining staff.
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Once you leave the ship, the deals they’re offering will be gone. It’s true that tipping isn’t the same on cruises as it is in other places—after all, most cruises are all-inclusive. But those opportunities are harder to come by these days, thanks to sophisticated computer algorithms that do a great job of adjusting prices to fill bookings earlier. For the Room Steward, you give “about $50-$75 for a 7-day cruise in addition to the prepaid gratuities” for services above expectations.
Make any reservations early for the best times
The amount you tip is up to you, but anywhere from $2 – $5 per bag is typical. Porters work hard every day at the cruise terminal and rely heavily on the tips they receive. That means you should expect that every passenger sailing the cruise line will see the crew appreciation charge when sailing. So a family of four in a balcony cabin will see a charge of $64 ($16 x 4) each day. If this happens, you’ll have to find your own travel to the cruise ship’s next port of call.
The amount you tip is up to you—I generally give about $5 per person per day to my stateroom steward. For favorite bartenders or waitstaff, I give about $20 to each for a seven-day cruise. Until fairly recently, cruise passengers customarily tipped only in cash, in person. Cruisers would have to tip each of their service personnel (the cabin steward, restaurant servers, bartenders, etc.) separately, near the end of the cruise. If mainstream cruise lines decided to abolish tipping and pay all crew members a reasonable rate per hour, they would have to significantly raise the cost of cruise fares.
You would think that paying a hefty daily tip would cover everyone on the ship. In fact, there are a couple of instances where paying additional gratuity is recommended or automatic. The advantage here is that you get to hold on to more of your money for longer. Instead of handing over the charges well in advance of your sailing, you can keep it until you’re actually on your cruise. The staff isn’t likely to treat you any differently or even know that you aren’t tipping (after all, some people still like to pay cash at the end of the cruise).
Also, if you pre-pay your gratuities, and should the cruise line raise the cruise tip amount before you sail, you are “grandfathered-in” at the previous lower rate. Finally, if you order anything from room service, then it’s expected that you give a couple of bucks to the staff member that delivers the food. One perk of pre-paying gratuities is that if you pre-pay and the rate later increases, you aren’t charged the higher rate. Bottom line is that it comes down to personal preference.
And when you leave the dining room, no need to drop down any money on the table. While the cruise lines might say differently, we think that gratuities aren’t included in the headline price for marketing purposes. There’s little doubt that the extra tips can be expensive. The cost for two people on a week-long cruise can be well above $200. On the cruise line side, that money gets cut up to be distributed. The tips are spread out between the room steward, dining staff, and others that have customer-facing positions.
Room service on a cruise – Remember, it’s never required to tip, but usually people who make use of onboard room service leave a small tip of $1-$5 per delivery. Remember, you’re never going to get treated poorly if you do not tip extra! Some passengers just choose to tip extra to feel like they’re getting priority service, but in reality, I rarely see anyone get served ahead of another customer because they’re tippers.
Of course, you’d expect there to be a railing to keep people from accidently falling overboard. However, some people like to treat these rails as fun spots to sit for a photo or kids like to climb on the railings. Sodas and other drinks aren’t free on a trip, but tea, lemonade and water are. A little trick is to bring a few packs of those drink flavors (available in every grocery store).
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