That is the Question
One of the most hotly debated topics, if not THE most hotly debated topic, when it comes to cruising is gratuities, or tips.
While I titled this post Gratuities: To pay or not to pay, I don’t think the question is really whether or not to pay, but HOW to pay and how much. I mean, I would like to think that everyone is tipping the crew in some fashion. Almost all US based cruise lines have gratuities that are automatically added to your base cruise fare. On most lines, cruisers have the option to have those gratuities removed if they are willing to stand in line and do so.
Cruise lines that charge an automatic gratuity do so per day, per person and that cost often differs based on the type of cabin you are staying in, with suite guests usually paying higher gratuities for their upgraded service. And these costs have been going up recently on almost every line. The claim being made by the cruise lines is that these gratuities are being doled out, not only to the crew that you directly interact with, but to those behind the scenes like those in laundry and the kitchen. I don’t think most people have a problem with that. The question that gets batted about is HOW those gratuities are being split and if all of the money is actually going to the crew or if the line is skimming some of that for themselves. I think if the lines would just be transparent about what percentage of the gratuities are going to various crew, most cruisers would be okay with that. However, that isn’t happening. Even crew members will tell you that they don’t know how the gratuities are split up or what percentage they get. They just that know that their pay stubs have a line item showing a portion came from gratuities paid by cruisers.
There are cruise lines out there that do not add gratuities to your cost of cruising, but instead just incorporate any additional pay for their crew into cruise fares. Most of these lines are based in countries where tipping is just not part of the culture. They make sure they charge enough for services that people are paid well without customers needing to bump up pay by adding a tip. Unfortunately, tipping is a major part of American culture, and instead of slowing down, it is just getting worse. It isn’t just waitresses working for less than minimum wage that you are now expected to tip (and the percentage of people working those less than minimum wage jobs comes to less than 2% in the US). We are being expected to tip at more places and at a higher percentage. The percentage you are expected to tip has increased as well. It used to be 10% minimum, then 15%, now people are insulted if you don’t tip 20% or more. So it isn’t surprising that the cruise industry pushes tipping as well.
I wish all cruise lines just paid their crew well and charged guests enough to do so without the need for gratuities, but that is unlikely to ever happen no matter how much cruisers wish it would.
I consider the automatic gratuities as part of the cost of cruising and even choose to have them prepaid. I have just made the decision to not have a problem with it and choose to trust that all the money is making it into the hands of the crew. I will not be taking away money that people depend on as part of their salary just because I don’t have direct contact with them. Unless a whistleblower comes forward with proof that not all the gratuities are making it to the crew, what else can we really do?
There are various reasons why people choose to have the auto gratuities removed.
- They have them removed and take that money and pay those who they have direct contact with or who they believe deserve a tip for making their cruise extra special.
- There are definitely people out there who just have them removed and aren’t really using it to tip anyone; they are just lowering the cost of their cruise. I hope there aren’t many out there like that, but…
- Some have actual issues with their cruise and experience bad service, so they choose to have the auto gratuities removed so no tips go to those who supplied them with less than average service. This is done because you cannot choose to have your auto gratuities taken away from one service area and put towards another. You might be able to lower the overall amount, but not designate where it goes.
Service would have to be unbelievably bad for me to remove any of the auto gratuities. Like I said, I see them as just part of the cruise cost. I pay it early and don’t think about it again.
The next question is whether or not to tip above and beyond those auto gratuities. My first cruise I didn’t know anything about cruising and didn’t even know tipping was a thing. That was over 20 years ago. Since then I had been tipping A LOT. I tipped my cabin steward twice, both at the beginning and end of my cruise. I was tipping a dollar almost every time I got a drink at the bar (and since I get the drinks package, that was a lot of dollars). I tipped the wait staff at the main dinning room. It was a lot of tipping for someone who wasn’t removing the auto gratuities.
I made a choice on my recent cruise to pull back a little on the tipping. First off, you are already charged an 18% gratuity for your drinks. Whether you buy them individually, or you purchase a drinks package, you’ve already tipped for that drink. My new philosophy on tipping for drinks is to only tip if I am spending most of my time at one bar. When you do that, the bartenders get to know you, your drink preferences, and will often give you preferential treatment. I had this on a Carnival cruise once when I spend most of my time hanging out at the Red Frog Rum Bar. I tipped regularly and had my favorite bar tenders. When the bar was busy, I got served quickly. They knew my name and knew what drinks I liked. On my recent cruise, there was a bar waiter (they don’t make the drinks, but take orders and bring you your drinks) in the atrium who made sure that he came over to see if I needed a drink as soon as he saw me. I made sure to give him a tip on our last day of the cruise and thank him for such excellent service. No matter how busy the atrium got, if he was working, I was sure to have a drink fairly quickly.
I no longer tip my cabin steward twice. I had done this because I had read on a cruise forum that people would tip their steward on the first day to ensure good service. I have since realized that is unnecessary. They are going to provide good service because that is their job. If I were to get service above and beyond, then I would definitely tip more than normal, but at the end of the cruise.
Since I usually choose anytime dining or freestyle dining when I cruise, I rarely tip the waitstaff in the MDR. It isn’t often that you will have the same waiters more than once if you aren’t choosing a set time where you have a set table and the same waitstaff every night. However, I have tipped before when I had the same waiters a few times despite choosing anytime dining, and they had quickly learned my preference of having lots of warm bread! If I were to go back to a set dining time, I would choose to tip the wait staff unless the service was subpar. But let’s be honest, I’ve had subpar service and still gave something of a tip.
Honestly, I just wish the cruise lines would pay their crew what they are worth and stop relying on cruisers to supplement crew salary with the auto gratuities. Let us decide if we feel like someone deserves a tip for excellent service or not. I would much rather have that same amount I pay in auto gratuities added to the base fare of the cruise. If cruise lines did that, the crew would be paid better consistently and not need to depend on cruisers not removing those auto gratuities.
So what is your tipping policy when it comes to cruising? Are you a generous tipper? Do you have the auto gratuities removed? If so, why and what do you do instead? Leave a comment below and let’s get a conversation started.
Cruising From The Ozarks 