Discover Cruise Vacations - You choose how to tip

My Personal Opinion

You'll be charged $10 per person, per day for gratuities that will be pooled and divided up among the crew with the lions share going to your cabin steward and dining room team, the ones you'll see most often and can have the most profound effect on your cruise.

Other personnel, such as Bar Waiters, Bellboys and Deck Stewards maybe tipped as service is rendered. 15% of the bill is automatically added to Sail & Sign beverage purchases which you may adjust appropriate to the service received.

There are some variations on how this is done from line to line but gratuities can be prepaid to Carnival at time of booking or anytime up to two weeks prior to sailing. In addition, most ships are now automatically adding tips to your onboard account as a courtesy to you. This is great if you don't feel comfortable handing out tips at the end of your journey, many people don't. Also, there's no figuring to do, they take care of it. You are always, (and they make this perfectly clear) able to adjust the amount of tips up or down, depending on the level of service you receive.

Before this program your cabin steward would leave a few envelopes in your room prior to the last dinner of the cruise. On each envelope was written the name of the person that would get the envelope. You put cash inside and gave it to them personallty.

On Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, for example, you have a choice of pre-paying gratuties or paying them youself with cash at the end,

That's another point in favor of the new cashless automatic tipping. You don't have to come up with the cash. ATM's are available on board but frequently ran out of cash under the old system and we used to bring a LOT more cash with us just to take care of the tips. Now we bring mostly small bills, ones and fives and tens, the kind we can't get out of an ATM

The Guidelines

Theron's Tip Calculator

This handy adn pooular tip calculator from Theron Keller on the Cruise Critics Message board isfun to play with and lets you plan ahead too! He's set it up to use for all the major cruise lines. Theron is a software engineer who put his know-how to work for something important- a cruise-related endeavor! This guy really knows his stuff...see for yourself!

Carnival's Tipping- Reverse Gratuity Policy and Pre-Paid Gratuitiy Policy

Guests can pay their shipboard gratuities in one of two ways:

1. Reverse Gratuity Policy - For our guests' convenience, we automatically add the recommended gratuities to the onboard Sail & Sign account on embarkation day.

Guests will have the discretion to adjust these gratuities based upon the level of service received during the cruise. This includes the option to adjust gratuities (up or down) for any individual on the Dining or Housekeeping staff. In order to do so, the guest will need to visit the Information Desk on board.

2. Pre-Paid Gratuity Policy - Gratuities are pre-arranged and paid at the time of booking or any time up to two weeks prior to the sail date.

All guests on each booking must prepay the gratuities, with the exception of children under two. Guests will have the discretion to adjust these gratuities based upon the level of service received during the cruise. This includes the option to adjust gratuities (up or down) for any individual on the Dining or Housekeeping staff. In order to do so, the guest will need to visit the Information Desk on board.

The dollar amount of the gratuities will appear in the Miscellaneous Charge field on the booking. The guest copy on the cruise ticket will indicate if gratuities have been paid.

The total amount will be $10 per guest, per day, which breaks down as follows:

$5.50 pp/pd for Dining Team Service (Headwaiter and Waiter)
$1 pp/pd for Bistro Service (Waiter/Cooks)
$3.50 pp/pd for Cabin Services (Cabin Steward)

Tipping the Maitre D' is strictly at guest's discretion, based upon services rendered. For guests who wish to extend this gratuity in cash, an envelope will be available on the last evening of the cruise.

Tipping still applies regardless of the dining options selected, such as eating at the casual dining restaurant or utilizing room service.

Bar Waiters, Deck Stewards and Bell Boys - Certain personnel, as noted above, may be tipped as service is rendered. A 15% gratuity is automatically added to beverage purchases which the guest may adjust appropriate to the service received.

Good Question

Ok Chris, but what about kids? Should the crew get the same tips as for adults for little kids?

I think this topic is one of the reasons for the automatic tipping. Under this program you don't have to make this call, it's done for you.

I don't think one of the variables in determining the tip value of services rendered should be the age or height of the person receiving the service. If you want to follow that line of thinking then where do you draw the line. Under 21= 3/4 of the tips because they don't require liquor service Under 18= a little less because they don't use the casino, Under 12= half because they could have bought Happy Meals at McDonalds and Under 6= nothing because....well just because?

But don't get me wrong, I would and have adjusted tips depending on the level of service we receive.

When our kids were little I hated it when we would go to a restaurant and get lousy service. You just knew that the waiter had sized us up and stamped on our foreheads FAMILY= BAD TIPPERS so he concentrated his efforts elsewhere. He was wrong to do that but his was a self fulfilling prophecy. He gave lousy service and I sure wasn't going to prove him wrong by giving him a great tip.

I think my new guiding light is something like this

"Leave the tips alone unless they do something really good or really bad, then adjust them promptly and accordingly"

If I come in the cabin after it has been cleaned and THIS time there are only 3 wash cloths instead of 4 I am not going to go rushing down to the pursers desk, arms flailing in the breeze, shouting TAKE OFF ALL THE TIPS THIS SHIP IS JUST AWFUL.

So be fair would be my opinion

I mean if your kids were 17 and 18 you probably wouldn't even think about this. The crew still has to provide services to your children regardless of thier age or size, sometimes more if kids are kids and do those things ....well you get the idea

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