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| How and Why on Tipping while you cruise |
I have many cruise and travel blogs and Social Media pages and I get this question very often.
What I discovered is that I often forget that most people know far less about cruising than I do.
The Crew Members work very hard for us and do their best to make our voyages as special as possible. And the Crews make most of their money from and tips their pay from the cruise line is small. So I always encourage to tip and tip well.You will be surprised at a little tipping can go along ways before the cruise even starts although it is not necessary to do so they should always be giving you the best experience they can.We Love the crew and 99.9% they always go above and beyond!
It is often said that cruises are "inclusive" vacations, but that term has very specific meanings in the travel industry, and while most cruises are "inclusive" only a few select cruise lines are "all-inclusive." On most cruise lines you have to pay separately for alcoholic drinks and for gratuities for your servers and other Crew Members.
The funny about that is this, however. They still take all of the cash and divvy it out. So, the cruise lines makes it simple for you and easy to do your basic tipping.
You are expected to tip your (1) room steward, (2) waiter, (3) the Maitre D' and (4) the busboy. In the old days we actually brought cash for tips with us and stuffed four envelopes at the end of the cruise. Some cruise lines still expect you to do that.
However, these days most cruise lines allow you to put the gratuities on your shipboard account in the recommended amounts, and that is what I highly recommend that you do. They simply adding a certain amount (about $10 per passenger per day) to your shipboard account that covers all of your gratuities and you don't have to do anything else to make sure all of your servers are covered.
Now, you should know a few details. First of all, when you sign for a drink, a massage or any other service, in most cases a service charge has already been added, anywhere from 10 to 18-percent. But the ticket will include a blank space for you to add an "additional gratuity." Why tip twice? You should like at your ticket and see what has been charged.Now many times if the service was beyond excellent I will add additional monies but if service is average than I do give them an additional tip beyond the service charge already included.
Be careful of Crew Members giving you a sob story about needing money. I have heard stories about crew members being "adopted" by passengers because they feel sorry for them. The cruise lines do not approve of Crew Members telling the guests personal stories about how much they miss their kids and how they are only working full time on the ship because they need to send the money home.In fact, that is probably true of most of the Crew Members on board, Is it true that they are well-paid compared to what they would normally make working in their home countries could be but make sure you only give what you can afford.
On the other hand, there may be a time when you feel someone went beyond the call Of DUTY for you. If you want to tip them extra then do it discretely in cash, in your stateroom where no one can see you, or some other quiet place. Remember that ships have surveillance cameras everywhere, and all employees who receive any gratuity are supposed to share it with the pool of tips, but if that is not your intention then tip your intended discretely.
Be sympathetic, but don't be a sucker. Happy Cruising!
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