Cruise ships tipping · Tipping in Cruise ships
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Tipping in Cruise ships
Tipping in Cruise ships
Tips on-board take two forms...the surcharges for special drinks, specialty restaurants and some services (discussed below), and (ultimately optional) tips for the ship's staff (not officers) usually levied at the end of the cruise.
Learn the cruise line's recommendations for tipping the ship's staff. They suggest "appropriate" optional amounts...a crucial part of staff income. Amounts recommended may vary somewhat by your class of cabin.
Many cruise lines add those amounts to passengers' shipboard accounts automatically. This method ensures that all staff contributing to your cruise experience (e.g., cooks, cleaning and maintenance workers), not just your waiter and cabin steward, receive some extra income and recognition.
- No automatic gratuities go to ship's officers.
You can opt to decline or adjust this arrangement as desired before cruise end. Royal Caribbean and some others offer the option in advance.
As inducement to regular customers, some cruise agencies may pay standard gratuities.
Whether automatically or in-person, any crew member who has especially enhanced your cruise experience deserves something...perhaps in-addition to automatic amounts.
Some cruise lines have a "no-tipping" policy, often aimed at the European market where tipping is sometimes alien and can frighten customers away. In reality, gratuities are often built into those cruise prices, on which passengers usually also pay taxes.
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