British Cruise Passengers cause tipping review

Royal Caribbean International Cruise Lines has said that it is being forced to reconsider its on-board tipping policy (called gratuity management in the USA) as British cruise passengers just don’t tip!

Apparently it’s become a ‘significant issue’ according to Royal Caribbean vice-president and UK managing director Robin Shaw. The reluctance of British holiday-makers to tip is damaging the income of cruise staff, as more Brits sail with the American line. There’s a cultural difference between American and British passengers – the Americans traditionally tip at the end of their cruise holiday, the British generally don’t.

Because RCI doesn’t add an automatic service charge, this tends to mean that British passengers don’t feel the need to tip – many British cruise lines actively discourage the tipping as a blanket practice too. Royal Caribbean will be basing one of their biggest cruise ships in Britain next year: the Independence of the Seas will home-port in Southampton from April 2010 and that means that the majority of her cruise passengers will be British, which is leaving cruise staff worrying about their empty pockets.