Cruise Ship tipping

There’s always been a huge gap between British cruise lines, where staff tend to receive minimal tips (or even none at all) and American lines where it’s been usual to add around $10 per person, per day, to the account being run for each passenger – including children.

However, Royal Caribbean has started to review this policy, because around a third of British passengers refuse to pay the ‘gratuity’ or make tips in cash to cruise staff rather than through their bill. It’s a real issue for staff, as they may have been relying on the tips to bolster their salaries. Following the Royal Caribbean statement, MSC Cruises has also said it will review its tipping policy.

If you want to sail with a cruise line that doesn’t add a charge for service to you bill, choose Island Cruises, Ocean Village, Regent Seven Seas, Silversea Cruises, Thomson and Yachts of Seabourn.

The lines that add a service charge (which you can always alter or remove from your bill) are: Celebrity Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Princess Cruises. Remember these charges are added per person, per day and may be on a sliding scale according to the size of cabin you have.

And some cruise lines even make a mandatory charge that can’t be removed from the bill, such as Costa Cruises which operates a daily service charge for cruises of more than eight nights.