Tipping on ships based in Australia?

Cruises originating in Australia have gratuities built into the price of the cruise..you have therefore contributed to the gratuity pool no need to add any more unless you wish to.

For cruises originating overseas gratuities are usually added daily unless included as a "free" perk. On some cruise lines you can ask for the daily charge to be removed and you can choose to reward those crew yourself in cash. That's it simple..

Cruises originating in Australia have gratuities built into the price of the cruise..you have therefore contributed to the gratuity pool no need to add any more unless you wish to.

 

For cruises originating overseas gratuities are usually added daily unless included as a "free" perk. On some cruise lines you can ask for the daily charge to be removed and you can choose to reward those crew yourself in cash. That's it simple..

Close but not 100% correct, for Royal Caribbean at least. It has zero to do with where the cruise originates and has everything to do with where it is purchased.

1) If you book a RCL (and pretty sure a Celebrity) cruise in Australia, either direct with the cruise line or with an Aussie TA the gratuities (or service charge as they now call it) is included in the price. It matters not where in the world the cruise originates. One can only guess (I could make a very good guess:rolleyes:) why this change but I think its fantastic as everyone is now equally sharing the load and the crew will get theirs. So in a way the cruise line has adapted to the Aussie way of doing things.

2) Book the same cruise if you are in the USA (or most other countries) or with a USA TA from Australia and even If the cruise originates in Australia your grats are on top of the price and may be pre paid (or given as a perk by the TA) or automatically added each day to your on board account. These may also be removed if you are that way inclined.

So there is a two system approach currently.

Yes, and I know which one I prefer.

Close but not 100% correct, for Royal Caribbean at least. It has zero to do with where the cruise originates and has everything to do with where it is purchased.

 

1) If you book a RCL (and pretty sure a Celebrity) cruise in Australia, either direct with the cruise line or with an Aussie TA the gratuities (or service charge as they now call it) is included in the price. It matters not where in the world the cruise originates. One can only guess (I could make a very good guess:rolleyes:) why this change but I think its fantastic as everyone is now equally sharing the load and the crew will get theirs. So in a way the cruise line has adapted to the Aussie way of doing things.

 

2) Book the same cruise if you are in the USA (or most other countries) or with a USA TA from Australia and even If the cruise originates in Australia your grats are on top of the price and may be pre paid (or given as a perk by the TA) or automatically added each day to your on board account. These may also be removed if you are that way inclined.

 

 

 

So there is a two system approach currently.

In December last year RCL ( which owns Royal Carribbean, Celebrity and Azamara) changes the rules for Australian and New Zealand customers booking on the AUS / NZ websites. There is now opportunity for us to choose whether or not we wish to prepay gratuities, they are automatically included in the cruise fare. This change was as a result mainly I believe of Cruise Critic comments and post cruise reports that we downunderites did not like the idea of compulsory gratuities. As RCL is a USA based company where tipping is the culture they weren't going to change for US customers. As a trade off we have been offered an additional $150 OBC per person as one of the optional perks under Go big go better go best promotion. On a 10 day cruise it balances out as neutral but one pays more on a cruise longer than 10 days.

How much of gratuities staff actually get is debatable as my conversations over 7 cruises on Celebrity ships ranging from waiters, bar staff and cabin attendants is that they get a monthly salary plus a commission on any upsells they manage. One bar waiter I spoke with said he received $US1500 a month plus keep. This means that after a 7 month contract he would take home approx. $US10000, considerably more than he would have got had he stayed at home. One cabin attendant we had, put through 3 children through University but paid a large price being away from home for long periods.

There are hundreds of cruise ships around the world mainly staffed by personnel from 3rd world countries, but if pay and conditions were that bad there would be unrest amongst the staff. I have never seen unrest amongst the staff on X ships. Grumbles about food in crew quarters yes but all sailors grumble about food.

My personal belief is that the gratuities go into the consolidated fund and are levied principally to appease the American customers who reportedly pay extra gratuities anyway. Even I who is fundamentally opposed to compulsory gratuities normally find something for staff who make our cruises better.