New Cruiser: Prepaid Gratuities question

Hello,

I cruised when I was a child, but this is the first time that I’m cruising as an adult, and with my own family.

We prepaid gratuities for an upcoming trip, however, what is expected during the cruise in regards to tip? Should I tip the staff at dinner on top of the prepaid gratuities? Should I tip housekeeping on top of prepaid gratuities? If yes, about how much? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks :)

Welcome. What line will you be cruising on?

In general, with the pre-paid gratuities, everyone who is included in that arrangement has been taken care of; you do not have to tip anyone on top of that. Many passengers are perfectly happy to leave the pre-paid or auto-tips in place and call it a cruise. Others are happy to tip on top of what has been given, as a way of saying thanks for the great service this cruise. Either way is acceptable and no one will (or should) look down on you because of your decision.

You specifically mentioned dining and housekeeping staff; they are included in the pre-paid gratuities. You may hear or read of others who gave $10, $20, $50 - whatever - additional but as I said, it is completely optional and at your discretion.

This is a rather contentious topic here on the boards so please don't be alarmed if/when this thread gets long or out of hand. Yes, there are other threads about tipping that you can read but I wanted to reply as soon as possible (and you asked so sweetly).

Enjoy your family cruise! :D

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These kinds of policies vary by cruise line. If you post that info, you will get more relevant answers.

Hello,

 

I cruised when I was a child, but this is the first time that I’m cruising as an adult, and with my own family.

 

We prepaid gratuities for an upcoming trip, however, what is expected during the cruise in regards to tip? Should I tip the staff at dinner on top of the prepaid gratuities? Should I tip housekeeping on top of prepaid gratuities? If yes, about how much? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks :)

If you leave the automatic gratuities on, any other tipping you do or don't do is completely up to your own discretion. Personally, once I have paid the automatic gratuities I feel no compulsion to do 'routine' tipping. I only do any additional tipping for truly above and beyond service. You will find people who do a lot of additional tipping and they are sometimes derided as 'double' tipping. But they are entitled to do as they wish.

Just don't let yourself be fooled by conspiracy theorists, who come here and try to get folks to take off or reduce the auto-grats on a variety of pretexts. They are pretty much despicable, as it is all to rationalize keeping money in their pockets by stiffing the 3rd world folks who work hard to make our vacations great. Ignore them and just do the right thing with the auto-grats, and then do as you wish.

Apologies for not being specific. As I said, I’m totally new to this chapter in my life. We will be cruising on Carnival out of Florida in early August, if that helps.

As others have said, you are covered for all expected tipping for housekeeping and dining room, including buffet and other included dining venues. You don't need to tip any more unless you receive better than expected service. Then give additional tips at your discretion.

At bars and lounges, any extra cost drink will have an 18% gratuity added to the cost of the beverage. The bar servers are not part of the gratuities you have already pre-paid.

Carnival, as with most American based cruise lines, has a tipping culture. You can either pre-pay, as you have done, or the amount will be added to your on board account on a daily basis. Carnival also allows the gratuities to be removed. This is to provide you the ability to adjust for less that expected service, which is rare. Unfortunately, there are some not so nice people who will remove the gratuities completely and claim they tip personally to only the people they want. I am sure that a few of these people actually do that, but it is the general consensus on these boards that the majority of these people do it for their own personal gain, keeping the tip money for themselves rather than to the service staff who earn it and depend on it for their wages. And then there are the people who remove the gratuities and do not even attempt to make excuses, instead unabashedly admitting they do it because they don't believe in a tipping culture.

Please, be kind and gracious to your service staff. They work hard to make you cruise memorable. They take these jobs to be able to make a better life for themselves and their families in their home countries. They all are on lengthy contracts that have them working 7 days per week for 6 to 8 months at a time, away from their family, with little time off. Treat them well - and with the same respect you ask of them.

As others have said, you are covered for all expected tipping for housekeeping and dining room, including buffet and other included dining venues. You don't need to tip any more unless you receive better than expected service. Then give additional tips at your discretion.

 

At bars and lounges, any extra cost drink will have an 18% gratuity added to the cost of the beverage. The bar servers are not part of the gratuities you have already pre-paid.

 

Carnival, as with most American based cruise lines, has a tipping culture. You can either pre-pay, as you have done, or the amount will be added to your on board account on a daily basis. Carnival also allows the gratuities to be removed. This is to provide you the ability to adjust for less that expected service, which is rare. Unfortunately, there are some not so nice people who will remove the gratuities completely and claim they tip personally to only the people they want. I am sure that a few of these people actually do that, but it is the general consensus on these boards that the majority of these people do it for their own personal gain, keeping the tip money for themselves rather than to the service staff who earn it and depend on it for their wages. And then there are the people who remove the gratuities and do not even attempt to make excuses, instead unabashedly admitting they do it because they don't believe in a tipping culture.

 

Please, be kind and gracious to your service staff. They work hard to make you cruise memorable. They take these jobs to be able to make a better life for themselves and their families in their home countries. They all are on lengthy contracts that have them working 7 days per week for 6 to 8 months at a time, away from their family, with little time off. Treat them well - and with the same respect you ask of them.

No worries. I would never take away gratuities from the staff. My main concern was that I was underpaying them :(. Thanks for the genuine advice.

As others have said, you are covered for all expected tipping for housekeeping and dining room, including buffet and other included dining venues. You don't need to tip any more unless you receive better than expected service. Then give additional tips at your discretion.

 

At bars and lounges, any extra cost drink will have an 18% gratuity added to the cost of the beverage. The bar servers are not part of the gratuities you have already pre-paid.

 

Carnival, as with most American based cruise lines, has a tipping culture. You can either pre-pay, as you have done, or the amount will be added to your on board account on a daily basis. Carnival also allows the gratuities to be removed. This is to provide you the ability to adjust for less that expected service, which is rare. Unfortunately, there are some not so nice people who will remove the gratuities completely and claim they tip personally to only the people they want. I am sure that a few of these people actually do that, but it is the general consensus on these boards that the majority of these people do it for their own personal gain, keeping the tip money for themselves rather than to the service staff who earn it and depend on it for their wages. And then there are the people who remove the gratuities and do not even attempt to make excuses, instead unabashedly admitting they do it because they don't believe in a tipping culture.

 

Please, be kind and gracious to your service staff. They work hard to make you cruise memorable. They take these jobs to be able to make a better life for themselves and their families in their home countries. They all are on lengthy contracts that have them working 7 days per week for 6 to 8 months at a time, away from their family, with little time off. Treat them well - and with the same respect you ask of them.

Great explanation! This post should be a sticky, and maybe there would be fewer contentious threads about tipping, over tipping, undertipping, withholding tips, etc.

No worries. I would never take away gratuities from the staff. My main concern was that I was underpaying them :(. Thanks for the genuine advice.

The cruise ship is a cashless system, all onboard purchases must be made via your sea pass card (except casino). So you will not find people walking around dropping cash on the table at the end of each meal (though some will be waving cash at the bar to get served first). So your servers, bartenders, and room stewards will not be put off that you aren’t leaving them cash daily. The auto gratuities really are an easier system where you can pay it knowing that the wait staff is taken care of. If some people went above and beyond and you wish to seek them out on the last day for a little extra they will appreciate it, but it’s not expected. Only exception to this is that I would still tip in cash to room service upon receipt of an order.

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If you've prepaid tips, then your cabin attendant, waiters, ass't waiters and head waiters are covered.

Room service delivery (if used) is NOT covered under those tips...so $1-5 is a good cash amount to tip upon delivery.

Bar purchases, whether a package or by the drink, are added to the price. No other tips are required.

We do leave the gratuities in place. That way any one we wish to tip extra at the end of the cruise can keep that extra tip. It won't be placed in a pool to be shared by others.

Apologies for not being specific. As I said, I’m totally new to this chapter in my life. We will be cruising on Carnival out of Florida in early August, if that helps.

Since you pre-paid gratuities, you do not need to tip anyone on the ship. There is nothing that prevents you from doing so but there is no requirement that you tip any more.

Hello,

 

I cruised when I was a child, but this is the first time that I’m cruising as an adult, and with my own family.

 

We prepaid gratuities for an upcoming trip, however, what is expected during the cruise in regards to tip? Should I tip the staff at dinner on top of the prepaid gratuities? Should I tip housekeeping on top of prepaid gratuities? If yes, about how much? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks :)

The daily service charge/gratuities generally cover tips for those crew that provide services included in your fare (stewards, dining staff, some behind the scenes). If one of these individuals provide you with exceptional service you may wish to provide them with an additional tip. Noting them by name on the guest survey is also very helpful to them (sometimes even more than a cash tip).

Services that have an additional charge often have gratuities automatically added (bar and spa services). Specialty restaurants sometimes include the gratuity in the price - check the fine print).

Room service (cabin delivery of food/beverages) is generally not included in the tipping pool and generally does not have an added amount specific to your order. It is advised to tip the delivery person with each delivery.

A few other tip situations:

piano bar (if you request a certain song/songs)

tour guides (excursions)

drivers/transportation (if separate from your tour guide)

luggage handlers

casino dealer

Likely not all of these will apply to you (and I probably forgot some too;)) but hope this helps:)

We always leave the gratuities in place. That is all that is necessary, but we do usually tip our steward additional--$20-$40--at the end of the cruise, depending on length of cruise and quality of service. We seldom use room service, but that would be an additional tip.

We do Anytime dining exclusively and seldom have the same servers, so would tip extra only for extraordinary service, like the time we sailed with 7 !! grandchildren and the servers went above and beyond.

BTW, the luggage handlers at the dock probably make more than you do. :)

AVERAGE salary on the West Coast is right at $100,000 per year.

Yeah, but have you see the rent prices around there? Scary!

But they make almost that much in Baltimore, and the rent prices are not that high.

As others have said, you are covered for all expected tipping for housekeeping and dining room, including buffet and other included dining venues. You don't need to tip any more unless you receive better than expected service. Then give additional tips at your discretion.

 

At bars and lounges, any extra cost drink will have an 18% gratuity added to the cost of the beverage. The bar servers are not part of the gratuities you have already pre-paid.

 

Carnival, as with most American based cruise lines, has a tipping culture. You can either pre-pay, as you have done, or the amount will be added to your on board account on a daily basis. Carnival also allows the gratuities to be removed. This is to provide you the ability to adjust for less that expected service, which is rare. Unfortunately, there are some not so nice people who will remove the gratuities completely and claim they tip personally to only the people they want. I am sure that a few of these people actually do that, but it is the general consensus on these boards that the majority of these people do it for their own personal gain, keeping the tip money for themselves rather than to the service staff who earn it and depend on it for their wages. And then there are the people who remove the gratuities and do not even attempt to make excuses, instead unabashedly admitting they do it because they don't believe in a tipping culture.

 

Please, be kind and gracious to your service staff. They work hard to make you cruise memorable. They take these jobs to be able to make a better life for themselves and their families in their home countries. They all are on lengthy contracts that have them working 7 days per week for 6 to 8 months at a time, away from their family, with little time off. Treat them well - and with the same respect you ask of them.

I want to pick this post up and cuddle it, I love it so hard. :D

I found this thread when looking for information on tipping bartenders when cruising with a beverage package. I'm on Norwegian with an Ultimate Beverage Package. I've seen where bartenders are not included in the pre-paid service charges, but also that the 20% gratuity is automatically tacked on to the price of the drink. So do I need to have cash on hand to tip the bartenders? Or not?

I'm not getting in to the ethics of tipping, just wanting to make sure I don't accidentally stiff someone giving me a service.

I want to pick this post up and cuddle it, I love it so hard. :D

 

I found this thread when looking for information on tipping bartenders when cruising with a beverage package. I'm on Norwegian with an Ultimate Beverage Package. I've seen where bartenders are not included in the pre-paid service charges, but also that the 20% gratuity is automatically tacked on to the price of the drink. So do I need to have cash on hand to tip the bartenders? Or not?

 

 

I'm not getting in to the ethics of tipping, just wanting to make sure I don't accidentally stiff someone giving me a service.

Generally a beverage package will have a percentage gratuity (15-20%) added based on the value of the package. When you order a drink there will be no charge, but staff should have received a tip based on the package.

If you are a moderate drinker, you should not have stiffed anyone by not tipping extra. If you are a heavier drinker you might want to tip occasionally since the weighted amount of the tip would be less in that case.

I don't remember if we signed $0 receipts or not. If you sign for a drink you should be able to add a tip via your ship card if you don't want to carry cash. Cash is certainly appreciated though too.

Generally a beverage package will have a percentage gratuity (15-20%) added based on the value of the package. When you order a drink there will be no charge, but staff should have received a tip based on the package.

 

If you are a moderate drinker, you should not have stiffed anyone by not tipping extra. If you are a heavier drinker you might want to tip occasionally since the weighted amount of the tip would be less in that case.

 

I don't remember if we signed $0 receipts or not. If you sign for a drink you should be able to add a tip via your ship card if you don't want to carry cash. Cash is certainly appreciated though too.

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It is totally up to you. Note that any spending on board (drinks, specialty restaurant or spa services) will attract the gratuities automatically as you go and will go to your sea pass account.

We prepay the tips and then reward any staff member with some extra if we feel they have gone above and beyond.

Exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you!

 

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Glad I could help!

It is totally up to you. Note that any spending on board (drinks, specialty restaurant or spa services) will attract the gratuities automatically as you go and will go to your sea pass account.

We prepay the tips and then reward any staff member with some extra if we feel they have gone above and beyond.

MicCanberra is correct that pay as you go beverages will have gratuities added, plus a place on the receipt for additional tip. I'm pretty sure spa services are the same way (never used them). Specialty restaurants might vary, though. On our upcoming cruise we reserved dinner at the steak house, and it states that the $35 pp cost includes the gratuity, so I expect our bill to be $70 plus a line for additional gratuity if we want (will plan to bring cash just in case).

Glad I could help!

 

 

 

MicCanberra is correct that pay as you go beverages will have gratuities added, plus a place on the receipt for additional tip. I'm pretty sure spa services are the same way (never used them). Specialty restaurants might vary, though. On our upcoming cruise we reserved dinner at the steak house, and it states that the $35 pp cost includes the gratuity, so I expect our bill to be $70 plus a line for additional gratuity if we want (will plan to bring cash just in case).

Yes, there is a line on the specialty restaurants and spa receipts to write in extra,

Yes, there is a line on the specialty restaurants and spa receipts to write in extra,

Yep, just note that often there is already a charge included. For the specialty restaurants, we just slip a few notes instead of it being charged to our account.

I have a gratuity question that I don't think I have seen asked before. We always leave our gratuities "as is" and almost always tip our room steward and favorite bartenders extra on the last day. My question is this, I know you can , I guess for a better word is"reallocate" the tips? The last few cruises we have been on, we never once stepped foot in the dining room, could we reallocate the tips for dining room to dthe buffet staff or is the buffet staff included from the get go? Sorry if this is winded, but not really sure how to explain it any better. :D

Most of the waiters work both in the dining rooms and the buffet area, so I am not sure how that would work. I have often seen the same people working both venues.