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Cruise Gratuities: What's "Right" And "Wrong" These Days?
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Jan 28, 2025
I looks at the controversial subject of cruise gratuities and look at how cruise gratuities and tipping while cruising has changed and how I have changed and adapted what I do regards tipping crew on a cruise The Issues I Have With Cruise Gratuities Right Now ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 92 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- * Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— * Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join * Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ * Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA
View Video Transcript
0:00
on my last cruise at queen mary 2
0:01
crossing i admit i was nervous about
0:04
disembarkation
0:05
not because the two was ending but i was
0:08
really apprehensive about a potentially
0:10
uncomfortable encounter with my cabin
0:12
steward him loitering and wondering if i
0:15
was going to give him a tip and me
0:17
feeling guilty because
0:18
i wasn't gratuities on a cruise have
0:21
gotten more complicated recently i want
0:23
to talk about that what it means and why
0:27
i wasn't leaving a tip welcome aboard
0:29
i'm gary bembridge and i'm hoping you
0:31
will join the gratuities debate as i
0:34
know you will have strong views about
0:36
what i'm about to say the first big
0:39
issue i wrestle with is what exactly are
0:42
gratuities on a cruise these days every
0:45
single dictionary definition says
0:47
there's something given voluntarily
0:50
to thank someone for good service two
0:53
key aspects voluntary and good service
0:56
suggesting people actually going above
0:59
and beyond their duty
1:01
lines are giving up any pretense that
1:04
gratuities are either voluntary or for
1:06
added good service when i first started
1:08
cruising gratuities were just that we
1:12
all gave cash tips directly to crew we
1:15
felt had done an amazing job
1:17
we all assumed crew in every single
1:19
department were getting a fair wage and
1:22
those tips were a bonus for
1:24
passenger-facing crew
1:26
now the lions eventually argued when
1:28
auto gratuities were introduced that it
1:30
was much fairer
1:32
way to go because a pool of money would
1:34
then be split and cascaded to all
1:36
departments contributing to my
1:38
experience and that everybody who had
1:41
made my trip would benefit however if
1:43
that was the intention that soon changed
1:47
gratuities became in my view anyway a
1:50
tool the cruise lines used to achieve
1:52
lower fares to entice us to book funded
1:55
by paying crew lower base wages they
1:58
then use those auto added gratuities to
2:01
claw money back to bolster crew pay back
2:03
to what it should have been in the first
2:05
place let's be clear
2:06
cruise lines expect us to pay more for
2:09
our crews than their advertised fare
2:11
suggests they expect us to pay the fare
2:14
plus gratuities and they need us to do
2:16
that for crew to get wages at least at
2:19
the going industry rate to ensure we
2:21
paid up lines also added them onto our
2:24
bills but now i see three trends
2:27
beginning to merge to enforce this as i
2:29
think resistance is starting to grow to
2:31
auto gratuities first of all lions auto
2:34
adding gratuities are starting to cloud
2:36
the narrative by giving them alternative
2:39
names
2:40
for example
2:41
princess on my recent alaska cruise
2:44
called them
2:45
daily crew appreciation holland america
2:48
called them crew appreciation and
2:51
service charges on my scandinavian
2:53
cruise while on qnad queen mary 2
2:55
transatlantic it was just called a
2:58
service charge maybe they're renaming
3:01
them to cloud that they are actually
3:03
ramping up the cost of gratuities at the
3:05
same time which is possible
3:08
most lines now have gratuities at
3:10
between 14
3:11
and 20 dollars per person per day based
3:14
on carbon grade which also applies by
3:16
the way to children sharing a parent's
3:18
cabin
3:20
that adds between two hundred dollars
3:22
and three hundred dollars for a couple
3:24
for a seven day cruise so between four
3:26
hundred dollars to six hundred dollars
3:27
for a family of four and that's
3:30
constantly increasing
3:32
all the time now as cost grows
3:34
passengers are noticing the scale of
3:36
these charges and are starting to push
3:38
back much more on those charges that's
3:40
why i believe i'm seeing more lines
3:43
trying to obscure the size of them by
3:45
offering optional fare upgrades that
3:47
bundle gratuities with wi-fi drinks
3:50
packages especially dining or excursion
3:52
credits for example
3:54
fares like princess plus princess
3:56
premier winstar all in fairs many lions
3:59
have them celebrity by the way went a
4:02
step further and changed their face to
4:04
always included as the only fare they
4:06
were offering and they increased their
4:08
fares upwards accordingly the third
4:10
change was many value and premium lines
4:12
mostly uk based by the way bit the
4:14
bullet and have joined ultra luxury
4:16
lines like seabourn silversea and region
4:18
seven seas and they've increased their
4:20
fares to include gratuities in the base
4:23
fair instead these include lines like
4:25
virgin voyages azamara saga pinot
4:28
cruises uk and marella who operate out
4:30
of the uk the effect of all of these
4:32
changes is that cruise passengers
4:35
including me are now paying a rate for a
4:37
cruise that covers gratuities no matter
4:40
what line or what fair combination we're
4:42
cruising on nowadays well it is possible
4:45
on almost all lines except i think only
4:47
for norwegian cruise line at the time of
4:48
recording to remove auto gratuities when
4:51
you're on board
4:52
few passengers actually seem to do that
4:55
i did a survey on my channel
4:57
of over 4 000 cruisers and only 10
5:00
percent who responded said they actually
5:02
remove water gratuities now i never
5:04
remove those gratuities because i feel
5:06
if i do the crew are going to subsidize
5:08
my trip by getting lower wages
5:11
so is the fact that i'm now paying those
5:13
auto gratuities or gratuities bundled in
5:15
the fair the reason i did not tip
5:17
anything to the cabin steward i
5:18
mentioned earlier
5:20
it's not the case it's more complicated
5:22
and as i said earlier it's getting more
5:24
so
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knowing that i have paid gratuities does
5:27
give me though a dilemma around what the
5:30
right thing to do is
5:32
particularly for crew i have really
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close interactions with like my cabin
5:35
steward butler vermin suite and if i'm
5:39
doing fix dining the waiting staff that
5:41
deal with me every single day
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possibly as i started cruising in the
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days before auto added gratuities and i
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am used to handing out envelopes of cash
5:50
at the end of the cruise i really feel
5:52
guilty if i'm still not doing that in
5:56
that poll i mentioned i did on my
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channel 50 of cruise passengers say they
5:59
pay cash tips to select crew members on
6:02
top of auto gratuities or when they're
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on lines where gratuities are already
6:07
included in the fair
6:08
i am as you now know one of those but
6:10
recently i decided to stop
6:13
double tipping as a habit as it can
6:15
really mount up and fares and costs of
6:17
cruising at the same time are ramping up
6:19
now i'm trying to get myself used to and
6:22
to follow these
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five key principles which may help you
6:27
first i budget on the basis that i will
6:29
pay a cruise fare that always includes
6:31
base gratuities for the crew so that
6:33
could be their auto added
6:35
included in some bundle like princess
6:37
premiere or within an all-inclusive fair
6:40
like say on azamara or seabourn or
6:42
silversea
6:43
i know that this will be in a pot it
6:45
will be shared to all those people i
6:46
deal with those i deal with often
6:48
infrequently and those people behind the
6:50
scenes now i do often increase those
6:53
auto gratuities if throughout the cruise
6:56
the service and the experience has been
6:58
really high so again everybody benefits
7:01
now this was the case for example on my
7:03
oceania marina panama cruise earlier
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this year where right across the board
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the service was great and i felt i'd
7:08
like everybody to benefit now i
7:11
especially do this if i have on-board
7:13
credit that i do not use up or i find
7:15
myself slipping to that habit of looking
7:18
for ways to spend it i instead use those
7:21
onboard credits to increase auto added
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gratuities though before i do i always
7:26
check if it actually can be used for
7:29
gratuities now i was about to do that on
7:31
my recent azamara quest cruise because i
7:33
had a lot of onboard credit it was given
7:35
to me as a fair price match
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but
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azamara rules do not allow
7:42
ombud credit to be used for extra
7:43
gratuity so i could have ended up with
7:44
an unspent on board credit and a lofty
7:47
extra bill the other downside of upping
7:49
auto gratuities is the people you
7:51
interact with often who may hope or
7:53
expect an added tip will not know that
7:56
you've actually done that and so this
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leads me on to my second key principle i
8:01
always take cash with me they're not of
8:04
the scale in the days before auto added
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and this is the typical that i've come
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into regular contact with that go above
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and beyond in some way and have made my
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cruise truly special by the way when it
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comes to paying cash tips i pay in
8:17
either us dollars or the official
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currency on the ship which in most cases
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is us dollars but if i were say on a
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piano ship or a saga ship out of the uk
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where the official currency was the
8:27
pound sterling that is what i would pay
8:30
let me give you an example of how this
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has played out which is where that cabin
8:34
steward i mentioned earlier comes back
8:37
on my recent cunard queen mary 2
8:39
transatlantic
8:40
the waiters in the queen's school
8:42
restaurant were fantastic we had the
8:44
same waiters allocated for breakfast
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lunch and for dinner they learned our
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quirks they preempted everything we
8:52
needed from things like oat milk on the
8:53
table for breakfast to spinaches and
8:56
extra with my meal every night and they
8:58
even preemptively requested a non-dairy
9:01
baked alaska alternative for my part it
9:03
wasn't on the menu but they knew they
9:04
didn't have dairy and so they ordered it
9:06
they joked with us they elevated the
9:08
experience we gave all of them extra
9:11
tips
9:12
on the other hand we had a butt liner
9:13
cabin studio they provided a perfectly
9:15
fine service it was pretty much as
9:17
expected we had to chase up a couple of
9:19
things there were a number of errors
9:21
they didn't really elevate or make the
9:22
trip
9:23
that special so i actually felt that the
9:26
normal water added gratuities were
9:28
perfectly fine however
9:30
on my oceano trip the month before would
9:33
actually also be by the way upgraded
9:35
into suite which is very nice
9:36
the butler and the cabin student were
9:38
super attentive they learned all my
9:40
quirks what i liked what i didn't like
9:42
and without asking for example they
9:44
tweaked the evening canapes by observing
9:46
what i ate and left they knew i didn't
9:48
drink alcohol caffeine and sugary drinks
9:51
so they hunted for options and they even
9:53
brought a non-alcoholic sparkling wine
9:56
to replace the champagne got left on
9:58
embarkation the butler even offered to
10:01
lend me his own personal multi-usb
10:04
charger
10:05
to use because he saw i had lots of
10:06
camera equipment and devices to charge
10:09
so i tipped both of those people
10:11
generously but i didn't tip the waiters
10:13
because again that was a perfectly fine
10:16
and normal service another example was
10:19
by my partner who spends hours every day
10:21
on a cruise plane blackjack interax gets
10:23
to know the dealers who make his cruise
10:25
really well they joke with him they
10:27
laugh at them and so on so he always
10:30
tips the dealers at the end of playing
10:31
so i do tip on top of auto gratuities if
10:34
i genuinely see added service but i
10:37
still find it really stressful because
10:39
old habit dies hard and i just feel like
10:43
it's really hard to really wrestle with
10:44
which brings me on to my principle
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number three i do call out and name
10:50
everyone that's given great service in
10:51
the post cruise survey
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this crew and managers keep telling me
10:56
is key for staff to get recognition
10:58
bonuses sometimes and definitely
11:00
promotion so even if i've not
11:03
tipped individuals it can help the
11:05
crinos me now to make sure by the way i
11:07
don't forget anyone i take photos of
11:09
their name badges so i can get their
11:11
name and position right now this was a
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tip that a crew member once gave me when
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stressing how important calling people
11:18
out in that post-cruise survey is
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so who do i never tip this brings me on
11:24
to my principle number four i never tip
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when i'm buying drinks because the
11:29
gratuity often as much as 18
11:32
is added on automatically so i leave the
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section to add even more tip blank
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gratuities are also added onto the price
11:39
of any drinks packages too by the way
11:42
the same is true in the spa the salon or
11:46
if you're going to the hairdressers if
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i'm having especially coffees or buying
11:50
ice cream or gelato again i don't give a
11:52
tip either it's auto added or there's
11:54
none expected if crew members handle
11:57
special requests like fixing things like
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a broken toilet or conditioning or i've
12:01
messed up my safe and i need someone to
12:03
come and fix it i don't tip those people
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i also never tip senior crew including
12:08
the captain the cruise director head
12:10
chef maitre d
12:12
guest services or excursion team because
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what i learned over time is they're
12:15
usually actually well paid and in some
12:17
cases it's actually not considered
12:19
appropriate
12:20
that also applies to the entertainment
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team who run events the performers or
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the guest artists or any people playing
12:27
live music around the ship now some of
12:28
my friends disagree with me they like to
12:31
say the pianist in the piano bar to get
12:33
their requests they believe could have
12:35
higher up in the priority i also don't
12:37
normally tip when i go to specialty
12:39
dining because the extra charge should
12:42
cover that and actually the waiters are
12:43
included in that gratuities pool already
12:46
so what are your thoughts on gratuities
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and have you changed or are you thinking
12:50
of changing what you do i'd love to hear
12:53
in the comments what you're currently
12:55
thinking and so while you consider that
12:57
take a look at this video where i look
12:59
at seven things that smart cruisers do
13:02
starting with one thing that i found
13:04
makes the biggest difference of all
13:07
see you over there
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