Currently the system of tipping on cruise ships is facing increasing amounts of frustration from British passengers, at the moment it feels like tipping is mandatory rather than discretionary for most passengers and the tips are used to subsidise crew’s salaries rather than a reward for providing an excellent service.

Technically tipping is a voluntary gesture but many passengers feel like they have to tip whether they found the service to be good or not. Some operators like Carnival automatically charge gratuities to passengers on board account at a rate of £6 per day per person, which over a 2 week stay for a couple can, add up to over £120 which is a lot especially when you have already spent a fair amount on booking the actual cruise.

The best thing to do is before you go on your cruise holiday is to check with your cruise line to see how tips are paid, some cruise lines include this in the price you pay for the cruise, some set accounts which if you ask you can have the amounts charged changed and then some lines offer a envelopes for passengers to hand out at the end of their holiday to members of staff that have provided a good service. Also remember most cruise lines add a 15% service charge to bar bills and similarly to spa treatments, fitness classes and stylist services.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Cruise Holidays, Travel Guide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.