Complete guide to tipping on a cruise
Know about how gratuities work & whether you're already covered
From the archive. Published June 13, 2018. Ships, prices and port details may have changed since.
Tips or gratuities can be one of the more confusing elements of taking a cruise, especially for first timers.
What's included and what's not? Do you have to tip for your children? How do you reward crew members who provide exemplary service?
To help demystify how this all works, here's Cruiseable's Complete Guide to Tipping on a Cruise.
Cruise line tipping policies
- Azamara Club Cruises
- Carnival Cruise Line
- Celebrity Cruises
- Costa Cruises
- Cunard Line
- Disney Cruise Line
- Holland America Line
- MSC Cruises
- Norwegian Cruise Line
- Oceania Cruises
- Paul Gauguin Cruises
- Princess Cruises
- Royal Caribbean
- Star Clippers
- Windstar Cruises
Tipping basics
Your cruise bill comes in two parts:
- Your base cruise fare, which covers the cost of your stateroom, meals (except at specialty restaurants), entertainment (except for special events), etc.
- Expenses incurred on board, such as drinks, meals at alternative restaurants and, importantly, tips for the crew. All of this is added to your shipboard account.
First-timers are sometimes surprised to learn that gratuities are automatically added to your bill. (The only exception is on an all-inclusive cruise, where you pay up front for everything.)
Gratuities are distributed to your wait staff, stateroom stewards, dining stewards, housekeeping staff and other crew members to reward them for their efforts. Guests typically have the option of increasing, decreasing or eliminating the suggested amount at their own discretion by visiting the guest services desk during the cruise, not afterward.
If you'd prefer to present cash in envelopes, feel free, though that practice is mostly a vestige of the past. That said, feel free to reward outstanding service; Cruise Critic has a good roundup of how much to dispense.
What the cruise lines charge for tips
The amount of the gratuity varies by cruise line, with amounts that range from $10 to $15 per person per day, with higher amounts for luxury accommodations. The amount for children? Sometimes less, sometimes not. Some cruise lines offer the option to pre-pay your gratuities before your cruise, and in a few cases this may be required. You can typically find the amount earmarked for gratuities on the cruise line's website or in the cruise line brochure or documents you've been provided.
Please keep in mind that In the end, these aren't really tips — they amount to service fees that compensate the crew for their daily work. Here are the current tipping policies of the major cruise lines:
Azamara Club Cruises
Tip amount: Azamara, a boutique line, falls into the luxury category when it comes to tips. Gratuities for housekeeping, dining and bar staff are included in the cruise fare.
Extra charges: An 18% gratuity is added for spa treatments.
Carnival Cruise Line
Tip amount: On cruises departing Sept. 1, 2016, and later, gratuities amount to $12.95 per person per day (including children age 2 and older) in standard rooms and $13.95 per person for suites.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. You can adjust the amount at the guest services desk.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges.
See Carnival's tipping policy, including a chart of how much gratuities will run for 2- to 20-day cruises.
Celebrity Cruises
Tip amount: As of July 1, 2016, gratuities amount to $13.50 per person per day in standard rooms, $14 for passengers in Concierge Class and AquaClass staterooms and $17 for guests in suites.
How it's works: Gratuities are automatically added to your SeaPass account on a daily basis. You can adjust the amount at the guest relations desk.
Extra charges: An 18% gratuity is added to bar charges, beverage and mini-bar purchases, and spa and salon services.
See Celebrity's tipping policy.
Costa Cruises
Costa has varying gratuity charges depending on where you cruise. Children ages of 4 to 14 are charged 50% of the adult rates; the charge is not applied to children 3 and under.
Cunard Line
Tip amount: Gratuities amount to $11.50 per person per day (including children) in Britannia accommodations and $13.50 per person in Grill Class accommodations.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. To adjust the amount, go to the purser's office. Casino dealers and youth staff do not share in gratuities, given that most guests do not use these services, so consider leaving a tip.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges.
See Cunard's tipping policy.
Disney Cruise Line
Tip amount: Gratuities amount to $12 per person per day, including children.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. Gratuities can be pre-paid up to three days before the cruise. It's traditional to tip servers in the restaurants Palo and Remy at the end of your meal by charging it to your shipboard account. It's also polite to tip, say, $2 for room service when it's delivered, but check the chit sheet to see if it's already included. Tips can be adjusted at guest services. On the last night of your cruise you'll receive a statement showing you how much your crew attendants received in the way of gratuities; if you want to leave more, you can use envelopes provided for that purpose.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar, beverage, wine and deck service tabs and an 18% gratuity is added to all spa services. Note that any soft drinks, bottled water or alcohol that you order from room service will have a gratuity automatically added.
See Disney's tipping policy.
Holland America Line
Tip amount: Gratuities amount to $12.50 per person per day (including children) in standard rooms (inside, oceanview and balcony) and $13.50 per person in suites.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. To adjust the amount, go to the front desk. To its credit, Holland America does not hit up guests by asking for an additional tip on charges (such as beverage purchases) where you're already being charged a tip.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges and purchases of wine in the dining room. We've heard that tips are sometimes included on your spa treatment bill — and sometimes not — so ask.
See Holland America's tipping policy.
MSC Cruises
Tip amount: Gratuities vary by destination and onboard currency for this Europe-centric cruise line. Gratuities amount to $12 per day for each adult passenger for Caribbean cruises and eastbound grand voyages, and $6 per night for children 3 and older; on westbound grand voyages, the fee is in euros.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. MSC does not permit adjustments to gratuities; however, if you're not happy with service, you can contact the Guest Relations manager to have the charges removed or adjusted.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges, spa treatments and alternative dining.
MSC does not appear to post its tipping policy online.
Norwegian Cruise Line
Tip amount: Gratuities amount to $13.50 per person per day (including children 3 and older) in standard rooms and $15.50 per person in suites.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. If you want to adjust the amount, go to the reception desk. Guests who use concierge or butler services are expected to leave an appropriate tip. Certain staff positions, such as youth program staff, don't share in the gratuities and should be tipped for services they provide.
Extra charges: An 18% gratuity is added for bar charges, specialty and entertainment dining, and spa treatments.
See Norwegian's tipping policy.
Oceania Cruises
Tip amount: Gratuities amount to $15 per person per day for guests in staterooms and $23 per person for guests in Penthouse, Oceania, Vista or Owner's Suites where butler service is provided.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. Oceania teeters on the line between luxury line and premium line, and this is an exception to the general all-inclusive pricing policy found on luxury lines. Interestingly, Many Oceania voyages include air fare in the fare pricing, but not gratuities. Guests may adjust gratuities while on board at their sole discretion.
Extra charges: An 18% gratuity is added for all beverage purchases, spa services and dinner at La Reserve.
See Oceania's tipping policy.
Paul Gauguin Cruises
Tip amount: Gratuities are already included in your fare.
Princess Cruises
Tip amount: As of May 25, 2016, gratuities amount to $12.95 per person per day (including children) in standard rooms (Inside, Oceanview and Balcony) and $13.95 per person in mini-suites and suites.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. It can be pre-paid up to two days before departure online via Princess's Cruise Personalizer or by calling 1-855-500-7690 (mention Special Services item number 0591). Casino dealers and youth staff do not share in gratuities and tips are left to the discretion of guests.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges, dining room wine accounts and Lotus Spa services.
See Princess's tipping policy.
Royal Caribbean
Tip amount: Gratuities amount to $13.50 per person per day (including children) in standard rooms (interior, junior suite, balcony, ocean view) and $16.50 per person in suites.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. It can be pre-paid before departure, and passengers who opt for the flexible "My Time Dining" must prepay. Guests who want to reduce or remove the tips can go to guest services.
Extra charges: An 18% gratuity is added to bar charges (including mini-bar and beverage packages) and salon and spa service. Your bill for alternative restaurants should cover gratuities as well.
See Royal Caribbean's tipping policy.
Star Clippers
Tip amount: Star Clippers recommends tipping 8 euros per person per day, though gratuities are at the sole discretion of the passenger.
How it works: You have the option of charging tips to your shipboard account instead of tipping in cash.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges.
See Star Clippers' tipping policy.
Windstar Cruises
Tip amount: Gratuities amount to $12 per person per day.
How it works: Gratuities are automatically added to your shipboard account on a daily basis. If you'd like to adjust the amount, you may do so at the end of your cruise.
Extra charges: A 15% gratuity is added to bar charges.
Luxury & river cruise lines
On the luxury cruise lines — Crystal, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, Silversea, SeaDream — the rule is simple. Basic gratuities are included in your cruise fare and additional tips are not expected. (See Patti's article on all-inclusive pricing.) In general, the only thing not covered are tips for spa services.
River cruise lines have differing policies. At the high end, Scenic, Uniworld, Tauck and Emerald Waterways are all-inclusive. Gratuities are not included in the vacation price on Viking, AmaWaterways and Avalon Waterways.
Other things to know about cruise tipping
Ordering from the bar
When you order drinks from the bar on board, a gratuity is automatically added to your bill. When you sign your sales slip (chit), be careful to skip over the blank line for gratuity — you've already paid! — unless you're in an especially generous mood.
Spa & gym
Some cruise lines add a 15% automatic gratuity for spa treatments and some fitness classes. Others leave the tip up to you. But be sure that you haven't already paid for this.
Specialty restaurants
As a general rule, you're not expected to leave an additional tip when you dine at a specialty restaurant, even if there's a space for an “additional tip” on the charge slip, because you've already paid for this.
Excursions in port
If you go on excursion in port and you're happy with the tour, it's customary to tip $2 to $5 to the tour guide and $1 to $2 to the driver.
Transfers
When transfers to and from your ship are included in your package, gratuities are generally included for luggage handling. However, if you take a taxi to the pier and use the assistance of luggage porters to help you get your bags from the curb to the ship, it is customary to tip them $1-$2 per bag.
Concierge hosts & butlers
If you're booked in a concierge room or luxury suite, you'll need to tip your concierge hosts or butler. Some cruise lines will automatically apply a tip to your account, others will leave it to your discretion.
Don't skimp on the tips
In the old days, cruise lines would expect passengers to slip tips into envelopes to reward crew members at the end of a cruise. That no longer works, given that it's likely you'll be served by many different staff members during your sailing. So tipping is not added automatically to your bill on most ships.
It's a mistake, though, to think of gratuities as an optional "extra," when in reality it's a service fee that makes up a good part of the hardworking crew's compensation. So be sure to factor in the cost of gratuities when planning your cruise!
In our series Smart Money on a Cruise
- Super Guide to Booking a Cruise
- Guide to all-inclusive pricing on cruise ships
- Cheat sheet for deposits, payments & refunds
- 3 best travel rewards credit cards
- 15 tips on how to save money on a cruise
- Patti's 7 money-saving tips for cruise travelers
- Walter's 8 money-saving tips for cruisers
- Interline: Travel & cruise discounts for airline employees
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