Cruise tipping

[IamgoingtoDisney]

Hi Everyone,

Not long until our family heads off on our adventure. We are going on a 4 night cruise.

We are from Australia where we dont tip. Could you please give me an indication on approx how much to tip on the cruise and who to tip? I was thinking we would tip our room steward and wait staff? Do we do this in one go at the end of the cruise or per day?

We are a family of 4 who are cruising for 4 nights

Many thanks

 

[Maggie'sMom]

There are standard gratuities which are added to your onboard account for your wait staff and stateroom host. Those are $12 per night per person. So for your family of 4 on a 4 night cruise, your standard gratuities will be $192. Of the $12 per person per night, $4 goes to your stateroom host, $4 goes to your server, $3 to your assistant server, and $1 to your head server. You can adjust these up or down by going to guest services sometime prior to the last night of your cruise. You will receive slips of paper reflecting the amount of tip charged to your onboard account, along with envelopes, to give to the wait staff and stateroom host. If you want to tip more, you can always just add cash to the envelopes rather than adjust the amount at guest services. You will give the envelopes to your wait staff and stateroom host on the last night of the cruise so you don't need to concern yourself with tipping each day.

Outside the the gratuities added to your onboard account, beverages purchased in the restaurants and bars have 15% gratuity added to them. You can add more if you would like. Spa services have 18% gratuity added to the bill.

In addition to these gratuities, I also give the porters who assist with luggage a small cash tip, usually $1-$2 per bag.

 

[apathetic]

For the most part, tips are automatic and added to your stateroom. You can increase if you feel it is deserved. If you order room service, you have to specifically tip for that. Some people bring cash and tip $1-2 per item ordered. Also, tipping on excursions should be planned for. Tip tour guides and drivers as you see fit. Also, check countries you plan to visit to see their tipping customs in case you stop for lunch or a drink. Tipping baggage handlers is standard. Not just the porters at the ship, but any bus drivers getting to/from the port. Really, we tip $1-2 per bag anytime someone handles our bags.

 

[Bonnie1222]

All of the above, however DH and I ALWAYS tip additional on top of what DCL recommends. We prepay our gratuities to your room host and serving staff then add additional cash based on the service. We just got off the Fantasy 2 weeks ago and we almost double our room hostesses tip because she was just that great. She was friendly, always had time to talk and visit, kept our room well stocked and was just a pleasure to be around. If you have exceptional service, give them more.

When I get coffee at Cove, I always add an additional dollar per coffee, and at bars $1-$2 per mixed drink. I worked as a waitress in the past, so I tend to give extra and highly believe in rewarding good service. If you plan on ordering room service you should have singles available as well to tip. If what you order does not cost additional you won't have a bill to sign to add the extra. I usually give $1 per item ordered.

As for the porters at the port. We give $2 per bag dropping off, and when we return we usually get a porter to take us back to our car, and give them at least $10 or more because it takes time to wait in line, and then take us to the car and load it. This past cruise it took us over 2 hours to get off the boat and through customs (it was that backed up) and DH have him a $20 (2 full size suit cases, 2 carry size and 2 tote bags.)

Have a fantastic cruise

 

[MomOTwins]

I was always taught $5 per bag for porters; funny everyone always has a different rule.

As others have said, tips for most things (other than room service and porters) have a minimum tip charged automatically to your stateroom account. Whether and how much you want to exceed that minimum is up to you. As a general rule, I would say most people do tip extra to at least the room host and server in the dining rooms.

 

[starvenger]

I think @Maggie'sMom and @apathetic covered most of what I would’ve said.

Porters are a tricky one. I usually go with about $2/bag and round to the nearest $5.

If you go to an all-inclusive excursion or day resort I’d tip the staff about 20% of your cost.

 

[mmouse37]

I never heard of $5 per bag...that is high IMO. We do $2 per bag and round up like above poster.

MJ

 

[coast2coastmickey]

We ended up doubling the tips for everyone. Just got off the Dream last week. Rather than tip cash, I stopped by guest services on the last night of the cruise and increased the automated tip amounts.

The guest services cast member gave me new "tickets" showing the new tip amounts. On the second to last day, your stateroom host will drop off a customer service questionnaire and 4 envelopes, with instructions that you can place an indication of how much you are tipping (and/or cash), and personally give it to each person (lead server, server, assistant server, stateroom host). So I took the new tipping "tickets," sealed them in each envelope and gave them to each person on the last time I expected to see them (last night for hostess, debarkation breakfast for servers)

Everyone we had was amazing. Stateroom hostess set up a diaper pail and crib without us requesting it, she was really awesome about fresh towels and our daughter loved seeing her each morning. Our server and assistant server were 100% on point. Perfectly timed courses, our favorite drinks waiting for us when we sat down, and great personality.

We figured that they don't get paid much by western standards and we felt that $12 per day was super low for all the work they did for us.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

gave them to each person on the last time I expected to see them (last night for hostess, debarkation breakfast for servers)

I wouldn't count on that. There have been several cruises where our servers were not at the debarkation breakfast (due to immigration checks or leaving at end of contract).

It's often best to hand out all those envelopes on the last night.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

I wouldn't count on that. There have been several cruises where our servers were not at the debarkation breakfast (due to immigration checks or leaving at end of contract).

It's often best to hand out all those envelopes on the last night.

Fair enough. In our case, they mentioned that they'd be there the next morning, otherwise I would have ran up to the room and grabbed the envelopes during dinner.

 

[david middleton]

Dare I ask what the purpose the envelope serves if the gratuity is already paid?

 

[hcox31]

Dare I ask what the purpose the envelope serves if the gratuity is already paid?

We add extra cash in ours with the prepaid slips, and hand them to the appropriate person and say thank you and tell them to their face what great service we had. Even if we didn't add extra, a nice smile, handshake and thank you with the envelope would be appreciated I'm sure.

 

[Dug720]

Dare I ask what the purpose the envelope serves if the gratuity is already paid?

Tradition. People like to hand the envelopes to the servers/stateroom hosts and say thank you. You can also add in any cash you wish.

 

[Catvondita]

We tended to add about $5 to each of what it said we owed at the end of the trip. Also when we got drinks the tip was so low that the automatic tip would be like 65 cents or something so we always added at least a dollar. The other time I was worried was when we ate at Palo. On land the server would be making way more than what the suggested tip was on the ship. Since most of the bill was around $30ish bucks per person not including drinks i felt weird to tip off that amount because it seemed so cheap. I keep comparing it to on land which i know I shouldn't but back in New York a meal like that would be at least more than $100 and figure the server would get about the 20% standard tip so I ended up trying to over compensate the tip lol. Cruise tipping confuses me!

 

[starvenger]

I understand what you mean - it’s really hard to gauge. All I can recommend is to do what you feel is right.

 

[Nicole Reicher]

Does anyone know if tips are expected from kids? This is our first cruise and my mom and I are worried how my 8 and 9 year olds will weather the tipping culture. We are also worried about giving my 8 year old permission to "order" things that may cost us extra, she is not very thoughtful with money. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Dug720]

Does anyone know if tips are expected from kids? This is our first cruise and my mom and I are worried how my 8 and 9 year olds will weather the tipping culture. We are also worried about giving my 8 year old permission to "order" things that may cost us extra, she is not very thoughtful with money. Any advice is appreciated.

The daily service charges (gratuities) are applied to everyone in the cabin regardless of age. And yes, if they order a mocktail or a beverage with a charge, the gratuity is added on.

 

[Dug720]

Does anyone know if tips are expected from kids? This is our first cruise and my mom and I are worried how my 8 and 9 year olds will weather the tipping culture. We are also worried about giving my 8 year old permission to "order" things that may cost us extra, she is not very thoughtful with money. Any advice is appreciated.

Adding on because it won’t let me edit...

If you are concerned about her spending too much, simply do not allow her charging privileges. You or another adult would have to buy anything for her.

But the daily per-person gratuities are charged to everyone in the room regardless of if they have privileges.

 

[TortoiseTaughtUs]

Does anyone know if tips are expected from kids? This is our first cruise and my mom and I are worried how my 8 and 9 year olds will weather the tipping culture. We are also worried about giving my 8 year old permission to "order" things that may cost us extra, she is not very thoughtful with money. Any advice is appreciated.

The standard gratuities—a total of $12 per person per day, including the children—will be applied to your account automatically. (If you’re sailing Concierge you’re also expected to tip your hosts at your discretion.) Otherwise, I believe that when you’re onboard tipping only comes into play when you’re purchasing something like a spa treatment or a smoothie/drink (automatic 18% and 15% gratuities, respectively), tipping servers in the adult-only restaurants, or ordering room service (the food is free, but you should tip the cast members who deliver it). You can opt to prevent your children from charging things to your account when you complete the forms for online check-in, so if they won’t be buying their own smoothies it should be a non-issue.

 

[starvenger]

Adding on because it won’t let me edit...

If you are concerned about her spending too much, simply do not allow her charging privileges. You or another adult would have to buy anything for her.

But the daily per-person gratuities are charged to everyone in the room regardless of if they have privileges.

This is what we do on cruises. I do trust my kids, but they’re young and no charging privileges removes any temptation to purchase anything without one of us present.