What's the standard recommendation with respect to tips? The cruise ship will generally automatically deduct a tip amount daily on credit card. Do you tip separately for each meal; do you tip the people who make your room/bed?

On those cruise lines that charge the daily/weekly fee (I think you still have to actually request that on Royal Caribbean), it covers the dining team and cabin steward. Extra tips to these crew aren't necessary unless you feel like it, but they aren't expected. Room service should get a tip, and since we take our kids, we tip the camp counsellors that spend a lot of time with our kids.

Drinks have tips added to them automatically, so no need to tip bartenders or drink servers unless you really feel by the end of the cruise that a particular person gave you over and above service.

I've only sailed on RC and X. They have recommended daily gratuity rates listed on their websites. When we originally started cruising we gave an envelope at the end of the cruise to our room steward and wait team. As we now normally do the flexible dining option, the gratuities are automatically collected when you make final payment instead of being included in your running account on the cruise (though I guess some lines might be different).

DanJ describes the other situations well.
I would only add that we usually tip our wait staff and steward in addition to the base gratuities. One doesn't have to of course but our experience has been that the service we have received during our cruises has been excellent. And the staff truly appreciate the extra tip.

Some cash to the steward at boarding means you'll see extra attention. Well worth a $50. You can then tip at the end or through the cruise line's program.

If you do want to tip your dining room staff or cabin steward extra, you would do it at the end of the cruise, not each day or meal.


For bartenders/drink waiters, there will be a line on the bill you sign when you receive your drink to add additional tip - if you want.

In general, you would add more if you felt like it because you received great service, you would adjust your daily tip down if you were getting lousy service.

My room steward makes my bed, and turns down the bed. I don't think I've ever asked anything else from them, so I usually don't tip them above the recommended daily amount.

If I'm on a ship where we have the same dining room staff every night, and they do an excellent job, I'll give them a bit more at the end of the trip. One set of waiters once told us they know the very first night who will tip well and who won't and they focus on the people more likely to tip.

On our last cruise there were a couple of bar staff who treated us wonderfully, so we added tips to the bills there. And yes, I'm fully aware they add a tip to the bar bill already.

If I've gotten excellent service in the specialty restaurants (the ones that cost extra on some ships) I'll also add tips when signing that bill, if they don't I won't.

intersting read: http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?id=132 .

On Carnival, it's $11.50/person per day baseline.

Have to be honest, personally I find his "guidelines" to be a bit on the high side myself, and I'm one that will tend to tip some people on top of the base fee that gets collected.

As someone that prefers any time dining, I often don't tip waiters, letting the auto-tip cover it. (The exception is when I've had the same waiters on a number of nights for a cruise, and felt they did an excellent job. I've had ones that I've had on a number of nights that I thought did an ok job that I didn't tip extra for, so it's not an automatic for me.)

Cabin stewards will almost always get an extra tip from me (but at the end of the cruise, I don't bribe up front). I honestly don't think I've ever had a bad steward so far.

I've only once had a bartender that I felt like tipping extra for.

Probably more important even than tipping, if you feel someone does well by you, fill out a compliment card for them. These cards are very much used in helping to judge promotions for crew members (and for that matter, can be a factor in even deciding if a crew member's contract gets renewed).

I think they are high too, but this person also doesn't sound like a blue collar worker like me either LOL. Our kids have gone on 2 cruises with us, and both times, we have had assigned first seating dining. The wait staff was great with our kids so we tipped them extra on top of the auto-tips. As for the cabin steward, he was getting tips for 4, with less than double the work. There still is the same amount of floor to vacuum, toilet to clean, so really the incremental work is making up the sofabed and maybe a couple extra towels.

$15/day to the kids camp is a lot. We usually give them $30-40 for the week. However our kids aren't there all day every day, and you do pay for them to be there after 10pm, which we usually do once per cruise.

I do agree with the suggestion that comment cards are very important.

I opt out of the tip surcharges and give on my own. I usually tip the wait staff and room steward. This ensures the people who help me personally get rewarded.

They still have to turn it in to the tipping pool. Anything you give over and above the suggested amount, they get to keep. But just because you only see one waiter doesn't mean there aren't others who are involved in making your experience good, and they get a share regardless if you give cash personally to one person or leave the autotips in place.

I think tipping above the daily fee is really only necessary when you are in a suite with butler and concierge service. On our last cruise, we were in a regular balcony, and I don't think we tipped at the end. On our cruise in January, we'll be in a suite and we'll tip our butler and concierge separately as they are not part of the general tip pool.

Are you sure of that? I was under the impression that the higher auto-tips charged on most lines for those in suites was to cover those extra service personnel.

Dan - Completely agree that there are others who are involved. While I don't tip the countless chefs, I don't just tip my lead waiter. I tip others too. In fact, I'm looking forward to my cruise that I'm leaving for this weekend!

I think Dan's point was more that by opting out of the auto-tip, what you're doing is actually not helping those individuals you're seeking to reward. When you do that, anything you give to them must be turned in and is then distributed amongst the general tip pool. They do not get to keep what you give them directly.

If you really want to reward individuals, then you're better off just leaving the auto-tip in place (consider it part of the cost of the cruise), then tip those people in addition to the auto-tip. When you do that, they're allowed to keep what you give them.