Another newbie gratuities question-- we will be cruising on Azamara which includes gratuities in their pricing. However, do I assume correctly that additional tips may be prudent for, say housekeeping, butler and waitstaff? I know drinks carry an added 15% for gratuity and, of course spa treatment and other added services will entail adding on a tip.

Our cruise is 15 nights starting and ending in Amsterdam and cruising Norwegian fjords. What monetary unit should we plan to use for cash tips?

If gratuities are included, then there isn't a requirement to tip extra. However, my first experience on Holland America, when their policy was "no tipping required", most people still tipped. It was our first cruise, for our honeymoon, and we had no idea about tipping, and the cruise line was no help in suggesting how much, so we probably way undertipped, while at the same time, thinking that anything we gave was a bonus lol.

Fortunately there are now sites like cruise critic which have info easily obtainable about these things, and I strongly suggest looking over there about this. I would suggest that US Dollars would be the preferred currency.

Azamara ships use dollars as their currency - if you feel that you should tip someone dollars are fine.

I was never in a suite on Azamara (so I can't tell you about tipping your butler), but when I cruised with them they were very clear that there should be no expectation of additional tipping for waitstaff and housekeeping. I did tip for "above-and-beyond" service when someone went the extra mile. YMMV.

Gratuities
 

Never been on a cruise and have been looking to book our first one from Asia to UK. Could not believe this gratuities con. (we live in Australia & NZ tipping is not normal) so that is why I use the word con. HAL would require US$ 785 from me for tips!!!!!! they must be bl***y joking, found a UK ship where the daily tip is 3.95GBP/day/person still not used to this so will probably have to pay with great reluctance.

$11-12 USD per person is the standard. It's how these people make a living. I would prefer the cruise line to just add that to the cost of the cruise myself. However I recognize unless all the cruise lines get on board with this, then they risk making their pricing appear uncompetitive. And not just to other cruises, but also to all inclusive vacations as well.

What suprised me most on my last cruise was that they took the tips automatically after the 2nd day of a 7 day cruise. While I fully intended to leave the "suggested" gratitude, it did seem a little presumptuous before the service had been delivered.

When I was last on Princess, they charged it to our account on a daily basis. Royal Caribbean, I had to request they be charged. And Carnival charges them in one lump sum early in the cruise. I consider them to be a service fee, not tips, and part of the cost of cruising.

tips
 

Just came off a 35 day Oceania cruise. Got free gratuities Worth a fortune. 1,035 times 2. U still need to tip excursions and as mentioned above drinks add tips

Norwegian is the same as Princess. Paying the service charge before the cruise keeps your bill a little cleaner and easier to audit prior to disembarkation. Otherwise, it's an additional 14 lines (assuming 2 in the cabin) scattered across 7 days of drink, spa and excursion charges.

per the math: 35 days X $31/day gratuity= $1,035 X 2= $2,070! WHOA!

$62/day gratuity for 2, is in my opinion steep: did you stay in a PH? with a butler, then reluctantly, OK.

Never had a problem with Holland America on 15-22 day cruises (which also incurs gratuity charges daily). Then again, we only spend on corkage and a few odd happy hour drinks which we keep track of as incurred. They've got us marked as cheapskates now. Spent less on the more-recent 22 day cruise than the earlier 15 day one.

It's $15-22 pp pd for gratuities (going up $1 pp pd) depending on cabin.

At the rates they charge ($400 pp pd for an itinerary cruise, $200+ for a repo - in inside cabins), they can easily include gratuities and a whole bunch of other things.

Is it a dollar, 4 quarters or 10 dines?

Crystal, Seabourn, Siverseas, and Regent 7 Seas have the main tips included. Do you really think you have not paid them when you paid your fare? Regent 7 Seas had an auction for fun "job rights", tending bar, interviewing an employee on their tv, eating with the chef...to raise money for the crew funds in addition. Totally optional.

Holland American and Celebrity charge an amount PP/PD dependent on cabin level to your bill. Holland allows a clawback if you disagree with the amount OR you can add more. Some clawback a portion and distribute in a manor they decide versus the way HAL might choose. Several years back HAL passed out envelopes and you did as you chose, although they did give recommendations.

As far as tips, generally these end up on your bill. Tips on board that you choose to hand to someone, normally would be in the currency of the ship, most often US $s.

Not mentioned, but for budgeting, don't forget shore excursions. When possible this should be in local currency. US$'s often ok otherwise. No coins, as they are very had to turn into local currency. Depending on your travel plans, there might be the hotel, taxi, bus to the ship, etc. Some of these may or may not be include in your fare. Read the brochure or docs. In Tahiti, don't try to pay Le Truck in US$s. The driver will cuss you out. OOps, guess I should have asked in advance.

One more advantage of prepaid gratuities made itself obvious today as I received an email from Norwegian Cruise Lines announcing an increase in the daily service charge (tip). If I prepay the charge before my final payment is due, I will be paying at the old rate. Admittedly it's not a big difference, less than $10 for a 7 day cruise, but I'd rather take it and spend it on myself. The increased charge is now $13.50 pp daily - a modest cost compared to the premium lines - but sure to crank up the volume of the whiners over on CruiseCritic.

You're right judging by some of the postings over there. People that have been fortunate enough to be on literally dozens of cruises still will find things to gripe about.

'Murica.


:)

While that's true the caution is that some lines, Holland America for sure, monitor the removal or reduction of automatic service charges. If you remove or reduce the charge on Holland America they inform the impacted service staff and any out of hand cash tips are required to be turned in. There's a lot of debate on how they manage this but the supposed threat to the staff is being fired for failure to turn in cash tips. Again, this us only for cash tips received from passengers who have removed or reduced the automatic service charge.