Cruise Gratuities, Explained Without the Confusion

What Are Daily Cruise Gratuities?

On many cruise lines, a daily gratuity or service charge is assessed for each guest.

The amount can depend on the cruise line, cabin or suite category, and current policy. Those charges generally support crew members who provide service throughout your cruise, but exactly how they are distributed is determined by the cruise line.

I don't want this guide quoting a universal dollar amount, because rates change and different cruise lines handle gratuities differently. Before you sail, check the current gratuity policy for your cruise line and fare.

Prepay or Pay Onboard?

If your cruise line allows it, you may have the option to prepay gratuities before the cruise or have them added to your onboard account during the sailing.

Personally, I like knowing as much of my vacation cost as possible before I leave home. Prepaying can mean one less expense sitting on the onboard account at the end of the cruise.

But that doesn't automatically make prepaying cheaper, and travelers should not assume it "locks in" a rate unless the cruise line specifically says it does.

Either way, I want you to know whether gratuities are already included, prepaid, or still need to be accounted for in your vacation budget.

Check Before Assuming They're Included

Some cruise fares, packages, promotions, or group offers may include gratuities. Others do not.

Never assume that because someone else received included gratuities on the same cruise line, your booking includes them too. Look at your reservation and your fare.

If gratuities are included, great. If they're not, include them when you're figuring out the real cost of the cruise. That's one reason I don't like looking only at the advertised cruise fare—the price of the cabin and the cost of the vacation aren't always the same number.

Drinks, Dining, Spa Services, and Other Purchases Can Be Different

The daily gratuity isn't necessarily the only gratuity you may see onboard. Depending on the cruise line, an additional service charge or gratuity may be automatically added to certain purchases such as beverages, specialty dining, spa services, room service, or other services.

If a gratuity has already been added to a check, take a second and look at it before adding another tip. You can certainly choose to give something additional when appropriate, but I don't want someone accidentally tipping twice because they didn't realize a gratuity was already included.

What About Giving Someone Extra Cash?

Sometimes a crew member makes your vacation especially memorable. Maybe your cabin steward took wonderful care of you. Maybe a server remembered something small that mattered to you. Maybe someone simply went out of their way to help.

If the cruise line permits it and you want to personally recognize that person with an additional gratuity, that's your choice.

But I don't want travelers feeling as though they have to hand out extra cash everywhere after already paying the gratuities required or charged by the cruise line. Understand what's already included first. Then decide whether you personally want to do anything additional.

Don't Forget About People Off the Ship

Not every gratuity on a cruise vacation involves the cruise line. You may also want to budget for porters, airport or hotel transfer drivers, tour and excursion guides, private drivers, and hotel staff if you're staying before or after the cruise.

Customs and expectations can also vary by destination, so there isn't one tipping rule that works everywhere in the world. These smaller expenses are easy to forget when you're calculating the trip budget.

My Advice: Know Before You Go

You don't need to turn cruise gratuities into a complicated math problem. Before your cruise, find out: are gratuities included? If not, what is the current amount for my cruise and cabin category? Can or should I prepay them? What onboard purchases may already have a gratuity added? What other tipping might I want to budget for during the trip?

Once you know those answers, there shouldn't be a big surprise waiting for you on the last night. And that's really the point.

I'd rather you spend the last night of your cruise enjoying the ship than staring at your onboard account trying to figure out where the charges came from.