Gratuities on Royal Caribbean: How tipping works

Gratuities on a Royal Caribbean cruise are a part of the entire trip price, however they are often confusion, particularly for first-time cruisers.

As a cruise ship passenger, you are anticipated to provide tricks to crew members throughout your voyage. Don’t fret, this is not as awkward or formal because it sounds, however understanding how these gratuities work and what they cowl can be useful.

Not solely will it’s essential distribute gratuities, you additionally must plan your cruise finances to account for them.

Royal Caribbean, like all main cruise strains, has a system in place to make sure that the hardworking employees members who improve your trip obtain acceptable compensation. Gratuities should not included within the cruise fare (aside from Australians), however they’re obligatory.

We offer this information that will help you perceive how gratuities work on the cruise, who receives them, how they’re charged, and whether or not you’ll be able to alter them.

How a lot are gratuities on Royal Caribbean?

Royal Caribbean robotically provides a every day cost to every cruise passenger’s SeaPass account. 

Every day of your cruise, Royal Caribbean will robotically cost every individual’s SeaPass account a gratuity.  It is a option to acknowledge nice service onboard that you simply get from crew members.

The every day gratuities cowl these crew members:

• stateroom attendant
• head waiter
• waiter
• assistant waiter

As of November 11, 2023, the every day gratuity quantity is $16.00 per visitor, per day for these friends in customary lodging.  Visitors in suites pays $20.50 per individual, per day in gratuities.  The every day gratuity quantity is the identical for all passengers, no matter age.

As an alternative of paying them onboard, friends have the selection to pre-pay their gratuities earlier than their cruise to assist break up up the price of their cruise trip.

In case you are a My Time Eating visitor, you could prepay your gratuities.  

Easy methods to pre-pay gratuities

There are two good causes to prepay gratuities. Some folks choose to have all the pieces paid for earlier than the cruise begins, so they do not have to fret a few large invoice on the finish of the journey.

The second purpose to prepay gratuities is that your worth is locked in. If Royal Caribbean had been to lift the every day gratuity charges earlier than your crusing, you would be grandfathered into the outdated price.

Pre-paying gratuities is a straightforward course of. Should you booked instantly with Royal Caribbean, you’ll be able to pre-pay gratuities by calling 866-562-7625 or logging into Royal Caribbean’s web site earlier than the crusing.

Should you booked with a journey agent, merely let the journey agent know your choice and so they can deal with the preparations.

There are different gratuities too

The every day gratuities solely cowl some crew members, and there you will must tip on different purchases.

If this looks as if “double dipping”, the truth is the following tips are for crew members not lined by the every day gratuities.

Bartenders and drink waiters

Should you order beverage onboard your Royal Caribbean cruise, reminiscent of soda, beer, or wine, you’ll be charged an automated 18% gratuity if you obtain the invoice.

Should you purchased an limitless drink package deal, gratuities for all drinks you order is included with the drink package deal buy.  You will really get charged a “service charge” if you purchase the drink package deal to cowl that.

The gratuity quantity is for the service you obtain from the wait employees to serve your drink.  The gratuity quantity is added to what you buy and indicated on the backside of your receipt.

You possibly can add a further tip on the receipt if you want. 

Specialty eating places

The surcharge you pay to dine at a specialty restaurant aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise contains the tip.

There isn’t a must pay a tip on prime of the surcharge quantity, until you wish to.

Spa

The Vitality Spa on Royal Caribbean ships may have gratuity added onto it as nicely.

Identical to drinks, an 18% gratuity is robotically added.

You possibly can tip extra, for those who like

If you wish to tip above and past the automated gratuity, you’re all the time welcome to take action.

It is a discretionary tip, and it’s as much as you and never anticipated in all instances.  Even crew members who obtain an automated gratuity can obtain further gratuities for those who really feel it’s warranted.

Some situations the place a discretionary tip could also be acceptable are for room service deliveries or baggage service by porters.

You possibly can take away the gratuities, however it’s essential pay them

Royal Caribbean will robotically cost you for each evening of the cruise however that doesn’t imply you need to pay it in case you are not happy with the service. 

You possibly can go to Visitor Companies at any level in your cruise and have them decreased or eliminated out of your account for those who would like to tip a unique quantity.

The choice to take away gratuities is a mechanism to rectify poor service, not a price financial savings measure. Crew members work very exhausting every single day of your cruise to make it an awesome trip, so do not stiff them to be able to lower your expenses.

Why do I’ve to tip?

Cruise ship tipping is an outdated custom that also hangs on, and it is also a product of American tipping tradition.

One profit to holding tipping in place is it incentives crew members to go above and past with their service. Even when they’re a crew member that will get a tip robotically, the service they supply will get mirrored in post-cruise surveys. Plus, many friends elect to tip on prime of the bottom quantity within the case of wonderful service.

By having ideas as a further price, it is one thing that does not drive up the bottom cruise fare, which helps promote decrease charges.

The truth is, Royal Caribbean has mentioned they will not provide an all inclusive cruise fare that features gratuities as a result of their inner analysis reveals a majority of shoppers don’t need all-in-one pricing.

Royal Caribbean Worldwide President and CEO Michael Bayley mentioned, “We all know from our analysis that we have to give everyone the selection to resolve what they do or don’t need included of their trip.”

“We really feel just like the pricing technique that we now have on the bundling, unbundling is the fitting path to go.”

The truth is gratuity on Royal Caribbean is an added charge you are anticipated to pay. Maybe sooner or later ideas could be included with the cruise fare, however that has but to vary.