Several cruise ship lines, such as Carnival Cruise Lines, automatically charge you for tips and gratuity at the start of the cruise. Tipping on Princess Cruise Ship or on the Crown Princess is also automatic -- according to the Princess Cruise Line web site, a hotel and dining charge of $10 per day per person is added to your shipboard account. Automatic tip charges can usually be increased or decresaed at the Purser's Reception desk onboard.
On some cruise ship lines, including Radisson Seven Seas, Seabourn, Silversea and Windstar, tipping is not required, according to their web sites.
Most other cruise ship lines recommend tips totalling about $9-$13 a day, and most automatic tipping programs are in this range. Here are average tips for each person that we've compiled:
Cruise Ship Tipping |
| Crew Member |
Average Recommended Daily Tip |
| Dining Room Waiter |
$3-$4 a day |
| Assistant Waiter or Bus Boy |
$1.50 - $3 a day |
| Dining Room Maite D' |
$.50 -$1 a day |
| Dining Room Head Waiter or Head Server |
$.50 - $1 a day |
| Room Steward |
$3-$4 a day |
| |
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Disney Cruise Lines's suggested tips fall around the higher-end of the ranges above.
On most cruise ship lines, bar bills already include a 15% tip, and while most permit you to increase or decrease this amount, you are not required to tip additionally.
For spa services on a crew, we recommend the typical tip of 15%-20%, unless it is a cruise line that discourages any kind of tipping, or tips are already included in the spa treatments (Norwegian Cruise Lines is an example of this)..
If you go on excursion in port, we recommend typical tour tipping. If you are pleased with the tour, you can tip $2-$5 to the tour guide for a full day tour, $1-$2 to the driver. |
