What are the unwritten tipping rules on a cruise? — featuring Life Well Cruised

0:00 did I just change my mind about Cruise gratuities Cruise gratuities are not only one of the most controversial topics among Cruisers but increasingly it seems for both first-time Cruisers and even Avid Cruisers it is getting more confusing hi there I'm Elana from the website lifewall cruise.com welcome or

0:24 welcome back to my channel now Cruise gratuities have been something that's just part of cruising for years and years but many people are questioning the way Cruise gratuities are collected and even who is actually getting them on a cruise ship if that sort of needs to change a little bit now I am going to

0:43 share my thoughts on this and I'm also going to share exactly how gratuities work on a cruise especially for firsttime Cruisers who want to know a little bit like what are the unwritten rules do I need to give extra if I prepaid my gratuities and my charge daily how does it work now I've been

1:03 cruising for about 20 years and I've definitely seen how things change and I am going to share my own thoughts on this including one thing that I have heard of or seen these days that I actually don't like now before I get started I didn't want to mention two things I would like to hear from you so

1:20 please let me know your thoughts down in the comments below and if you like this video if you find it helpful informative or enjoyable in any way then please do give this video a big thumbs up I really do appreciate it and please subscribe to to the channel if you haven't done so

1:31 already let's get started how do gratuities work on a cruise most major Cruise Lines charge an additional gratuiti sometimes it's called a crew incentive or a crew appreciation or even a service fee daily to every guest in the cabin now this amount varies by Cruise Line as well as what type of

1:49 cabin category you have now these daily gratuities are added to your onboard account when you're on the cruise ship or alternatively many people do like to prepay these before their Cruise it is a good way to budget and to not have to worry about that once you're on the ship now just to let you know if you have a

2:06 package or bundle that includes your crew incentive or your crew appreciation then this is already included so you're not going to be charged an additional amount once you are on the ship now these gratuities are pulled and then split amongst the crew now what happens when you go to a bar or to the spa well

2:24 you are going to have additional gratuities for any of those services but you are going to see that directly on the bill now although the gratuities are automatic guests do have the ability to go down to guest services in most cases and ask for the gratuities to either be removed or to be adjusted and this is

2:42 where a lot of Cruisers get into arguments there are some people that say you know what I want to remove my gratuities and I want to give a tip directly to the people who directly serve me so some of the waiters that I particularly like or my cabinet attendant or even extra to a bartender

2:59 Etc and I like it that way and other people say that's just not fair to the people behind the scenes now I've been cruising for a while so I've definitely seen this the old way and the new way and I do have some thoughts in the past we used to get envelopes in our cabin and we would give a certain amount to

3:17 our waiter assistant waiter Mater D cabinet attendant Etc and those were the people that we were directly seeing every single day but the new way this amount goes to the different people who serve us on a and the reality is in the past we used to go to the main dining room sit at the same table probably at

3:37 least five nights out of seven if not more and these days sometimes we're in specialty restaurants but many times we're in different casual restaurants around the cruise ship we might be in the main dining room but we are sitting at different tables because we are doing flexible or open dining now In fairness

3:54 many people who do remove the gratuities say that what they do is they remove the gratuities and they give it to the people that directly impact their vacation and they feel that that has more value because they believe that the amount that the crew is getting is not going to change whether they remove it

4:10 or not now I have to be honest I'm not sure if that is true or if people that do remove the gratuities if it will impact the amount that the crew get even if it is down the line now John heeld Carnival's Ambassador recently asked the question do people want to see the gratuities included in the cost of the

4:29 cre cruise and by the way in some places like in Australia apparently this happens and on some higher end cruise lines and even a premium Cruise Line virgin voyages this is done this is simply built into the price so I would actually like to hear if this is something that you'd like to see now

4:47 when it comes to the unwritten rules of tipping a lot of people wonder are there times that I should tip extra should I give something extra even if I paid my gratuiti so this is where I disagree with something that I've seen on a cruise recently and many people have mentioned this and as well though I do want to let

5:10 you know about some of the places that you might want to be prepared to tip extra because it is a little bit expected the porters when you arrive at your cruise terminal the porters are going to be there to take your luggage from your trunk or your taxi and they're going to put it on a luggage cart and

5:25 then it's going to be delivered to your cruise ship it is customary to give between $2 and $5 per bag and by the way this is all Unwritten rules so you do whatever you like but this is kind of the norm or what is sort of expected so I like to have some small bills ready just in case if you go on a tour or an

5:45 Excursion it's also customary to tip the tour guide and even the driver now the amount can vary what a lot of people say is between five and $10 for the tour guide and between $2 and $5 per person for the drive dver now when it comes to tipping extra for your cabinet attendant or maybe the bartenders or some special

6:06 people who've really helped you out on your cruise this is very discretionary and there are some people that give an additional amount and some people don't they pay their automatic gratuities and that is it and I don't think that you should feel obligated to pay anything more than that if you have paid your

6:23 gratuities however some people have brought to my attention and I've seen it as well getting envelopes in their cabin from the cruise line even when they paid their automatic gratuities and I have to say I saw this once and I just didn't like it I am happy to give an extra amount to the crew when I decide and

6:42 oftentimes we do by the way to our cabinet attendant and to some other people that we see on the cruise ship but I really want to be able to make that choice so I don't mind when envelopes are available down at Guest Services or I often bring thank you nights or envelopes so I have my own but

6:57 I don't really like the idea of getting those envelopes in my cabin if the whole idea of prepaying your gratuities is to have the convenience now please let me know if you've ever had that on a cruise if you've seen envelopes recently what you thought and in general do you want to see the cruise line simply adding

7:16 gratuities into the cost of the cruise please let me know down in the comments below I hope that you enjoyed this video if you did please do give it a big thumbs up I really do appreciate it and please subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already bye for now and happy cruising