We went on a cruise several years ago, and the cruise line provided a sheet in the room with tipping guidelines (who to tip and how much is recommended). I'd be willing to bet your cruise will have something similar. If not, you can always ask once you are on the cruise.
As far as being in port, we tipped at restaurants and taxi's etc., like we do in the states (we were in the Caribbean). Most of the folks who work in these port towns definitely live off of tips!
There may be people working the cruise ship from all over the world who have many cultures, but I would imagine they all would love a tip (even the Japanese ones!) and I'd give them one if they were good!
My friends who work on cruise ships (entertainment and/or spa/massage) usually get no tip or a really good tip. The pay is often really crappy for these jobs, but there are amenities too.
The cruise we went on automatically billed us 7 per day per person for the tips.On the ship beyond that we never gave more.Onshore tips at restaurants and if we did a tour a tip for the tour guide.I have to tell you it seemed like we were constantly handing out money.I swore next time we went away it would be when tipping wasn't allowed.I guess I sound cheap but you tip the driver to the place then you tip the guide and if there are more than one...tip the baggage handlers..it went one and on.
There may be people working the cruise ship from all over the world who have many cultures, but I would imagine they all would love a tip (even the Japanese ones!) and I'd give them one if they were good!
My friends who work on cruise ships (entertainment and/or spa/massage) usually get no tip or a really good tip. The pay is often really crappy for these jobs, but there are amenities too.
Thanks. I wasn't talking about tipping everyone but a Japanese person waiting on me. I meant the country in my original post.
I do hope they have some guidelines for us. If not, I'll ask.
I've always cruised on Holland America which has a strict "no tipping" policy which means that they won't give you any guidelines. That doesn't mean I don't tip! I do about $15-20 per day for my room steward and my dinner servers (I always have breakfast and lunch at the buffet). I tip 15-20% on my bar tab to my regular bar servers (we tend to go to the same bar every night for happy hour and perhaps one other bar later in the night). I also tip my wine steward if we order wine with dinner (which we usually do). We're going on a cruise this summer and all our tips will be double as we have two rooms--one for us and one for the kids--but that's okay.
We went on a Carnival cruise last summer. A $50 per person/per day tip was built into our bill that covered everyone (cabin attendants, dining room servers etc) and you were permitted to adjust it up or down as you saw fit. There also was a built-in gratuity added to every bar transaction and any other food/drink not covered by the basic cruise fee (lattes etc). It was all clearly spelled out on the web site, so perhaps you could check the web site of the cruise company you're using and see what their tipping policy is?
You can look up the countries that you will be visiting on lonelyplanet.com or similar website to see what the usual tipping policy is.
In Mexico, you do tip although it isn't generally as much as here.
I recently went on vacation in South America and I didn't check out the tipping guidelines for the countries I was in and just tipped normal. Those that we tipped seemed pleased, especially on the last day of our trip and we had a few extra bills
I've been on disney about 5 times... you get an envelope at the end of the cruise for each staff member that has taken care of you (stateroom attendant and three people in the dining room). I believe there is a card in the envelope that gives you a guideline (a certain amount of $ multiplied by the number of people in your stateroom) and if it's not on the card, it's on the envelope itself. It's only a guide, obviously you're not required to tip, but it will give you something to go on. The one thing from above that I'll respectfully disagree with - the people working on these ships make the bulk of their living from tips, the wages they are paid are comparable to, if not much less than, someone working as a server in a restaurant (in my area that's about 2.30 an hour).
You don't need to tip otherwise (at the table, for example), with the possible exception of ordering drinks in the bar.
Last edited by dancingirl81; 01-22-2008 at 03:28 PM.
I've been on disney about 5 times... you get an envelope at the end of the cruise for each staff member that has taken care of you (stateroom attendant and three people in the dining room). I believe there is a card in the envelope that gives you a guideline (a certain amount of $ multiplied by the number of people in your stateroom) and if it's not on the card, it's on the envelope itself. It's only a guide, obviously you're not required to tip, but it will give you something to go on. The one thing from above that I'll respectfully disagree with - the people working on these ships make the bulk of their living from tips, the wages they are paid are comparable to, if not much less than, someone working as a server in a restaurant (in my area that's about 2.30 an hour).
You don't need to tip otherwise (at the table, for example), with the possible exception of ordering drinks in the bar.
How much do you tip on a cruise?
I meant the country in my original post.
