5 Shocking Cruise Tipping Secrets
Key Moments
Editorial Summary
The creator outlines five specific insights regarding how gratuities are handled on cruise ships. The first point explains that automatic gratuities paid to a cruise line are not distributed directly to the specific cabin attendants or waitstaff who served the passenger. Instead, cruise line policies dictate that these funds are pooled among all staff members. The creator notes that while many crew members prefer cash tips, they are often contractually prohibited from discussing this preference. Additionally, some cruise lines collect all tips from all ships during certain periods, which prevents the staff on a specific sailing from benefiting directly from those payments. The video also suggests that some cruise lines may use prepaid and automatic gratuities to assist in paying the guaranteed salaries of staff members. Finally, the creator emphasizes that cruise gratuities are voluntary. Passengers have the right to visit guest services to have these automatic charges removed so they can provide cash tips directly to the service personnel who provided them with assistance.
Written by TripBacon from this video's transcript.
Source: Our analysis of the creator's lived experience, based on what they said in this video.
Creator's Key Takeaways
Number five, when you pay automatic gratuitities to the cruise line, they do not go directly to your cabinet attendant, your weight staff, or anybody else who specifically served you.
Number four, most cruise staff prefer cash tips, but they can't talk about it due to contractual obligations.
Number three, some cruise lines pull all tips from all ships during a period of time, which means that anybody who worked on your specific cruise is not directly benefiting at all from the gratuitities you paid through the cruise line.
Number one, cruise gratuitities are inherently voluntary, and you have the right to go to guest services and ask them to be removed so that you can give cash tips to those service personnel who directly benefited you.
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