Don't give an extra tip if someone comes and fixes your room. For example, you have a problem in your room and they come and deal with that you don't give a tip for that. So any of those kind of services that are provided you would normally expect to be covered you don't need to pay an extra gratuity particularly when auto paying into a central pot because you effectively are then paying double gratuities. When should you pay the gratuity?
It depends on your view around whether you believe that gratuity is part of your overall fare and by paying the auto gratuity or pre paying the gratuity all you're doing is making sure that the crew members who deal with you are getting a fair wage or a better wage than they would if you don't pay the gratuity. They actually expect that gratuity and you may see it if you generally have individuals that you see as providing phenomenal service and someone's gone way beyond what you would normally and reasonably expect and you really want to acknowledge that because they've done something absolutely amazing, you may want to give them some extra dollars to recognize that. Another reason for paying into the gratuities through that central process is nowadays we tend not to eat in the same restaurants, with increasingly many different dining venues and speciality dining we don't have the same server all the time so actually by paying the gratuities into the central pot is making sure that all of those people that have served you across your week or two week cruise are actually getting some kind of recognition of the services they provided. The other reason for paying gratuities, particularly paying them individually, is for people that are not going to get part of that bigger pot so, for example, people who work in the casino don't get a share of those over gratuities, people running the tours and the bus drivers are not going to get a share of those gratuities (unless you're one of the ultra-luxury lines where they do build that into the overall fare), also people like porters at the port who help you with your bags or carrying a bags. Those kind of people are not going to get part of the overall gratuity pot. Some people also see it really important giving a gratuity to the maitre de asif you have a lousy table and you want to move to a much better table a gratuity is often a way that people see helping to make sure you get a better table. And, certainly that's something we have done in the past. Gratuities are always going to be a controversial part of cruising, particularly nowadays where they are Auto added and the cruise line kind of forces you to pay it. They've almost added it as a tax. The whole issue of gratuities is kind of a bizarre in my view because it's not really a gratuity, it is a service charge, it's an additional charge and it's really part of your fare. If the cruise line is kind of making you pay them it's not really a recognition of service above the norm. One of the things that we do as consumers is when we go out looking for cruisers, we often looking for great fares, and as long as the cruise line knows that and they know that by under pitching effectively the fare by a couple of hundred dollars / couple hundred pounds / couple hundred euros they know they're going to catch that up in gratuity charges. They're going to keep doing it because they know that often when you're looking for a cruise we look at the fare, and we forget a lot of those extra costs they're going to add on particularly gratuities. Unlike on land where some hotels have resort fees, which is another kind of tax, but they do at least bundle in extra things. What you need to bear in mind with gratuities on a cruise line is you're probably not going to get service above and beyond because they have just become part of the normal fare. Gratuities are a very hot topic and I would love to hear what you think about gratuities. Do you auto pay them? Do you take it off and pay people in cash? What is your view about gratuities and how do you think cruise lines should handle it? Please watch many more of my Tips For Travellers videos to help you get travel inspiration, advice and tips on how to make much more of your precious travel time and money.
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AuthorJoanne Cramer is a surfer, tattoo addict, ukulelist, Saul Bass fan and independent Art Director at Student Questions platform. Producing at the sweet spot between art and purpose to answer design problems with honest solutions. |