Tipping has always been a mostly voluntary practice that's supposed to be about customers rewarding service personnel for providing good service. The problem is that restaurants generally consider tips part of wages and don't pay their waiters minimum wage (and that's legal in most places). That makes tipping, while it's usually still optional, a lot more required.
That's sort of how tipping works on Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) ships. It's still technically optional but opting out of daily gratuities -- what the cruise lines call the fee added to your onboard account each day for each person in your room -- is literally taking money out of the hands out of the lowest-level workers on cruise ships.
Those gratuities, however, are not the only tips you can/should pay on a Royal Caribbean or Carnival cruise ship. Exactly when you should open your wallet and exactly how the daily gratuities and whether you actually need to pay them can be confusing.
Image source: Carnival.
How Royal Caribbean and Carnival Daily Tips Work
Both Royal Caribbean and Carnival have slightly different daily gratuities. Here's how it works on Royal Caribbean:
As of September 7th, 2022, the automatic service gratuity of $16.00 USD per person, per day for guests in non-suites staterooms, or $18.50 USD per person, per day for guests in Suites, will be applied to each guest’s SeaPass account on a daily basis. The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories.
Royal Caribbean also explains that the tips are split between "dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience."
Carnival has a slightly different policy. It calls its daily tips "recommended." The amounts below, however, post to you onboard account on the second-to-last day of the cruise:
- Standard Staterooms: $14.50 USD per person, per day
- Suite Staterooms: $16.50 USD per person, per day
Carnival does not add gratuities for guests under the age of 2. The cruise line does not explicitly say that you can modify or have those charges removed, but you can by visiting guest services (that's a fairly terrible thing to do even if one crew member provided bad service, because you are also punishing people who you may never even meet.)
Royal Caribbean offers a more direct explanation of its tipping policy.
In the unlikely event that a guest onboard being charged the daily automatic gratuity does not receive satisfactory service, the guest may request to modify the daily amount at their discretion by visiting Guest Services onboard and will be able to do so until the morning of their departure.
It is customary, but not required on both cruise lines to give your room attendant an additional tip on the last night of the cruise (or to leave one in the room as you leave).
Bonus tip: Solo musicians (think the guitarists and piano players who interact with the crowd) don't always have tips jars out, but they always appreciate being handed a tip.
When Do You Tip on Royal Caribbean, Carnival?
In addition to "mandatory" daily gratuities, Royal Caribbean and Carnival also add an 18% gratuity to any beverage or dining package, For drinks, that's a fee assessed to the entire cost of the package not on a per-drink basis. It's generally customary to tip in the following situations:
- $1-2 per drink when ordering in a bar (especially if you're in the bar for a while and build a relationship with the waiter).
- $20 (or more) to your stateroom attendant.
- $20 (or more) per waiter in the main dining room.
- An added tip in specialty dining rooms for excellent service (an 18% tip is charged when you pay for the meal)
- $1-$20 for solo guitarists and piano players (tip at least $5 if your request is played).
These are the most common scenarios, and the numbers vary based on exceptional service (and your means). Basically, you should tip anyone who provides you special, personalized service. That could be traditional service personnel, or it might be a deck worker who replaces your wet towel with a fresh one, who gets you a bottle of water or provides another service.
Bonus tip: If you plan to spend time in the same places each day (pool bar, casino, music venue) hand the bartender a $20 bill after your first drink. Doing that builds the relationship and more or less guarantees you prompt service at busier times. It also establishes that you appreciate their efforts. (And, if excellent service is provided, you can follow that $20 with an occasional $1 or $5).
