Royal Caribbean on Nov. 1 will increase gratuities on its cruise ships. It's a tweak: The figure is going up 50 cents per person, per day.
Still, any time the cruise line increases daily gratuities, it brings questions from passengers. Here's what the policy will be as of Nov. 1, according to the Royal Caribbean website:
Guests who choose not to prepay gratuities at the time of booking will have a service gratuity automatically applied to their respective SeaPass account on a daily basis, in the amounts shown below:*
$21 per guest, per day will be applied to guests sailing on any suite; and
$18.50 per guest, per day will be applied to guests sailing on all other stateroom categories.
Gratuities collected are distributed to crew members, including dining, bar and culinary services staff, stateroom attendants, hotel services teams as well as others onboard who work to enhance the overall cruise experience.
The gratuities will be automatically collected each day, but they're not actually mandatory.
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"Gratuities may be modified in the guest’s sole discretion by visiting the Guest Services desk onboard at any time prior to the morning of disembarkation," the cruise line wrote. "Guests sailing in group reservations should check with their group leader or travel agent for additional details."
Some Royal Caribbean guests question daily gratuities
"Hey y'all. I've read that you can remove gratuities prior to disembarkation," Yoshi-Mochi posted on Reddit. "I've gone on two cruises and haven't done it. How do y'all feel about removing them? I've read on here that people remove them because they feel RC should be paying their employees more...etc."
They seemed conflicted on the issue because they also tip generously.
"I typically end up tipping our room attendant, I didn't know that bartenders get 18% (I know it's on the receipt and I guess I never pay attention) and I'll tip our [main dining room] servers (we'll request the same table) once at the end of the cruise," they wrote. "Should I remove gratuities for my next cruise? I feel like I already tip enough but I know gratuities go to all staff? I feel torn."
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Many of the responses explained why taking tips off the bill was a bad idea.
"Tips aren’t just for those few people you mentioned but other crew you may not have nearly as much face time with. My suggestion is leave the auto-gratuity and tip less in cash," Sammalamma1 answered.
Royal Caribbean does not spell out exactly who shares in the gratuity pool, but some of those workers are not passenger-facing. Taking your daily gratuities off your bill and tipping in cash hurts those workers.
Royal Caribbean could pay workers more
The daily gratuity is an essential part of the compensation package for cruise line service workers. Many people argue that Royal Caribbean (and other cruise lines) should end the daily gratuity and simply raise the price of their cruises to directly pay workers more.
Related: 3 things Royal Caribbean CEO wants investors to know
"It sucks but the tips are more or less rolled into what the staff are expecting for pay," Metal Mayhem wrote. "Removing the gratuity does nothing against any of the cruise lines but directly affects the pay for the crew.
"A large percentage of the staff are working their asses off to provide a positive experience and to support their families back home. By our standards, they are grossly underpaid but for many, it is a high source of income based on the economy of the country they come from."
Changing the system, however, would force the cruise lines to charge more, even if your actual out-of-pocket cost won't change.
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"If the cruise lines raised the pay (which they should) of the crew, are you willing to pay even more for your cruise? How much more are you willing to pay for your base fare? I agree, the crew are underpaid for the work they do. I tip extra to acknowledge great service, and make a point to take pictures of the staff with their name tags who deserve recognition on the after cruise surveys," they added.
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