Tipping on cruise ships is more complicated than it really should be, and that is partially because people turn it into a production in ways they would not if they were simply going to a Vegas hotel or an all-inclusive resort somewhere. This is compounded by legacy traditions like the tipping envelopes and gratuity slips instead of actual cash - mostly gone now, but Disney until recently did that instead of just handing your waiter a $20 bill on the last night. And since I spend a lot of my time watching what guests book through us and then what they write to us afterward, I can tell you most cruisers make the same handful of tipping mistakes. Here they are, so you can stop making them.
Legacy traditions do a lot of damage here. The tipping envelope and the gratuity slip are relics from an era when a cruise was two or three nights and you knew exactly which crew had served you. Those have mostly gone away - but Disney until recently did that instead of just simply handing your waiter a $20 bill on the last night of the cruise - and a lot of new cruisers learned tipping from the tradition instead of the current reality. The other modern wrinkle is that people do not carry cash like they used to, which causes its own problems. ATM fees are insane at sea, and it is not like you can just go to your bank and get some cash while floating off the coast of Baja. Most cruise lines do allow you to do a cash advance at customer service, and you can usually go there to break large bills - but nobody tells you that until you need it, and the fee on the cash advance stings every bit as much as the airport exchange desk. Plan the cash you actually want to hand out before you leave the pier. The mistake we sometimes see from cruisers - especially newer ones - is that they do not understand that cruise gratuities are different than cruise tips. Gratuities are misnamed as far as I am concerned, since they are now mostly a prepaid obligation, not a gesture of goodwill. You pay the daily per-person service charge either in advance or daily to your onboard account. That money pays the shipboard team across cabin, dining, and housekeeping, and it happens whether you spoke to the crew member or not. It is finance, not gratitude. Once you accept that framing, everything else gets cleaner: the auto-charge is settled, and anything extra you hand out is a genuinely discretionary act for people. Confusing the two produces both kinds of tipping mistakes - the passenger who double-tips the same person, and the one who assumes the charge covered everything and never says thank-you at all. Another mistake we see is that people simply misunderstand the amount of money that goes into tipping - and honestly, tipping is always or should always be at your discretion. There is no invoice for it and nobody is collecting it at the gangway. But $20 to tip your waiter, $50 to tip your cabana attendant, $100 to thank your cabin steward for doing an awesome job - that adds up. Priced together, a family can easily put a couple hundred dollars of discretionary tipping on top of the auto-gratuities the line already charges. That is not an argument for tipping less; it is an argument for knowing the number before you are standing at the purser's desk with an envelope in your hand. There is no obligation to provide any extra money, and cruise lines have made "gratuity" mandatory in situations where it is - drinks, cruise fare, specialty dining sometimes. Everything else is up to you. If you want to see your own number before you sail, our cruise tip calculator totals the auto-gratuities, package perks, and discretionary tips for your exact line, cabin, and sailing length. Why we picked it: adults-only, with tips and most dining included. Promoted by FlowAds People think it is fun to give the crew pesos or Canadian dollars or some other currency other than good ole American dollars. This is a mistake. While they can easily exchange it, that is just one more thing for them to do - and the ships, at least the ones running Mexican Riviera and Alaska out here on the west coast, are all running on US dollars internally. Every bill you hand a crew member while you are aboard has to reconcile against an accounting system denominated in US dollars, so pesos and Canadian loonies instantly become a chore on top of an appreciated gesture. Tiny coins are also difficult to exchange at all. Whatever pocket you are reaching into, make it the one with the clean American bills. While it is fun to provide candy, trinkets, toys and so on, unless you really know the person, do not think that giving them a chocolate coin is something equivalent to a $5 or $10 bill. It is not. A gift is not a tip, and telling yourself it is "close enough" is exactly the kind of mistake this article exists to flag. There are situations where it can work. My parents knew crew members they saw regularly who collected pins from different places, and I have personally had conversations with a crew member who said she liked to get books to send back to her daughter. But that is a special circumstance - something you know because you have spent time with that person, not something you project onto a stranger in a uniform. Generally, stick to what works and keep it simple: cash is king. At the end of the day, the biggest mistake is one that that the cruise industry has created for themselves and that's the conflation of an automated charge to your account as if it were a personal relationship. Tips are a personal thank you to show your gratitude to someone who has provided you great service. On the other hand, auto-gratuity fees handle the work of those people you never see. As someone who has cruised for more than 30 years I understand the frustration of feeling like the cruise line is taking away a personal decision and forcing you to "tip" people who you never spoke to. Unfortunately, that's just the way it is, and we sorta just gotta get over it. Removing that tip hurts real people and even though you may not know the diswasher's name or the lady that folds your towels so your room steward can be the rockstar who makes your cruise that much more special ... it doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to get paid. Beyond that though, there's a lot of flexibility in how you can show your thanks and gratitude and not all of these "mistakes" that I've outlined are wrong in every situation. However, the core thing to take away is - cash is king. Don't try to be "cute" unless you already know they'll appreciate it. Whatever else you do, do not let any of it happen in a way that is illegal, immoral, or where the crew member feels pressured - a tip should make two people feel better, and if it does not, keep it or turn it into a comment-card mention instead. Both cost less than a chocolate coin and honestly do more for the crew member who earned them. Once you handle the mistakes, the positive-side reads are short: five times, it's best to tip cruise staff in advance covers the when, and six people beyond your room steward you should tip covers the who. And if you are looking at upcoming sailings and want a hand finding a ship and itinerary that fits how you actually like to travel - Heather Hills at Flow Voyages can help you book a cruise to Alaska, the Mexican Riviera, or anywhere along the Pacific coast. Thanks for reading. We hope this was helpful! Why stop now? Participate In Our Polls | Ask or Answer A Cruise Question | Contact Heather to Book Your Next Cruise!
First, Let's Talk About Why Tipping At Sea Feels So Awkward
Mistake 1: Confusing Gratuities With Tips
Mistake 2: Underestimating What Tipping Adds Up To
Cruise Pick of the Month
Virgin Voyages Mexican Riviera, October 2027
Mistake 3: Giving The Crew Foreign Currency
Mistake 4: Substituting Trinkets For Money
Remember, Automatic Gratuities or "Service Charges" Are Not The Same As Tipping On A Cruise!
