Six People Beyond Your Room Steward To Consider Tipping When They Make Your Cruise Special

Ask ten cruisers who they tip and you will hear the same short list: room steward, waiter, bartender. That list is fine - but it misses most of the crew who actually made your cruise what it was. Here are six people beyond your room steward you should tip, based on decades of watching who catches my cash at the end of a week at sea, how cruise lines' automatic gratuities really flow, and when the extra few dollars make a genuine difference to someone living on the ship for months at a time.

First, The People You Can Skip ...

No, no, and double no ... I'm not suggesting that you skip tipping the obvious people like the maitre d', the head waiter, wine steward, or your room steward and butler. It is standard to tip them (and generously), especially when they have rendered excellent service. I will offer one nuance, though: I do not always tip my waiter at specialty restaurants. Those venues already charge a mandatory 20 percent gratuity, so unless we get genuinely exceptional service, there is no need to do more. The same logic applies to drink packages and bar tabs: the service charge is on the bill, and whatever extra you hand over is for something specific that made your night better.

This can be a complicated issue when it comes to understanding how much to budget for tipping on a cruise and that's one reason why we created our Cruise Tip Calculator to help make the planning part a bit easier. The list of people that you can tip on a cruise, though, is long and highly personal, so you should always go with your gut and not feel obligated to hand out cash to every friendly face. My judgment is simple: did this person make my cruise feel even more special than it already was? Will I remember this person weeks and years later ... if yes, then they deserve to be recognized and rewarded.

One rule before we get to the list: no one is being asked to do anything they would not already do, nothing here should ever be illegal, immoral, or in any way coercive, and a tip that makes a crew member uncomfortable is not a tip - it is a problem. Everything in the list below is a simple thank-you to someone for work they already did for you.

The Buffet Attendant

Did someone at the buffet help you find something, welcome you every single day like you were a regular at their restaurant, quietly give you extra bacon or a bigger cut of prime rib? Thank them with some cash at the end of the cruise. The buffet crew works the longest hours on the least visible sections of the ship, and almost nobody thinks of them when envelopes come out.

The Bar Runner

Everyone sits at the bar and tips the bartender for being entertaining or for making that special cocktail. Nobody watches the person actually walking the drinks. Drinks all include a mandatory gratuity or service charge, so the bar runner is starting at zero personal recognition - but they work really hard. If you find them getting your drinks back to you really quickly, being a great conversationalist in the few seconds they have, or especially if you are just drinking water that they keep refilling anyway - throw them a few bucks as a token of appreciation. They will remember you for the rest of the sailing.

Assistant To Your Housekeeper

Cabin stewards typically share their gratuity with their assistant, so the money is supposed to reach that person too. It is still nice to not forget the assistant exists - they are the one ghosting through your hallway making the beds happen when you are at dinner. A few dollars and a name learned in the elevator are worth more than people think.

Casino Staff

Casino staff get the same treatment on a cruise ship as they do in Vegas: you tip the cocktail server when they bring a complimentary drink at the tables, and dealers when you are having a good run. If you are a casino person, none of this is new. If you are not a casino person and you do not gamble, none of this applies to you - walk the promenade and tip nobody.

Tour Guides And Bus Drivers

I don't always tip tour guides and bus drivers, but more often than not I do - especially when I have really learned something or they have been really engaging. On a good day the tour guide is the reason you remember a port. Tipping customs get murkier in Mexico and Canada than on a standard US-run tour, but a tip in US dollars is fine everywhere we sail on the West Coast. The guide who took your family safely through a whale watch or a cave has usually earned it - and the bus driver who navigated a mountain switchback road with a smile did too.

The Onboard Lecturers and Expedition Team

The guest speaker or port lecturer who taught you something over the course of the cruise is the funniest tip on this list, because hardly anybody knows it is even allowed - and it is. If you sat through the astronomy talk on your sea days and actually got something out of it, a couple of dollars with a spoken thank-you is a gesture with almost no competition. There are many more forgotten people on your cruise you can make smile, not just with money - it is the act of giving a tip and recognizing their hard work and how it has made your cruise special.

Anyone Else Who Does Something Nice

All of those six are categories - but the real list is open-ended. The crew member who moved a couple of chairs so your group could all sit together on deck? The towel attendant who walked the towel over to your lounger instead of making you come to his stand? Tip them in the moment when it happens, or find them at the end if it is easier, and tell them why. Anyone who did something nice for you that they did not strictly have to do is exactly the right person for the dollars in your envelope.

Non-monetary recognition works alongside the cash, and it matters more than a lot of cruisers guess. These people should also be rewarded by being remembered in guest surveys, mentioned by name to their bosses, and by making a point to fill out a comment card before leaving the ship. Crew members have told me a named mention in a survey can push forward a promotion or a reassignment to a better contract - it is the single highest-leverage thing you can do that costs nothing.

And if you are working out the cash side of the equation - how much goes to envelopes for the people on this list versus the automatic gratuities the cruise line charges to your account - the cruise tip calculator on this site will break it down for your line, cabin, and sailing length before you ever leave the pier.

When you tip matters as much as who you tip: if the in-advance game interests you at all, read five times it's best to tip cruise staff in advance - the counterpoint to this article's save-it-for-the-end approach. And if drink packages factor into your week at all, our analysis of whether drink packages are worth it once you add the gratuities covers the service-charge layer most people miss.

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.