Americans are faced with a tipping culture.
Broadly speaking, we think we can pay service workers less and let customers make up the rest. This effectively converts tips into wages, especially in industries that allow low hourly wages to be paid to tipped job holders.
Most major cruise lines also include tips as part of employee pay. In many ways it operates much like an American restaurant, but not quite.
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Carnival Cruise Line explains how its daily tips work on its website.
“It is customary for our guests to tip our ship’s crew as a way of thanking them for their hard work and excellent service,” the website states.
All tips provided by the cruise ship are distributed to the crew members with whom they interact, including stateroom attendants and dining and culinary service staff, as well as “other members of the ship’s team who work behind the scenes to enhance your overall cruise experience,” it adds.
“Charging this fee automatically streamlines the recognition process and ensures your generosity is shared by our crew. To help you plan, we’ve provided suggested in-flight tipping guidelines.”
The cruise line also lists daily suggested tips by cabin class:
- Standard cabin: USD 16 per person per day
- Suite Stateroom: USD 18 per person per day
These tips are not mandatory and in most cases you can remove them by going to the customer service desk.
Some passengers prefer to do this and then tip the staff who they think made their vacation better. Others say this method deceives service personnel who are invisible to you but will act on your behalf.
Tipping has caused a lot of controversy and questions, and Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald recently weighed in on two of the biggest questions many passengers have.
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Image source&col;Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival outlines how your daily tips are distributed
Some passengers worry their tips will go to non-service crew members.
“John, is it true that the tip you paid in advance was shared among all or most of the crew, not just the cabin crew, waiters, etc.,” Duane Johnson asked.
Brand ambassadors made it clear who would receive the daily tips, but did not specify.
“Thank you for asking. The vast majority are split evenly between the cabin crew and the restaurant team, with a smaller percentage being those who serve you and those behind the scenes at Lido Island,” he said. “I hope this helps. Thanks for asking and please let me know if you need any additional information.”
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Carnival denies tipping rumors
In 2023, Heard also highlighted the popular rumor that Carnival pays its employees through tips.
“Normally, I would never comment on this, but let me be clear, this is nonsense, completely 100 percent wrong, 100 percent inaccurate,” Heard said. “We will not use your generous tips to ‘pay crew fees.’ This is completely fabricated and untrue.
In addition to the daily tips that passengers pay, many people also pay extra tips to bartenders, waiters, and others who provide them with excellent service.
Also read: Top travel agents share how to get the best cruise prices
How these tips are shared may depend on the department. Some bars pool tips, while others allow individual servers to keep tips given directly to them by cruisers.
Sometimes this may be a decision made by the staff team rather than the cruise line.
If you tip the housekeepers, they keep the tips, while a separate tip for your head waiter may be split equally with those who work for your waiter.
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