| Speaking with many guests, gratuities are one of | | | | with the American cruise lines such as Royal |
| the greatest areas of concern, for the UK's cruise | | | | Caribbean cruises and Celebrity Cruises. As these |
| consumer. All of the cruise lines have differing | | | | cruise companies offer a multi-cultural experience |
| policies of how much to tip, who to tip and when | | | | their on-board staff are expecting tips from the |
| to tip on their cruise holiday. | | | | Brits. This often affects the moral on the ships |
| Historically it was good practice to tip the people | | | | especially one's which are heavily promoted to the |
| who have served you above average on the | | | | UK cruise holiday market such as Independence |
| cruise. Historically this is you cabin steward who | | | | of the Seas and Celebrity Eclipse when the British |
| cleans your room twice a day. The person turns | | | | guests don't turn up for dinner at night and leave |
| your bed down at night and makes lovely | | | | the customary tip. |
| animations out of towels. Thereafter you tip your | | | | I can sit on the fence and see the argument. I |
| waiter and busboy for your evening meal. | | | | personally don't eat in the main restaurant. I either |
| Nowadays the cruise lines are asking you to tip | | | | eat buffet style or invariably I pay my cover |
| the Head waiter and Maitre 'D. This is all now | | | | charge and eat in the speciality restaurants. All of |
| adding up and if you tip the amount the cruise | | | | the cruise companies say this cover charge is for |
| lines suggest, on a week's cruise you can often | | | | the service so why should I pay it twice. On the |
| be spending another £40 per person per week. | | | | flip side, when I go to a restaurant, I will generally |
| As a nation we don't tip we get embarrassed by | | | | tip 10%. Maybe I am not in the norm but I get |
| tipping. So you can imagine our dismay when | | | | embarrassed by not leaving anything. So to leave |
| presented with what to do when we get | | | | a couple of quid per person for a meal which is |
| on-board. So the question is should the cruise lines | | | | invariably a lot better than I get when eating is |
| abolish tipping and actually put them in the price? | | | | justified. |
| The main problem we get with the cruise lines is | | | | |