To tip or not to tip!

Ever wondered what would the cost of a cruise rise by if you didn’t tip? Well here is your definitive answer… and a whole host of other answers!

Gratuities amongst us Brits has always been a bone of contention and we are uncomfortable with the act of tipping. Why is this as in our daily lives we routinely tip hairdressers and taxi drivers so why not cruise ship workers?

Maybe its because we are advised what to tip  or maybe we are ensure of how to do it discreetly or maybe we just don’t want to earn with our hard earned cash.

If you work on the premise that on the Royal Caribbean ship Independence of the Seas there are 3634 passengers  and 1397 crew and on a weeks cruise gratuities are around £58 per person so that works out at a total of £210,772 in gratuities. Now some of the crew will be officers who are on a fixed salary however the remainder will be on a basic salary of anywhere between say $100 – $400 per month  (£70 – £280).

Lets say for arguments sake that 1200 are crew earning £140 per month which is £35 per week and the gratuities are split between them at £175 (£210772 divided by 1200 = £175) which gives them a weekly salary of £210. Not too bad really but then when you consider that they work a 10 hour day, 7 days a week then this equates to just £3.00 per hour.

Now bring in the UK Minimum Wage of £6.50 per hour which is £3.50 more than what the crew were getting and times this by 70 hours a week which is £245.00 then times this by 1200 crew members = £294,000. Finally divide by the number of passengers = £80.

This means that if the cruise lines had to pay the minimum wage then okay you would not pay gratuities but a weeks cruise would increase by around£138 per person- would you be willing to pay that rather than pay £58 in gratuities.

Has anyone ever had bad service on a cruise?

Tipping is part of cruising and I for one love rewarding people but unbelievably there are people that do not tip.

I have seen people only dine in the buffet to escape tipping.

People eating in the main dining room except the last night to escape tipping.

People asking for the tips to be removed at reception adding that they will tip direct when they have no intention of doing this.

When I worked on a cruise ship I hated getting Brits on my section as I would work twice as hard and get less tips.

If you are spending £1000’s on a cruise surely an additional £100 or so is not going to break the bank to reward the most hard working people I have come across…. or is it!

What are your thoughts?

#cruisewall #tipping