29/05/2026
When cruising, we do not pay pre-paid tips or pay the pre-set daily tip amount. Instead, we ask that tips be removed, or, if they can’t/won’t remove them on the cruise ship, we send a letter to the Line’s Guest Services Department, following the cruise, to ask for a refund of the tips. Almost all cruise lines will respect those wishes…and if they don’t, we tell them we won’t sail with them again. 
Instead, we ALWAYS pay cash tips to those we wish to tip. There’s 4 main reason we do this.
First, cruise lines are notoriously non-transparent about how their employees are paid tips. That makes us suspicious, because, according to a story in USAToday, a former CEO of NCL stated, during a conference call, that for every additional dollar in tips the company takes in, that’s an additional $15 million a year to the company. But I thought tips were supposed to go to the employees? 
Second, there are a vast number of former cruise employees who speak out on social media and YouTube claiming they never see any of those tips.
Third, according to several sources, often times, cruise line employees make no more, even IF tips are added in. According to sources we have seen, employees are contracted with the cruise line for a certain amount…that’s it. If tips are given out, often times, the cruise line reduces their monthly contractual salary to accommodate for the inclusion of tips. But the kitchen staff, Room Stewart’s, Servers, etc. never make more than their contractual amount.
Fourth, if all this is true, where is our tip money going? Sources, including the noted article by USAToday, say that some of the tips, on some cruise lines, go to pay senior staff salary. That’s not why I pay tips. I refuse to pay tips to help cruise lines reduce their overall employee payroll. I pay them to say thank you to employees who give me good service.
Until Cruise lines decide to be more transparent about how they pay their employees and what they do with the tips they collect, I feel no inclination to pay them. I will give cash to those who take care of me and that way, the money goes to them. Lack of transparency is an issue.
So, what about cruise lines such as Virgin, Disney, or many luxury line who include tips in the price of their cruise?

For me, they have to compete against other cruise lines that allow me to control my tipping. If the price of a cruise that includes the tips doesn’t compete favorably against a cruise line that allow me to manage the tipping myself, then they will lose my business. They have to offer me enough value to offset forcing me to pay pre-set tip amounts. Again, I want the employees to get my tips, not senior staff or the cruise lines. 
This has nothing to do with taking advantage of the staff, because many of the cruise lines, as I stated above, already seem to do that. This is about us wanting to make sure the tips we pay actually benefit the employees. 
