Professor Melissa
#17 US/CA
On my first cruise, I made a tipping mistake I'm still a little embarrassed about
On my first cruise, I made a tipping mistake I'm still a little embarrassed about. Cruises get billed as all-inclusive, and your gratuities are automatically added to your bill. So I assumed my tips were taken care of and that nobody tipped extra on a cruise. Wrong. Extra tips for your room steward and your waitstaff aren't required, but they are customary. Here's how it works: that included gratuity is a pool of money split across a long list of crew, including folks you never see, like the laundry and galley teams. That's why I never remove mine. The extra cash on top is how you take care of the folks who took care of you, so now I bring cash for exactly that. You're never obligated to tip anyone, of course. But crew work really long hours for pretty low pay, so this is how I choose to do it. Do you tip extra on top of the included gratuities, or leave it at that? #cruisetok #cruiselife #cruise #cruisetips #cruisetipping