You Don’t Have to Pay Gratuities on THESE 10 Cruise Lines
On most cruise lines, an automatic gratuity is added to your onboard account to cover staff tips.
Increasingly, cruise lines are including gratuities in the cruise fare. I’ve cruised with a number of lines that include gratuities, and I much prefer this.
In this post, we will look at the cruise lines that include gratuities in their fares. The post is based on booking a cruise from the UK.
Note: You cannot remove gratuities on cruises with Costa Cruises.
In 2019, P&O Cruises decided to include gratuities in the cruise fare. Prior to this, the charge was around £6 per person per day, which was one of the lowest in the industry.
Great service comes as standard Tipping isn’t needed on our ships so you can relax knowing good service and good times are all part and parcel of your P&O Cruises holiday.
P&O Cruises
If you still wish to leave a tip, this is always appreciated but isn’t expected.
P&O does have an option for fixed dining, and many people will choose to tip their waiters on the last night as they have been waited on by the same people for the duration of the cruise.
P&O’s Arvia
Marella Cruises Include Gratuities in The Cruise Fare
Marella is a British ‘all-inclusive’ cruise line that includes gratuities and drinks in their cruise fare.
All our ships are All Inclusive as standard. Everything from meals, snacks and drinks to flights, transfers and tips are included in the price of your holiday
I have sailed with Marella many times, they offer great value for money. Find out about my latest Marella cruise here:
Celestyal Cruises Include Gratuities in The Cruise Fare
Celestyal cruises include all tips/gratuities within the cruise fare. I didn’t feel any pressure to leave an additional tip at any point during my Celestyal cruise, although this is once again always appreciated.
We call it The Celestyal Inclusive Experience for a reason. All additional costs such as port and service charges as well as gratuities are included in the final fare of your cruise. This means no hidden charges or surprises whatsoever so you can stick to your vacation budget and enjoy your cruise up until the end.
Celestyal Cruises
To learn more about cruising with Celestyal, check out this post, which details everything we did during our cruise on Celestyal Olympia:
Their ‘all-inclusive’ cruise fare also includes speciality dining, drinks with meals, transfers, WiFi, and shuttle buses.
I was lucky enough to spend a few days onboard Spirit of Discovery this year, and I cannot recommend the ship enough. It was out of this world!
Saga does have a 50+ age requirement though, so it’s going to be a little while before I can cruise with them…
Virgin Voyages Include Gratuities in The Cruise Fare
Cruise fares with Virgin Voyages include gratuities and are also referred to as ‘all inclusive’. The cruise fare includes all restaurants onboard, gym classes, basic drinks and WiFi.
MSC Cruises Include Gratuities in The Cruise Fare
In April 2019, MSC decided to include their gratuities in the cruise fare for people booking from the UK and Ireland. Cruisers booking from the USA may still have to pay gratuities.
SERVICE CHARGES / GRATUITIES Service Charges / Gratuities are included in the cruise fare. Tips MSC Cruises does not recommend tipping individual members of staff
MSC Cruises
MSC Cruises don’t include gratuities when booking from all destinations. To learn more about this check out this post:
Azmara is the luxury sister line to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. Their all inclusive cruise fare includes gratuities, drinks, laundry and shuttles when in port.
It’s worth noting that an 18% gratuity is added to spa services.
Find out what I thought of my Azamara cruise here:
Crystal Cruises Include Gratuities in The Cruise Fare
Crystal Cruises is similar to Azamara when it comes to gratuities. No gratuities are automatically added, but 18% will be added for spa treatments.
Regent Seven Seas Include Gratuities in The Cruise Fare
Regent includes all gratuities in the cruise fare.
Silversea Include Gratuities in The Cruise Fare
Silversea includes all gratuities in the cruise fare.
Why Do Some Cruise Lines Include Gratuities?
Luxury cruise lines tend to include gratuities more frequently than budget or mainstream lines. This is because of the higher initial price.
That said, more mainstream cruise lines than ever include gratuities in the cruise fare. “Gratuities included” is often sold as a perk or a benefit of booking with a certain cruise line.
European Cruise Lines
It tends to be the cruise lines which are based in Europe which include gratuities in the fare.
This may be due to cultural differences in tipping practices in most of Europe and the USA.
In the UK, we rarely tip. I may tip a waiter in a restaurant or a taxi driver, but that is about it.
The staff in these situations don’t rely directly on tips to get paid unlike how some staff in the USA do. It is because of this that I believe cruisers from the USA are more accepting of additional tips.
Why Do Some Cruise Lines Not Include Gratuities?
By not including the gratuities in the cruise fare, the cruise line can make the base price of the cruise look much lower than it actually is.
I often see bargain cruise deals flying into my inbox but when you add on things like gratuities it soon becomes apparent that the deal isn’t as good as it first seemed.
The cruise lines know that the majority of cruisers will leave the automatic gratuities on.
I personally always do this as I worry about the ‘behind the scenes’ staff who may be losing out if I remove the gratuities and tip directly the crew members that I see.
When cruising, there are often other additional costs. To find out what is included in a typical cruise fare, check out this post:
To learn more about gratuities, including how they also affect drinks and spa treatments, check out this post so that you don’t have any nasty surprises on your cruise:
The maps are available to buy for cruises back to 2015 and for any future cruises. They come in different sizes and colours. All you need to know if your cruise dates and where you started and ended, the team will work out the rest.
