Are Carnival gratuities mandatory?

Because gratuities are always optional, every guest has the ability to remove or adjust the automatic gratuities on their Sail-and-Sign accounts (pre-paid gratuities cannot be adjusted).



On Carnival Cruise Line, gratuities are technically discretionary, but they are automatically added to your "Sign & Sail" account as a matter of convenience. As of 2026, the standard daily rate is approximately $16 to $18 per person, per day, depending on the stateroom category (suites pay a slightly higher rate). This total is divided among the hard-working crew members you interact with, such as your room steward and dining room staff, as well as "behind the scenes" crew who support the hotel operations. While Carnival allows you to visit the Guest Services desk to adjust or remove these charges if you are dissatisfied with the service, it is strongly discouraged by the cruise community because these tips form a significant portion of the crew's total compensation. Most passengers view them as a "mandatory" part of the cruise fare. If you prefer to have everything paid for in advance, you can choose to pre-pay your gratuities at the time of booking so you don't have a large balance on your final day of the vacation.

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You have the right to refuse this automatic gratuity charge and may compensate cruise staff on your own terms. However, you will need to notify the front desk of this desire. Otherwise it will appear on your bill when your cruise ends and it will be charged to your credit card on file.

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Gratuities aren't mandatory on cruises, however they are widely expected and built into the price structure on most major cruise lines. It's a bit like when you go to a restaurant and you are expected to give a tip to your servers.

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Cons: You can't get a refund if you have prepaid gratuities. You can't use your onboard credit towards them if you prepaid.

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You can opt of paying gratuities once you are onboard your ship, by speaking to the team at Guest Services. You can remove them from your account once they have been added, which happens on the second-to-last day of your cruise. If you want to remove or reduce your gratuities, you need to visit the Guest Services desk.

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Again, cash might be the only thing they will take, and in most of the Caribbean you can tip in U.S. currency. As a side note, it can be nice to have some cash on your cruise so you can also tip people like street performers while in port.

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In our buffet restaurant, special drinks dispensers provide you with coffee, tea, hot chocolate, lemonade and ice tea around the clock and free of charge. In addition, you can book beverage packages for the entire duration of the cruise on the day of embarkation.

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If you want to manage your budget more effectively, it's a good idea to prepay your gratuities for your Princess cruise. The only time you would be better off waiting is if you want to use any onboard credit towards the gratuity amount.

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For lines that do have them, service and gratuity charges are touted as a convenient alternative to the practice of cash tipping on cruise ships — something that once was common. Cruise lines say they pass the money collected from service charges to the shipboard crew.

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There aren't any hard-and-fast guidelines for this type of tip since it's contingent on your experience, but $25 to $40 on behalf of a couple roughly works out to an extra $2 to $3 per person, per day, for a seven-night cruise.

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Should you choose to, for a seven-night cruise, consider tipping about $2 to $3 per person, per day. If you are in a suite or aboard a luxury cruise, you may have a butler assigned to your room. Since they typically have more duties to meet, a good guideline, is a supplementary tip of $3 to $5 per night, per person.

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Bottomless Bubbles Beverage Package Enjoy the ease and convenience of paying one flat price for thirst-quenching fountain soda and juice all cruise long! Prices* are per day - an 18% gratuity will automatically be added at time of purchase of the program.

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Technically speaking, you can remove gratuities on a Royal Caribbean cruise, but you absolutely shouldn't do this. Although Royal Caribbean gives you two options for paying gratuities (prepaying or being charged daily once onboard), some passengers try to opt out of paying any gratuities whatsoever.

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Gratuities can be added at the time of booking or anytime up to the sail date. Guests who booked directly with Carnival may add their pre-paid gratuities on Carnival.com. If a guest booked with a travel agent, they may contact their travel professional to add pre-paid gratuities to their booking.

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