Can I use onboard credit to pay gratuities?

Gratuities to the shipboard staff are customary on Carnival as well as other cruise lines, and you can cover these using your OBC. If you plan to use onboard credit to pay for these gratuities, be sure not to pre-pay them at the time of booking -- your onboard credit could take care of the rest.



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Cruise Cash provides a credit to a guest's Sail & Sign account. This credit is good for any charge made to the guest's account including taxes and gratuity charges. Cruise Cash credit may take up to 24 hours to appear on the guest's Sail & Sign account.

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Paying gratuities using onboard credits provides a wonderful way to avoid the bill when the cruise ends. Many say this is one of the best ways to use OBC, as you should pay gratuities for excellent service.

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Cruise Cash is sold for specific revenue areas on the ship such as Bar, Photo, Shore Excursion, Spa, etc. Guests will be able to purchase: Cruise Cash ($25, $50, $75 and $100) – Can be used for any expenses on the guest's Sail and Sign account. This includes staff gratuities.

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If you want to make your life easier, and don't plan on removing or adjusting the gratuities on a cruise, it's better to prepay before you go. In our experience, prepaying gratuities does not negatively affect the service onboard.

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But most cruise lines also give you the option to prepay your gratuities – paying for them in advance. You can sometimes add this option as you book your cruise, otherwise, you would log into your account with the cruise line and add them on once the booking has been made.

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Many river cruise lines include the gratuities, but for those that don't, the suggested range is between $10 and $20 per passenger, per day. Similarly, some expedition cruise lines include gratuities while those that don't recommend a gratuity of around $10 to $15 per person, per day.

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If you opt not to prepay gratuities, your SeaPass account will be charged $16 or $18.50 each day of your cruise.

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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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On booking there might be an option not to pre-pay gratuities before you sail. However, if you opt out at this stage, most cruise lines will add the gratuity to your onboard account daily. You can choose to either amend the amount or remove altogether by visiting guest services in most cases.

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Just like some land-based hotels, guests can expect to see an initial $99.75 pending charge or authorization on their credit card. This pending amount is used to secure funds for anticipated onboard purchases. Purchases made onboard over the initial $99.75 will generate additional holds.

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Royal Caribbean last raised gratuities in August 2022 with an increase of $1 per day for non-suite guests and $1.50 for suite guests. Since 2015, Royal Caribbean's gratuity charge has risen 50%, from $12 to $18 per day.

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61% tip their stateroom attendant an additional $20–$40 per couple per week, 26% tip $40–$70, and 13% tip an additional $70–$140. The average amount tipped to the head waiter was an additional $20–$50 per week per couple.

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Tips & Gratuities While some cruise lines include tips in your fare, on some lines it isn't mandatory if you aren't satisfied with their service. Generally though, most cruise lines where gratuities aren't included, we suggest tipping $10 to $15 per day per passenger.

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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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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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Yes, you can remove gratuities on Princess Cruises. All gratuities are automatically added to your onboard account and can be adjusted or removed completely at the Guest Services desk before disembarkation. Guests also have the option of pre-payment of gratuities prior to sailing.

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While the automatic service charges will cover their basic gratuities, it's generally considered good form to tip them a bit extra for a job well done, especially if you have made any special requests. Should you choose to, for a seven-night cruise, consider tipping about $2 to $3 per person, per day.

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You are correct that Onboard Credit is nonrefundable and nontransferable. That means that the amount of Onboard Credit linked to your Stateroom must be used during your sailing. Any Onboard Credit that is not used by the end of your sailing will be forfeited.

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