There are no cruise lines which offer cheaper deals on gratuities if you pay them in advance. However, it can be cheaper to do so anyway, as it can mean avoiding any price rises if you're booking at least a few months before you sail.
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Just like in restaurants and hotels, guests on many cruises are generally expected to leave tips for certain cruise staff members serving them. Pre-paid gratuities means that we {Cruise Specialists} have negotiated a special offer for you and you are not expected nor will you be charged for tips.
The amount you pay will vary by cruise line, but they are all in the same ballpark. You can expect to pay about $15-$20 per person, per day. So a couple traveling together will see about $30-$40 per day in gratuities, or about $200+ over the course of a week-long cruise.
Prepaying your gratuities just makes everything easier – you know how much you need to spend before you sail, and then you don't have to worry about it. Yes, if you have onboard credit it might make sense to put that towards gratuities instead.
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.
In general, plan on giving $16–$23 in gratuities per day for each passenger. Note that the amount should be tabulated for each individual in your party—don't try to tip once per couple or group. So if you're planning to go on a 7-day cruise, expect to give a total of between $112 and $161 per person in gratuities.
The other benefit of prepaying gratuities is that you'll lock in the current gratuity rate. Royal Caribbean occasionally increases gratuities by a few dollars; if you prepaid gratuities and the rate increases before your cruise begins, you won't be charged the difference in price.
For guests that like to budget their vacations and spread out the total cost of the cruise, this is a popular choice. In addition, prepaying gratuities locks in the current gratuity rate, even if the rate were to go up later.
You can prepay gratuities when you book or pay them as part of your onboard bill at the end of your sailing. You can look for a package that offers a discount on prepaid gratuities or a promotion offering free prepaid gratuities. Whether prepaid gratuities are worth it is up to you and how you budget for travel.
If you do not prepay gratuities and are instead being charged a daily amount onboard, you can go to Guest Services and request to remove or modify this daily charge. Passengers can change the daily amount or opt out of gratuities altogether until the morning of departure.
Your auto-gratuities will cover all waitstaff in the main dining room, buffet restaurants and specialty dining venues alike. If you dine at the same table and enjoy regular service from one or two particularly excellent waiters, consider leaving an additional $10 to $20 at the cruise's end.
Do cruise ship employees actually get the gratuities? The automatic gratuity pool onboard cruise ships covers the housekeeping staff (cabin stewards) and wait staff. If a passenger is staying in a suite which includes butler service, the automatic gratuity is increased to include their butler.
How much you tip on cruise excursions is entirely up to you, but a suggested starting price is $3 per person for a half-day tour and $6 per person for a full-day tour for the guide and $1 to $2 for the bus driver. You can, of course, increase that amount based on your experience on the excursion.
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.
Do all cruise crew members receive tips? As mentioned above, not all members of the ship staff receive a share of the gratuities paid by passengers. Bartenders, main show entertainers and third-party shop employees are some of the more obvious ones, but they're not the only ones.
Are gratuities included in the Royal Caribbean beverage package cost? For most sailings, beverage package gratuities of 18% are added at final checkout and not included in the initial cost. If desired, guests may pay additional gratuities once onboard.