I always remove mine! I pay them directly in cash bc the folks who deserves the tips never get what they deserve 👀

We live in Canada and the tips are in US money so we are paying even more for the tips.... a lot more. Our exchange is usually over 25% more ….. we tip what we are comfortable paying.

This is another reason we are very excited about Virgin Voyages. They include the tips into the cruise fare!

I don't think it's fair that they include "gratuities" in the bill. It's the company's responsibility that their employees get paid fairly and it should be up to us to give tips for exceptional service if we feel they deserve it and that be a bonus to them.

The fact that cruise lines admit that automatic "gratuities" are divvied-up among the staff is proof right there that passengers are subsidizing wages. Why would I tip staff members that I have had zero interaction with? For what? For the service they rendered to someone else? I wouldn't tip someone else's waiter in a restaurant nor would I tip the dishwasher. The only possible reason would be to subsidize wages across the board...and that I refuse to do. I tip individuals in cash for excellent service they have provided to ME!

From now on I am going to remove my gratitude and give it directly to my steward.

Pay staff properly. I come from the UK where tipping staff isn't 'normal'. Greedy employers are blackmailing customers into subsidising their wages bill.

I just dont agree with the whole "better cruise experience" because I tip more. I already paid out the ass for this cruise, and then get nickle and dimed even more on the boat. I paid already, for an awesome cruise experience. If that wasnt enough charge more. I'm under the assumption I paid what was due for this type of vacation I shouldn't have to give a little extra for satisfactory or great experience. I already did that lol that excuse really angers me.

I always PrePay my gratuities and will give extra to crew members that go above and beyond to make my vacation better .

I was on the Carnival Vista the week before you and Jenny were on and I prepaid my gratuities and gave cash to my steward the night before the end of the trip. The last day at sea I went around in the morning giving small cash gifts to the grunt workers I came across (i.e. the person sweeping the deck, etc.) and had a lovely conversation with a young Indian man who told me how well Carnival took care of the staff during the recent dry dock. They were put up in a hotel on an island recently hit by hurricanes by the cruise line and were paid their salary as well. The other win in that situation was the hotel was given business to help them through a difficult time when tourists were not coming to the island (sorry I can't recall the location he told me.) I was glad to know that the cruise line does indeed take care of its staff. During the course of the week my son and his wife had to go to guest services for some reason and dozens of people were in line ahead of them. When it came to their turn they asked the young lady if all those people in line ahead of them had been removing their gratuities, as from the conversations they overheard that was the drift of what they picked up while waiting. The young lady maintained a smile on her face and said yes indeed that was what was happening. It made me feel ashamed of humanity for being so small, you can afford to go on a cruise but you refuse to tip even though you are waited on hand and foot and made to feel like the most important person in the world while on board by staff you encounter. For shame on all of you. Before you all get on your soapbox I have worked in the hospitality industry much of my adult life and am now retired. My income is limited but I still did not even consider not including tips or adding on top of them. I believe every person should have to wait tables for a week out of their life, maybe it would help some people have better insight to the plight of others and be a little more generous. Happy and safe travels to all.

I prepay my gratuities and I give an extra cash tip to my cabin stewards the moment I meet them. This puts everyone at ease from the get go. Plus, I always get better service as the cabin stewards are grateful to receive their tip early.

I was a tipping fiend on our cruise. Shuttle driver, porters, room steward, bartender, waiter and his helper. I get blessed with tips in my line of work so I wanted to be a blessing.

Good points!! I started cruising when we had envelopes and gave cash based on the cruise line recommendations directly to the staff that served us. Much easier now that you can pay on your cc or prepay. That said, you’re totally right that no one should feel guilty for not giving over and above the suggested amounts. Cruise lines are responsible for wages - not guests

My first European river cruise was over 30 years ago. We were assigned to a small side dining room which was the domain of Walter, a forty-something Austrian who spoke flawless English, and he was great. He could answer questions about everything onboard as well as provide helpful information and tips at each stop along the way. On the last day we were given an envelope for the staff, and along with a hefty tip I included a note that explained how much we valued Walter and how he enhanced our cruise experience. As we disembarked, the crew was lined up to wave farewell. Walter broke from the line and marched over to us to shake our hands and wish us well. That made me realize that perhaps not many passengers bother to give the crew the recognition that they deserve other than with money.

"We just need to figure out how to make these people a decent living", no, no we don't. That's the CEOS job to "figure"out, and btw he gets paid multiple MILLIONS annually. I have the solution, let's take a few million from his salary, or his bonus, and spread it around to the "hard working" ship employees. As the customer, it's not my position to run around paying people who have decided to work for peanuts. And another thing, I get sick of the phrase "they work so hard", I work hard as well, but the pay is what it is, can't run to the customer with my hand out. It's between myself and my employer. This really isn't rocket science folks! But for whatever reason, no heat whatsoever is placed on the employer.... only the customer.

Why can’t the cruise line pay them a living wage?

I typically give my room steward an additional tip simply because they are always the nicest people on the ship who do so much for making sure our trip is fantastic, plus I have no way (to my knowledge) to determine how much of my prepaid gratuities go to them directly.

I did have a travel mate who lowered her gratuities on Carnival after realizing that the tip is the same for infants, you bring every for babies yourself, they can cruise at 6 months and up. They are not able to stay with any of the camps or eat but the tip is added the same. I thought that was very interesting

I remember reading that since prepaying gratuities have become so popular, the crew make less than they did before. I think this comes up so often because a tip is just that and no one should fell guilty. I agree that it is not your stress on your cruise. I always prepay so it’s out of sight and mind and not a worry when traveling.

I don’t like to pre pay. I take it off on the last day and pay them in cash. From my understanding about tipping is it’s better to pay in cash. I’ve always been told by restaurant staff it’s better to pay tips in cash for tax reasons. My cabin staff always seems to be more appreciative when getting an envelope of cash and I over tip.

I have only cruised with Tui / Marella, their gratuities are included in the fair which makes thing easier, if you want to give the staff extra you can do so.

I'm so glad we don't have this tipping culture in Australia so much that cruises just include it in the fare

The gratuity system in the US being applied to cruise ships (when they're not sailing there quite often) is wrong, in my opinion. I'd rather a more expensive fare & staff being paid fairly. They can use performance objectives to determine their wage. Tipping culture favours things like physical attractiveness or "fake" interactions. I'd rather genuine staff who don't feel at my mercy because they need my cash. Perhaps it's what you're used to because we don't tip where I'm from.

What is a shame is how these billion dollar corporations refuse to pay their employees a living wage, and expect us, the customer, to pay their wages. I am on vacation to have fun. Not to be guilted into paying the crew the wages that these billionaires refuse to pay.

Gratuities are GRATITUDE for the service you've shown. Some of the room stewards are invisible until the end of the cruise. My stewards were around and helped us out, so I paid them, my food staff, bartenders, and baggage staff OUT OF MY POCKET, that way, they don't have to get the small percentage of the gratuity the cruise lines give them because THEY ARE SIMPLY cheap. If they went by American labour laws, the wages would be much better and the gratuity would be optional.

The room stewards are key to smooth cruising. They CAN take any requests from keeping your ice bucket full , changing linens daily , adding extra pillows/towels, laundry services, and even making sure to vacuum your shoes after a shore excursion to the beach. When a room steward does these things without being asked shows a great service and tipping them 100.00 at the end is what we usually do. We have been super lucky on Royal Caribbean, we never have to ask, our stewards just volunteer.

you didn't stiff anyone. they have a job and the cruise line should be paying them, not you

I prepay and I give my room cleaner extra and my wait staff in the main dining room

Well, the only thing I say is that I have never been tipped for doing my job well. And believe me, as a pilot, I must do it well.

I've never had a crew member seek me out on the last day of the cruise with their "hand out". On a few cruises I've looked for them to give them an extra tip or left it in the cabin when I couldn't find them - if I thought the service was particularly good, of course.

What about anytime dinning? Or Buffet only? What about head waiter.....you have never seen

If you want to know the real facts, ask your room steward. They'll first tell you they're not really allowed to talk about it. I finally was able to get some info out of the room steward I had on my last NCL voyage and I can confirm a few things (I've posted this several times). 1 - The cruise employees are on a contract which is inclusive of all their wages. They DO NOT earn extra money in the form of gratuities at the end of each cruise. 2 - if you remove your prepaid gratuities, the employees still make the same amount. 3 - Bartenders or any worker that is in a position to give you a bill that has gratuity added, DOES NOT get that money. They too are on a contract and only earn what their contract pays them. A bartender does not make any more or less money if he sells 1 or 100 drinks. This is why I ALWAYS will remove my gratuity and give those that I feel deserve it, cash. There should not be any guilt about doing this. Your gratuity goes to the cruiseline, so think twice before you write an amount on a check. Anything other than cash handed to an employee WILL NOT be given to them.

Hey Tony I have said it before and I will say it again. the American tipping system is stupid. Why can't people just be payed properly. It really puts me off coming to your great country again. Not to mention when wait staff hear my aussy accent they fight over who is going to serve us. It's really uncomfortable for all of us. 😃😃😃

I'm almost done with cruises, vacation is not supposed to be stressful.

I am worried that, if I pay $100 In gratuities, how much of that is kept by the cruise line to improve their profits and how much goes to those cruise employees who go above and beyond the duties that they are paid for. What do you think of tipping either as you go, every few days or at the end, in cash directly to the crew member?

What is a shame is how these billion dollar corporations refuse to pay their employees a living wage, and expect us, the customer, to pay their wages. I am on vacation to have fun. Not to be guilt ed into paying the crew the wages that these billionaires refuse to pay

I would rather pay a slightly higher price to have the gratuities included. Tipping is out of control here in the US. These billion dollar corporations need to pay their workers fair wages!

This is why I love P & O-the gratuities are included in the price, as are the taxes/port fees. Their European cruises are very economical when you consider the gratuities & taxes/port fees are included. Plus, most of those European cruises go in and out of London, making them much cheaper for us to fly to via Vancouver, BC. However, their Caribbean and Canadian cruise prices are ghastly. Still, I love the way P & O handles the gratuities. No muss, no fuss.

I hear you, But i would like to hear a video about not paying tips at all...I rarely tip and dont care to.. I payed for my vacation that i had to save for...It should be included or Idk, And everyone who works minimum wage works hard.. But everyone cant or doesn't receive tips .

I prepay and always add little extra at the end. And I really resent when RCCL leaves that envelope on my bed last night. It's like I don't have enough common sense to add more tip if warranted. It's a big turn off for me. My 2 cents.

People get ripped off when purchasing cruise tickets. They then get stiffed every which way while on it (be that drinks, food, entertainment, medical help, excursions, internet etc, etc). It's not the customers job to help make up the workers salary by paying even more money all while the cruise line rakes in the profits.

I have never payed those gratuity’s. I feel like it’s a tip and a tip is only given when I feel like you’ve gone above and beyond what your job requires you to do for me. If I feel you’ve done that I’ll tip you but that’s it

I know going in when I book a cruise that it will be twice as much as the advertised price once I have paid all the things they don’t include in that price. I always pre pay the gratuities but I feel that it’s disgusting that I have to pay for everyone’s salary above and beyond the cost of my cruise. Then on top of that they want me to give them more money. Cruise lines are so greedy.

The crew won’t find out until you’re already out of the cruise. Besides, many don’t revoke their gratuities until the last night. I decided the pandering for gratuities to be too much. I will only give the standard daily amount and nothing additional to the room attendant and the main dining room staff.

We usually pre-pay our gratuities. When I cruised on Carnival this month they automatically added gratuities at the end of our cruise.

My situation is a little bit different than the normal. My wife and I travel with two little toddlers that eat almost nothing, have close to zero entertainment other than the small splash section they are allowed to use and cause no extra work to the person that cleans our cabin or anyone else. They sleep in our bed. Nonetheless the cruise line expects us to tip the same amount for them. This is an extra $203.00 that I find excessive considering my wife and I are the ones taking care of them all day. They are too little for the kid’s program. I remove the gratuities for them. If a crew member exceeds my expectations then I will tip them extra in cash. What do you think?

I pay the gratuities AND still tip. My heart goes out to the crew.

I don’t care if they do know! I removed the gratuities on my last trip! I will remove them on the next group cruise I have coming! I will set how much gratuities I will pay no one else! From here on out I will always remove them! Sometimes they do not deserve a tip at all but I still tip them a small amount! A tip is earned not guaranteed. I have heard from workers they do not see their tip sometimes when the cruise line receives the money! So I put it in their hands!!

The other fact is employees are paid based on where they come from, not the job they are doing. If you have two room stewards; one from the Philippines and one from Slovenia, the one from Slovenia will be paid more. The cruise industry is about as dirty as it gets, but people don't care about the hidden secrets. I agree with you 100% Tony; I don't go on vacation to worry about how much an employee makes and I can guarantee that nobody will get extra money from me, beyond the pre-paid gratuities. Would anyone go to a restaurant in your city and give a tip and then tip extra on top of that tip? Nobody would, so why are we doing it on a cruise ship? It seems to be a culture that has grown over time, which I feel should be resisted.

Why doesn't cruise lines pay them more! We pay a lot of money to be on the cruise...why should we pay them to do their job that they are already getting paid to do. When was the last time you got tipped for doing your job..teacher, emt, etc??? You do your job for what you get hired for. If people tip..great...if not...oh well. That being said....When I was young I worked my way up to head bellman at hilton. I never expected a tip. I did my best weather I got one or not. With that being said...the logic is...you should tip every crew members that you talk to...why just the steward then?

We removed our grats on royal Caribbean last time and our friends had the grats included in their package, their room attendant was brilliant and ours was not, he barely spoke to us for the whole 2 weeks and the other attendant told us that he knew we had removed our grats. My point is that I should be able to decide at the end of the cruise if my room attendant has done a good job or not and reward him/her at the end. In Europe we are not fans of the tipping system and people are paid a minimum fair wage. I don’t see why somebody should receive money in the hope that they will provide a good service, this should be determined after the service has been provided and at the discretion of the person receiving the service.

Since I'm a solo cruiser and always pay for double occupancy for a tiny interior cabin, at the end of the cruise, I always tip the cabin steward at least $20, it's fair for all cruisers to pay their gratuities or tip the cabin attendant a minimum of $15 or $20, it's the right thing to do.

I like to prepay and then leave extra at the end.

I've never prepaid gratuities before...just because I hadn't really considered it. On the other hand, I always give our room steward a twenty on the "last night". And on one cruise I went and found my "favorite" bartender who always addressed me by name whenever I walked up to the bar in the morning and handed her a twenty.

I don't think it's my job to supplement pay, but I will certainly pay the base gratuities and I usually tip a little extra to our cabin steward. These folks sign up for these jobs at will, just like restaurant and hotel workers do on land. If they were not making money, they would not be signing up for these jobs in the first place. Lots of US cruisers also forget that $100 in the US and that equivalent in India, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc, might buy A LOT more in those home countries. I've spoken to crew who have literally put their kids through university with the money they send home from working on a ship. Just because YOUR standards of salary are what they are doesn't make it inadequate for someone from halfway around the world. I'm buying a vacation and it's none of my business to try and analyze what and how the crew get paid.

I have a friend who said she did not think everyone in the cabin should pay the gratuities. I tried to explain to her that our stewards and waiters work very hard and they deserve every penny. She was going to remove hers and her kids gratuities. Thank goodness that cruise got canceled. I refuse to cruise with someone who thinks so little of people who works so hard.

I don’t like the fact that kids have to pay same amount as an adult that’s why I pay mines cash

4:51 Preach! It is customary onboard ships (in America) to tip so arguments from people saying that tips are not expected where they live are invalid IMO. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Great video and information!

Tony, I disagree with you. You ARE contributing directly to staff wages with the daily service charges (falsely called "gratuities"), and the cruise lines *do* factor those service charges into staff wages. Are the cruise lines manipulative in their handling? Certainly. It's a total guilt trip approach, for no other reason than to minimize the advertised cruise fares. But as passengers on board a cruise, the ship has already sailed. We can either pay the daily service charges, or we can stiff the staff. Lobby the cruise lines to change their practices, y all means. (And some are changing. Some lines have already incorporated daily service charges into the base fare. Norwegian refers to them rightly as daily service charges rather than gratuities.) But once you book a cruise, you've nade a tacit agreement to play by the rules in force at the moment - including handling of daily service charges. My advice? Factor them into the overall cruise cost, budget for them, pay them off up front, and then forget about them and enjoy your cruise. And then, if you experience exceptional service from specific staff during the cruise, give those specific staff actual gratuities, however you are comfortable/led to do so.

I totally agree. Prepay gratuities and don't worry about it during the cruise.

We prepay our tips, and then also if someone gives us super awesome service we will tip them extra at the end. But I agree the cruise lines need to pay their people a better wage.

The Cruise employees are Cruise employees. Cruisers are not resposible for the contractual labor agreement. If they, rely on a third party to pay for their business that's on them. If the gratuities were so necessary for the business operation, the gratuities should be included on the bill of passage.

The staff are not being stiffed by the customer who refused to tip,the are being stiffed by the employer who refuses to pay a wage worthy of the work they do.

I’ve removed gratuities from every cruise I’ve taken. Primarily because I don’t trust the cruise line to be far to the employees. I do cash tips for every employee that assist me on the ship. My room attendant gets at least $10us from me everyday from the moment I see them. Bartenders and the specialty dinning attendants really appreciate it as well. I rarely ever visit main dinning.

I happily prepay my gratuities so I don't have to worry about it while I'm on vacation. But I also do leave a lot of cash for my room steward because I can afford it and I think he deserves it. I'll leave it at that.

Hi Tony. I am from a non tipping country and find compulsory tipping hard to get my head around. I prepaid gratuities on a recent 4 week cruise. I also gave my cabin steward a small tip each week. I understand that many people removed the gratuities and only paid the cabin steward. They are embarrassed because it makes them feel cheap. Not everyone can afford this system so I think that the envelope tipping should be reintroduced to avoid any embarrassment and lessen the financial impact that the current system has on many people. I am also not convinced that the gratuities are shared evenly among the crew. How much does the cruise line siphon off before it gets to the crew? How much is taken in tax? Too many questions and never enough answers.

A little over 2 decades ago when i was in my early 20’s a friend of mine booked a casino hotel to celebrate my birthday. The morning of check out i noticed she left a few $1 bills on the dresser. I asked why she did that? She said “its for the maid” from that day forward i always travel with a bunch of singles to ensure i tip everyone i come across in the labor intensive service industry

I expected that the cabin steward knew about my pre-paid gratuities but am glad to hear that he or she knows ahead of time. If Carnival knows, I have no doubt the others do also. Whew 😅 now I am not going to worry while I'm on my cruise in Dec.

Don't stiff the crew because you're a decent human, not because they know. ;-)

I think prepaid gratuities are asking a bit much for someone to pay for a service that they haven't received yet. I also feel that the cruise lines should share more of the profit and pay their staff better! But i would never remove a gratuity. That is being a cheapskate! You eat at a restaurant, you tip. Same idea.

For those who come from countries where tipping is not expected, as I do, please consider the old "when in Rome" adage. Cruise ships are a different culture. Once I board the ship I am in a different country so to speak. I would rather the crew be paid a living wage. But we have to accept the reality of this foreign situation. The work around is easy. We give a little extra to the crew who we feel deserve our generosity or we prepay our tips or both. Simple. Back home we can campaign for better wages and conditions for ship crew to appease our conscience, until the next time we cruise.

We always prepay the gratuities no matter what. We then give extra if warranted. Our last cruise we saw our steward twice in 5 days, on the first day and on the 4th day. He never greeted us by name and I had to call everyday for ice. It was the worst service we had ever received. We never had service like this in 11 cruises. He did not receive extra. I know they work hard but there is also a standard level of service required by the cruise lines. Just like any other job.

I would love a list of all the cruise lines, ranked by how much of a living wage the workers make, how well the employees are taken care of, etc. I'd like to drive my business towards the lines that do the right thing. Just like how I chose to have a Costco membership instead of another warehouse because they pay their people a living wage.

We cut our tips for our steward in half on the last day because when he had us fill out the form for servicing our room we chose twice a day and he only ever came in the evenings. We hadn’t ever been able to find him in the halls. However, that day we finally saw him and he asked if everything was okay. He clearly knew we had cut his tip. I told him why and he said oh he was sorry. But he seemed annoyed, not sorry. Only time we have ever been disappointed with service.

I refuse to be shamed by guilt into going to church and into paying automatic or prepaid tips. We always tip with cash on the last day of the cruise....directly to those who service our cabin, bar tenders, musicians, restaurant servers. The prepaid option is a matter of taste but I would rather give ALL cash tips directly to our servers, stewards, etc., NOT some percentage to the head laundry guy, head waiter in the dining room, etc.

Have found this video from you Tony from 3 years ago. I agree totally.

Im VERY happy to look ANYONE in the eye botg kmowing I haven't tipped

Yes we leave the tips on and add more on the last evening to our steward who does extra for us every day. I have been a server and received tips and yes it did supplement my wages from my employer. I did not last more than a year doing that because, to be honest, some people can be so rude and I did not feel I deserved that type of treatment. I must say my Mom surprised me when I was younger. We would go to Las Vegas for a week straight and she would leave not only a cash tip at the end of our stay but also a box of really nice chocolates. I asked why and she said the young lady worked to keep our room very clean and she also went out of her way to accommodate some of the needs my Mom had. Never thought of the housekeeper needing a tip but, yep, now I do even though I pick up the room before we check out. Thanks for sharing!!

Its better to give it personally i do much appreciate people who give it personally specially those who are still in touch with me even though they finished their cruise

Agree,I always pay my gratuities when I book the cruise and it should appear on your booking form..Usually will leave extra too in cash

Here’s my 2 cents. Pay the gratuities. Prepay or at the end. The cruise staff works very hard, they deserve it. Beyond that, no extra obligation and don’t judge others, everyone’s financial situation is not the same!

Here is what I want the cruise lines to answer. Are cruise employees paid a set amount guaranteed per hour/cruise/month BEFORE any passenger gratuities? If so, are they still paid their guaranteed salary PLUS gratuities or is their guaranteed salary reduced by the gratuity amount to equal the same total? If the gratuity revenue expected by the cruise line ends up LESS than expected, are the employees wages reduced? All valid questions that need answers !

I always prepay. If I have a good experience with the staff, I always tip cash as well near the end. I love carnival and the staff has always been great.

I have been cruising for 30 years the old way with putting cash in envelopes and giving it to the people was the best way now the prepaid gratuities get split up amongst everybody including the people behind the scenes not just the people who take care of you the cruise line does this so they don't have to pay those people behind the scenes this is disgusting because all they're doing is padding their profits

I always pre-pay gratitudes,give the steward an additional $20 when we meet him or her the first time we meet.

I like to tip my cabin steward first day. That way he/she knows that I appreciate them.

We tip and those dollars go a long way. The waitstaff, our room steward, bartender remembered us and looked out for us. Our drinks were 💯!

It breaks my heart to see that long line at guest services on the last night of the cruise to take off tips. Unreal.

T-To I-Insure P-Prompt S-Service The cruise line should pay their employees and tips should be a bonus for those who went above and beyond. No one wants to work for next to nothing.

My friend and I had such wonderful service in the dining room nightly because we ask for the same wait staff each

We paid full gratuity and bought the drink packages, which add pretips, and we still got the puppy eyes from our cabin steward.

Tony, you are a brave man for doing this vid! lol We agree with you and it's a shame that this topic brings such polarization within the cruising community. On our next cruise in Jan, I think we are going to try and talk with some of the staff on their thoughts on tips and do a short video on our channel. :)

We always do the prepaid, but if we feel someone, such as the room steward goes above and beyond we will give them more at the end of the cruise. Our recent cruise in October on the Celebrity Equinox we had a great cabin steward for the 8 days. We took care of him with more tips on the last evening. keep up the good work and vids Tony and Jen!

I'm not quite sure what side of the fence I am on, on this issue. I prepaid for my New Year cruise. 2 adults and 3 children. All under 13. 105.00 x 7= 525.00. 18% of 3 bubbles package. 15.00 x 3= 45.00 bucks. Paid in advance. So right now I have paid 570.00. I tip at least 1.00 for every drink I order plus my husband too. And 18% added to each. Let's just say 200.00 additional per cruise. Now I am at 770.00 in gratuities. 5 bucks for room service to each delivery. With 3 kids it happens a lot. So I am going to add another 70.00. Now I am at 870.00 in gratuities. Then you add the porters. That's 100.00 for 5 people. 970.00 now. Plus I tip the child care girls 10.00 a day. 1070.00 in gratuities and rising. I think when you see it on paper. It can be a bit overwhelming. When you think cruise. Most think all inclusive. I can see how this could surprise some. I don't feel the cruise lines do a great job at making this detail understood at times. Adding 1000.00 plus dollars to a cruise for a family of 5 could be a shocker. I believe it should be included in the amount quoted. If for a valid reason. Your service was substandard. You should be able to remove a percentage. Only if valid though. I have not prepaid for my Febuary cruise. It is only my husband and myself. Not near the expense. Much easier to deal with at the end of the cruise. I guess it depends on the end cost for me.

I agree with what you are saying. I always tip a little extra though. My last cruise, only five nights on Quantum of the Seas, I prepaid, but left another $10 for my cabin steward. We had the same waiters for all 5 nights and the 4 of us gave them an additional $150 tip. They were incredible and they deserved it.

How dare you try to shame someone for removing tips. Here is the problem 70% of tips go to the MDR. I don't eat in the MDR I purchase specialty dining. I Always remove my tips and hand tip via envelopes and always tip more than what I remove.

I will start by saying these people work very hard to make sure your vacation is pleasant and deserve their gratuity. However, for those that say you are a cheapskate and just shouldn't cruise if you don't pay more than the prepaid amount remember, when the cabin steward (or anyone else) was offered the job they were told they would be paid $XXX for a 6 month contract and accepted the position based on that pay. They made the decision that this amount is acceptable. Any gratuity, prepaid or not, is essentially extra money. If someone really goes over and above, then certainly some additional tip is appropriate and appreciated. I do the prepaid, that way it's on my credit card and I don't have to worry about if I have enough cash left at the end of the week. But, I may give an additional $20 or more if they really do something special. There is a rumor that some cruise lines take the prepaid gratuity and apply it towards the base pay. I don't know the truth of that, but if it is true it is absolutely wrong.

I had prepaid my gratuity but they still took there tip from me. They automatically charged it to bill along with my purchase. So I found that prepaying gratuity was pointless

What about if your cruise fare came with a perk of "free" prepaid gratuities? Celebrity often does that. Now I wonder how the cruise line works that with the staff..

Corporations needs to pay people who work for them. I go on the cruise I have to pay for a flight, shuttle bus (they want a tip for puttin up you bags), drink at the bar on the boat (they want a tip) eat somewhere at the port (they want a tip) do a local excursion (they want a tip). It’s extra costs that the CEO throws off on the consumer