Tipping on Cruises

I believe cruising is the easiest way to see the world, but there is one part of the cruise experience that can cause anxiety for otherwise carefree passengers -- tipping. Here's a look at how tipping is handled by each of the world's major cruise lines.


On most cruise lines, but not all, gratuities are expected and encouraged. The traditional tipping procedure is to hand cash gratuities to the service staff on the last full day or evening of the cruise. For longer itineraries, tipping on a weekly basis may be the norm. The cruise lines that follow this tipping procedure are Crystal, Disney, Fred. Olsen, Hurtigruten, P&O, Royal Caribbean, Star Clippers, Uniworld and Viking River Cruises.

Passengers on most of these lines are encouraged to tip their cabin steward and dining room waiter $3.50 to $5.00 per passenger, per day, and their assistant waiter/busboy should be tipped $2.00 to $3.00 per passenger, per day. On most ships, tip the maitre d' or dining room captain about $5 to $10 (total) only if you ask for special favors or tableside service.

It is customary to tip bartenders and wine stewards 15%, and many cruise lines automatically add this gratuity to the bar or beverage bill. Gratuities for special services such as spa treatments are left to the discretion of the guest, but 15% is considered typical.

The growth of freestyle dining and alternative restaurants put pressure on this system. Because passengers on many ships now dine when and where they wish and do not return night-after-night to the same table, they may rightfully resist handing a week's worth of tips to the waiter and assistant waiter they happen to end up with on the last night of the cruise.

That's why many cruise lines opt to automatically charge tips, usually $10 to $12 per person, per day, to shipboard accounts and divide the total among all dining room personnel, cabin stewards and others who are involved in serving passengers. These lines include Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, MSC, Norwegian, Oceania, Princess and Windstar.

If a passenger feels that the amount automatically charged to his or her account should be adjusted higher or lower based on the service received, the cruise line will make that adjustment when the bill is settled at the end of the cruise. These amounts do not cover tips for bartenders and wine stewards, which are generally 15% added to the beverage bill at the time of service.

A few cruise lines specifically state that gratuities are included in the cruise fare and that tips are neither expected nor encouraged. Azamara, Paul Gauguin Cruises, Regent, Seabourn, SeaDream and Silversea fall into this category. Even on these lines, some passengers still tip for outstanding service or special favors.

Does any one tipping policy tend to encourage better service than the others? Even seasoned cruisers disagree on this one, but most letters I receive are in favor of the traditional method of rewarding individuals directly or rolling all gratuities into the upfront price.
 
I have tipped both ways. Although some people perfer the traditional tipping method.  I like the convienence of prepaying the tipping ahead which now when you book most cruise lines allow you the option of doing.

Princess Cruise Alaska Vacation

Cruising to Alaska

Cruising is a great adventure for everyone in the family and going to Alaska offers great scenery and a chance to see wildlife, glaciers, and much much more. I travel to Alaska on the Celebrity Mercury a smaller ship which for me was great as I got to know people and was able to walk from one end to the other. Our ship was going from Vancouver to Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, Juneau,Sitka, Victoria and back to Seattle. We where on board for a total of 8 nights. In Ketchikan I saw salmon and seals and walk along the boardwalk of Creek Street which is built into the side of a hill all along the river. Glacier Bay we dodge icebergs and did a polar bear dip into the glacier water filled pool, Juneau I met a bear at the Mendhall Glacier and ate a meal at the Red Dog Saloon, Sitka we saw some Russian dancers, a native museum,wild bird rescue center and an old russian church, Victoria we took a water tour of the bay and had a great lunch by parliment buildings and ended our trip with docking on a beautiful day in Seattle.Life aboard ship was great as well. We received excellent service, entertainment and our accomodations met our expectations.The only negative was that on a small ship you run into smokers often and cigarette smoke.

The Reef Playcar, Playa del Carmen, MX

We stayed three days in The Reef Playacar.  This hotel is a charming solid 3 1/2 star hotel. Upon arrival you are greeted and then directed to the frontdesk. Beware that there are timeshare agents that will to help but they will try to steer you into sitting in on a meeting and viewing.  Just say no and they will back off.

The lobby has a wall waterfall a business center and bar. The lobby is setup with WI FI.  When you leave this area and you head to your room you walk out into a jungle, complete with a cenote and waterfall. You will also see geko's and agoutis running around.

There is no elevators in this hotel. It is a small resort so it is easy to get to and from the beach.

The resort has two pools and one hot tub. They could have more lounge chairs. If you did not get them early you may not get one. The hotel has four bar areas, one al carte, two snack areas, ice cream parlor (that offer ice cream, specialty coffee, and ice coffee) and one buffet restaurants. There is an entertainment area, and hall for shows,receptions and meetings. The have a board posting with all the activities that would be going for the week.

I did not see any kids clubs, I did see children playing soccer and other games with staff from the hotels.

There where none motorsport activities available as well. The beach area was great and you could walk to town from the beach. It is shorter to walk on the road to town.

The rooms could use some updating as well as the linen, room drapes and taps.

The service given from the staff that was there was excellent. The staff at the buffet restaurant where run off there feet. They could of used a few more people especially at dinner time. We ate later to avoid most the people with the large families and children.

This hotel I would recommend. For the price it was great! It may not be a five star but it is not a mega resort so you can get to know people and build friendships.

I will definetly return to this hotel as it felt like home when you where there.

El Tukan Hotel and Resort, Playa del Carmen

Hi Everyone,

My husband and I are in Playa del Carmen. We flew down with Continental Airlines. We had a great flight and they even served breakfast with no fee attached to it.

We are staying at the El Tukan Hotel and Resort, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It is rated as a 2 1/2 star but I would give it a 1 1/2 star. It is a basic hotel that offer friendly service, clean older rooms, the bed is okay to sleep in, not a solid rock. There is two small pools one located on site the other at the beach club which is five blocks away walking. The hotel does provid a shuttle.  You are located right on fifth avenue, so you have a choice or restaurants, shopping, entertainment and other services.  The hotel does not offer any entertainment and limited other facilities.  The buffet restaurant does not have A/C and I found that the drinks, yogurt and fruit where quite warm.  If you have a room facing inside towards the pool you avoid the street noise.  The hotel itself is very quite.The location is the best thing. It is a block and half from the beach. Get your towels early before 11 or you will not get any. Rooms are not large, nor is the washroom. You have a fan and A/C and a balcony to sit on.

This hotel would be best for young people on a budget or any other person on a budget.

My visit to Playa del Carmen,Mexico and Area April 9th to 19th, 2010

Start following me on my travel to Playa del Carmen, Mexico.  I will be traveling from Vancouver to Cancun with a stop in Houston.  I will arrive at the airport 3 1/2 hours ahead of departure due to new security screenings. The airline that I will be taking is Continental.  Now Continental is allowing me 1 bag, 1 carry on and a purse free. Max weight allowance is 50lb for both the carry-on, and my one bag.  I have opted to take my computer so that I can keep in touch with family and to keep a working journey of my experiences, good and bad.

I have packed neutral clothing. One light weight skirt, one skort, one short and one capri. Tops: 3 coloured tank tops, 3 dress tops, 3 bathing suites, then underclothing for 3 days.  I am taking a bar of hand wash soap to wash clothing, bio degradedable sunscreen, a small amount of makeup, toiletries,some deet for bugs, blow dryer as there isn't one in our hotel and beach towels. Shoes one dress, one walking, and one pair for the beach.  As my slip-ons that I use at the airport are good walking shoes they will not have to be packed and make it easy to get on an off for security purposes. I also packed some S hooks that will drap over show stall bars or railings to dry off clothing. The clothing I packed in those mesh bags that you can buy at the dollar store to keep everything neat and easy to put away.

The weight of my suitecase is 25lbs.. Leaving me with room for trinkets that I may bring home.

Follow my journey starting April 9th,2010

Bali, Indonesia

In October of 2008 I had a chance to tour Bali for 8 days. We where a small group of 9 people.  We inspected 23 hotels and did various land tours.
Bali is very hot and humid at this time of year so loose fitting clothing is best. If you think you can get cool by dipping into a pool or the ocean water, forget it. Temperature is the same as a warm bath. The first thing you notice in Bali is all there statues and tropical plants.
We stayed our two nights a the Mirage in Benoa, located on our left of the Mirage is the Club Mirage and on our right was the Aston.
Club Mirage has a wonderful SPA but if you go out onto the street you can get a full reflexology leg massage for about $7US. It was wonderful especially after our long plane ride. The Mirage has nightly entertainment. The beach when the tide is out is coral reef so you may want to bring water shoes. An the tide goes a way out.
We left on our third day and travel inland to Ubud and the interior where we saw the rice fields and visit the scenic volcanoe in Kintamani. We stayed the night a Kamadula Resort. I would highly recommend this resort for anyone wanted that unique honeymoon vacation.  We had a villa style room with a open air washroom and shower. The food was fabulous here and I would of like to stayed longer. We visited two other resorts here as well.
We decided as one of our tour options, to do some white water rafting on the Ayung River. We arrived early in the morning which was great as we where the first to arrive so we got to go over to where the elephants where getting ready for safari, which was the other option. I highly recommend the white water rafting at this time of year it was only a grade 2 because the water level is low. After climbing 200 stairs down to the water we had a great time, we met people from all over the world and along the bank of the river the Indonesians where etching a story that stretch for miles along the river. The are trying to get it into the guiness book of records. It is very detail and a extrodinary piece of art work.
After the rafting trip we headed back to Kamadula to go into Ubud to another hotel. This hotel is right on the edge of the Monkey Forest Santuary, which means there is monkey everywhere you look. Beware monkeys can be nasty if the want to be and they can be theifs as well. They love glasses, hair clips, dangling earings, so if you are around them be aware.
Next we headed to our next hotel Benoa Beach Hotel where they where holding the first Asian games. This hotel was very Indonesian, there where offerings to the gods everywhere on the walkway so you had to make sure you didn't step on them.
Tonight we where treated to dinner at the Balienese ballet, then afterwards decided to entertain ourselves and others by getting everyone up and dancing.
Today we are going shopping in Kuta where you will find your upscale stores, starbucks, restaurants and banks. This is where the young people like to hang out as there is plenty of entertainment and shopping around. Meals are inexpensive. If you like scrubs and essential oils then by it in Bali. Pricing starts at about $2US.
We did a tour to Tanah lot sea temple. Here we able to see some locals with their Boa snakes, structures being built with bamboo and walk out to the temple.
Tanah Lot has a great marketplace with goods for barter. So if you are looking to take home souveniers, this is the place to buy.
Now back to our hotel as we are going to see the sunset at the monkey temple. Temple rules you need to where shorts that cover your knees(men and women) as well as tops must cover the tops of your arms. They offered sarongs at some of the temples for you to where. Watch the monkeys here they will steal anything they can. Back to our hotel
Onto a new hotel the Melia Benoa for the remainder of our stay
Now off to lunch at Dreams hotel. They offer villas with private walled accomodations and your own pool. They have a shuttle to their own beach, the golf course and town.  This is popular with honeymooners. Very upscale.  They have a wonderful SPA at this hotel and you do not have to stay here to use it.  Full body massage is about $80US. We where treated to one by the hotel it was wonderful.
The Melia Benoa is a family resort, it is in a great location, their is a little market next door as well as you can get to the Galleria from here. The Galleria has all types of shops and a public beach to use. Taxi prices you need to bargan for before you get in the cab.
You can get money from ATM machines that are found in various places where their are hotels. We where advised to use the blue ones and to remember to wait for your card.
Well we visited many different hotels and can give anyone advise on them.  I liked the Westin, Intercontinental, Tropical and Novatel hotels. Westin had the best kids club and an excellent beach, Tropical offered gardens and the authentic feel of Bali, Intercontental gave you a walking beach with lots of restaurants on the beach.  We dined on the beach and it was great.

There are mosquitos, so bring repellent.  Well hope this gave you some insight into Bali and what it has to offer. There where lots of tours we would of like to take part in but we ran out of time.

Monkey Temple at Sunset 

Monkey at Temple

Road heading into the Interior

For Flight or Tours email:cheryl@oceanbreezeholiday.com

Huatulco, Mexico

Recently I had a chance to go to Huatulco, Mexico in November. It was my first visit to this area of Mexico so I decide I wanted to know as much about it as possible. Some information that I found out about the area is it is the newest vacation paradise! Huatulco, (wa-TULE-co) is an undiscovered beauty for generations; now, as development begins in its nine bays, people from around the world are starting to find out about its pristine beaches, clear blue skies, uncrowded resorts and amazing scenery.

Did I mention the nearly- perfect weather? Huatulco has just 40 days of rain a year, making any time on the calendar the right time to visit!

Nature lovers will be entranced with the unscathed beauty of the Oaxacan coastline. If you love discovering sea life found in the ocean by snorkeling; if you enjoy the pastime of bird watching; or if you just want to plant yourself on one of its 36 beaches with a good book, Huatulco is here and waiting to welcome you.

Arriving at the airport we where warmly greeted by a High School Band, then we where off on the bus to the hotel we would be staying at. 

La Brisas hotel  is an amazing natural tropical location. It offers its guest 4 private beaches with no beach vendors but bewarned their is lots of stairs and resort is quite big, although you can take the hotels plentiful shuttles. It took us a day to get the lay of the land and once we figured out where we where we walked to the beach and lobby for our daily excersise.  There is no washrooms on the lobby floor so you have to go 2 flights of stairs. The business center is located in the gift shop which doesn't open till 9am.  The gift shop does not except cash, so you either put it to your room and pay it all at once on your credit card or you can pay with your credit card right their.

You do not have to be worried about crowds here as you have three very good swimming beaches here. Beach one you can swim and snorkel, beach two you can read a book or swim, beach three is for those that want the water sports and beach four is secluded small cove if you just want to be alone.

They also offer a bird walk tour on the property as they have a very good population of exotic birds and a wonderful bontanical garden. This is a green property there is lots of wild life.

If you have a room on the 2nd or 3 floor you will probably have a balcony, if you are on the first floor you will have a view window that opens.
If you can afford it Club class is great here.

The hotel has a solar filteration center for all their water. So you don't have to worry about the water here or the ice. Drinks are not something they are use to making so you may have to make sure they know what they are making.

The beds are not hard as in some hotels.

As this is definetly a green hotel remember to put on mosquito repellent.  I found that Watkins cream 28deet and Muskol 30deet worked the best. You may get bites so bring along something for bites. Their is staff that sell bug patches for 25$US that you can place on your cloths but those of us that tried these found that they didn't stay on that well.

We visited Hotel Castillo which is located in Santa Cruz and not located on a beach.  It is popular because it is close to the marina. You go fishing for that big catch.  This area has great fishing.  Even though Castillo is not located on the beach it has a beach club that offers a great buffet lunch, a kids area, a pool and swimable white sand beach. The shuttle is every 5 minutes.

Barcello - It is located in Huatulco and on the beach. The rooms are great with great views, we found the food and service here great.  If you want a place to have a wedding that offers something for your whole family this is a great place.  They offer different locations for their weddings. The beach is great with gentle waves and no rocks or coral to worry about stepping on.

Pacific Crown - located on the mountain behind the village of Huatulco with a beach club that has a buffet and small pool located on the beach next to Barcello. This property has a pool and a view that overlooks the whole bay of Huatulco. The rooms are great but it has a lot of steep climbing in places.  There is a regular shuttle to the beach club. The entertainment provided for us at this resort was excellent.

The next hotel that we stayed at was the Dreams resort.  A very well run resort.  The mattress's are soft the staff great.  The resort offers plenty to do and is located next to the Barcello on the beach. There is an area where you can feed fish and when the water is calm you can get snorkeling equipment although La Brisas snorkeling area was better.
This hotel had three computers in business center that you could use free of charge 24/7 which was great for those of us that had to keep an I on business. They offer a great SPA and kids club.

There is lots to do in Huatulco.
If you are the adventurer type there is water rafting, ATV's, mountain biking, horseback riding, mountain climbing, bike riding, diving, snorkeling, fishing,surfing and hiking.

If you like to shop you can take a cab into La Crucecita where you will find a market and little shops. Their is also a few shop in Huatulco as well that offer good pricing.

If you are into history their is a church,  a large archological site that will be open to the public next year.

Huatulco also offers tours of a botanical medicine garden, mudd baths with anti aging properties, coffee plantations and cruises of the 9 bays with stops at secluded beaches.

I hope this gives everyone insight to Huatulco.  At the moment their is no American stores or restaurants so this is a perfect time to visit the area, before the development really starts.

Anyone wanting a vacation or more information please feel free to contact me. cheryl@oceanbreezeholidays.com