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This is what happens if you don’t want to tip on your cruise

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Michelle Couch-Friedman

Consumer reporter and ombudsman

What if you don’t want to tip on your cruise? Or maybe you’re not against cruise gratuities but prefer to give on a person-by-person basis. Can the cruise line force you to pay a set amount for the crew’s bonus?

That’s the question Laurie May wants to be answered. She says Oceania recently blindsided her by adding $320 to the cost of her 10-day European cruise. The reason? Automatically added gratuities.

Now she wants our advocacy team to retrieve the crew bonus and put it back in her wallet. But is that something we can do?

Surprise! Automatically added cruise gratuities

May and her husband set off on Oceania’s Nautica on a cruise from Portugal to England. The couple had a lovely time. However, just before disembarking, a problem came to light.

That’s when May says a crew member slipped the final invoice under her cabin’s door. She was surprised to find a $320 fee automatically added for crew gratuities.

“Oceania says in its brochure that gratuities are discretionary and that passengers can have the tips removed or changed,” May explained. “But they do not provide an invoice of the charges until shortly before disembarkation.”

May was under the impression that there would be no additional fees on her cruise invoice. She says she attempted to have the auto-tips removed immediately before the couple left the Nautica.

“I personally went to the desk in the main lobby within minutes of receiving this invoice,” May reported. “I asked to have the gratuities removed from my bill.”

But with just 5 minutes before disembarkation, no one was able to adjust the invoice.

Cruise tipping confusion: Who will refund this forced gratuity?

Once at home, May tried to determine who was responsible for this cruise tipping confusion. She went on a mission to get the forced gratuities refunded.

First, May contacted her travel agent. She thought the agent might have made an error by not offering her a “tips included” promotion.

Apparently, different travel agents offer a ‘tips included’ option to get people to sign [up] but [they] use this promotion inconsistently. I asked our travel agent repeatedly before making the reservation if there were any other charges or fees. [She] did not orally disclose the $320 fee. [She did tell me about] a $24.99 processing charge. This [auto-tipping practice] is, unfortunately, I believe, pretty widespread, and a stain on the cruise industry. It needs to be exposed.

May explaining her efforts to get the forced gratuity refunded

May told her travel agent about the unwanted gratuity charge she discovered at the end of the cruise. She asked the agent to facilitate a refund of the $320 tip she had not intended to give.

Soon May’s travel agent had an answer from Oceania: The cruise line would not refund the cruise gratuities.

Oceania: Gratuities are never refundable after the cruise

An Oceania customer service administrator explained that the cruise line doesn’t include tips in the cost of its cruises. This information is made clear in all pre-cruise documents. Those documents also detail that the cruise line will automatically add a set gratuity per person per day to the passenger’s onboard invoice.

However, these tips are not mandatory. Should a passenger decide they don’t want to tip on the cruise, they can request an adjustment of this fee. But this request must be made before disembarkation. And the cruise line had no record of May asking for a modification of the gratuities before leaving the Nautica.

Oceania’s executive ended her email with the company’s final word on May’s request:

Most importantly, we do have a reasonable expectation for our guests to read and review all documentation Oceania provides about their cruise vacation. 

Unfortunately, it is not possible to make any adjustments or refunds post-cruise as we have already disbursed the gratuities among the crew. We regret any disappointment [this couple] experienced in this regard; however, gratuities are non-refundable.

Oceania Cruises executive

A credit card dispute over the forced cruise tips

The response from Oceania only served to frustrate May further. Her next move was to file a credit card dispute over the gratuities.

Unfortunately, May’s credit card dispute of the $320 in cruise tips was doomed from the beginning.

The Fair Credit Billing Act allows credit card-using consumers to dispute billing errors. But although this act provides much-needed protection to consumers, credit card chargebacks are often misused. And as we’ve seen time and again, when a consumer uses the credit card dispute mechanism in a way it wasn’t intended, it only leads to more significant problems; including getting banned from the cruise line.

In May’s case, as other cruisers before her have discovered, she found that filing a credit card dispute to resolve this issue was just a waste of time.

I filed a complaint with Chase Card Services. I provided extensive documentation. After a month of going back and forth, Chase came back and said it wasn’t possible to dispute the automatically added tips. So I wasted a total of two months. 

I would like for Oceania to be outed for deceptive practices. They provided [to Chase] only UNDATED invoices and claimed they APPLIED the gratuity charge to our account, four days before disembarkation. But they never shared the invoice or charge with us until we disembarked. It is impossible to dispute a charge of which you have no knowledge. How can a large travel company like this get away with this lack of transparency in their billing?

May

Oceania’s terms did not support a billing error for these auto-tips on May’s cruise invoice

But Oceania Cruises’ terms and conditions regarding gratuities did not support a billing error:

Auto-gratuities are explained in the cruise contract that May didn't read.
The auto-tipping policy of the cruise line is not a secret.

May’s credit card dispute ended when Oceania provided that information to Chase. But, still undeterred, she pressed on with her mission to retrieve the tips from Oceania.

“How can I get a refund for these cruise tips?”

May’s next move was to ask our advocacy team to ask the cruise line to refund the tips.

My fellow advocate, Dwayne Coward, is well-versed in all cruise-related matters. He took charge of this case and was soon scouring through May’s extensive paper trail. In her initial request to our team for help, she was sure that she had been bamboozled by not only Oceania but also her travel agent.

“We paid over $10,000 to Oceania Cruises, and they thumbed their noses at us,” May complained. “They said the policy of assessing cruise gratuities was in their [30 page] brochure. But Oceania never acknowledged that their brochure also said the tips on the cruise were discretionary and could be changed.”

Dwayne immediately noticed problems with May’s complaint. Although she said that the automatic gratuity was a surprise and never disclosed until minutes before disembarkation, her paper trail told a different story.

“In your confirmation, Oceania did disclose the gratuities that it would charge to your account,” Dwayne pointed out.

Pre-cruise documents from Oceania that explains the auto-tip policy.
Naturally, you may adjust gratuities while onboard at your sole discretion. But for the cruiser’s convenience, Oceania will automatically add a suggested gratuity of $18 per guest per day to each cabin’s account (The auto-tips have changed since May’s cruise). (Oceania’s pre-cruise information)

Dwayne went on to explain that today, most cruise companies handle tipping in this way.

The cruise lines do allow passengers to have the automatically added tips removed if they wish. But the request usually must be made before the cruise line closes out your account onboard the ship. I need to have a better idea of why you believe this is a deceptive practice in the cruise industry before we can determine how best to assist you.  

Is auto-tipping in the cruise industry deceptive?

It was evident from the paper trail that Oceania had made its tipping policy clear in multiple pre-cruise documents May had in her possession:

  1. Her cruise contract
  2. The pre-cruise documentation, which included the gratuity information directly under the map to her cabin
  3. The terms and conditions of Oceania Cruises, accessible online

Dwayne soon determined that he had no basis for asking Oceania to refund the tips. The automatic gratuity was not a hidden feature, and there was no record of May ever asking for the refund until after she was home. By then, the cruise line had already given the tips to the crew.

Dwayne broke the news to May. Our team would not be able to mediate her case and retrieve those gratuities.

Finally, giving up on the refund of the tip the cruise line took automatically

She continued to cling to the defense that Oceania had not added the gratuities to her invoice until minutes before disembarkation. But in its official rebuttal to the credit card dispute, Oceania stated that it had applied the tip several days before the end of the cruise.

However, May says she never saw any invoice before the final one she found under her cabin door. She appeared to be unaware that she could have viewed the invoice through her cabin’s TV throughout the cruise. Alternatively, she could have visited guest relations to discuss tipping at any time during her journey on the Nautica.

In the end, May decided to give up on her pursuit of the refund of those tips.

“I am giving up. I just called Oceania again, and they were stern in their reply to me,” May told Dwayne. “The best recourse at this point is to not ever travel with them again and to tell others about their guest relations.”

“We’re not against tipping.”

After we first published this article, May emailed me to provide additional information that she had not mentioned previously to Dwayne.

We left the cash tip in our cruise cabin on the desk before we went to breakfast.  When we got back from breakfast, we found the undated invoice on the door. We had already left the money and did not take it back.  And we believed the cruise line gave us the invoice in error, and we could correct it later. We were not against tipping and tipped our guides as well on land tours.

May

Things to keep in mind about cruise gratuities

  • Crew members often rely on tips to supplement low wages. You might have noticed that many cruise ships fly a “Flag of Convenience.” That means the vessel is registered in a foreign country, often to lower operating costs. It can also allow the company to avoid various labor laws. The crew members aboard your cruise are likely making less than minimum wage and working long hours. When you skip tipping on your cruise, you aren’t hurting the corporation. You’re just lowering the pool of funds that hard-working service employees share at the end of the journey.
  • Automatically added gratuities take the confusion out of tipping on your cruise. Tipping on cruises is a hot topic and a source of confusion, especially among new cruisers. Whom should you tip? How much? When the cruise line discloses the suggested gratuities pre-cruise and adds it automatically to your invoice, it takes the guesswork out of the equation. Just remember, if you want to adjust your tip (up or down), visit guest services before the end of the cruise.
  • Your cruise contract will explain the gratuity policy. Many of the travel fiascos you read about here could have been avoided if the consumer had read their contract. In this case, all the information May needed was made available to her weeks before embarkation. Neither Oceania nor her travel agent included gratuities in the cost of her trip. Had she read her contract or the pre-cruise information, the automatically added tips would not have surprised her.
  • Consider a cruise line that wraps gratuities into the cruise cost. If you’re really against tipping, then you may want to consider only using no-tipping cruise lines. Azamara, Regent, and Silversea are among the high-end cruise lines that have a no-tipping policy. Those cruise lines have already worked gratuities into the total cost of the cruise. Of course, you are always free to provide additional gratuities to specific crew members who have been of help to you.

Auto-tips for the major cruise lines in 2024

As Dwayne explained to May, automatically adding gratuities to passengers’ onboard invoices has become standard practice in the cruise industry. And although tipping isn’t mandatory on your cruise, it’s proper cruising etiquette to do so. When figuring out your cruise budget, don’t forget to factor in these suggested tips per passenger, per day.

  • Aurora Expeditions: All cabins, $15 per day, per person gratuity will automatically be added to your cruise invoice. If you wish to adjust your tips up or down, let reception know prior to the day of disembarkation.
  • Carnival Cruise Line: Staterooms: $16 per person each day. Suites: $18 per person each day. Carnival adds an 18 percent service charge to beverage purchases and to various upscale restaurants. The cruise line also recommends that guests tip crew members delivering room service in cash.
  • Celebrity Cruises: Standard cabins: $18 per person each day. Concierge Class: $18.50 per person each day. Suites: $23 per person each day. Celebrity adds a 20 percent service charge to all beverage and mini-bar purchases. An 18 percent tip is added to all spa and salon services and most specialty dining.
  • Disney Cruise Line: Disney recommends the following gratuities on its cruises: $14.50 per person per night  (including babies and children) for guests staying in regular staterooms. Disney notes that this fee covers tips for the following crew members: Stateroom host and dining room server, assistant server, and head server. For guests in suites, the recommended gratuity is $15.50 per night and this covers the same crew members plus the stateroom’s assistant host.
  • Holland America: Staterooms: $16 per day per passenger. Suites: $17.50 per day per passenger.
  • MSC Cruises: The daily auto-tip on MSC depends on the region of the world where the cruise is sailing. For North American cruises: $16 per day for adults and $8 daily for children. South American cruises: $14.50 for adults and $7.25 for children. European sailings: 12 Euros per day for adult, 6 Euros per day for children.
  • Norwegian Cruise Line: The Haven and suites: $25 per day, per person. $20 per person per day for Club Balcony Suites and all categories below.
  • Oceania Cruises: For all sailings beginning January 1, 2025, gratuities will be wrapped into the amenities packages of all guests.
  • Princess Cruises: Staterooms: $16 per person per day. Mini-suites and club class: $17 per person per day. Suites: $18 per person per day. Princess refers to cruise tips as “Crew Incentive.”
  • Royal Caribbean: Beginning Nov. 1, 2024: Jr suites and below: $18.50 per person per day; Grand Suites and above $21 per person per day.
  • Viking: Viking offers a prepaid gratuity package for guests to purchase prior to boarding, and suggested gratuities vary based on the cruise location. For cruises within Europe, the suggested tip is $20 per day per guest. If the passenger doesn’t purchase this package, 20E per person per day will appear on the guest’s invoice. Viking also recommends tipping drivers and excursion hosts in cash, $2 – $5 per day. (Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer Rescue)

(Editor’s note: Last updated and checked for accuracy on October 12, 2024)

* Related: Consumer Rescue’s ultimate guide to planning and taking a cruise

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Michelle Couch-Friedman

Michelle Couch-Friedman is the founder and CEO of Consumer Rescue. She is a consumer advocate, ombudsman columnist, mediator, writer, and licensed psychotherapist. Michelle is a public speaker, and her expert guidance has been cited in MarketWatch, Consumer Reports, Travel & Leisure, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Popular Science, CNN, CNBC, Boston Globe, CBS News, National Geographic, Travel Weekly, Reader's Digest and more. You might even catch Michelle on TV reporting on a situation. :) Michelle is also the travel ombudsman columnist for The Points Guy, a contributing author at Fodor's Travel and is the former executive director of the nonprofit Elliott Advocacy. During her six years managing that organization, she resolved thousands of cases for troubled travelers and other consumers. You can read hundreds of 5-star reviews Michelle earned during her service to the nonprofit on Great Nonprofits. She is also a member of the Society of American Travel Writers. Today, she continues to spend as much time as possible fiercely defending consumers and traveling the world with her family. Contact her at Michelle Couch-Friedman or on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook.
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LiLi

This is one of the rare times I am not on the side of the customer. I have taken many cruises and having your gratuities added to your folio at the end is the default, and it’s always very clear when I book whether or not tips are included as a “pre-paid” option or that it is one you need to select.

I do commend her for leaving a separate gratuity in the cabin at least. I have ended a friendship over someone’s absolute refusal to tip on a cruise.

KS

It’s possible that they are against tipping on principle. The cruise line should be paying people properly. It’s not the job of the customer to work out how much each staff member is worth in the currency of the staff member’s home country.

Vaccine Damaged

…and one cruise we went on at the end they hand you an envelope with a pamphlete explaining how the workers worked so hard to please you (true) to put a guilt trip on each passenger personally, asking for more cash tips the next day for your servers.

I worked for the public my whole life and nobody ever tipped me or 90% of the rest of the world. Why do some people expect a tip for just doing their jobs?

Restaurant servers report behind the scenes they have tip income that ranges from $50K to $100K per year …undeclared and untaxed income. That is more than I ever made as a manager.

finance_tony

I find it hard to believe that the “cash tip” wasn’t the first thing mentioned in the dispute.

DChamp56

If this was her first cruise, her TA should have mentioned to her about tips beforehand. Also, to just leave a tip for the stateroom attendant is absurd. What about all the other hard working employees that get a part of that?
Sorry, I can’t agree with her on this.

DChamp56

FYI, Royal Caribbean’s new tipping policy is $16/day and $18.50/day for suites guests.

Michelle Couch-Friedman

Thanks, Dave 🙂

Rob

Well I had tipped everytime a fair amount 30 plus per day and was still given an invoice on top of all the cash tips I gave for the stay.

Jahosacat

And how was the computer supposed to know that you had already tipped if you didn’t tell Guest Services to remove the tip?

joycexyz

She paid over $10,000 for the cruise and is quibbling about $320? And that relatively small amount goes to overworked and underpaid crew members. In addition, the policy is very clearly stated in her documents. But, some people expect to be led by the hand through every situation. Get over it. No sympathy here.

keithm

You know I’m going to be honest we’ve been doing Oceania for the last few years. We’ve loved it the food has been absolutely outstanding the service has been exceptional. Tipping policy was made very well known in advance so this person May is what one would refer to as a cheap ******. I’m not going to believe for one second that she and her husband did not know about the tipping. They would have known when they signed the contract they would have been told by their travel agent. This is nothing but a bunch of Bologna on her part. As an example we always leave the auto gratuity on. Then we tip over and above. We are both in the hospitality industry. Look at the staff is kind of family. On average we tip an additional 75 to $100 to our attendant and if we dine mostly in the grand dining room we will tip quite generously to our staff that takes good care of us. People who like to as we refer to stiff the staff should not be allowed to cruise for any reason. I’m very pleased that a lot of cruise lines are making it very difficult for these cheapskates to try and get out of the tipping. I don’t care if you’re from Europe or Asia or one of the other non tipping areas in the country. Old expression when in Rome do as the Romans.

SKcomments

Was this her first cruise? Otherwise, she has no basis for “I didn’t know tips were automatic”.
The on-board Princess App has a folio review, and our recent gratuities were posted daily.
She should have gone to Guest Services on the 2nd or 3rd day of her cruise.
$320 on $10,000 is 3.2%. Hardly a lot.

Vaccine Damaged

““I personally went to the desk in the main lobby within minutes of
receiving this invoice,” May reported. “I asked to have the gratuities
removed from my bill.”

She complied with the necessary process to avoid this scam.

She also asked her travel agent if there were any more charges to which her agent told her about some minor taxes amount. The agent should be taken in hand in a small claims court.

Cruise agents are only hurting themselves with these nickel and dime scams.

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