Carnival Cruise Line Raises Daily Cruise Ship Gratuities

Cruise ship gratuities are going up across the board

With other cruise lines increasing their daily cruise ship gratuities, it was only logical that Carnival would eventually do the same. Effective on all cruises departing December 1, 2018 and onward, the recommended onboard gratuities will increase. While it’s not an enormous increase, there’s bound to be those who will have issues with the new amount.

Before you get too concerned, here’s the breakdown of what you will pay after December 1, 2018.

For all cruises departing on or after December 1, 2018, the recommended onboard gratuities is $13.99 per person, per day for guests in traditional stateroom accommodations. If you’re in a suite, you will pay $15.99 per person, per day.

If you’re already booked, you can save a few dollars if you prepay your gratuities by November 30, 2018. This will secure the current rate of $12.95 per person, per day for standard accommodations and $13.95 per person, per day in suites.

Read next:  Holland America raises their daily gratuities, too.

Though recommended daily gratuities are automatically added to your onboard account, Carnival says that at the discretion of the guest, gratuities may be adjusted after they have been posted on the guest’s account, while on board. However, once you’ve departed the ship at the end of your cruise, you can’t call the cruise line to ask to have the charge reduced or entirely removed.

Wonder where your money goes?

According to Carnival, the majority of the tipping amount goes to employees such as stateroom stewards, assistant stewards, dining room waiters and assistant waiters. A small portion goes to a mix of other personnel who are in guest-facing customer service positions within areas such as culinary and hotel services, along with certain key positions in entertainment and guest services.

Here is the breakdown, per day of who gets what amount, based on the current recommended guidelines:

Housekeeping Team: $4.05 ($5.05 for suites);
Dining Team: $6.40;
Alternative Services: $2.50.

Gratuities are not charged for guests less than two years of age.

Putting this into real life – a 7-night cruise before December 1, 2018, and you’ll pay $90.65 total gratuity per person. Leave for your cruise after December 1, 2018 and you’ll pay in total $97.93 for gratuities per person. Of course, remember that you can prepay gratuities on your post-December 1, 2018 cruise and save gratuities in the amount of $7.28 per person for the entire cruise.

Read more: further questions answered about ship board service gratuities

According to an email from the Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations, “100% of the gratuities go towards our shipboard team members. They work hard to provide exceptional and friendly service, so we hope that you will agree that this minor increase is well deserved”. We agree, too. The last gratuity increase was back in May 2016. As hard as the crew works, both in front and back of house, a $7.28 increase that’s to be divvied up among nearly everyone is well deserved…in our opinion.