Cost Guides
Cruise Gratuities: Daily Rates, Who Gets Them, What Is Optional
Short answer
What does this actually cost?
Automatic gratuities run $14.50 to $21 per person per day on mainstream lines, charged to every guest including children and shared among cabin stewards, dining teams and behind-scenes staff. A separate 18 to 20 percent applies to bars, spa and specialty dining. Prepaying locks the rate; luxury lines and Virgin include gratuities entirely.
Key takeaways
- Daily rates 2026: Carnival and MSC $16, Princess and Holland America $17 to $17.50, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity $18, Norwegian $21.
- Charged per person per day including children on most lines; suites pay $2 to $5 more.
- Bars, spa and specialty dining carry a separate automatic 18 to 20 percent.
- Prepaying at booking locks the current rate against increases and removes the end-of-cruise line item.
- Virgin, Princess Plus bundles and every luxury line fold gratuities into the fare.
Cruise gratuities are a service charge wearing a tip's name: $14.50 to $21 per person per day added automatically to the onboard account, distributed by formula among housekeeping, dining and behind-scenes teams, and factored into crew compensation structures. Treating them as optional misunderstands what they are; budgeting them as part of the fare understands it exactly.
A couple on a seven-night Royal Caribbean sailing pays $252 in daily gratuities, plus the separate 18 percent riding on every bar order, spa treatment and specialty cover. A family of four pays double the daily figure, children included.
This page holds the current rates, the distribution facts, the prepay decision and the honest treatment of the removal question.
The rates, line by line
The mainstream spread runs $14.50 to $21, with suite guests paying $2 to $5 more daily for their concierge and butler layers. Children pay full rate on most lines from age two or three; MSC discounts and sometimes zeroes child service charges.
The inclusive exceptions: Virgin includes gratuities entirely, Princess and Celebrity fold them into their Plus and All Included bundles, and the luxury tier, Regent, Silversea, Seabourn, Oceania on most fares, includes them with everything else and genuinely means no further tipping.
| Line | Standard cabins | Suites | Children |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cunard | $14.50 | $16.50 | Full rate |
| Carnival | $16.00 | $18.00 | Full rate from 2 |
| MSC | $16.00 | $16.00 | Reduced or free |
| Princess | $17.00, in Plus bundle | $19.00 | Full rate |
| Holland America | $17.50 | $19.00 | Full rate |
| Royal Caribbean | $18.00 | $20.50 | Full rate |
| Celebrity | $18.00, in All Included | $23.00 | Full rate |
| Norwegian | $21.00 | $26.00 | Full rate from 3 |
| Virgin, luxury lines | Included | Included | Included |
Where the money goes, and the parallel charges
The daily charge distributes by formula: cabin stewards, waiters and assistant waiters visibly, galley, laundry and utility staff invisibly. It is pooled compensation infrastructure, not an envelope for one person, which is why the industry defends it and why removal affects more people than the steward you met.
The parallel system: every bar order, spa treatment and specialty dining cover carries its own automatic 18 to 20 percent at purchase, including on drink packages at the package price. Nothing about the daily charge covers these; they are additive.
Extra cash tips remain genuinely optional and genuinely received: $20 to a memorable steward or bartender at cruise end goes to that person, on top of everything structural.
- The daily charge pools across housekeeping, dining and behind-scenes teams.
- Bars, spa and specialty dining add their own 18 to 20 percent at purchase.
- Package prices carry the same percentage on the package itself.
- Cash extras on top go to the individual and are always optional.
- Porters at the terminal: $2 to $5 per bag, cash, outside every system.
Prepaying, bundles and the practical decision
Prepaying at booking does three small good things: locks the current rate against the near-annual increases, moves the cost into the planning budget where it belongs, and ends the cruise with a clean account. There is no discount for prepaying; there is rate protection and tidiness.
The bundles change the frame: Princess Plus at $65 daily including gratuities, WiFi and drinks, and Celebrity All Included, price the gratuity into the fare where it stops being a decision at all. Virgin and the luxury lines do the same by policy.
For everyone else it is arithmetic: a couple's week runs $203 to $294 on the mainstream lines, a family of four's $406 to $588, and the budget worksheet takes it as a fixed line either way.
- Prepay locks the booking-day rate; increases between booking and sailing do not apply.
- Bundles and inclusive lines remove the line item entirely.
- Couple's week: $203 to $294 mainstream; family of four doubles it.
- No discount exists for prepaying; the benefit is protection and tidiness.
Terms worth knowing
- Automatic gratuity
- The daily service charge of $14.50 to $21 per person added to onboard accounts and distributed by formula across service departments.
- Crew appreciation
- Princess's name for the same charge; each line brands it differently while the mechanics stay identical.
- Prepaid gratuities
- Paying the daily charges at booking, locking the current rate against increases before sailing.
- Service charge on purchases
- The separate automatic 18 to 20 percent on bars, spa and specialty dining, additive to the daily charge.
| Line | Daily for two | Seven nights | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cunard | $29 | $203 | Lowest at sea |
| Carnival or MSC | $32 | $224 | MSC discounts children |
| Royal Caribbean or Celebrity | $36 | $252 | Celebrity often bundles it |
| Norwegian | $42 | $294 | Highest mainstream rate |
| Virgin or luxury lines | $0 | $0 | Included in fare |
Gratuities, handled
Four decisions cover it.
Budget it as fare
Choose it when: Always: $16 to $21 per person per day is part of the price of the cruise.
Prepay at booking
Choose it when: You prefer locked rates and clean disembarkation; there is no downside.
The bundle or inclusive line
Choose it when: Sailing Princess, Celebrity, Virgin or luxury: the question disappears into the fare.
Cash extras for standouts
Choose it when: Service earned it: $20 at cruise end reaches the individual directly.
Put this research to work
Compare current fares against the numbers on this page, and check the related guides below before adding packages or excursions.
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Frequently asked questions
How much are gratuities on a cruise?
Between $14.50 and $21 per person per day on mainstream lines in 2026: Cunard lowest at $14.50, Carnival and MSC at $16, Princess and Holland America around $17, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity at $18, Norwegian highest at $21. Suites pay $2 to $5 more. A couple's seven-night total runs $203 to $294.
Do children pay gratuities on cruises?
On most lines yes, at the full daily rate from age two or three, which doubles a family of four's gratuity line against a couple's. MSC is the main exception, discounting or zeroing child service charges on many sailings, one of several ways it undercuts rivals on family total cost.
Can you remove gratuities on a cruise?
Mechanically yes on most mainstream lines, at guest services, a channel that exists for genuine service failures. The money funds pooled crew compensation rather than line margin, so removal as a saving extracts from the crew directly. The honest budgeting approach treats the charge as fare; the honest service approach reports failures and adjusts specifically.
Should you prepay cruise gratuities?
It is mildly but clearly worthwhile: prepaying at booking locks the current rate against the near-annual increases, moves the cost into the planning budget, and delivers a clean final account. No discount attaches; rate protection and tidiness are the whole benefit, and there is no offsetting cost.
Are gratuities included in drink prices on cruises?
An automatic 18 to 20 percent service charge is added to every bar order at purchase, and to spa treatments, specialty dining covers and drink package prices. This runs parallel to, and on top of, the daily gratuity: neither covers the other, and both appear on the same final account.
Which cruise lines include gratuities in the fare?
Virgin Voyages includes them outright, Princess and Celebrity fold them into their Plus and All Included fare bundles, and the luxury tier, Regent, Silversea, Seabourn and Oceania on most fares, includes them with a genuine no-further-tipping expectation. Everywhere else they arrive as the daily charge this page tabulates.
About the author
Cruise Pricing Analyst
Daniel Okafor tracks cruise fares for a living. He maintains the price series behind every cost page on this site, sampling lead-in fares across the fifteen lines we cover on a fixed weekly schedule so the numbers we publish are comparable month to month rather than screenshotted once and forgotten.
34 sailings logged across 8 cruise lines.
This page was fact-checked by Mara Vance, senior cruise editor, on . Prices and policies are re-checked against cruise line sources at least every 90 days. Read our editorial policy.