Everything You Need to Know About Tipping on a Cruise in 2026

One of the most debated topics about cruising is tipping on a cruise. If you ask regulars if they tip on a cruise, be prepared for a varied and passionate response. Tipping on a cruise is hotly debated because most cruise lines institute a mandatory daily gratuity or “daily service charge.” With the cruise lines imposing this additional fee, guests often wonder if they need to tip beyond that.

So, we’ve put together this complete guide to help individuals make sense of tipping on a cruise in 2026. Once done, you will know exactly how much (and who) to tip on your next voyage!

The Basics About Cruise Tips and Gratuities

When on a cruise ship, you will interact with various crew members in service positions. Each day you will interact with waiters in the main dining room and other restaurants, bartenders, as well as your room attendant and hotel services staff. Like many in hospitality, part of these individuals’ income is dependent on receiving tips in addition to their salary.

In the good old days, cruise lines provided cruisers with guidelines on how much to tip on a cruise. These suggestions were broken down by job title, per person, per day. Then, cruisers could provide these gratuities directly to each individual. These guides were helpful, as it made it easier for travelers to know what the average tips were for each position. However, not everyone was acting upon these recommendations.

Thus, most cruise lines have instituted automatic daily cruise gratuities in recent years. These additional service charges are a flat fee charged per person, per day, that is then distributed to the staff, including the behind-the-scenes crew. Many of the same servers and your stateroom attendant receive a portion of these fees.

In addition, these “mandatory” service charges are distributed to other staff you might not think to tip. This can include waiters at the buffet, bar servers, and support staff. This method does make it more equitable for the crew. Now, individuals that don’t have as much regular contact with passengers still receive a portion of the gratuities.

For a more complete look on automatic gratuities by cruise line, including how much each line charges per person, per day, check out our Guide to Cruise Gratuities by Cruise Line here.

Despite gratuities now being an automatic charge, the question still arises as to whether travelers should tip on a cruise above and beyond these cruise line imposed charges.

Should you tip more beyond the daily gratuities on a cruise?

This answer depends on several factors, but in general we’d say a good rule of thumb is yes — plan to tip some people beyond the automatic gratuities. We always provide additional gratuities to the crew members with whom we interact most on a ship. We feel that it is the least we can do to reward the excellent service provided. This is not to say that you NEED to tip more on a cruise, though.

Who should you tip on board?

Below are our suggestions, but again, they are just guidelines. How much you tip and who you tip is determinant upon the service you receive and the monetary value that you see fit.

Stateroom Attendant

We actually provide our stateroom attendant with a partial tip at the start of the cruise along with any special requests we have. Normally, we tip between $5 to $7 additionally per day for the two of us at the end of the cruise. Of course, the amount is based on the service received.

Many people tip at the beginning and end of their cruise like us, while others wait until the end with one flat amount based on how helpful and friendly their attendant was.

Main Dining Room Waitstaff

If you spend at least several nights dining in the main dining room, it is prudent to consider tipping your head and assistant servers extra at the end of the voyage. We often tip our waiter around $6 to $8 per day for the two of us, averaging around $50 for a seven-night cruise. Keep in mind, we normally dine at least five nights in the main dining room. If you dine less often in the main dining room, it is justified to alter your tip amount based on the number of days.

Whatever we tip our head waiter in the main dining room, we typically give our assistant waiter about half that amount.

If your cruise ship still has dedicated bar staff in the main dining room, we recommend tipping that individual a bit extra too. If your assistant waiter is in charge of grabbing drinks from the bar, we recommend adding this extra gratuity to his/her tip.

Specialty Restaurant Waitstaff

If you purchase dinner at a specialty restaurant, the cruise line often adds an automatic 15 to 20 percent service charge. Normally, the service we receive in these venues is more personal and upscale, so we usually tip extra here as well, around 15 to 20 percent.

Room Service Waitstaff

If you order room service, it’s customary to tip at least a couple dollars to the staff member who brings your food. If you ordered a lot of food or the crew member set up your meal at a table or on the balcony, you might want to provide a slightly larger tip as a “thank you.”

Bartenders

When it comes to bars, we normally have a drink package, so the service charges are included. Though, if we do frequent a particular bar during the cruise, we will tip that individual at the end of the trip.

How much we tip bar servers varies greatly. Given that we like to complete our “drink around the ship” on a cruise, we don’t often spend a lot of time at one particular bar. If we see the same server in the main theater nightly, we might provide an additional $10 at the end of the voyage. If we do end up spending more time at one bar, then we would give around $20. We also frequent the coffee shop, so we generally provide these servers with a similar tip at the end of the cruise.

While some travelers choose to tip extra per drink, we normally wait until the end of the cruise.

Who should you tip in port?

Porters

If you have a porter take your bags on embarkation day prior to boarding the ship, it’s customary to tip them around $1 to $2 per small bag and $3 to $5 per large bag.

Note: You are usually allowed to bring most/all of your luggage onto the ship with you, if you can manage carrying it through the terminal yourself. It’s especially important to make sure you keep your electronics, medication, boarding documents, passport, wallet, and any beverages you may be bringing on board with you — don’t give your bag(s) containing those items to the porter.

Tour Guides & Drivers

If you’re taking an excursion or join a tour once in port, it’s common to tip your tour guide and driver (if applicable) for a job well done. The amount you tip is very subjective, with factors including the length of the tour, the type of tour, how you feel they did as a guide in terms of knowledge, helpfulness, and friendliness, and beyond. If your tour involved driving and you feel your driver did a good job keeping everyone safe on the road, consider tipping them as well — we’d recommend about half the amount you tip the tour guide.

Should you tip in local currency?

When considering how to tip staff members onboard the ship, we’d recommend tipping in the currency of the country the ship is sailing from. For example, if you’re taking a Caribbean cruise from the U.S., tip in USD. If you’re sailing in the Mediterranean out of Italy, try to tip in euros. If you’re cruising out of Australia, try to get some cash in AUD.

With that being said, crew members will gladly take tips in just about any currency. If you’re sailing on an American cruise brand in Europe, for example, it will be very common for passengers to tip in USD even though the ship is nowhere near America. In many touristy places around the world, especially in places like the Caribbean and Europe, you can often use USD — especially aboard a cruise ship. So if you can’t manage to get local cash prior to or during the trip, don’t sweat it.

When it comes to tipping people like tour guides and drivers in port, follow similar guidelines. If you’re in a major tourism city, your excursion staff will probably be used to receive lots of different currencies including USD — especially if they often do tours for U.S. based cruise lines. The local currency will be easiest for them to use right away, but if you don’t have that, USD is fine too.

Who do you not need to tip on a cruise?

As we’ve mentioned, tipping beyond the automatically-charged daily gratuities is completely discretionary and up to each individual guest. Now that we’ve gone over some staff members you might want to provide extra tips for, we want to touch on some that, generally, you aren’t expected to tip on board.

While it might seem obvious, you shouldn’t tip the captain or any of the ship’s officers. They are paid well for their work, and aren’t considered a “service” role where tipping is customary.

You also don’t need to tip the cruise director or any of the entertainment staff. They are also paid a good salary that is not dependent upon tips. One potential exception to this rule is the staff members that work in the kids’ clubs. While their job is also more of an entertainment role and they do not depend on tips, it is acceptable to tip exceptional youth staff who took great care of your kids throughout the voyage.

When it comes to spa treatments, an extra tip is not expected as a gratuity (usually around 18 percent) is automatically added to your bill.

In the section above, we mentioned that you might want to tip above the automatic gratuity to bartenders and waitstaff in the specialty restaurants. However, these are roles that can go either way in terms of tipping. Since gratuity is already added, it’s perfectly acceptable to not tip above that. But if a crew member goes out of their way to make your experience special, or they remember your favorite drink every time you come back, it’s always a nice “thank you” to tip them a little something extra.

Do other cruisers tip on a cruise?

In an online poll of regular cruisers, many individuals admitted to providing additional gratuities on a cruise. In fact, more than half reported always leaving additional gratuities (57 percent).

Of course, not all individuals surveyed responded yes. About 14 percent reported never tipping above the cruise ship’s daily gratuities. While another 29 percent said they sometimes leave additional cruise tips.

Among those who did leave additional cruise tips, 97 percent reported giving their stateroom attendant additional funds. 87 percent added additional gratuities for their main dining room waiter. Three out of four indicated leaving additional tips for bar servers.

Cruisers reported giving their waiters an average additional amount between $20 to $50 per couple for a seven-day cruise. Assistant waiters tended to receive about half of this amount.

In this poll, additional tips given to stateroom attendants varied greatly. Individuals reported tipping between $20 to $140 per couple for a seven-night cruise.

So, while the decision to tip on a cruise is up to you, hopefully you have a better sense of what other cruisers typically do during a sailing.

Comments

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