
Tipping On MSC?
One of the biggest questions people always ask about a cruise vacation is regarding tipping. Who, how, how much? Tipping on MSC can be even more confusing.
“What’s all this tipping stuff?”, “do I have to pay it”, and “what is it for”.
It can be a bit of a minefield, because people look at it from a cultural perspective of what tipping is where they live, and don’t tend to think too much about the situation of where they are going.
There is a massive cultural difference in what North Americans, or Europeans or Asians think of tips, so the best thing we can do is to actually STOP thinking of this charge as a TIP, because it isn’t a tip.
The most basic ways to think about “Tips” or “Gratuities” on a cruise ship is to remember that when the cruise line talk about this, what they actually mean is “Hotel Service Charges”, in other words the staff’s actual wages. It is not “extra” money for looking after you particularly well, it is their wages for being a waiter or a cleaner or a bar steward. This service charge goes towards the wages of all the staff (including the ones you don’t see e.g. laundry, kitchen staff). Why don’t they just include it in the cost of the trip – well, a lot of them do. But not all of them! So, this is where you need to check.
Coming from the UK, the “hotel service charge” is added to the cost of our MSC cruise as part of the cost of the booking, so we do not get sticker shock. Lots of other companies like P&O also do this, so basically the price you see it the price you pay. But not all of them do this. Notable exceptions are Royal Caribbean and NCL who will sell you a vacation at a price of $$$$, and then will ask you how you wish to pay your service charge which could be $15-$20 per person per day (quite a lot extra on a 2 week holiday for 4 people. I think the American companies like to keep the service charge separate for 2 reasons. The first to make the price look more appealing at first glance, and the second something to do with the dark arts of the IRS.
If you book a Royal Caribbean cruise, you will have to pay service charges as an extra charge. If you book princess or NCL, again the service charge will be an extra charge. With MSC, it may be rolled in, it may not be – dependent on where the ship is leaving from and where it is going. As is usual with MSC there are always variables, so you need to check.
Another variable is MSC often have promotions whereby the service charge is included for trips that it wouldn’t normally be. So again, something to check.
But please if you have to pay your service charge as an add-on, do not ask can you have your service charge refunded. Remember this is their pay. If service is poor, it is highly unlikely to be the servers fault. I can only think of one time when service in a dining room was particularly poor, and when we watched our server to see why this was it quickly became apparent that he was doing the job of 3 people. Would docking his wages for something out of his control improve anything?
If the food is poor, again that is not your servers fault. Take that up with the Maitre D. If your room isn’t clean enough for you, speak up and have them do it again.
A real “tip” in my opinion is discretionary and is nothing to do with wages. It’s extra money given to a person who has gone above and beyond, and it is entirely up to yourself if you want to give somebody a bit of extra cash because their actions have enhanced your trip in some way. MSC discourage this, but this is between you and your budget! I have never had a tip refused, but I am always very discreet when handing it over.
I personally find the whole subject of “tipping” very boring, and will always choose to pay these upfront and then I can just forget about it – except for giving out what I see as a bit extra to those who have done “extra”. I would never feel right leaving a ship without giving the room steward something extra…as long as they’ve done their job 😁
Want the best service at a bar on MSC, tip cash early on your cruise and the staff will always look out for you!
Remember there may be extra charges on top of drinks, on speciality dining, on spas…. It goes on.
I follow a lovely girl on you tube called Emma Cruises. She goes into tipping in a whole lot more detail than I would ever want to. You can find her at emmacruises.com where there is a really helpful article on this.
Happy cruising!