How An Experienced Cruiser Handles Tipping On Royal Caribbean

Having sailed nearly 30 Royal Caribbean cruises since 2019, I can comfortably say that I've never seen a crew member not treat a customer well. I have, however, seen bartenders start making a drink for a passenger based on the barest of eye contact and have experienced waiters seeking me out when I'm working in a public place just to see if I need anything.

It's important to note that Royal Caribbean (RCL) - Get Free Report charges daily gratuities to every passenger. Those mandatory tips – $16 per person, per day in regular rooms and $18.50 per person, per day for suite guests – go to main dining room waiters and support staff, your room attendant, and other people you may not see who provide customer-facing service.

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Technically, the "mandatory" tips can be canceled or lessened. Some people do that in order to directly tip the people taking care of them. The problem with that is that the mandatory tips also cover people you don't see who are working on your behalf and taking them away penalizes those people.

In addition, when you buy a drink, a drink package, or specialty dining, the cruise line adds on 18% in gratuities. Technically, you don't have to pay anything on top of that, but I have found that if you do, service goes from good to personal and spectacular.

Here's how I tip on a Royal Caribbean cruise

On my most recent cruise, a July 2-9 trip from Venice (Raveena) that stopped in Split, Croatia, Athens, and two other Greek islands, I was sailing to visit my friend Sam Enseque who works as a pub guitarist on the cruise line.

It's important to note that when you're visiting a crew member, your tipping (or lack of it) may reflect on your friend. I'm always generous, but do tip better when I'm on a ship specifically to visit a crew member friend.

Generally, I pick two venues, plus the casino where I will be a regular. Usually, that means the bar at the Solarium, the adult pool. Because I don't usually have cash or my wallet with me at the pool, I tipped the bartender $20 on my first drink. That was higher than usual, but he was friendly and it proved to be a good choice as I never waited for a drink at that bar for the rest of the week.

I spent my nights at the Pub, where my buddy was playing, so I tipped on nearly every drink. It might be $1, it might be $5, but I was being generous because these were the people working alongside my friend (and I tipped $20s when my luck was good in the casino). On a normal trip, I'd usually tip $1 per drink or a $20 bill early in the evening.

The Pub staff was friendly, always made sure nobody took my seat if I had to go to the bathroom, and delivered a bottle of water with every drink. They also came over earlier in the day when I was writing near the coffee shop to see if I needed anything (which is well outside their job description).

Normally, I tip $1 per drink in the casino -- which ensures quick service on busy nights -- but on this trip, I was having a lot of luck, so my tips were bigger. Casino bars can get busy on Royal Caribbean ships. That wasn't the case on this trip, but on most sailings, being a known customer to the casino bar crew can get you taken care of much faster.

Where else did I tip on Explorer of the Seas?    

I added a $10 tip each night to my bill in each specialty restaurant we ate in. I had booked the "Ultimate Dining" package, which includes an 18% gratuity, but tipped above that because we lingered over our meals and probably took longer than most customers.

In addition, Explorer of the Seas only has three specialty restaurants, so in a week we ate at each one more than once. Service was exceptional, and I generally do tip something extra in a specialty restaurant each night while if I eat in the Main Dining Room with the same waitstaff each night, I'll tip (maybe $20 as I usually only eat in the MDR for 2-3 nights each trip) on the last night I dine there.

I also tipped the attendant in the Diamond Lounge (for higher-tier loyalty program members) $20 because he helped me change reservations one night and left my room steward (who actually changed mid-way through my trip) a $20 bill as well.

Tipping isn't required, but it's appreciated and regular tippers will get better service especially when a venue is crowded. As someone who gambles on cruise ships, some of my tipping reflects my luck in the casino. If I'm up, then a $1 tip might become a $5 tip, and a big win might make that $20.

On this trip, I also got to leave my favorite kind of tip, the one you give the casino attendant after a hand pay. When you win more than $1,200 on a slot machine, the machine freezes as someone has to come and take your license in order to give you an IRS form to pay taxes on the win.

In this case, I was lucky enough to have a win that exceeded that threshold and a casino employee quickly came to get my info. Once that was collected, I was handed my tax form, along with a little over $1,600 so I tipped that person $20, which seems to be customary (albeit not everyone follows customs and some might be more generous than I was.)