Automatic Gratuities? Not on My Next Cruise.

I have a Royal Caribbean cruise planned, paid for, and waiting for me.

On Thursday, October 29, 2026, I’ll board Radiance of the Seas in Tampa. Then it’s a day at sea, a stop in Cozumel, Mexico, another glorious day at sea, and back to Tampa on Monday, November 2.

I love cruising. I love being on the water. I love eating an irresponsible amount of bacon. And I absolutely love people watching.

Put me on a ship with the ocean, bacon, Coke Zero, and a few thousand strangers making questionable vacation decisions, and I'm entertained.

But lately, I've been watching a lot of cruise videos about one surprisingly polarizing subject:

Automatic gratuities.

And I think I've changed my mind about them.

What Exactly Is a Gratuity?

If you haven't cruised before, you pay a cruise fare that includes your cabin, most meals, some beverages, entertainment, and plenty of other things.

Of course, there are upcharges. Want a specialty restaurant? Pay extra. Want a fancy coffee? Pay extra. Want alcohol? Definitely pay extra.

Then there are gratuities.

On my first Royal Caribbean cruise, tipping worked very differently.

Toward the end of the cruise, we were given envelopes. The daily newsletter provided guidance on suggested tip amounts, and passengers put cash into the envelopes and personally handed them to the people who had provided service during the cruise.

Your room attendant.

Your waiter.

Assistant waiter.

Maitre d'.

It was direct. Someone provided you with great service, and you tipped them.

At some point, that system largely disappeared, and automatic gratuities became the norm.

Buy a drink at a bar or by the pool, and an 18% gratuity is already added to the price. You can add even more if you'd like.

Then there's the separate daily automatic gratuity charged to passengers.

The explanation makes some sense: the money isn't just for the employees you see. It's also distributed to people working behind the scenes who contribute to your vacation.

Laundry.

Maintenance.

Food preparation.

Other crew members you may never meet.

These people absolutely contribute to the cruise experience.

But there's one word I keep coming back to:

Gratuity.

I asked The Google for a definition, and it gave me this:

A gratuity is an extra amount of money given to a person who provides a service.

Extra

.

That word matters.

A Video Changed My Thinking

I recently watched a video from an avid cruiser who said he was going to stop adding automatic gratuities.

My initial reaction was basically, Ehhhhhh...

I've actually defended automatic gratuities before.

My normal practice has been to leave the automatic gratuities in place and then tip additional cash to crew members who provide me with great service.

That includes room attendants, servers, bartenders, and even crew members working in the buffet.

If someone takes care of me, I believe in taking care of them.

I'm not looking for an excuse to save a few bucks at the expense of the people working incredibly hard on a cruise ship.

But the cruiser in the video made a point that stuck with me:

Why is it the passenger's responsibility to supplement the compensation of back-of-house employees through something called a gratuity?

And that's where my thinking changed.

Pay Your Employees

If a cruise line needs a certain amount of money per passenger to properly compensate laundry workers, maintenance employees, kitchen staff and other behind-the-scenes crew members, then build that amount into the cruise fare.

Charge me what it actually costs.

Be transparent.

If the cruise needs to cost another $100, $150, or $200 for the company to compensate its employees properly, please include it in the advertised price.

I can then decide whether that cruise is worth that price.

What concerns me is treating what is traditionally understood as a service tip as part of the company's labor cost structure.

I have absolutely no problem with a company making a profit.

Royal Caribbean is a business, not a floating nonprofit with a waterslide.

Make money.

Make lots of money.

Build another gigantic ship with 47 restaurants, 19 pools, and a zip line directly through a Starbucks for all I care.

It's how the money is collected that I'm questioning.

If the automatic gratuity is necessary to compensate employees properly, is it really a gratuity anymore?

Or is it simply part of the cruise fare with a different name?

So I'm Trying Something Different

When I board Radiance of the Seas on October 29, I'm changing my normal routine.

At some point during the cruise, I'm going to go to Guest Services, stand in line—not in line, because I am a New Yorker—and ask to have the automatic gratuities removed.

But I'm not going to stop tipping.

Quite the opposite.

I'm going to bring a bunch of cash.

When someone provides great service, I'm going to tip them directly.

Room attendant? Cash.

Great waiter? Cash.

Bartender? Cash.

Someone at the buffet goes out of their way to help me? Cash.

If you're taking care of me while I'm wandering around a ship eating bacon and staring at the ocean, I want you to know that I appreciated what you did.

The people working behind the scenes deserve to be compensated fairly, too.

I believe their employer should be responsible for making sure that happens.

Maybe It's Time for More Passengers to Question It

I'm curious what other cruisers think about this because I've discovered this topic can get surprisingly heated.

Some passengers consider removing automatic gratuities practically a declaration of war against the crew.

Others argue that cruise lines have successfully shifted responsibility for employee compensation onto passengers while continuing to advertise lower base fares.

I'm moving toward the second camp.

I'll gladly tip.

I'll gladly reward great service.

I'll probably tip more than I would have otherwise.

But I'd rather put the money directly into the hands of the people who made my vacation better and tell them:

Thank you.

And if the cruise line needs additional funds to compensate everyone else properly?

Put it in my fare.

Tell me what the cruise actually costs.

Then let a gratuity actually be a gratuity.

Now I need October 29 to get here.

There is an ocean, a cruise ship, and an unreasonable quantity of bacon waiting for me.