Carnival Cruise Line Clarifies Which Crew Members Share Tips

Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, posted on his Facebook page today about which crew members share gratuities.

Tipping is one of the most controversial topics when it comes to cruising. Many cruisers believe it should just be included in the price of a cruise and not optional. By optional, it means that they can be removed onboard stiffing the hard working crew.

Gratuities are added daily to onboard accounts and are split between different crew members who serve and take care of you during your cruise.

Carnival just announced that they are raising gratuities in early April and a Carnival cruiser asked Heald about a recent video that was posted online, by an unnamed cruise blogger, about crew members sharing pooled gratuities.

Heald stated that there are three times where crew members share do gratuities. They are:

• Tips to bartenders from drink packages (CHEERS!, Bottomless bubbles, etc.)
• Youth staff
• Specialty dining servers

All other gratuities that Carnival cruisers pay are not part of a shared pool system.

This includes room stewards, dining room teams, lido workers, and some behind the scenes crew members that make your cruise vacation possible. The majority of it goes to room stewards and dining staff.

Heald also noted that any cash that you give to a crew member is not pooled and they keep 100% of it.