Cruise ship worker warns all passengers ‘don’t do this’ – or risk crew’s fury

A expert has warned passengers that one money-saving move is seen as a “slap in the face” for hard-working crew members.

Lucy Southerton spent almost a decade working on cruise ships, starting her career as a massage therapist as a teenager. But over the years she noticed some things that passengers do that grind the gears of the crew.

One in particular, she says, is removing the gratuities from their bill. While it might make cruisers feel like a savvy saver, Lucy says it cuts into the wage of the people who work onboard the ship.

Speaking on her Cruising as Crew YouTube channel, Lucy said: “Now a lot of people think that gratuities are additional to a crew member’s wage, as in the crew member gets a nice wage and the gratuities are something extra. But unfortunately, they’re not, the gratuities make up the crew member’s basic wage.

“The reason that cruise lines get you to add gratuities on at the end to make up the crew member’s wage is so that they can advertise cruises for less. You pay less for the cruise, which means you are more likely to come on and cruise.

“If the cruise lines upped the crew members’ wages to what they should be, cruising would be a lot more expensive. So it is really not okay to remove gratuities, like a really s*** move if you do that because this person has worked really hard for you all week, if they’re your housekeeper especially and you’re basically slapping them in the face if you remove gratuities.”

Lucy went on to explain that anyone wanting to show extra appreciation for the crew should add a little bit more on top of the gratuities. She advises people to consider factoring this into the budget before arriving on holiday.

Cruise passengers can expect to pay around £15 a day per passenger for gratuities, something which can quickly add up. But Lucy believes it is “morally” correct for holidaymakers to pay the charges.

Fellow cruise expert Gary Bembridge has spent years touring the world on ships. He says the gratuities used to be cash tips given directly to crew members, but have over the years become something cruise lines expect passengers to pay.

In a 2022 video on his Tips for Travellers channel, he explained: “Lines are giving up any pretense that gratuities are either voluntary or for added good service. When I first started cruising gratuities were just that, we all gave cash tips to crew we felt did an amazing job.

“We all assumed crew in every department were getting a fair wage and these were a bonus for passenger-facing crew. The lines eventually argued when autogratuities were introduced that it was a much fairer way to go as a pool of money would then be split and cascaded to all departments who had made my trip would benefit.”

Gary also believes gratuities are now used as a way to “entice” people into booking a cruise by advertising lower fares. He says he now likes to budget for “basic gratuities” and takes cash to tip crew members who go “above and beyond” to make his cruise “special”.