Tipping on a river cruise

If you give in to the Cruise lines you are only perpetuating the low wages and forcing crews to rely on tips.
Married to a man who designed and built ships, we never ever go on cruises,.

Just as an example Celebrity, the very large company that owns most of the cruise lines made £40 billion in profits last year. Just one billion of which would have paid their staff a reasonable wage. But no. Those profits went straight into the pockets of the owners and shareholders. Time to hold these companies to account. Paying twice, as those who pay for their cruise and the 'suggested' tips are simply propping up this cynical system. They are taking advantage of the kind hearts of paying passengers and the desperation of poorly paid crew.
Several cruise lines now do not suggest tipping at all.

In an ideal world Jane10 but how do you ensure this? As far as some countries are concerned tips are the norm! And as said previously in some countries people work entirely on tips!

How do you ensure this doesn't happen? What companies do you know that insist you don't tip their employees? I am genuinely interested because I haven't met anyone yet who says..don't tip...but then again I haven't been on a cruise so am interested to know IF there are certain lines who forbid tips? TBH...I would be first on it!

Totally agree Jane10

Sigh. My point is that if we tip then we are encouraging companies to underpay their staff. I'd rather travel with companies that give their staff a proper wage and don't leave them having to suck up to guests for extra cash. By tipping we're only adding to the big cruise companies profits because they can sit back pay poor wages and leave it to us suckers to pay twice - once for the trip then pay again to the staff. Just wrong.

I agree with Maggiemaybe that the staff on these cruises are probably quite badly paid.

If people don't want to give tips, then they should book with cruise operators who specifically say that no tips are required.

People who routinely take cruises (and many do) obviously are quite comfortably off. They would go down in my estimation too if I knew they were unwilling to pay tips to hard working staff.

Sarahmob I appreciate that you have both saved hard for this special cruise and my previous remarks are not meant for you. I hope you have a lovely time.

Hi Sarahmob... so glad you enjoyed your cruise. Tipping is always a much brought up topic! Generally speaking we Brits only tip when we get exceptional service BUT there are certain countries where tips are expected because they form part of the pay (US for example).

My mantra is little but often which was advised to do by an American friend! Something I have stuck to and it seems to work! No matter where we have been, we tip on the first day, drip feed and like the proverbial carrot and donkey...we never fail to get exceptional treatment! Of COURSE , it isn't compulsory in the majority of places BUT if it gets you what you want for little money, then why not?

Doesn't mean you get especially bad treatment if you don't tip btw but people being people, they gel towards those who do tip! Done it myself working in a bar!

I tip on river cruises. The waiters come from poor countries.

I bet they do! We've often been told to tip at certain places by guides.

On a coach trip to Europe I got talking to a fellow passenger who worked in the office of a touring coach company. She told me that at Christmas time they were inundated with presents for their drivers, from grateful shop owners, bars, hotels, bistros, anywhere the drivers recommended their passengers visit or spend their money.

Just back from our cruise, having had an amazing time so here’s an update - we decided to tip, having received service above and beyond what was expected. Didn’t begrudge it at all ?

Maggiemaybe you pays your money you takes your chances as they say. I prefer to stay at home and save up for longer. Not sneering just different.

Not river cruises, but a well known world-wide tour operator always make “helpful”? suggestions as to how much to tip their tour managers, local guides, drivers etc. We always tip what we think they are worth, and how well they have done their job.

That in answer to Jane10.

Really? Well perhaps your own financial situation is such that you can sneer at those of us who can’t afford a luxury liner.

CMV, Columbus, from Newcastle. Dundee, Warnemunde, Aarhus, Tallinn, 2 days in St Petersburg, Copenhagen, Helsinki. And it was a fabulous holiday, thank you for asking.

For those who would enjoy it, there’ll be buy one get one free offers available now for next year’s departures. If you book last minute, as we did, you’ll get it for half price as we did.

Maggiemaybe generally, river cruises are much more expensive than ocean ones, as the scale is so much smaller

£800 for a 15 day cruise? Blimey it must have been either a massive vessel or a very elderly one. To be honest, I'd be so suspicious of such an inexpensive cruise that I'd most likely avoid it. Who was it with?

And as I said, if tips were included and the crew were paid better we’d just pay more for the holiday in the first place, wouldn’t we?

Perhaps river cruises are different then. We’ve just been on a 15 day Baltic cruise for £800 each, which I do consider relatively cheap for what’s included compared to a touring holiday. There are always deals if you buy early or late. Nothing whatsoever to do with my financial position - why would it be?

We left the envelope empty and simply gave our leftover Euros to our favourite waiter after our river cruise.
I agree with Jane10 that the crew should have a decent wage and any tips just a thank you for excellent service.

I certainly don't think river cruises are 'relatively' cheap! I think cruise lines are just 'at it!'. Pay staff appropriately and charge customers accordingly.
On our last river cruise, envelopes were left in our cabin and a large trunk in the entrance was placed for people to post their envelopes.
Americans on the trip all expected to pay tips, the Australians were very cross at being asked and the Brits quietly made their own decisions. Different cultural expectations.
On our most recent ocean cruise tips were included as were all excursions and drinks. It was very nice to have nothing more to pay.

Thanks for all your thoughts - I guess ‘relatively cheap’ is relative in terms of a personal financial position Maggiemaybe as I don’t feel that our cruise has been particularly cheap, as I said in OP we’ve saved for ages to be able to go. Have decided that I’ll go prepared to tip something, but may not follow their guidelines in the amount we choose to give.

TUI formerly Thomsons have started river cruises and the say tips are included in the price .I would not like to have tips added to my bill but would tip those I thought had done a good job. This had always been the way to get the wages up to a decent amount.

I’m going against the flow here. When you book a cruise you know that there’s normally an expected tip at the end. That’s why they’re relatively cheap upfront. The ship’s crew are usually very badly paid and work long, hard hours, often not seeing their families for months. Yes, we can say that’s the fault of the cruise companies, but that doesn’t alter the fact that those helpful, friendly workers are the ones losing out. Not just the people you see either, but the ones beavering away in the kitchen, the laundry, the engine room.

We’ve just been on a cruise and some of the lovely (and very well off) people we met went down in our estimation when we saw them queuing on the last day to have the tips taken off their bill.

I find this system really annoying. One should tip only in cases of exceptional service when someone goes over and above their role. The staff/crew are being paid for their work and should not expect more. As always when this subject comes up I find it frustrating that people in certain jobs expect to be tipped as a matter of course whilst others never get considered for a tip.
Having said that I agree with NainFron that you should not let this spoil a great holiday, pay as required and put it down to experience. Hope you have a wonderful time.