tipping

[Palm6741]

we are cruising out of Sydney for the 1st time going to New Zealand we have questions about the tipping policy in this part of the world we have been informed that the locals do not tip and in fact take the mandatory tips off of the bill

we have always tipped extra for good room and wait staff  

we were told by our vacation planner that princess takes $1.00 from the $13.50 charged fleet wide to subsidize the crew on these itineraries if this is true then in fact I have been tipping these routes for a long time and should I do as the locals and just give the extra any help in this would be appreciated

thanl you  

[GUT2407]

In Australia now, if you book in Australia and are an Australian there is no mandatory tips onboard. (Some say we pay more in the first place, but given the constant changes in pricing exchange rates etc, it’s hard to know for sure)

 

i take it you are from OS, so I’m pretty sure they still add the auto grats.

 

we do tip staff that make our cruise a little better. On land rarely tip at all, I’m sure no one will say no yto your money.

[SinbadThePorter]

2 hours ago, Palm6741 said:

we are cruising out of Sydney for the 1st time going to New Zealand we have questions about the tipping policy in this part of the world we have been informed that the locals do not tip and in fact take the mandatory tips off of the bill

we have always tipped extra for good room and wait staff  

we were told by our vacation planner that princess takes $1.00 from the $13.50 charged fleet wide to subsidize the crew on these itineraries if this is true then in fact I have been tipping these routes for a long time and should I do as the locals and just give the extra any help in this would be appreciated

thanl you  

 

Almost nobody knows what truly happens with either mandatory or voluntary tips, but I would say that your vacation planner's story is the least likely of all.

 

The non-tipping cruise fare originated with P&O Australia, who do virtually no cruising outside of the Oz and NZ regions, aside from the occasional trip to Singapore and back. So I don't see how they could be subsidised by anything. The same would go for Princess and Carnival in Australia who followed suit. The non-tipping fare is only available for cruises bought in Oz/NZ on Oz/NZ routes. Given the respective sizes of the overseas and Oz/NZ cruise industries, $1.00 from every $13.50 would make Australian cruise staff the best paid in the world by a large margin. They aren't.

 

So no, you haven't been paying our tips while cruising overseas. We pay them in our fares.

 

Away from the ship, tipping is not part of Oz/NZ culture. Although if enough people introduce the practice from overseas, then I'm sure that eventually it will become so.

[sewgood]

When in New Zealand I don't generally tip on land the exception being in Akaroa.

There is a free bus they run around the town and I always put a few dollars in the bucket to help with the fuel and running costs.

[Russell21]

We always tip the room steward/s a little to start and bigger at the end, waiter and assistant waiter at the end, one or two favourite bar tenders at the start and near the end, for some reason we get very good drinks and very good service. 

[joybook]

The comment made about non-tipping being only available on Princess OZ/NZ routes is not correct. We have done three Princess cruises round trip from Sydney which did not include any NZ ports and the non-tipping aspect was in play. These were not short cruises - all three were in excess of 10 days.

[Aus Traveller]

1 hour ago, joybook said:

The comment made about non-tipping being only available on Princess OZ/NZ routes is not correct. We have done three Princess cruises round trip from Sydney which did not include any NZ ports and the non-tipping aspect was in play. These were not short cruises - all three were in excess of 10 days.

I don't think the previous poster meant that the "non-tipping" only applies on cruises OZ/NZ routes. This policy applies on Australian-based cruises (leaving from Aust and returning to Aust), even on Princess' Around the World cruise. Passengers who book outside Aust/NZ will have the auto-gratuities added to their on-board account. The service staff on Australian-based cruises are paid at a much higher rate than on cruises in the rest of the world.

[SinbadThePorter]

2 hours ago, joybook said:

The comment made about non-tipping being only available on Princess OZ/NZ routes is not correct. We have done three Princess cruises round trip from Sydney which did not include any NZ ports and the non-tipping aspect was in play. These were not short cruises - all three were in excess of 10 days.

 

Oz/NZ means Australia and/or New Zealand.

 

As far as I know, for those cruise companies that do so, the same rules that apply in Australia apply in NZ.