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13 cruise lines

Cruise Gratuities Compared

What each cruise line charges per day in automatic gratuities, the bar service charge on top, and whether you can prepay or remove them. Every major line, verified against official sources.

Daily gratuity by cruise line

Cheapest first
Cruise lineStandard / daySuite / dayBar charge
OceaniaIncludedSame20%
RegentIncludedSameIncluded
Disney$16$27.2518%
Carnival$17$1920%
MSC$17$2318%
Cunard$18$1918%
Holland America$18$2020%
Princess$18$2020%
Royal Caribbean$18.50$2118%
Celebrity$19.50$24.5020%
Norwegian$20$2520%
Viking$20SameNot published
Virgin$22SameNone

Rates are per guest, per day, for 2026 sailings. Suite column shows the higher rate only where a line charges suites more. MSC's daily rates are for Caribbean, Alaska, and US sailings, and its 18% bar charge is for North America itineraries. Confirm current figures with the line before sailing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much are cruise gratuities per day in 2026?
Across the major lines, the daily auto-gratuity for a standard stateroom runs from $16 to $22 per guest per day. Suites and higher categories pay more on most lines. A family of four on a 7-night cruise typically pays $450 to $620 in gratuities alone.
Can you remove gratuities on a cruise?
On most lines you can adjust or remove the daily gratuity at Guest Services before you settle your account at the end of the cruise. MSC does not let you change the daily rate, but you can ask the Guest Relations Manager on board to remove it if you are not satisfied with the service. Prepaid gratuities are generally nonrefundable once the cruise is over.
Do cruise lines add gratuity to drinks?
Yes. Most lines add an automatic service charge to bar and beverage purchases, from 15% to 20% depending on the line and itinerary, separate from the daily gratuity. It is usually already built into drink-package prices.
Are gratuities included in the cruise fare?
Usually no. Daily gratuities are a separate charge on nearly every mainstream line, even on "all-inclusive" style fares like Celebrity All Included, which stopped bundling daily staff gratuities in 2023. Some promotional fares and packages prepay them, so check what your specific fare includes. Oceania and Regent are the exceptions: gratuities are included in every fare.

Related tools

Sources

The gratuity rates on this page were verified against the following pages. See our research methodology for how we vet and update data.

If a figure looks wrong, email hello@vient.org, see how we handle corrections, or browse past fixes in our public changelog.