Mainstream Cruise Line
MSC Gratuities
The daily gratuity rate, the bar service charge, and how to prepay or adjust tips on an MSC cruise in 2026, verified against the official policy.
Quick answer
MSC adds $17 per guest per day in automatic gratuities on Caribbean, Alaska, and US sailings, rising to $23 in suites. You can prepay them before you sail, and remove them on board but not change the rate.
Daily gratuity rate
Standard stateroom
$17 per guest / day
Suite
$23 per guest / day
MSC adds a daily Hotel Service Charge per person per night. On Caribbean, Alaska, and US sailings booked from May 11, 2026 it is $17 for standard staterooms and $23 for MSC Yacht Club, for guests 2 and older; children under 2 are not charged. Onboard bar purchases carry an automatic 18% gratuity on North America itineraries and 15% on European, Emirates, South Caribbean, Red Sea, South American, and Far East itineraries.
Bar service charge
18% on drinks
MSC adds 18% automatically to bar and beverage purchases on North America itineraries (15% on most others), on top of the daily gratuity.
Prepaying and adjusting
- Can prepay before sailing
- Yes
- Can adjust or remove on board
- Remove only
Grand Voyages from Europe are charged EUR 12 per night per guest 18 and older, and Grand Voyages from the Americas or South Africa $17. You can ask to add the service charge to the cruise price at booking. The daily rate itself cannot be changed, but you can ask the Guest Relations Manager on board to remove it if you do not receive satisfactory service. Bookings made before May 11, 2026 kept the prior $16 standard / $20 Yacht Club rate.
Frequently asked questions
How much are gratuities on an MSC cruise?
Can I remove or adjust gratuities on MSC?
Can I prepay gratuities on MSC?
Does MSC add a gratuity to drinks?
More on MSC
Gratuities on other cruise lines
Travel data researcher and publisher
Caden Sorenson runs Travel Vient, an independent travel research site built on a verified database of airline baggage rules, airport connection times, cruise line policies, and eSIM plans. He built the verification pipeline behind it: each record is read from the company or government page that publishes it (connection times: OAG data via ExpertFlyer), stored with that source link and the sentence it came from, and re-checked on a schedule. He is a senior staff engineer with 15+ years building software, a Computer Science graduate of Utah State University, and based in Logan, Utah.
Figures link to the source they were read from and show the date last checked; some cite a travel publication or aggregator rather than the company.
Sources
Facts, costs, and travel details in this guide were verified against the following sources. See our research methodology for how we vet and update data.
- MSC: Service charges accessed 2026-10-02
If a figure looks wrong, email hello@vient.org, see how we handle corrections, or browse past fixes in our public changelog.
Cruise lines change gratuity rates without notice. Confirm with the line before you sail.