Royal Caribbean adds a daily gratuity to your onboard account, and there are two rates depending on your cabin. It is charged automatically unless you have already paid it, so it turns up on the bill whether or not you were expecting it.
This guide sets out both rates, the 20% added separately to drinks, dining and the spa, and what to do if you want to change the amount. Everything here is charged in US dollars, so the cost in pounds moves with the exchange rate.
What You Pay
Royal Caribbean applies the gratuity to your SeaPass account on a daily basis if you did not prepay it when you booked. The rate depends on the kind of cabin you are in, and there are only two.
Royal Caribbean bills the gratuity in US dollars, so what it costs in pounds depends on the rate when your account is settled. Budget with a little headroom instead of converting at today’s rate.
$18.50 for most cabins
This covers every stateroom category apart from suites, so inside, ocean view and balcony cabins all sit at the same rate.
A couple on a seven-night sailing are committing to $259 between them before anything else lands on the account.
$21.00 for suites
Any suite grade pays the higher rate. The gap works out at $2.50 per person per day, which over a week is under $18 each.
It is charged per person, not per cabin. A family of four in a standard cabin is paying $74 a day before anyone has bought a drink.
What Gets Added on Top
The daily charge is not the whole picture. A 20% gratuity is added to most of what you buy on board, from drinks and dining to the spa.
It applies whether you buy ahead or on board, so pre-booking a package does not avoid it.
- 20% on drinks and dining. Beverages and beverage packages, speciality dining and speciality dining packages, room service and the mini bar. Buy a drinks package months in advance and the 20% goes on at that point.
- The same 20% on spa and salon. Treatments and salon services are charged at the same rate, whether booked ahead or on the day.
- None of it is covered by the daily charge. Paying the daily gratuity does not include the 20%. It is added to each purchase separately, and both end up on the same bill.
An advertised drinks package price is not what you pay. The 20% goes on at the point of purchase, so a package listed at $80 a day costs $96. Work that in before deciding whether it pays.
Where the Money Goes
Royal Caribbean pools the gratuities rather than paying them to the individual crew you happen to meet. The money goes towards the pay of dining staff, bar and culinary teams, stateroom attendants and hotel services teams.
That is why the charge is daily and not per service. It covers people you never see as well as the ones who bring your dinner.
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Changing or Removing It
The daily gratuity can be adjusted, and Royal Caribbean is clear that this is at your discretion. You do it in person at the Guest Relations desk on board.
- There is a deadline. You can make the change at any point up to the morning of disembarkation. Once the sailing has ended, it cannot be modified.
- It has to be done on board. This is a Guest Relations desk job, not something you can do through the app or by calling afterwards.
- Prepaid gratuities work differently. If you paid at the time of booking, you have already settled it, so there is nothing sitting on the account to adjust.
Raising it with Guest Relations while you are still on board gives them a chance to put it right, which is usually a better outcome than adjusting the charge on the last morning.
Group Bookings
If you booked as part of a group, the arrangements may not be the ones described above.
Group reservations are handled through the group leader or the travel agent who made the booking, and gratuities can be bundled into what the group agreed. Anyone travelling on a group rate should check there before assuming the standard terms apply.
Prepaying Before You Sail
Gratuities can be paid at the time of booking instead of accruing daily. The amount is the same either way, so this is about cash flow rather than saving money.
Prepaying takes a predictable cost off the onboard account. That matters if you are trying to keep the final bill down. It also fixes the dollar amount on the day you pay. The exchange rate then stops mattering.
Working It Into Your Budget
Gratuities are one of the larger predictable costs of the holiday, and they are easy to miss when budgeting because they never appear in the fare.
Do one sum before you book. Take the daily rate, times the nights, times the people. Then add 20% to anything you already know you will buy. Two people on a week in a balcony cabin with a drinks package are committing to a few hundred dollars before the first day at sea.
Some fares and promotions include gratuities and some do not. What applies to your sailing is on your booking confirmation. Trust that over any general rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
The daily charge is $18.50 per guest per day for standard staterooms and $21.00 per guest per day for suites. It is applied to your SeaPass account each day unless you prepaid at the time of booking.
Yes. Royal Caribbean states that gratuities may be modified at your sole discretion by visiting the Guest Relations desk on board. You need to do it before the morning of disembarkation, because modifications cannot be made once the sailing has ended.
No. A 20% gratuity is added to beverage packages at the point of purchase, on top of the advertised price. The same 20% applies to speciality dining, room service, mini bar, and spa and salon purchases.
Per person. Both the $18.50 and $21.00 rates are charged for every guest in the stateroom, for every day of the sailing.
No, it is charged in US dollars. The cost in sterling depends on the exchange rate applied when your onboard account is settled.
Cabin grade. Suites are charged $21.00 per guest per day and every other stateroom category is charged $18.50.
Not directly. The money is pooled and applied towards the pay of dining, bar and culinary staff, stateroom attendants and hotel services teams across the ship.
The amount is the same either way, so it comes down to whether you would rather settle it upfront or carry it on the onboard account. Prepaying fixes the dollar figure at the time you pay and keeps the final bill smaller.
Daily rate, times nights, times people, plus 20% on any package you have already bought. That single sum is the part of a Royal Caribbean cruise most likely to surprise you on the last morning.
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