Royal Caribbean: ‘Cheap’ Brits are poor tippers

One of the top players in the cruise vacation industry is playing with the idea of modifying its tipping policy because of the reluctance of passengers from Britain to offer gratuities on board their ships.

The company Royal Caribbean International has noticed that British vacationers were far less generous when it came to tipping its employees than their North American counterparts, something the huge cruise entity claims has developed into a significant concern.

Robin Shaw, the company’s vice president and UK managing director, claimed that the disparity between UK and US passengers existed because of the large difference in tipping culture between the two countries.

Mr. Shaw said that the cruise line is presently evaluating its options, adding that gratuities are an important part of the salary for the onboard staff. He also said that when a cruise has a large group of UK vacationers on board, the remuneration pales in comparison to when the ship has large North American contingencies.

The American company has been presented with the issue as it attempts to lure more European guests on its cruises.

Cultural disparities often mean that some guests from parts of the world where there’s no established tipping policy may perceive on board gratuities as a negative point, as it is the case in the UK.

Royal Caribbean is one of the last remaining cruise lines to still offer a more discreet cash in the envelope policy for its vacations contrary to automatically charging gratuities to the passengers’ tab.

Mr Shaw went to explain that it was impossible for the cruise lines to include everything in the price of the vacation as the companies look forward to cash spent onboard as an investment recovery mechanism.