It’s a great time to be a fan of cruising, especially with Disney.
Disney Cruise Line has lofty plans to expand its fleet in a major way — plans that are already being put into action with the announcement of several new ships on the horizon. More and more people are planning Disney Cruises, and in an ever-changing industry, Disney has made an update to its gratuity pricing onboard its ships.
Disney Cruise Line has made an update to its automatic gratuity pricing onboard its ships for some passengers.
The Disney Cruise Line website states, It is customary to give gratuities in recognition of exceptional service, which you’ll receive in abundance aboard the ship. We recommend a gratuity amount of $14.50 USD per night, per stateroom guest, including infants and children.” This amount has not changed.
What has changed, though, is the gratuity amount for passengers staying in Concierge Staterooms or Suites. According to Disney, “Guests staying in Concierge Staterooms and Suites are recommended a gratuity amount of $23.50 USD per night, per stateroom guest. This includes gratuity for the assistant stateroom host, who services the Concierge accommodations, and the Concierge Lounge team” along with passengers dining room server, assistant server, head server, and stateroom host.
For comparison, the previous Concierge Stateroom and Suite daily recommended gratuity was $15.50 per night, per stateroom guest — much closer to the standard price of $14.50 per night.
Keep in mind that daily gratuity is not required on Disney Cruises, but it is automatically applied and passengers who wish to remove or lower the amount typically need to visit guest services to do so, often resulting in waiting in long lines. Gratuities can only be adjusted for a passenger’s dining room server, dining room assistant server, dining room head server, and stateroom host.
Disney Cruise Line also allows guests to pre-pay gratuities before ever setting sail, which can take some of the pressure off by the time you’re ready to set sail. If you choose not to pre-pay, your gratuities will automatically be charged to your onboard account at the suggested rates.
As a reminder, pre-paid optional gratuities do not include the following::
- Extras added to rotational dining meals such as alcoholic beverages
- Adult dining locations such as Remy, Palo, Palo Steakhouse and Enchanté by Chef Arnaud Lallement, which are not part of rotational dining
- Food or drink in shops and outdoor or poolside eateries
- Room service
- Port Adventures
- Senses Spa & Salon
- Any other additional services
We’ll continue to keep an eye out for the latest updates from Disney Cruise Line and more. For the latest Disney news, make sure you stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog so you don’t miss a thing!
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Have you been on a Disney Cruise? Tell us in the comments.
Coral Schober says
These gratuity rates are NOT our of line! When we took our cruise to Alaska on another cruise line, their rates were right in line with the new rates that Disney is listing. We tipped more to our room steward and to the Special in-room dinner service personnel, as well as tipped additional to our waiters and service staff when ordering things that were not included in our cruise pricing! If you get great service, you should pay for that service! I was a bartender and server locally where I live and made a good living at it because of the service I provided my customers!
Kevin says
I never do pre pay on the gratuities… I always take money and pay them at the end of the cruise because I would rather pay for the service that I get, and not pay and hope that I get good service. I’ve been on a lot of Disney Cruises and there are times the service in some areas isn’t as good as it was on previous cruises, and a couple of times they were including tipping people I never had any contact with or did anything for me, as compared to that person helping someone else.