The Truth About Cunard Gratuities (By Real Cunard Cruisers)

On Cunard, gratuities are service charges that are added to your onboard account to reward the crew who look after you during the voyage. This includes visible staff like waiters and cabin stewards, but also a large number of crew working behind the scenes in galleys, housekeeping, laundry and service support roles. This normally appears on your onboard account on day 1 of your cruise and is listed as “Service Charge”.

One thing we appreciate about Cunard is transparency: every dollar of the gratuity goes to the crew in these departments. There’s no admin fee or company cut taken out.

Gratuities are the same across Cunard’s entire fleet — Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Anne, but the daily amount does depend on the type of accommodation you’re staying in.

There are two separate gratuity charges to be aware of:

• Daily hotel and dining gratuities, charged per person, per night
• Service charges on drinks and spa treatments are charged per purchase

Casino staff are not included in the automatic gratuity system, as not all guests use those services.

You can keep track of all gratuities and spending using Cunard’s free onboard WiFi, which lets you view your account at any time from the comfort of your stateroom or suite, which is something we always recommend doing regularly throughout your cruise, just to stay on top of things.

Based on our recent sailings and Cunard’s published rates, gratuities currently work out as follows:

• $17 per person, per night for guests in Britannia staterooms
• $19 per person, per night for guests in Grill Suites

These charges apply to both adults and children.

On top of this, a 15% service charge is automatically added to:

• Bar and wine purchases
• Spa and salon treatments

Compared with many other premium cruise lines we’ve sailed with, Cunard’s gratuities feel fairly reasonable, and they are certainly not the highest in the industry.

This is where things sometimes cause confusion with some guests.

Drinks and spa services charged at 15% are compulsory and cannot be removed.

Daily hotel and dining gratuities are recommended, but they can be adjusted or removed if you choose.

The daily charge appears automatically on your onboard account, normally as a single charge for the whole cruise on day one of your voyage.

While Cunard allows flexibility, we’ve always felt the system works well when left in place, especially knowing how many crew members rely on this shared pool, not just the ones we interact with directly daily.

If you wish to remove or adjust them, you’ll need to visit Guest Services during the cruise. The staff there can do this for you quickly and discreetly.

That said, from our own perspective, we wouldn’t recommend removing gratuities unless there’s been a genuine service issue. While it’s easy to focus on your waiter or cabin steward, there is a huge number of crew members you’ll never meet who rely on these charges. This includes teams in the kitchen, laundry, housekeeping and support staff.

If something genuinely hasn’t been right, speaking to Guest Services gives Cunard a chance to resolve it properly, rather than penalising the entire service team.

Whether or not to tip extra on top of Cunard’s standard gratuities really comes down to personal choice.

Each Cunard stateroom has a dedicated steward, and in our experience, they usually introduce themselves on embarkation day and quietly keep everything running smoothly throughout the voyage. If someone has genuinely made our cruise more enjoyable, we’re always happy to tip them personally at the end of our cruise.

Many guests choose to leave a cash tip for their cabin steward on the final morning, often in an envelope (which Guest Services can provide). Others prefer to thank them in person, normally on the last evening.

The same goes for dining staff. If you’re dining in the main restaurant or the Grills, you’ll often see the same waiters and dining team throughout the cruise, especially if you’re on fixed dining. Familiar faces, friendly service and attention to detail often make a big difference, and many guests like to recognise that individually.

Unlike some cruise lines, Cunard doesn’t allow gratuities to be prepaid directly before sailing.

However, you can pre-purchase onboard spending money (aka OBC – On Board Credit), or use any  other OBC you may have received when booking your cruise, or OBC from being a Carnival shareholder, all of which can then be used towards:

• Daily hotel and dining gratuities
• Bar and wine charges
• Spa and salon services

We often do this ourselves, as it spreads the cost and makes the final bill feel much lighter at the end of the cruise.

You can manage OBC’s through your My Cunard account before you sail.

On certain sailings, particularly world cruises or long voyages, Cunard sometimes runs promotions that include complimentary hotel and dining gratuities.

Other offers may include onboard credit, which can be used to offset gratuity charges entirely or in part.

If you’re booking a longer or premium Cunard voyage, it’s always worth checking what’s included, as these promotions can add up to a significant saving. Some travel agents may also offer Included Gratuities as an incentive to book.

Gratuities tend to divide opinion, and we completely understand why. Tipping culture varies hugely around the world, and for many British travellers in particular, paying a daily service charge can feel unfamiliar, especially when you start adding up the total over a longer cruise.

From our own time sailing with Cunard, we’ve found that knowing exactly how the gratuity system works makes all the difference. Once you understand what’s charged, when it’s charged, and who benefits, it stops being a worry and simply becomes part of the overall cruise cost.

We’ve always felt that Cunard’s approach is fairly balanced. The daily gratuities help support a large team of crew members, many of whom work quietly behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly. While everyone will have their own view on tipping, we’re generally comfortable leaving the standard charges in place, knowing they contribute to the level of service we’ve come to expect on Cunard.

That said, the flexibility is there if you need it, and it’s good to know your options. The most important thing is going into your cruise informed, so there are no surprises when you check your account towards the end of the voyage.

Once that’s taken care of, you can focus on what really matters: enjoying life onboard, being looked after by a brilliant crew, and settling into the relaxed, elegant pace that keeps drawing us back to Cunard time and time again.