If you’ve cruised more than once, you’ve probably seen how gratuities keep turning into a debate. It usually starts with someone posting their onboard bill or venting in a Facebook group — and suddenly everyone has an opinion.
Should gratuities be included? Optional? Removed if service isn’t perfect?
This time, though, the push for change isn’t coming from passengers or bloggers. It’s coming from a former crew member who worked onboard — and he’s started a petition asking cruise lines to include gratuities in the upfront fare, so pricing is clearer for guests and income is more stable for crew.
The Crew Member Behind the Petition
The petition was started by Zlatko Simovski, who spent six years working onboard cruise ships, primarily in guest safety roles such as a lifeguard and pool attendant. Before that, his life looked very different — he grew up in a developing country, worked in construction from a young age, and studied biotechnical sciences alongside his jobs.
Cruising, he says, changed everything for him. It gave him financial stability, global experience, and opportunities he otherwise wouldn’t have had. That’s exactly why he now feels protective of the industry — and concerned about where the gratuities debate is heading.
From his point of view, what started as a pricing quirk has turned into something more uncomfortable: tension between guests and crew, judgement in online spaces, and growing uncertainty for the people who actually rely on that money.
He doesn’t place blame on either side, but says the system itself has become confusing and frustrating for everyone.
How Do Cruise Gratuities Actually Work?
On most mainstream cruise lines, gratuities are charged per person, per day. They’re meant to cover service staff across the ship — not just your cabin steward and waiter, but also laundry teams, galley workers, and cleaning crews you never see.
The exact amount depends on the cruise line and your cabin type, but it’s usually somewhere between about $14 and $20 per person per day, with higher rates for suites.
Most of the time, gratuities are either prepaid when you book your cruise, or they’re added automatically to your onboard account each day and paid at the end.
On many cruise lines, you can technically visit Guest Services and ask for them to be reduced or removed — and that’s where much of the debate and tension around gratuities comes from.
Why This Has Become a Problem
From a guest’s perspective, the frustration is easy to understand.
You see a cruise advertised at one price… then later realise there are daily service charges on top of that. It can feel like a hidden cost, even if it was disclosed somewhere in the fine print. Nobody enjoys surprise charges on vacation.
Zlatko actually agrees with that frustration. He believes passengers aren’t wrong for wanting clearer pricing. His argument is that gratuities are effectively part of the cruise cost anyway — they’re just framed separately, which creates confusion and resentment.
From the crew side, though, the impact is very real.
Some crew members, like cabin attendants and dining staff, are directly tied to a set group of passengers. If several guests remove gratuities, those crew can see meaningful changes in their pay from one contract to the next.
Other roles — like pool staff, cleaners, or laundry teams — are usually paid from a shared gratuities pool, which makes their income more stable but generally lower. That also means they don’t benefit when passengers remove gratuities and tip individual staff in cash instead.
Read more: Carnival Debunks Viral Cruise Gratuity Myth Misleading Thousands Online
The Shift He Wants to See
Zlatko’s petition doesn’t call for gratuities to disappear — it calls for them to be included.
That’s already how many non-American and luxury cruise lines operate. You pay a higher upfront fare, but you don’t see a separate daily charge or feel like you’re making moral or financial decisions every time you look at your onboard account.
His view is that this approach:
- Makes cruise pricing clearer and easier to compare
- Reduces awkwardness and judgement around tipping
- Gives crew more predictable income
He also points out something many people forget: cruise lines are unlikely to make this change alone. If one company raises its headline fare to include gratuities while competitors don’t, it suddenly looks more expensive — even if the total cost is the same.
That’s why his petition calls for cruise lines to move together, rather than individually.
Why Crew Rarely Speak Out Publicly
You might wonder why more crew members don’t talk about this openly.
Zlatko says it’s not because they’re forbidden — it’s because cruise jobs are precious. For many crew from developing countries, working onboard is a lifeline for their families. Speaking out publicly, even about neutral issues, can feel risky when your income supports people back home.
So most stay quiet, even when they feel the system is becoming uncomfortable.
The Bottom Line
Cruise gratuities have become more complicated than most people expect, and for many passengers they’re now a regular source of debate, confusion, and even frustration.
This petition is one attempt to make the system simpler and more transparent — and it’s an interesting idea, especially coming from someone who’s worked onboard and seen how it affects both guests and crew.
But what do you think? Would you prefer to see gratuities built into the fare and know the full price upfront, or do you like having them listed separately?
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including what is now called “Gratuities” in the fare would certainly help relieve the pressure at Guest Services. I normally prepay and tip additional to my room steward, dining staff and bar tenders. I have had to wade through a whole parcel of fellow cruisers at Guest Services to resolve a different issue due to the crowd who wished to cancel their daily service charges.