Shipboard tipping

A tip is not a tip if it is mandatory or coerced. In that case it is a passenger service fee and should be listed along with port charges, transfer fees and whatever as part of the total cost of the trip.

My own preference is for the cruise lines to pay competitive, living wages to their employees and then have tips reserved for extraordinary service beyond what would ordinarily be expected.

Whether or not cruise lines should automatically charge each passenger’s shipboard account $10 per day for a collective tip depends upon how it has been publicized. If it is listed in the trip brochure so you know when you sign up that it is one of the costs of the trip, then that is okay. If they do it on the sly and you discover it only when you get your final statement, then I would raise holy hell and refuse to pay.

IRVING E. DAYTON
Corvallis, OR