British travellers make poor tippers

The massive difference between British and American travellers’ attitudes towards tipping is forcing a leading cruise line to change its onboard tipping policy.

The Royal Caribbean has found that British travellers’ reluctance to tip cruise staff appears even more stark when compared with the tip-happy American behaviour. This is causing such a big issue aboard Royal Caribbean’s cruises, that the company is now considering evaluating its policies.

Tips given to staff make up for a large portion of money actually earned by crew, and the cultural differences lead to considerable discomfort when there are a large number of UK travellers on board.

Differing cultures in the UK and the US mean UK travellers tend to look at tipping demands or expectations negatively. Americans on the other hand, come from a culture where tipping is an integral part of the hospitality industry.

These differences will be a significant stumbling block for the cruise line, which has been making efforts to attract more Europeans aboard its cruises.

Royal Caribbean is in fact one of the few remaining cruise companies to allow a tip-envelope policy on board, and does not add service charges to passenger bills -yet.

However, when UK travellers are on board, this can bring down crew earnings significantly, and the cruise line will now be forced to consider other options in order to keep all sides happy.