With My Time Dining, your daily automatic gratuity charge ($16–$25/person/day depending on line and cabin category) covers your dining room staff just like traditional set dining — you do NOT need to tip extra at the table. The daily charge is pooled across all service staff, so switching dining formats changes nothing about how gratuities work.
Photo: Carnival Cruise Line
My Time Dining (Royal Caribbean's name for it) and its equivalents — Anytime Dining, Select Dining, Open Seating — confuse a lot of cruisers into either double-tipping or stiffing the crew entirely. Let's kill the confusion with actual numbers.
How Gratuities Actually Work with My Time Dining
Here's the core truth: your dining format has zero effect on the gratuity system. Whether you eat at 6:00 PM with the same waiter every night or wander into the main dining room at 8:30 PM on a whim, the automatic daily gratuity covers your dining room staff.
Dave's take: The gratuity pool setup means your server rotation doesn't matter—whether you're locked into the same 6 PM seating or hitting the dining room at random times, that $18 daily charge covers everyone equally, so there's zero reason to slip cash at the end of a meal just because the face changed.
— Dave Giovacchini, Travel Mutiny
The daily charge is pooled across your stateroom attendant, dining staff, culinary team, bar staff, and hotel services — it doesn't matter if you had one server or five different servers across the week. Everyone gets their share from the pool.
You do not need to hand cash to your waiter at the end of a My Time Dining meal. That's the short answer.
| Cruise Line | Standard Cabin (per person/day) | Suite/Premium Cabin (per person/day) | Gratuity Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean | $18.00 | $21.00+ | Auto-charged daily |
| Celebrity Cruises | $18.00 (Inside/OV/Veranda) | $19.00 (Concierge/AquaClass) / $23.00 (The Retreat) | Auto-charged daily |
| Carnival | ~$16.00–$18.00 | ~$18.00–$20.00 | Auto-charged daily |
| Norwegian | ~$20.00 | ~$25.00 | Auto-charged daily |
| MSC | ~$16.00–$18.00 | ~$18.00–$20.00 | Auto-charged daily |
| Princess | ~$17.00–$18.00 | ~$18.00–$20.00 | Auto-charged daily |
| Holland America | ~$17.50–$19.50 | ~$19.50–$22.00 | Auto-charged daily |
| Virgin Voyages | $0 | $0 | Included in fare |
| Oceania | $0 (as of Jan 2025) | $0 | Included in fare |
Celebrity figures above are verified from the Celebrity FAQs as of 2025–2026.
Photo: Carnival Cruise Line
Key Factors That Drive Gratuity Costs
1. Cabin category matters more than dining style On Celebrity, the jump from a Veranda ($18/day) to Concierge ($19/day) to The Retreat ($23/day) adds up fast. A couple in The Retreat on a 7-night sailing pays $322 in daily gratuities vs. $252 in a Veranda — a $70 difference for the same dining room experience.
2. Additional purchases carry their own gratuity on top Every specialty dining cover, beverage, spa service, room service order, and minibar purchase gets an automatic 18–20% service charge added at the point of sale. Celebrity and Norwegian are now at 20%. This is separate from the daily gratuity and is non-negotiable at checkout.
- Specialty dining cover ($45–$150/person) → add 20% = $54–$180 actual out-of-pocket
- Cocktail ($11.50) → add 18–20% = $13.57–$13.80 per drink
- Drink package ($70/day pre-cruise typical) → add 18–20% = $82.60–$84/day effective cost
3. You CAN modify or remove daily gratuities onboard Every mainstream line allows you to visit Guest Relations and adjust the daily auto-gratuity before the morning of disembarkation. I strongly advise against removing them — the crew's compensation structure depends on this pooled system and they have no visibility into which guests removed tips. If you had a specific crew member issue, handle it through Guest Relations directly.
4. Prepaying gratuities locks in the current rate Some lines have raised daily gratuity rates mid-2025. Prepaying at booking locks in the rate at time of payment and removes the charge from your onboard account — which makes budgeting cleaner.
Photo: Carnival Cruise Line
Practical Tips to Save Money and Tip Smart
Prepay before you sail. It's the same total cost, but it keeps your final onboard bill from being a gut-punch. Check your cruise planner or call your travel agent.
Don't double-tip at My Time Dining. Leaving cash on the table after a regular main dining room meal when you've already got auto-gratuities running is redundant — and the staff would often prefer you didn't (it creates awkward accounting for the pooled system). Save cash tips for exceptional individual service you genuinely want to recognize personally.
Do tip cash for truly standout service. If a sommelier tracked down a specific wine for you, or a waiter remembered your daughter's allergy on night one and checked every meal after — those people have earned a personal thank-you in cash. $5–$20 is appropriate and will be genuinely appreciated.
Book specialty dining pre-cruise. The 20% gratuity gets added either way, but pre-cruise pricing on the cover itself is typically lower than onboard pricing. Book through the cruise planner up to 72 hours before sailing (48 hours for Celebrity package cancellations).
Consider lines where gratuities are included. If you sail Virgin Voyages or Oceania, the entire tipping question disappears. Virgin includes gratuities in the fare. Oceania added them to its Your World Included bundle in January 2025. Both lines are worth a look if you prefer a truly all-in pricing model.
The My Time Dining Gratuity Myth, Killed
The confusion comes from traditional cruise dining, where guests would hand envelopes of cash to their assigned waiter and room steward at the end of the voyage. My Time Dining broke the assigned-server model, which made people wonder: who exactly am I tipping? The answer is: everyone, automatically, through the daily charge. The system was redesigned specifically because anytime dining made individual tipping impractical.
The bottom line for a typical 7-night sailing:
- Solo traveler, standard cabin: $112–$175 in daily gratuities
- Couple, standard cabin: $224–$350 in daily gratuities
- Couple, suite: $252–$350+ in daily gratuities
Those figures don't include the 18–20% added to every drink, spa visit, and specialty dinner. Budget for both separately.
Want to see how gratuities stack up against all your other cruise costs before you book? Run the numbers with CruiseMutiny — it breaks down every fee category so nothing blindsides you on the final bill.
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